FRQM-THE- LIBRARY-OF
TRINITYCOLLEGETORDNTO
Gift from the Friends of the
Library, Trinity College
*e> rj. i
L AiU-
EDWARD KING
SIXTIETH BISHOP OF LINCOLN
EDWARD KING
SIXTIETH BISHOP OF LINCOLN
A MEMOIR
BY THE RIGHT HON.
GEORGE W. E. RUSSELL
AUTHOR OF " COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS "
Sicut Ille est, et nos sumus in hoc mundo.
EPIST. B. JOANNIS APOST. I.
WITH A PORTRAIT BY GEORGE RICHMOND, R.A.
NEW YORK
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
LONDON : SMITH, ELDER & CO.
1912
[AM rights reserved}
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES
INSCRIBED
TO
CHARLES LINDLEY
VISCOUNT HALIFAX
IN HONOUR OF ONE
WHO WAS TO BOTH OF US
A FATHER IN THE FAITH
NOTE
THE task of writing this memoir was entrusted to me by
Bishop King s Literary Executors. It was too high an
honour, and too rich a privilege, to be declined ; but it
was undertaken, and has been completed, with a profound
sense of unworthiness.
At every stage of my work I have been aided by the
generous kindness of the Bishop s family, and of friends
outside the family who loved and revered him. A list of
the names of those to whom I am thus indebted would be
too long for insertion here ; and as, in each case, my
thanks have been personally tendered, a formal enumeration
will, I doubt not, be graciously excused.
G. W. E. K.
Epiphany, 1912.
CONTENTS
PAGE
BEGINNINGS 1
CUDDESDON 14
THE PASTORAL PROFESSORSHIP 35
LINCOLN 85
THE TRIAL 143
CALM AFTER STORM 211
TOWARDS THE SUNSETTING 281
APPENDIX I. 311
II 337
III 343
IV 353
INDEX , 355
EDWARD KING
SIXTIETH BISHOP OF LINCOLN
CHAPTER I.
BEGINNINGS.
When God forms a human life to do some appointed task, His pre
paratory action may be traced in the circumstances of hereditary descent
not less clearly than in other provisions whether of Nature or of Grace.
H. P. LIDDON.
THE family of King is said to have originated in Westmor
land, and to have migrated to Yorkshire before the beginning
of the seventeenth century. The landed property which
they acquired in the West Biding remained in their pos
session for over three hundred years. Robert King
was Incumbent of Kirkby Malhamdale, and died there in
1621. In 1622 his son, Thomas King, built a house in the
parish, which is now used as the Vicarage. This Thomas
King had a son Robert, a grandson James, and a great-grand
son Thomas, whose son James was Dean of Raphoe. Dean
King had five sons, of whom the third, Walker (1751-1827)
became Bishop of Rochester. Bishop Walker King was an
intimate friend of Edmund Burke, an executor of his will,
and editor of his works. Some ornamental pieces of gold
and silver, presented to Burke by an Indian Rajah after
the impeachment of Warren Hastings, are still in the
1 B
2 EDWARD KING
possession of King s descendants. In 1885, the Eev.
George Trevor (1809-1888) wrote: "One of my very
earliest recollections as a little boy is leading the blind
Bishop of Rochester by the hand in the other he carried
a gold-headed cane as long as a footman s, given him by
Burke, who had it from one of the Oude Begums."
The Bishop had a son, also called Walker (the maiden
name of the Bishop s mother), and this Walker King
(1797-1859), became Rector of Stone, in Kent, and Canon
and Archdeacon of Rochester. He married, in 1823,
Anne Heberden, daughter of William Heberden, M.D.,
and grand- daughter of the famous physician whom Cowper
extolled as " Virtuous and faithful Heberden," and
whom Dr. Johnson styled " Ultimus Romanorum, the last
of our learned physicians." Mrs. King survived till 1883,
a typical lady of the old school, full of tranquil dignity.
The Archdeacon had ten children, five boys and five girls
of these, the third child and second son was EDWARD,
who was born on December 29, 1829. Before her confine
ment Mrs. King came to London, in order to be near her
father, Dr. Heberden, who lived in Pall Mall. The child
was born at No. 8, St. James s Place, privately baptized
by his father on January 4, 1830, and registered at St.
James s Church, Piccadilly. On February 4, Mrs. King
writes from London : " Little Ted is quite well," and
soon afterwards the family returned to Stone, where
" little Ted " was formally received into the Church.
Archdeacon King lived at Stone Park, which was his
own property, the Rectory House having been condemned
as unhealthy ; and here Edward King was brought up .
His elder brother had been roughly used at a Public School,
and the parents resolved that Edward, who showed some
CONFIRMATION 3
signs of delicacy, should be educated at home. After
some teaching from his father, he became a daily pupil of
the curate at Stone, the Rev. John Day ; and, when
Mr. Day removed, first to Flintshire and then to Shropshire,
Edward King went with him. Mr. Day, an adherent of
the Tractarian school, was incumbent of Ellesmere, and
there Edward King first took part in the active service of
his Church, singing in the choir, and conducting a Bible-
class for men.* When he was at home in Lent, he
suggested to his sisters to join him in a daily service,
in the school-room, at 8 o clock in the morning ; he playing
the Gregorian Chant to which they sang the psalms of
the day.
The Archdeacon was what is termed " a Churchman of
the old school," untouched alike by the Evangelical and by
the Catholic revival. When the time arrived for Edward to
be confirmed, his father called him into the study, asked
him if he knew the Catechism, and then gave him a card
and told him to get on his pony and ride over to Foot s
Cray, where the Confirmation was to be held that day by
Archbishop Howley. It happened that some of the
neighbours were giving a dance that evening, and, when
Edward returned from his confirmation, Mrs. King said :
" I suppose, Edward, you would rather not go to the
dance." He replied that he would rather stay at home,
and so was left to his own meditations.
* A memorial of King s life at Ellesmere survives in a Prayer Book,
bearing this inscription ;
To
EDWARD KING
THIS BOOK OP COMMON PRAYEB is
PEESENTED BY THE CHOIR OF ELLESMERE,
IN TOKEN OF THEIR AFFECTIONATE
REGARD AND GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE.
JULY 19TH, 1848.
4 EDWARD KING
The Archdeacon s eldest child, a daughter, lived only a
few months. The eldest son took Holy Orders. Two
other sons went into the army, and the youngest went to
Australia as a sheep-farmer. The second daughter, Anne,
died young, and three daughters married. Edward King
was on the most affectionate terms with all his brothers
and sisters, but it was his relation with his sister Anne that
made the deepest impression on his life. She was an
invalid for twelve years, and he often spent the whole
night by her bedside. He learnt Italian in order that he
might share her love of Dante ; from her he derived his
interest in botany ; and in his constant attendance on
her he developed that tactful, sympathetic, and unfussy
manner in visiting invalids which always marked his
ministry.
But, in spite of this early contact with the graver
realities of life, there was nothing morbid or austere about
the youth and early manhood of Edward King. He was
fond of dancing, fishing, and swimming, and he was an
excellent horseman. Tradition says that, failing a better
mount, he would go out hunting on the family carriage-
horse. He had a keen eye for all that is beautiful and
interesting in the natural world, and he was specially
devoted to birds and flowers. But throughout life his
chief recreation was in foreign travel, Switzerland and Italy
being his favourite haunts. From very early days, he
had looked forward to Holy Orders as his appointed sphere
of work, and on February 10, 1848, he matriculated at
Oxford as a member of Oriel College, " looking older than
his real age, as he was already the possessor of a handsome
pair of whiskers." Among the Oriel men of his time, either
slightly senior or slightly junior to himself, were his eldest
ORIEL 5
brother, Walker King, afterwards Rector of Leigh ; Charles
Lyndhurst Vaughan, Vicar of Christ Church, St. Leonards ;
George Joachim Goschen, Viscount Goschen ; and George
Howard Wilkinson, Bishop of St. Andrews .
Oriel was then ruled by the austere and punctilious
Hawkins. A contemporary relates the following incident
at " Collections " the formal review of work and conduct
at the end of King s first Term. " The Provost was never
happy unless he could find something unfavourable to
comment upon concerning each undergraduate who came
before him. Among other things, the record of Chapel-
attendances was always on the table, and referred to for
praise or blame. The Provost, after looking at it, said :
* I observe, Mr. King, that you have never missed a single
chapel, morning or evening, during the whole Term. But,
instead of a word of praise, the Provost went on to say,
I must warn you, Mr. King, that even too regular atten
dance at chapel may degenerate into formalism/
From what has been already written, it is clear that the
old-fashioned Churchmanship in which King was trained
had already been modified by the more gracious influences
of the " Oxford Movement," or " Catholic Revival " ; and
at Oriel those influences were deepened by his intercourse
with the Rev. Charles Marriott (1811-1858), Fellow and
Tutor of the College, and coadjutor of Dr. Pusey in the
" Library of the Fathers." Marriott described King as " a
royal fellow," and in after-life King used to say : " If I have
any good in me, I owe it to Charles Marriott. He was the
most Gospel-like man I have ever met."
One of the most marked effects of the Oxford Movement
was an extreme and methodical strictness in daily life and
devotion. It is on record that King, when an undergraduate >
6 EDWARD KING
was a scrupulous observer of the Church s rules of fasting
and abstinence, always absenting himself from Hall on the
days assigned by the Prayer Book for those observances.
With regard to the diligent attendance at Chapel, in
which Provost Hawkins saw so little to commend, the
contemporary already quoted says " I have had many a
pleasant afternoon s walk with Edward King, but he would
never consent to go with you unless you promised to be
back by Chapel-time, which was 4.30. I myself spent a
good deal of my afternoon recreation-time on the river,
and was also a member of the College Cricket Club ; but
I cannot remember King ever joining in either of those
pursuits. He may indeed have done so, but his strict
rule about afternoon Chapel would have made boating
difficult, and cricket quite impossible, as our cricket-ground
at that time was on Bullingdon Common, some way out of
Oxford over Magdalen Bridge." As regards cricket, this
is no doubt a true testimony ; but that King did not
abstain from boating is proved by the statement of another
contemporary, belonging to another college " The first
time I ever met Edward King was, oddly enough, in
passing through the lock at Iffley. Someone in our boat
knew him, and saluted him by name." Yet another
undergraduate of those days, who entered Oriel just
as King was leaving it, says : " I can only remember being
greatly impressed by the singularly high estimation in
which his character was held by all sorts and conditions
of men." And one, already quoted, says with regard to
Marriott s spiritual influence " I should have thought that
King was the one undergraduate in college who needed it
the least."
King did not read for honours ; but, under the able
FRIENDSHIP 7
tuition of such men as D. P. Chase and C. P. Chretien,
he was well grounded in Plato, Aristotle, and Butler.
In 1898 he wrote " Bishop Butler has been one of
my life-long and most valued companions." To the
end, he used "The Kepublic," and the "Ethics" as
text-books, on which he grounded his social and moral
teaching, and he had a curiously strong sense of the ethical
value of the Satires and Epistles of Horace. He took his
B.A. degree on November 13, 1851, and his M.A. on June 14 ,
1855.
So few of King s early letters have been preserved that
it may be well to introduce two written to his friends,
Garnons and Richard Davies Williams, sons of the Arch
deacon (afterwards Dean) of Llandaff, and both looking
forward to Holy Orders.
(To R. D. Williams.)
"July 17, 1851.
" MY DEAR WILLIAMS,
" It seems a long while since I heard from you, but
perhaps it is my own fault for not writing.
" I hope you have been getting quite strong again, and
intend coming up to Oxford next Term ; but I want to
tell you what we have done. Old Hale, Cox, and myself
have taken a house (i.e., the rooms) in the High opposite
Embling s, the tailor, it belongs to Green, an Upholsterer
we have three sitting-rooms and three bedrooms. Now it
occurred to us all that, as your coming up is altogether
hypothetical, and as, if you come, it would not be worth
your while to take rooms by yourself, by far your best
plan will be to live with us, and just trot into College
of a night. Just think this over quietly. You see we shall
8 EDWARD KING
all be reading for our Degree, and I really think it would
be an advantage to all parties to be together. You will
say, Yes, it is very nice, but I should not like to live on
my friends. Now, if you would be so very kind as to do
so, you would greatly oblige your humble servants ; but,
my dear fellow, you shall not have this excuse, for you
shall take a share of our expenses, as far as tea, candles,
etc., etc.
" I really think that it might be a good thing for you, for
it would be perfectly quiet and yet we could take care of
you, which after six months at home you will require. It
will be quiet, for we have agreed to preserve our individuality,
and the rooms are some way apart. By this plan you could
come up when you like and go down without any bother of
rooms. I need not say that, if you would consent to live
in my room, I should be delighted, but this is being too
selfish; however, you ought to know that you are most
welcome. Turn it over, and ask Mrs. Williams if a warm,
cheerful, family circle is not better for you than a solitary,
damp, cold, dreary, hovel by yourself. Just do please.
" Ever, my dear Williams, your most sincere friend,
" EDWAKD KING."
Eichard Davies Williams died on October 25, 1851.
Fifty-seven years later, King wrote to his friend s sister
Your dear brother, Davies, still links me back to the
days before the rougher work and anxieties of life began.
His was a singularly unworldly, guileless spirit, to which
I ever look back with reverence and affection."
The following letter is addressed to the elder brother,
Garnons Williams, now ordained, and afterwards Preben
dary of St. David s.
A PILGRIMAGE 9
"September 24, 1852.
"My DEAR WILLIAMS,
" I hope you have heard from others of my absence
from England, or you will think worse of me than I deserve.
Indeed, since I last wrote to you I have seen a good deal.
I ran away from the cold weather last winter in the first week
in February, and wandered on till I found myself on the
shores of the Dead Sea ! I think I might interest you with
things I heard and saw, but in a letter it is impossible to
select one or two out of so many new ideas but first let
me ask how you are, and all your family ? I trust all well .
I think I heard or saw that you were ordained, but where
you are I do not know, so I must send this to Llanvapley,
and hope that it will be forwarded. Do send me a line
soon to say how you are, and your little brother Herbert.
I should like to see him again.
" Now I shall return to where we left off I have never
yet thanked the Archdeacon for the book he was so very
kind as to send me. The fact was that it was packed up
with my things from Oxford and never unpacked till I
was just starting in the winter. I should feel much obliged
if you could some day find an opportunity of thanking the
Archdeacon for me, as I do not like to trouble him by
writing myself. I must not write more on this, to me, most
dear of subjects,* which has afforded me an unfailing
source of reflection wherever I have yet been, for we must
act, and you are already at the work when I shall be
ordained I do not quite know, but not before next Trinity
Sunday.
" I must give one word to the poor old Duke ! f and for
the present I will not write you a longer letter, but I shall
* Ordination. t The Duke of Wellington died September 14, 1852
io EDWARD KING
hope to hear from you soon. I must beg you to give my
very kindest remembrances to the Archdeacon and Mrs.
Williams and all your family, and believe me, my dear
Williams, ever to be yours,
" Most sincerely,
" EDWARD KING."
Mr. Garnons Williams died in 1905, and King wrote
to his sister " It has been a real comfort and help to me
in a difficult day s work in London, to think of the old
Oriel days, and your dear brothers ; and now to think of
them in safety and peace."
The allusion to the Dead Sea in the foregoing letter
recalls King s visit to the Holy Land, which occupied him
from February to the end of June, 1852. In old age he
wrote to a friend who was contemplating a similar pilgrim
age " It is fifty-five years since I was in the Holy Land,
and my visit is still a source of comfort and pleasure to
me." After returning from his travels, he acted, for a short
space, as private tutor to Lord Lothian s brothers ; and
now the time drew near for the fulfilment of his long-
cherished purpose. In 1854 he received the offer of a
curacy from the Rev. Edward Elton, Vicar of Wheatley,
near Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire. He was ordained deacon
by Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, in the Parish
Church of Cuddesdon, on Trinity Sunday, June 11, 1854,
and priest, by the same prelate in the same church, on
June 3, 1855. In recommending him to Mr. Elton, the
Bishop had used the emphatic words " A gentleman and
a Christian."
Wheatley was at that time a peculiarly rough and lawless
place, and Mr. Elton s attempts at moral reformation had
WHEATLEY n
roused the utmost hostility. He had just lost his wife, and
he invited his new curate to live with him at the vicarage.
King s buoyancy and cheerfulness brought light into the
darkened home. He loved to share such simple amuse
ments as botany and egg-collecting with the Vicar s children,
and his zeal in pastoral work powerfully reinforced Mr.
Elton s efforts in the parish. Though always a delicate man,
and not looking forward to a long life, he went about his
parochial work with splendid activity and courage. When
a virulent form of typhus broke out in the village, he in
sisted on attending the most dangerous cases, saying that
the Vicar had others dependent on him, whereas he had
none.
The sanitary conditions of the village were amply
sufficient to account for the epidemic ; an open stream
which ran through the main street acted at once as the
common sewer and the principal water-supply. The Vicar
and his curate endeavoured to convert this stream into a
covered drain, but this reform was stoutly opposed by the
villagers ; and in order to effect it the clergy procured
the establishment of a Local Board of Health. The Church
was dilapidated and the schools were inadequate. Church
and Schools were rebuilt by Mr. Elton, who found his
curate a most valuable coadjutor, not least in the difficult
task of raising money.
It was in dealing with the boys and youths of this rough
parish that King first manifested that remarkable power
of influence, which was the special character of all his
later ministry. With some of those who were young people
at Wheatley when he was curate there he maintained an
occasional correspondence to the end of his life. Thus he
wrote in 1895 " It seems only yesterday that you used to
12 EDWARD KING
come down to my room with dear G. and J. and we used to
sit and talk together. I was thoroughly happy with you all
at Wheatley. I did not think I should live so long. ... I
must stop now. I forget we are not sitting over the fire
at Wheatley. It was very nice, wasn t it ? " In 1905 :
" In heart I feel just the same as when we were all at
Wheatley together. Your letter pleased me very much,
because there was a spirit of content and happiness which
I was most glad to see, and the love for your flowers brought
back the memory of our old walks. I still love flowers and
birds as much as ever."
The remembrance of his curacy was still dear to him
half a century after he had left it. " The simple life at
Wheatley," he wrote, " and the affection of the people were
more congenial to me than this public and controversial
life." And to his old Vicar " I should be quite happy to
go back to those old Wheatley days ; they were a great
happiness and blessing to me, and I always feel deeply
grateful to you for putting up with my ignorance and
many shortcomings."
The Kev. K. W. Carew Hunt, Vicar of St. Giles s, Eead.
ing, supplies the following reminiscence : " One day, about
the year 1900, when I was Vicar of Hughenden, I was
walking into High Wycombe, and on the way I overtook
a man who was going in the same direction. He was an
odd-looking creature, no longer young a tatterdemalion
sort of fellow, half tinker, half pedlar, a true wayfaring
man. We walked along together for some distance, talking
about many things. Presently I said to my companion,
I suppose you don t often go to church nowadays ?
Bless me, sir, he replied, f it s years since I have been
inside a church. I don t know as there is anything would
A TRAMP S TRIBUTE 13
get me in there except one. What s that ? I said.
Well, he replied, if I could only ear a chap named King
preach, I d go. I heard im years ago at a village called
Wheatley, and I shall never forget im. He was curate
then, or summ at. I wonder if he be still alive. I should
dearly like to hear im again. I d go many a long mile to
hear im. Your curate is a Bishop now, I said. { Lord,
is he ? But I would like to see im again. I remember
that there sermon, though it s years ago since I heard im.
I could not help feeling how glad the holy Bishop would
have been if he had known how, through all the ups and
downs of life, that man had cherished the words he had
heard in the village church of Wheatley."
CHAPTER II.
CUDDESDON.
Some summer Sunday, perhaps, we wandered here, in undergraduate
days, to see a friend ; and from that hour the charm was at work. The
little rooms, like College rooms just shrinking into cells, the long talk
on the summer lawn, the old Church with its quiet, country look of
patient peace, the glow of the Evening Chapel, the run down the hill
under the stars, with the sound of Compline Psalms still ringing in our
hearts. It was enough. The resolve that lay half hidden in our souls
took shape. We would come to Cuddesdon when the time of preparation
should draw on I
H. S. HOLLAND.
SAMUEL WILBERFORCE was consecrated to the See of Oxford
on November 30, 1845. In January, 1846, he noted among
the " Agenda " of his episcopate " a Diocesan Training
College for Clergy to be established at Cuddesdon." There
were considerable difficulties in the way, but the Bishop
persevered in his design. The first stone of the building
was laid on April 7, 1853, and the College was opened on
June 15, 1854. The first Principal was the Kev. Alfred
Pott, Vicar of Cuddesdon and afterwards Archdeacon
of Berkshire ; the Rev. H. P. Liddon was Vice-Principal,
and the Kev. Albert Barff, Chaplain. At first all went
well ; but presently the College fell under suspicion
of Romanizing tendencies. In 1858 Bishop Wilberforce,
alarmed by the Protestant outcry, determined to make
some changes in the staff, and his thoughts turned to the
14
CUDDESDON 15
young curate of Wheatley (who had sometimes officiated
at Cuddesdon) as one whom he would like to enlist in the
service of his College. On March 31, 1858, Edward King
wrote as follows to his father :
" MY DEAR FATHER,
" The cloud which I predicted when you were here
rose yesterday morning above horizon of imagination, and
is now plainly in view.
" Pott sent for me yesterday, he being ill, and as I
expected, it was to talk about the College. The Bishop has
been at Cuddesdon, and is determined on a firm change of
tone and persons. . . . Then comes the great difficulty of
towing the Leviathan without a fatal slip. As you have
already concluded, the Bishop wishes me to try ; he has
not asked me himself, but he has more than once told Pott
to bring it about, and the Bishop will ask as soon as he
returns. Now, my dear father, what am I to do ? Against
it there is
"1. My present work.
" 2. The extreme difficulty of the undertaking.
" I can see plainly the great judgment it requires. The
Extremes will be in arms, the old work will be called spoilt,
and the new man not up to his work, etc., etc. ; but this is
all human. There is on the other side
"1. The Bishop s positive wish (if expressed as I expect).
"2. My present work is at a certain point, and not
without dangers to myself on the score of popularity and
personal gratification.
" 3. I cannot but feel that my impaired health would
not warrant my playing the short game ; I ought at least
to fit myself for an average life of work. Three or four
16 EDWARD KING
years at the College might supply the lack of knowledge
which will be especially required by me if, as we have said,
my line is to be to take a large, rather than a small, living
and guide a curate.
" Pott told the Bishop that I did not wish to move, but
he still persisted. Of course, I should not for a moment
entertain the idea if it was merely to fill the place of the
old chaplain ; but the case alters if they want to do a hard
work, and ask you openly to come and do it, viz. change
the tone.
" They are, no doubt, in a fix.
" I have written this at once before the Bishop speaks.
But I am sorry to trouble you ; only these are the turns
of life which one is so unwilling to take alone.
" I will write again as soon as the Bishop has been here,
though I do not expect him till the Confirmation on Saturday
next.
" With best love to all,
" I am, my dear father,
" Your most affectionate son,
_ EDWARD KING.
" P.S. I have not the least committed myself to Cud-
desdon. I told Pott I should ask you and consider."
In later life, King used to recall the decisive scene, him
self standing by the stile that leads into the wood between
Wheatley and Cuddesdon, while the Bishop on horseback
was talking to him about leaving his curacy and going to
the College as Chaplain. At last the Bishop kicked his
horse, and went off saying, " Well, I think you ought to go."
The Bishop carried the day. King resigned the curacy,
PURGATION 17
and entered on his office as Chaplain of Cuddesdon
College at Michaelmas, 1858. The duties attached to
the chaplaincy were to conduct the daily services in the
College Chapel, and to supervise, as opportunity presented
itself, the spiritual life of the students.
But the Bishop s process of purgation did not stop at a
change of chaplains. The Vice-Principal, afterwards known
to all the world as the greatest preacher in the Church of
England, was already a man of marked character and strong
influence. It appears that his teaching on the Holy Eucharist
and on Confession was too frankly Catholic to suit the
Bishop, whose churchmanship was of a very moderate type,
and at the beginning of 1859 the Bishop " came with a
torn heart " to the conclusion that Liddon must go at the
ensuing Easter. He wished, and even pressed, King to
be the new Vice-Principal, and the following letter from
Liddon throws an interesting light on the position :
S h
*T
" June 16, 1859.
" MY DEAR KING,
" I earnestly advise you to accept the Vice-Principal -
ship. As to Oxford opinion, it is formed by, and depends
upon, causes widely removed from its personal question of
who is engaged in the direction of Theological Colleges.
So far as it is hostile to these Colleges, it is due (1) to a one
sided and jealous academical spirit, which would make the
Faculty of Theology responsible for the education of the
clergy of the country, and much more (2) to a secular spirit,
which thinks the whole machinery of religion and the
Church a great bore, and would keep it out of sight as much
as possible. Dr. Heurtley, etc., represent the first, Goldwin
Smith the second phase.
c
18 EDWARD KING
" The first class may, by God s mercy, be won to some
thing better by observing the aspect of hopeless impotence
of the University when called upon to aid the Church of
England by more and better-trained clergy. The second
will certainly drift further and further away from all
allegiance, even to the most meagre conceptions of a Real
Revelation. Meanwhile, those who know anything about
Cuddesdon would hail your appointment to the Vice-
Principalship with unfeigned satisfaction. That which
will attract, and do most real good, in these Colleges is not
the intellectual but the moral element which it is in their
power to foster ; and while, if I might be permitted to say
so, you are quite equal to all that is wanted in the way of
lecturing, you know, much better than any one else whom
the Bishop could procure from a distance, how much there
is to be done in clearing the spiritual sight, and forming
the characters, of those who place themselves under the
teaching of the College. The real difficulty of your position
is this : that, in the presence of gigantic evils with which
you have to contend, any moral and spiritual system
which does not include private Confession and Absolution
must (as it seems to me) be feeble, and unequal to the
occasion. But you cannot help the backward condition of
religious conviction in our Church in respect of this matter ;
and there is still left a large margin in which it is possible
to do a great amount of good. I have often thought with
regret of the many avenues of influence which might have
been employed, and which I neglected while at the College
such, I mean, as a systematic plan of interesting men in
Missions, and a greater care of the visiting part of the
day s work. You will, I hope, comply with the Bishop s
wishes. I have too often feared that your previous decision
HOSPITALITY 19
on this head was influenced by motives connected with
the circumstances of my leaving the College, rather than
by the one question of fit or unfit/ which ALONE ought
to decide it. I beg you to believe that your being V.-P.
will give me personally unfeigned satisfaction, because
I think that, more than any other appointment, it will
further all that we both should most value in a most im
portant cause.
" Your ever affectionate,
" H. P. LlDDON."
However, King stood firm in his refusal ; another Vice-
Principal was appointed, and King applied himself to his
work as Chaplain with all his winning zeal ; but he did
not forget his old friends and neighbours at Wheatley.
One who was then a student at the College gives the follow
ing reminiscence : "It was at the end of the year 1859.
I had only been at Cuddesdon a very short time. It was
just after Christmas, and all the men, with the exception
of myself and the Kev. Augustus Gurney, who was curate
of Cuddesdon, and the Chaplain, had gone down. The
Chaplain said to us, I am going to have a supper-party of
my old Wheatley friends on my thirtieth birthday. Would
you like to join the party ? and we both said Yes.
The Chaplain had only been chaplain a year, the four
previous years having been spent at Wheatley, where he
was much beloved. The evening arrived, and up came
his Wheatley friends. We all sat down to supper in the
College Hall, to the number of thirty, and I must not omit
to add that there was one more added to the number
that saintly man Henry Hutchinson Swinny, who had
just become Principal in succession to Mr. Pott.
20 EDWARD KING
The supper ended, the Chaplain got up and made such
a speech as no other man than he could do, making his
Wheatley friends feel quite at home, and in it all one
noticed the great effect for good and high morals that
pervaded it. Looking back to that long- distant day, over
more than fifty years, one recognizes the power of the
man over others, which proceeded from his naturalness,
and holiness of life ; and this no doubt was the secret
of his influence over those hundreds of men who came
under it, and now give thanks to God that they have been
permitted in their lifetime to know Edward King."
The nature and effect of King s ministry when he was
Chaplain of Cuddesdon are to be clearly traced in a stout
packet of closely-written letters, carefully preserved to
the end of his life, and docketed in his own handwriting.
Many are from young men employed in some capacity
about the College, as servants or minor officials ; some
from village school-masters, and choirmen of the Parish
Church, or village boys who had gone out into service ; but
the bulk are from past or present students. These begin/ My
dear Chaplain," and soon pass on into " My dear King,"
as the writer emerges from pupilage into the responsibilities
of ministerial life. Some, of course, deal with spiritual
or theological difficulties, some seek counsel in parochial
perplexities, and some are most delightfully trivial. Some
times the Chaplain is away from Cuddesdon, and then the
letters are full of Cuddesdon cricket and Cuddesdon music,
and the sayings and doings of the College, the village, and
the adjacent " Palace." Sometimes the writer is at home
for the vacation, and then he writes about country walks
and local botany ; reports the birth of an anxiously
BROTHERHOOD 21
expected puppy, or asks the Chaplain to forward a bunch
of keys inadvertently left behind. Letter after letter
contains such expressions as " I wish you would come and
visit us here," " I should love to introduce you to my father
and mother." Everything breathes the most affectionate
feeling for the Chaplain, the warmest gratitude for good
gained at Cuddesdon, and a singularly keen sense of brother
hood among Cuddesdon men who have passed out into the
world. The following letter from the Principal, addressed
to King when abroad, recovering from an illness, aptly
illustrates the tone and spirit of the College :
" August 21, 1861.
" You have heard of E. W. Lear s most merciful escape.*
I am quite glad you were away. You would have been
sure to have been sent for, and you would have been made
quite ill. So I do not doubt that this is one of our mercies ;
numberless and immeasurably great they are ! He is
going on famously, and his being laid by is drawing out
all the best feelings of the men, who are, as he himself
bears witness, like so many brothers. Thanks primarily,
to GOD S Grace ; mediately, to your example of self-negation.
" Ever yours most affectionately.
" P.S. I will gladden your heart. At dinner, Elsdale
looking round the table, said, * Who s taking the post of
honour with Lear ? I exclaimed, in my joy, what a
blessed sentence it was. He reddened, and said there was
nothing in it. But, my dear brother, only Christian lips
could have uttered it. GOD grant that this may be ever
the spirit of Cuddesdon and those who leave it. Amen."
* From an accident which severed an artery in his leg.
22 EDWARD KING
The truly saintly man who wrote this letter became
before long seriously ill. On November 25, 1862, Bishop
Wilberforce wrote to him : "I know I did not, because I
could not, show you any of the deep affection I bear you, or
of my continual remembrance of you labouring on in your
high calling, in the midst of such weakness of the body.
Believe me, it is a spur and incentive to my idleness that
you cannot dream of." A month later Mr. Swinny died
quite suddenly, when saying good-bye to a student of the
College. Bishop Wilberforce wrote in his diary for
December 23 : " Just before starting for Colnbrook, the
news of dear Swinny s sudden death smote on my heart.
What a loss to his family, the Church, the Diocese, the
College, Cuddesdon, me ! God be merciful. Quite over
set by it."
The loss to the College, and to Cuddesdon, was repaired
by the promotion of the Chaplain. King was appointed
Principal of the College and Vicar of Cuddesdon early in
1863. His health was very far from strong. Even
when he was curate of Wheatley, he " had to be pulled
by his lads up the steep hill which leads to Cuddesdon,"
and in the winter of 1861-2 he had been forced to take a
prolonged leave of absence from the College. The spirit
in which he entered upon his new duties is well expressed
in a letter to his friend Porter, the first student who entered
Cuddesdon * :
"February 16, 1863.
" MY DEAR PORTER,
" I must send one line, tho I have no time for
more, to thank you for your kind letter and sympathy.
(( I need not tell you that my present position is not from
* Now the Rev. Canon C. F. Porter.
THE PRINCIPALSHIP 23
my own seeking indeed, I hoped I had succeeded in
refusing, and that Sir George Prevost would have taken the
responsibility from me ; but at last it came simply to an
act of faith and obedience : and I felt that I should really
be fearing to risk my pleasant position for a harder one if
I refused ; and so I have undertaken it. I trust it is God s
Will, and if so I have no fear.
" Our present Vice-Principal * remains ; he is a most
excellent teacher, and I think we shall get on well together.
* * * * * *
" My earnest desire is to live for the College and to pre
serve the unity which we have enjoyed. Do not forget us
in your prayers.
" Your most affectionate,
"EDWARD KING. !
The phase of life and duty which now opened before
King was, in some sense, only a continuation of what had
gone before ; but it was a continuation with a difference
a freer hand and a more independent position. By the
terms of its foundation, Cuddesdon College was to be under
the " sole management and control of Samuel, Lord Bishop
of Oxford and his successors." But, as all readers of
Bishop Wilberforce s Life are well aware, the Bishop,
who possessed the secret of ubiquity, spent comparatively
little of his time at Cuddesdon ; and, as years went on,
the control of the College passed more and more exclusively
into the hands of the Principal. Pott and Liddon and
Swinny had laid the strong foundations : King built on
them the Cuddesdon that we know. The only difficulty
in describing his career as Principal arises from the
* The Rev. W. H. Davey, afterwards Dean of Llandatf.
24 EDWARD KING
abundance of available material. It is scarcely an exaggera
tion to say that every one who passed through his hands
has some characteristic memory to record : it is no
exaggeration to say that all testimony agrees about the
irresistible quality of his influence, and his power of
attracting love. An old pupil writes : " The Principal in
those days suffered greatly from his heart, and his favourite
position during an attack was to lie full length on his back
on the rug. Now it happened that he was very keen about
the lectures on Hooker, which he gave at the Vicarage once
or twice a week ; so, on days when we saw that he was
bad, we used to pack the men off for walks, and then one
or two of us would saunter across from the College to the
Vicarage a few minutes after three, and say, Principal,
dear, we are afraid there won t be any Hooker to-day.
On his remonstrating, and begging us to go and fetch the
men, we used to say, * It s no use, dear Principal, they
have gone out some time ago. And then, using a little
loving compulsion, we used to get him upstairs to lie down
and rest."
Riding was always King s favourite exercise, and at
Cuddesdon it was particularly convenient, as he was able to
get a pleasant canter over the far-seen crown of Shot-
over, and so drop down into Oxford by a short cut. It is
related that one day one of the villagers, whose subsistence
depended on a horse and cart, came to tell King that the
horse was dead. King s sympathy was always practical,
and he presented the bereaved carter with his own cob.
The students, hearing of this, clubbed together to buy him
a new one, but, having bought it, they were too shy to
present it to him ; so they tied it to the bell-handle of
his front door, and then ran away. A student writes
TRAPS 25
" One of the first days after my arrival, I was invited
to go for a walk with him. It was the season when the
hazel-bushes were showing life, and he drew my atten
tion to them, with a little explanation in the way of
nature-study. In later years his Parochialia revealed
the fact that this was one of his little traps to catch men."
Once caught, he held them, scarcely more by his directly
spiritual power than by his fun and playfulness. To
Charles Edward Brooke, afterwards the much-loved Vicar
of St. John the Divine, Kennington, who was doubtful
about attending a ball in the vacation, and had written
asking for counsel, the Principal simply telegraphed:
" Dance, pretty creature, dance." In old age he wrote to
a former student : " The old Cuddesdon days sometimes
look like a dream, but a very wonderful and pleasant one ;
only I sometimes tremble to think of the opportunities
I missed for helping you all. Yet God was most merciful,
and took care of you."
The gaiety and easiness of his nature come out amusingly
in the testimony of a neighbour at Cuddesdon. " When
he was Principal, he said one day that he had given a party
to his own servants, and those of the Palace and the College ;
and that for some time he struggled in vain against their
intense propriety. I felt as if I would have given almost
any money to some one who would come in and play the
fool/ "
In 1865 he wrote to a depressed clergyman :
" You must not let yourself be dull. Sometimes,
of course, the sun does not shine so bright as others ; but
never mind that it is the same for us all
" I hope, if it please God, I shall be able to do my work
at Cuddesdon as long as my mother lives ; after that, if
26 EDWARD KING
I am knocked up, it won t so much signify. I have not
given up thinking about Australia. I shouldn t wonder,
after all, if I were to shake my fist at all you idle fellows
living snugly in England, and see what could be done to
start a good Church state of things in the Colonies. So
you had better look sharp, and marry a wife, and then say
you can t possibly come ; or else you will have to come out
with me, and teach a choir of young Bush-rangers. Now
I have put plenty of sense and nonsense into your mind to
prevent your being dull. Work away, and may God bless
you and keep you."
Perhaps the most notable quality in King s natural
character (apart from the richer gifts added to it by grace)
was shrewdness. No one in the world was more difficult to
deceive ; no one had a keener eye for humbug and pretence.
Speaking of some one whom he frequently met at dinner at
Cuddesdon Palace, he said : " He likes to catch me and talk
to me in the middle of the room directly we come out of
the dining-room, but all the time I can see his eye roving
round in search of higher game." Surely a life-like touch.
An intending student, who now describes himself as
having been at that time " a most hardy and robust sinner,
rowing, running, boxing, etc.," wrote and asked the
Principal if he might keep a horse at Cuddesdon ; to which
question the Principal, who probably had heard something
of his young friend s physical condition, suavely replied
that he might certainly do so, if his doctor said that the
state of his health required horse-exercise.
The greater part of King s intercourse with the students
of Cuddesdon cannot be disclosed in anything like detail,
for it passed in the most sacred of all confidences. And
THE DOCTRINE OF THE KEYS 27
hereto hangs a fragment of spiritual biography. Although,
of course, King had learnt from his Tractarian teachers the
doctrine of Priestly Absolution, he had not, when he became
Principal of Cuddesdon, sought its benefits for himself.
But, when he was requested to hear a student s confession,
his reply was " I must make my own first." He made it
to Dr. Pusey, and he told a friend in later life that the
penance had been the 103rd Psalm. To another he said,
describing Dr. Pusey s practice after hearing a confession :
" It was wonderful to hear that Saint, kneeling by one s
side, pour out his whole heart to God on one s behalf."
Five years before his death he wrote " Of course, I go to
Confession still ; " and, on another occasion " I go
three or four times a year, not more."
From the days of his Principalship onwards, he taught
the Doctrine of the Keys with frank and simple courage,
though always guarding it with its Anglican limitations.
One who was curate at Cuddesdon says " King did not
think it wise to be always preaching about Confession (as
was rather a tendency then in some churches), but he
liked to preach a definite sermon about it every Lent and
every Advent. The conclusion of one such sermon was :
But, dear people, you will be saying " this is Roman
Catholic." No, it isn t ; there is a difference, and I will
tell you what it is. The Roman Catholic Church says you
must go to Confession once a year. The English Church
says you may go whenever you like.
In this, as in everything else, King was wholly anti-
Roman. Long after he had left Cuddesdon, a former
student, who was acting as English Chaplain at Rome,
wrote to him as follows :
" My experience of Cuddesdon teaching was that (among
28 EDWARD KING
other blessings it conveyed to me) it taught me to feel the
rock upon which our position rests, and two of my Cuddes-
don note-books always come with me to Rome, because
they furnish me with weapons ready at hand, if I find any
Eoman invader attacking our camp."
One who was a student towards the end of King s time
at Cuddesdon, has thus described the life and spirit of the
College :
" Cuddesdon life was felt to be the most delightful life
which we had ever experienced. Our numbers were not
too large for a sense of family affection and closeness of
intercourse. There was a tinge of cloistered retirement, of
common spiritual interest, which made it possible, without
any sense of presumption or sacrilege, to speak of the long
ings and aspirations closest to our hearts, and for those to
whom spiritual life was comparatively a new thing to be
aided by the longer experience of more proficient friends.
Example also was most effective. It was impossible to
see the effect of careful thanksgiving after Communion and
of regular meditation in Chapel upon the lives and even the
faces of the devout students, and not be drawn to strive
after some share in it. But above all there was the influence
of the life and instruction of Dr. King. We had never
known such sermons, such meditations. It was a new
experience to find a good man full of such affectionate
interest in our individual spiritual welfare. His lectures
on systematic Christian doctrine were a veritable theologie
affective, in which the dry bones of dogma were clothed
with the sensitive flesh of living, loving devotion, and lit
up with the glow of poetic contemplation, under the guid
ance of Dante. We were first awed by the consideration
of the responsibilities of the preacher, and later inspired
PAROCHIALIA 29
with the longing to put in practice the directions which
made it seem possible for us to speak for God to souls.
The student-preacher of a written sermon twice a week
after Evensong before the College had the right to dine at
the Vicarage, and receive a detailed criticism after dinner ;
the extempore preacher once a week had a short stroll in
the garden, or an interview in the study, after Mattins.
Practical hints on the visitation of the sick were enlivened
by details of personal experience, and we learnt the
possibility of training a devout chronic sufferer to appre
ciate the ancient offices of the Church. Hooker was illus
trated by reference to questions of the day; Butler by
application of his principles to what had just happened in
the village or the College. The dominant note of all was
intelligent sympathy. There was a genuine ring in the
Dear People from the pulpit. . . . We felt it most for
ourselves. We were most tenderly, yet most unflinchingly
compelled to face our lives before God. Until now we had
never understood ourselves. At last the tangle was un
ravelled by one as familiar, it seemed, with its every twist
and turn as if he had himself lived it out along with us.
Doctrine, sermon, meditation each went home with direct
personal application, until it was plain that our only course
was to submit our lives and difficulties, our temptations
and sins, our hopes and fears, to one who seemed to know
them all without needing to be told, and so benefit by the
guidance for the future of one who had shown himself
clairvoyant of the past. Qui non ardet, non incendit we
struck out the negatives as we looked up to him, but we
found them for ourselves. Mundamini, qui Jertis vasa
Domini we dared not stretch out our hands for consecra
tion, uncleansed with the purification of the Sanctuary.
30 EDWARD KING
The result was that men felt that they * owed their souls
to him."
A characteristic sample of King s teaching to his
students, on a plane of thought lower than the highest,
is supplied by the Kev. Canon Wood, sometime Warden
of Kadley :
" The main point of a lecture which I remember was to
urge men to be natural. There is a great tendency to imitate
what we admire and oratory which seems to be effective ;
and in this Diocese (every one knew to whom he was
alluding) * a great example of eloquence comes before us.
Do not, let me entreat you, imitate the outcome of gifts
which you do not yourselves possess. In manner, expression,
tone even, I think, sometimes in handwriting,! often recog
nize a well-known type. Others may take a different one,
but, whatever it may be, do not copy peculiarities. Each of
us has his own gifts, one in one way, another in another.
Improve these to the utmost, but let there be nothing
artificial. Do not work yourself up to anything unnatural.
Avoid what I call " tail-lashing." Your words will go much
further and be more impressive to your hearers, if they
seem to them to be what they ought to be, the quiet utter
ance of conviction/ "
But King s work at Cuddesdon was not exclusively
confined to the students of the College. As Vicar of the
parish, he regularly ministered and preached in the Parish
Church, and was brought into that close contact, which
he always loved, with the hearts and homes and lives of
the poor. Thirty years after, he wrote to a former student :
" Oh, those Cuddesdon days were very wonderful ! I look
back to them with unfailing gratitude, though I fear I have
* Of course, Bishop Wilberforce.
I
PRESENTIMENTS 31
fallen below the high aim and hopes we had then. It is
hard, sometimes, when people go wrong ; but, thank God,
I believe in the People, and love them down to the ground.
I am never happier than when I go to the little country
parishes, and talk to the dear things."
A former curate of Cuddesdon writes :
" Once an epidemic of smallpox broke out in the
village. The Principal was away on his holiday, but came
back at once. There was one particularly bad case of a man
who lived in a cottage at the end of the road. He died, and
none of the neighbours would venture to help the poor
widow, as they were so terrified at the disease. The
Principal (I need hardly say) was with her constantly,
and with his own hands helped her to perform the last
offices. The funeral was a weird sight. At midnight.
Men with torches. The service in the Churchyard, as
it was not considered safe to take the coffin into the
Church.
" Some years afterwards I was told that in one of his
Lectures or Addresses King was speaking about the danger
of thinking too much of presentiments. And he gave as
an example a presentiment he had had very strongly for
a long time, that he should die in a particular year. That
year, he said, smallpox broke out in his parish and, when
he heard of it, he said to himself, That is to be the way
of my death. I little knew at the time what was under
neath that act sufficiently courageous in itself.
" He used to think he did nothing in the Parish, as his
time was so taken up by the Theological College. And I
believe in his answer to the Visitation- question of the
Bishop, * What do you find your chief hindrance in parish
work ? he used to write as the answer, The Theological
32 EDWARD KING
College. But, of course, he was quite mistaken. He
knew all his people, and he knew all about them, and his
influence was great. ... He always gave up Friday night
to seeing any people from the parish who might wish to
come to him. Then he was to be found in his study, and
his study-door was, as you know, close to a door which led
into the garden, and was then to be found open. One
night, I remember, he said that when he went to lock up
this door before going to bed, he found a man who had been
lingering about for three hours wishing to come and see
him, but not having the courage to do so. He gave it as
an instance of the shyness of souls, and how gentle and
accessible we ought to be. One day he told of a man
whom he was trying to get to Confession, who said, Why,
Sir, if I did such a thing I could never bear the sight of you
again. He made his confession, however, in the end, and
was most devout.
" The Principal was very much pleased because all the
farmers in the parish were communicants, and at the
Harvest Festival would all send corn from their several
farms, out of which the Eucharistic Loaf was made.
" His Cuddesdon sermons were wonderful. It was a
strange mixture, the congregation. In the Chancel some
twenty Varsity men. Just in front of the pulpit the
Palace party, with their visitors (I remember Lord
Coleridge * and Miss Charlotte Yonge, amongst others).
Then the farmers, and beyond them the villagers also.
The Principal would get up and preach a sermon which
would rivet the attention of every single person in the
Church. So simple that the most ignorant and uneducated
could not fail to understand it, yet such deep thoughts
* Brother-in-law to Bishop Mackarness.
PREACHING 33
that the most learned and far advanced would find food
for their minds and souls."
Another says : " The Principal used to insist on the duty
of a preacher to look at the congregation, saying, I always
do, and the dear things think my eye is upon them, and
have no idea that I can t see one of them. Not seldom
when he read a Lesson, he would help the people to under
stand it, by one or two sentences calling attention to its most
important idea, or explaining some difficulty in the language."
" In his advice on preaching he used to say it was good
to begin with an allusion to something that was in people s
minds c to jump on the winning horse. I remember two
instances one at All Saints , Clifton, when he was preach
ing one of the Octave Sermons, on Guy Fawkes Day.
We had gone to church through squibs and crackers, and
such things. He began his sermon by saying, My subject
to-night is the Discipline of the Church. But let us think
first of all whether Discipline is a good thing in itself, or
whether it is one of those things we should like to Uow
up. 9 The other was at Brighton. ... It was Advent. He
preached a most beautiful sermon on the Sheep and the
Goats. He began by saying how at the last there would
be the Great Separation. Now, I remember reading how
a great many years ago there was a storm at Brighton,
and the Chain Pier was damaged. The centre part got
broken by the waves, and the people who were on the end
had to be got back by ropes or some such way. But at
the Last Day there will be no getting back again. On
whichever side you are you will have to stay for ever. "
Among the students of Cuddesdon for whom King had a
D
34 EDWARD KING
specially warm regard was Stephen Gladstone, afterwards
Rector of Hawarden ; and this fact, coupled with the cir
cumstance that Gladstone s father had become Prime
Minister in 1868, led people to gossip about the chances of
preferment for the Principal. To a friend who had reported
some such speculations King wrote on January 28, 1872 :
" Thanks for your kind letter. I have not heard a
word of any sort about the Deaneries from any one.
" As long as I am not hurting the work, no place would
be like Cuddesdon to me, but of course one feels how very
much more anybody else would do with such opportunities.
" I only wonder I have not been removed before. I don t
mean to a deanery, but simply out of the way.
" P.S. Rejoice with me! This is my 284th letter!
Hope for the Reprobate ! "
The postscript refers to a real, or supposed, incapacity
to answer letters ; and of this we shall hear again. But
meanwhile the purveyors of ecclesiastical gossip were nearer
the mark than is usually the case.
CHAPTER III.
THE PASTORAL PROFESSORSHIP.
" He went forth to the spring of the waters." If there is a sense in
which Oxford is this to England, certainly there is a sense in which Oxford
life is this to you. What is it that gives its real dignity, its real interest,
its real pathos, to a scene like this ? Is it not the knowledge that we
" stand here by the well " of a thousand lives that here, and not else
where, is the bounding -up of that spring, of which the stream is to be the
life of Time, and the ocean the life of Eternity ?
C. J. VAUGHAK.
THE Rev. Charles Atmore Ogilvie, first occupant of the
Chair of Pastoral Theology at Oxford (which had been
created by Sir Robert Peel in 1842), died on February 17,
1873. On the 23rd of the same month the Principal of
Cuddesdon received the following letter :
"February 22, 1873.
" MY DEAR SlR,
" I have to propose to you that you should consent
to assume the Chair of Pastoral Theology in Oxford,
vacant by the demise of Dr. Ogilvie.
" Allow me to assure you, though perhaps it is needless,
that in submitting your name to her Majesty, with whose
sanction I now write, I have been moved by no other
consideration than that of what I believe to be your gifts
and merits, and the promise they afford of a tranquil, but
35
36 EDWARD KING
powerful and deep, religious influence on young men within
the precincts of the University.
" I remain, my dear Sir, with much regard,
" Faithfully yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE."
" Kev. the Principal of Cuddesdon College."
The Prime Minister s letter was soon followed by another,
in some respects even more gratifying, from King s old
chief, Samuel Wilberforce, now Bishop of Winchester.
"February 23, 1873.
" MY DEAREST KING,
" Gladstone allows me to write to you on the offer
which is going by this post to you. No one perhaps can
so thoroughly as I can feel the responsibility of advising
you at this crisis, because no one perhaps knows so well
what has been the priceless worth of your work at Cuddesdon.
But I am most anxious that you should accept this offer.
" Gladstone has had pressed upon him very strongly and
very influentially a different appointment, the effect of which
would be to throw the whole weight of that Chair into the
strengthening of the hands of the neologian party. What
he could do if you refuse I cannot dare think !
" But I very earnestly hope that you will not hesitate. I
know that it must be a great wrench to you to leave Cud
desdon ; and I know that your extreme modesty will make
you think that you are not fitted to fill with full effect this
great Chair. But on that point others are really better able
to judge than you are, and I have not a shadow of doubt
that, in that wider sphere which Oxford will open to you,
THE PROFESSORSHIP 37
the good you have been able to do from Cuddesdon will be
multiplied many-fold to the Church. I cannot doubt, too,
that you would not long have borne the exceeding strain
of the Cuddesdon Principalship, and therefore for every
reason I see in this the Hand of God. May you take the
office and may HE bless you in it.
" I am,
" Your ever affectionate,
"S. WlNTON. !
One can guess the sort of terms in which King would have
accepted Mr. Gladstone s offer ; and it is not unlikely that
he may have referred to the fact that he was not to be
numbered among the Prime Minister s political supporters.
Something of the sort seems to be shadowed in Mr. Glad
stone s reply :
"February 25, 1873.
" MY DEAR SlR,
" I am very sensible of your honourable frankness ;
but I receive the announcement of your acceptance with
pleasure, and your appointment will now at once go forward.
" Believe me,
" Very faithfully yours,
" W. E. GLADSTONE."
One who was then curate of Cuddesdon writes :
" I remember St. Matthias Day, 1873, well. It was very
cold and the ground covered with snow. We were all in
a great state of mind, hearing that some very important
letter had come that morning, and the Principal had gone
into Oxford. Nothing was known till the evening, when at
38 EDWARD KING
Compline in the College Chapel he said that the last Sunday
he had been preaching about the Crown of Thorns, and now
he was called upon to wear it that he was called to leave
Cuddesdon and go to Oxford."
It was, says another, " a never-to-be-forgotten scene
in the old chapel after Compline, when Dr. King briefly
stated that he had felt it his duty to accept the offer of a
University Professorship. Strong men, well-known athletes,
might be seen sobbing like children. To them the Principal
made Cuddesdon. Who, if he left it, could do such work ?
To think of the College without him, and with another in his
place, seemed almost sacrilege."
One who heard King s farewell sermon in the Parish
Church of Cuddesdon writes : "It was characteristic.
The general impression left was that he had been an entire
failure as a parish priest ; he said he had that day looked
over the Kegister of Burials since he had been Vicar, and
felt he was responsible for each soul, and how little he had
done for them. But there were two things which cheered
him : one was that he had led some of them to know and
practise Confession, and the other that he had taught them
Fasting Communion."
As soon as the Pastoral Chair became vacant, a
rumour went abroad that the Principal of Cuddesdon might
be called to fill it. Archbishop Tait, anxious as ever to
check the Catholic movement, addressed to Mr. Gladstone
two letters of remonstrance against this suggested appoint
ment, displaying the most ludicrous misapprehension of
King s aims and methods. Twenty-two years later, Arch
bishop Benson noted in his diary :
" It is strange that a great many years ago, when I was
Master of Wellington, I remember Dean Wellesley s showing
MISGIVINGS 39
me some most strong letters to the Queen and Ministers
against King s being made Professor at Oxford on the
ground of intellectual inadequacy. The Dean gave me
plenty of indication of the untruth of the allegation. I
recommended him to persevere with the recommendation of
King. The attacking party were not likely to be so strong
against what was purely to their advantage, and they must
have had their own reasons for expecting this influence for
the Church and Christianity to be great. And so it has
proved."
" A High Churchman of the Old School " * in a violent
attack upon the Ritualistic party, entitled " Quousque ?
How far ? How Long ? " thus expressed his melancholy
misgivings : " It is impossible not to feel the greatest
distrust of the newly-appointed Pastoral Professor at
Oxford. A man of no University distinction, his only
recommendation seems to have been the success which he
has had at Cuddesdon, mainly by his personal influence,
in training priestlings, under the auspices of two Bishops
of Oxford. At the Leeds Congress he is reported in the
Times of October 12, 1872, as exhorting his hearers not
to shrink from the discipline which the Church offered
them in Confession and Absolution.! What will Pastoral
Theology become in his hands ? "
Ah ! what, indeed ? But others felt more cheerfully.
The Rev. J. W. Burgon, afterwards Dean of Chichester,
wrote from Oriel : " I had no idea till I reached Oxford
yesterday evening, what good fortune had befallen us. I
am really more glad than I can tell you of your appoint
ment." The Kev. E. C. Woollcombe wrote from Balliol :
* The Rev. W. E. Jelf.
t King signed Dr. Pusey s Declaration on Confession. December.
1873. See Pusey s Life, Vol. IV.
40 EDWARD KING
" You, with only a very few others, have been labouring
long and well in this field already ; you will, I am sure,
gladly afresh devote yourself to what has been, I suppose,
the work of your life ; and to those of us who desire above
all things that the work of the Church of England may
be strengthened, it is a matter of deepest thankfulness
that in the midst of the trials of our time your labours
should be transferred to Oxford."
King was installed as Canon of Christ Church on April 24,
1873, but he did not vacate the Principalship of Cuddesdon
till after the Annual Festival of the College.* That festival
is always held on the Tuesday after Trinity, and Tuesday,
June 10, 1873, was naturally a day of unbounded enthusiasm.
Liddon was the preacher. In his sermon on " The Moral
Groundwork of Clerical Training," f he spoke as follows:
" To-day is an anniversary, in some respects of more
than ordinary interest. It is a day of many congratula
tions, natural and legitimate. Never before the present
year has this College, in the person of any of its working
officers, received such emphatic recognition from high
* On King s retirement from the Principalship, a Testimonial Fund
was raised by Cuddesdon men, past and present. Part of it was bestowed
on the beautiful portrait, which was painted by George Richmond, R.A.,
presented to Mrs. King, and, after her death, given by King to the College ;
part on furnishing his study in Christ Church, and supplying it with fine
copies of SS. Chrysostom, Athanasius, Ambrose, Leo the Great, Gregory
Nazianzen, Gregory the Great, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyprian, Basil,
Bernard, Jerome ; of Tertullian, Alcuin, Bede, Petavius, Martene, Goar,
Morinus, Suicer, Tromm, Lightfoot, and Ugolino s Thesaurus in 34 Folio
Volumes. In the first volume of each work is the following inscription,
printed upon red leather in gold letters : " Edvardo King, Collegii
Cuddesdoniensis decem annos Praesidi, pise in Christo curse, laboris, et
exempli memores, discipuli et amici ducenti dono dedere, Anno Salutis
CC.LXXin."
Sermon II. in "Clerical Life and Work."
QUOUSQUE? 41
quarters of the services which it has been permitted to
render to the Church. That recognition, many of you will
feel, however grateful in itself, is purchased at a very heavy
cost ; and therefore to-day is a day, perhaps, of some
great regrets and even of some inevitable misgivings."
At the luncheon, in responding to the toast of his health,
the outgoing Principal affirmed that the Guardian Angel of
the College must have kept the accounts during his last
ten years, since any such achievement was quite beyond his
powers. Reference has just been made to Quousque ? and
that egregious pamphlet furnished Dr. Liddon, who spoke at
the luncheon, with the material for one of his most charac
teristic speeches. He pictured King riding into Oxford on
his cob to take up his new duties at Christ Church, and find
ing himself stopped by an old gentleman, with not much to
do, on Magdalen Bridge, who is saying, " Quousque, Mr.
Professor of Pastoral Theology ? How far ? How long 1 "
Then he gave King s imagined answer in a series of retorts
which flew like pistol-shots round the tent, each beginning,
" I am not going to stop until . . ." The climax was
reached when he said, " I am not going to stop until I have
convinced the young men of Oxford that the Church of
England is something more than the shell of an establish
ment."
The degrees of B.D. and D.D. were conferred on King
by Decree of Convocation on June 14, 1873 ; and he had
scarcely established himself in his new home in Christ-
Church when, in common with the whole Church of England,
he was horror-stricken by the news of the fatal accident
which, on July 19, 1873, befell his old chief, Bishop Samuel
Wilberforce. Between the Bishop and the Principal of
Cuddesdon there had been the closest and most affectionate
42 EDWARD KING
sympathy. When the Bishop was quitting the diocese of
Oxford for that of Winchester, he wrote in his diary :
" October 2, 1869. To Liverpool by rail. Mackarness
joined me. Oxford offered to him. He means to carry
everything on just as now. I wrote to reassure
King."*
And in the last year of King s life he wrote to the Bishop s
daughter-in-law : " The old Bishop, and all round him, had
a large place in my earlier life." On July 21, 1873, he
wrote as follows to Ernest Wilberforce, the Bishop s second
surviving son, and Domestic Chaplain :
" MY DEAREST ERNEST,
" I cannot say anything I would. I only must just
assure you of the most sincere and affectionate sympathy,
and our earnest prayers that you may be enabled to stand
this terrible shock. You know how much I owe to your
dear, great Father, and how sincere my Love is for him.
Keep as quiet as you can. Perhaps none but a sudden
departure could have been in harmony with such a Life of
intense activity and work ; he worked to the end. Years
of weakness might have been very painful to him and made
some forget the great lesson of his bravely lived life.
" I can t write. I only just want you to be sure that,
among many others, my Mother and I offer our most sincere
and affectionate sympathy.
" I am always your most affectionate,
"EDWARD KING.
"Don t answer."
* This promise was abundantly made good, and King s relations
with his new diocesan were as friendl * t with the former.
BISHOP WILBERFORCE 43
A few days later he wrote with reference to the Bishop s
funeral :
" MY DEAREST ERNEST,
" Thank you so much for writing. I was so sorry
not to be with you, but we were together in spirit. It
is indeed, dearest Friend, terrible for all, but for you more
than for all. This we all feel you had given up all to be
with him, and you must feel now terribly left.
" I am most glad you have been able to undertake work
at Leeds. You will have full occupation and the most
sincere sympathy. If ever you could come to us, you
know how pleased we should be to have you. I cannot
say what I owe your dear, great Father. Tho J he was so
far above me, I felt I could sincerely love him, and few if
any pleasures of my life have been greater than his kindness
to me.
" But I will not write only be sure of a constant Prayer
and sincere sympathy and love.
" God bless you and support you and guide you, Dearest
Friend.
"lam
" Ever your most truly affec.
" EDWARD KING.
" My kindest remembrance to your Brothers."
One of the deplorable consequences of Bishop Wilber-
force s death was that it let loose the persecuting zeal of
Archbishop Tait, which the Bishop had consistently en
deavoured to restrain ; and when, in the following
February, Mr. Gladstone ceased to be Prime Minister, the
44 EDWARD KING
Archbishop thought that the moment had arrived for a
final attack on such of the clergy as were labouring to
restore the dignity of Eucharistic Worship. So, on
April 20, 1874, he introduced his ill-starred Public Worship
Kegulation Bill, with a good deal of plausible rhetoric
about " young and inexperienced men," " the just rights of
Parishioners," and " the substitution of summary process
for the present system of protracted litigation." Disraeli,
now Prime Minister, at once detected and exposed the
pious fraud. " This," he said, " is a Bill to put down
Ritualism." But he believed that it would be popular,
and, with his assistance, it passed into law. Nowadays
people, if they recall the Public Worship Regulation Act
at all, recall only the ludicrous failures of its operation,
the scandalous imprisonments of clergy to which it
led, and the triumphant endurance of those who suffered
under it. But, in 1874, it was regarded with serious
apprehension. Episcopate, Government, and Parliament
were to all appearance of one mind in their determination
to crush the Ritualists ; and even brave men s hearts were
failing them for fear, and for looking for those things which
were coming on the Church. But, through all the storm
and stress, King maintained his beautiful equanimity. On
August 2, 1874, he wrote :
" The speeches in Parliament and Convocation have
been very trying and disappointing. I suppose we
shall have to go back about 20 years in outward things
if the Ornaments Rubric is given up by Convocation.
Evidently the People are not yet won to Church Principles.
I confess I was longing for rest too soon. We must turn-
to again, and teach in the quiet Early Tractarian way.
That seems the thing to do. Not to lose heart, or get
/
THE P. W. R. ACT 45
hard with disappointment * but to get a help in Humility,
feeling that Tarliament does not like us or want us ; and
to set to work again with individuals in the clear and
healthy atmosphere of Unpopularity. We have perhaps
lost of late years by gaining the masses I mean lost in
purity of intention and unworldliness. If we can only not
lose heart or temper, but retain a patient energy and love,
I do not fear."
And again :
" I don t trouble the least about Parliament. If
we keep quietly on in increasing nearness to God, we shall
attract and hold the People. The most spiritual and un
worldly Church is the one that will attract and win the
People. If we were more evenly and quietly like People
going to another world, and gaining information about It,
and able to tell people the dangers and helps to be met
with in the Koad, that is what People want. The World
is very beautiful and wonderful, but it is only the vestibule
to the real Temple ; and people know that, more or less,
only they are afraid to admit it ; so try and rest here, and
then they find it fails them. Old Mr. Gibbs * told me once
that he looked upon life like a tour in a foreign country,
which was very beautiful, and in which you meet many
kind people with whose kindness it would be wrong not to
be pleased, but which could never make you think of
settling, or forgetting Home and those who are there. I
thought it was just right. Some people won t accept the
kindness the world offers, and others settle down in it
the other is the way."
During this unquiet summer, King was writing thus
Founder of Keble College.
46 EDWARD KING
tranquilly to a young Student of Christ Church,* who was
engaged in liturgical research :
" A final edition of the Liturgies may be beyond us. . . ;
But, supposing no final edition is reached, yet great good
may be done. Take Dr. Neale, how much he has done !
He says in his preface to the Tetralogion that hardly any
clergy possessed the Greek Liturgies. They were very
rare, and very expensive ; but now, through Neale s work,
very many of us have gained some idea of what the services
were. If we can get out one, or more, Liturgies, with some
notes, cheaply, we may, please God, get the clergy and
Laity more and more acquainted with the general features
of the great Altar-service, and we shall accustom them to
see the antiquity (without fighting for the actual text of the
Liturgies for fifty or a hundred years) of the Keal Presence,
the Sacrifice, and the Commemoration of the Departed.
These 3 points are not sufficiently held in England, and
we shall do an essential piece of work if we can secure their
ground more firmly. It is sad that the Romanists should
claim the early Liturgies for Transubstantiation, and cut
us out of any share in the matter, like Calvinists, and other
Protestants. . . * I should think you might compare the
translations of the Coptic and other Oriental copies with
the Greek, and, collating all important differences, ask
Payne Smith, and Churton, and Malan, and others in
England, and then refer their answers to some German,
French, and Eastern scholars.
J " It would be a valuable result of work, if we can gather
together all existing information, and popularize it, as you
say. It would be worth considering how to get into com
munication with the Archbishops of Syra, Athens, and
* The Rev. E. T. Gibbons (1850-1876).
A GOOD LENT 47
Chios. We can talk it over when we meet, and we might
try to get a Liturgical Conference in England another year ;
it would be very valuable, and not impossible ; but we must
make ourselves masters of all existing information before
we can see just when to push on."
On Easter Eve, 1875, he wrote from Christ Church to
one of his sisters :
" MY DEAREST FAN,
" Just one line, as I know you have been fagging
along, and it is pleasant to feel others are in sympathy.
I hope you have had a good Lent. I think we have, thank
God, had quite a valuable quiet time. We have not done
very much, but we have marked the season plainly by
keeping quiet, and on Wednesdays and Fridays we have
been to St. Mary s. The sermons have not been very
well attended, but it was quite good for me to go as a
member of a Congregation, a position which I have not been
in for 20 years. I quite realized the value of steady
services. Last week we had evening service in the
Cathedral, and it was very well attended. We got on a
little this year by having a Celebration on Maundy Thursday,
and we are to have one this Easter Monday and Tuesday,
so I hope things are a little more alive. It will be a great
pleasure if we can get the Townspeople to look to the
Cathedral for Holy Week, and then by degrees they may
like it more. We have had very good services yesterday
in nearly all the Churches.
" Altogether, I hope we are settling down to steady work,
that is what we want, I think, in England now. We have
learnt our lesson from abroad now, and we must remember
48 EDWARD KING
to be grateful to them, but now we must do it. We want to
make people respect England. We have looked so much
abroad during the last 25 years, but now we are trying
to work and produce English books of all kinds, not only
Theology, which are up to the mark ; and we are beginning
to do the same in Theology. We must work. And the same
in personal life, we know the machinery now for Saint-
making, and we have got the stuff, only we must work and
make them. I want to see English Saints made in the old
way by suffering and labour and diligence in little things,
and the exercise of unselfish, untiring love ; quiet lives lived
away in holes and corners and not known to the public
while alive. I want to begin to write some 2d. Lives of
English Saints, with the names of counties and parishes
and people we know, so that others may read them and try
to do the same. Do let us try and rear a few quiet English
Saints ! But forgive all this. You are tired out, I know,
with slaving for everybody ; however, that is the way ;
by degrees one gets to see things a little clearer, only one
needs a lot of discipline. I hope to start fresh to-morrow
and try and get within the outer ring of decency before
Advent comes. Now, good-bye, mind you come here in
May. I want a great deal of nice talk, we must try and
do something. With love to Stephen and all Easter joy
to you all.
"Your ever most affectionate Brother,
"EDWABD KING."
" The dear Mum is quite well and comfortable."
Work was now beginning to thicken about the Pastoral
Professor, and not all of it the sort of work which his Chair
OVERWORK 49
was founded to promote. On May 12, 1875, Dr. Pusey sent
the following letter across " Tom Quad."
" MY DEAREST KING,
" I hear very serious accounts of your work, not
in the way of your Professorship, but because people will
stick like a leech, if any one goes near the pond where they
are. Work breeds very fast. A. wants this, because B.
had that, and thus it goes on through I know not how many
alphabets. We are an ill-manned garrison ; and so
every one who will work is made to work twice as much
as he ought. I did it, years ago ; and so broke down
again and again. During Term-time, I am sure that you
should do nothing except your Professor s work, and hear
a certain number of confessions. I was shocked to find
that a maid of mine went to you. Any one could hear her
little simple confession. Your time and mind ought to
be kept for more difficult cases.
" It is only three weeks, I hear, since you were beaten
down by influenza. People have noticed how ill you have
been looking, and how changed you seemed during the
past year. ... I hear that the cause of your weakness
is the ceaseless flow of individual applications which you
allow to stream in upon you during the time of rest or
exercise which you really need. I know, too, what it is
to have anxious cases. . . . One hour s harass, I said
to a physician once, is worse than 10 hours work.
Then your sympathizing nature makes you feel things so
much, that it becomes a strain upon powers, which,
economized, are of such value to the good cause here.
" You only can tell what you can do, but you must learn
to say I can t, when you doubt. You must not let the
E
50 EDWARD KING
work hinder sleep, or the exercise which you need, or make
you go on, when you feel a doubt whether you can work.
Minds are not in such a desperate hurry. Anyhow, the
self-denial of a little delay will do them good.
" Now, don t let this worry you, because then I should
be doing the very thing which I wish not to be done.
" Your very affectionate,
E. B. P."
Partly with a view to obtaining the rest which he so
sorely needed, and partly with a view to improving his
German, King spent part of the Long Vacation in Germany.
On July 14, 1875, he wrote from Dresden to his sister
"It is very funny how we are all scattered about. I
am here in a lodging with a German family. I have only
just come in to-day, so I cannot tell what they will be,
but they seem nice. The father and mother can t speak
a word of English, and the one daughter only a very few,
so I am very fortunate, as we must blunder on in German.
It is rather dull at times being alone, but that is necessary
to learn. The Hotels are so full of English that one does
not get a chance. There is a very nice Church here I
believe, and a very good man from Cambridge is taking
the Duty, Dr. Hicks.* They have daily Morning Service
and Weekly Communion, which will help one on. I had
a very interesting week at Leipzig, and saw most of the
chief Theological Professors, Delitzsch, Ludthart, and
Thorluck at Halle, about 20 miles off. They are very simple,
and work very hard at their books ; but not very much
* Afterwards Bishop of Bloemfontein.
GERMANY 51
more, I think. I think in England we have a wider-reach
ing, and better-balanced, work than the Germans have ;
they have confined themselves almost to the cultivation
of the intellect. I don t think it will hold the whole man ;
he needs cultivation of Heart, Feelings, Affections, etc.
as well. I spend the day struggling at German in different
ways, and refresh myself with Dr. Kay s * Isaiah, which
is wonderfully full of the mind and spirit of Scripture ; it
is quite a pleasure to find his proofs and quotations almost
always from some Book of the Bible instead of from some
German writer. I have got a nice room with a bed in one
corner. I am to have breakfast and supper with the
family, and go in and out when I like to talk ; I suppose
we shall mostly spend the evening together. I wish you
were here to spend it with me too ; then it would be great
fun, but we must each do our bit. I hope we shall meet
again before long ; do you think you can manage August
21 ? * If not, we can keep a distant sort of octave ! Such
a great Festival may well spread over some weeks.
" 10.10 P.M. Since I wrote thus far, I have done my first
evening ! It was very pleasant. I went in to tea at 7.15,
and found only Mrs. and Miss, so down we sat and blundered
on. They are capital for me, as they can t speak any
English. Every now and then we came to a hopeless stop,
and no amount of signs or explanations could get us out ;
so we had to leave that and start afresh. I proposed
reading out loud in turns, which they seemed to like, so
the two ladies and I read aloud one of Andersen s German
tales ; it did very well, and about 9 I left them. One
certainly learns much more than in an Hotel, as one
must keep on saying something. You would laugh at my
* The birthday of the Bishop s mother.
52 EDWARD KING
audacious efforts. The old father is a pious old Lutheran,
nearly blind; the ladies are also Lutheran, but more
cheerful. Now I must go to bed. God bless you, dearest
Fanny, and give you strength for all you have to do.
" I have had very good letters from the dear Mum,
she seems quite comfortable and well. !
The Public Worship Regulation Act, passed in 1874,
came into operation in the following year. On Sep
tember 5, 1875, King wrote thus to a young missionary
in Zanzibar :
" At home things are peaceful ; no prosecutions have
taken place since July ! The good clergy at St. Alban s have
made rather a confusion, but it is difficult to say what they
could have done.* I hope the Bishops will generally take
the line of leaving people alone where they feel confidence
in the loyalty of the clergyman, and where he has the
consent of his people. So with Prudence and Patience, I
hope we shall get over the difficulty, and the good will be
a certain sifting of the Ritualistic movement which is
needed.
" At Cuddesdon all flourishes beautifully. I went over
to see the new buildings a week or two ago, and thought
them a great improvement. I was quite satisfied that it
was right that I had left. I never should have made the
changes ; but they are a clear gain, and put the college on
a stronger and better basis, so that is quite comfortable,
and one can think of it with gratitude and hope that all
is so good."
* The Rev. A. H. Mackonochie, Incumbent of St. Alban s Holborn,
had been suspended for alleged irregularities in ritual, and during his
suspension the congregation had been advised to worship at St. Vedasts ,
Foster Lane.
MATERIALISM 53
[King is here referring to a considerable enlargement of
the College, and especially to the erection of a new and
more appropriate chapel, which had been carried out as a
Memorial to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Founder of the
College. The new buildings were opened, and the chapel
was dedicated on May 25, 1875.]
" You have heard, I daresay, that Copleston, a Fellow
of St. John s, Oxford, is going in December as Bishop to
Ceylon ; he is quite young, and very clever, and good,
and I hope, please God, he may do a great work with the
Buddhists and the more philosophical side of Indian mis
belief ; and the Warden of Keble, Holland, Wordsworth, and
one or two more are going to start a house * in Oxford for
training clergy, partly for England and partly for missionary
work. I hope it may be successful. You must write and
tell me some hints.
" I have been in Dresden this Long Vacation, working at
German. It is very interesting seeing the wonderful up
growth and power of the German nation, but the unbelief is
very sad ; only 3 per cent., they say, go to any sort of church
in Berlin, and unbelief is quite open. They seem to have
passed through the stages of nationalism and Pantheism,
and now they have almost ceased to care about the meta
physics which we have been following, and worshipping
in them, and they are devoting themselves to physics.
That means, I fear, for many, materialism. Luthordt says
this plainly, meaning by materialism love of money, or
power, or pleasure, this seems to be the leading danger
now that people will try to be respectable, but with
out God; to separate morality from religion, to devote
* St. Stephen s House.
54 EDWARD KING
themselves to civilization and culture and forget God. The
results of physical science are so directly beneficial to society
that it pays in the eyes of the world, and yet one ought to
know by this time, after the example of Greece and Rome;
that culture may exist without morality.
" But I must come to an end. Of yourself, dear friend, I
quite understand your letters. You must not be surprised
that you find your nature little changed by the change of
life ; but I do not doubt God has a blessing for you as
the good Bishop of Bombay said, God will not let Himself
be any man s debtor ; only we need discipline, and trust,
to show us how bad we are and make us thoroughly humble
humble enough to accept God s gifts without pride. Trial
shows us our sinfulness, and so should help us to cling to
Divine Grace. I see more and more how perfectly God leads
and disciplines each as is best ; even this we do not often
see that we need the discipline at first.
"Now, goodbye, dearest Randolph. I need not say
that your life of self-denial and ready self-devotion helps to
keep us up in the presence of luxuries. You are doing in
England more than you can see, and how much more in
Africa He only knows !
" My good mother sends you her love. Mine I need not
send, for you have it always.
" God bless you and protect and support and comfort
you, and give you grace to see the reality of your work."
A word must now be said about King s professorial
method. In his hands Pastoral Theology, which had meant
a dry system of perfunctory lectures, became a living,
moving, and effective power. Of course, his official duties
were primarily concerned with the candidates for Holy
PASTORAL THEOLOGY 55
Orders ; but his influence extended to a much wider circle.
Men who, with no thought of seeking the priesthood, were
yet in earnest about religion, found themselves drawn by
an irresistible attraction to the private lectures which he
gave at his house in Christ Church. Those lectures dealt,
not with disputed points of doctrine, but with the deepest
(and often the most secret) facts of moral and spiritual
experience. His power of sympathy amounted to genius,
and gave him an almost supernatural insight into human
hearts. He combined the keenest spirituality with a
sanctified common- sense which good people sometimes
lack. He spoke to us of our past lives, of our future
prospects, of our present temptations, of our besetting
sins, with an intimate penetration engendered by long
experience in personal contact with souls. He told us
truths about ourselves which were part of our con
sciousness, but which we believed to have been hidden
from all except ourselves. It was the same when he
preached before the University. There was no rhetoric,
no striving after effect, no parade of learning, no attempt
to be startling, or novel, or paradoxical. There was
the face, deeply furrowed but still of almost faultless
beauty ; the hair, sprinkled with grey, but thick and curly
to the last ; the head prematurely bowed ; the searching
gaze, the exquisitely modulated voice which " made you
squirm," as one undergraduate said ; " which felt like cold
water down your back," as another put it. There was the
clear statement of theological truth, so gently worded that
even the most fiercely-controverted questions were touched
without offence or jar. There were plain lessons of moral
duty, from which one might shrink, but which one could
not gainsay. And every now and then there was some
56 EDWARD KING
keen phrase about our experience, past or present, which,
once heard, was never forgotten " Some of us look back
to-night to old school-friendships when Satan was trans
formed into an angel of light. ! The words linger in
memory.
One who is now an Incumbent in London writes
" I once heard him preach the University Sermon at
St. Mary s. It consisted mainly of a long and learned list
of authorities for the doctrine of Absolution. But, at the
end, his eyes went up from his manuscript. He stood erect,
and spoke straight from his heart, like one inspired with
passionate love for the good of souls. We kindled as we
heard those glowing words, and they seemed to have been
all too short in proportion to the rest, when the preacher
ended his discourse, and we walked in serious mood away."
Of what Dr. King was in the Ministry of Reconciliation
it is not becoming to speak at large ; but this much may be
said his sympathy with the tempted and his love of souls
made him an almost too lenient judge. Thankfulness for
what had been avoided, rather than horror at what had
been done, was the note of all that he said. In matters of
Direction, too, his tendency was the reverse of ascetic.
" In the world, but not of it " : " Using, as not abusing."
These texts seem to sum up his teaching. Two illustrations
may be given. To a young man, going into all the gaieties
of the London season, he said that the sight of the gowns,
the jewels, and the beautiful rooms might be turned to
advantage as lifting the heart towards the Source of all
Beauty ; and, at a Retreat in 1879, he said, in the hearing
of the present writer, that the " ^Esthetic " mode of furnish
ing and decoration, then coming into vogue, was valuable as
PREPARATION FOR ORDERS 57
a reversion to the true idea of Beauty, too long obscured by
conventional ugliness.
The Rev. J. A. Robertson, M.A., M.B., writes as
follows :
" While at Oxford as an undergraduate (1874-77) I
attended three courses of Dr. King s lectures at Christ Church.
At the last lecture of his, which I was privileged to attend,
at the end of Summer Term, 1877, he gave his students what
I then thought, and still think, very sound advice, which
ran somewhat as follows c Avoid, if possible, rushing
straight from the University into Holy Orders. Seek
rather to learn as much as you can of human nature, by
mixing with men and women, studying their characters,
and learning their needs. Travel, if you can ; and, if need
be, work at any honourable calling to support yourselves,
until you have learned how to reach the hearts of men and
women. I consider that a man is young enough at thirty
to take Holy Orders.
" At a private interview afterwards, I told Dr. King that
I had an opportunity afforded me of remunerative work
in a Scottish University City, where I could study medicine,
he said Seize this opportunity, and take, if possible, the
full Medical Course ! I know no course of study so well
qualified to give you a knowledge of human character and
human needs as the medical curriculum. And what,
said I, if I become enamoured of Medicine and stick to
it ? * Never mind, was the answer, you will be able to
do just as good a work for God as a doctor, as you ever
can as a priest. I became enamoured of Medicine, and
worked as a doctor for nearly a quarter of a century.
Now I am a priest-doctor, organizing the Medical Missions
of the S.P.G. "
58 EDWARD KING
At Dr. King s professorial residence in Christ Church his
undergraduate friends found a bright and constant hospi
tality. His house was kept by his truly venerable and
beautiful mother, who, as became her age, was a lady of
the old school, and made it a boast that she never departed
from the scale of wages which prevailed in the earlier days
of her married life. The truth was that, when she offered
a new cook 20 a year, Dr. King used secretly to add the
promise of another 20, saying : "But don t tell Mrs. King,
for she likes to think that things are still as they were when
she was young." It is impossible to imagine a more charac
teristic trait.
If King was a delightful host, he was not less a welcome
guest ; and he was often to be met at Mrs. LiddelPs evening
parties at the Deanery, and at the small and friendly dinners
in which Oxford abounded. But he was easily tired ;
he began his day early, and came home sleepy. The
present writer well remembers a suggestive hint : "If
I am going to dine out, I always say my evening prayers
when I dress for dinner.".
On April 29, 1876, King wrote to his young friend in
Zanzibar
" Dearest child, you are just the same impulsive, brave
creature. How I should like to hear you floundering in
Swahili parentheses ! I thought of you so much last week
when the Bishop of Deny was staying with us, and he spoke
of some Irishman who made long, entangled speeches, and
he said he thought he was born in a parenthesis, and had
never got out of it ! You see I am as unkind as ever !
The last great event here has been the opening of
Keble Chapel. It is very splendid, not quite what we
BETHEL 59
are used to, there being a great deal of colour and
mosaics ; but it is altogether magnificent, and cost about
50,000. The Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishops of
Ely, Oxford, Salisbury, Kochester were there. Dear old
Dr. Pusey preached, but we could nor hear a word, and
Liddon in the evening, but we heard very little of that.
I fear it is a bad place for sound. We had some valuable
speeches. The Archbishop did his best to be kind. Poor
Lord Lyttelton s death caused a gloom in some ways, but
it was altogether a most successful day.*
*****
" Term is just beginning. We get along very nicely, I
am thankful to say. Last Term I started a little Bethel
in my garden ; it was a wash-house, and we cleaned it out
and put cocoa-nut matting and chairs and a Harmonium
very simple, but very lovely. We had a sort of Meditation
every Friday evening at 8 P.M. We did the Seven Deadly
Sins just like Cuddesdon. I enjoyed it immensely. We are
having them again this Term, only at 9 o clock, because of
the boats ! Poor things, they were so good ; the place was
crammed.
*****
" May 6th. This letter must go now. We have had a
week of Term, and I have begun again in the Bethel. We
are doing the Lord s Prayer. It is a great pleasure to me."
" Bethel " soon became perhaps the most important
point, as it is the most endearing memory, of King s work
in Oxford. One who used to frequent it wrote thus of
" Dr. King s Friday evenings " " We used to pass through
the house into the garden behind, and there, guided by
* April 25, 1876.
60 EDWARD KING
lamps placed near the ground, found our way to a building
at the further end (originally, I believe, a brew-house or
wash-house) fitted up as a simple oratory. At the further
end was a sacred picture, and below, a faldstool and a
harmonium. Dr. King came in, in surplice and stole ; a
hymn was sung heartily by all, a few prayers said, and
then came a simple, earnest address, the whole concluding
with another hymn." The writer might have added that
Dr. Ottley, who now sits in the Chair of Pastoral Theology,
was for several years the organist in " Bethel." He writes :
" The old harmonium still remains in situ."
King s next letter belongs to a later period, but as it
relates to the experience of " Bethel," it may be inserted
here
" Thank you very much for your letter. It falls in
with my own feelings with regard to last Term. I did
not feel to have quite that higher touch with them, which
I generally have felt, and I think the attendance was not
so good, and one certainly told me that he thought it was
beyond him because he had not begun Aristotle. On the
other hand, I am most grateful that this should be so,
because it is just the result we should desire, viz. that to
go from the Bible to Aristotle is to go back and to go down,
and to narrow your hold on, and sympathy with, men.
The old taunt, Oh ! can t you write a better " Ethics " ?
Why as Christians do you keep going back to Aristotle ?
is answered. We do see the deficiencies in Aristotle. We
are not satisfied with him. We can, and do, supply the
deficiencies in Revelation. This is a most valuable
experience, and to have seen the dulness come over the
Bethel from Aristotle as compared to the light and
ARISTOTLE 61
increasing fire and flame from the Gospels, and our
Lord s Life, is worth having lived for.
" It is just as one would have wished. But I hardly
know what to do. I sometimes feel as if it were my work
to get this lower moral stage clear for the men, and to try
to do it so that they may go into the villages and towns
and do the same for the quite Poor. It is a pity they should
not give their minds to the scientific study of a good Life,
I as well as of a sound Body a pity not to study, and get all
I the good they can from one who is at least one of the greatest
\ moralists who has ever written. Dante, you know, calls
him * The Master of them that Know. I had thought of
taking the 8th and 9th Books on Friendship, and trying to
save some from fatal mistakes and to lead them on to true
Detachment/ Then I thought this would lead up to the
Communion of the Saints, as Aristotle says, Koivuvta jap
ri QtX ia. With this I thought I might take the 7th Book
as a Lenten kind of basis. But I will think over your kind
letter, and you will pray that I may be guided to do what
is best.
" God bless you, dear friend."
Of King s self-sacrificing and generous kindness to those
who were brought into official relations with him the follow
ing instance is supplied by my friend the Rev. J. M. Lester,
Vicar of St. Leonard s, Bridgnorth
" After I had taken my degree at Oxford in 1875, and was
staying up to read for Holy Orders, it was necessary for me
to attend the lectures of the Professor of Pastoral Theology.
Upon inquiry I found that the only term in which I could
attend them was the one in which Dr. King did not lecture.
I did not know him at all, though I had learnt to reverence
62 EDWARD KING
him when listening to his searching addresses in the little
* Bethel in his garden. But upon calling to put my diffi
culty before him, at once with wonderful kindness he offered
to give me the lectures by myself. What such an offer
meant from so busy a man it is not difficult to imagine.
However, it turned out that there was another man in like
case, so that our class consisted of two. And I have no
doubt that he, now a dignitary in a northern Diocese, has,
like myself, the most vivid recollection of those delightful
lectures on Parochialia.
" Dr. King would stand in his well-worn double-breasted
cassock, or would walk about the room, while he spoke to
us in his own unconventional manner. One felt all the time
that one was in the presence of a master, but at the same
time of one whose conception of the Pastoral Office was the
outcome not merely of wide reading, but of profound con
viction based on personal experience.
" But what I value still more perhaps in retrospect is
the memory of the quiet times that we had together in his
library, when, week by week, I took him my analysis of
sermons for his criticism. He had bidden me analyse any
sermons I liked, and I, at that time a somewhat colourless
Churchman, had chosen those of F. W. Robertson. There
were, of course, in them passages that were hardly to the
liking of the good doctor ; and it was amusing to see his
pencil hovering over them, while he hesitated as to how
best to correct the heterodoxies of the great Brighton
preacher. I should not have expressed it quite in that
way, he would say, as he proceeded to alter a passage
beyond recognition. Those pencilled emendations are
among the most precious of my possessions.
" Once he was not quite ready for me when I arrived.
MOTHER AND SON 63
* Come and see my mother/ he said. She will do you good.
And there one recognized some of those charming charac
teristics that had gone to make her son what he was.
" I remember that he had the greatest affection for the
late Bishop of St. Andrews. Asking me to what parish
I was to be ordained, I told him that I was going to be
under Mr. Wilkinson, of St. Peter s, Eaton Square.
happy man, happy man ! ! he exclaimed how I wish I
could go with you ! "
" Come and see my mother. She will do you good."
These words, so truly characteristic of the speaker and of
the atmosphere in which he lived, may serve to introduce
this prettily filial letter, written from Scheveningen in the
Long Vacation of 1876
"MY DEAEEST MOTHER,
"I left Amsterdam on Monday afternoon at 4
clock, after a very interesting morning in the Museum,
where they have all their best Pictures. Many I felt to
know quite well from Copies and Prints. I think I was not
quite satisfied with Rembrandt s famous Picture, The
Night Watch. I believe the figures are chiefly Portraits,
which gives a stiffer look than when Painters paint from
an ideal ; but it is very finely painted indeed. I went all
over the King s Palace and up to the top of the tower,
where you get a good view of the whole city. . . .
" I hope you have got safe back from Buxton, and feel
all the better for it. Good night. The noise of the sea
is so nice.
" Your ever, dearest mother,
" Most affectionate son,
"EDWARD KING."
64 EDWARD KING
At the close of the same year he wrote to his sister
" It was very good of you to remember me in the midst
of all your work. One gets on now, and begins to think of
finishing, if possible, some little bit before the end. It
takes a long time to learn to work, and then it is difficult
not to despair when one sees how very little can be done.
Then, besides one s poor head, one has a heart and a
stomach to carry thro the world, and these are both heavy
things at times, and difficult to manage."
That " head " and that " heart " and that " stomach "
often combined to make King s life uneasy. Certainly he
was much stronger than he had been in early manhood,
when he was dragged up the hill at Wheatley by ministrant
plough-boys, and put to bed at Cuddesdon by anxious
students. In the Long Vacation of 1869 he had been
able to write from Chamounix " We got here yesterday,
having walked all the way from Courmayeur, about
sixty miles, in three days. Is not that pretty good for the
poor monk ? The first day was lovely, up from Cour
mayeur, under Mount Blanc,to Chapieux a long walk of
about eight hours. My feet were very much blistered, but
I went to bed with my stockings full of brandy, and the
next day went like a bird over the Col de Bonhomme to
Contamines. There was a good deal of snow on the north
side, and we had one regular slide, sitting in the Swiss way. !
Thus, as he grew older, his health improved ; but he never
was robust, and he was forced to husband his resources.
In the year 1876 he said to the present writer, who was then
an undergraduate recovering from a severe illness : " You
will find that there are mornings when the tide doesn t
STORMS 65
come in, and then one has to take it gently all day long."
It was this sense of his physical limitations, as well as the
pressure of his stated duties, that made him, in those days,
decline work outside Oxford. To his lifelong friend, Canon
Porter, then Vicar of Banbury, he wrote on January 23, 1877
" I find it so very difficult in the strain and press of work
to keep that quiet superiority to it, which is almost necessary
for undertaking spiritual work like a Retreat. You will
say I ought to know better than to be so confused ; that is
true, dear friend, but at best I can only diminish the evil
by keeping to necessary work."
The year 1877 was a period of violent disturbance, at
home and abroad, in Church and in State. Abroad, war
was declared by Eussia against Turkey at the beginning of
the summer, and the battle of the Schipka Pass raged, with
desperate bloodshed, from August 20 to 27. At home a
manual called " The Priest in Absolution," intended as a
guide to practical casuistry for priests who are obliged
to hear Confessions, was by illicit means made public, and
roused a storm of Protestant indignation in which Confession
and Confessors alike were indecently reviled. The Rev.
Arthur Tooth, Vicar of St. James s, Hatcham, one of the
first victims of Archbishop Tait s Public Worship Regulation
Act, was cast into prison, and others were attacked. A
spirit of unrest seized the whole world of labour, and strikes
broke out among the ship-wrights of the Clyde, the miners
of Northumberland, the cotton-workers of Bolton, and the
railway-men in Ireland and in the United States. This
conjunction of disturbances gives a peculiar interest to a
letter which King wrote on St. Matthew s Day to his friend,
Henry Scott Holland,* Senior Student of Christ Church
* Afterwards Regius Professor of Divinity.
66 EDWARD KING
" Dearest friend, it has been rough ! Very much like
the Schipka ! Yet in the end our cause must win, whether
we are smashed up or not. Thank you so much for your
loving letter ; it was such a comfort. I must, however,
say most gratefully that, in all this, I have not myself
suffered, nor, indeed, been inwardly disturbed. There is
nothing that I see to shake the principles of one s inner
life. This last Confession-Panic will in the end, I think,
do good. When people get quiet again, they will see (1)
that there is such a thing as Absolution ; (2) that the
natural act of Confession is not taken from them by the
supernatural gift of pardon. Then they will use their
liberty as they need. There is no new trouble here, I
am glad to say. The other trouble, about the Courts, is
longer, and harder ; but I suppose this means the need of
clearer spiritual perceptions to discern the Body of Christ
the Church and the laws of its life in its outer, rougher
form -that is to learn Canon Law. This no doubt is a
long matter, and has been much neglected, and is mixed
up with the sharpest controversy. So we shall not get that
straight in a moment. Still, these disturbances are, I feel,
bringing forward into view great truths which we have more
or less neglected.
" The same is true of the Labour- troubles and the strikes.
Political Economy the relation of ethics and politics
is becoming a practical question, and I very much hope
some of you good people will bring out an edition of * The
Kepublic adapted for a Christian PlougHboy, with notes in
his language, and illustrated not by arguments, but by
stories. We have been worrying those poor boys with the
Proverbs, and little narrow bits of personal ethics, and now
jthey are beginning to feel there is a big world round about
UNREST 67
them, and lots of new Powers and Hopes, and so they are
dashing about. But we must put them upon the real
Principle, and then, after a bit, they will go on, and up, in
order, dear things !
" Dear friend, what a shame to bother you with all
these platitudes ! All I want to say is that, tho j it is
rough just now, one sees it is only surface-storm. It is
grand to feel all this undeveloped power, and to feel sure
that it has an order, and beauty, and value, if we can only
get the dear People to watch patiently, and work with
its Laws. . . .
" And now good-bye. May He Who made all things
enable you to see more and more the Laws by which all
things work together, and so to help us, and those who
come after us, to realize more and more our true position
in this marvellous, man-making, machine of a world ! "
Such were King s reflections on the " Labour Unrest "
of 1877. Transcribing them amid the similar unrest of 1911,
one is equally struck by their grave wisdom, and by the
failure of the Church during the last thirty-four years to
read the signs of the times.
King s love of the poor, the overworked, and the un
lettered led him into active sympathy with those churches
which were striving to bring the graces and glories of the
Catholic religion within reach of the working classes at
Oxford. On Good Friday, 1874, he conducted the Service
of the Three Hours at St. Barnabas, founding his addresses
on the prediction : " Wheresoever the body is, thither will
the eagles be gathered together " which he applied to the
"eagle-spirit of a soaring and eager devotion." In the course
of his address on the Second Word, he made a touching
68 EDWARD KING
reference to an exemplary young priest * who had been a
curate at St. Barnabas, and had died on the previous
Monday. " Here I cannot forbear speaking of one who may
be nearer to us than we think one whose pure, bright life
in this place many a time seemed to me more fit for a life
in Paradise than for life in this rough world ; one whose
gentleness, meekness, humility, often helped me when I
tried, perhaps, to help him. . . . And he is in Paradise, I
doubt not, enjoying the Presence which when veiled he
loved so much, and longed to see unveiled. Ah ! children,
follow in his footsteps, for he was a follower of Jesus."
At the Dedication Festival of St. Barnabas, King was
always a welcome preacher ; and he often conducted the
Children s Service there, unfolding doctrine and warning
against sin with a skill and tact which were peculiarly his own.
The present writer remembers a little parable of two children
setting out, hand-in-hand, to cross the great plain of life ;
and the flowers, and fruits, and various pleasures, which
they found on the way, and then the sudden conflict with
a violent and evil wind which nearly blew them off their
feet yes, nearly, but not quite, because they steadied
themselves by grasping the Tree of Life, as they had already
eaten of its Bread. On another occasion he told the
children about an old woman who couldn t read, but, in
order to help herself in her devotions, had a little book made
with coloured pages ; Blue speaking of Heaven, Black
of Sin, Red of Pardon through the Precious Blood, White
of Innocence, and Gold of Glory hereafter.
In the year 1879 King became involved in an un
expected controversy.
* The Rev. H. R. Rendle, B.N.C.
CONTROVERSY 69
The Rev. C. J. Elliott, Vicar of Winkfield, published
a pamphlet called " Some Strictures on a book entitled The
Communicant s Manual with two prefaces by the Rev. E.
King, D.D.," and appended to it the motto, Quis custodiet
custodes ?
King replied in a " Letter to the Rev. Charles John
Elliott," with the responsive motto, Et ero custos tuus.
The gist of Mr. Elliott s charge was that the Manual was
written for the use of students at Cuddesdon, and was
calculated to imbue them with erroneous opinions con
cerning the Real Presence, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and
Confession.
King replied that the book had not been written for
Cuddesdon students, but for the Church at large ; that, as
prefaced by him, it contained nothing but orthodox and
Anglican doctrine; that it was ten years old; and that
his two prefaces to it had been written 1869 and 1871,
respectively. Furthermore, he plainly said that in Mr.
Elliott s attack he saw an attempt to fan that Puritan
agitation against Cuddesdon as a romanizing institution,
which, after twenty years abeyance, was just then reviving.
He concluded with this strong and moving statement of his
own position, and his feeling about Cuddesdon :
" The book which you have made the medium of your
attack was never written for Cuddesdon, nor in any sense
enjoined for the use of the students ; nor can I remember
recommending it for their use; but I am grateful for
this opportunity of publicly uniting myself once more
with a place in which I spent fourteen of the happiest
years of my life, receiving kindnesses and blessings which
I can never repay ; and yet, after all, it was not the
place, but the teaching and the life, which made Cuddesdon
70 EDWARD KING
so dear to us. There we lived in the daily enjoyment
of the friendship of English hearts, strengthened, softened,
perfected by the full power of the whole Catholic Faith.
There is no need for me to speak of the Cuddesdon
students past and present ; (in spirit they are all one) ;
they would not wish it; but for the sake of the poor,
to whom they devote their fortunes and their lives, I
cannot keep silence. Their lives have been to me and
to many others, an evidence for the truth of Christianity,
and of the living power of the English Church ; in other
words Cuddesdon has been, and is, one of our best
defences against infidelity and Rome. Her students
have not sought money or patronage from the world ; one
thing they have desired liberty to tell the poor e the
whole Counsel of God. "
Allusion has already been made to the belief that King
never answered letters, and it must be confessed that a
good many of his friends had occasion, from time to time,
to lament his irregularity in this respect. But the mass
of manuscript which has passed through the hands of the
present writer assures him that King must have been fully
occupied in writing letters of guidance, not merely theo
logical or ascetic, to all sorts and conditions of men, who
plied him incessantly with all manner of questions and
requests. These weightier matters of the intellect, the
soul, and the daily life probably displaced the anise and
cummin of more trivial correspondence. In a moment
of unnecessary self-reproach he wrote to a young friend :
" I really don t know what to say, for I do feel I have
been a BEAST yet only an outside beast ; inside, dear
child, never your more truly loving friend. It is a funny
CORRESPONDENCE 71
muddle, that, while I delight in the love of people more
than in anything, yet I am so brutal and cruel, and selfish,
and cause so much inconvenience by not answering letters."
But if this was true, his correspondence shows that there
were extenuating circumstances. At one moment Mr.
Gladstone is consulting him about the celebrated pamphlets
on Vaticanism ; at another, Bishop Mackarness is urging
him to accept the benefice of St. Mary-the- Virgin.* Dr.
Pusey writes, in a cruelly small hand, about every worrying
case in the Church or the University ; and Dr. Bright s
letters, in a hand not small, indeed, but illegible, would
alone make a volume. A priest about to conduct his first
Retreat needs comfort and encouragement. A missionary
in South Africa must be reassured about secessions to Rome.
One undergraduate writes about his sorrows ; another
about his sins ; a third about the employment of his
vacation ; a fourth about the conflicting claims of study
and spiritual work. Young clergymen have to be counselled
about the amount of labour which they can safely undertake,
and delicate people instructed about the Fast before Com
munion. And in each case King s letters show the most
thoughtful care, the most vivid sympathy, the sanest and
soundest judgment.
* You will not need any help for your Retreat ; all will
go well. In dealing with them individually, the great thing
is to be natural, simple; not to strive after anything specially
new, or high, or holy. Try to guide the tendencies of their
characters . . . God bless you, and give you strength for
the coming work, and guide you to guide and help us all."
* Which, however, was never offered him.
72 EDWARD KING
" I wonder they do not see that they are giving way to
Temptation ; a little patience and a purer love of God
would make them all right : but Kome is very attractive
to one s lower nature. For my own part, my priestly
opportunities and evidences are far above my inner life.
If I were only a better man, I can see God has placed me
in infinite supernatural relations. I hope some of you
and those who come after us will be somewhat more equal
to the mystery of priestly life. I can see that it is all quite
true, but I cannot touch more than the border of it ; still,
it is everything to know that it is real and true ; it is all
quite right, dear friend, and your life is as clear and right as
possible. I need not say that you have helped me and
do help me very much."
" I know I may say you will be supported. The Divine
Fatherhood of God comes nearer to one, in ways it never
did before, and you will be enabled to be a comfort and help
to your dear mother, in a way which you never could have
been. So you may, I know, firmly trust) and He will take
care of you, and help you to take care of others. Of course,
that is your first duty to be with them ; but let me venture
to say that in time it will be best for all that you should
get to your life s work. Being satisfied and happy
yourself, you will best help them to happiness."
" Two things I feel able to say quite easily and surely.
"1. You have no reason to doubt God s complete pardon
for all the past, nor to despair of His giving you such purity
of life and victory over sin as may enable you, in perfect
sincerity, to preach to other people, and to tell them of
THE PAST 73
His Love, and of the Power of His Grace. Do not over-
dwell on your own past, but look up to God s rescuing and
abiding Love. He knows you, and knows exactly all the
ignorance, and half-unconsciousness of wrong, which marked
the time of your great danger. And He has early checked
you, and delivered you. In all this you must see His Merciful
hand. You know something of the bitterness of sin, yet
without the prolonged misery of many years of wilful wrong.
I do not like to express a wish that the sense of sin should
be taken from you, unless it be God s Will, because such
grief is the real fire of contrition which burns out the evil
marks upon the soul. You will not regret these months,
or years, of penitential sorrow. Much more likely the day
will come when you will be thankful for them, and look back
to them as precious evidences of God s Presence with you.
Once more, do not be too much regretting yourself, for
that may contain an element of Self, and a dislike to be
reckoned among the really pardoned and saved. Look up
to Him, and never mind what you or others may think of
your past. Let it be all in all to you that He forgives, and
loves, and, as I believe you may reasonably hope, will
enable you to be a Blessing to others.
"2. There is no reason why you should shut yourself
out from the thought of Holy Matrimony, if it be His will.
Here again you will but find an instance of His super
abundant Love. It is wonderful that He forgives ; but
He is not content with that. He will, it may be, give you,
as it were, a flower from Paradise, and prove to you that
you are to Him as innocent, and an object of His pure
Love. Be guided by Him in this, and do not refuse the
proofs of His Love only love Him all the more in return.
" Good-bye, and may God bless you and guide and
74 EDWARD KING
comfort you, and enable you to believe and rest in the
certainty of His Love."
" God s Grace is ever sufficient, but never irresistible.
" As long as the State of Probation lasts (i.e. while we
are in the world) we may fall fatally ; but we need not. . . .
In this life, though we need not fall fatally, yet we cannot
reach a perfectly sinless condition. In lesser things, our
will has variations from the Divine Will. So St. John says,
If we say that we have no sin, and, as Mr. Keble says,
He means to include himself. God bless you and guide
you, and take care of you.
" Kemember Evenness/ "
Kules for a happy Vacation
" Kead a little. Throw yourself unselfishly into the
amusements of your family. Think over your last Term,
and try to prepare yourself for your return. God bless
you, and give a happy and Holy Christmas."
" 1. Do not give up the desire to help people because
you find yourself often cheated, and that they do not care.
Much of the great help is indirect, and often unconsciously
given as by the general bearing of one s life, or public
words, or Prayer.
" 2. The love of God is the most powerful, and the
highest, motive ; but people, being as they are, need to
have mixed motives brought before them fear, reward,
pain, pleasure. Yet they should be led as soon as possible
to act from the purest motives not only to do right acts,
but to do them increasingly from right motives but by
degrees for most of us.
COUNSELS 75
" 3. Do not be too much engaged in practical work in
Oxford. Reading and quiet learning are your business
there. Yet, if you have time, Hinksey would do very well.
Ask me when you come up."
" You remind me so much of what I was when I was your
age that I seem to be living over again in all you tell me.
" You must go steadily, and keep a strong hand on
yourself ; and then, please God, all will come out well.
" I hope the farmer s lad will do well. The best way
is to point out certain plain fundamental things for him
to know and do. Get the main outline of his life right,
and trust to the Holy Spirit to aid him in all those delicate
and Divine intricacies of the spiritual Life, which our
clumsy faculties are for the most part too rough to touch
without injury. I mean teach him the Ten Command
ments, Creed, Lord s Prayer ; to act from a sense of right
and wrong, instead of pleasure. Teach him to pray for
himself, to keep from persons and places where he would be
likely to go wrong ; to read his Bible if he can ; and keep
Sunday quietly and go to church. That plain kind of way
is best. Your own loving heart will probably be the best
power to draw him ; but you must take care to draw him,
by your heart, to God, and not simply to yourself. It is
heart-breaking work, but God will help you if you first
give yourself to Him. God bless you and keep you, and
guide you with His wisdom and His Holy Love."
" Go as quietly as you can, aiming at ordinary business,
like perseverance in work. The higher things will be all
the safer then."
76 EDWARD KING
" Don t overdo it in Lent. Let me give you all one rule :
Get to bed early"
" Thank God, I still have a bright hope for c the Life
in Oxford. It is becoming more real. ... I believe,
under God, the lives and devoted work of individual
priests have done more than anything to bring this about.
If we had more Lowders* we should get on ; the world
cannot say much against them. Quiet, self-sacrificing
lives, unworldly, spiritual, sincere that is what we
want."
" In answer to your question, I should say the wife had
better obey her husband in the matter of Fasting Com
munion, especially as they agree in Doctrine, and go as far
in practice as the Husband thinks health will permit.
Weakness is really to be regarded under the head of sick
ness when people are fairly self-disciplined and not too
ready to make excuses.
"I believe, if people are taught the right Doctrine, and
given opportunities, that they will by degrees naturally
wish to come early i.e. fasting. At Leigh, f for instance,
where things go steadily on, I hear this Xmas day they
had 73 Early Communicants, 30 late.
" That is the real way, I think, to lead people. Rules
of course, are good and useful, especially at the beginning
of people s moral and spiritual life, but your Friend, I should
think, would not be in danger of breaking them, if she
could help it."
* The Rev. C. F. Lowder (1820-1880), Incumbent of St. Peter s
London Docks.
t His brother s parish.
DR. PUSEY 77
A clergyman who was an undergraduate at Oxford in
the Spring Term of 1882, sends this reminiscence : " I was
walking with Dr. King over Magdalen Bridge, when he
stopped and pointed to a board warning people not
to trespass, which was stuck up in a meadow often under
water, and, at the best, very swampy and wet. That,
said he, is like the dear Evangelical preachers, who
will be warning the undergraduates not to ruin their health
by fasting too much this Lent."
A great change in the life of Christ Church was now at
hand. Dr. Pusey was nearing his end.
Edward Bouverie Pusey was bom in 1800, and was
made Canon of Christ Church and Regius Professor of
Hebrew in 1828. When King was made Pastoral Professor,
he became Dr. Pusey s colleague in the Chapter, and
neighbour both in " Tom Quad " and in the Cathedral ;
and he used sometimes to murmur, in a tone mingled of
awe and amusement " The dear Doctor was sitting here
before I was born." Of course, King, in common with
the whole Catholic school in the Church of England, felt
a whole-hearted reverence and gratitude for the work
which Dr. Pusey had done in restoring the life of the Church,
and in steering her through the difficulties caused by
Newman s secession. King and Pusey had stood to
one another in the intimate relation of penitent and
confessor. In Christ Church they were not only neigh
bours, but friends. King constantly had recourse to the
immense stores of Pusey s theological knowledge ; and
Pusey was constantly in consultation with King about
practical matters and current controversies from which his
age and deafness shut him out. Yet they were men of
78 EDWARD KING
very different types, and Pusey never acquired that
dominating influence over King which he exercised, with
doubtful result, in the case of Liddon.* Pusey thought
King, as a guide of consciences, too lenient. In 1878 he
wrote to him
" Forgive me that I think that you had better have
given more time before you gave your final answer to .
It was a very grave question, and I think that your easiness
and kindliness of disposition made you give too readily the
answer which was sought."
There is one side of the shield ; here is the other. In
January, 1895, King writes concerning the third volume
of " the dear Dr. s Life " (which records what Dr. Liddon
called " The Struggle," i.e. the period between 1845 and
1858)
" It is very wonderful, but very sad. . . . Dean Church s
Letters are most refreshing, and quite a Providential gift
after the 3rd Vol. I hope the 4th Vol. may restore the
balance again. It is very wonderful, but there is a want
of cheerful common-sense, and trust in the general life of
the Church."
On June 15, 1882, Dr. Pusey, who for years had taken
no part in the affairs of the House, and was scarcely ever
seen outside his own door, attended a meeting of the
Governing Body of Christ Church. The subject under
discussion was the appointment of an unbeliever to a
* On November 16, 1890, Dr. Bright wrote : " I remain persuaded
that dear Liddon was, in the earlier part of his Oxford residence, too
absolutely dependent, in mind and will, on Dr. Pusey ; and, in the latter
part, too little mindful of the manifold versatility of Divine Grace in
bringing good out of evil. Blessed are they that hope is not formally
among the Beatitudes ; but it is, as you (King) have made us feel, a
summary of very much of the New Testament teaching."
A GOOD END
79
tutorship. Pusey, who was stone deaf and terribly husky,
spoke tenderly and pleadingly against the appointment ;
and, on the division, King voted with him. The two men
never met again. On September 16, King wrote from
Christ Church to the Vicar of St. Barnabas, Oxford
" MY DEAR NOEL,
" The dear Dr. passed away to a brighter world
at 3.20 this afternoon.
" Now he sees with complete clearness the Truth which
by faith he held and fought for.
^" May we all follow him ! God be with us !
" You will remember him to-morrow.
" Yours aff.
E. KING."
On St. Matthew s Day, King was one of the pall-bearers
the Doctor s funeral, and on October 21, he wrote to a
friend the Kev. Charles Myers *
" We are, as you know, feeling a little desolate without
the dear Doctor, in the corner, to go to. But his end was
all we could have wished. Peace and Power I thought were
the great lessons of the last few days of his life. He has
left us a noble example, and his loyal, faithful death in
the Church of England, ought to strengthen any timid
hearts."
But now a more poignant sorrow was impending. King
had been, in a peculiar sense, a mother s son. It is not
fanciful to suppose that his exquisite, almost feminine,
refinement and delicacy had their origin in the exceptional
* Afterwards Prebendary of Sarum.
8o EDWARD KING
circumstances of his home. He had grown up under the
sacramental protection of his mother s care, at an age when
most boys were experiencing their first contact with perilous
evil at a Private or a Public School. When he went up to
Oxford, her love still encompassed him, and home was still
the sanctuary to which he could turn for refuge from the
roughnesses of life. His father, when dying, had com
mended his mother to his special charge ; and, from the
time when he became Principal of Cuddesdon, she
had presided over his house, had been the recipient of
all his confidences, and the centre of his life. In 1901,
he said in a letter to the present writer : " Your kind
notice of my dearest mother touched me very much. I
wish you could have made a biographical sketch of her !
She would have been a worthy subject for you." And so,
to the end of his long life, the sense of his mother s still
active love and interest, even though her bodily presence
was withdrawn, was a spring of joy. Mrs. King died at
his house in Christ Church, on April 8, 1883, and the
hearts of all his friends, old and young, were deeply stirred.
Francis Paget, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, wrote
" Just a few words, dearest and truest friend, to tell
you how often the tidings which I have heard this morning
will bring into our thoughts and prayers both her whom
God has suffered to be with you for so many years of love
and care and help, and you, who must be feeling, even
through all the glad and thankful realization of the Faith
that is not seen, that sense of parting, and of the putting
away of many common recollections, which must always
need (and surely will find) the help of a special assurance
of our Saviour s nearness."
Henry Scott Holland wrote
BEREAVEMENT 81
" Oh, that Jesus, the good Master, may shepherd us
through your hands, through your heart, and may lead us
into fresh pastures, as in the days gone by ! We hang
upon you ; we cling to you. You hold us all for Christ.
God bless you with abundant consolation."
The Bishop of Ely * wrote
" It is not mere sympathy with you in your bereavement,
but the sense of bereavement that I feel. I had grown to
feel so great an affection for her her bright and loving
welcome made your house so singularly delightful, that it
is very very sad to know that all this is gone for ever. She
will leave in all hearts a blessed memory. May God
comfort and sustain you under the visitation which you
are called on to bear."
Archdeacon Denison wrote
" It is not possible to write all that my heart moves me
to write. There is a well-spring of loving sympathy which
words can never exhaust, can scarcely come near to draw
from. Surely it is a blessed thing for us all to have it so
for even in extremest distress it sends us more and more
to Him Who gives us freely of the Water of Life and Joy
for ever. But though I can find no words, my heart, in
the deep love which is there for you and for the precious
life of her who is gone from you here the love which has
drawn me so closely though it has been but seldom that
we have seen or spoken one to the other, calls me to say
or try to say what I feel for you. You will not God be
thanked for it as for all things ! measure my love and
sympathy by the fewness and poorness of the words I write."
The Bishop of Capetown f wrote
" So your dear, sweet mother is gone to her rest, and to
* Dr. Woodford. -f Dr. Jones.
G
82 EDWARD KING
the Bosom of Jesus Christ. May the light of God s Face
shine ever more and more upon her ! She was indeed one
of the earth s treasures, a jewel of God s storehouse. What
a change this will make in your life ! Your home will seem
so different, and so many interests must have had her for
their centre. I had learned quite to love her, and I had
learned to regard her as my ideal of the Christian lady."
All this sympathy touched the core of King s sensitive
heart, and his letters in reply show both the naturalness of
his grief and the reality of his consolation. To Scott
Holland he wrote as follows
" Thank you so very much for your loving, stirring
words. It is all just as you say, and so I suppose the next
bit will be so too, and then the brighter future after that.
My great satisfaction is that the victory was so COMPLETE.
I did not expect any fear, but there was not one word of
anxiety, or care about anything ; just the same trustful,
bright, loving self she had always been. For the last two
days she was not outwardly conscious, but she was per
fectly calm. I think this is what I should have chosen before
all things, if I might have chosen ; and it was given unasked
in greatest abundance.
" How to get on, I don t quite see ; but then I need not
move just yet, and I am sure the light will come. I have
had so many kind letters, all speaking of her brightness,
sympathy, wisdom ; and, when I remember that she has
been enabled to do all this in the days of her widowhood,
it is a bright example for me, and gives me hope.
"Pray for me, dear Friend, for a little bit, that I may be
guided. I am tempted to fear the loss of her wisdom
almost more than the comfort of her brightness ; but I
know whence it came, and it can come still."
A HIGH EXAMPLE 83
To his friend, Kobert Ottley, who eventually succeeded
to his professorial Chair, he wrote
" Thank you most sincerely for your loving, prayerful
sympathy. I am so glad you are come back to us, it helps
me very much to know that there is sincere kindness
near.* The loss of such Wisdom and Brightness and Love
is a very great loss. But it has not, thank God, shaken my
Faith or Hope ; that is a great mercy. Give me your
prayers, dear Friend, for a bit. God bless you and the
coming Term."
To his sister he wrote
" I hope you have been able to settle down to the work
of life again. You must, I know, miss very much the
letters from Ch. Ch., and almost as much having no one to
write to exactly as of old.
" I find the loss of any one to tell things to very much,
and it would take off a very great deal of the pleasure of
going abroad. There is no one to observe things for. I
have such a great quantity of letters, all so very apprecia
tive of the brightness and sympathy. I hope to be able to
preserve the letters in some form so that we can each have
them ; they will be nice to let the young ones see how good
and great the good Granny was. It is very wonderful to
have won such a reputation for brightness in the days of
widowhood, and with many in the last ten years of her
life. It gives us a high example to persevere to the
end."
As Christmas, 1883, drew on the Rev. E. S. Talbot,
Warden of Keble, and afterwards Bishop of Winchester,
was moved to write this thoughtful letter
* Mr. Ottley was a Senior Student of Christ Church.
84 EDWARD KING
" MY DEAREST CANON,
" I do not like your first solitary Christmas to
pass without a word of grateful love from me, a little, tiny
subscription of love to the great loss. But, in welcoming
this time the dawning of the Sun, I am sure there will be a
degree of fresh joy in your heart, from having proved the
transfiguring brightness of His Light when poured on one
of the greatest of earthly troubles.
" And I hope it is not wrong, I think it is right, to say
that you may thank God for having strengthened and
enlightened you to bear one more fjiaprvpia of what
the Faith of a Christian is, in rising above and going
beyond mere nature and her sorrow, even when that same
Divine Faith and Life has itself made all nature s affection
strong, and tender, and deep, beyond her own kind.
" I write this hastily, and not in as simple words as I
should like. But you will accept it, with loving thoughts
and wishes for Christmas, from
" Yours ever affectionately and gratefully,
" E. S. TALBOT."
CHAPTEE IV.
LINCOLN.
: Again shall long processions sweep through Lincoln s Minster-pile ;
Again shall banner, cross, and cope gleam through the incensed aisle."
J. M. NEALE.
MR. GLADSTONE, who had appointed King to the Pastoral
Professorship in 1873, ceased to be Prime Minister in 1874.
The General Election of 1880 restored him to power ; and
people who knew his high opinion of King began again to
indulge in speculation. There was plenty of scope for this
" pleasant exercise of hope and joy," for most of the bishops
were elderly men. Archbishop Tait died in 1882, thereby
creating vacancies, directly at Canterbury and indirectly
at Truro. In the same year Bishop Ollivant of Llandaff
died, and in 1884 Bishop Bickersteth of Kipon. Bishop
Jacobson resigned the See of Chester in 1884. A Bishop
was required for the newly-created See of Newcastle in
1882, and for that of Southwell in 1884. Bishop Jackson
of London died in 1885, and Bishop Temple, translated
to London, vacated Exeter. Bishop Christopher Words
worth, who had for some time been in failing health,
resigned the See of Lincoln in January, 1885. On January
28, Mr. Gladstone wrote as follows to the Pastoral
Professor :
85
86 EDWARD KING
" MY DEAR DR. KING,
"I have a request to make to you, with the
sanction of Her Majesty, which may disturb for a moment
the tenor of your daily life and thought, but which on all,
and especially on the highest, grounds, I hope you will not
fail to grant.
" The Bishop of Lincoln has accelerated, and has now
completed, the resignation of his See. My request to you
is to allow yourself to be nominated for it by the Crown.
" The expectations of the Diocese, after the Episcopate
of Bishop Wordsworth, will be high, and I can make no
better provision to save disappointment than by the
proposal which I now submit to you.
" Believe me, my dear Dr. King,
" Most faithfully yours,
" W. E. GLADSTONE."
The proposal was accepted, with what searchings of
heart those who knew Edward King can imagine. Some
traces of them can be read in the following words, addressed
to Canon Ottley :
" How can I thank you enough for the help your kind
ness has been to me ? Yes, I am to go ! I could gladly
stay, only I could not face the men if I stayed of my own
mil. I have no principle of life left, if I do not try to do
His Will. If I fail, still my principle of life is unbroken,
and this gives peace. I am glad it is John Wesley s diocese.
I shall try to be the Bishop of the Poor. If I can feel that
I think I shall be happy."
And, a little later
" Ah ! it is sad, it is sad to go. Yet His Will be done ;
I
LAUS DEO 87
and praise to Him for all His marvellous goodness and love
to me here."
On receiving the news, Dr. Liddon wrote
" January 31, 1885.
"DEAREST KING,
" I am indeed delighted and thankful. It is the
first of Mr. Gladstone s Episcopal appointments since that
to the See of Ely, for which one can say c Thank God
with one s whole heart. When I think of Oxford and all
that your removal must mean I cannot get on any further ;
only let me say that I am glad indeed, for the sake of the
Church at large, that this consideration did not make you
hesitate to accept.
" Your most affectionate,
H. P. L.
" P.S. Your note is the first news I have had about
Lincoln : thank you so much for thinking of me at such a
moment. No doubt, it will be in the evening paper, which
I have not yet seen/!
King s acceptance of the bishopric vacated the Pro
fessorship of Pastoral Theology, and Mr. Gladstone con
sulted him, anxiously and repeatedly, about the appoint
ment of a successor. When, to King s delight, the choice
had fallen upon his friend Francis Paget, Gladstone,
writing to thank him for his counsel, added
" I hear nothing but praises of the nomination to Lincoln.
I telegraphed it to the Bishop his reply was Deo Gratias".
As soon as the appointment was announced, letters
began to flow in, and the stream soon became a flood.
Every one said the same thing. All felt that King must
88 EDWARD KING
be overwhelmed. All felt irresistibly impelled to write ;
all begged him not to reply. None dreamed that he would
consider the appointment matter for congratulation.
Every one compassionated Oxford ; every one congratulated
Lincoln. Every one gave thanks for the signal blessing
granted to the Church of England. No one (except
Liddon) said a word of gratitude for the part which Mr.
Gladstone had played in the transaction. This much was
common ground ; but, that ground once passed, the
individual emotions became interestingly apparent.
The Archbishop of Canterbury * wrote, with character
istic complexity
"I do not know what more blessed Espousals there could
be than yours with Lincoln. They will be the very joy of
the old Patriarch, my most beloved father, who already
worships leaning on the top of his staff :
fifuv \vypbv ai)T( SE TroOrirov.
" There is nothing more sacred to me than the Sovran
Hill and its Minster, and I know how you will exult in it
and its infinite meanings. It is so happy for me to have
sat, to my great help, at the feet of his successor."
From Dean Church
" You must not be angry with me for writing ; but I
am so glad and so thankful, and I think of all the good
people who are gone, and who would have been so consoled.
C. Marriott, Mr. Keble, Dr. Pusey and I am still here to
have the happiness. Well, this " (the Feast of the Purifica
tion) " used to be one of our special Oriel days, and it is a
good day to wish you all good and strength and grace, as
I did this morning at 8 o clock, in our N. W. Chapel."
* Dr. Benson.
iND SUCCESSION
From Bishop Stubbs, of Chester
" The longer one lives the more one has to be thankful
for. I do so heartily thank God for this, and pray Him to
give you strength to be and do all that He would have you
be and do."
From Bishop Browne, of Winchester
" I presume that the announcement in the Times is
true, and I heartily welcome you into the brotherhood of
the Episcopate, as successor to my dear and honoured
friend and brother in Lincoln s grand succession St.
Hugh, and Grosteste, and Wake, and Kaye, and Words
worth. May all blessing be yours in work and soul."
Bishop Ridding, of Southwell
" May I venture to express my great joy at hearing that
you will be at Lincoln ? My boys * at Oxford will miss you,
I know, and the Canons will not think now of leaving
Lincoln for Southwell ; but I do joy very sincerely."
From Bishop Woodford, of Ely-
"MY DEAREST BROTHER,
" So your predecessor instructed me to write to
him, when I became Bishop; and how thankfully, how
very thankfully, I carry out his bidding by so addressing
you!
" I can hardly say all that I feel at your appointment, as
filling up the great gap made by the retirement of the last
Lincoln ; as occupying a See which gives you to me as a
near neighbour, and as one of the East Anglian Confra
ternity; as a strength to the Church in the Council of
* Wykehamists.
go EDWARD KING
Bishops. When we know not what may impend, you are
to me and to many the Deus dedit.
" May God grant you many days, and strength for them,
and bind us closer still together in the fraternity of the
Episcopate. !
From the Kev. H. S. Holland
" Blessings, Blessings, Blessings, on your dear, dear
head, dearest of friends !
" It shall be a Bishopric of Love
" The Love of God behind, and above, and about you !
" The Love of the Blessed Spirit, alive with good cheer
within !
" The Love of the Poor shining out from you, until they
kneel under its lovely benediction.
" Apostolic Love shall be in you, as in a Vessel you
shall bear it about, as Precious Ointment within the box,
and the smelling fragrance of it, as you lie broken and
beaten, shall issue from you to fill all the House ! And for
Difficulties ! We will think only of what your Mother
would say !
" Is not it right to take the office ? Yes.
" Then, of course, you can do it.
" Oh ! the Prayers that will encompass you round
about !
" Oh, the Love and Hope that will go up to plead for
you ! .!
From the Eev. Francis Paget
"... I must not write more now, for your days and
nights must be full to overflowing. Only, dear, dear
Father, just to say how day after day I shall be praying
for you, and shall have you in my heart whenever I
DUXIT DEUS 91
Celebratethat God may strengthen and refresh you, and
lead you ever nearer to Himself, making you more and more
glad with the Light of His Countenance, for the gladness
and strength of all Souls committed to you.
" My wife sends her affectionate duty to you, and I am,
" Always your loving Servant."
From Dr. Lake, Dean of Durham
" May I be allowed to express my great joy and thank
fulness at your appointment ? The more so because I
am sure you are one of the few who will retain your fresh
ness and fervour of feeling, in spite of all the subduing and
modifying influences of the Bench. May God strengthen
you to aid in shaping the course of the Church in England
at this critical time ! "
From the Kev. W. J. Butler, formerly Vicar of Wantage,
and afterwards Dean of Lincoln
" Yes, it is very wonderful. I think of you first,
walking with dear old Harvey and me along the road to
our little hamlet of Charlton ; then at Wheatley, working
among the very rough lads of that somewhat old-world
place ; then at Cuddesdon, after the great explosion of
1858 ; and then, under the Grace of God, widening and
developing, from strength to strength, till you became what
you are. And now you go on to be a chief ruler in the
Church of Christ. ... It will be something to have at length
what I have ever longed for a Bishop in whose Chapel
the Blessed Sacrament will be daily celebrated. How
bishops can live without that, I cannot conceive. Oh,
what a task lies before you ! Earnestly I pray that, as the
day, so your strength may be."
92 EDWARD KING
From the Rev. W. C. E. Newbolt, afterwards Canon o f
St. Paul s
" I am sure you cannot but feel the strength of the
hundreds and hundreds of those whom you have spiritually
begotten, as it were, all rejoicing for you, if not with
you.
" May God indeed give you a rich store of the strength
and blessing which you have given to others, myself
included."
From the Rev. M. H. Noel, Vicar of St. Barnabas,
Oxford
" Collins came and told me the news . . . and it spread
over me a feeling such as one experiences in April i.e. of
rain when the sun shines. I could weep, but I rejoice at
the same time. How shall I ever thank you enough for
what you have been to us here in rain and sunshine, but
now in both together ! "
On February 9, Dr. Liddell, Dean of Christ Church,
wrote in terms of peculiar warmth
" MY DEAK BISHOP DESIGNATE,
" There is (I find) a general desire that you should,
before you leave us, let the young men hear your voice
from our Pulpit. The Chapter, at their Meeting to-day,
desired me to convey to you their hope that, if it is not very
inconvenient to you, you should preach on Sunday, March
the 8th.
" I sincerely hope you will be able to do so, though I am
loath to press a willing horse. And I trust that, possibly
at some future time, we may often hear a voice which has
-TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE" 93
touched many hearts, and which none hear without wishing
to hear it again.
" Yours ever most affectionately,
"H. G. LlDDELL."
There was, as indeed, was only natural, a touch of
special tenderness in the letters from former students of
Cuddesdon, beginning, as a rule, " My dear," or " dearest,"
" Principal," and ending " your grateful and affectionate
son in Christ." One says : " You will still have a very
little corner in which you will carry the needs of your
Cuddesdon children." Another : " How soon, alas ! I
must change my mode of addressing you ; but, never
theless these last few days I have been filled with joy
and thankfulness for God s great mercy and goodness to
us all, and our dear Church." A third : " One almost
grudges your leaving Oxford, except that one has faith
that God has work elsewhere. In our selfishness we
felt the same about Cuddesdon. Dear, dear Principal,
how much we owe you ! " A fourth says, with
reference to an idiosyncrasy already noticed : "It seems
almost too good to be true, especially as I was told the
other day that you would have been offered a Bishopric
before, but that some malevolent person told Mr. Gladstone
that you never answered a letter, and that he said, That
puts it quite out of the question. "
Besides all these, which might have been anticipated,
congratulations came from some unlooked-for quarters.
One admirer writes from the Radcliffe Infirmary at Oxford,
and one from " Her Majesty s Prison, Wandsworth ; " one
from Messrs. Carter s Nursery at the Crystal Palace, and one,
a miner, from " the bowels of the earth." One offers his
94 EDWARD KING
congratulations handsomely, beginning " Your Grace." A
shop-keeper in Oxford recalls the fact that one evening,
while King was entertaining the Cathedral Choir at his house
in Christ Church, the writer had ventured to say that there
might before long be another " Bishop King " ; and glories
in the fulfilment of his prophecy.
Some correspondents took a more mundane turn.
" REVD. SIR,
"Having seen in the Evening Standard that
Your Reverance is to be apointed to the Sea of Lincoln,
I thought, if so, Your Reverance might be requiring
a Coachman for Eisholm Pallace. Should this be the
case, I beg to offer myself as a candedate for that
situation. Knowing that part of the countrey so well,
I thought to wright you on the subject/
" As a Churchman and a Lincolnshire tradesman, I
should esteem it a high honour to work for my Bishop. I
make shoes for many Bishops, and always give satisfaction
and fit. I can make the low Court or evening dress shoe, 1
with plated, silver, or gold buckles. Also a morning dress
shoe, to come up rather high to wear with or without
gaiters also a stronger calf shoe with black buckles to
wear with gaiters for walking. ... I could make a pair of
every kind of Bishop s shoes for Altar-use."
In touching any portion of King s vesture, one touched
a tender point. In his days at Wheatley, he had baffled a
" little village girl, a most inveterate beggar," who com
plained that she had only one frock for Sundays and work
days, by saying, " Well, I have only this coat for Sundays
"TAPES AND BUTTONS" 95
and weekdays." A lady, who had been his neighbour at
Cuddesdon, wrote on hearing of his appointment to Lincoln
" All new clothes now ! No old boots hereafter for ever."
His friend, Ernest Wilberforce, Bishop of Newcastle,
now took the matter in hand, mingling it with higher
aspirations
"DEAREST FRIEND,
" Will you nominate me as one of the Consecrating
Bishops ? I should particularly like to be with you if
possible. There is only one man who can make decent
breeches and gaiters, do go to him, Adeney and Son, 16,
Sackville Street, Piccadilly.
******
"I ordered you a lovely great coat, and you will
look so well in it that the Bench will die of envy.
" But I forgot to implore you to go to the right man for
Hats. Do get yours where my dear old Father got his,
viz. at Lock, No. 6, St. James s Street ; and if he asks what
shape you prefer, say the same as that worn by your
humble servant, which is the right one. Then, dear thing,
you must have some better shoes, and, if you will let me give
you a wrinkle as to these when you come up, I will show
you how to combine comfort and warmth with a slightly
smaller size than you generally indulge in ! I want you to
look charming !
" This is all very frivolous but it was such a pleasure
to get a glimpse of you, even amongst the tapes and
buttons.
" I am ever yours very affectionately,
"E. R. NEWCASTLE."
96 EDWARD KING
On February 21, 1885, King wrote thus to his friend in
Zanzibar :
"My DEAREST RANDOLPH,
" What would I give if you could be with me !
for I feel distressed in my heart, and I know I could reckon
on your love. But that cannot be, so I will write.
" And first, dearest friend, forgive, and always forgive,
for nothing will ever change my love for you. Forgive
my not writing to thank you for that comforting long letter
which assured me that you had not forgotten me, and for
the little one to congratulate me. ... I have been speaking
at a meeting for the Oxford Calcutta Mission, and mission-
work always stirs me up to the very bottom, though I
have no right to talk of it to you, who have done it ; we
had a good meeting, and the general position of the mission-
work in Oxford is most hopeful. I leave it with
thankfulness.
"And now of myself. I am going on, thank God,
inwardly wonderfully quiet and undisturbed. I could not
say how wonderful all His goodness has been to me, giving
me everything and far more, just as I wished, and now I am
to go back to the cure of Souls, and be a shepherd again of
the sheep and of the lambs. This is my great delight, and
my hope, that He means it as a proof of His love, and that
He means me to be a Bishop of His Poor ! If I can keep
that before me, I shall be happy. Just now my immediate
difficulty is where to live Riseholme, with my widowed
Sister and all the children, or Lincoln alone. The second
seems right if I can, if the Ecclesiastical Commissioners will
let me sell Riseholme ; but in my heart I cling to my sister
and the children. However, by God s help, I hope to give
ADVICE
myself first to the Diocese, and, if I can, live at Lincoln.
You must come and see me ; make it a duty, as I shall be
surrounded by people of whom I cannot expect disinterested
love as of you. Don t let this bother you. I am, thank
God, all right only to-night I rest myself in the memory
of your love ! God Bless you and enable you to go bravely
on. Don t trouble about me ; only Pray for me regularly,
and wherever and whenever we meet, be always your old
affectionate self.
" I am, as always,
" Your sincerely affect.
" E. KING."
i
As the great flood of congratulation ebbed, the lesser
flood of advice began to flow. One friend recommends a
Legal Secretary, another an Examining Chaplain, a
third a Coachman. Bishop Mackarness, of Oxford, warns
his " dear brother," that he may " find himself a little
at fault in the more secular details of his office," and
adds, with a stolid playfulness, that, with competent
assistance, he " will have no excuse for not answering
letters." Bishop Wilkinson, of Truro, writes in a more
spiritual vein
" I hope that you will arrange, after you have looked
round your diocese, to go away for a month and see it
from a distance, * on the Mount, with Him Who knows
that our body as well as our soul needs rest. It is such a
holy, happy, helpful office, but there is a danger to some
minds, in these days of telegraphs, of rushing rather too
quickly into work, and of regarding every invitation as a
call."
9 8 EDWARD KING
As to the question of residence, Bishop Woodford, of
Ely, writes
" Eiseholme or Lincoln ? I am all for Lincoln. If
the Old Palace at Lincoln still belongs to the See and I
fancy it does it would, I am sure, be best to get rid of that
most uninteresting Biseholme, and settle at Lincoln. You
will find the distance from Lincoln a perpetual difficulty.
The clergy will dislike, when they want to see you, having
when they reach Lincoln to incur always the expense of a
fly to take them out, and at Ordinations it must be a very
serious hindrance."
The Precentor of Lincoln writes
" Happily the Old Palace still belongs to the See, and
a good house could be built there with the proceeds of the
sale of Riseholme. . . . Besides, it avoids complications for
the bishop to be extra-parochial, which he could be at the
Old Palace, consecrated by the memories of St. Hugh and
Grosteste."
After congratulations and counsels, testimonials. Nearly
a hundred and fifty clergymen, who had been students of
Cuddesdon under King, joined to present him with a
chalice and paten in silver gilt, together with stoles, chalice-
veils, altar-linen, and altar-book, for use in his private
Chapel. More than three hundred B.A. s and under
graduates joined to present the Episcopal ring, with an
address expressing their gratitude for spiritual help, and
especially for " Bethel." The congregation of St. Barnabas,
Oxford, presented a gold satin cope. Sir Henry Acland
sent, with a beautifully touching letter, a paper-weight
made of stone from lona, " over which St. Columba
may have walked. 5 ! The Kev. J. 0. Johnston, afterwards
THE LAST "BETHEL" 99
Principal of Cuddesdorij forwarded a cheque for 1500, on
behalf of friends in Oxford, who desired thus to express
their gratitude "for the work you have done in Oxford
and elsewhere, and also for the many kindnesses and great
help that they have received at your hands."
With regard to this gift (which he bestowed on St.
Stephen s House, at Oxford), King wrote to the givers
" I may accept it, as given in gratitude for the Truth
which it has been my great privilege to teach. That
Oxford may hold that Truth with increasing clearness,
and enjoy the Unity, and Love, and Kest, which that
Truth alone can give, is the sincere prayer of,
" Your grateful and affectionate
" Friend in Christ."
I
The sad moment for departure from Oxford now drew
near, and, on the last Friday of the Lent Term, Bang
delivered his Farewell address to his undergraduate friends,
assembled, for the last time, in " Bethel."
" Fir sty I must ask God to pardon and to forgive what
ever in these ten years may have been contrary to His
Will ; and to remove from you anything that may have
taken root in you, from my words, that is displeasing to
Him.
" Next, I must ask pardon from you for I ought to say
almost my impudence in addressing you in such simple
language. But I have addressed you in this manner, in
order that you may be in strict communion with God ;
and then that, through you, I might reach the poor. It
seems to me that I have been like Bacon, when he says
I seem to have been but making the noise that musicians
TOO EDWARD KING
do in tuning their instruments ; it is but the rough pre
paration for the harmony that is to come, to help them to
play in harmony together/ So, perhaps, please God,
these rough words which we have had here, may help you
to live in harmony with yourselves, with others, and with
God. And may He heal the wounds which I may have
inflicted on the minds of those who have come here to listen
to me.
" Secondly, I have to thank God for upholding my faith,
and strengthening it, while I have been in Oxford. I leave
Oxford restful, thankful, and as a believer. Twelve years
ago I began these little addresses, first in my own study
to half a dozen men, whose number quickly increased ;
then in the small room here, where I am standing ; then
that was not large enough, and we extended it to take in
that further room. I owe you much for that.
" Thirdly, One word as to Oxford. Let me express the
hope that you will strive for Personal Communion with
God, both in your faith, and in your life ; to live in cor
respondence with what you believe. And, whatever
changes may take place in the system, the regime, or the
discipline of the Colleges, that, remaining steadfast in
Christ, you may radiate from Oxford through England,
and far beyond.
" If Oxford is only true in her union with God, there is
no knowing what influence she may have in lifting up those
all over India, and even beyond.
" Fourthly, Aim high in your life (see 2 Kings xiii. 19).
Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times. Often
the cause of failure is because you don t press your victory.
Let me leave that with you as your text. Bishop Wilber-
force impressed that text upon me years ago. (See
I
PARTING WORDS 101
also St. Luke xiv. 10.) Friend, go up higher. Have
higher aims.
"It is not mere worldly ambition, but as you go higher
it is harder to climb, and the atmosphere is difficult to
breathe. It is quite possible to stay at the bottom on
smooth, level ground ; the timid one dares not to climb, lest
he fall. But it is the invitation of the Holy Spirit, * Friend,
come up higher. It is not ambition. There is detach
ment provided for you, as you go on, if you will go on.
And I want to warn you against a spurious kind of
humility.
" Fifthly, Remember the Law of Suffering (Acts ix. 16).
* I will show him how great things he must suffer. If
there is this invitation to go up higher, there is the suffer
ing with it (Acts xxii. 17, 21). The agony of St. Paul s
mind when he was told to go and testify before the very
man who knew * how I beat and imprisoned, etc., and
helped in the murder of St. Stephen.
" There is suffering when we do wrong, but there is com
fort ; * My grace is sufficient for thee (2 Cor. xii. 7-10).
And again in the very words I will show him, remember
it is Christ that shows. Don t let the sense of weakness be
to you a proof of inability (see 1 Cor. i. 25-31). You will
have the heart taken out of you again and again.
" These two passages have been a great help to me :
Psalm II., The heathen raging, and God laughs them to
scorn. St. John xix. 11, * Thou couldest have no power
against Me, except it were given thee from above. The
whole grip of the Roman power was completely in the hands
of the Almighty. The Will will be stronger than the cord
which binds body and soul together. God can carry out
the work, even if we die in our attempt to fulfil it.
102 EDWARD KING
" Sixthly, Remember the Law of handing on to younger
men lines of thought, footprints, etc., to step in (1 Kings xix).
When Elijah was about to leave the earth, three things were
to be done for those coming after.
" 1 Chron. xxviii. David in his old age handing on the
pattern for the Temple.
" Don t let a course of sin take the heart out of you.
" Brothers, dear brothers, I have had to speak roughly
to you to-night, just as Joseph spoke roughly to his brothers
for fear of breaking down."
On February 2, Canon Venables, of Lincoln, wrote to
Mr. Gladstone : " The Conge d elire will find a very ready
acquiescence when it arrives. Benedictus benedicat.
The election took place on March 20, and the Dean, Dr.
Blakesley, wrote as follows
ct MY DEAR LORD BISHOP-ELECT,
" I cannot deny myself the pleasure of informing
you by my handwriting of that which you will learn officially
very soon, that you were elected as the successor of Bishop
Wordsworth, this afternoon. It was a great satisfaction
to me that the weather and my bodily condition were such
that I was able to preside in person over the proceedings in
Chapter.
" There was a very large attendance of Prebendaries in
the Chapter, and the effect was very striking. May you
long fill the See, and never regret having left the shades of
Oxford for the awia opri of Lindum.
" Believe me always, my dear Lord Bishop-Elect,
" Faithfully yours,
" J. W. BLAKESLEY."
CONSECRATION 103
The confirmation of the election took place at Bow
Church on April 23. On that day the Bishop-Elect wrote
to his close friend, the Rev. J. E. Dawson, afterwards
Hector of Chislehurst
" I have just written 8 letters of thanks, and you ought
to have 8 more for all your love and goodness.
" Ah ! dear Friend, God is wonderful. What love He
gives, if we only give Him all our love ! or give it only as
He wills.
" I have just been Confirmed. Nobody objected, in
spite of the earnest appeals of the great Lawyers for some
one to come forward. So, dear Friend, it shows that all
these doctrines and ways which the good Ch. Ass. has
been putting together, are within the limit of the Law
(as well as the Creed !) for, if they thought they had
a chance, no doubt the good people would have been
kind enough to help me back to Oxford.
" God bless you, and enable you to do all that a heart
filled with His Holy Love can accomplish, enlightened by
His most Holy Wisdom. So may you rest in Head and
Heart, and be a pillar of support, and a pillow of rest, to
others.
" Always your truly loving
" E. LINCOLN (Elect)."
The Bishop was consecrated in St. Paul s Cathedral,
on St. Mark s Day, Saturday, April 25, 1885. The con
secrating prelates were Archbishop Benson, Bishop Temple
of London, Bishop Mackarness of Oxford, Bishop Woodf ord
of Ely, Bishop Thorold of Rochester, Bishop Wilberforce
of Newcastle, Bishop Trollope of Nottingham, Bishop How
of Bedford, Bishop Carpenter of Ripon, and Bishop
104 EDWARD KING
Bousfield of Pretoria. The Bishop-Elect was presented
by the Bishop of Oxford and the Bishop of Ely.* The
sermon (from 1 Corinthians iv. 15) was preached by Dr.
Liddon, and published under the title of " A Father in
Christ." Some of its concluding words may be inserted
here. After speaking of the ideal Bishop as essentially
a Father, the preacher went on
" Certainly we meet to-day on an occasion when we may
insist on this characteristic of the highest order in the
sacred ministry with more than usual hope and confidence.
The eminent scholar and poet, not less saintly in his life
than remarkable for his acquirements, who has lately left
us, is to be succeeded in the See of St. Hugh by one whose
nomination has thrilled the hearts of his brother Church
men with the deepest thankfulness and joy. Never,
probably, in our time has the great grace of sympathy,
controlled and directed by a clear sense of the nature and
sacredness of revealed truth, achieved so much among so
many young men as has been achieved, first at the Theo
logical College of Cuddesdon, and then from the Pastoral
Chair at Oxford, in the case of my dear and honoured
friend. He is surrounded at this solemn moment by
hundreds who know and feel that to his care and patience,
to his skill and courage, to his faith and spiritual insight,
they owe all that is most precious in life, and most certain
to uphold them in the hour of death ; and their sympathies
and prayers are shared by many others who are absent
from us in body, but present with us in spirit. Certainly,
if past experience is any guarantee of what is to come, if
* The Bishop of Ely had written on February 4 : " Let me be one
of your two presenting Bishops. I shall remorselessly upset a caravan of
Confirmations in order to be there."
A FATHER IN CHRIST 105
there be such a thing as continuity of spiritual character
and purpose, then we may hope to witness an episco
pate, which Kara rag TT pony ovcrag Tr/oo^rjrttae if current
anticipations are not wholly at fault will rank hereafter
with those which in point of moral beauty stand highest
on the roll of the later English Church with Andrewes,
with Ken, with Wilson, with Hamilton."
Archbishop Benson made this characteristic entry in his
diary : " Consecrated at St. Paul s, with a mighty con
gregation, Edward King, to be Bishop of Lincoln, and
E. H. Bickersteth to be Bishop of Exeter. Fewer persons
than usual, in proportion, communicated. This is owing
to the growth of Fasting Communion as a necessity and
not as a pious discipline only. And this . . . has taken
great root among the followers of the holy and influential
Canon King."
A spectator, describing the consecration, wrote
" It was a grand, and in some sense an imposing, cere
mony. Immediately before the act of consecration, the
Veni Creator was sung to the old plain-song, and the hearty
outburst of sound which accompanied it stood out in
marked contrast to the silence which reigned when the
choir was singing the beautiful but utterly uncongregational
music of Weber, to which the Mass proper was sung. . . .
The Archbishop s mode of consecration is wanting in
dignity. He stood sideways in front of the consecrand,
in order to enable his Co-consecrators to assist in the laying-
on of hands. Very much better would it have been had
he sat in his chair with the Bishops gathered round him.
It is, perhaps, ungracious to criticize when so much was
stately and dignified, and so far better than the ritual
which prevailed in older times."
io6 EDWARD KING
Thus Edward King was added as a fresh link to the
ever-lengthening chain of Christ s anointed witnesses.
In the afternoon of the same day, there was a gathering
of ex-students of Cuddesdon in St. Paul s Chapter-House,
when the gifts, already mentioned, were presented to the
Bishop. It had been intended that the Bishop of Newcastle
should make the presentation, but he was obliged to leave
London immediately after the service ; so his place was
taken by the Rev. F. J. Ponsonby, Vicar of St. Mary
Magdalene, Munster Square, and the Rev. T. B. Dover,
Vicar of St. Agnes, Kennington, who read the following
address :
" Whereas our Right Reverend Father in Christ, Edward
King, Doctor of Divinity, Canon of the Cathedral Church
of Christ, Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology in the
University of Oxford, hath been called in the Providence
of God to the Government of the See of Lincoln : and
whereas we, sometime students in the College of Cuddesdon,
in the said diocese (wherein as Chaplain and Principal he
tenderly guided us in our preparation for the Sacred Ministry)
desire to commemorate our affection towards him on this
occasion of his call to the Episcopate ; now we have caused
certain vessels and furniture for the Divine Mysteries to be
made, having in remembrance the Sacrifice of the Death
of Christ, in Whom the blessed company of all faithful
people are for ever complete ; and, further, we have prayed
the Right Reverend Father in God, Ernest Roland, Lord
Bishop of Newcastle, on our behalf to make the presentation
of these tokens of our love and lasting gratitude to our
master and friend."
The following was the Bishop s reply
ECHOES OF CUDDESDON 107
"DEAR BROTHERS,
" I can give you nothing formal or finished,
oppressed as I am by the burden which the long service
has laid upon me, in return for this new expression of your
unchanging love. That is the power which has done it
all, and now, you see, it s come to this. At Cuddesdon,
you know, we never thought of being Bishops. We didn t
care for position or rank. Two things we did care for,
the possession of the full counsel of God, and liberty to
teach it in every way. We wished to offer up our life and
be happy, blessed in ourselves, and with the privilege of
giving that blessedness to others. This was what made
Cuddesdon to be Cuddesdon, and drew us nearer to God and
to one another, giving us the peculiar freedom and elasticity
which made us so loose and free (though not wild) in head
and heart. For our heads rested, bowed down before the
full Catholic Faith, and our hearts were surrendered to be
disentangled and disciplined, to find their rest when given
up to God ( for our heart is restless, till it find its rest in
Thee ! ). We were brought to love God, and one another
in God, in a real and special way, not understood by people
unless they themselves knew what it was to be thus free.
When I left Cuddesdon, you know, I spoke to you on the
words I see that all things come to an end, but Thy
commandment is exceeding broad. It seemed a tre
mendous wrench one had grown so fond of all things. It
had been just the same when the testimonial from the Choir
at Wheatley was the end of work there. What has gone on
is just Thy Commandment. The Presence of God, com
munion, walking with God. I was in a dreadful fright at
having to face learned Oxford. God has given me not to be
shaken from faith. It has been an advantage to learn and
io8 EDWARD KING
sift things. It lias made faith stronger : I am very thankful
for it. Not only has contact with their heads strengthened
faith, but it has shown that they have hearts too. It was
very affecting to have around one 300 B.A. s and others
grateful for some little help given them. The only thing is
to see how we can be simple. I could see nothing else to
I do. All grows really clear by taking God for our rest and
I end, with a sense of the reality of love and need of discipline.
It gives a wonderful power of expansion, as the love of God
and man is proved as a rule of life. All went on and on.
You know how we used to laugh and cry together at
Cuddesdon. These two things have been superabundantly
granted there was nothing for it but to go on. Your
prayers and lives responding to simple teaching have done
it all : your going on and prayers have been a great support.
/We are not the discoverers, but witnesses to the truth :
( though we do make discovery of the possibilities of mankind-
England is not yet what it should be : although we are
gaining more and more evidence from our people of the
reality of the truths precious to us. It is quite delightful to
look forward to being a big curate in the diocese of Lincoln,
and getting back to parish work again ministering more
simply and directly to the needs of the poor. I have said
so much because I wanted to account for myself being here
as you see to-day. Let us just go on in the old way, with the
old love. I can t thank you. It would upset me altogether.
Any one of you would be enough to do that. But I will say
this that either in the Cathedral or Chapel I look forward
to use your gift in a daily Celebration. That is the way in
which I know you wish your precious gift to be accepted. I
ask you to believe that I thank God for this fresh evidence
of the sincerity of your love, and am only sorry for the trouble
ENTHRONEMENT 109
to which you must have put yourselves with so many other
claims upon you, to give, not to me, but to the office which
hallows me : and I trust through your prayers not to be
unfaithful to the spirit and intention in which you have
given these special vessels for the service of God."
The Bishop was enthroned in Lincoln Minster on
May 19, 1885. At the West Door the Sub-Dean (acting
temporarily as Dean), accompanied by the archdeacons,
prebendaries, priest-vicars, and all the choir, together
with the Chancellor and other officials of the Diocese,
received the Bishop, who was vested in a cope of cloth of
gold.
" The enthronement was a grand and dignified cere
monial. The ceremonies followed the forms prescribed in
the * Black Book, which is six hundred years old, and
codifies the existing ceremonial ; so that the forms observed
on this occasion were practically the same as were in use in
pre-Keformation times, and perhaps were employed when
St. Hugh was enthroned. As an instance, we may mention
that, when the Bishop knelt before the altar in private
prayer on first entering the choir, he was acting in accord
ance with the ancient rubric which speaks of ipso Episcopo
ante Altar e prostrato"
After the enthronement, the Bishop celebrated the Holy
Eucharist at the High Altar, and then dismissed the vast
and representative congregation with the Apostolic bene
diction.
Father Adderley, who, when a layman, founded Oxford
House in Bethnal Green, and was its first Head, writes
thus of the new Bishop of Lincoln
no EDWARD KING
" Perhaps he was never greater than when he made his
first appearance in Oxford after his consecration. It was
at a large meeting of undergraduates in Christ Church
Hall in support of Oxford House. He told us that all the
furniture at his house in Tom Quad was packed, and
that he only had a Bible, a Tertullian, and a match-box.
So he took his text from the box Rub lightly. It was
a marvellous speech. We were to rub the East-Enders
that is, we were to be definite, firm, sane, judicious ; but
we were to do it lightly, with love and sympathy. We
were not to use too much of the ecclesiastical must ;
but just take them, and give them a little push no
more. The speech literally took us all by storm. Dear
People, the address so often used by clergy all over the
country was his original way of speaking to the congrega
tion. We all cribbed if from him, but we can t say it as he
said it."
The admonition to " Rub lightly " is well illustrated by
the following incident, supplied by the Rev. D. Elsdale, who
was under King at Cuddesdon
" I once asked him if he introduced religious conversa
tion deliberately in a public conveyance. No, he said,
but I look round at each face and pray for each soul ;
and then leave the guidance of the conversation to God.
It may not be out of place, at this point of the narrative,
to describe the manner of man that the great See of St.
Hugh now received as its sixtieth bishop.
Edward King was in his fifty-sixth year, and in
the maturity of his powers. The bowed head, to which
reference has already been made, gave him a look of age
A GENTLEMAN in
beyond his years, but it was merely a physical habit, and
implied no diminution of general strength. His hair was
still abundant and only slightly grey, and from under his
strongly-marked eyebrows there looked out a pair of the
keenest eyes that ever probed a character or read a situation.
The features were of delicate refinement ; but the mouth
closed firmly, and the chin was well developed. The voice
was almost ladylike in its gentleness, and the whole face
was, from time to time, suffused by a smile which lit it
up, as a ray of sunshine lights a quiet landscape. That
smile was the outward token of the inner life. He held
that, in Liddon s phrase, " light-heartedness is at once the
right and the duty of a redeemed Christian whose conscience
is in fairly good order," and he lived from hour to hour in
the realized Peace of God.
Scarcely less valuable, in respect of the work which
lay before him, was another quality. " Whatever else our
new Bishop is," said the laity of Lincolnshire, " he is a
gentleman." And so indeed he was a gentleman of the
type of George Herbert and St. Francis of Sales. So
in the great houses of the diocese Grimsthorpe and
Brocklesby and Belton, and the like the Bishop was as
instantly and as completely at home as in the Parsonages
and the Clergy-Houses and the labourers cottages. He
had conspicuously that special mark of the gentlemanlike
nature that no surroundings could make the slightest
difference to his demeanour. He was a gentleman, neither
more nor less, and he knew it ; and neither in Courts nor
in hovels could he seem other than what he was.
And then again, his special tastes and habits perfectly
fitted his new environment. All the sights and sounds
of Nature were dear to him. As a boy, he had loved
112 EDWARD KING
birds-nesting, bird-stuffing, and egg-collecting, and to the
end of his life the habits of birds were full of interest to
him. It was the same with flowers. Whenever he arrived
in a fresh place, one of his first enquiries was about the
local flora, and he would eagerly purchase any book bearing
on the subject. To the head of a Ladies School, he
wrote
" I am glad the K.S.P.C.A.* is taking on. The love
of wild flowers helps in the same direction of gentleness and
tender care. I was glad to see the Books of Wild Flowers
which your pupils had collected."
Then again, though he had given up riding, his interest
in horses was as keen as ever. The sportsman s heart still
beat under the purple cassock, and he loved to see a meet
of the hounds. The fox-hunters were not slow to reciprocate
his regard. A clergyman of the Diocese said to the Master
of one of the Lincolnshire packs : "Is it true that you
have only two pictures on your writing-table one your
favourite hound, and the other the Bishop ? " " Yes,"
replied the M.F.H., " and why not ? They are the two
on whom I place the most reliance." In 1891, the Bishop
wrote to a young clergyman " Your appreciation of
athletics is, I suppose, the 19th Century expression of my
more brutal and mediaeval love of hounds and soldiers." f
To a newly-ordained Deacon, who had scruples of con
science about joining his father s shooting-party on the
First of September, the Bishop wrote : "I think you are
quite right to go simply on, and shoot. It would, if
* Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
t See p. 270.
r
IN THE VILLAGES 113
you declined, seem ungrateful for the opportunities your
father has provided for you ; " but adding that, as the
Deacon advanced to and in the priestly life, the wish
to shoot would probably be ousted by higher desires.
To the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire he wrote, acknow
ledging a present of game " I always think that such
kind presents, as the autumn comes round, are a real
help to Brotherly Love in a neighbourhood."
Summing up the Bishop s character, a Dignitary of
Lincoln says " Saintliness and shrewdness were equally
characteristic of him. He never touched a topic without
displaying an original view. . . . He was, in the best and
highest sense, a man of the world, without an atom of
worldliness."
But, while he was thus well fitted for converse with the
landowning classes, he was in at least as active sympathy
with the clergy, the farmers, and the agricultural poor.
He came, like a good angel of hope and encouragement, to
isolated parishes in the fens and on the wolds, cheering dis
heartened clergymen, and preaching to the labourers in
language which they could understand. Though he taught
in its fulness the Catholic interpretation of the Faith, he so
phrased his teaching that the stiffer Church-folk regarded
him as being " nowt but an old Methody ; " while a delighted
adherent of the Salvation Army exclaimed, after one of his
addresses : " It might ha been the General himself ! " His
long experience of country parishes stood him in good stead
when dealing with the farmers. In the Cattle-Plague of
1865-6 a farmer at Cuddesdon had twenty-four of his cows
down with the disease at one time ; and such experiences
had taught the ex- Vicar of Cuddesdon to sympathize with
those varied woes of drought and flood, high rents and low
I
114 EDWARD KING
prices, from which the British agriculturist is rarely free.
But he was at his best in confirming the plough-boys and
carters, and there were countless stories about his insight
into their difficulties, and the impression wrought by his
words. A village lad spoke thus to his parish priest
" I was cutting up turnips t other morning, and they
wor that awkward ! And I broke out swearing ; but then
I remembered what fold Bishop had said when I wor
confirmed ; so down I plumped on my knees among the
turnips, and prayed to be forgiven. !
An earnest but pessimistic priest was talking to the
Bishop about the state of his parish, and was specially
troubled by the small success of his efforts to help the
younger farm-lads lodging at the various homesteads . "For
example, my Lord," he said, " there is one lad with whom
I had taken much trouble, and I hoped an influence for good
was getting a lodgment in the boy s heart. But, imagine my
distress when I asked what he had done in the way of pre
paration for his early Communion at Easter, and all he said
was, I s cleaned my boots, and put em under the bed. It
is sad, indeed ! " " Well, dear friend," replied the Bishop,
" and don t you think the angels would rejoice to see them
there ? "
But the Bishop s care for the agricultural poor did not
end with their souls, or even their bodies. Though a stout
Tory, he had supported the extension of the Suffrage to the
Agricultural Labourers, saying " They must be taught to
be Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven by being made
Citzens of the Kingdom of England." He felt strongly
A NEW IDEAL 115
about the duty of helping their intellectual development.*
In 1895, he wrote to his friend Scott Holland" I don t
think that the minds of the poor have been treated with
sufficient loving, reverent ability. We want a book (like
Darwin s on Earth Worms) on the intellectual, moral, and
spiritual capacities of the poor. Do write it."
The question as to the Bishop s place of residence was
settled by the sale of Biseholme.f No historical associa
tions were violated, for Riseholme had only been acquired
for the See in 1841 ; while fitness, as well as convenience,
was consulted by the restoration of the " Old Palace "
at Lincoln to its former use as the Episcopal residence.
Pending the work of restoration, the Bishop dwelt, apos-
tolically, in his own hired house ; J and, working from that
centre, he quickly contrived to diffuse his influence over
the whole of his wide diocese. On November 11, 1885,
Anthony Thorold, Bishop of Rochester, an Evangelical
of the Evangelicals, and a cadet of a great Lincolnshire
family, sent the Bishop of Lincoln this delightful tribute
" May I venture to say with what deep and grateful
interest I read of your doings in my native county ? My
feeling, when I heard of your succeeding to the great
Eastern See, was that the Master had for you the blessed
and hard task of lifting up before the hearts of the clergy a
new ideal of duty and holiness. As God conquers us by love,
we must conquer each other. The welcome that the Lincoln
shire folk are giving you seems to show that you have won
in six months what some do not win in as many years."
* See p. 66.
f Under an Order in Council of August 12, 1885.
j " Hilton House," to the west of the Minster.
u6 EDWARD KING
In the midst of new scenes and new interests, the
Bishop never forgot old friends. When the Michaelmas
Term began, he wrote to Canon Ottley, then Tutor of
Christ Church
" Only a line to say Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,
and all your loving work beginning. I don t forget you.
Don t fret. Be as merry as you can. God bless you and
keep you.
" Yours most affectionately."
On New Year s Day, 1886, the Bishop wrote thus to a
former student at Cuddesdon
" Thank you for your kind, good wishes. They brought
back many pleasant memories. . . .
" How are you ?
" If you can come this way, come and see me. You
have got a good Bishop,* D.G., though that need not make
one love the old one f the less.
" Life wants courage, I think, as one gets on. I feel
I need the whip more than I used. I feel like an old horse,
puffy in the legs and not able to get about so well as I used,
but, D.G., I am wonderfully supported. All have been most
kind here. I like the people very much, they are a deep-
hearted people I think, tho a little e stand off in their
manner at first.
" God help you, dear Friend, and help you to go boldly
and bravely to the end."
Arrangements for the restoration of the Old Palace were
* Lord Alvvyne Compton. t Dr. Woodford.
BISHOP AND BUILDER 117
now beginning ; the following letters speak for themselves
and for the Bishop :
"March 30, 1886.
" To the Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Lincoln.
"MY LORD,
" I hope you will excuse the liberty I take on myself
in writing to you, and forgive me if I trespass too much on
your Lordship s valuable time. But as a working-man I
wish to bring before your Lordship s notice a subject which
is in the minds of all the working-men in the building trade
living in Lincoln, and that is, my Lord, the new Palace
which is about to be built for you. It is thought by many
of us that the Job is let to some Builder out of the town.
If that is really the case, my Lord, then the men of Lincoln
will stand no chance at all in getting a Job there, as the
stranger will bring his own men with him. There is an
instance of it at the present time, the building of St.
Swithin s Tower, where they are nearly all strangers to the
town.
" Therefore I sincerely hope your Lordship will kindly
use your influence and give it to one of the local firms. I
do assure your Lordship by so doing you would not be
forgot by the working men of Lincoln. Begging once more
to be forgiven for trespassing on your time,
" I remain,
" Your Lordship s humble and obedient servant,
"X. Y. Z."
The manner of the Bishop s reply, as well as its substance,
can be inferred from X. Y. Z. s rejoinder :
n8 EDWARD KING
" April 1, 1886.
" To the Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Lincoln.
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I beg to thank you for your very kind note which
you sent me this morning in answer to mine of March 30.
I am very sorry that the building of the Palace has gone
out of the town, but it seems it cannot be helped. I am
fully convinced, my Lord, that you did your best to give
it to a local firm, and I will tell my mates (and others I
come in contact with) that it was no fault of our dear
Bishop.
" Hoping that Almighty God will bless and keep you
with us for many years,
" I remain,
" Your Lordship s humble and obedient servant."
We have spoken already of the Bishop s activities in
the rural parts of his diocese ; here is a sample of his work
in the City of Lincoln, kindly contributed by a lady who
was present when he visited a silk-factory in April, 1886.
" The Bishop took up the various stages of the manu
facture and mechanical arrangements of the mill, each of
which he made an appropriate lesson, especially noticing
one to be drawn from the stoppage of the machinery by
a bit of foul in the silk, which will not pass the eye of the
needle. In the same way, nothing foul in our lives can
pass the Eye of God. We get stopped ; it won t do ; we
can t get on. The foul must be taken out before we can
go smoothly on our way towards Heaven. And also the
bell, which does not ring on the machinery until so many
yards of silk, perhaps as many as 1000, are finished,
THE PRIMARY CHARGE 119
shows us that we must not be impatient in our life-work.
In God s good time, what we are wishing will be accom
plished, but not until the right time. Also, that just as
the skein of silk, left in the rough, would be so much gross
waste, because from that material could be wrought the
most delicate lace, or silk fit for a dress for the Queen, so,
how much sadder waste it is to leave our lives in the rough,
when so much can be brought out of them for the glory of
our Master."
In October, 1886, the Bishop made his Primary Visita
tion of the diocese, and his Charge revealed, even to many
who had known him well, certain powers of mind and
certain habits of thought which took them by surprise.
All spiritual graces they had, of course, expected in such
an allocution, but its mental vigour and alertness, and its
keen insight into the problems of the day, had scarcely been
anticipated. The Charge begins with a just and generous
tribute to Bishop Wordsworth ; its third, fourth, and
fifth sections are occupied with diocesan affairs and
illustrative matter, including some valuable hints on
theological reading. The second section demands special
notice.
The Bishop observes that the last thirty, or five-and-
thirty, years (1850-1885) have been years of severe dis
cipline. The very foundations of the Faith have been
assailed ; but they stand for many of us, firmer than
before ; or, rather, we stand firmer in our relation to
them." Two lines of thought suggest themselves.
I. " The evidence of our Faith is complex. It is not
in our power, by the mere force of logic, to arrive with
perfect satisfaction at the conclusion God is." The Bishop
120 EDWARD KING
refers to St. Anselm, J. B. Mozley, and T. G. Cazenove,
but he sums up : " For myself, the conclusion from such
reasoning has rather been * God must be, than God is. "
" The subject is too great for such a method. We need
rather considerations, lines of thought, than arguments ;
we need the conjoint, complex help of all our powers,
physical, intellectual, moral, to enable us fully to rest in
Him."
/ " Under the discipline of doubt, God has been leading
us to lay hold on Him with ALL our powers." Here is seen
the unbounded scope for physical, intellectual, and moral,
as well as spiritual, progress ; the need to put away envy
and jealousy ; the bounden duty of service, the power of
V union to develope the individual. Hence the importance of
Athletic Societies, Literary Institutes, Schools of Art, Guilds
and Eetreats.
II. " Faith, after all, is a gift from God . . . never denied
to those who seek it with true lowliness and sincerity of
heart." And, on our part, " Faith is not the mere sum of
probabilities, conjecture, or reasonings of any kind. ... It
implies the action of the affections and of the Will, the
exercise of all those inner powers of our being which the
Hebrews called the Heart. " Here the Bishop cites his
favourite Bishop Sailer, to whose writings he was introduced
by Dollinger: " We require a "Surrender," an "Accept
ance," and " Faith." : This need of a gift to enable us fully
to believe in God brings out with a new clearness the funda
mental importance of Revelation * the inestimable value of
our Bible even in relation to Theism. " Here the Bishop
quotes from Archbishop Benson a striking phrase " The
conscious God, Whom Nature suspects but cannot
prove." He goes on " Without the aid of revelation, the
SCIENCE AND FAITH 121
Apostle has told us that men are but seeking after God if
haply they might feel after Him, and find Him ; just as we
may be conscious of the presence of a person in a dark
room, though who he may be or where, we cannot tell."
From these two main lines of thought, the Bishop goes
on to deal with a subject which constantly occupied his
mind the relation of Kevealed Religion to Ethics.
" There have been times in the last thirty years, when
it has appeared to some as though the brilliant and beneficial
progress of Natural Science would cause the study of morals
to be like silver in the days of Solomon, * nothing accounted
of ; nay, more, it has almost seemed as if morals would
be scientifically destroyed, and be shown to lack a rational
basis. It is in a sense a new gift, for which we ought with
all thankfulness to acknowledge the responsibility, that
this is so no longer. Ethics again have a place among
scientific realities. ... I can t help here expressing, as an
Oxford man, how inestimable a debt we owe to the work
and writings of the late Professor of Moral Philosophy
T. H. Green."
The Bishop goes on to treat at large of the office of the
Church, as the Christian Society realizing the Brotherhood
of Man ; as the Mediatorial Kingdom ; and as the instru
ment appointed by God for the work of teaching His people.
He then turns to the practical application of the principles
which he has laid down, and concludes in a strain of unusual
eloquence
" If we can only bring our wills into more perfect union
with God s Will, and learn to walk in His way, and abide
His time, we shall not be discouraged. We know that
122 EDWARD KING
power belongeth unto God ; we know that the great Head
of the Church holds the Seven Stars in His right hand ; we
know that He is actively present in the midst of His
Churches ; we know that He knows our works, our
labours, our patience ; and we know the condition
upon which the reward will be given : to him that over-
cometh. It is intended, therefore, that we should have
difficulties ; difficulties should not discourage us, but
remind us of the conditional reward, even the reward of
sinless liberty, walking with Him in white ; the reward of
resting with Him in eternal love and glory. To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even
as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in
His throne.
" To this great endless end it is the Will of our
Heavenly Father that both we and our people should come,
through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Even so
may it be for His Sake.
"DEO GRATIAS."
It is worthy of remark that this Charge elicited warm
commendation from the prelate who, of all the Bishops at
that time on the Bench, possessed the acutest and most
vigorous intellect. Bishop Magee, of Peterborough, wrote
on November 28, 1886
"MY DEAR BISHOP,
" I have just read through, with much interest and
profit, your Primary Charge. It has filled me with a sense
of my own deficiencies, and of the great amount of work
yet to be even attempted where I had perhaps been dis
posed to think that enough had been originated, and that
A TRAGEDY 123
what was chiefly needed now was completion of what had
been begun.
" What I write, however, specially to thank you for, is
simply one sentence in your Charge a very pregnant one,
and to me, I confess, a new one it is, The Soul is im
patient of the Mediatorial Kingdom/
" This is a thought which runs out very far and very
deep under all our Christian life. The impatient,
instead of * the patient, waiting for Christ, is seen, when
we come to think of it, to be the source of no small part
of our ecclesiastical and even our personal errors and
troubles.
" Through the villages to Jerusalem is also a germinant
thought, for which! am indebted to you. It would make
a noble text for a Church Mission sermon.
" With all best wishes for you, and for the work of the
Lord in your hands/
" Yours very sincerely and fraternally,
" W. C. PETERBOROUGH."
The beginning of the year 1887 was marked by an
incident which aroused a signal amount of public interest,
and seemed to show people, habitually indifferent to
Episcopal doings, that a new type of spiritual ministry
had arisen in the Church.
A young fisherman from Grimsby had killed his sweet
heart ; under strong provocation, indeed, but deliberately.
He was found guilty of murder at the Lincoln Assizes,
and condemned to death. The terrible burden of preparing
him for his end pressed heavily on the Chaplain of the
Prison, and the Bishop, hearing of the Chaplain s distress,
124 EDWARD KING
took the case into his own hands. From the 7th to the
9th of February the Bishop was a guest of the present writer,
to whom he spoke with deep anxiety about the case. He
said the youth there is no need to record his name
had spent all his life at sea, and was as ignorant as a South
Sea Islander. Not only was he ignorant of the Christian
religion, but he seemed to know nothing of God or sin, or
right or wrong. He was simply a powerful animal, and
had acted on his animal instincts. The Bishop set to work,
and taught him the unseen realities of life and death, sin and
forgiveness, from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The
youth was deeply moved, and the Bishop, having satisfied
himself that he had been baptized, confirmed him, received
his Confession, and prepared him for Holy Communion.
So far, all was plain ; but here arose the moral difficulty.
The youth longed passionately to live, and implored the
Bishop to sign a petition for commutation of his sentence.
But the Bishop thought the sentence just ; and it was all-
important, he said, not to let the culprit think hardly of
the law. " He must not think that it is unjust. He must
be made to know that he has incurred the just punishment
for an awful crime. Yet the supreme object is to save his
soul, and can I expect him to listen to my ministrations if
I refuse to attempt to save his life ? What do you advise ? "
The present writer strongly advised the Bishop to sign the
petition, and the Bishop referred the question to the Judge
who had tried the case Mr. Justice Field who replied as
follows
" MY DEAR LOED,
" I am very grateful to you for the confidence you
place in me, and very much pleased with the kind and truly
"A TERRIBLE PRIVILEGE" 125
Christian spirit of your letter. There cannot be the slightest
objection to your doing what is asked.
" Indeed, having in your capacity of a kind minister of
the Gospel, seen and communicated personally with the
convict, I cannot conceive a more fitting course than to
present to the Queen, through her advisers, your concurrence
in the prayer for mercy.
"I hope that on some future visit to Lincoln, I may have
the honour of becoming personally acquainted with you.
In the meantime, pray accept the sincere assurance of
esteem and respect with which I sign myself,
" Your very sincere and faithful servant,
" WILLIAM V. FIELD."
The Bishop therefore signed the petition, but it was
rejected by the Home Secretary, and the culprit must be
prepared for death. The Bishop celebrated the Holy
Communion in the condemned cell, and, before the service,
said to the penitent : " Let us say a little prayer to con
secrate the hand which did the sad deed, before it holds
the Body of the Lord." * When the fatal morning dawned,
the Bishop accompanied the sufferer to the scaffold, sus
taining him with " strong prayers and supplications " till
the drop went down. A few days later he wrote to the
present writer
" How kind of you, dear friend, to think of me ! It
was a terrible privilege, but I am most thankful that I
* A priest who knew the Bishop at Cuddesdon writes : " I remember
his speaking from the pulpit to some Confirmation Candidates preparing
for their First Communion, and I can see him now, holding out his hand,
j and saying to them that, when the Blessed Sacrament was placed there,
sy must think * That is God Who made the world. "
126 EDWARD KING
was allowed to be with the poor dear man. He was most
beautiful ; and his last (and first) Communion on Sunday
morning put me to shame. I felt quite unworthy of him.
How little the world knows of the inner life ! "
This sad story had a remarkable sequel. Eight years
afterwards, the Bishop received the following letter from a
gunner in the Eoyal Artillery
" MY LORD,
" Being myself greatly interested in Church work
in the Army and amongst my comrades, and being associ
ated as Secretary of a Ward of the Guild of the Holy
Standard, I thought your lordship would be pleased to
hear that one of our most earnest members, and one of
the most consistent Christian livers amongst us, and a
regular communicant, is a young man of the name of ,
whose conversion is due to a kindness your lordship showed
to a dear relative of his in Lincoln Gaol. As the young man
is not much of a scholar, I have promised him that I would
write to your Lordship, and I think at the same time you
will be pleased to hear that through your kindness at least
one man has been brought to the knowledge of Jesus, and
to receive the benefits of His Church.
" Apologizing for the liberty taken, and if you honour
me, my Lord, with an answer, please do so by Tuesday
morning, as I am being drafted from here,
"I beg to remain, my Lord, with all respect and
admiration,
" Yours obediently,
A HARD CASE 127
A curious result of the foregoing incident was that one
of the warders of Lincoln Gaol, nominally a Roman Catholic
but presumably sitting rather loose to his religion, was so
deeply impressed by the earnestness of the Bishop s ministra
tions that he joined the Church of England. A Roman
Catholic dignitary, horror-stricken by this tale of apostasy,
wrote it at full length to the Bishop, and tried to elicit a
denial. The Bishop s docket on the letter is simply
" Quite true."
From that time on it became the Bishop s practice
always to visit prisoners lying under sentence of death at
Lincoln, and to spend long periods with them in private
devotion. Such ministrations, from which far more robust
men would have shrunk in horror, revealed that nerve of
steel which God so often bestows on the gentlest of His
saints. The Archdeacon of Stow writes
" During the short time that I was Chaplain of the
Lincoln Prison, I took the Bishop to see an unhappy man
who showed very little signs of penitence ; and he wrote
to me as follows when he was away on a holiday : I am
very sorry for your account of poor . The sad fact is
that such a Life is very dead to spiritual things, and perhaps
this sharp knife is the only pruning that could save the
little life that remains from complete death. There may
be, we must hope, enough for development in the ages
to be the bruised reed and smoking flax. I do
not forget you, dear friend, nor him ; please tell him so.
I feared this would be much harder than the case I had
before. ".
The Bishop turns now to gentler tasks of consolation. He
writes thus to his brother-in-law on the death of a sister
128 EDWARD KING
"March 14, 1887.
" Our generation seems now to be the generation for the
harvest ; the busy gathering-in is with us ; the few remain
ing from the last generation are rather like shocks left
behind.
"However, we must bravely trust that each will be
gathered in, in its season.
" Sometimes one is tempted to despair because life
I looks so short, and sometimes tempted to be impatient,
I wishing to be free from constantly recurring troubles.
Fortunately it is not left to us to decide. We must go
bravely, brightly on, as others have before us, and try and
leave a few footprints which may help others to follow.
Here we are in constant trouble from the agricultural
distress, and I fear the social position of the clergy must
suffer, and the social quality of them also. I only hope
their spiritual power may be increased."
To James Adderley, on the occasion of his mother s
death, the Bishop writes
" June 10, 1887.
" I am sorry for my delay in writing to you. Not only
about coming to you as you kindly ask, but to assure you
of my sincere sympathy with you in your great, great
sorrow.
" I wish I could come to you, but I am engaged to the
full now, and dare not add more. I was so grieved for you
and dear Keggie when I heard of your terrible trouble.
I know by experience how blank it makes things. No one
to tell all the little things of interest to ! No one to keep
watching for one, and to help on one s half-formed plans !
MOTHERS LOVE 129
It is a terrible loss and blank ; the point of unity in the
family seems gone. But, dear Friend, you will have help
to bear it, and in time you will understand and see how all
has been ordered in Wisdom and in Love. Life never can
be quite the same, but you would not wish to have it
otherwise, as you see the Wisdom and the Love which have
ordered all. A new nearness to God, a purer intention,
a more direct living for the World Beyond, a new freedom
and sense of independence to this World, its frowns and
smiles, and purer courage these, dear Friend, are some
of the gifts and consolations I believe you will find in God s
good time. Meanwhile, you can trust yourself to the
Prayers of the Church for those in trouble and sorrow."
Four days later the Bishop writes to his friend James
Dawson, then a curate at Koath, with regard to an approach
ing solemnity in which they both were to take part
" By all means be my Chaplain on the 22nd, and save
me from scandalizing all the little acolytes by not bowing
and bending as they would wish ! I shall feel safe in your
hands, as I know there is no kind, or degree, of good, or
evil, of that sort to which you are not equal you naughty,
wicked James !
" You see, dear child, I deal with you as of old, with all
the Love and Liberty which in the memory of our dear
mothers still lives. Both the dear mothers would, I think,
wish me to deal with you in this severe fashion ; and both
will like to see us walking together on the 22nd ! "
On August 12, he wrote from Maloja to Sub-Dean
Clements
K
130 EDWARD KING
; I " We have had lovely weather all the time we have been
away, with the exception of a few thunderstorms, which
did not matter. The air here is delicious. I have been
very well, I am thankful to say, and have enjoyed walking
on the mountain, not, of course, attempting the real climb
ing, though I feel very much tempted to do so.
" Somehow I have not been quite so fresh in spirit as I
usually have been abroad. I think perhaps the strain of
the last two years has had its influence. But I am sure I
ought to be, and I hope I am, deeply thankful for all God s
goodness to me in the great work to which I have been so
unexpectedly called, and I shall always remember with
especial gratitude the kindness and great assistance which
I have received from yourself and all your family. I
suppose, if I live, I must be more drawn into the general
work of the Church. The Archbishop has invited some of us
on a committee to spend a week at Addington in November.
It is inconvenient, as I must alter the dates of a week s
Confirmations ; but I suppose it is one s duty to go. I
am not much use at present, but I think one gains influence
by being willing to take part in work. But I ought to be
telling you about the Fancy Ball we had last Tuesday,
and all the news of the Engadine ! This is a splendid
hotel, and I think for air, and quietness, it is the best place
in the Engadine, but not perhaps for scenery. The glaciers
are not so well seen as from other places/
In the autumn of 1887 the following letter was
addressed to some of the newspapers by Lord Halifax,
who had long been one of the Bishop s most devoted
friends
ST. HUGH REVIVED 131
" g IEj iffill you allow me the benefit of your columns to
put before the members of the English Church Union, and
all others who would sympathize in such a matter (of whom
I think there will be many), an idea, which ever since a
recent visit to Lincoln has been filling my own mind ?
One word of preface with regard to that visit.
" The occasion was a Confirmation in the Cathedral, of
which I will only say that it is the first time I have ever
been present at a service performed in an English Cathedral,
by an English Bishop, when I have felt, f This is, indeed,
what one has imagined to oneself. This is what such a
service should be.
" Certainly I shall never forget the Bishop sitting before
the altar that day, or the words that he spoke. It was as
if St. Hugh had come back to his own church in the person
of his latest successor, and was inspiring a sense of trust
and confidence in the future, and of ideals realized and
satisfied, the recollection of which even at this distance is
a source of the deepest joy and thankfulness. Nor was
the impression diminished by visiting in the afternoon,
under the guidance of the Bishop himself, the ruins of the
Old Palace adjoining the Cathedral, which are being re
stored for the Bishop s use. It is sometimes said that
Durham, with its Cathedral and Castle, and its magnificent
situation, is the most picturesque group of buildings in
England, but surely Lincoln in its own way is quite as
striking. In one respect, indeed, Lincoln has the advantage,
for Durham, since the Castle has been given up to the
University, has lost the Palace of its Bishops. At Lincoln,
now Kiseholme has been sold, and the proceeds applied to
the restoration of the Old Palace, the Bishops of Lincoln
will again reside under the shadow of their Cathedral ;
132 EDWARD KING
and in what a situation does that Palace stand, and sur
rounded with what associations ! On the one side immedi
ately above the Palace, and separated from it only by the
walls dating from the reign of William Rufus, which bound
the Bishop s garden on the north, the towers of the Cathedral
rise up into the sky ; on the other the town of Lincoln lies
at his foot, while beyond stretch away in the far distance
the long levels of the flat country which surround like a
sea the isolated hill on which Lincoln is built.
" In more senses than one the Bishop of Lincoln is indeed
the overseer of his flock, for, as he looks down from the
terraced walls of his garden, he sees his diocese at his feet,
with nothing above him but the great Minster, which has
been the pride of Lincoln for so many generations. One
thing only is needed to complete the work of restoration,
and that is the proper glass and necessary furniture for the
chapel which adjoins the Palace. That chapel is being
formed out of a portion of the thirteenth-century building,
long a roofless ruin. It is connected with the Palace by a
gallery, and, when completed, will make the most beautiful
private chapel in England. But it is not only as a private
chapel that it will be used. It is to be available also for
retreats, for services in connexion with the Bishop s ordina
tions, and generally for the clergy of the diocese. What a
place, as the Bishop himself was saying, for those who may
be weary or discouraged with their work, to gather together
under the shadow of the cathedral, and there, resting
awhile from their labours, draw fresh supplies of strength
and courage with which to return once more to the work
of their parishes !
" At present the Bishop has provided the bare fabric and
an altar, but everything else remains to be done. The
A CHRISTMAS GIFT 133
most pressing necessity is the glass for the east window,
which it is proposed to fill after designs by Messrs. Bodley
and Garner, with the following subjects : The Annuncia
tion, the Nativity, and the Crucifixion, and with the figures
of four saints, St. Remigius, St. Hugh, St. Christopher, and
St. Edward, the two last as being the patrons of the last
and the present Bishop.
" A reredos, proper furniture for the altar, screens to make
an ante-chapel for the Bishop s household, desks and stalls
are also wanted. And here comes in my idea. Might not
the members of the Union, remembering the special claims
the Bishop of Lincoln has upon them, and, indeed, all
others to whom his name is dear, combine, in anticipation
of this coming Christmas, to present to the Bishop, when
Christmas Day arrives, as some slight expression of their
love and reverence, the glass and other furniture required
to complete his chapel ?
" A very small mite given by every member of the Union
would . easily provide the required sum, and then what a
special pleasure, amid all the other happy thoughts which
Christmas brings with it, to feel that we were associated
together this Christmas Day in a common offering to one
whom we all love and revere, and in a united effort for the
glory of Almighty God in token of our gratitude to Him
for having bestowed on the Church of England in these
later days such a ruler as the Bishop of Lincoln ! I should
propose to keep the subscription open for three weeks, and
then (after ascertaining by consultation with Messrs. Bodley
and Garner, who are responsible for the work, and whose
names are a guarantee for the money being expended in
the best possible way, what objects the money collected
will supply) to forward to the Bishop, so as to reach him on
134 EDWARD KING
Christmas morning, a list of the gifts which are being
offered to him for the completion of his Chapel, together
with the names of the donors who are combining in the
presentation."
The Church Times thus commented on this appeal
" The restoration of the old Bishop s Palace at Lincoln
is now almost completed. The main portion of it which
has been rebuilt, is by Mr. Christian, the Commissioners
architect. There are some large rooms, and the windows
in the south front command a magnificent view of the city
and the country beyond. A considerable portion of the
Palace was built in 1727, and in this wing there are
some pretty rooms with good eighteenth-century wood
work. . . . There is some variety about the quadrangle,
and the old tower and ruins give the place considerable
interest. The view of the Cathedral elevated on the
plateau above is singularly grand, and a more suitable
spot for the Diocesan s residence could not well be found.
The charming rose window known as the e Bishop s Eye
looks out upon it, and like it, the Palace catches the
genial beams of the sunny south. One portion of the
building on which the eye can rest with complete satisfac
tion is the Chapel. It has been built upon the remains of the
lesser Hall of the original Palace, and it is joined to the new
building with a covered passage. It is proposed that the
new east window should be filled with glass, but at present
there are no funds. Messrs. Bodley and Garner have pre
pared a scheme for the window, which includes the An
nunciation, the Nativity, and the Crucifixion in the centre,
and in the side lights St. Remigius, St. Hugh, St. Christopher,
and St. Edward. The cost of this window is only 180,
"A GOODLY SIGHT 135
and without it the Chapel will look cold. Beneath there
is a considerable wall-space, which the architects propose
to cover with a reredos, for which 300 should be allowed.
For the present there will only be the altar, and chairs for
the worshippers. The impression which a devotional and
well-furnished Chapel can make on candidates for Ordina
tion is considerable, and the Bishop will probably attract
men to his diocese, on whom its influence will not be lost.
The roof has been decorated, and looks exceedingly well.
To the north of the chapel are the ruins of the great Hall
of the old Palace. As the old windows of the Chapel are
low down, and no longer wanted, it is proposed to block
them partially, and fill the heads with glass. 600 would
make the little Chapel a goodly sight.
" The suggestion which Lord Halifax makes this week
is one which we have no doubt will be largely supported by
the many who have either been brought into personal
contact with the Bishop of Lincoln, or who have been
benefited indirectly by an influence so wide-spreading as
that of Dr. King. At any rate, we feel sure there could be
no more graceful act than that of furnishing the Episcopal
Chapel at Lincoln, by way of showing appreciation of the
labours of its eminent diocesan."
The response to Lord Halifax s appeal was prompt and
generous. On November 30, 1887, Mr. Garner wrote thus
to the Bishop
" I send the violet cope which is wanting, I believe, to
complete the set of colours, and which I am sorry I could
not send sooner. I had intended to make it a personal
offering to your Lordship, but, as I understand that Lord
Halifax is making an appeal for a complete set of ornaments
136 EDWARD KING
for the Chapel, I have thought it better to present it to
the See of Lincoln, which is less likely to be well provided
at present."
The list of gifts and givers was duly forwarded to the
Bishop, who wrote as follows to Lord Halifax on the Feast
of St. Stephen, 1887
"MY DEAR LORD HALIFAX,
"It is impossible to reply to your own kind letter,
and to the long list of names which you have sent me,
without feelings of the deepest humiliation and gratitude.
" The names, I see, represent friends through the whole
thirty-four years of my ministerial life, at Wheatley, at
Cuddesdon, Oxford, Lincoln, and elsewhere.
"To be remembered for good by so many is indeed a
blessing ; and now to this remembrance I have to add my
most grateful thanks for this most valuable proof of their
love ; this I must say first, with all the warmth of personal
gratitude, for kindness to myself.
" And yet the real pleasure of the kindness is not simply
personal, but rather the reverse.
" The real ground for rejoicing at this great act of kind
ness is surely this, that it shows how grateful people are for
the Sacramental blessings of the Church.
" Some people, I know, would tell us that life is no more
than matter ; others would say that intellect is the only
great power I have not found it so. The heart, kindness,
ove I believe to be effective powers for working among
nen, as well as mind or matter.
" It has been the great and undeserved privilege of my
life to have had friends amongst (what is called) all classes
THE CHRISTIAN FRIEND 137
of society ; from your Lordship, to one (of whom I felt quite
unworthy) who died a felon s death in gaol ; and I know,
by a blessed experience, what the heart of a man is when
in Sacramental union with his God.
" The real want of England is to make English hearts
happy with the happiness for which God made them what
they are.
" Money, rank, political power these are all well enough,
and should be given to men as God may direct, in His own
time and in His own way. But the real want of England
is to know the peace and blessedness of the love of God and
the love of man, in the Sacramental life of the Church.
" A Bishop s Chapel is the Chapel of the See, and not
the property of the momentary occupier of it ; but, as long
as it may please God to spare me, all those who have shown
this great kindness to the House of my God may rest
assured that they will have my continual prayers and
benediction.
" I am, my dear Lord Halifax, your grateful and affec
tionate,
"E. LINCOLN."
On January 2, 1888, the Bishop wrote thus to an old
friend who sent him an annual greeting
" Thank you so much for your kind note and good
wishes for the New Year. I most heartily return them.
Few things are a greater comfort and support, as one gets
on in Life, than sincerity in friendship. There seem to
be many outward forms of friendship Ecclesiastical an
attempt to love every one. Political a form of mere ambi
tion But the real, disinterested, pure, genuine Christian
138 EDWARD KING
Friend is a real comfort and support. And such you have
been, dear friend, all these twenty-eight years ! It sounds
a long time, but yet I can go back in memory to those
Cuddesdon days without any effort. They seem to live
on with one.
" I am so glad you are well. There is nothing like
Switzerland. I was in the Engadine last year (1887), and
enjoyed it immensely. Do you know it ? The air is
splendid.
" I hope to get into my house this spring. You must
come and see me. We have suffered dreadfully here from
agricultural distress, as you have. I have never been so
distressed about money as I have been since I have been a
Bishop. The clergy cannot live. What are we to do ? "
The Bishop took up his abode in the Old Palace in
March, 1888. During the summer, the Chapel was com
pleted, and the consecration took place on October 3.
The service began at 7.30 A.M. The Bishop (who wore
his cope and mitre) was attended by his Chaplains, the
Rev. Dr. Bright, Canon of Christ Church and Professor of
Ecclesiastical History at Oxford ; the Rev. E. T. Leeke,
Canon and Chancellor of Lincoln ; Rev. H. R. Bramley,
Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Prebendary of
Lincoln ; and the Rev. B. W. Randolph.
The service was begun by singing the xxivth Psalm,
Domini est terra, in procession round the Chapel. On
reaching the faldstool at the foot of the altar-steps, the
following prayer was said by the Bishop
" God, the King of Glory, Who hast granted such grace
unto Thy priests that whatever they do fitly in Thy name
is accounted to be done by Thee ; we humbly entreat
THE DEDICATION 139
Thee, of Thy goodness, that Thou wouldest visit whatso
ever we shall visit, and bless whatsoever we shall bless,
and grant that, as we enter this place in holiness of heart,
the evil spirits may be put to flight, and the Angels of
Peace may enter in, and that Thou, Lord of Hosts, wouldest
take this to be Thine house for ever, Through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen."
After this, the Veni Creator Spiritus was sung. The
Bishop, then rising from his knees, proceeded to the foot
pace of the Altar, and there said the two prayers which
follow, the sacred vessels and ornaments having pre
viously been placed upon the Holy Table
" God, Almighty Lord of Holiness, Whose loving kind
ness hath no end : God, Who rulest Heaven and earth
alike, Who keepest Thy mercy for Thy people who walk
before the face of Thy glory, hear the prayer of Thy servants,
that Thine eyes may watch over this House day and night ;
and of Thy great mercy hallow this Chapel, erected for the
celebration of Thy holy mysteries in the Name of the Blessed
Trinity, and in honour of St. Hugh. Enlighten it with
Thy pity, glorify it with Thine own brightness, graciously
accept and look upon every one who cometh to worship
Thee in this place ; and for Thy great name s sake protect
Thy suppliants in this House with Thy strong hand and
with Thy mighty arm ; hearken unto them, preserve them
with Thine everlasting defence, that, ever rejoicing and
gladly trusting in Thee, they may constantly persevere in
the Catholic Faith and in the confession of the Holy Trinity,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
" Lord God Almighty, Who from the beginning hast
created things useful and necessary to mankind, and hast
140 EDWARD KING
willed that temples made with the hands of men should
be dedicated to Thy holy name, and be called the places
of Thy habitation ; and Who by Thy servant Moses didst
command vestments to be made for the High Priest.
Priests, and Levites, and also other ornaments of divers
kinds, to deck and beautify Thy Tabernacle and Altar ;
mercifully hear our prayers, and vouchsafe through our
humble services to PURIFY, BLESS, HALLOW, and CONSECRATE
all these ornaments prepared for Thine honour and glory
and for the use of Thy Church and Altar, that they may be
meet for Divine Service and holy mysteries, and for the
Ministration of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and
the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen."
This prayer ended, the Bishop proceeded to his chair
in the sanctuary, and the Sentence of Consecration was
read by the Surrogate, the Kev. J. M. Barrett, and signed by
the Bishop, and then given by his Lordship to the Secretary,
to be registered in the Registry of the Diocese.
The Bishop, then taking his Pastoral Staff in his hand,
advanced to the Altar, and standing there with his face to
the people, said : " BY THE AUTHORITY COMMITTED UNTO
us IN THE CHURCH OF GOD, WE DEDICATE AND SET APART
FOR EVER, FROM ALL COMMON AND PROFANE USES, THIS
HOUSE, AND WHATSOEVER THEREIN IS CONSECRATED BY
OUR PRAYER AND BENEDICTION, FOR THE MINISTRATION OF
THE HOLY SERVICES AND MYSTERIES OF THE CHURCH OF
GOD. AND WE DO HEREBY DECLARE THIS HOUSE TO BE
HALLOWED AND CONSECRATED IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER,
AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST.
" 7. The Lord be with you
" R. And with thy spirit.
A HOLY HOME 141
" Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only wise God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost s
be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
The hymn 396 (A. and M.) " Christ is made the sure
foundation," was then sung as the Bishop returned to the
sacristy to vest for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist,
exchanging his cope for a chasuble. The Introit was
Psalm cxxii., Lcetatus sum. The Creed, Sanctus, and Gloria
in Excelsis were sung to Merbecke s setting. After the
creed, Dr. Bright gave a short address on the Continuity
of the English Church, turning first to the Bishop, whom
he addressed as " Father," and then to the congregation
" Brothers." The Celebration then proceeded. After the
Consecration, Dr. Bright s hymn, " And now, Father,
mindful of the love," was sung, and, during the ablutions,
Dr. Newman s hymn, " Praise to the Holiest in the height."
Thus ended this eventful service, and with this
beautiful appropriateness the Bishop " auspicated," as
Burke would say, the opening of the old home, made
new, in his Cathedral city. For more than twenty
years that home was a centre of love, a fountain of bene
ficence, a source of inspiration to the goodly company who
resorted thither, and to still more who knew it only by
report. Let one testimony * serve for all.
" It is only the beloved Bishop s intense loving-kindness
that gives us any right to speak of what he was to those
whose hearts were made glad by his friendship.
" For thirty years that priceless gift was ours ; through
out that whole time it was a well-spring of pure joy to us to
* From Mr. T. W. Kitchin, of Great Down, Seale.
142 EDWARD KING
be near him in Holy Week, or on his holidays abroad ; to
rejoice in his constant thought and care for those about
him, from the lad who carried the coal-scuttles to the most
honoured of his guests.
" Love shone forth in his every look and word ; to leave
the dear Palace was, as it were, the coming out from Para
dise into a world of briars and thorns.
" From the first of these blessed visits to the last, it was
ever the same bright welcome, the same tender thoughtful-
ness, the same helpful smile and word of encouragement
or solace. So largely did he give of himself, and in such
full measure, that his gracious words and ways seem to us
now as ever to have belonged entirely to that hidden
life wherein his spirit always moved and had its home."
CHAPTER V.
THE TRIAL.
Ritualism surely means an undue disposition to ritual. Ritual itself
is founded on the Apostolic precept, " Let all things be done decently and
in order ; " ^va-xn^us nal Karat. TO.IV, in right, graceful, or becoming
figure, and by fore-ordered arrangement.
W. E. GLADSTONE.
So far, Bishop King s life had been lived in sunshine,
chequered only by those occasional clouds of natural sorrow
which fleet across the landscape of every human lot. But
now a change was impending. When the Bishop first
came to Lincolnshire, there had been, in ill-informed
quarters, the usual outcry about Romanism, Ritualism,
and allied evils. Mr. J. Hanchard, an author not other
wise known to fame, published a " Sketch of the Life of
Bishop King, with portrait," * and triumphantly " demon
strated the Romish tendencies of the Bishop s thoughts."
" By his continued connection with the English Church
Union, we have the link which connects him with the Ultra-
Ritualistic faction. From the approbation his Lordship has
bestowed upon persistent law-breakers, we cannot feel any
confidence that he will exercise his authority to stem the
tide of an unreasoning sacerdotalism. By the work he
maintained at Cuddesdon ; by his apparently sincere regard
* From a photograph by T. Smith and Sons, Wrawby Street, Brigg.
144 EDWARD KING
for Romish playthings ; by the display of gaudy gew
gaws at his enthronement ; and by his self-conscious vanity
in sitting to be taken for the admiration of the faithful
without even having sacrificed his whiskers to the Catholic
razor, he is unquestionably assisting in digging the grave of
the Establishment. From the exultant tone of the Ritual
istic press, it is not too much to say that the appointment
of Dr. King to the bishopric of Lincoln is one of the most
serious blows the Church of England has received in the
present generation. It is well to pause and consider,
because, the nearer the Ritual of Lincoln Cathedral is ap
proximated to that of the Romish Church, the greater
will be the joy, and the nearer the realization of the hopes,
of the traitors in the Church, who are only waiting a favour
able opportunity to say to the Pope, * Let the hands which
political force, and not spiritual choice, have parted these
three hundred years be once more joined. This is not
the time for words ; this is the time for action. A wonder
ful and horrible thing is committed in the land ; the prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means ;
and My people love to have it so. We are in the throes
of a crisis ; the next will be the catastrophe, the sting of
which will be the consciousness that it might have been
avoided. Now is the time for Protestants to decide
whether the traitors to the doctrine and discipline of
the Church of England shall be expelled, or allowed to
remain and take the helm, to steer the bark into the
rapids, and shoot the falls into the poisoned waters of
Roman Catholicism."
Thus good Mr. Hanchard ; but somehow Lincolnshire
failed to respond. The Bishop said " I am really grateful
to these good people who go about saying that I teach
CELIBACY 145
compulsory Confession, and celibacy of the Clergy.* When
people find that it is only voluntary Confession, and
vows for Sisters, they will see how harmless it is."
And so, indeed, it seemed to be. Canon H. B. Bromby
supplied the following instance :
" An earnest Nonconformist, whose son had sought foi
Holy Orders in the Church of England, went to Lincoln for
his boy s ordination to the priesthood. On the father s
return he was asked by a fellow-Nonconformist whether he
had not been troubled by the wording of the Ordinal, the
ceremonial, the Bishop s cope and mitre, etc. * No, he
answered, not at all. Indeed, I saw nothing of it all. I
only saw HIM. It was the glamour of the Bishop s
spiritual personality which had caught the man up into
the Heavenly Places ! "
This was indeed the prevailing sentiment of the diocese.
Descendants of the men whom John Wesley had con
verted recognized that in their new bishop they had a man
of God, who lived in prayer and preached Christ Crucified.
This was what they wanted, and his sermons were often
punctuated by ejaculations of " Ah ! " " Hallelujah ! " and
" Praise the Lord ! " in the true fashion of the Methodists.
Lincolnshire knew that it had got a saint, and was serenely
indifferent to his garb, gestures, and postures. But, now as
in the days of Ecclesiastes, dead flies cause the ointment of
* In 1887 the Bishop wrote" I think St. Paul puts before us the
unmarried life as the higher state ; but then, you must remember, he
adds, for those who are called to it. . . . I am single myself, but
simply because I never felt called to anything else. I have the highest
view of married life ; indeed, I believe our English parsonages for purity
of life may well compare with the old monasteries and the modern clergy-
houses."
146 EDWARD KING
the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour ; and the
most excellent work can be marred by very small malignities.
Quite early in the Bishop s episcopate, the Church- wardens
of Clee-cum-Cleethorpes made a formal complaint concerning
certain changes in ritual introduced by a new rector. The
Bishop replied with great tenderness and courtesy, and
begged the Church -war dens to " trust the whole matter in
his hands." It should be remarked in passing that one of
these Church-wardens was Mr. Ernest de Lacy Read, and
apparently he was not altogether satisfied with the action
of his diocesan ; but the conduct of the attack soon passed
into other hands.
" The Church Association " had been founded in 1865,
and Haydn s " Dictionary of Dates " says, rather jejunely,
that " it was formed to counteract Popery and Ritualism."
Its ruling spirits were not exactly men of light and
leading, but many of them were rich ; for, as Arch-
} bishop Benson said, " there is something in e Protestant
I Truth which is very concordant with wealth." The
Church Association had now been for nearly a quarter of
a century at work, amply justifying the nickname bestowed
upon it by Bishop Magee, "The Persecution Company,
Limited/ but not achieving any very palpable results. It
had hunted Mr. Mackonochie out of St. Alban s, and had
cast some devoted priests into prison ; but it had not availed
to retard the revival of Eucharistic Worship according to the
rites of the Catholic Church. It would seem that in the
counsels of the Association it was now decided that the time
had arrived for a decisive act. Perhaps the members of the
Council had been reading Mr. Hanchard s " Sketch " and
examining its frontispiece ; perhaps they thought that a bold
stroke might help to replenish their coffers ; perhaps they
A BRIBE 147
had been in communication with Mr. Ernest de Lacy Read,
All this is conjecture. What is certain is that on June 22,
1888, the Association presented a petition to the Arch
bishop of Canterbury, stating that the Bishop of Lincoln
had been guilty of certain acts which had been declared
illegal, and requesting the Archbishop in virtue of his office
to cite and try his suffragan. The incriminated acts, duly
attested by the Association s spies, had been committed at
the Holy Communion in Lincoln Minster on December 4,
1887, and in the Parish Church of St. Peter-at-Gowts,
Lincoln, on the 18th of the same month. A friend of the
present writer sends this interesting statement
" A very old friend of my father was one of the church
wardens of St. Peter-at-Gowts ; and I distinctly remember
him telling me that he was approached to undertake the
prosecution of the Bishop. He said he was offered 10,000
to cover any costs incurred, but indignantly refused, having,
while not in sympathy with the Bishop s views, so much
respect and veneration for him that nothing would induce
him to undertake such a part."
The points on which the Bishop was attacked were the
Eastward Position during the Prayer of Consecration,
lighted candles on the altar, the mixture of water with wine
in the Chalice, the Agnus Dei after the Consecration, the
sign of the cross at the Absolution and the Blessing, and the
ablution of the sacred vessels.
As soon as the action of the Church Association became
known, a vast commotion arose. What would the Arch
bishop do? Some great authorities doubted whether he
possessed the requisite jurisdiction ; some thought that
he would be unwise to exercise it ; some held that
148 EDWARD KING
he possessed it and should exercise it by dismissing
the suit ; some said that, if he attempted to try the
Bishop, he would be restrained by the secular Courts ;
others that, if he declined to try, the secular Courts
would compel him to do so. Beset by these many and
conflicting difficulties, the Archbishop conferred freely with
legal flesh and blood. The Dean of Windsor, who soon
became Bishop of Kochester,* was his intimate counsellor.
Dean Church called the authority of the Archbishop s
Court " altogether nebulous," and wrote thus to the
Bishop
" Thank you for your letter. I have not yet heard
from Lambeth. I wish I could hope that the Archbishop
is alive to the seriousness of the occasion. He is so, to his
own difficulties ; but I am afraid that he will fall back on
the non possumus of what is called law : though it is
* law only for one set of people, and not for others.
" This great Pan- Anglican gathering increases the
danger." j
Dr. Liddon wrote to Bishop Lightfoot
" That such a person as the Bishop of Lincoln should be
exposed to the vexation of legal proceedings is a serious
misfortune to the Church much more serious than to the
Bishop himself, who would probably regard it simply as
an opportunity for growth in Christian graces. . . . The
mere apprehension of his being attacked is already creating
widespread disquietude. Anything like a condemnation
* Afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.
t The third Conference of Anglican Bishops assembled on the 30th
of June, 1888.
UNITY 149
would be followed by consequences which I do not venture
to anticipate."
It is evident that the Archbishop, who loved pose and
effect, longed to assert and exercise his jurisdiction, and to
sit in judgment on the successor of St. Hugh ; but he was
not quite sure whether he could. Keference was there
fore made, at his suggestion, to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council, who on August 3 decided that he had
jurisdiction, and " humbly advised her Majesty to remit
the case to the Archbishop to be dealt with according to
law."
The air was now full of ecclesiastical excitement, but the
person least affected was the Bishop of Lincoln. He
took his full share of the work of the Conference of Bishops,
and on July 19 he wrote from Lambeth to a former
chaplain
" Life seems very short when one gets to the turn of the
hill. In the early part it seems as if it would go on for ever,
and each experience be the complete history of the world,
but one learns at last what a fragment, and moment, one is.
" We have been hard at work here, and I hope the result
will be fairly satisfactory.
" I think there is a great advance towards Unity on real
sound principles, and a definite desire to check the Koman
errors as wrong additions.
" Working together with men from America, and dis
established churches like Ireland and Ceylon, and non-
established like India and Africa, of necessity throws one
back to fundamental grounds of Unity."
On the same day he wrote to his friend James Dawson
at Roath
150 EDWARD KING
" You have been an angel, and I the opposite ! I am
so sorry ; it is so wicked because only one does it to good
people. If you had been a leading member of the Church
Association you would have had a civil answer at once.
You had better join them and try.
" Yes, I will, D.V., come on the 31st for the Evensong.
You will see if a train will get me in time ; they do not
always do so !
" Now you will take off the Greater Excommunication
from me, won t you ?
" How are you ? I hope really refreshed by Switzer
land. How I should like to be there! We have had a
hardish week, and have still a harder one next week.
You must remember us.
" I hope on the whole the result will be a progress
towards Unity on true principles (I don t mean the Pope !).
" God bless you, and fill you with His Truth and Love.
" I am (answering or not answering) always
" Your most affectionate."
The Conference of Bishops broke up at the end of
July, and the Bishop, as usual, went abroad. A fellow-
traveller supplies the following recollections
" It was in the September of 1888 that I joined the
Bishop at Florence. The Bishop was a good Italian
scholar, and conversed freely with Italians, especially with
priests. One, I remember, bowed to him, and, upon my
asking who he was, the Bishop said, Oh, he is a priest who
asked me to say Mass the other day in his church. What
did you reply ? I asked. c I thanked him, but told him
that I could not do this, as our churches were not in
communion.
" TASSO " 151
" The same request was made by another priest a few
days later, and the same reply given. Others took a more
controversial line, which rather amused the Bishop than
otherwise he could always parry a thrust. One after
noon we went up to Fiesole, and climbed up to the Church
of S. Francesco, above the town and cathedral. It was
the eve of the Nativity of the B.V.M., if I remember
right, and service was going on in the church. We remained
a short while, but left before the end. Two or three men
followed us out of the church, and knelt and asked the
Bishop s blessing. Also a woman with a child, and upon
the child s taking hold of the Bishop s hand, the mother
said, reprovingly, * Kiss the ring. It may have been the
pectoral cross the Bishop wore (then as rare an ornament
among Anglican prelates as it is now common) that caused
his blessing to be thus solicited, but I am inclined to think
it was something more than this.
" The Picture-Galleries were a great pleasure to the
Bishop, the Madonna del Cardellino, in the Uffizi, was, I
think, one of his special favourites. He pointed out to me
the eagerness of St. John, holding out the gold-finch, as
contrasted with the far-away look in the Saviour s eyes.
" All through that autumn and winter the Bishop s
Prosecution was impending. While at Florence he was
much pleased at getting a letter from one of his nephews,
enclosing a newspaper-cutting, in which it was said that
The Bishop of Lincoln had plenty of the Badger in him.
He asked me if I knew the Italian for badger. I made a
shot Tasso which proved to be correct.
" During the winter I saw much of him, and heard many
of his remarks as to his case. I want to get this thing
settled, for the sake of the Clergy. I want to be able to
152 EDWARD KING
stop these vexatious prosecutions if I can, such was the
tenor of them."
On November 9 the Bishop wrote as follows to his
friend, Sub-Dean Clements
" It is most good of you to be working so hard in your
holiday for me ; but then it is not only for me, but for the
Church of England.
" I cannot help thinking that the good Archbishop
would have been supported, and saved great trouble, if he
had felt able to refuse to entertain the charges from the
first. But God may have greater Blessings for us than we
see. Thank God, I have not been worried about the matter
yet. My one anxiety and daily prayer is that I may do His
Will. I am quite ready, with God s help, to go to any
extremity which may be thought good for the Church of
England."
On November 27 Father Benson, then Superior of
the Society of St. John the Evangelist, wrote as follows
from Cowley
" MY DEAR BISHOP,
" On Monday we had a meeting of the District
Union of E. C. U., of which I am President. The principal
subject of the evening was a vote of sympathy with your
self ; I need not say how heartily it was carried. Paget *
made a beautiful speech, which really was most helpful,
full of courage, interest, faith and joy. He said it was a
vote, not of condolence, but of sympathy. Mr. Hood f
came from Lincolnshire to speak as Seconder.
* Afterwards Bishop of Oxford.
t Sinclair Frankland Hood, of Nettleham Hall, Lincoln (1851-1897).
ENGLISH v. ITALIAN 153
" You may be sure that any difficulties which you may
have to meet are fully compensated for by the spirit of
prayer aroused amongst so many throughout the land.
" Our meeting, although it was but a small one, was just
a ripple upon a mighty ocean of loving hearts, stirred
throughout the nation in that sympathy which seems so
inadequately but is so truly expressed by little gather
ings such as ours.
"Yours affectionately,
"R. M. BENSON."
On December 15 the Bishop wrote to one of his
Cuddesdon pupils :
" Your annual kind greeting is always most welcome,
and specially perhaps this year, when one has had rather
more of the other sort.
" I am glad to hear such a good and cheery account of
you. May Xmas bring to you all its own additional joys.
" I should like to come to see you in your home and
Parish. I believe our good English poor would be truly
Catholic if they were only truly and considerately taught,
but they are English, and not ltalian y and they naturally and
rightly like an English Priest ; but I believe they will prefer
a Priest to a mere Minister, when they are quietly taught.
" If you come this way, bring your good wife to see
Lincoln and her poor Bishop. We will give you both a
most hearty welcome. Just now the water is a little rough,
but I trust all will end for the good of the Church. A good
I many people are led by these troubles to learn about things
I to which otherwise they would remain indifferent.
" Good-bye, dear friend. It comforts me to see that
your old Love remains."
154 EDWARD KING
On his birthday he wrote to the Sub-Dean
" I must send one unworthy word of thanks for your
most kind letter and valuable and beautiful present. I
shall indeed value it for its own sake, but still more as
a memorial of the great and helpful kindness that
you have shown me ever since I came to Lincoln. The
present state of things is, of course, not what one
would have chosen, for controversy and wars are not
congenial to me ; and yet, if it may only end in some
real good to the Church; and specially, if it should
ultimately help the Diocese to return from Dissent to the
older Paths, I shall indeed be more than thankful to have
been allowed to be used as an instrument for so great
an end.
" At present, thank God, I have not really suffered.
One cannot tell what this next year may bring ; but what
ever happens, I shall never forget your helpful kindness,
and the trustful forbearance of the Diocese."
A letter written by a working man at Wheatley on
Christmas Day, 1888, may aptly conclude the record of
the year
"MY LORD,
" I am writing to you on behalf of my mother, to
thank you so very kindly for sending mother such a nice
Christmas present, which she was indeed so proud to
accept such a nice present.
" We all wish your Lordship a Happy Christmas and a
bright New Year, and hope that God will help you, and give
you strength to bear up against the prosecution that is
A PRECEDENT 155
going on in the Church, and bring it to that end that your
Lordship is working for.
" I am, my Lord,
" Your obedient servant,
" T W "
The year 1889 dawned on an agitated Church. On
January 4 the Archbishop of Canterbury cited the Bishop to
appear before him and be tried for his alleged offences. Mr.
Ernest de Lacy Head now appeared as prosecutor, associated
with " Others," presumably the opulent Councillors of the
Church Association. The proceedings were taken in " The
Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury " (which had never
been heard of since 1699), and were appointed to begin on
February 12, 1889. It appeared that an appeal would lie
from the Archbishop to the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, and this contingency suggested doubts as to
whether the Bishop ought to obey the Citation.
On January 18, Dr. Liddon wrote to Dr. Bright
" MY DEAR B.,
" The dear Bishop does not appear to me fully to
realize the historical importance of this case the sense in
which it, beyond any previous case, will form a precedent.
That lie should recognize, or appear to recognize, the
jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee if it be, as it may
be, inevitable will be a fact of grave significance. If any
thing could be done in the way of explanatory protest, to
break its force, it will be of the greatest value.
{ Most any.,
."H. P. L.
" When you write to the Bishop, pray tell him that I
do not delight in war."
156 EDWARD KING
As soon as it became known that the Trial was to take
place, the stream of sympathy, which never failed the
Bishop at any crisis of his life, began to flow with unpre
cedented volume. A priest of the Diocese of Lincoln
published the following form of prayer
" Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd of Thy sheep ; look
down in Thy goodness on this portion of Thy flock, the
Church in our Diocese, and overrule to Thy greater glory
the prosecution of our Bishop. Grant him in all things to
know and do Thy will ; and give to us Thy servants grace
more earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to
the Saints : For Thy mercy s sake : Amen."
Special celebrations of the Holy Eucharist were held
in Newcastle Cathedral, in the Palace Chapel at Lichfield,
and in Parish Churches all over the country, imploring
God s guidance for the Archbishop and His peace for the
Bishop. At one Convent there was a service of intercession
before the Blessed Sacrament ; from another the Superior
writes that the Community and Associates are observing
thirty days of prayer, and that there are daily applications
for the form they use. At St. Alban s, Holborn there was a
fourteen hours intercession. Every Run-decanal Chapter in
Lincolnshire, and every diocesan institution (including the
Bell-Ringers Association), voted its confidence in the Bishop.
From the parochial clergy of England, north, south, east,
and west, expressions of sympathy and promises of prayers
and Eucharists flowed in ; and old Cuddesdon men wrote
with the most tender affection. To these were added similar
assurances from less familiar quarters from pitmen in
mining villages, from girls schools, from boys schools, from
" the thurifer and boat-boy " of an Orphanage, and
SYMPATHY 157
from " 300 lads of the criminal classes in a [Reformatory
School." As the weeks went on, similar tokens of goodwill
floated in from more distant sources from Jerusalem, New
York,Iowa, Hobart, Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Dunedin,
Newfoundland, South Africa, the Highlands of Scotland, and
the Catskill Mountains ; and the burden of all was the same.
Kobert Moberly, afterwards Pastoral Professor, wrote
" I fear your peace is much broken in upon by the
clamour of rude tongues and assaults which are not godly.
I trust that the hearts and hearts prayers of many
thousands are with you continually, and God in His own
way and time will work out His glory and the glory of His
Church." And in the same strain others.
" I wish I could kiss your hand, and join in the Holy
Communion with you in your Chapel. I learn from your
example to be strong in Christ."
" Conventionally a stranger, but in the Faith your
affectionate and devoted son, I pray that Almighty God
will grant you grace to stand steadfast, immovable, as the
champion of our beloved Church."
" I write a line just to send you my love, and to say
that there will be five Celebrations of the Holy Eucharist
please God to-morrow in this Parish (St. Barnabas,
Pimlico) for you. I rejoice to hear that you are well,
though I fear very weary and anxious."
You will, I am sure, allow me to express my sincere
sympathy with you in the present crisis, and to promise a
158 EDWARD KING
daily mention of your name before God. I hope to have the
privilege of pleading the Great Sacrifice for your Lordship
on Tuesday morning at St. Michael s, Swanmore, by per
mission of the Vicar. I pray that the pending trial may
increase the spread of God s eternal truth."
To the two letters which ensue a peculiar interest
attaches,because the two writers belonged to the Evangelical
School
" I cannot forbear writing a few lines to express my
deep and true sympathy with you under the heavy trial
which you are now passing through. If you remember
me at all, you will remember how much I differ from you
in opinion and practice on the particular points now in
dispute ; but that does not prevent my sympathizing
most deeply with you in this time of trial. Still, we know
Whose Hand directs all events, and I trust He will make
even these disastrous proceedings tend to His glory and the
benefit of His Church and people."
" As one of the Evangelical clergy of the Diocese, and
one who has received invariable kindness at the hands of
your Lordship, I write at this time to assure you of my
unfeigned love to your person and sincere regard to your
office. And I pray God to send to you the Light of His
Holy Spirit to have a right judgment in this great and solemn
subject of the Lord s Supper, and all other things, and also
to rejoice in His Holy comfort. I beg an interest in your
prayers to this end for myself."
The counterblast came on a post-card, microscopically
written, and addressed
A COUNTERBLAST 159
" To the Arch-hypocrite,
" The Right Keverend Father in D ,
" The Bishop of Lincoln,
" The Palace,
" Lincoln. !
" York.
" February 9, 1889.
" To the Right Rev. The Bishop of Lincoln, the renowned
hypocrite.
" SIB,
" Having a son become a renowned atheist through
your hypocrital school, I sincerely hope that you will be
punished at the forthcoming trial. I used myself to be a
sincere Churchman from youth, but I have now joined the
Liberation Society to assist in freeing the Church of such
lying hipocritical thieves as you are, who have not the
honesty to leave the church and go to Rome at once, but
I suppose you are always ready to receive the 4000 plunder
from the church I What a shame \ Why do we not
dispense with our prisons and let out the thieves and
vagabonds at large, as it is a shame to confine them and
let clerical scamps go free. You are driving people either
to Rome or to atheism by your hypocritical nonsense. My
earnest prayer is that the Church will be disestablished
and disendowed, and then we shall see what becomes of
such knaves as you. It is painful to think of the robbery
perpetrated upon the church by such villians as you are,
and it is a pity that you have not to work at some honest
manual labair for your living than to live as a drone upon
society in luxury and wealth upon the resources of the
church. 4000 a year for what ? I think that their should
i6o EDWARD KING
be added to the litany the following, viz. From Hypocracy
and lying and thieves of parsons good Lord deliver us.
Sincerely hoping that you and your crew could be sent to
the treadmill in prison (and then you may try to persuade
the world that you are persecuted what a farce !),
" I remain yours,
"AN IRRITATED PARENT."
The Kev. Edward Elton, sometime Vicar of Wheatley,
wrote in a different vein to The Standard
" Having had the honour (and I esteem it a very high
one) to give to the Bishop a title for Holy Orders, I cannot
remain wholly silent. Perhaps my words may have more
weight with some, since I hold no advanced opinions, and
have no sympathy with practices merely mediaeval. Those
who are now striving to harry the Bishop to the death little
know the manner of man whom they are pursuing. He
was my curate between four and five years, in a rough and
difficult parish, which had been greatly neglected. It may
almost go without saying, he was everything to me. Con
stant in labour, fervent in spirit, cheerful in dark days,
under many difficulties, he came with formed opinions,
very nearly such as have marked his subsequent course.
" I soon discovered how pre-eminently he was a man
of prayer ; how deeply versed in Holy Scripture, and
saintly in life ; how yearning to do work for God among
the depraved and ignorant people of the place. Thirty
years have passed since those days, but he is not in the
least forgotten in my old parish. There are several persons
living now, in whose conversion to God he was instrumental,
and to whom he proved, in the truest sense, a messenger of
"A ROYAL FELLOW" 161
peace. I found, as time went on, how true was the descrip
tion given, before he came to me, by a beloved tutor of his
College now gone to his rest, King is indeed a royal fellow.
si sic omnes !
" It is simply a matter of duty to say this, for the in
formation of those who, judging from the tone of his
persecutors, imagine that he is one absolutely absorbed
in Ritual observance. Bishop King is nothing of the kind.
His heart is too full of work for God, in the ministry of
souls, to be absorbed by any subordinate matter, however
interesting.* He dwells habitually in an atmosphere too
serene to be influenced by either Party warfare or narrow
prejudices. There is nothing which has more moved the
indignation of his friends than the charge brought against
him of disloyalty to the English Church. In fact, it is his
very loyalty to her which, I am confident, has brought him
to his present position.
" It has always been a guiding principle with him, to
go back, not to mere Roman teaching, which he would
abhor, but to the faith and practice in earlier times, the
possession of which is her true and rightful heritage. Such
is the man whom a promiscuous band of enemies seek now
to despoil, and whose removal from his high place they are
thirsting to accomplish. God grant, for the sake of His
Church, they may fail. But, if, unhappily, they should
succeed, they will, at least, though unwittingly, procure
for him a greater honour ; for when this generation has
passed, and its miserable party- warfare is hushed, the name
of Edward, Bishop of Lincoln, enrolled to all time among the
* In 1881 King signed Dean Church s Address to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, pleading for " a tolerant recognition of divergent Ritual
practice."
M
162 EDWARD KING
noble army of confessors, will be regarded with reverence
and love by many who come after us.
" Bishop Wilberforce was once branded as a Romanizer.
His words are now quoted by the same lips, as those of a
Defender of the Faith. "
On February 13, the Bishop wrote thus to Mr. Elton
" I have just read your letter in the Standard. I need
not say it is far too kind, but it is a great comfort and sup
port to know that my old friends do not misunderstand me ;
all that you say of my aim and motive is most true, however
I have failed to carry them out. My only aim is the same
that I had at Wheatley to win the Poor to God. It is for
that reason that I feel bound to maintain the full Liberty
and power of the Church in all Loyalty to the Church of
England and with a genuine Love of the English people. . . .
" This is not the first time you have shown the sincerity
of your affection for me, and that in itself is a great comfort,
and I sincerely thank you for it. The other thing also among
God s many and great mercies to me you will understand
that I am so thankful that all this trouble did not come
while my dear mother was living ; it would have distressed
her. Now she will understand it as it really is."
It is proper at this place to insert the following letter,
addressed on February 6, 1889, to the Rev. G. G. Perry,
Canon of Lincoln.
"MY DEAR CANON PERRY,
" I thank you sincerely for your valuable letter, a
copy of which I have taken the liberty of sending to Philli-
more.*
* Sir Walter Phillimore, Bart., Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln,
and Counsel for the Bishop in the suit of " Read and others."
CONSULTATION 163
" I should like, if I may, to tell you what has happened
since I saw you on Sunday.
" We went to London on Monday, and had a consultation
with Phillimore, Jeune, and Kempe.
" They were again so persistent in wishing me to protest
against the Archbishop s Court and ask to be heard in
Convocation by my Comprovincials that I thought it right
to go on Sunday to Oxford, where I gathered together
Bright, Liddon, Bramley, Paget, Wakeman, and Gore;
and their mind was that in the interests of the Church it
would be right to protest against a Suffragan being tried
by his Metropolitan, except with Comprovincials. This
agreement between Lawyers and Divines (falling in, as it
does to a great extent, with the Bishop of Oxford) seemed
too grave an authority for me to put aside. I have there
fore determined to appear on Tuesday under Protest and
raise the question of the Archbishop s Court. I do not
dispute his authority absolutely, but do question his
authority exercised in that Court, and ask, as the more
formal and better way, to be allowed to submit to his
authority in Synod.
" Your letter, which I found on my return, was a great
satisfaction to me.
" This must be private till Tuesday.
" With many thanks,
" Yours very sincerely,
"E. LINCOLN."
So the case went forward. The Archbishop appointed
five Episcopal Assessors to comfort and abet him, but to
have no share in the judgment.* February 12 dawned
* Frederick Temple (London), William Stubbs (Oxford), Anthony
Thorold (Rochester), John Wordsworth (Salisbury), James Atlay (Hereford).
164 EDWARD KING
miserably, with snow and icy rain. In the Library of
Lambeth Palace all was elaborately staged. The Arch
bishop, who loved ritual as long as it did not express
doctrine, " had himself been to the Library before the
case was opened to see that the semi-circular table, at
which the Bishops sat and which had been designed by him,
should be put up exactly as he wished, on a dais at one end
of the great hall his seat in the middle was a little raised
above the rest. The prelates wore their scarlet habits." *
The Bishop of Lincoln duly appeared in Court, having
already, before the proceedings opened, handed in his protest,
praying to be tried by the Comprovincials. The Arch
bishop reserved his judgment on this point to a later stage.
On the same day, the Bishop addressed the following
letter to each Incumbent in his Diocese
" MY DEAR BROTHER,
"After much anxious consideration and con
sultation I have thought it right, in deference to my Oath
of due reverence and obedience, 5 to answer the Citation
of the Archbishop, but under protest, for the following
reasons :
" I. Inasmuch as the Citation of a Bishop by his Metro
politan is a matter which most nearly touches the rights
and responsibilities of all Bishops, I did not think it right
to act in this matter without most carefully considering the
effect of my action on the Episcopate of the whole Province.
" II. I believe that the trial of a Bishop would be more
certainly in accordance with the practice of the Primitive
* The Bishop of Lincoln wore a fur-lined coat, given to him by the
historian, H. 0. Wakeman.
THE PROTEST 165
Church, if conducted by the Metropolitan with all his
Comprovincials in Synod.
" I therefore considered it my duty, in the interests of
the Church, to do what I could to secure the best method
of procedure for
" (a) the exercise of his Grace s Metropolitical
authority ;
" (6) a full and free hearing of the case upon its own
merits.
" These principles are more fully set out in the following
statement which I made this morning at Lambeth :
" MY LORD ARCHBISHOP,
" I appear before your Grace in deference to the
Citation which I have received, and in accordance with
my Oath of " due reverence and obedience " to your
Grace and the See of Canterbury ; but I appear under
protest, desiring, with all respect, to question the juris
diction which your Grace proposes to exercise.
" ( I have been summoned to answer certain charges
preferred against me before your Grace or your Grace s
Vicar-General ; and if it should appear that such is the
Canonical Court before which one of your Grace s Suffragans
ought to be tried for such alleged spiritual offences, and
wherein such offences can be fully and freely adjudicated
upon their merits, I shall be ready and thankful to answer
for myself.
But your Grace will pardon me if I submit that, as
an accused person, and also in view of the grave issues
involved in this case, and of their bearing on the whole
Church of England, as well as upon the position of all your
Grace s Suffragans, I feel obliged, at the outset, to do what
166 EDWARD KING
in me lies towards securing for myself, and therein for all
members of the English Episcopate, that form of Ecclesi
astical Procedure by which your Grace s Metropolitical
authority can be most fittingly and regularly
exercised.
" f There can be no doubt that, in accordance with the
practice of the Primitive Church, the most proper method
for the trial of a Bishop in such cases would be before the
Metropolitan with the Comprovincial Bishops.
" It may also be held that a trial before the Archbishop
as sole judge might impair the rightful position of your
Grace s Suffragans, both individually and in relation to the
Province.
" * I would, therefore, humbly pray your Grace to allow
me to be heard by Counsel on this point, whether your
Grace s Jurisdiction would not be more properly exercised,
with regard to the matters charged against me, by your
Grace as Metropolitan with the Comprovincial Bishops,
such matters to be adjudicated upon on their merits by
your Grace with the advice and consent of the Bishops of
the Province, and whether, this being the case, I ought
not to be dismissed from making any answer to the present
Citation.
" Having made this statement, I beg most respectfully
to appoint my Proctors, and leave all legal matters in their
hands and those of my Counsel.
!? Without going any further into the merits of the case,
I may add, to avoid misconception, that it is not, and it
has never been, my desire to enforce any unaccustomed
observance on an unwilling congregation ; but my hope
now is that this prosecution may, in God s providence, be
DEFENCE 167
so overruled as ultimately to promote the peace of the
Church by leading to some authoritative declaration of
toleration for certain details of ritual observance, in regard
to which I believe that they are either in direct accordance
with the letter of the Prayer Book, or at the least in loyal
and perfect harmony with the mind of the Church of
England.
" Asking for your prayers that I may know and do our
Divine Master s Will in all things,
" I am, my dear Brother,
" Yours sincerely,
"EDWARD LINCOLN."
On February 14 Dr. Liddon wrote
" The Archbishop somehow seems to bury great issues
out of sight, at any rate of his own mind, beneath a mass
of drapery and phrases ; and the great ecclesiastical ladies
who flit about in the surrounding atmosphere add an
element of grotesqueness to the whole thing, which makes it
difficult to keep its great seriousness steadily in view. . . .
One thing is certain that the Church principles could not
possibly have had a morally-worthier representation, and
this is a blessing, the full value of which it is difficult to
take in all at once."
As soon as the legal proceedings began, a Defence Fund
was started, with eminently satisfactory results. The
following letter deserves reproduction
"Christ Church, Oxford.
"March 4, 1889.
"DEAREST BlSHOP,
" Thank you with all my heart for this morning s
dear and welcome letter, and all the happiness it brought
168 EDWARD KING
all the weather-cocks on Merton seemed to go S.W. instead
of E. for quite a quarter of an hour and you may remember
that it is very seldom they agree. . . .
" You don t know what a happiness it has been to us to
have to do with the list. My wife is quite depressed at
the thought of having less than fifty receipts to write and
direct in the day it has been a real, great gladness to us
both and it has seemed to fill this Term with a steady
stream of warmheartedness.
" There is a lull in the letters now : and we have about
2,750. So Bright and I think of saying next week that
the list will be closed at the end of this month, to be re
opened later on if there is further need.
" With our true and dutiful love,
" Let me be
" Your most affectionate servant,
" FRANCIS PAGET."
On May 7, 1889, the following letter appeared in the
Manchester Guardian
" SIR,
" I believe that I am only one of a considerable
number of serious Churchmen for whom the solemnities of
Passion- tide and the joys of Easter have this year been
marred by the intrusion of discordant and disquieting
thoughts. The trouble to which I refer arises from the
prosecution of the Bishop of Lincoln. It is not only or
chiefly that an admirable man and a model pastor is ex
posed to worry and annoyance, and those of a kind which
must seriously interfere with his ministerial efficiency.
It is not even that many of us have for years past found in
A LAYMAN S VIEW 169
Bishop King a trusted and honoured friend, and that
whatever distresses him must be serious sorrow to all those
who by knowing him have learned to love him. The
personal element of the trouble is swamped in larger con
siderations. The qualities of the Bishop of Lincoln his
gentleness, his lovableness, his saintly life, his inexhaustible
powers of sympathy lend, indeed, a peculiar pathos, an
almost dramatic interest, to the Trial. But, even if the
incriminated prelate were an altogether different man ;
whatever were his character, his antecedents, or his position
in the regard of Church-people; the trial of an English
Bishop on such charges as those which are now under
investigation, and before such a tribunal as the Archbishop s
Court at Lambeth, cannot fail to be attended by most
momentous and far-reaching consequences to the future
of the Church of England ; and whatever affects the Church
of England will be found, in the long run, to affect pro
foundly our national life and polity.
" Into the merits of the case, now sub judice, it would
obviously be improper to enter. And indeed an erudite
discussion of details of posture and gesture, the ceremonial
sign of the Cross, and the ablution of sacred vessels, even
if permissible at the present stage of the proceedings,
could have nothing but an esoteric interest, and will, I
think, be waived by the general public without any sense
of appreciable loss. It is not on minute questions of ritual
practice, but on the larger issues of public policy which this
trial involves, that I desire permission to address you.
" In the first place, how comes it that these proceedings,
certainly so novel, and probably so mischievous, have been
forced upon the Church ? It is true that the secular Courts
had decided that the Archbishop might entertain the
170 EDWARD KING
complaint against the Bishop. But the decision was purely
permissive. There was not the slightest compulsion, either
expressed or implied. And the lawyers seem as clear as it
is in the nature of the legal mind to be that, had the Arch
bishop decided to take no steps against the Bishop, there is
no legal machinery by which he could have been compelled
to do so. At any rate, one would think that the safest,
wisest, and most dignified course would have been to remain
quiescent, and leave it to the prosecution, if they could, to
compel the Archbishop to exercise his jurisdiction against
his erring brother. But alas ! very different counsels pre
vailed. The Archbishop yielded to a pressure which at
the most had been threatened, which certainly had not
been applied, and which probably could not have been
applied ; and opened the proceedings which have proved
so grave a scandal.
" What was the cause of the Archbishop s most ill-
advised action ? On the death of Archbishop Tait, there
were many who hoped that Mr. Gladstone, whose devotion
to the interests of orthodox theology amounts to a passion,
would do public homage to his own convictions by recom
mending for the See of Canterbury some divine whose grasp
of first principles was as strong and as unwavering as his
own. When it was found that the choice had fallen on
the Bishop of Truro, a widespread feeling of disappointment
was thus characteristically expressed by an eminent Church
man : * If St. Mary of Bethany had offered, instead of an
alabaster box of ointment very precious, an ornamental jar
of scented pomatum, her gift would no doubt have been
accepted, but our joy in the giver would have been less
complete. To dismiss the language of parable, it was felt
* Dr. Liddon.
"POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE" 171
that the new Archbishop was a man of many graces and
accomplishments, an antiquary, an artist, and an aesthete ;
but a good deal stronger in emotions than in principles, and
only too likely to set a higher store on the showy and senti
mental accidents of Churchmanship than on its vital essence.
It would seem that this estimate of His Grace s character
was only too accurate. The delightful prospect of presiding
over an ecclesiastical pageant, with all the attendant
pomp and circumstance of legal and religious millinery
scarlet robes and silver maces and full-bottomed wigs of
sitting in the chair of St. Augustine, surrounded by com
provincial prelates, and solemnly passing judgment on
the successor of St. Hugh, proved fatally attractive, and
the Archbishop duly opened his amorphous and abnormal
Court, with a high desire, no doubt, to serve the best
interests of the Church, but with singularly little foresight
of consequences inevitably momentous and possibly
disastrous.
" The proceedings were met in limine by the technical
plea, made on behalf of the Bishop of Lincoln, that the
Archbishop had no competence to try the case, which
should properly be remitted to the Bishops of the Southern
Province assembled in Convocation. Arguments for and
against the Archbishop s jurisdiction were delivered, and
his Grace, secluded in the groves of Addington, is under
stood to be now pondering the question whether he has or
has not the legal authority to proceed against his erring
brother for his soul s health and the correction of his
excesses. How will he decide ? If he decides that he
does not possess the requisite authority, the promoters of
the suit will once more betake themselves to the secular
tribunals, and the special interest of the case in the eyes.
172 EDWARD KING
of Churchmen will be destroyed or suspended. But will
the Archbishop so decide? In this connexion, a practical
interest, otherwise wanting, attaches to the long letters from
the Dean of Windsor * to which the Times has accorded the
honours of large type. The Dean is an amiable pietist,
desperately afraid of religious independence, loving to stand
well with people in authority, and trammelled by no dis
tinctive views as to the nature and office of the Church as
a Spiritual Society. To his temporizing counsels on the
points in debate it is therefore unnecessary to refer. What
gives their interest to his letters is the prevailing belief that
what he says the Archbishop thinks ; and those who read
between the lines interpret the Dean s discourse to mean
that the Archbishop has satisfied himself that he is com
petent to try the case, and, as Mr. Chadband would say,
will shortly proceed untoe it in a spirit of love.
" It has indeed been suggested by legal authorities that,
should the Archbishop decide that he can try the case, the
Bishop of Lincoln might apply to the Queen s Bench to
restrain His Grace from exercising his jurisdiction. But it
is difficult to see how a prelate who holds Bishop King s
views as to the respective areas of secular and spiritual
authority can consistently invoke the aid of the State to
save himself from the power, in a purely religious matter,
of his own Metropolitan. We may assume, therefore, that
the trial will go forward, and that the Archbishop will
investigate the legality of the ritual practices which are
laid as crimes to the charge of the Bishop. What will be
his method of procedure ? It is, indeed, possible that he
will proceed on broad grounds of history and reason, that
he will have regard to the universal and immemorial
* R. T. Davidson.
THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE 173
practice of Christendom, to the facts of the Edwardian and
Elizabethan settlements, and to the plain letter of our
existing formularies. In this case judgment may no doubt
go for the Bishop ; but, if so, the prosecuting parties have
already announced that they will appeal to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council ; and the decisions of the
Judicial Committee, whether favourable or adverse, will
receive the same amount of respect from Churchmen as is
accorded to the impotent decrees of Lord Penzance, or to
the utterances of that celebrated judge who spoke of " the
Inferior Persons of the Trinity."
" But this issue is not probable. The Archbishop is a
strong Erastian, and it is more than likely that he will
consider himself bound by the previous decisions of the
Judicial Committee, and will hold Lord Selborne and Lord
Cairns to have been the divinely-appointed interpreters of
the Anglican rubrics. If this be the Archbishop s course, the
result of the Trial is a foregone conclusion. The Bishop of
Lincoln must be condemned, and admonished to surcease
from his offending practices. Will he can he obey such
an admonition ? Can he consent to forgo practices which he
believes to be lawful, expedient, and edifying, consistent
alike with Catholic usage and Anglican formularies, in
obedience to a sentence, uttered indeed by the Archbishop,
but founded on the decrees of the Privy Council ? If he
refuses compliance, is his contumacy to be punished or
ignored ? Is the solemn judgment of the Metropolitan,
given ex cathedrd in his Court, to be disregarded with im
punity ? If so, our ecclesiastical discipline, already dis
credited, will become a by-word in Christendom. Or is the
sentence of the Court to be duly enforced by the secular
arm, and are we to see the most saintly, the most beloved,
174 EDWARD KING
and the most influential of English bishops imprisoned for
adherence to what he believes to be the Church s law ?
Should that alternative occur, its consequences will be felt
in the gravest searchings of heart, not only among those
to whom the ancient usages of the Church are dear, not
only among those and they may be counted by thousands
to whom the Bishop of Lincoln is in sober truth a Father
in God, but in the conscience of every English Churchman
who sets a higher value on spiritual independence than on
the incidental advantages of legal establishment.
" Yours, etc.,
" G. W. E. R."
On May 11, the Archbishop dismissed the Bishop s
protest, saying : " This Court " (by which he meant himself)
" decides that it has jurisdiction in the case, and therefore
overrules the protest."
A lay friend of the Bishop writes
" He remarked to me (naming a very distinguished
prelate) would have me go on fighting it. But the Dean
of St. Paul s advises me to yield the point, and so also
does Lord Halifax. I shall, however, ask all my brother
Bishops of the Province whether they will consider their
rights infringed, if I consent to plead before the Arch
bishop. !!
In connexion with this question of the rights of Com-
provincials, it should be recorded that the Bishop of
Southwell (Dr. Ridding) made an elaborate and vigorous
protest in two Letters to the Archbishop. " As one," he
wrote, " of your Suffragans, I demur formally to a pre
cedent being now made for the future, of a Court for
"A MINISTER"? 175
the trial of Bishops being formed on any method of Selection
by the Archbishop, for the particular trial, of any part
out of the whole number of the Bishops of the Province."
The case went forward, and the next point raised on
the Bishop s behalf was that a Bishop was not a " Minister "
according to the Rubrics, and was therefore not affected
by the Act of Uniformity. On July 24 this plea was dis
missed, the Archbishop saying " The Court is of opinion
that, when a Bishop ministers in any office prescribed by
the Prayer-Book, he is a Minister bound to observe the
directions given to the Minister in the Rubrics of such
offices."
Preliminary obstacles were thus swept on one side,
and the course was clear for the Trial in the ensuing
spring.
On August 10, the Bishop wrote to his sister
" I can t get out much this year, but, if I get
thro the present trouble, we may meet again in a little
calm perhaps before the end ; if not, we must look forward
to what the Lincolnshire people call yon-side. >:
On September 2, Bishop Ridding of Southwell wrote this
supporting letter
" MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,
" Your sad letter pains me very deeply. It does
seem hard that people should deal unkindly with so kindly
a spirit. I had a bad time once, and learnt two things
practically (1) to forgive them, because they knew not
what they did. They were such good people and simply
176 EDWARD KING
mistaken ; and (2) when other troubles come, to be able
to say,
" passi graviom, Deus dabit his quoquefinem.
11 Yours with loving sympathy,
" GEORGE SOUTHWELL."
On Christmas Eve, 1889, the Bishop wrote thus to his
friend and neighbour, Mrs. Clements, wife of the Sub-Dean :
" How very kind of you all to be thinking of me at this
time ! Please accept my best thanks for the magnificent
and delicious violets. They have made my room quite like
spring. And I must add a special word of thanks to your
self for your very kind note and pretty card. It is one of
the treasures of my life that I have been to Bethlehem.
" I am sure I owe you, with others, more than I can say
for the support you have gained for me through Prayer
during this past year ; for I have been most mercifully
upheld with hardly any suffering, though of course the
special burden is a great and unexpected one in addition to
the necessary care of the Episcopate. Still, I hope and think,
I see the Hand of God in this, working for the good of the
Church of England, and so I trust a Blessing will come to
our own Diocese in time. Something of the sort, I think,
was probably necessary, and it is a most wonderful mercy
that it has come in a way which causes no ill-feeling towards
any one and has not hindered the general work of the
Diocese. I can never forget the loyalty and kindness
which I have received during the last year.
" Pardon so much about myself. Let me wish you,
and the dear Sub-dean, and all your dear Party whether
with you or away, every true Xmas Joy and give you all
my Blessing on your Xmas and for the New Year."
"END AND SIDE" 177
The foregoing reference to " loyalty and kindness "
suggests the insertion of the Bishop s letter of thanks,
which was sent in facsimile to those who forwarded Resolu
tions of sympathy.
"MY DEAR SIR,
" I thank you more than I can say for the kind
Resolution which you have been good enough to send me.
" Such expressions of sympathy as I have received, I
may say, from all parts of the world, are most delightful
and comforting at this anxious time. They are indications
of the growth of Church Principles among all classes, and
of loyal determination to be true to the claim to Catholicity
and Historical Continuity which the Church of England
makes in her formularies.
" Asking earnestly for a continuation of your prayers,
and praying that God s Blessing may rest upon you,
" I am, my dear Sir,
" Yours sincerely,
"E. LINCOLN."
The actual trial began on February 4, 1890, and
meandered on till the 25th. Bishop Stubbs, whose his
toric sense was outraged by the whole proceeding, passed
his time in writing flippant notes,* and repeating to him
self the formula " It is not a Court ; it is an Archbishop
sitting in his library." At length the arguments were
concluded, and judgment was reserved. From Evangelical
quarters came a warning voice
* E.g. The merits next of End and Side,
How can His Grace decide on,
When arguments have ne er an end,
And Counsel so much side on ?
N
178 EDWARD KING
"October 31, 1890.
"My LOED BISHOP,
" I note that an Editorial in The Rock of to-day
says, referring to the forthcoming Lincoln Judgment/
Probably there is one person, and one only, who will
accept it, and that is the Bishop of Lincoln. My eldest
son, a Scholar of Keble, and a Graduate of Oxford both in
Music and Arts, is a great admirer of yours, and I am sure
you are a man of God. God bless you in all your work of
faith and labour of love. Would that we could all be drawn
nearer together at His blessed footstool !
" But are you right in view of the work done at the Re
formation ? I love beautiful services and Catholic sympa
thies, but I dread anything which may draw the soul away
from immediate contact with its Redeemer to the inter
position of the human priest or of anything objective.
Pray pardon me.
" Your faithful, humble servant,
" A. S. RlCHABDSON."
As the time for the delivery of the Judgment drew
near, Scott Holland wrote as follows
" DEAKEST OF ALL DEAR FRIENDS,
You know how we all remember you in these
days of anxious pause.
" Daily we pray that no cloud may hover over you no
weight drag down your heart.
" Whatever happens, love will be loyally yours, going
out to you as never before, because it seems so sore and
cruel an hour for one whom we would fain see travelling
ever forward in the mirth and freedom that are his natural
THE JUDGMENT 179
heritage and his special grace. Love always, and for ever,
poured out for you poured out with delight and with
thankfulness drawn out the more fully by anything that
wounds you, or hinders you.
" Oh ! how blessed a thing it is to have been allowed to
love you ! God ever fill you with Peace !
" Your loving Son,
" H. S. HOLLAND."
The Judgment was delivered on November 21, 1890.
Mr. Arthur Benson says " My father had a few minutes
talk with me before the proceedings, and described some
of the ceremonial arrangements devised by himself, such
as the laying of the Metropolitical Cross on the table beneath
the judge, to be a symbol of his spiritual jurisdiction, as
the mace of secular authority."
It must be confessed that curiosity was largely mixed
with apprehension in the minds of those who on that
fateful morning thronged the Library of Lambeth Palace.
The area of the chamber was given up to the general public.
The lawyers, among whom were Sir Horace Davey, Sir
Walter Phillimore, and Dr. Tristram, occupied the front
seats immediately below the elevated table. Behind the
table stood the Archbishop s chair, flanked right and
left by the seats of the Assessors. Behind the chair
was assembled a group of the Archbishop s friends, and of
active Churchmen, lay and clerical, including the Dean
of Windsor, the Bishop of Ripon, the Bishop of Heading,
Bishop Barry, Dean Hole; the Hon. and Kev. Edward
Glyn, Vicar of Kensington; the Hon. and Kev. Francis
Pelham, Rector of Lambeth ; the Rev. A. J. Mason, Lord
Norton, Mr. Henniker Heaton, M.P., and Mr. G. W. E.
180 EDWARD KING
Kussell. In the bays formed by the projecting book-cases
sat little knots of interested spectators. At half -past ten
the Archbishop and his Assessors entered the Library,
clad in their habits of scarlet cloth and white lawn. The
Archbishop took his seat, having on his right hand his
Vice-General, and beyond him the Bishops of Hereford and
Oxford. On the left were the Bishops of London, Rochester,
and Salisbury. The Archbishop opened the proceedings
by reciting two collects and the Lord s Prayer, in which
the whole audience joined. He then proceeded to deliver
his written Judgment, premising that it had the full
agreement of all his Assessors, except on one point, on which
one of them disagreed.
The Judgment was, on the whole, highly favourable to
the Bishop. It forbade the mixture of the Chalice during
the service ; it required him so to stand at the Consecration
of the Holy Eucharist that the Manual Acts should be
visible to " the Communicants properly placed," and it for
bade the Sign of the Cross at the Absolution and the Blessing,
as " an innovation which must be discontinued." The
other points it gave in his favour.
The Bishop had not been present when the Judgment
was delivered, but at four o clock in the afternoon the
following message arrived by telegraph at Lincoln
" Mistio in media celebratione signum crucis prohibita.
Populus debet videre actus manuales. Omnia alia pro te.
In necessariis victoria.
" PHILLIMORE."
The Judgment was received with a general sense of
relief. It seemed in some details rather petty, and in
A POSTCARD 181
others difficult of fulfilment ; but it was evidently the
result of careful and independent enquiry into the liturgical
history of Christendom, and the English Use before and
since the Reformation. Above all, it did not found itself
upon the decisions of the Judicial Committee. The Bishop
at once complied with its requirements, and adhered to them
all the rest of his life. " If any of my clergy," he said, " are
brought before me on similar charges, I shall say to them
* I have had my head cut off on certain points ; I request
you to do the same.
And now congratulations flowed in, as aforetime
sympathy had flowed. Mr. Gladstone said (on a post
card) to the present writer, " Pray make my kindest
and best respects to the Bishop. I hope, and incline to
think, that some principles of deep moment have gained a
ground from which they will not be easily dislodged."
The Episcopal Bench was not silent.
"My DEAR BROTHER,
" I have not read yet through the Judgment ; but
I have seen enough to wish to write and rejoice with you
that such a decision has been given, not for your sake only,
but for the Church of England s.
" I presume the Ch. Assn. will appeal.
" As regards the Manual Acts being visible, I feel much
doubt whether, if that is the rule of the Church, it would
not be more decent to consecrate looking south than to
turn half-round whilst standing in front of the altar. Only
in that case the altar should be square, not oblong.
" Always yrs. very affectionately,
"ALWYNE ELY."
182 EDWARD KING
"My DEAR BISHOP,
" Well ! I am glad there is nothing for you to go to
prison about even if you wished ! What a fuss about
nothing it all is !
" I don t suppose you have been much more anxious than
other people over it, but it must be good to have it done
with.
" Yours affectionately,
"GEORGE SOUTHWELL."
"MY DEAR BlSHOP AND BROTHER,
" I heartily thank God that your long anxiety is
now so well over for surely the result, whatever draw
backs it may have, is one for which to be deeply grateful.
I earnestly pray that it may give us peace for many years
to come a peace which the Church Association will have
no power to disturb, if the Church generally is content to
accept the Judgment, however much individuals may wish
that it had gone further, in one direction or the other.
" Pray do not think that this requires any acknowledg
ment whatever. I dare say I shall see you before very long.
" Yours always affectionately,
"W. D. LlCHFIELD."
A kind word came from the Holy City.
" Jerusalem.
"December 16, 1890.
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I am heartily glad and thankful on the issue of
your anxieties and heavy trials. You have never been
THANKSGIVING 183
forgotten here ; at every Celebration in my Chapel I have
used that short prayer for Unity which the A.P.U.C. * prints,
in thought of you, and of the issues attaching to you. You
must feel thankful that they were raised ; as now, beyond
the ultimate power of Civil Courts to repress, decisions
are given which very greatly free the Church. The main
points are gained ; how far, on the Manual Acts *
difficulty, we may make ourselves transparent, or stand
askew, or how far the congregation may realize the impor
tance of properly placing themselves, time, common-
sense, and possibility will solve. And about the Mixed
Chalice, time will settle that satisfactorily. And so in
other things. I am thankful that the Archbishop has seen
his way so far (the growth of strength in the Church will
lessen the danger attaching to his Court) : he has a good
courage and good will, and a strong consciousness of duty.
" Very sincerely yours,
"G. F. POPHAM BLYTH,
f Bishop."
Sir Walter Phillimore, to whose skill and learning so
much of the result was due, wrote as follows
"MY DEAR LORD,
" There is, I think, much for which to thank God.
I! The Archbishop has been courageous, learned, and
painstaking. He has given you all the important things,
and he has reduced (as it seems to me) those things which he
has not given you to even less importance than they other
wise would have had by his manner of handling them.
* Association for Promoting the Unity of Christendom.
184 EDWARD KING
" Some things or rather words will grate. But the very
fact that there are a few of such things will serve to empha
size the rest which is good.
"It is not a Judgment which the enemy will easily
disturb, even should they attempt it.
" We owe a great debt of gratitude to Jeune for his
help in the case.
" Ever, my dear Lord,
" Your devoted friend and Chancellor,
"WALTER G. F. PHILLIMORE."
Lord Halifax wrote, with characteristic enthusiasm
"My DEAR LORD,
" I must write one line to say with what relief
I have read the Archbishop s Judgment, besides everything
else, because of the good hope it holds out of peace, and the
importance of its whole tenour, in a historical and theo
logical point of view.
" There is one thing that makes me specially happy it
is that, whatever else may come now, all those difficulties
which might have been most serious are removed out of
your Lordship s way. In exitu Israel, and Non Nobis,
Domine, express what I feel.
"I am satisfied that, if there is an appeal to the P. C.,
our line is clear not to appear, but to let the Archbishop s
Judgment stand on its merits. It will never be reversed
of that I feel sure.
" My dearest Lord, I am always, and more than I can
express,
" Your most affectionate,
" HALIFAX."
CONGRATULATION 185
"MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I cannot refrain from writing one word to say how
rejoiced I am that your prolonged anxiety is so far happily
at an end. And how I hope that it may be the beginning
by-and-by of a consolidation of ritual, etc., for the Church
of England.
" Ever affectionately yours,
"W. C. E. NEWBOLT."
"My DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I feel quite sure I may congratulate you on the
result of the Archbishop s Judgment, though all has not
turned out exactly as you could have wished. It must
have relieved you of a load of anxiety, and I think the
whole Church of England heaves a sigh of relief. I am
writing, of course, in ignorance of the exact details, and
only from the newspaper summaries, but it seems to me
that in many ways this Judgment will be a valuable one
for the Church. I venture to think that their Lordships
are mistaken as to the meaning of the Manual Acts, and
why making the Sign of the Cross is to be condemned
more than raising the hand in benediction or turning to
the East at the Creed, I do not at present perceive. But
upon the whole I feel truly thankful for the result, and
hope you are not dissatisfied with it.
" Believe me,
" My dear Lord Bishop,
" Very truly yours,
" GEO. G. PERRY."
186 EDWARD KING
" BELOVED FATHER, AND MY VERY GOOD LORD,
" I do hope we are not wrong in judging the result
of the Lambeth proceedings as making for peace, free from
the taint of any subservience to the utterances of the Privy
Council.
" If it be so, may we not rejoice for you, and with you ?
At least we can be glad that the long painful suspense is at
an end for you, and for this we are supremely thankful.
" May the Divine Guidance sustain and direct you in all
your difficulties ; and out of all these trials bring peace
and comfort to Holy Church, and free space for you to
continue your loving labours for our Master in the Church s
own way.
" The suffering will not have been in vain, or the long
weary waiting useless, if they have gained so much for us ;
and we may well believe our many prayers for the Church,
and for you, have been heard and answered ; if all be as well
as we dare to hope it is.
" I must not weary you with further words, who have so
much to do and to think upon at this time, but can only add
that I am, as ever,
" Your grateful loving son,
"T. M. KITCHIN. !
DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I must write a line to say how thankful I am that
the Archbishop s Judgment has liberated you from your
anxieties, and secured to the Church so much that is
precious of Eucharistic ceremonial. We have all been
praying for the Archbishop, and now our Eucharists and
prayers have been heard.
CONTINUITY 187
" I stayed last night with West,* who made some very
telling references to the case in his sermon at S. M. Magd.
this morning and exhorted his people to be thankful and
to use aright the results.
" Believe me,
" Yours very sincerely in Christ,
" W. H. HUTCHINGS."
"My DEAR BISHOP,
" I must send you a line, which is on no account to
be answered, to express my own sense of deep thankfulness
for the Archbishop s Judgment.
" It seems at first hasty sight to be notable for two things,
both of them most thankworthy. (1) That we are relieved
from the onerous duty of suspending obedience to a Court
which, although faulty in principle and construction, is yet
the most spiritual in its essence that we have had since the
Keformation ; and (2) That the Judgment presupposes
throughout the continuous historical existence of the visible
Society and is only intelligible on that ground.
" It seems to be unnecessarily puzzling to the Clergy and
yourself on the subject of the visibility of the manual acts
in Consecration, but that is just the sort of difficulty which,
however troublesome at first, cannot but settle itself
through common sense and common convenience. Even
if the Privy Council maintain both their jurisdiction and
their opinion (which God forbid), the position of the Church
is far clearer than it was a week ago. It is one thing to
have unauthorized opinion, however learned, on your side
against constituted authority, however questionable. It
* The Rev. R. T. West, Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, Paddington.
i88 EDWARD KING
is quite another thing to have the deliberate Judgment
of an ecclesiastical tribunal admittedly second to none
in learning and knowledge of the subject-matter. I only
hope that our friends will keep their heads now and not be
unduly elated and not unduly fractious.
" Ever affectionately yours,
"HENRY 0. WAKEMAN."
"My DEAR BISHOP,
" I must write you one line to say how heartily glad
I feel at the line taken by the Primate in his Judgment. It
is difficult to apprehend its bearing fully from the scanty
report in the daily papers. We shall have more in The
Guardian. Meanwhile do you contemplate any direction
to your clergy as to the corampopulo Breaking of the Bread ?
With all respect for the Archbishop, I cannot think his
interpretation reasonable. But old Bishop Phillpotts, long
before any P.O. decisions, used to turn round with the
Paten at the moment of breaking, and Bishop Wilberforce
in later years moved the Paten laterally on the Altar so as
to bring it within sight of the people. . . .
" Yours ever affectionately,
" ALFRED POTT."
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" Thousands and tens of thousands will be thankful
for the relief that comes of this Decision to yourself
especially.
" The Court, however, seems oblivious of the fact that the
A PROPHECY 189
Manual Acts were not ordered in the Prayer Book for 100
years, and yet were enjoined by Convocation.
" Further, how can the Mixture be before the
Service ?
" (1) A Priest cannot tell how many communicants may
come into the Church, and therefore cannot judge of the
quantity of wine required.
(2) If he puts the wine into the Chalice before the
Service commences, he violates the Rubric before the Prayer
for Church Militant.
" Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. But
those who use that Scriptural, ecclesiastical, and ex
pressive symbol Incense must look out for Rocks
ahead. 5 *
" I am sorry to hear that work and worry have impaired
your Lordship s health.
" May God restore all to you is the prayer of
" Yours most sincerely.
"C. S. GRUBBER."
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" I must allow myself the joy of thanking God, and
you, for the triumph of the cause you have so nobly defended.
May God spare you to England many, many years !
" With deeply respectful affection,
" Your Son in Jesus Christ,
"W. H. CLEAVER."
" I only heard this morning after early Communion of
the result of the Archbishop s Judgment, and I venture at
* A shrewd prophecy., fulfilled by Archbishop Temple in 1899.
190 EDWARD KING
once to tell you we all from our hearts thanked God for it,
because, if my informant has read the Judgment rightly,
it is almost entirely in your Lordship s favour and is a
favourable response to all our prayers. And thus, my
Lord Bishop, I also venture to think the New Year s Text *
(Jeremiah i. 19) was a true Oracle to comfort our hearts
concerning the coming suit."
" May I, without officiousness, venture to say one
word of the deep thankfulness which we must all feel since
reading the Judgment ? One cannot help thinking that
it is marvellous in our eyes, as being The Lord s doing. "
" It has been a glad morning to-day, to say thanks
givings for the prayers heard. And it is thankfulness to
trust that the strain for you is over. It was nice to see and
hear you once again at Chesterfield the other day."
" May I be allowed to offer you my sincere congratula
tions in the grand and noble stand you have made for the
Church, and still more for the great victory gained for the
Catholic Faith, which is so dear to the hearts of true
churchmen ?
" May our dear Lord pour down in abundance the
blessing of His Holy Spirit upon you and all committed
to your care, that you may be strengthened and supported
in all future trials."
" You will, I know, be inundated with letters, still I
cannot refrain from giving expression to my devout thankful
ness that God has not only given you strength to bear the
* Commended by the Bishop to his Diocese.
THE LAITY 191
strain of this long and anxious trial, but also so successful
an issue. The Church has indeed cause to be grateful for
your help and defence at so critical a period of her history.
" Long after I and many another of us have passed away,
will your name be honoured as men ponder over this time.
" Surely some of our extreme clergy will not be so foolish
as to force on ritual to its utmost limits, because, as your
Lordship knows only too well, the better part of our High
Church laity neither like nor approve of excessive ritual.
"Would it be presumption on my part to offer the
suggestion that your Lordship should issue a Pastoral;
which I feel would be helpful not only to our own Diocese
but to the Church at large ?
" Forgive my troubling you with this letter. May your
health be long preserved that we may have the guidance
of your fatherly counsels, and may we all prove more
worthy of you."
" As an humble layman and just expressing my own
opinion on the Archbishop s Judgment re your Lordship s
case, I venture to think we ought to receive it with the
utmost gratitude and thankfulness.
" It seems, my Lord, to be a Judgment upon which (I
believe) a basis could easily be built which might ensure to
us and our dear English Church a sure and permanent
peace. If only wise and common-sense counsels prevail,
an agreement might be come to and which should prove
acceptable to all our Eight Rev. Fathers in God ; so that,
in the future, there would never arise a cause for these
unhappy persecutions, provided each party (so to speak)
held loyally and honestly to such an agreement.
192 EDWARD KING
" I am most thankful for what the Papers call your
acquittal, for I am sure it must be a great relief to you.
And, whatever happens now, the Decision must, I think,
be an immense gain to the Church of England. I wish
the Archbishop had seen his way to decide in favour of the
Sign of the Cross, as the rejection of such a very primitive
and Catholic ceremony can hardly, I fear, raise us in the
eyes of Christendom."
" It really seems as if through your instrumentality
harm had been turned into good ; and we can now look on
with a feeling of practical security at what may hereafter
come, whether from any appeal to the Privy Council, or
from other assault on the rights of the English Church as
maintained by yourself. When you were kind enough to
invite us to stay with you nearly two years ago, the shadow
of the Trial was already upon you and your cathedral city.
And now I should think there would be no place more
heartily rejoicing in the result than Lincoln, and, indeed,
your whole diocese."
The following letter seems worthy of reproduction in
its entirety
" MY LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN,
" KEVEREND SIR,
"I have been anxiously waiting to hear Archbishop
of Canterbury s final Judgment upon your Lordship s un
fortunate case, now that it is given, just as I expected when
I left London April last.
"I must congratulate you and Sympatise with you.
A PARALLEL 193
Meanwhile, allow me to point out a very valuable point in
Archbishop s concluding remarks, which every good
Christian must appreciate as an undoubted truth, viz.,
It is not decent for relegious (so-called) persons to hire
witnesses to intrude on the worship of others for the purposes
of Espial. . . . Just so, this very hired individual no
doubt went to church on that particular day, dressed very
neat, his hands covered with best kid (may have been wolf
skin) gloves, and high silk hat in the bargain, and took
good care to appear in the eyes of every body else there,
as though he was one of the good Sheep among the flock
of the Good ShepJierd, while he really was a wolf in sheep s
clothing, and his heart full of mischief and deceit. It is
to horrid to think of to stand in the midst of the congrigation
of true warshippers, who bileeve that there Redeemer is
present in Spirit (as God is Spirit so He may be present in
Person) and presiding on the altar and listenning to there
supplications and wants, yet the fellow is there with in
tentions to try and catch any little mistakes that may
unintentianly accur (as we are not all Infaliable) in the
celebration of the Holy Communiun, so that he may make
use of, to gain his point or to make his fame before man
kind. This kind of men I can compare to no other than
Judas, who while he was with the rest of the Disciples at
our Lord s Supper, appered like the rest in outward apper-
ance, but inwardly the devil was in his heart. Now that
he is found out and the shame is up on him and God s
Grace and his Mighty Hand and protection with you, he
ought to go and throw the price he had recieved for so
evil and unchristian doings, at the feet of his employers,
and then instead of hanging himself as Judas did, he may
come forward and bow himself down before you and ask
O
194 EDWARD KING
your forgivness and receive a Blessing in return. I am
sure you will not refuse him or them.
"With all my heart I wish you sucess in all your
endeavors to revive ancient church rights.
"I belong to one of the most ancient Christian
Churches of the world. The Holly Apostolic Church of
Armenia (Gregorian). And I have sent by this day s post
a copy of Liturgy of our Church, Armenian and English,
I trust you will find useful, it was prepared in 1887 by my
Dearly beloved friend Rev. Essaian, then Chaplain in London,
and now he is with our Catholicas in Etchmiadzin Monastery.
This Monastery and Church was built by St. Gregory the
Illuminator I believe about beginning of 4th Century.
Just at the foot of the Mount Ararat. And please accept
this Liturgy as Token and remembrance of this eventful
and cruel persecution, &c.
" I am, Reverant Sir,
" Yours faithfully,
M. J. PAUL/
" P.S. Bishop Blyth is working now in Jerusalem, I
think in the right direction, & has made considerable
progress and some changes have taken place since his
arrivel. And he is grait friend of our Patriarch, several
times has visited St. James s Cathedral, and I know in one
accasion he occupied Archbishop Chair. Please kindly
excuse my scrawl.
" The same M. J. P."
The Bishop s former colleague in the Chapter of Christ
Church, the devout and learned Dr. Bright, Regius Pro
fessor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, sent an interesting
commentary on the Judgment.
VISIBILITY 195
" Christ Church.
" November 22nd, 1890.
" MY DEAREST BISHOP,
" I have read the Judgment, and am, on the whole,
very thankful for it.
" The prohibitive points, as far as you are concerned,
appear to me to be such as you may very well, without any
protest, demur, or difficulty, accept. Let us see what, in
that case, you would have to do.
" 1. You would have to mix, or cause to be mixed, the
Chalice in the vestry before the Celebration, and not at the
altar or credence during the Celebration. This is sub
stantially the Eastern practice. There is no serious
difficulty, that I can see, in conforming to it ; and I cannot
but admit that the public mixing is an additional
ceremonial act.
" 2. You would have to raise your hands in breaking the
bread so that the action should be seen. This is perfectly
easy, and may be done by an elevation of the arms so that
the broken parts may afterwards be seen in your two hands,
and the Chalice may be held first to the right and then to
the left, you retaining the eastward position. I think
there is much force in the Archbishop s argument that
visibility of ritual action, as a general principle, is intended
by the Church, and that one must, not only not intend to
conceal, but must intend, and so act as, not to conceal.
"3. You would have to give the absolution and the bene
diction without the Sign of the Cross. Well, I think it is
intrinsically better to give both with a simple uplifting of
the hand. As to absolution, I don t for a moment suppose
that priests among us, who absolve privately, always use
the Sign, and the first part of the Roman absolution in private
is uttered with a mere elevation of the right hand. And
196 EDWARD KING
absolution is closely analogous to benediction, which our
Lord Himself gave with uplifted hands ; and the idea of
pouring out the blessing is better symbolized thus.
" I am greatly relieved by the retention of Altar Lights.
Their extinction, had it been ultimately enforced, would
have been keenly painful to many. The argument which
I myself used that the prohibition of them by an Order
in Council after the legalization of the First Book, implies
that they were thought legal before is, I see to my great
satisfaction, affirmed by the Primate ; and he adds what I
did not know, that this Order was only an unauthorized
draft.
" We have escaped much distress, and with it much
serious peril. It is a matter for thankfulness ; although
one cannot cease to think that the constitution of this
Court is unprimitive, and that its working might be griev
ously abused under another Archbishop. However,
sufficient unto the day ! We may be thankful for our
present Primate, while he is on the throne of Augustine.
" I do not consider that individual priests, say, in this
diocese, are canonically bound to conform to the Judgment
(if they are not personally satisfied with its rulings) until
it is pressed upon them by their own Bishop. For other
wise the Archbishop would be Ordinary of the priests
in all dioceses of the province : which is out of the question.
If I could conceive myself in the position of a priest in the
diocese of Canterbury, I think I should conform at once,
treating the Judgment as a lawful admonition from my
own Bishop.
" For the diocese of Lincoln what should be the course
taken ? If I am to state my own mind, it would, I confess,
point to some declaration on your part, in the form of a
SOLIDARITY 197
Pastoral, or otherwise, for the information of your own
clergy and laity. Fenelon, in a very much graver case,
announced in his cathedral his acceptance of a papal
censure. To be sure, he was a Papist diocesan ; and
his obligations to Borne were of a more stringent kind than
those of a Bishop of Lincoln or Oxford to Canterbury.
Still, if you yourself resolve as I hope to conform, it
would, I venture to think, be entirely and conspicuously
consistent with your whole line, and would illustrate your
position in the face of the whole Church with very good
effect, if you were openly to say so to your diocese I
will go a step further and if you were to express your
wish that the Clergy under your obedience should follow
your example.
" The tone of the Times in its comments is much more
pacific than I expected : and it seems to indicate that
public opinion would not favour any restriction of liberty
within narrower lines than those traced by this Judgment.
This being so, we should all gain by showing a disposition
to accept the Judgment on proper occasions : and, if you
were to set an example, and to tell your Clergy as much, you
would do more than any one has yet done to vindicate our
side from the charge of ecclesiastical avo/uta, and to
exhibit real * solidarity with a Primate who has thus
justified many hopes, and dissipated some apprehensions.
" Ever your most affectionate,
"W. BRIGHT."
As soon as the Archbishop s Judgment was delivered,
the Bishop prepared a statement on the subject, which he
submitted in proof to Canon Perry.
The Canon replied as follows
IQ8 EDWARD KING
" I think the Paper you propose sending round your
Diocese would be extremely valuable, if for nothing else,
yet to show the thoroughly Christian spirit in which you
accept what is not altogether the most satisfactory solution
for you. I am sure it would only tend to increase the
affection and respect of your clergy for you." *
" Bead and Others " duly gave notice of appeal from
the Archbishop to the Judicial Committee. Some of the
Bishop s advisers urged him to defend his case before that
unhallowed tribunal, and he sought advice from a few
trusted counsellors, among whom was Dean Church. We
have been told that the " character and contents " of the
Judgment brought the Dean " the last flash of happiness
before the end." He said " It is the most courageous
thing that has come from Lambeth for the last two hundred
years." But the Bishop s question about appealing came
too late. The Dean was already very ill, and he died
on December 10.
On December 5, the Bishop wrote to consult Sub-Dean
Clements, adding these words
" On the whole, Church-people are, I think, thankful
for the Judgment. I am, myself, very thankful for the
true Principles upon which it has been based.
" If the Judgment is allowed to stand, I shall most grate
fully * turn to, with fresh spirit, to work up our diocese
to this level, and endeavour to persuade some of our friends
to be guided by real Church Principles in these matters,
instead of their own fancies and feelings. We must not
pull either side up too sharply, as there has really been no
true Church order given us.
* See p. 200.
"SOUND AND SIGHT 199
" I am no Kitualist, as you know ; but, where the
doctrine is sound, I rejoice that our simpler (and, I believe,
often better and holier) brethren may have the help which
sound and sight may be to true devotion.
" Good-bye, dear Sub-Dean ; my life has turned out very
differently from what I expected when I was a happy curate
at Wheatley, and wanted nothing more.
" Forgive all my many shortcomings, and let me have
your prayers that I may try to do to the end what God, in
His goodness, has prepared for me to do."
(To the Rev. J. T. Athawes.)
" Your sincerely kind letters always have a peculiar
pleasure for me, taking me back to my happy Wheatley
days. D.G. I am happy still, and have had, and still
have, very much to be thankful for ; but the simple life
at Wheatley, and the affection of the people, were more
congenial to me than this public and controversial life.
Perhaps it is this very frame of mind that has (thro God s
answer to many prayers of good people) made this time of
trouble comparatively easy. I have had, I am thankful to
say, very little worry. My only desire is to do God s will
and not to hinder or harm the work of the Church.
" I enjoy my own regular work exceedingly, which is
really pastoral work. I hope all is being overruled for
good, so as to help the poor people to understand better
what the Church is and what Blessings GOD has promised
for us in the Church of England. I am very thankful
that the Archbishop based his Judgment on independent
Enquiry, and not on P. C. decisions. That is a most
valuable point for us, and my own people have been most
kind and loyal.
200 EDWARD KING
" I suppose the Church Association will appeal, and we
cannot, of course, say what the result will be. But many
think they will not overthrow the Judgment of the Arch
bishop and his six Assessors. It will be a crisis, if they do,
greater than we have yet seen.
" We must pray to be guided aright."
In the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine for January, 1891, the
Bishop published his statement, in the following terms
" To the Archdeacons and Rural Deans of the Diocese of
Lincoln.
" MY REVEREND BRETHREN,
" At our usual Annual Meeting of Archdeacons
and Rural Deans last July, the first subject on our Agenda
Paper was, as you may remember, Statement by the
Bishop on the Archbishop s Judgment, if delivered.
" His Grace had not then delivered his Judgment.
Now he has done so.
" I have, therefore, thought that it might be agreeable to
you if I should now do, by this letter, what I had intended
to do orally at our meeting, had it been possible.
" I would say then that (while retaining the opinion that
* a trial of a Bishop in Synod would be more in accordance
with ancient precedent, and more satisfactory to the Church
at large ), I am most thankful to have at once been able
conscientiously to comply with his Grace s Judgment, and
to discontinue those actions of which he disapproves.
* The following points appear to me to demand especial
thankfulness
" 1. That the Judgment is based on independent inquiry,
COMPLIANCE 201
and that it recognizes the continuity of the English
Church.
"2. That the Primitive and all but universal custom of
administering a Mixed Cup in the Holy Eucharist has been
preserved.
"3. That the remaining Elements may be reverently
consumed, by the cleansing of the vessels immediately
after the close of the Service.
" 4. That it is allowable, by the use of the two lights, and
of singing, during the Celebration of the Holy Communion,
to assist the devotions of our people.
" With regard to the Manual Acts, I defer to the con
struction which his Grace has put upon the Rubric.
" Similarly, with regard to the use of the Sign of the
Cross in pronouncing the Absolution and Benediction (how
ever harmless and edifying that might be to my own mind),
I shall, in deference to the ruling of his Grace, no longer
practise it.
" While the points that have been given in my favour are
declared to be lawful, it is not intended that they should
be obligatory. You, my Reverend Brethren, are well
aware that I have never desired to enforce unaccustomed
ritual upon any reluctant clergyman or congrega
tion.
" At the same time, I earnestly hope that this authorita
tive utterance of our revered and beloved Archbishop will
tend to remove the suspicion of lawlessness, and unfaithful
ness to the Church of England, which has unhappily arisen
in some places with regard to points of ceremonial observ
ance. My prayer is that this Judgment may be for the
greater glory of God, and for the edification of our souls in
unity and peace.
202 EDWARD KING
" Thanking you for your prayers, and your loyal
forbearance.
" Believe me to be
" My Reverend Brethren,
" Always yours sincerely and affectionately,
"EDWARD LINCOLN."
The following Reply was returned through the
Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham, by the Archdeacons
and Rural Deans
" To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Lincoln.
" We, the undersigned, have the honour to acknowledge
your Lordship s letter addressed to the Archdeacons and
Rural Deans of your Diocese, signifying your loyal accept
ance of the Judgment lately delivered by his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and thank you for the same.
"Believing that perfect uniformity of ceremonial in
conducting the services of our Church is neither possible
nor ever desirable, so long as the variations do not exceed
certain fixed limits, we beg to express our gratification at
the Archbishop s wise Judgment, which, we trust, will
tend to promote peace in our Church, inasmuch as it
sanctions further liberty of action on the part of her clergy
with respect to certain points, hitherto considered to be
doubtful, without compelling or even urging any to alter
their accustomed usage ; and also because of the whole
some counsel it gives the Clergy as to using the increased
liberty allowed them, without due regard to the sentiments
of their parishioners.
"In conclusion, we beg to assure you of our thankfulness
for the good example your Lordship has set us in your
DETACHMENT 203
own person with respect to the Archbishop s Judgment,
by your loyal compliance with it, and your expressed
intention of accepting the directions which it contains.
" Praying for a blessing upon yourself and the holy work
committed to your charge,
" We are, yours most faithfully."
The following letter belongs to the winter of 1891, and
that which succeeds it to 1892 ; both show the Bishop s
beautiful detachment from the worries of the Trial.
" I am glad the violets did not come, as I got a longer
letter, and a written record of the kindness which they
were in their silence to represent. If they had come, I
should have had only a card with Mrs. Clements Com
pliments, so I gained. It is most good of you, and the
dear Sub-Dean, to continue to make my life here so
pleasant. I only wish I were more fit for it, and more able
to help you all. However, God can take away as well
as give, and so we must go trustfully and brightly on
While we have time.
" I hope you get some of this delicious sun in your
rooms. My room is really like the Kiviera."
" My dear Brother s * death is a great blow to me. We
were brought up together, and I had the greatest admiration
and affection for him ; and often have felt ashamed at the
publicity of my own life compared to his life of retirement.
But, indeed, he was not without his reward, for nothing
* The Rev. Walker King, Rector of Leigh.
204 EDWARD KING
could exceed the reality of the affection and devotion of
his people. I never saw such sad grief. He had a wonder
fully tender way of dealing with people, never crushing the
natural life, but guiding and leading it up. He and his
family were part of the family life of the whole Parish.
" It was a great privilege to see what an English Parish
Priest can be, and do, on the simple English lines. I must
try and follow him. I do not feel equal to going -abroad
now, but I hope, please God, to be ready for the autumn
work. Indeed, I hope it will give me new freedom and
strength, for there is something very clarifying and
strengthening in sorrow."
It was soon decided that the Bishop should have nothing
to do with the Appeal; so "Read and Others" went on
without let or hindrance. The balance of the Defence
Fund was allocated thus : part to Diocesan purposes, part
to the endowment of a Suffragan Bishopric at Capetown,
and part a small amount to the erection of two statuettes
in vacant niches of the Palace Chapel. " So," as the Bishop
observed with his quiet laugh, " the prosecution has done
some good, after all." The appeal was heard in June and
July, 1891, and the Judicial Committee, which proceeds
deliberately, dismissed it on August 2, 1892. Once again
the stream of congratulation flowed, and with scarcely
less volume than before.
Dr. Bright wrote
" DEO Gratias ! That, first of all. . . . One breathes
freely, at last. I feel disposed to run up a hill let us say,
up Steep Hill, if one were in the Lower City of Lincoln ;
COURAGE FOR GOD 205
or it would be nice to roll down the slope in the Palace
Garden."
The venerable Bishop of Chichester, Dr. Durnford, now
in his ninetieth year, wrote thus to his younger brother
in the Episcopate
" Although I know you to be patient, and possessed
with a real trust in God s righteous dealings, still I could
not but feel that the issue of the Appeal would be a relief
to you.
"I was, as you know, one of the Assessors,* and for
many weary days listened to the subtleties of hostile
advocates. There was much in the words, and yet more
in the manner, of the Judges which led me to hope that
they would take an honest and independent course, without
being trammelled by previous decisions ; and I need not
say that my advice to them was directed to the support
of the Archbishop s Judgment.
" For the Archbishop s sake, whose character will rise
by this appeal, for the Church s sake, for your sake who
have suffered so much, and for my own sake, I rejoice
at this issue, and thank God for it."
Bishop Thicknesse, of Leicester, wrote
" Pray do not trouble to reply to the cordial congratula
tions which I must really offer on the improved state of
things your Lordship has worked out for the English
Church. May you see in long and happy days the fruit
and reward of that Courage for God, which so many of us
* The others were Bishop Jones, of St. David s, and Bishop Maclagan,
of Ldohfield.
206 EDWARD KING
wish for, but do not attain. ... I will only add, May our
younger Brethren have the wisdom given them to draw in
their horns at this juncture not to abuse the liberty you
have won for them and to believe that we are none of
us infallible, not even the youngest of us. :
Bishop Doane, of Albany, wrote
" I do not know whether you remember a morning on
the terrace at Farnham Castle, when you and I and
Salisbury and Kipon were walking during the last Lambeth
Conference, and I begged you to come to be with us during
the General Convention in October, three years ago, and
you told me then that you expected to be in prison, and
could not come ? Now you are out. I thank God that
even the Privy Council, which none of us attach much im
portance to over here, has been guided to do the decent
thing in sustaining the dear Archbishop s weighty and
admirable Judgment. I know, of course, that, in certain
ways, you have not let yourself be worn and worried by the
delay, but it has been very trying to those of us who love
you dearly, as I do, and I had to telegraph you yesterday
how infinitely thankful I am for the result.
" Now that the prison-bars are down, and the gates are
opened by the angel (by which I do not mean the Privy
Council !), won t you remember that America is over here,
that the passage is a very quick and easy one, that our
General Convention meets in Baltimore in October, that
you would be welcomed here with the warmest of welcomes,
and that, if you can come and when you can come, nobody
will be more glad and thankful to see you than
" Your very loving brother."
THE FINAL VICTORY 207
Dr. Gregory, Dean of St. Paul s, wrote
" Let me congratulate you and the whole Church upon
the Judgment delivered last Tuesday. I do think that it
places us in a position where we ought to be able to attain
peace on ritual matters. And for that there is terrible
cause, for I hear upon all hands that, where ritual is much
developed, it not infrequently happens that everything
else is neglected schools uncared-for, people unvisited,
and the mass of the people estranged from the Church.
" Do you not think that the time has come when a basis
might be found ? You have been the champion, who under
great difficulties has won a great victory. Could not you
in your diocese call the ritualistic clergy to a conference,
and get them to agree about what might be done, so that
the present victory may not be turned into an opportunity
for men going greater lengths ? "
Canon Newbolt wrote
" I feel that I must write one word to say how thankful
I am that your anxiety is at last removed, and the burden
taken from the neck of the Church, which put her in a
false light, as a law-breaker, before the ordinary Philistine.
I painfully feel that a few years ago you would have had a
letter from this house,* which would have been a treasure
and a help. How glad he would have been at the fall of the
Judicial Committee ! "
Dr. Wilson, Warden of Keble, wrote
" Sincerest congratulations on the end of the suit, in
which you have, I fear, had a protracted anxiety. You
* 3, Amen Court, E.G., formerly the residence of Dr. Liddon.
2 o8 EDWARD KING
can feel that you have done lasting service to the Church
by the line you have adopted and I trust that none but
very strong partizans will be otherwise than satisfied with
the result. Without outraging Low Churchmen or even
Puritans, it strengthens the Church contention and
Lord Halifax wrote
" One word of the heartiest congratulation. I am so
thankful, so rejoiced, and most of all and beyond everything
else, because of all the trouble and annoyance this decision
of the P. C. saves the Bishop of Lincoln. I can t help
taking a malicious pleasure in thinking of the feelings of
the Church Association ; but Deo Gratias first of all and
before all."
The next letter came from Ely Theological College
" I must write one line to say how thankful I am at the
result of P. C. decision, which I heard by telegram this
morning. It is an epoch of strife closed, I hope. It must
be cause of thankfulness to you to feel that the things you
have contended for the clergy can now give their people
without fear of being harassed. " He shall rain snares
it came in the Psalm this morning. Certainly it is a
nemesis on the Church Association. I am hoping to come
to you one day this week, but I am not yet sure which day
I can get away."
This from Miirren
" I must send you just one line to say how very, very
grateful I am for the end of your long trial and trouble. I
RELIEF 209
do hope and pray that now by God s mercy you may almost
renew your youth. I hope you will do as you almost said
you would at Easter, put some Bishop in charge at Lincoln
and get a long rest, and then, if it may be so, you may yet
have much to do for the Church. One can scarcely realize
yet what good may come to you out of all your trouble."
This from Sydney
" We have just had the English papers which tell us
about the Judgment, so I am writing a few lines to say how
glad I am that the worry and anxiety of it all is at an end
for you.
" I can see, as Lord Halifax says, it saves us from all
complications with the State, for, if the Privy Council had
been against the Archbishop, it would have been full of
trouble for us all.
"It is strange the small interest it excites here. The
papers have not had a line about it. The only reference
to it was a cablegram when the decision was given. Papers
out here are in the hands of Dissenters or K.C.s, and are
against the Church of England entirely."
The following letter from the Bishop to Mrs. Clements
shows his sense of relief at the termination of four years
worry
" It is indeed a very great relief, and I am most truly
thankful. I am most thankful to be spared the pain of
seeing the diocese split in two, as it might have been.
" Perhaps a better and a braver man would have
rejoiced at fighting in so good a cause ; but my little ex
perience has taught me that suffering is a very disturbing
p
210 EDWARD KING
thing, and requires more grace than most of us possess ;
so that I am very thankful to be let off. It is also a great
satisfaction to reflect that this last Judgment of the Privy
Council has been won for the Church by the Church. I
mean that it is an acknowledgment of the general spread
and power of Church life which it was felt it would be unwise
and unsafe to go against.
" Now we must work quietly and trustfully on, and
teach the people that we are not lawless, or Romish, but
loyal English Catholics.
" Pardon this little homily.
" My dear sister and all the seven children are here,
which is a great delight and rest to me. We have tea and
Lawn Tennis this evening, and to-morrow we are looking
forward to a long day in the Dukeries."
On December 30, 1892, the Bishop wrote thus to the
Sub-Dean
" Your letter is indeed much too kind, but I hope it
may encourage me to persevere and to give myself up to do
God s Will more carefully than I have hitherto.
" All the publicity of the last four years has been most
unexpected and painful to me. I trust it will be over
ruled for good. If it please God, I shall be thankful to live
on and work. I have, indeed, very, very much to be thank
ful for, and among my many Blessings I shall always
remember your forbearing, helpful kindness. I think this
week has been one of the happiest I have spent for some
years, Deo Gratias.
"May God bless you all, thro the New Year, ever on
and on."
CHAPTEE VI.
CALM AFTER STORM.
The meek-spirited shall possess the earth : and shall be refreshed in
the multitude of peace.
PSALM xxxvn.
IN one respect the paeans of the Bishop s friends were too
loud for the facts. He had indeed justified his own position,
and had vindicated a moderate ceremonial ; but the
victory had not been won without heavy cost to himself.
Though he had been kept quite well and calm during the
preliminaries and the actual Trial, he was ill after it was
over. He became visibly older. His writing was impaired
by some nervous affection of the hand, and he seemed to
lose something of his buoyancy. Down to the time of the
Trial, his life had been calm and easy : now he had been
through the furnace, and the smell of fire had passed on
him. He was to some extent an altered man, and from
that time forward there was a going softly all his days ;
but it was a going softly which did not impede rather,
perhaps, enhanced his ministerial efficiency. As he
gradually recovered health and strength, he seemed to
find increasing joy in his purely pastoral work, and hearts
were opened to him, all over the diocese, which aforetime
had been closed, or at the most, ajar. There was a general
sense that he had been persecuted; made a scape-goat
for the faults of others ; hardly, and not quite fairly, used.
211
212 EDWARD KING
But his absolute simplicity and sincerity had now been
made visible to all men, and he could say with St. Paul
" From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in
my body the Stigmata of the Lord."
One who was closely associated with the Bishop in his
diocesan administration says that " his great work in the
diocese, as in his previous life, was to render the Church of
Engand more spiritual, by deepening the spirituality of the
clergy." On the day of his enthronement he said that, in
his view, the object of a Bishop s work was to carry on
among his people " the Ministry of Keconciliation." To a
friend he said, with that winning earnestness which was part
of his charm, that " what he wanted to do in the diocese was
to draw men to Christ, that they might be nearer to God,
and nearer to each other in the unity of His Holy Church."
For the clergy he had a special care, evoked by their special
needs. He knew the injurious effects on character often
produced by short days in a cold climate ; by solitariness,
dull surroundings, poverty, and domestic gloom. From
his death-bed he sent a message to a young architect
" Go on building houses with sunny rooms for the clergy."
A clergyman, who had taken a Family Living in Lincolnshire
some thirty-five years ago, said to the present writer
" My clerical neighbours are exhaustively divisible into three
classes those who have gone out of their minds, those who
are going out of them, and those who have none to go out
of." And to intellectual failure, moral aberrations were
sometimes added. All this Bishop King knew, and lamented
with his whole heart ; but he did not stop at lamentation.
He so ministered discipline that he forgot not mercy ; and
was so merciful that he was not too remiss though this was,
THE DIOCESE 213
of the two errors, that to which he more inclined. He knew
that faults of life, as well as pastoral short-comings, often
result from material misery ; and he promptly turned his
attention to the question of clerical incomes. He was
convinced that the law against pluralities must be modified,
and that, when the income of a benefice had sunk to vanish
ing point, the incumbent ought to be allowed to hold another
in conjunction with it. Pending this change of the law,
he did his utmost to extend the " Poor Benefices Associa
tion," himself subscribing most generously, and doing all
he could to enlist the sympathy of the laity. While seeking
thus to improve the incomes of the clergy, he strove also
to lighten their labours by developing the work of Lay
Readers in scattered villages and hamlets. On the Divine
principle of seeking first the Kingdom of God, he gathered
the clergy together for " Quiet Days " in different centres of
the diocese, and once a year invited them all to a Retreat
in the Cathedral. No record of his episcopate, however brief,
could omit the extraordinary impression made by the
Retreat, which he himself conducted, in 1890. To many
it was the first day of a new life.
In the Scholce Cancellarii at Lincoln, he took a lively
interest, endeavouring, by more careful preparation for
Holy Orders, to raise the spiritual tone of the on-coming
generation of the clergy. To a former student of the
" Scholse " he wrote, in 1901
" Will you help me and others by giving the addresses
to the candidates at the Advent ordination in my Chapel ?
" It would be very nice to see the work of the Hostel
flowing back again and helping those whose need of help
you so well understand. You remember how Dante
found that what he thought a river of light, flowing on and
214 EDWARD KING
on, was really a lake, the stream coming back to its source.
So it is most fitting that you should come back and help us."
He founded a Diocesan Sunday Fund, with the three
fold object of Church-Building and Restoration, Spiritual
Aid, and Education. For the promotion of good living
among the laity, he furthered the formation of local Guilds,
and linked them together in a Diocesan Guilds Union. He
preached the gospel to the poor by frequent Parochial
Missions. In tender care for the fallen, he founded a Home
of Rescue at Boston, placing it under the charge of the
Wantage Sisters, and he encouraged the Church to take over
another (which had been conducted on undenominational
lines) at Lincoln. Something has been said, and more will
be said, about his activities in the rural parts of his
diocese ; but the visible memorial of his episcopate is the
" Grimsby Church Extension Society."
Thus, for twenty years after the Trial, Bishop King
lived his quiet but cheerful life of active beneficence,
wholly given to the diocese, except when he was seeking
his annual refreshment amid the snows of Switzerland or
the picture-galleries of Italy ; and rich in the love and
reverence of all who were bound to him by the ties of
blood, friendship, or duty. " He is adored at Lincoln,"
said Archbishop Benson during the Trial, and the adoration
did not grow less or colder with years. Everywhere the
Bishop was the most welcome of guests; and, being by
nature much given to hospitality and endowed with the
most perfect manners, he excelled as a host, whether at
a dinner or a public luncheon or a garden-party.
" How am I to know if I am converted, Mr. Moody ? "
said the awakened lady to the American Evangelist.
" Ask your servants," was his apt reply. The writer is
A HAPPY HOME 215
allowed to give the testimony of one who served the
Bishop for thirty-five years " He left all his house
hold affairs to me ; never once the whole time I was
with him ordered his own dinner, but would always tell
me anything he did not like ; but, as a rule, he used
to say, Everything was very nice. He so enjoyed
good Soup and good Calves foot Jelly ; and if he was
away on his Confirmations, he was always glad to get
home. He used to tell me, They put me in their best
bedroom, and it s cold. He always liked his bedroom
temperature up to 60 degrees. He was always called at a
quarter to seven, and he was down in his Chapel at 8 o clock
for communion. He was always cheerful and kind, and
thought of others before himself. On his eightieth birthday
he gave each servant his photograph, and put them in
frames himself ; and we made him a present of a hat and
gloves.
" The Old Palace was a Happy Home. He always gave
an address to his servants in his private Chapel every
Friday night when he was at home. He always gave each
servant a book in Lent, and, when he came home after his
holiday he had once a year abroad, he always brought each
servant a little present. I might add, when we had been
at Lincoln ten years, he gave me a gold cross and chain
set with pearls in memory of April 25, 1885, the day he was
consecrated. He was always so thankful for what I did
for him."
There is a pretty peep into domestic life, and, in the
matter of the Chapel, it may be amplified from another
source
" There was a daily Celebration in the Palace Chapel,
the Bishop or his Chaplain celebrating. Lights were used
216 EDWARD KING
and plain linen vestments worn. During the octaves of
great Festivals, however, coloured vestments took the place
of the linen ones. Some one once alluded in the Bishop s
hearing to a possible pacification in Church matters, if
linen vestments were made the maximum of ritual. It
will never do, said the Bishop. We live in an age of
decoration. Look at the working boys in the streets, how
elaborate are their Sunday button-holes ! It is in all
matters, not merely ecclesiastical ones, that the spirit of
adornment has caught hold of us, and unless there is posi
tive wrong in any of these things, we have no call to repress
them.
" On Sundays the Bishop always attended the eight
o clock Celebration in the Minster. On great Festivals he was
the Celebrant, and wore Cope and Mitre, but at other times,
when not celebrating, wore the ordinary episcopal robes.
At 10.30 he came again to the Cathedral for Mattins and
Second Celebration. At this latter he always remained,
whether the choir did or not, and always gave from his
throne the Absolution and Blessing. His Treasury of
Devotion and Christian Year, were, I think, his
constant companions at these services the latter he would
study in any interval, or when, as was the case in later years,
the sermon was inaudible to him. For Confirmations,
Consecrations, etc., in the diocese (unless he had reason to
think the particular parish would not like them) the Bishop
wore Cope and Mitre.
" As to Eucharistic Manuals, I am convinced that the
Treasury of Devotion was the one he preferred, and,
as I have said, he constantly used it. For those who might
find this book too difficult I have known him suggest
Helps to Worship, and Before the Altar. The
SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY 217
Bishop once told me that he used the Prayer for the Church
Militant privately, during the Communion-time.
" Some of the more recent Manuals he unreservedly
condemned, as being disloyal to the Prayer Book. Indeed,
I do not think he cared much for any of the little books
that have been in circulation the last few years, so far as
any of such were brought under his notice. He also dis
liked the tendency, which has been apparent in late years, to
regard the Eucharist as merely a means of raising us up to
our Lord. He once said * We must realize His Presence
down with us here, first, before we can follow Him upwards.
I know that just at that time a well-known book on the Holy
Eucharist had appeared, emanating from (what would be
called) his own school of thought. The Bishop disapproved
of it because he thought it deficient in bringing out the fact
of our Lord s Presence amongst us, and dwelling too
exclusively on His leading us upward.
" He was firm in maintaining the right of the penitent to
seek relief from his sins in Sacramental Confession. As to
putting a stop to the practice, * You might as well talk of
stopping the atmosphere, he used to say. Those who
came into the Bishop s study on days preceding the great
Festivals, must often have observed his surplice and stole
lying on the chair next the faldstool. And when agitation
was being carried on, both against Confession and against
Catholic Doctrine generally, his remark was : * I am not
going to be moved. I have studied the question too long
to go to school again.
At this stage, perhaps, may be suitably inserted some
short extracts from the Bishop s letters to people in various
forms of perplexity and sorrow, or at special crises of their
218 EDWARD KING
lives. They are taken almost at random from a mighty
pile.
To a priest about to take monastic vows
" God bless you in your new effort to serve Him, and
help you to know and do His perfect Will more and more.
Only don t get so good that you will forget your old friends
in the world, and among them your most sincere and
affectionate
"E. LINCOLN."
To one who had been his Chaplain, but now had taken
a living
" I hope you are enjoying the freedom and rest. There
is a sort of cage-like feeling about a Chaplain s life which,
I fear, is inevitable ; but all good life has its disciplinary
side, and to make oneself a mere contribution to another s
work is the nearest thing to being a Bottom-sawyer, which
is the real Top of all ! "
To a priest troubled about his faith
" I am very sorry that you have been in anxiety about
your Faith, but that, I believe, is often one of God s ways
of giving us Discipline to train us for His great service. The
suffering for the Faith, and the fear of losing it, often lead us
to value it more really than when it is taken for granted
and without any cost. The fact that you desire to believe
the Truth is of priceless value, and (please God) will lead you
on to the full Belief. Faith is the Gift of God, and requires
a general self-surrender on our part. Sometimes there are
ANTI-WORRY 219
stiff bits in us which we hardly recognize as sin, but they
prevent the perfect self-surrender and humility which is
necessary. A German Bishop (Sailer), for whom I have a
grateful regard, puts it
"1. Self -surrender,
"2. Acceptance,
"3. Faith.
" I sincerely hope and trust, if you persevere in humble
prayer, that in His own good time, after you have suffered
awhile, God will give you the Blessing of Peace in Believing.
" I suppose you have thought about Confession, and
probably made use of it as you felt you needed it. Let us
have a talk when you are here."
To a clergyman contemplating the purchase of an
advowson
" I do not feel able, as you ask me, to advise you to buy
the Living. Legally you might do so, and present yourself ;
but I should not like to do so myself, and so I cannot advise
you to do it."
To an undergraduate whose conscience was troubled
" Do not let yourself worry about the past. Psalm xvii.
16, is more than enough. We shall understand it all then ;
at present it seems too good to be true."
To a priest who had lost his mother
" We may well envy those well-guided, old-fashioned,
duty-loving, religious lives ; there is a grace, and repose,
and power, about them which is rarely seen in the lives
220 EDWARD KING
lived in the hurry of Modern Life. Such lives were full of
high principle, and wonderfully free from caring for the
opinion of men. We must try and retain their strength,
and carry it with us into the new hurry of our day. Dear
Friend, I know well the sort of flood of old Home thoughts
which must come up at such a time. I think the text where
David longs for a draught of the waters of the well of
Bethlehem, the waters of his childhood, suggests much
that one feels. Then I have often thought David would
not drink it after all, when they brought it, and so perhaps
it means we cannot go back to the old home pleasures and
refreshments, much as we should like to do it (giving up the
world and the strife of our life). But we mustn t. Bather,
I think, we must try and remember how much care, and
thought, and love, we have received, and then try and do
the same for others. I live on in the daily memory of my
dear mother and, D. G., am happy. So, dear Friend, after
a while, I trust and pray you will be. To carry on the good
they have taught us is a great duty and pleasure. God
Bless you, and Comfort you as you have been a Blessing
and a Comfort to many."
To a priest who had lost a child
" One great consolation we may have in the death of
the young that they are taken away from the evil and
trials of this Life to the brighter and far happier Life above.
For them we may indeed feel thankful, but then it makes
another shadow on the path of those who are still following
on here below. Yet shadows are made by sunlight above,
and I trust that God, in His Loving Care, will give the
comfort and strength to you and to your wife to follow
FASTING COMMUNION 221
bravely on till you meet again those who have gone
before."
To a priest in hard work
" Do not overstrain yourself at the work now. I have
no doubt that you will manage very well. A quiet, simple
life with a high ideal is what is wanted ; and such, it seems
to me, would produce the finest character, and with con
tentment."
To a man on the eve of Ordination
" * Be faithful over a few things. The glory and bliss
of this faithfulness are so great that I dare not set them
down, lest I should seem to lay claim to them."
To another in like case
" Be gentle."
To a delicate priest
" I am sure you will be right, when you have a late
Celebration, to take a cup of tea and bit of bread and butter,
or biscuit, to save your feeling faint, or self-conscious as to
your body."
To another
" I have no hesitation in saying that you ought not to
continue to go to the Holy Communion fasting, if you find
that it affects your health. Of course, as long as one can
do so, fasting is the proper condition, but when it affects
one s bodily health, it is better, not only for our Bodies, but
222 EDWARD KING
for our spiritual Life also, to take sufficient nourishment to
prevent the body from being a hindrance to our Devotion,
which is surely, at least, one chief reason for fasting Com
munion.
" For very many years I always went fasting, but lately,
by the doctor s orders, I have a cup of tea and two small
biscuits, and I find it is much better."
To a priest troubled by requests to preach for
neighbouring clergy
" 1. The general principle I have tried to go upon is
expressed in the verse, which the Dean * once quoted to
me when he was at Wantage, He that sweareth unto his
neighbour, and disappointeth him not, even though it were
to his own hindrance. So one must do it to the degree of
suffering.
"2. But then comes the e How far ? Sometimes one
must treat such a promise as a rash vow, and break it.
" 3. Such occasions at first probably would imply but
little sin, only want of foresight, perhaps not even that.
But if they often occurred, one would have seriously to
consider, how far one was really acting from a right motive
in accepting; or whether there was a general want of
sincerity in one s character, or any ambition growing
up desire to make a name, desire to please, and love
of being seen, and heard, and praised, and fear of the
reverse.
it
So that probably, if one s conscience reproached one,
it would be for some sort of vanity or ambition in the
original acceptance.
* W. J. Butler.
THE HARVEST 223
" I fear I have laid this down, like an idle young priest
during the Exile, trying to write in the style of Moses.
But treat it as you would a mere post-edited document,
which pretended to have been written a thousand years
before."
To a changeable curate
" You are a naughty, rolling child, but as you have
not rolled out of the diocese this time, I suppose I must
give in.
" Patience, and endurance, working on thro cloud and
sunshine, are necessary qualities for the heavier responsi
bilities of life."
To a lady on her husband s illness
" The Lord of the Harvest is watching us, and He sees
just when it is best for each one to be taken, and so He
gathers us in. We may trust Him. It is sad indeed for
those who are left, but it makes it easier for us to follow
when so many are gone before."
To a lady on her father s illness
" I was afraid on Saturday by your look that you were
anxious. Well ! there is only one real line of comfort, and
that is in the knowledge that it is not our doing. It is all
ordered from above, and, being so, is sure to be all well
done.
" My dear mother gave me this text many years ago :
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock
224 EDWARD KING
of corn cometh in in his season. (Job v. 26.) Just in the
best way, and place, and time !
" So our part is to trust, and, as you say, try to make
all as bright as we can."
To a youth in perplexity
" You have quite a claim upon me, as you say that I
confirmed you, and I shall be very glad if I am enabled to
help you. I am always very glad when young men of your
age give their minds to these high questions. Only they
must remember to give their hearts and lives as well.
" The Doctrine of the Eucharist is a profound mystery,
far beyond our full comprehension ; but, with regard to the
question you ask me, I should say
" (a) The words of Holy Scripture in their simple sense
imply what is called the Keal Presence i.e., the Sacra
mental Presence of our Blessed Lord with the Elements,
consequent upon consecration and independent of recep
tion. Take, eat ; this is My Body.
" (6) Our Church Catechism teaches the same when it
distinguishes three questions :
" 1. The Outward Sign Bread and Wine.
" 2. The Inward Part or Thing SignifiedThe Body and
Blood of Christ.
" 3. The Benefit the strengthening and refreshing of
our souls.
" We reject Transubstantiation, and maintain that It
is still Bread.
" It is a matter of Faith, and I quite hope, if you humbly
ask God to guide you, that, in time, your mind will be at
rest. Don t be surprised if you find it difficult for a time."
THE EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE 225
To a Dignitary of the diocese
" I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and
of the printed statement which accompanied it. ... I feel
bound to demur to the statement in the printed paper that
No Presence is recognized by our Church save that unto
life and salvation, which by the operation of the Holy
Ghost, is only to be found in the heart of the faithful and
penitent receiver. While fully admitting that, as an
individual Priest of the Church of England, you are at
liberty to hold what is known as the Receptionist theory/
I must refer you to the words of Sir Robert Phillimore,
as Judge of the Court of Arches, The Objective, Actual, and
Real Presence, or the Spiritual, Real Presence a Presence
external to the act of the Communicant appears to be the
doctrine which the formularies of our Church, duly con
sidered and construed so as to be harmonious, intended to
teach. "
To a family in bereavement
" I am thankful that you had strength to watch so long,
and to the end. That will always be a comfort to you to
reflect upon. I was quite afraid your strength might fail,
but you were all most trustful, and brave. For your dear
sister, we may be sure all is well done, and we can indeed
think of her with a sure and certain Hope of greater glory
yet to come ; and with thoughts of rest, and peace, and joy
at meeting again those who have gone before. How
wonderful it must be ! But the word to the penitent thief
To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise, seems to
assure us that we shall recognize those who have gone
before. Your dear sister has left us a good memory
Q
226 EDWARD KING
the memory of a good and useful life. May we all be
enabled to follow the example she has left us ! "
To the Eev. R. A. J. Suckling*
" I have read your letter in the Times to-day, and I can
not go to bed without saying how thankful I am to you all for
it. I know it must have cost you much, but I believe this
will be a crown and glory to the noble work of self-devotion
which you have carried on for the last thirty years. You
know I have not always been able to agree with all you have
done and taught at St. Alban s, but I have always admired;
and thanked God for, the example of your loving devotion
to the souls of the poor and sinful, and now I thank God
again for this example of Obedience.
" May God richly Comfort and Bless you all and make
you more and more a Comfort and a Blessing to His
Poor."
To the Rev. H. F. Trench
" Your letter touches me so deeply. Your dear, great
father, f and dear Stephen Gladstone and your own dear
self all come before me so freshly and really, with the
memory of happy days.
" I did not know you were not well. It is so good of
you to have told me. I shall not forget.
" In early life, I did not expect to live to middle age.
Now God, in His Mercy, has spared me to the full limit of
three score and ten, and it s strange to be looking, as it were,
* Mr. Suckling had announced compliance with some requirements
of Bishop Creighton touching unauthorized devotions at St. Alban s,
Holborn.
t The Archbishop of Dublin.
SUNSET 227
on one s sunset because one knows it is setting. Yet,
thank God, we know it is always shining somewhere and
will soon rise again for us, so that in the Communion of the
Saints we can live in His light. If it please God, I hope
you may be spared distress either of body or mind, and so
be able to welcome Him in peace. It must be far, far
better to depart, though one clings to what one knows.
I find the Psalms a great comfort. Do you know Dr. Kay s
translation ? It is so brilliant.
" Among the many I have been privileged to know, you
have your own special place, dear Friend, as having
helped me by your gentle wisdom and love. Let me
thank you very sincerely for the good you have done me.
Do not forget me, either here, or hereafter.
" That God may support and bless you, and refresh you
with an increasing consciousness of His Presence and His
Love is the earnest prayer of your sincerely affect, friend. 3 !
To Mrs. Clements, on the death of her husband
" I know for the present it must all seem like a dream,
and you will not be able to do anything but quietly accept
what God in His Loving Wisdom has arranged for you,
being sure that it is all for the best.
" I am sure you must all feel strengthened and com
forted by the great appreciation and sympathy of so many
Friends, but still the real comfort and help I know must come
from the Hills above/ but I am sure that it will come,
and you will have strength to follow on till you meet again."
To the same a year later
" As I have to go to London to-morrow morning at
228 EDWARD KING
7.30, I am writing to-night to assure you that I do not
forget you and all your kindness in the years that are now
past.
" To-morrow will bring back many memories, but,
thank God, they are all memories of pleasure, and thank
fulness, and hope. I am so glad to see you going out
regularly for your drive. I am sure that is right. We
must go bravely on doing the daily duties and trusting that
as our day is so shall our strength be, and then, when He
sees we are ready, He will call for us to come and join those
who have gone before.
" Before I go for my holiday, I want to come and have
tea with you ; but not just yet, as I have to be moving
about.
" God bless you all and give you strength to persevere."
To his brother-in-law, on the death of a brother
" It is very difficult to keep steady and brave with so
many falling round one. The difficulty is greater in some
ways, that we have to keep on our work all the time, and
seem the same to others. However, the greatest comfort
is in the knowledge that all is well done. I believe what
we want is more quiet trust.
" When I was at Clevedon we talked of the possibility
of a family gathering here in the summer. I hope, if it
comes off, that you and dear F. will be able to come. It
will do us all good to meet again and cheer one another on."
To a clergyman, returning to the Diocese of Lincoln
" I shall be very glad to have you back again, and I
will try to be a better Bishop to you than I have been ;
R. I. P. 229
but the life of a Bishop is absurd now. However, I hope
the next set will be better, and say their Prayers and read,
instead of rushing about."
To a lady on her mother s death
" When we were coming back from our walk we heard
the Bell and we wondered. As we passed the Cathedral
we met Canon Hutton, and he told us. My first thought
was how glad I was that I came in yesterday and gave
your dear Mother my Blessing ; it is, I think, what your
dear Father would have wished. And now I have such a
delightful memory to dwell upon as I saw her last, looking
so peaceful and free from all care, just as it should be.
May she rest in Peace and everlasting light shine upon
her!
" How wonderful it is to think of her joy and gladness
meeting your dear Father again, and all in Paradise ! And
all anxiety and doubt and fear over wonderful ! and yet
far more wonderful than we can imagine, for the things
that He has prepared for them that love Him pass man s
understanding. But you will, I know only too well, be
feeling desolate and left, and your occupation for the
moment gone. It must be so ; it is right that we should
mourn a while for those we love, and yet I feel sure you will
feel deep and real comfort and thankfulness. Comfort for
the sure trust that you may have that it is far, far better
for Her, and thankfulness that you have been able to do
your part so faithfully and lovingly to the last. You will
have the sympathy of all, and many earnest Prayers to
support you. I shall always think of your dear Father and
Mother as the kindest and truest friends I have known in
230 EDWARD KING
Lincoln.* Your dear Mother always reminded me of my
own dear Mother, and it did me good to see her. That God
may comfort you all in your great sorrow and give you
strength to follow on till you meet again is my sincere
Prayer."
To a Deacon
" I thank you for your trustful letter, which needs no
apology. If I could be any help to you, I should be only
too thankful for the opportunity. But the help must
come from God, in His own time and way.
" It is very mysterious and sad to see how many there
are now suffering just as you do. We need not feel sur
prised when it pleases God to let people suffer by loss of
bodily health, by long consumption, or permanent useless-
ness of some bodily organ ; but now so many seem sound
in their general health, and yet suffer terribly through a
sort of paralysis of nerves and will. Whether there is
any special cause, or whether God has some special lesson
for us to learn from this, I cannot say.
" People seem as if they might be quite right, only some
how, they just can t be. As far as it may be God s Will,
like any other affliction, we must accept it and try and bear
it as bravely and cheerfully as we can.
" Of course you will ask a Christian Doctor to advise
you.
" The one moral point you mention I should urge you
to take vigorously in hand, with all courage and hope
I mean the persisting temptation of evil thoughts. You
must not be too much surprised, or disheartened, at this.
* Sub-Dean and Mrs. Clements,
THE PSALMS 231
With some saintly persons it continues, at intervals, for
many years. The main thing is to determine with yourself
that you will accept no compromise in the matter. It is
fatal if you think you must give way. You may be beaten
again and again, but always renew the attack with the
determination to obtain an absolute victory. It is
marvellous what God s Grace can do.
" Guard your sight strictly in what you read, in news
papers and books, pictures, photographs, persons be very
strict with yourself in this all depends in crushing an evil
thought at the beginning and instantly slaying it.
" Do not be too distressed at your want of Love. God
is Love, and He can make the dry beds of the rivers of
the South flow again, when He wills. Determine not to
give your love to any but God, and, in God, such as He
can Bless ; and, in His good time, you will love Him again.
" I think you might find help by the constant use of
the Psalms, reading them, and marking, and dwelling upon,
and repeating, any verses which seem to suit you.
" Pardon such obvious remarks.
" If you should ever like to see me, pray come. I
shall be very glad to see you. That God may help you,
and comfort you, and restore you to your work, and make
you a help and comfort to others is my sincere prayer.
" P.S. God has work for the broken-hearted as well as
for others."
The foregoing letters sufficiently show the Bishop s
scrupulous care and tender wisdom in dealing with sins
and sorrows, trials and temptations. He had, in very
truth, the Pastor s heart ; feeding, leading, guiding, were
the functions which came most naturally to him. He
232 EDWARD KING
had no love of fighting. From first to last, controversy was
distasteful to him ; and, though when it was forced upon
him, as in his Trial, he showed himself the strong man
armed, his instinct was to avoid it. Thus, when in 1889
and 1890 the painful debates about Lux Mundi were
agitating the faithful and hurrying Liddon into his grave,
the Bishop remained perfectly calm. His hands and his
thoughts were pretty full of practical business relating
to the Trial, and his correspondence shows no trace of the
storm which was raging outside. For the Editor of
Lux, now Bishop of Oxford, he had always felt a warm
affection. In 1879 he wrote : " It is a great blessing that
Gore goes to Cuddesdon as Vice-Principal. This is good.
Poor dear thing ! I do feel for him being pulled back from
the joys of Parish work, but he will be rewarded." On his
appointment to Lincoln, he immediately made Mr. Gore,
then at the Pusey House, his Chaplain, and consulted him
about the rest of the staff ; and the aberrations of Lux
seem not to have impaired his belief in the Editor s essential
orthodoxy, for in 1891 he asked him to conduct the Annual
Ketreat for Clergy in Lincoln Minster. There could
scarcely have been a higher mark of confidence.
It must not be inferred from this that the Bishop had
any sympathy with what is called " The New Theology."
To one of his disciples he wrote : " There is not much
New in it. It seems to be Pantheism in its tendency.
I should leave all that, if I were you, and keep to the old
line of the Church. I have found increasing Comfort in the
Psalms and in the Collects of our Prayer-Book."
To his friend, Canon Wood, he wrote
" I wish we could meet sometimes, and talk over the
OPTIMISM 233
tendency of some of the modern theological books ; but
perhaps that belongs to younger men. Some of the recent
writing on the Atonement seems to me to be in danger
of lessening our Lord s peculiar work, and, by explaining
away the old notion of forgiveness, to run the risk of mini
mising the idea of the Love of God, and of sin.
" We must trust. He Who brought the Church into
being can guide and preserve her."
To the Bishop it was an all-sufficient support to know
that God sitteth above the water -flood of human opinion,
and remaineth a king for ever. He believed profoundly that
the Holy Ghost dwells in and guides the Church con
tinuously, and that, if only we abide patiently, we shall
see new " views " go the way of old heresies, blown aside by
the Breath of the Spirit. There was deep in his nature an
optimism based on faith. Things for the moment might
look bad, but they would work out for good. Even when
Liddon was bidding us shake off the dust of secularized
Oxford from our feet, and go out to preach the Gospel in
Zanzibar, the Bishop said to the present writer " When I
was an undergraduate at Oriel, the College was full of
resident Priests, and we had one Celebration, late, in the
Term. Now, the Provost and all the Eesident Fellows are
laymen, and there is an early Celebration every Sunday."
In the midst of the Trial, when the blasts of an angry
Puritanism were beating on his head, he wrote to a young
priest
" The co-operation of the Working of the Holy Trinity
is a truth worth dwelling upon. I think good Dissenters
might be brought to trust the Church if they could see that
234 EDWARD KING
in it they were recognizing the Covenanted System of the
working of the Holy Spirit, for the carrying out the Love of
the Father as manifested in the Incarnation ; and therefore
that they need not fear any antagonism between the Church
and the Love of Jesus. They fear it will take them from
Christ, instead of its being Christ s own promised way of
coming to them. Poor dears ! We must go on loving
them, and teaching them."
And so in the following year to another
" Thank you for your kind words of sympathy, and for
your constant Prayers. I cannot say how mercifully God
has upheld me, and enabled me to go on cheerfully with my
work, through the Prayers of the Faithful. It has been a
most real blessing, and may God bless you for your share
in it.
" We must wait trustfully. In the end, we know, good
will come ; and, if it helps our dear poor people to a clearer
knowledge of the Blessings God has provided for them in
the Church, and obtains for them a greater Liberty for the
expression of their Love to Jesus which they long to show,
then we may indeed thankfully endure any little trouble
for the moment."
The same spirit, eschewing controversy and making
for conciliation, was observable in all his diocesan dealings.
One day he had to visit an important town where the Vicar
had been harassed by local dissensions. Addressing the
>arishioners, the Bishop said : " As my chaplain and I were
joming along in the train, we saw a familiar sight in a field
two horses, one facing one way, and the other the opposite
way ; and they were using their tails to whisk the flies oS
THE PASTOR S HEART 235
each other s faces. Mutual accommodation, I said ;
that s what the good people of want to learn. 5
Feeding, Leading, Guiding were enumerated among the
Pastor s functions. Surely we must add the even tenderer
office of raising up them that fall. An Incumbent writes
as follows
" Some years since a young Priest, simple and good-look
ing and zealous, was trapped in visiting a bad woman, and
got into serious moral difficulties. He had to leave his curacy,
and the diocese of Lincoln, but the good Bishop followed
him up. I took him, and every week we both had beautiful
letters from the Bishop, who sent also, I think, monetary
help to the young priest, who was very poor. Bishop King s
letters were full of tenderness and love, and also of practical
and sound common-sense. The young fellow rose again, and
did well, and at last left England, and wisely, under the
circumstances, got married. The Bishop s letters were long,
and very regular in arriving."
But while he was thus the vigilant and anxious Pastor,
the Bishop was all the time the most genial and com
panionable of friends. Here is a pretty invitation
" What is to be done with you ? Why did we ever
meet that I should love you so, and yet be so brutal ? I
do hope in Heaven it will all come out straight, and these
seeming contradictions will be seen to be true, under the
great example, Thou knowest that I love Thee.
" Alas ! I am to be at Clevedon and Llandough* from
January 18 to 28, but, D.V., I return on the 29th, and shall
be sleeping at home all that week, though out for part of
* The homea of his married sisters.
236 EDWARD KING
each day for Confirmations. Now, will you and your good
sister come for that week, 29th to February 3rd ? You
will be most welcome, and it might do your souls good, even
if it vexed your bodies because you were so neglected and
uncomfortable."
And here a letter of thanks
" Thank you so very much for your kind thought of me,
and for the delicious warm comforter. Please express to
the good soul who worked it how pleased I am with it. It
will be most valuable to me in the Spring Confirmations.
" It was really quite naughtily good of you to write me
such a nice long kind letter. I hope it did not tire you too
much. It reminds me of earlier days. I fear I can do
very little now to make people happy, but I am sure little
acts of thoughtful kindness have a wonderful power.
" We are all in the Hands of One Who knows what is
best for us, so we must trust and go bravely, cheerily on."
Amid the clouds of a dying year, the sunshine of the
heart peeps out
" The last months of the Old Year have been, as you say,
full of warnings for us. I wish I was of more use to you,
but I believe we ought to think more of what God is now
giving us and enjoy it trustfully and thankfully both in
itself and as an earnest of even better things yet to come.
I hope to try and not let the wear of Life rub off the bloom
of a childlike happiness, which I believe our Father would
like to see us have. I feel to have failed lately in this.
We must rekindle our hope with the New Year."
Now, as always, the Bishop found great delight in his
DANTE 237
annual travels. In July, 1893, he wrote about a well-
known man whom he met at Zermatt
" We have had some long Dante talks, but as he is,
they say, an agnostic, we do not agree on the point I am
most interested in just now how far Dante had fallen
morally, or whether Beatrice s anger shows the difference
between rationalistic morality and the Christian Faith."
In 1894 he wrote from Lincoln
" We are expecting our new Dean to-morrow * the
old one is a great loss.f The old Tractarian School is
passing away, but they will leave their mark, and that,
perhaps, is all we are meant to do just make a little
contribution to be mixed in with the rest."
On July 1, 1894, he wrote to his brother-in-law
" I had quite hoped to have got to you this summer or
to have had you all here ; but my time is not my own, and
I am blocked up to the end of the month. Before the year
is out I just have it in my mind to run down and get a look
at you. If I live to the end of the month, I shall have
lived longer than any of our generation or the old ancients,
so I seem to have no further guide but to be making an
unknown start. It is very wonderful. I am going abroad,
all being well, at the beginning of next month."
On St. James s Day, 1894, a Festival Service was held
in Rochester Cathedral, to celebrate the completed restora
tion of the West Front. Partly on account of his hereditary
* E. C. Wickham.
| W. J. Butler.
238 EDWARD KING
connexion with the diocese, the Bishop of Lincoln was
asked to preach. After the service, the Dean and Mrs. Hole
gave a party at the Deanery, and the faithful were all
asking, " Where is the Bishop ? " Nowhere could he be
found, but it afterwards transpired that he had been to tea
with one of the vergers, who was a son of his father s butler.
This loyalty to Auld Lang Syne was peculiarly characteristic
of Edward King.
The summer holiday of 1894 was made specially delight
ful by the kindness of his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Kitchin.*
Keturning from his tour, he wrote on September 6 to
his travelling companions
" It is impossible to thank you for all your great care
and kindness ; but I must write at once to assure you
that I would thank you if I could. The Last straw was in
the box with the pink Paper ! It is really far, far too good
of you, I feel so unworthy of it all. I cannot help, too,
feeling that besides all the additional expenses and trouble
which I caused you I must have hampered you and made
your holiday dull.
" I ought to have taken you to the Opera Comique, or
at least persuaded you to go ! I fear I made it dull ; I
ought to have been more cheerful, and I am ashamed of
myself. I must try another time, D.V., and not always
have the best seat in the carriage ; we must think of some
plan of drawing lots. It is really too bad.
" The success of the arrangements this time was really
brilliant and without one flaw ! However, dear people, I
know why you do it, and I can only hope and pray that God
* See ante, p. 141.
A GOOD HOLIDAY 239
will Bless you for your goodness to His servant, however
unworthy he may be.
" You will, I know, be glad to hear that our holiday has
really done me good. The cough, I hope, won t last long,
and in my nerves and head I feel decidedly better refreshed
and stronger and that desire to do things much better
which is such a refreshing and sustaining gift ; and, as long
as one can hope to improve, one can work.
" I believe a sort of Evolena-like simplicity and
sincerity is all we want just to do our daily work and
trust and, when the poor mule wants to roll, let him, and
wait quietly till he gets up again, and then go on with the
work.
" So let us trust and try brightly and bravely, and look
forward, D.V., to Easter and the Confirmations, though
I have a sort of feeling as if I must run down to you for a
couple of nights between this and then if I can, and you
can have me."
On " St. Paul s Day, 1895," he wrote to a friend
" Johnston is going as Principal to Cuddesdon. It is,
I hope, a good appointment. I think he will turn out
some sound and strong men, who may be a check to some
of our weaker and Romanizing friends. I quite hope for
much good. Of course, in all movements there are
mistakes ; but, on the whole, we may be most thankful
for all that has been done in the Church of England during
the last sixty years."
On February 16, 1895, to his sister
" It was a great pleasure to me to be with you, and I
240 EDWARD KING
could see the new beauty of Church work that has passed its
first bloom and excitement, but having its new beauty and
quietness, if with the autumnal look of age. This we have
never seen before in England. I mean old Prayer Books, old
Chasubles, and a sort of matter-of-fact way of going on.
Two or three more generations of this will get quite new
beauties of natural and supernatural life. We may have
made a mess of it, more or less, but I believe we have given
things a new start in the right direction we ought to be very
thankful, I think, for what we have been enabled to do. I
Celebrated three times during my holiday, in three different
places, but each time in Vestments ! Such a thing fifty
years ago would have made every hair come off an Episcopal
head ! It could not have been done.
" I thought Stephen s two little Churches just right
beautiful and restful, quite worth a Life s work.
"As it snowed hard, I thought I should have died of
cold going on to Oxford ; but, to my surprise and delight,
I got one of those newly-warmed carriages, and it was really
quite hot. ... I dined with the Archbishop of York * the
next night. Very pleasant. My love and blessing to you
all, at home or away. We must try and go trustfully and
thankfully along to the end. We have had many blessings.
" P.S. My special love to the donkey."
In 1896, he wrote to his friend James Adderley
" It seems hopeless to enjoy one s Friends in this world.
In the Next I shall hope to welcome you."
The year 1897 was unusually full of occupation. Four
years previously the Bishop had written
* Dr. Maclagan.
A QUIET DAY 241
" I have had a Circular from the Archbishop of Canter
bury * saying that he intends, D.V., to call the Lambeth
Conference for July, 1897, as it will be the thirteen-
hundredth anniversary of the coming of Augustine. It is
very clever and bold of him. We ought to be getting
ready some sermons and addresses against Roman claims.
I quite hope, D.V., that the occasion may be an epoch in
literature on the subject."
The Conference opened on the 3rd of July, and, as
regards the Bishop of Lincoln, the circumstances were
curiously different from those which surrounded the Con
ference of 1888. Then he was, so to say, the Prisoner in
the Dock : now, his Judge had passed away, his persecutors
had ceased from troubling, and he was the spiritual adviser
of the assembled Fathers. Indeed, since the Trial, a new
fashion had sprung up. It became the mode to daub the
Bishop with untempered eulogy ; and, when this eulogy
emanated from men who detested Catholic doctrine and
would, if they could, have crushed Catholic worship, it
seemed rather unreal. That this was so, at least in some
cases, the Bishop was well aware, and noted it with a
twinkle in his eye ; but he had no element of gall in his
nature, and he knew that the great mass of assembled
bishops were " men of good will." Accordingly, he con
sented to give them that modified form of a Retreat which
is called a " Quiet Day " ; and they sate at his feet with
great delight;. A report of the day s devotions, written by
one of the Bishops, will be found in Appendix I.
The Conference broke up on the 1st of August, and the
* Dr. Benson.
R
242 EDWARD KING
Bishop of Lincoln departed for his annual holiday. Here
are some incidents of his travels, written from Stresa on
September 5, 1897
" We got off in the morning at 6.30, and rode for an
hour, rather rough, but the poor mule did very well for me,
though they don t seem to give their minds to it. After
I got off we had about an hour over rock and snow, and at
the top we had our cold chicken, which we brought from
Saas Fee. There was hardly any view, but no rain. The
first part of the descent was great fun, sliding and slipping
about over the snow, then we had a long-continued drop, drop,
down for three hours, occasionally we got good glimpses of
Monte Rosa, which were very fine, and well worth the trouble.
Ambrose * was most beautiful. What chance one has of
getting into Heaven if that is the sort of standard, I
can t think. We got to Macugnaga about 12.30. The
muscles of my legs were pretty nearly used up for the
time, I did not feel the least fatigued, it is only a strain
on the muscles.
" We had two fairly fine days at Macugnaga, and saw
Monte Rosa well, but when we left on Friday, to walk to
Cepporelli, it rained and thundered, and we got a first
good wetting all round, ending by our horse nearly smashing
us as we got into Piedemula, poor beast, he was too weak
to make a bolt to get to his stables, and went smash up
against a house. However, there was nothing really hurt.
Our next trouble was the rain coming through the carriage,
and, finally, the engine broke down, and we had to stop
for half an hour. At last we got here, and anything more
delightful you can t imagine, we really must have our
* A guide.
THE MOUNTAINS 243
Italian tour some day ! Bob * is nearly wild with delight
at the colouring and the flowers and trees. They are
wonderful. We leave for Lucerne on Tuesday.
" And now I have left no room for our thanks for all
your great kindness, the teas, and the guides, and every
thing; we all enjoyed Saas Fee immensely. I think it
is quite one of the nicest times we have ever had."
Christmas arrives, and with it Christmas presents.
Here is a letter of thanks
" Though I generally, as you know, obey you, I must
so far disobey this time to thank you for your most kind
note, and beautiful, and inspiring, Present. I know many
of the views quite well. We stayed one summer on the
Lac de Champex, and the Dent du Midi I know well from
many sides so the pictures bring back many pleasant
memories. I am thankful for the continued pleasure,
and comfort, which God has given me through the
Beauties of Nature. There is a sacredness about it
which is very precious, and is to me a kind of Communion
of the Saints. So, you see, your kind present is just what
I like.
" I shall hope to see you and thank you again. Let
me wish you and yours all the true Joys of Xmas, with my
Love and Blessing."
The year 1898 was marked by a recrudescence of Puritan
agitation, which had its beginning in London. During
Bishop Temple s episcopate, the Ritualists had been left
very much to their own devices. As long as men worked
* The Bishop s nephew.
244 EDWARD KING
hard for God and souls, Temple did not harry them.
Professional agitators and would-be persecutors knew that
they had no chance of frightening or cajoling that iron old
man into the " drastic action " which they desired, and a
holy calm prevailed. But Temple became Archbishop of
Canterbury in October, 1896, and he was succeeded in the
See of London by a very different man. No one ever doubted
that Mandell Creighton was clever ; but the homely phrase,
" Too clever by half," exactly describes his method of
handling the disputes about Ritualism which began at Easter,
1898. He tried to play off Protestant against Catholic,
Ritualist against Puritan. To men fanatically in earnest
about saving souls, he made bad jokes about curing herrings.
He gave a point here, and withdrew a point there ; chaffed
a Ritualist, and snubbed an Evangelical ; and all the while
had his eye most manifestly fixed on the Times, the House
of Lords, and the Man in the Street. The stupidest bishop
on the Bench could not have mismanaged the controversy
of 1898-1900 more completely than it was mismanaged by
the cleverest ; and, just as it was reaching its crisis,
Creighton died, worn out, as his friends said, by diocesan
troubles. Meanwhile the agitation, fomented by Episcopal
cowardice, spread to the provinces, and voices which had
been silent for ten years again made themselves heard.
Some echo of them reached the Bishop amid the snows of
Switzerland, and must have reminded him rather vividly
of the experiences of 1888-1890.
On August 27, he wrote as follows :
" Some men had been adopting all kinds of mediaeval and
modern Roman ways for which there is really no sort of
authority in the Church of England and in the Primitive
ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE 245
Church.* Now I hope we shall come back nearer to the
true English position of Holy Scripture and the Primitive
Church. We need not be surprised if the zeal of some
young men carried them too far in the matter of Confession
and Eucharistic Doctrine. I believe most of them will be
willing to come back to the Church of England standard,
and the young ones, who are coming up, can have the danger
made plain to them. One loves the zeal and self-devotion
of many of the men who have been led on too far ; but some,
I fear, were in danger of losing sight of the highest and most
spiritual things and becoming humanly Ecclesiastical."
Keturning from his holiday, he wrote to his travelling-
companions
" I must thank you for your most kind letter, and for
all your great and wonderful goodness to me and mine ;
what makes it so enjoyable, is that I do believe it is simply
the joy of living in the Church. ... If you had but better
Bishops, our People would soon be saints !
" I shall look forward to a run down to you for a couple
of nights, if I may, and then 5,000 feet, and a village some
where, if we can ! That dreadful Charge and Visitation
is the only difficulty."
The " dreadful Charge and Visitation " came off in
October and November, 1898. The Charge commemorates
Queen Victoria s second Jubilee, and the Lambeth Con
ference of 1897. It deals in the usual way with matters
* The Bishop was once staying with an Incumbent who, following
the Roman practice, omitted the Creed at a week-day Celebration. At
breakfast the Bishop said : " I find, as I grow older, that I grow much
more sleepy. I am afraid I must have been asleep in church this
morning ; for I never heard the Nicene Creed."
246 EDWARD KING
specially diocesan, and thus refers to the Eitualistic
commotions
" Since these important events, some unusual excite
ment has arisen with regard to alleged Roman teaching
and practice on the part of some of the clergy. As I shall
have occasion to speak on one or two definite points in con
nexion with the matter in another part of my Charge, I
will make only one or two general remarks now.
" First, for ourselves in the Diocese, I do not believe
there are any clergy consciously disloyal to the Church of
England. I repudiate utterly the charge, for myself and
for my brethren, that we desire to subject the Church of
England again to the usurped authority of the Bishop of
Rome, and to introduce any practices which are incon
sistent with the principles of the Church of England. That
there have been extravagances in other places, if reports
are true, I fully admit and sincerely deplore. Such excesses
will, I believe, be best removed and prevented by the quiet
inculcation of the exact truth, and a more tender regard to
the law of Charity."
The " definite points " with which the Bishop dealt in
the concluding portion of his Charge were : (1) The use of
additional services in Churches ; (2) The theology of the
Holy Eucharist ; (3) The practice of Private Confession. On
the Holy Eucharist, in particular, he affirmed the doctrines
of the Objective Presence, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and
Eucharistic Adoration, with the utmost clearness and pre
cision, founding himself on the arguments and judgment
in the Bennett Case of 1870.
While the Charge sets forth the Doctrine of the Keys,
NO POPERY 247
the following letter, written in 1898 to a layman of the
Diocese, shows that doctrine in practical application under
the Bishop s rule
" I have no doubt that the students at Burgh
Missionary College are taught that they may make their
Confession if they wish it ; but I have thorough confidence
in the Principal s loyalty, and I am sure the matter is left
on Prayer Book lines perfectly free.
" With regard to the Home at Boston. . . . One cannot
but feel thankful that the poor penitents should have all
the help they can, provided, of course, that it is perfectly
loyal to the Church of England, and on this point I believe
you may be perfectly assured."
But the gentleman to whom the foregoing letter was
addressed was still apprehensive ; so on January 8, 1899, the
Bishop wrote in a more reassuring strain
" Pardon my sad delay in answering your letter ; the
pleasures and duties of Xmas have occupied me.
"I am not altogether surprised at the object of your
letter; indeed, I have sometimes thought of leaving the
English Church Union, as I do not agree with all they say,
and do, and many of them do not agree with me, but, on
the whole, I have thought it best to remain. To leave after
many years is quite different from joining for the first
time, and I feel it might be a distress and unsettlement to
many earnest humble souls (for there are many members
from the middle and lower classes) who enjoy the support
of the earnest heartiness of the English Church Union in
perfect good faith and loyalty to the Church of England,
248 EDWARD KING
" I am sorry, of course, not to do what would please
you, but, in the end, I don t think you will have any grounds
for distrusting me."
But soon a curious transformation was observed in the
high places of the Church. Archbishop Temple, who in
the vigour of his powers had let the Kitualists severely
alone, now, in his old age, was suddenly seized by a desire
to sit in judgment on them. On February 8, 1899, he
announced that, acting on the direction given in the Preface
to the Prayer Book, he would be prepared to hear cases
where doubts had arisen about the proper mode of con
ducting Divine Service, and would judge such cases with
an open mind. " Will you walk into my parlour ? " It
was understood that this obliging invitation was addressed,
in particular, to the Rev. Henry Westall, Vicar of St.
Cuthbert s, South Kensington, and the Rev. Edward Ram,
Vicar of St. John s, Norwich. It is certain that the
Archbishop was very anxious that Mr. Westall and Mr.
Ram should so walk, for he addressed a letter of almost
fanatical remonstrance to a layman whom he believed to
be counselling them to remain outside ; but, indeed they
had little choice. Mr. Ram declined the invitation,
and was sent to the Archbishop by the Bishop of
Norwich. Mr. Westall was over-persuaded by the Bishop
of London, and endeavoured, too late, to withdraw his
consent. The points at issue in the case of these two gentle
men were Incense and Portable Lights. The extemporized
tribunal before which these offences were to be tried was
even less like a Court than that which ten years before had
tried the Bishop of Lincoln ; for the Archbishop of Canter
bury summoned to his aid the Archbishop of York, who
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY 249
had no more right to sit in judgment at Lambeth than at
Rome or at Antioch.
The two Primates began their hearing on the 10th of May,
1899, and on July 31 gave their decision. The Archbishop of
Canterbury wrote it, and the Archbishop of York concurred.
It condemned alike the incense and the portable lights. As
it was unfolded, the hearers learned, with varying emotions,
that the Archbishop had overridden all considerations of
Catholic usage, ecclesiastical propriety, and the practice
of the English Church before and after the Reformation, and
had based his decision on an obsolete Act of Parliament*
to which, at the time of passing, the Church was not a
party. In plain English, Mr. Westall and Mr. Ram had
been trapped. They had received the promise of an
independent hearing, and they had been fobbed off with
the Act of Uniformity, which they could have read for
themselves at home. They had expected spiritual judg
ment : they got carnal, and even musty, law.
The Archbishops seemed to expect that their " Opinion,"
as Temple subsequently called it, would be universally
obeyed, and the Bishop of Lincoln, to the distress of many
of his old friends, recommended his clergy to submit. One,
who knew him intimately, says : " He thought that he had
done his bit in vindicating Catholic ceremonial, and he rested
on that, and was not disposed to do other than rather
repress later movements." But even his present counsels
of submission did not satisfy his apprehensive correspondent,
who again implored him to retire from the English Church
Union. The Bishop replied on September 18, 1899
" Let me thank you for the quiet and considerate tone
of your letter, even though I may feel bound, for the present,
at least, to differ from the conclusion.
250 EDWARD KING
" The reasons which you are so good as to quote at
length from my last letter still oblige me to remain in the
E. C. U. Although, as you know, I do not agree with all
that is said and done by the President, or members.
" I regret very much that Lord Halifax * did not
counsel loyal and hearty obedience to the Archbishop s
decision. You will have seen in the Papers that I have
done this myself to all our Clergy whom it may concern. . . .
" I am doing what I can to obtain obedience to the
Archbishops.
" You will have seen in the Papers that the members of
the E. C. U. are by no means unanimous with regard to the
President s Letter, and that suggestions are being made on
the side of hearty obedience.
" I feel bound to wait and see what can be done in this
direction.
" I need not say how much I regret feeling obliged to
differ from you in this matter, and that anything should
have arisen to separate us, even for a time, from the full
enjoyment of that Christian Peace and communion which
I know we both desire."
The Bishop s confidence in the loyalty of his clergy was
justified, for [on March 6, 1903] he was able to write as
follows to Archbishop Temple s successor
" MY DEAR ARCHBISHOP,
" In my own diocese I am thankful to say there is
only one priest who does not obey my request with regard
to Ritual, and as he has no parish but only a kind of Pro
prietary Chapel, with a Congregation of not more than forty,
* President of the E. C. U.
A PORTRAIT 251
I have thought it best to leave him ; only those attend who
like it.
" In my own diocese, therefore, I have every reason to
be thankful for the Peace which we enjoy and for the
readiness of my Brethren to obey their Bishop. I need
not say that I regret the excesses to which in some instances
the Clergy have gone, and that I have no sympathy with
what is really Romanizing. If, however, the control of
the Clergy is taken out of the Bishop s hands, and severe
measures of restriction are adopted on the one side while
lax and negligent Clergy are left to do as they please, I fear
a sense of injustice will be deeply felt, which may lead to
untold confusion. As matters are going on, I believe in a
few years the strength and weakness of Ritual will be
better understood and people better able to form a true
judgment on the matter.
" With sincere sympathy in the heavy burden of your
work, and every good wish,
" Believe me,
" Yours very sincerely,
"E. LINCOLN."
The year 1900 began happily, so far as the relations
between the Bishop and the Diocese were concerned. For
some two years a movement had been on foot to
secure a portrait of the Bishop, as an heirloom for the
Diocese to be retained in the Old Palace. The movement
was started by the High Sheriff, Mr. Cheney Garfit. The
work was entrusted to Mr. W. Ouless, R.A., and the pic
ture was presented to the Bishop in the County Assembly
Room at Lincoln on January 8, 1900. Mr. Garfit presided
252 EDWARD KING
over the gathering, and the presentation was made by the
Lord Lieutenant, Lord Brownlow.
The Bishop spoke as follows
" I cannot begin in the old way of saying I am un
accustomed to public speaking, but you will understand
that very few people have any kind of habit of receiving
such a gift as this. It comes only once in many people s
lives, and generally towards the end. Therefore, I must
ask you to grant me your indulgence as thanking you now
in this connexion for the first time. I cannot thank you
as I would, Lord Brownlow, for your far too kind words, or
you, Mr. Garfit, for what you have said of me. It is very
difficult to speak under such circumstances. This difficulty
occurs because very often when we stand up to speak we
do not know very much about the subject we are supposed
to speak about. My difficulty is that I know a good deal
too much about him to say anything strongly favourable.
(Laughter.)
" I must say, if I may, something in defence of the
painter. Some people have said, { You have not got quite
that expression we know so well. You ve made him look
a little severe. May I say you are both perfectly true ?
You are true in your kindness, but the artist is most terribly
true. One word by way of explanation. Some may ask
what the book is I have in my hand in the portrait. I will
tell you its history. One morning it was very foggy, and
the good artist said, I really can t get on with your face
to-day, I had better work at the body and hands. I said,
I will sit as you like. And Mr. Ouless put a book into
my hands. When he had done, I was a little curious to
know what I was going down to posterity with, and I found
it was a nice little volume of Erasmus, the scholarly
A PALLIATION OF WAR 253
Reformer in the early days of the Reformation. (Laughter.)
But we may pass from him. It is impossible to open one s
lips on a day like this without letting what is in one s head
and heart have expression. I mean this war which is upon
us. What shall I say about it ? Let me repeat these
lines which have been in my mind so much of late
Father and Lover of our souls,
Though darkly round Thine anger rolls,
Thy sunshine smiles beneath the gloom,
Thou seek st to warn us, not confound.
" I hope and believe that that is the message. It is not
confusion, but warning. It may be that God wants the
war to knock off from England some of those habits which
very naturally accrue, with all the energy which England
shows, and which has brought England to the front in the
world. It may be that we want a little quietening down
in that way, so that we can put aside anything overbearing,
if there is any, which comes from our greatness. There is
good to come out of this, I believe, in the future. It may
be even that we shall be brought to a condition of want of
real help. Then it may be the way He has of joining our
Colonies together, not in the manner of patronage from the
Mother Country, but of holding out a hand to receive a
hand, and to be thankful for real, substantial help, just as
when people grow up they should hold out a hand to help
their homes. This war will make a great united Empire.
God, in His ways, may be working for this. Further, I hope
and trust it will prepare the way to spread the blessings of
the Gospel in South Africa. There is sunshine through the
gloom if we only look for it. We must take the warning,
and keep steady and true, and put away any thoughts of
confusion. Already one can see how much kindness and
254 EDWARD KING
good feeling is being brought out. What a wonderfully
ready supply of money there has been to relieve the sick,
and how many people have been offering to take their
share in bearing the burden of their country s trouble !
" My work has not been easy during the fifteen years
you have borne with me here. But the troubles we have
had are passing away, and this part of the Church as well as
the rest will come out stronger, purer, and more united than
ever. It is that which is in my heart. It is that which
has enabled me to continue here in this work. I thank
you more than I can say in words for your continued
support, kindness, and confidence in very difficult times.
I assure you I would not have remained among you in the
high position God has put me, unless I felt unshaken in my
belief in the Church of England as being a real true portion
of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which I
believe Christ founded here on this earth to be the means of
bringing humanity back again to God, and in God to be at
peace with itself. It is because I believe that that goodness
and happiness, which every good man desires to have, are
for us Englishmen to be found in its greatest perfection in
the Church of England, because I believe the truth as we
have it in the Church of England is the secret of England s
highest happiness and of England s power it is for these
reasons I have continued among you, and, if it please God,
I shall be thankful and glad as long as I have any power
left in me to continue my work in this way for the good of
the Diocese and County of Lincoln."
But now liturgical trouble was again at hand.
Delighted by the success of his onslaught on Incense,
the Archbishop of Canterbury now attacked the much
RESERVATION 255
more serious subject of Reservation of the Blessed Sacra
ment. This time he dismissed the Archbishop of York, and
dealt with the case for Reservation single-handed. On
May 1, 1900, he condemned Reservation in any shape and
for whatever purpose.
It is easy enough to play at being Pope, as children play
at being kings and clergymen, but it is not so easy to get
one s mock-Bulls accepted by the Church. Some weak-
kneed people had surrendered on the lights and the incense,
and others had rendered various degrees of compliance ; but
Reservation was a more vital matter. The Archbishop
found this second act of autocracy received with an
amount and a quality of opposition on which he had
never counted. As far as the present writer could ascertain,
and he was to some extent behind the scenes not a
single priest who had been accustomed to reserve the
Blessed Sacrament for the sick and dying abandoned his
practice, though several, in obedience to their bishops,
made new regulations for guarding the Sacrament so
reserved.
Here again the Bishop of Lincoln urged obedience to
the Archbishop s ruling ; but that he reserved to himself
a certain discretion in the matter is proved by the following
letter, written to a clergyman of his diocese
" I am so concerned for you all. I fear it is a very great
strain. I feel sure that I may leave you a free hand in com
municating dear , as he is the Priest of the Parish, and
the extreme pain makes the case so exceptional. Perhaps
you may be able to communicate him at once, going
straight from the Church ; if not, you must wait until he
256 EDWARD KING
is ready, leaving the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar. It
would be well to have some discreet person in the Church
to watch, that no harm is done also I would not leave It
through the night, but consume It yourself at the end of the
day and consecrate again the next morning. This will
preserve the Intention of Keserving for the Sick only."
It is pleasant to turn from matters controversial, and
to contemplate the Bishop again in his capacity of pastor
this time Pastor Agnorum. Here are two perfect letters to
a child of five. The first is dated March 26, 1901
" I am so very sorry that you have not had the Peacock s
feathers. It was not all my fault, as I told my butler
directly I got home to be sure and send them by the carrier,
but he forgot, and I am afraid I never asked whether he
had sent them, as I might have done. However, I have
told him to send them off by post to-day, so I hope you
and Baby will have them ready for your hats on Easter
Sunday.
" I hope your daffodils will make haste and come out
too for Easter. The Spring-time is like the Resurrection ;
all the Winter things look dead, then in Spring they all rise
up to Life again. You should look at the buds on the trees,
and see how wonderfully they are all packed up, so snug
and safe till the winter is over ; and then they just peep out,
and then, when the cold is gone, out they come beautiful
and wonderful ! It shows us how great and how gentle God
is. When you grow up to be a strong man, you must
remember always to be gentle.
" Come over some day in the summer, and see my
Peacocks and Pigeons. Ask Father to bring you. I should
PASTOR AGNORUM 257
like so much to see you again and Baby. Give Baby a kiss
from me, and ask Mother to give you one from me too.
" I am your affectionate old Bishop."
" April 1, 1901.
" Thank you very much for your nice letter and for the
photographs of yourself and Baby.
" I am glad you have got the Feathers. I shall think of
you and Baby wearing them in your hats on Easter Day.
I hope it will be a fine day.
"I am glad your Daffodils are out, but I am afraid there
will not be many flowers.
" God Bless you, dear Boy. Be a childlike child, not
childish.
" A Childish Child is troublesome, and silly and selfish.
" A Childlike Child is obedient and bright and loving.
"Give my love to your Father and Mother, and ask
Mother to give you another kiss from me and give one from
me to Baby.
* You must come and see me in the Summer.
" Ever your affectionate old Bishop."
The Bishop s love of children co-operated with his
profound belief in dogmatic teaching to make him a
strenuous defender of Keligious Education, as Churchmen
understand that phrase. His political friends were in
office from 1895 to 1905, but their dealings with public
education in the Acts of 1897 and 1902, by no means
satisfied him. On January 13, 1903, he wrote to a friend
in the Colonies
" In Church matters you will know from the Papers
almost as much as 1 can tell you. The Education Bill has
s
258 EDWARD KING
been the great excitement. The Kenyon-Slaney Clause
is, I think, wrong in principle, as it provides for the possible
exclusion of the Clergyman from the Parish School. Prac
tically in 98 out of 100 parishes there will be no change
the clause is really a Clergy-Discipline Clause thrust into
an Education Bill the Extremists have brought this
upon us. We must make the best of it and try to bring
the extreme men into line with the more sober-minded.
You must come and help us. We have lost a great chief
in our late good Archbishop.* I trust, and hope, that the
new man f has been prepared for the work of his day.
His appointment is very popular with many, and that is
a good thing, as I fear we Bishops and Clergy have some
what lost popularity through the Extreme Kitualists. In
our own diocese, thank God, we are working peacefully
on. I sometimes feel that what they want is a younger
Bishop ; but that will come when God sees fit.
" Now, goodbye, dearest Child. Forgive all the past,
and come and help me in my old age to increase the Spiritual
Power of the Church, and raise up a Christ-like people."
After the Act of 1902 had passed, a great many people
desired to get rid of the Double System of Schools by some
plan of Unification. A scheme was submitted to the
Bishops, which proposed to bargain for a certain time of
definite Church Teaching in both " Council Schools " and
" Voluntary Schools," in exchange for the transfer of the
Voluntary Schools to the Local Authorities. There was to
be a United " Syllabus " of religious teaching, and the
* Frederick Temple,
f B. T. Davidson.
EDUCATION 259
instruction in it was to be given by a " qualified teacher,
or some other person representing the denomination to
which the parent belongs." No mention was made of the
Church Catechism. This scheme did not commend itself
to the Bishop of Lincoln. On December 30, 1903, he
wrote as follows to a friend who favoured it
" 1. I cannot regard it as e Equitable that we should
give up teaching what would be contained in the further
instructed in the Church Catechism. This is part of what
the Church requires the Children to be instructed in, when
they are Baptized. This is a very serious difficulty to me.
Surely the repeal of the Cowper-Temple Clause is the
equitable thing.
" 2. The desire for unification of administration I
sympathize with ; but, if it is to be done from the County
Council point of view, I see great dangers. The country
gentlemen generally do not see enough difference between
a Council and a Voluntary school. This, I fear, may
have a dangerous influence on the Church -members of the
Council, and on any plan for a joint syllabus, and on the
meaning of the qualified teacher.
" 3. If we are to treat with the County Councils, let us
keep on as sound Church lines as possible. I believe we
should win their respect much more, and not offend (which
is a very real danger) the feelings of Churchmen generally.
There is a large body of Church-people who have nothing
to do with Schools directly, who are watching the action
of the Church with regard to the Schools most anxiously,
and it is of the utmost importance that we should not
weaken their Confidence. I do not like taking a different
view from those who have done so much hard work for our
260 EDWARD KING
Diocesan Education, but I feel very deeply on the matter,
and it is only a sense of duty that makes me speak."
Again and again the Bishop returned to the charge.
The abortive Bill introduced by Mr. Birrell in the Session
of 1906 roused him to a wholesome indignation. In a
Circular Letter to his clergy he said :
" I have been deeply pained at the ungenerous tone
of the Education Bill towards the Church of England.
This is no mere personal feeling ; it has reference to Him
Whose body the Church is. ... The Bill singles out, and
gives State support to, the very form of religious teaching
Undenominationalism which our schools were built to
save us from. This can never be satisfactory to Church
of England parents. While we are thankful for any real
instruction in the Bible as far as it goes (for all Church
Teaching is * Bible Truth ), yet we are conscious that the
commonly-used phrases, Fundamental Christianity/
Simple Bible teaching/ etc., cover but a limited knowledge
of the Bible, which cannot be considered adequate, and is
fraught with dangers of a down-grade tendency."
What the Bishop thus urged with his pen he expressed
also with the living voice. He convened a meeting of
citizens in the Central Hall of Lincoln on Tuesday evening,
May 8, 1906. There was an immense attendance, and
the proceedings were opened with an office of devotion.
Then the Bishop spoke as follows
" Fellow-citizens and brother-Churchmen of Lincoln,
let me first thank you for coming in such numbers here
to-night in answer to my invitation. I know it must
have cost you something ; you have done a hard day s
THE PLATFORM 261
work to-day, and will begin early again to-morrow morn
ing. I thank you for coming, and I am proud of the public
spirit you have shown, worthy of our ancient and beautiful
city, and of men who feel themselves members of the
Brotherhood of Christ. (Applause.) This is the first
meeting of this kind which I have ventured to call or pre
side at during the twenty-one years I have been amongst
you. (Applause.) Let me say at once I have not called
you here together that we may have the opportunity of
saying hard things against the present Government.
(Hear, hear.) I hope we shall all understand that this
gathering is not for the furtherance of party politics.
(Loud applause.) And if I have not called you together
to say hard things against the present Government, still
less have I called you to say anything hard against our
fellow-citizens who differ from us in many points of religion.
(Applause.) For twenty-one years I have lived amongst
you in unbroken harmony, and I do not think that in all
that time, though I preached and spoke under various
circumstances, the Lincoln reporters can find in their
note-books one sentence nay, I hope not one single word
of unkindness against our Nonconformist brethren.
(Prolonged applause.) My aim and my wish has been the
consideration, as far as God might help me to do it, to
promote our Church, so that our Nonconformist friends
might see that the principal reason that led many of them
years ago to separate from us is gradually being removed.
(Applause.) The nearer we can come to God, the nearer
we can come together. Let me say, in a few simple words,
why I have called you together. I thought it my duty,
as your Bishop, to call you together in order that we might
consider, and that I might warn you against what appears
262 EDWARD KING
to me to be a vital danger to our families, and, through them,
to our Church and our nation. (Applause.) I thought it
my duty to warn you and to ask you, if you please, at the
close of the meeting join together to-night in protesting
against this danger, so that if it please God it may yet be
averted, for the Education Bill, as it stands, would, I
believe, endanger the religious education of our children,
and would leave you no security that the children would
be brought up in the faith of their fathers in the Church
of England. The Resolution which will be proposed runs
in this way :
" That this meeting protests against any measure
regarding Education which removes the security that
" (a) The religious teaching should be in accordance
with the desires of the parents of the children attending
the schools. (Applause.)
" (b) The religious teaching should be given by com
petent teachers who believe what they teach. (Applause.)
" (c) The religious teaching should be given in the
recognized school-hours. (Applause.)
" (d) The trust-deeds of our schools should be respected
as regards religious as well as secular teaching.
" Let me say a few words on each of these heads. First,
as to the right of parents to have their children taught
according to their own belief as far as it is possible. Surely
that claim rests in what I might call a natural instinct.
We have only to call to mind what exists, I believe, in
many a home here in Lincoln, and we shall see that there
exists in many a Church home a golden bond of family
love, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. For what is it in a
home where the child learns his first prayer at his mother s
knee ? You would wish that child to learn what the
THE CHURCH S MIND 263
mother teaches, what she learnt very likely when herself
a child. And then there is the Bible. I remember very
well my mother showing me the Bible, and how the pictures
in it helped one to understand it ! You remember it very
well. Who is that Babe lying there in the manger ? You
know. Who is that in the workman s garb there in the
carpenter s shop ? The Saviour of mankind. And who is
that upon the Cross ? The Lamb of God That taketh
away the sins of the world. How simple, and how real !
And then, when the children grow up a little, what is more
beautiful than to see father and mothei and children on
their way to Church ? And time goes on, and they are
thinking of having the boy confirmed. And then, climax
of unity, when they all go together to seek the Bread of Life
at the Holy Table. Then the bells of the Church ring
out for the marriage, and at last they are buried by the
Church, with the Church s rite. Dear friends, it only wants
simply looking at, as we have looked at it again and again.
You cannot tear it to pieces, and say That bit belongs to
this, and that to that. It all belongs to one. (Applause.)
And I am anxious that we should keep it one, according
to the wishes of the parents. (Applause.) That seems
to me a natural instinct. And if I take another ground,
it is that of the members of the Church of England. The
Church of England is very liberal, very gentle, and very
much disinclined to say, You shall not do this, or to strap
us down with rules. But she has got a mind. (Loud
applause.) When you say your child is to be a Christian,
you have not done with it. You have to bring it to the
Bishop to be confirmed as soon as it can say the Lord s
Prayer, to be further instructed. (Loud applause.) Let
us alone, and leave us as we are in our Prayer-Book, and
264 EDWARD KING
in our life. (Applause.) And then I must say a word
upon the question of Teachers. * The religious teaching
should be given by competent Teachers who believe in what
they teach. Is there any branch of teaching that goes
/on that does not require some test of competency ? What
could be more dangerous than for the Teachers to be teaching
religious education which they did not themselves in the
least believe ? Surely we are to try to get that altered,
and have it that they should believe what they teach.
(Applause.) And if we take away the teaching of religion
to children, I believe that there are hundreds of Teachers
in England who would say that we had robbed them of
what they prized most in their profession. (Hear, hear.)
I believe the Teacher would say that what he liked most
was religious teaching. Do not let that master or mistress
be robbed of that high privilege of their teaching. And a
word for the children. You take away the strongest in
fluence over the child if you take away the religious instruc
tion by the Teacher. For the sake of the Teachers, and for
the sake of the children, I hope you will pass that Kesolu-
tion. And the next is that the religious teaching should
be given in school-hours. I say that unless you bring
the religious education within the recognized school-
hours you put a great temptation upon the parents
of the children. If a poor mother got the chance of
earning a threepenny bit by her little one running an
errand instead of attending the religious instruction,
surely she might say, Oh, I ll keep her to-day to
earn that threepenny bit, and I do not complain of
her. But you ought to save her from the temptation.
(Hear, hear.) The result, if that was not included in
school-hours, would be that a much smaller number
TRUSTS 265
| of children would be receiving any religious instruction
I whatever. Now I come to the last part. The trust-
deeds of our schools should be respected as regards re
ligious as well as secular training. That means that, as the
school has been provided to carry out good secular teach
ing, it should do so, and, as it was provided to teach good
Church of England teaching, it should do so. (Applause.)
Both sides should be kept up secular efficiency and
thoroughness of religious teaching. This is a very difficult
thing to speak on. I will say it as I can. (Applause.) Judge
for yourselves. It is a very difficult question about the
changing of trusts, and I would say, first of all, basing
myself on simple reasoning, that it is a very dangerous
thing to tamper with any trust-property whatever. (Ap
plause.) If trusts are to be changed, they ought to be
changed, it seems to me, on the principles of reason and
conscience. These two elements ought to come in as
factors. I do not say that trusts never ought to be changed.
There may be instances where trusts may have been left
years ago, and under changed circumstances it may be
endless waste to keep on in the old way. But I would
say, give full time for consideration, and when you make
the change, try and make it so that it shall as nearly as
possible fulfil the intention of the original trust. Very
often, if a person tries to back up his argument by
simile or example, he fails; but it came into my mind
that supposing a person left 3000 or 4000 for endowing
a system of horse- buses in Lincoln, I must confess
that if people went down the High Street and saw our
easily gliding tram-cars, some citizens might say, I think
it is a waste to spend that money and run these buses
along parallel with the tram-cars. Would it not be better
266 EDWARD KING
to put the interest of this money to the tram-cars, to help
to carry out what the good citizen wanted to do when he
wanted to help people who were walking up and down
High Street ? But these trusts are modern ; they are
quite recent, and have not had full time for consideration
given them. The people who gave them, gave them, as it
were, with the thorough approval and encouragement
(applause) of the different Governments that have
succeeded in our land (loud applause) who had accepted,
applauded, and helped them; but there never was a
shadow of understanding that when they reached a
certain amount of property we were to lose them
altogether. Anything about giving money for purchasing
or leasing does not touch the point at all. They gave it
because they thought they could not leave better marks
behind them than these schools, with the Teachers in them,
to carry on the faith of the Church of England. (Prolonged
applause.) I hope you will give a hearty vote in support of
these Resolutions, because I do feel that the Education Bill
as it stands would endanger the religious teaching of our
children,that it would leave you no security that the children
would be brought up in the faith of the Church of England,
and therefore, through our children, I venture to repeat, it
would be a vital danger both to the Church and to the
nation." (Loud and prolonged applause.)
There was a favourite saying of Ptolemy the Astronomer,
which Bacon thus quotes in Latin and Matthew Arnold
in English Quum fini appropinquas, bonum cum augmento
operare, " As you draw near to your latter end, redouble
your efforts to do good." Love for God and man wrought
in Bishop King a grand fulfilment of the precept. His
PESTILENCE 267
sympathies seemed to widen as years advanced, and his
activities to expand. The temporal and the spiritual
interests of the Diocese alike claimed his care, but from
public work he would turn at a moment s notice to minister,
either orally or by letter, to the needs of an individual
soul.
After an epidemic of influenza, he writes thus on
behalf of the Hospital at Lincoln
" During the past year God has been pleased to manifest,
in more than an usual degree, the awfulness of His Power
over our bodily health. We have been made to feel that
the scourge of Pestilence still lies close to the Hand of the
Almighty. At His pleasure He is able to take it up and
punish the nations as of old.
? The whole of Europe, with no respect of persons, has
been visited by a strange epidemic of mysterious power.
The Sovereign and the Peasant have alike suffered. And
yet, in His Mercy, God has allowed us to behold this mani
festation of His Power, rather as lightning beheld from
afar than in the peril of the storm. Had He been pleased
to take the scourge of Cholera instead, our homes might
have been desolate indeed ! We ought to make some
special acts of thanksgiving this year in acknowledgment
of this merciful manifestation of His Power.
" The support of our County Hospital is a fitting oppor
tunity.
" I ask you, then, to reflect on the manifestation of the
Divine Power (which we have seen), and to show forth your
gratitude and love to Him by renewed acts of love and
mercy to His Poor.
" Many poor sufferers must remain unrelieved without
268 EDWARD KING
your liberal help. I ask it, then, on their behalf and in
His Name."
The spiritual needs of Grimsby suggest a similar
demand thus indicated in a letter to a friend
" How like your dear impulsive self to spring up at once
and offer to help us ! We shall be most grateful. 70,000
is a large undertaking, but I hope, in time, it will be obtained.
The need is real, as you know, and I think the plan proposed
is good. We had a very good meeting at Grimsby. . . .
" We must work hard. I am very anxious for the
Million Shilling Fund to succeed, as it gives everybody a
chance of doing something, and that is what English
Church-people need to learn."
At various stages of the narrative, it will have been seen
that the Bishop set a high value on the work of Guilds, as
tending to strengthen the social side of the Christian life. " It
is," he said, "a great pleasure, and a proof of the reality of
things, that those who are striving on the same road, in spite
of separation and different occupations, yet find that they
draw increasingly nearer to each other. This is just as it
should be, and so we get Guilds and Unions. Perhaps it will
be a feature of these coming years, that the separate efforts
of the spiritual life will be seen to have a common unity,
and to be one Life really, one Body." In fulfilment of this
idea, the Bishop warmly encouraged a small Guild of
Kailway-men in Lincoln, and made a point of visiting them
every year about Michaelmas Day, when he returned from
his summer holiday, and speaking to them on their cor
porate life and duty. He recommended, as a prayer specially
RAILWAY-MEN 269
adapted to their needs, the Collect for St. Michael and
All Angels. He used to say that he spent so much of his
life in trains, where he found some of his quietest and most
restful hours, that he could never sufficiently express his
gratitude for all the kindnesses he had received at the hands
of railway-people. As soon as he came into the station
his quick eye picked out his friends, and he had always
some word of greeting, some word of enquiry about their
health, or their work, or their families. He had an extra
ordinary memory for faces. " I ve not seen you for a long
time. Where have you been ? " was many a time his
greeting at some out-of-the-way junction to a porter who
helped him when changing trains. He found out from
Guards and Inspectors cases of sickness or trouble on the
various systems by which he travelled, and was continually
making enquiries or sending help of a most practical kind,
i And the men knew he was their Bishop, and not simply a
Ikindly and considerate gentleman travelling about the
ICounty. " I saw the Bishop to-day in the station at ,
nd he had a long talk with me, and told me to come to you
and get prepared for Confirmation," was the unexpected
announcement with which a man came into a clergyman s
room one morning. The Bishop never was busy when a
railway-man wanted to see him. " He thought that rail
way-men as a body had created an object-lesson, and one
truly wonderful and worthy of our admiration and gratitude.
The railway system had not been in existence for a hundred
years, but what a fine body of men it had created men who
all over the country stood for courage, intelligence, sobriety,
and courtesy. They were an object-lesson of which England
might well be proud. They were doing a noble work for
the country in the midst of manifold dangers, and the
270 EDWARD KING
Church ought to do all it could to lift their thought to
high and heavenly things."
Keference has already been made to the Bishop s love
of soldiers.* A Dignitary of the Diocese writes
" As Chaplain of the Volunteers for a good many years
I saw something of his relations with them. It was a great
joy to him to hear good reports of the Lincolnshire Regi
ment. I remember once hearing from a Chaplain, who had
been with the 10th three times in about a dozen years, that
the number of really religious men in the regiment spoke
well for the work of the Church in the villages of the Diocese
as the men came almost entirely from Lincolnshire. It is
easy to imagine the Bishop s happiness when this letter
was shown to him. * Tell them, he said to me, that I
pray for them every day, and that I have at times a special
celebration of Holy Communion in the Palace Chapel to
ask God s blessing upon the Regiment. Give them my love
and ask them sometimes to remember to pray for me.
The message was delivered on Parade, I think at Cairo,
and an answer of affection came back, much to the Bishop s
delight and joy. During the war in South Africa, the
soldiers were continually in his thoughts. He saw many
of the officers and men before they went out, and sent them
off with his blessing. And he was present, along with the
Mayor and Corporation, to welcome and thank the Volun
teers when they came home, and to arrange a special
service of Thanksgiving in the Cathedral. A word that
dropped out naturally and almost unintentionally at a
public meeting where he was speaking soon after peace
* See p. 112.
)URFOLD FAILURE 271
had been proclaimed showed how constant had been his
thought for them. What a change it makes in so many
ways ! We shall even have to find other people to pray
for when we are awake in the night.
Undeterred by the defeat which the House of Lords
inflicted on Mr. Birrell s Bill, the Liberal Government
made three more attempts to achieve the impossible task
of establishing and endowing Undenominationalism as the
official religion of the country. On each occasion the
Bishop was equally alert and vigorous in opposition ;
and when, at the fourth attempt, some of his episcopal
brethren were for compromise and equivocation, he stood
for the dogmatic teaching of the Christian faith with a
tenacity astonishing to those who had witnessed his gentle
ness, and had drawn false inferences from his invariably
reasonable treatment of controversial issues. At Septua-
gesima, 1909, he said in a Pastoral Letter to the
Diocese
" During the last three years no less than four Educa
tion Bills have failed. This is a remarkable phenomenon,
which may well lead us to serious reflection. Why is it
that these efforts have failed ? I believe it is because they
contained elements which were not right ; so they have
been stopped. If the Government desire our co-operation,
they must propose some educational plan which we can
accept with a good conscience."
While the Bishop was thus resolute against the assaults
of Undenominationalism, he was not blind to dangers from
the opposite quarter. In the year 1906, a small company
272 EDWARD KING
of devout persons put forth a new hymn-book for use in the
Church of England. It proudly styled itself " THE ENGLISH
HYMNAL "; contained translations from Welsh, Irish, Greek,
Latin, German, Italian, Danish, Syriac, and Swahili, and was
enriched from the Liturgy of Malabar, the Liturgy of St.
James, thePentecostarion, the Horologion ; f rom the writings
of Silvio Antoniano, Jonathan Bahnmaier, Bernhardt
Ingemann, the Emperor Justinian, Metrophanes of Smyrna,
Philipp Nicolai, St. Balbulus Notker, Rabanus Maurus,
Jean-Baptiste de Santeu.il, Ccelius Sedulius, Bianco da
Siena, Theoctistus of the Studium ; and from " a Sequence
ascribed to Wipo."
This remarkably eclectic compilation had some merits,
but more eccentricities, and it was distinguished by its
frankness in the Invocation of the Saints. But this
feature did not commend it to the favour of the Bishop,
who, on November 23, 1906, issued this letter to the
Rural Deans of his Diocese
" You will have seen, no doubt, some controversial
letters in the newspapers regarding a new Hymn Book,
called The English Hymnal.
"It is difficult to determine the exact liberty which
might be allowed to Poetry, and words of Holy Aspiration,
beyond what would be allowed in Prose, and definite
instruction ; but I cannot but regret the admission into
this Book of Hymns containing words of Invocation, or
direct requests to the Saints for their Prayers.
" This appears to me to be a very serious and dangerous
departure, knowing, as we do, the vast system of Devotions
with which it may be connected.
" I cannot express my own mind better than by
INVOCATION 273
quoting the words of Dr. Pusey in his book, * The Truth
and Office of the English Church/ p. 114, where he says,
And, generally, for Members of the English Church who
desire the Prayers of the departed, it has to him ever
seemed safest to pray for them to Him of Whom and
through Whom are all things, our God and our all.
" I feel it therefore to be my duty to ask you to express
to the Clergy in your Kural Deanery my desire that this
Hymnal should not be introduced into our Diocese." *
To the individual life he took equal heed and the
relations between him and his spiritual children are happily
illustrated by this letter to an undergraduate after the
Long Vacation
"I have just seen your uncle, who tells me you are
safe home again, and have had a delightful holiday.
" Thank you very much for thinking of me and sending
me such a very interesting postcard. It is a wonderful
combination of ideas the graves of the early Christians
and a modern postcard ! I have never seen one like it
before. I think you managed very well to see so much.
I am glad you saw Lucerne coming home. Is it not
lovely ?
" I hope you feel all the better in mind and body.
" God bless and guide you."
Mention has already been made of the Bishop s lively
interest in the Missionary College at Burgh, of which he
was Visitor. Once every summer he used to entertain
the Staff and students of the College, " franking the railway
* An "Abridged" Edition was published, but this did not come
under the Bishop s notice.
T
274 EDWARD KING
journey for the entire party." On those occasions, says
the Principal, " he gave the whole day up to his visitors,
spending it surrounded by them, if fine, in the garden, and,
if wet, in the Palace and the ruins. The visit, which always
began with a little service in the Chapel, went on to Even
song in the Cathedral. Then came tea, which always
closed with a little speech, when he would let himself
go, in the expression of his sympathy and hopes for us,
till we were all filled with new confidence in ourselves and
higher ideals." The following letters refer to the students
and their work
" It was a great privilege and pleasure to have you all.
They all seemed to be just right quiet, and simple, and
natural, and happy, and all one could wish."
" I think the real idea of missionary work has grown
wonderfully in my own recollection. One feels more and
more the need of Prayer to prepare the Eastern mind
for the Truth. Our ways of looking at Truth and our
method of arguing seem so different."
" It is a great comfort to think of their going out to
prepare the ground to welcome England as she sends out
her over-crowded children to begin, please God, a new and
stronger life in new and unhampered conditions. Please
God, they will persevere and hand on all that is best in
England, and the Church of England, which God has given
to us in the past. The Doctrine, and Life, and tone, of
Burgh seem to me to be just what is wanted to preserve,
and hand on, what is best in England."
THE LAST CHARGE 275
The Bishop s last Charge to his Diocese was delivered
in October, 1907. "I wanted," he said, "to leave a
definite Tractarian statement." The special, as distinct
from the ordinary, topics with which it dealt were the
Koyal Commission on Eitual, the Doctrine of the Holy
Eucharist, and the recent Act legalizing marriage with
a deceased wife s sister. On the first point, the Bishop
reported that the diocese was free from Eitualistic
excesses; on the second, he reaffirmed the statements
which he had made in 1898 ; and, on the third, he
bade his clergy refuse to celebrate such marriages, or to
allow the use of their Churches for them.
The year 1908 was signalized by the great "Pan-
Anglican Congress," and by the fifth Conference of Anglican
Bishops. During the Conference Bishop King wrote from
Lambeth to a friend in Lincolnshire
" I am sure the best evidence we can give for the Church
is a Christ-like Clergy and a Christ-like People. We had a
very interesting interview to-day with Dr. Horton, the
head of the Congregationalists, and it came really to this
that they do not object to the Church, but they want some
thing more spiritual, a more direct relation to our Blessed
Lord.* Our Ministry and Creeds they look upon as Barriers
* Dr. Horton sends the following reminiscence :
" I remember the occasion at Lambeth Palace. I sat by Bishop
King, and we had a good deal of amusement. The Bishop of Albany
was presiding, and the Archbishop of Barbadoes was on my left. The
amusement arose from the blank incredulity expressed by the American
bishops about the attitude of the clergy here to Nonconformists. And
when I turned to Bishop King to corroborate my statement, he in hia
quiet and gentle way admitted the truth of it, and the U.S. A. bishop
opposite was shocked, I had a love and veneration for Bishop King,
dating from my undergraduate days, when he was the greatest spiritual
force in Oxford."
276 EDWARD KING
keeping them off. He also said he thought we made our
Religion too much a matter of the Intellect, and that we did
not give the People a sufficient share in the work of the
Church.
" I do not believe we should gain by minimizing our
belief in our Orders."
In 1909 the Bishop was recalled to Oxford in an un
wonted capacity, and for the discharge of a duty quite
outside the line of his usual activities. As Bishop of
Lincoln, he was Visitor of Brasenose College ; and on June
1, 1909, that College celebrated its Quarter-centenary.
The Bishop both preached in the Chapel and presided at
the Luncheon in Hall. Here is his speech at the Luncheon.
" MY LORDS and GENTLEMEN,
" I feel considerable embarrassment in proposing
this toast The College for personal reasons, and I feel
that I owe an apology for two things. First, I owe an
apology for having been absent, although I am the Visitor,
from the College for so many years, and secondly, for my
audacity in taking the chair on this occasion.
" But there has been no need for the Visitor to come
and pay you a visit for, although you are a society of
men holding strong opinions, and quite capable, therefore, of
quarrelling among yourselves, yet the utmost harmony and
unity has prevailed among you for all these years.
" I have been thinking what reason I could give you
for coming here to take the chair to-day, and I think that
perhaps I had better tell the truth. I came because your
Principal * wished me to come, and you, who know him well,
* C^ B. Heberden.
B.N.C. 277
will understand me when I say I fell under the spell of his
persuasive gentleness. Indeed, it is just this which has
kept you working harmoniously. What has just taken
place in the Sheldonian Theatre * represents what people
think outside the College. The picture that has been
painted for presentation to the Principal by subscriptions
of B.N.C. men represents what is thought of him inside
the College, and it has been contributed to by all sorts
and kinds of members. There is just one criticism of
that portrait which I have heard passed by several
people, It is beautifully painted, just like him, etc.,
but I do wish he would turn his head and give us
that smile which has cheered the College for so many
years.
"It is quite beyond my power to say what Brasenose
has achieved during the last 400 years, or what it is doing
to-day. It has always been to the front in athletics,
and has always made a strong contribution to the Class-
lists. It has sent out men who are doing excellent work
in quiet ways in many places. There is a story which I
like often to tell of an old Brasenose man who was in
cumbent of a little country place. I went to help in his
church. The congregation was large, and I was particularly
struck by the large number of men. Afterwards I asked
him, * How do you do it ? At first he replied modestly,
I don t know. But I said, Come, now, that won t
do ; let us hear the truth. Well, he said, * I will tell
you. For three years I have visited my people week after
week, and I pay great attention to their conversation,
and now in the pulpit I can talk about the things that
interest them. He is but one of the many men who
The Honorary Degree of D.C.L. just conferred on the Principal.
278 EDWARD KING
have gone down and lifted up the lives of their fellow-
men.
" I wish to express my gratitude to Brasenose for the men
she has sent forth but especially I would wish to express
my gratitude for the men she has given to the Episcopate.
There is Bishop Macrorie and his splendid work in Africa.
Bishop Gott, of Truro, who might have enjoyed himself with
his wealth, but who placed it at the disposal of the Church,
and in this was such an example to those who spend their
wealth upon their own pleasure, and give nothing to the
Church. Bishop Hornby, of Nassau, who was in the Eight
and a typical B.N.C. man. Bishop Chandler, who, in a very
difficult time, made a stand for Morals among intellectual
things at Oxford, and who is carrying on a great work at
Bloemfontein. There was Bishop Thicknesse, at Peter
borough. I cannot say much of the Bishop of Salisbury,*
because he is sitting so close to me, but this I will say, he
is the most learned Prelate on the English Bench, and I
will go further, for the Pan- Anglican Conference showed it,
the most learned Prelate in the Anglican Communion.
And there is that most affectionate heart, who is with us
in spirit to-day, the aged Archbishop of Armagh." f
To the generation of Oxford men whom he thus
addressed, he was almost without exception a stranger, and
the associations connected with his name and his work
were scarcely such as would have commended him to all
his hearers. But there is the most unequivocal testimony
that those who then saw and heard him for the first time
fell as completely under his charm as the students who had
* Dr. Wordsworth. f Dr. Alexander.
DIVORCE 279
walked with him in the lanes of Cuddesdon, and the under
graduates who had thronged the " Bethel " in Tom Quad.
To this year belongs a letter in which the Bishop set
forth, with the humility and gentleness which were so
peculiarly his own, his view on Divorce and the re-marriage
of the Innocent Party. On St. Luke s Day, 1909, he
wrote as follows to an intimate friend who had sought
his counsel
" 1. I have myself felt it right to allow Divorce for the
one cause which our Lord specified.
" 2. I have felt that the marriage of the Innocent Party
may be allowed, though always to be discouraged, and such
is the practice of the Eastern Church, and the practical
conclusion of the Lambeth Conference. Just recently I
have been told of two such marriages having been allowed
in India one by Bishop Mylne, a learned and good Church
man, the other by Bishop Johnson.
" 3. I think such marriages should be treated by the
Church under the head of Discipline, as extending mercy
to those in trouble and perplexity. Therefore I would let
such be married at the Kegistry, not in the Church.
" 4. Under the head of those merely under discipline,
I would admit such persons to the Holy Communion after
some period of Disciplinary Probation, to mark the general
mind and wish of the Church.
"5. I do not think you need change your own views on
the matter. There is much, indeed, to be said for the
stricter view, though, as I have said already, under the
head of Discipline and Mercy, I am willing to accept the
less strict view.
" 6. From this I would infer that as people so married
2 8o EDWARD KING
may, under discipline, be received to the Holy Communion,
I do not think that you are bound to cut off all family and
social obligations and relations.
" 7. I am so sorry you should have had all this anxiety
in the midst of all your kindness, for it is a most difficult
and anxious matter.
" Pardon an abrupt reply. These cases always give me
much anxiety, but I have tried to act as far as I could in
accordance with the words and mind of our Lord.
" May my words and my conclusions be overruled if
I am wrong."
On this difficult and delicate point one who shared the
Bishop s inmost thoughts writes as follows
" He would never take (what looked like) the hard side
in any point of casuistry or moral theology. His natural
kindliness of heart was, I think, the real explanation. But
also, you see (I think), he believed that our Lord s words
need not be taken to forbid the Innocent Party marrying
again. He thought this view supported by the practice
of the Eastern Church. He was influenced in his line by
Dr. Bright and Archbishop Temple.
" It is, to my mind, quite an impossible line for an
English Churchman to take. I had one long talk, but he
would never budge from his line in the least degree.
" There are, of course, many who regretted it, and none
more sincerely than I did. But I think what I have said
lay, consciously or unconsciously, at the bottom of his mind.
He would dread taking a line which might, even conceivably,
be harder than the line our Lord took."
CHAPTER VII.
TOWARDS THE SUNSETTING.
Grant to life s day a calm, unclouded ending,
An eve untouched by shadows of decay ;
The brightness of a holy death-bed blending
With dawning glories of the eternal day.
ST. AMBROSE, trans, ly J. ELLERTON.
>WN to this point, the narrative has followed a course
mainly chronological. Here it is necessary for a brief
space to retrace our steps. On January 20, 1902, the
Bishop wrote these touching words to an old friend and
former student of Cuddesdon
" I never can thank God enough for all the wonderful
kindness and love which He has given me through you all.
It is wonderful. I only wish I had done more for you. Please
go on praying for me. Old age has its own temptations
and difficulties. You must continue to help me."
Later in the same year
" I still go on in my simple superficial way, loving flowers,
and birds, and the sunlight on the apples, and the sunset,
and like to think more and more of the verse With Thee
is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see light. "
In 1903 he wrote in reply to affectionate enquiries
" I find I get old and deaf, but, thank God, I have no
pain, and am (undeservedly) happy."
281
282 EDWARD KING
Now and then his writing is touched by a tinge of self-
reproach. In acknowledging Dean Wickham s gift of his
edition of Horace, he wrote
" Thank you so much. How do you get the time ?
I have often wished to give more time and thought to the
Ethical value of Horace, especially the Satires and Epistles ;
but, alas ! one has not touched the outer fringe of knowledge.
" How Mr. Gladstone s Life brings this home to one !
" If one could but have followed up two or three of the
great Lines one just began to look along ! But, alas ! alas ! "
On February 9, 1907, he wrote again to a Cuddesdon
pupil
" I am so vexed with myself for not thanking you sooner
for your most kind letter. It was a great pleasure to receive
it ; such letters are a real help, and encouragement, in
one s declining strength.
" I often think of the old Cuddesdon days ; they were
very wonderful. Since then new ways and forms of thought
have sprung up which make it sometimes difficult to fit in
but in every generation this is the case, and one must try
in one s last years not to be a hindrance to anything new
that is good, and to hand on the good things of the old days."
As years advanced, his sympathy with sorrow seemed to
become ever more and more acute, and his power of minis
tering consolation to increase. On March 8, 1907, he wrote as
follows to a lady whose son had died suddenly at school
" I am almost afraid to intrude with my words, but
I cannot delay writing to assure you of my sincere sym
pathy in your great sorrow. The death of the Young seems
doubly sad, and we are tempted to think that the Life is
wasted, but it is not really so. Not only have we the
-KINDLY LIGHT"
great comfort of thinking that they are in peace and
safety, and preserved from all the difficulties and dangers
of life in this world, but it is true again and again that
the shortest Life in a Family has the longest influence.
Their work in Life is not really cut off, only they work from
another and higher sphere. They are like a star in Heaven,
helping others to look up, and guiding them so that they
may reach the same Haven, and be together again in
everlasting peace and Love.
" May God comfort you all, and enable you to follow
this Kindly Light, which He, in His mysterious Love,
has lighted for you above ! "
On Christmas Eve, 1907, he sent this delightful greeting
to his sister
" This is just to wish you and dear Stephen all the real
happiness of Xmas ; the Balls and Crackers one must
leave to others now; they are all right in their day, but
D.G. the abiding joy keeps on ; when the blossoms fall off,
the fruit is setting ! So we can go bravely and hopefully
on ! I send you a copy of my Charge, which you can keep
till Lent ! "
On January 21, 1908, he wrote to one of his most regular
correspondents
" It was most good of you to send me your kind wishes
for my birthday. The great outcome of my 78 years is
the reality of the moral Government, together with Mercy
and Loving-kindness. That is wonderful. Thank you
for your nice thoughtful Letter about the Apocalypse. I
hope you continue to like it. It is a great thing to keep
steadily before one the final victory of good over evil.
Come again and see us."
284 EDWARD KING
On May 5, 1908, he wrote [from Convocation] to his
brother-in-law
" Perhaps this is our greatest reward, to see the rising
generation doing better than we have done. It is very
wonderful, and not very easy to see any general Principle
or Line of Action that one can draw from it for general
application. It seems to point to a greater simplicity of
Life on the part of the Clergy. Living more in touch with
the people in their daily life would, I think, very likely
enable us to get into more real relations with their hearts
and minds. But then there is the fear that, by lowering
our social and intellectual standard, we should lose the
lifting power, which I think the clergy so generally exercise
in a parish and neighbourhood. . . .
" There is, I think, a wide-spread feeling that society has
become too conventional or artificial, and many people
are looking for a more simple and so more real and true
way of living. ... It has been a long, trying winter. We
are now in the thick of the Education and Licensing Bills
they are both difficult."
In August he was again abroad, and wrote thus from
Italy to the Kev. H. F. Napier
" If you were not YOU, I should be afraid that you might
be too angry with me to care to hear from me again ! But
as you are YOU, and I am 7, just as we were, I take this
chance of rest to write to you.
" We are here * on our holiday Fred, and Ted, and I !
A most happy party. They have gone out on a pic-nic
with two young ladies on donkeys and one or two more on
* Abetone.
THE APENNINES
foot quite a change for the grave and studious Chaplain !
This is a lovely little out-of-the-world place, 6,400 feet up
in the Apennines most delicious air, and lovely, restful
scenery, not grand and terrible, like Switzerland, but peace
ful, and suited for an old man of 78 ! How are you,
dear child ? and your good wife and family ? I should so
much like to see you again. Why not come and lunch and
see us ? We had a busy and somewhat anxious time before
we left home, with the Lambeth Conference. On the whole,
I think we may be satisfied, and, for much of it, very
thankful. There was a strong sense of unity and Brotherly
Love, a very real sense of being members of a living Church,
with a Living, present, and guiding Head. It was very real
and wonderful, and full of promise for the future.
" No doubt, some will wish we had done more, and some
that we had not done so much ; but I hope we did nothing
very wrong, so we may wait and work on upon the lines
indicated.
" Fred * would be very jealous if he knew I was talking
to you while he was at his pic-nic, but he would wish me to
send his love.
" I am reading the good Du Buisson s book on St. Mark.
It is so good. Have you read it ? We go on D.V., to
Bologna, and Venice, and home on September 21. I hope
you are having a holiday somewhere. It does one so much
good, besides being so nice."
On November *2, the Bishop wrote as follows to
Archbishop Maclagan, then resigning the See of York
" Your last brave act of resignation has set us a
further example, which comes very near to myself.
* The Bishop s nephew and chaplain.
286 EDWARD KING
" I pray God to give me grace to follow it when it
is His Will."
On December 29, 1908, the Bishop entered on his
eightieth year. His birthday was gladdened by the arrival
of the following letter
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" It was suggested some time ago that many in
your diocese would like to offer you an expression of their
affection and good wishes upon your entering on your
eightieth year, and, as it was known how deeply you have
the interests of the Church at Grimsby in your heart, it
was thought that nothing would be more acceptable to
your Lordship than a sum of money towards the erection
of another Church at Grimsby, under the Scheme of the
Grimsby Church Extension Society.
"We have great pleasure in enclosing a cheque for
1951 13s. 10d., with the hope that God will grant you
health and strength to continue your labour of love amongst
us.
" Believe us to be, on behalf of the subscribers,
"Yours very truly,
"ALICE M. HICKS, Hon. Sec.
" A. H. LESLIE MELVILLE, Treasurer."
Cheered and inspirited by this unmistakable mark of
affection and confidence, the Bishop began the year 1909
full of cheerfulness and hope, and fulfilled his usual round
of duty with all his old earnestness and love.
On April 30 he wrote to his lifelong friend, Canon
Wood, Hector of Greys
" My chief fear now in staying on, when a younger
PERSONALITY 287
Bishop would obviously in many ways be much better.
It is very hard to know when to go. Please ask that I may
be guided rightly."
His friend Canon Ottley, who now occupied the
Pastoral Chair at Oxford, brought out a book on " Christian
Ideas and Ideals," saying in the preface that the subject
" was frequently commended to our attention by a teacher
whose name is inseparably associated with the Chair of
Pastoral Theology at Oxford the present revered Bishop
of Lincoln." In acknowledging a copy of the book the
Bishop wrote
" Pray pardon the delay in thanking you for your most
kind letter and valuable book.
" It was a great pleasure to see that you had not for
gotten me, and still thought of me in relation to some of
our old talks, with kindness, indeed, far more kindness than
I deserve.
" I have only had time to look at the first chapter, but
it is most interesting to see the old point of view developed
clearly and strongly.
" I am no good in Metaphysics, but I feel that Personality
is a reliable fact. I am content to let it prove itself by its
own inherent power, and to wait till we see better by its
perfections what it is. To see that the Ethics was but the
vestibule to Politics was a great joy to us ; now, perhaps,
we need care lest the social aspect injure the family and the
individual.
" But, thank God, there has been a great and solid
progress. I hope all is well and happy with you and yours,
at home, and in your work. I should enjoy a talk with
you again very much, but I expect your knowledge would
be beyond me now. We only had glimpses, but I think
288 EDWARD KING
they were true ; anyhow, I always pray for you, and your
work, every morning. God bless you and guide you, dear
Friend, through the coming Term, and on and on and yet,
as Dr. Pusey used to translate for ever and ever. "
In the autumn of 1909, one of our Princesses paid a visit
to Lincoln, and was entertained by the Bishop with that
characteristic charm in which social refinement and spiritual
earnestness were so delicately blended. In reply to a
gracious letter of acknowledgment from the Princess the
Bishop wrote as follows
" Oct. 2, 1909.
" DEAR PRINCESS,
" It was indeed a great, and sincere, pleasure ;
and, more than that, a really helpful evidence of the value
of spiritual things, that with all your knowledge of the
world, you should care to come and talk as we did. I
should like to assure your Highness that your visit and
conversation were a real help and comfort. . . . With
renewed thanks, and the sincere Prayer that it may please
God to refresh your Highness with the increasing conscious
ness of His Presence and His Love, and both Bless you
and make you a blessing to many others,
" I have the honour to be Your Highness s
"Sincere and grateful
" E. LINCOLN."
To a lady who had accompanied the Princess he
wrote
" It was a very real and helpful pleasure. It is indeed
a refreshment to meet those who, living in the world, realize
the supreme beauty and value of supernatural things/!
)EO GRATIAS 289
This year he was prevented from dining, according to
custom, with the Mayor of Lincoln on November 9. The
Town Clerk s letter, acknowledging the refusal, pathetically
illustrates the relation between the Bishop and the
Municipality
" MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
" Many thanks for your letter, but I fear that the
effect of it will be a sad sorrow to the Mayor and an
equal source of sorrow to the several members of
the Corporation. You always shed such a beautiful and
cheerful tone over every assembly in which you take part.
" I am glad to hear that you keep so well, but my 86
years is making sad havoc with me. I have been quite
ill for upwards of 6 weeks.
" Very sincerely yours,
"J. T. TWEED."
On November 26, the Bishop wrote thus to his old
friend, Canon Porter, who was the first student to enter
Cuddesdon, and whose brother, the Rev. W. M. Porter,
had been for 29 years a devoted member of the Universities
Mission to Central Africa
"My DEAR OLD FRIEND,
" I have just seen in the Church Times that your
dear brother Willie, is gone to his rest; Deo Gratias f
Dear, lovely, brave, saintly fellow ! Thank God, I have
prayed for him every day for years. I shall miss him in
that way, but I can remember him still.
" Do let me hear if you have any particulars. Never,
never was there a more unworldly, simpler, purer, braver
soul. He walked simply with God : beautiful, lovely,
u
290 EDWARD KING
steady, quiet. I do thank God that I was permitted to
know him. He has always been a bright star to me.
Forgive, dear friend, and write and tell me how you are,
and anything you can of the dear Saint.
" With my love and blessing,
" Always yours sincere and affectionate,
"E. LINCOLN."
The Bishop was a regular attendant at the Sessions
of Convocation, but sparing and infrequent in his attend
ance on the House of Lords. However, he felt that the
epoch-making Budget of 1909 ought to be " submitted to
the judgment of the country," and accordingly he voted
for Lord Lansdowne s Amendment on November 30. On
that eventful day the present writer was standing on the
steps of the Throne in the House of Lords, and for the last
time exchanged greetings with this loved and honoured friend .
On Sunday, December 19, 1909, the Bishop held his
last Ordination in Lincoln Minster. The address which he
delivered to the candidates on the Saturday evening is
here reproduced.
" These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb
shall overcome them." Revelation xvii. 14.
" Here are two concise statements which illustrate the
moral government of the world, and the result of it.
" The seer sees the kings of the earth gathering for battle.
That is one certain fact : they will make war with the
Lamb. And the other certain fact is the victory of the
Lamb. The Lamb shall conquer them. He will conquer
the hostile coalitions of the future, as in the past He has
overcome the solid resistance of a great Empire and the
THE FINAL TRIUMPH 291
seer gives the reason for that, even that the Lamb is the
Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
" To our eyes the conditions of this world will often seem
to be what Bishop Butler called a mere scene of dis
traction, a wild scene which Mr. Keble depicted with
beautiful simplicity, comparing the great empires of the
world to the passing of the clouds
" In outline dim and vast
Their fearful shadows cast
The giant forms of Empires on their way
To ruin : one by one
They tower and they are gone.
It would seem to be the great object of the Visions in
the Apocalypse to proclaim the final triumph of right over
wrong, of good over evil. The age of martyrs might be
long and terrible, but it will be followed by a far longer period
of Christian supremacy, in which the Faith for which the
martyrs died will live and reign.
" Babylon, to the surprise of the world, falls, and the
New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven to stand as the
city that hath foundations. Perhaps the most concise ex
pressions of the over-ruling hand of God are found at the
very beginning of the Church s history in the fourth chapter
of the Acts. Why did the heathen rage and the people
imagine vain things ? The kings of the earth stood up,
and the rulers have gathered together, against the Lord
and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy Holy
Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, have
gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy Hand and Thy
Counsel determined before to be done.
* It is indeed wonderful and sad. It is but the historical
2Q2 EDWARD KING
fulfilment of the words of the Psalmist The fierceness of
man shall turn to Thy praise and the fierceness of them
shalt thou refrain. He shall refrain the spirit of princes,
and is wonderful among the kings of the earth.
"It is into this restless world that you are to be com
missioned to go forth to-morrow ; but the terms of the
final, great Commission assure you of strength and support.
All power is given unto ME in Heaven and in earth :
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost : and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you : and } lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.
" Here is the all-sufficient, double promise : His Power
is sufficient, and you are to be commissioned by One Who
has all Power in Heaven and in Earth. His Presence will
go with you. In His strength you may behold this con
fusion of the world without being confused : very beauti
fully does Mr. Keble express this for us
" The giddy waves so restless hurled,
The vexed pulse of this feverish world,
He views and counts with steady sight,
Used to behold the Infinite.
There is the secret of your strength and peace. Imitate,
as far as you can, the example of the Saviour ; to Him the
changes of dynasties and political upheavals looked but
like the giddy waves or the feverish pulse, because He con
stantly beheld the Infinite. His Will was to do His Father s
Will. He knew that no opposition from men could change
the eternal counsels of the Most High. His mind was
unchangeable, fixed to do His Father s Will. That was
the meat of His Life.
THE SECRET OF POWER 293
" You see, then, wherein your great strength lies : it is
in Communion with GOD.
" Remember what we were told yesterday of the Prepara
tion of the Baptist in the wilderness alone with GOD ; of
St. Paul in Arabia ; and of our Lord during the Forty Days,
and at many other times of special retirement, in the night,
and in the early mornings, in the Garden of Gethsemane,
on the Mount of Olives Jesus oft-times resorted thither
with His disciples.
" Get times for special and deliberate communion with
GOD ; your prayers, your Bible, and the Blessed Sacra
ment will be the great normal occasions, and you will
find it also to be a great help if you can attend a Retreat
or Quiet Day every year : * Be still then and know that
I am GOD/ the Psalmist says. * Vacare Consideration!
get time to try St. Bernard s advice to his kind friend the
Pope Eugenius.
" Mr. Keble speaks of that deep silence in the heart, for
thought to do her part. All teach us the same truth, the
; value of retirement, silence in solitude, in order that we
; may realize more the Presence and the Power of GOD.
" It is this we want more of. In other words, we want
more faith : we want to pray more for the help of the Holy
Spirit, that we may see the richness and the preciousness
and the power of the things that have been given us of God.
" No doubt, to-night, waiting for your great Commission,
there must be some feeling of fear mixed with your joy.
It should not be otherwise : it is quite right if it is Holy
Fear, i.e., a fear that leads you to draw near to GOD in
trustful love.
" To-night, though you may be tired, let there be an
extraordinary moment of trustful, loving prayer.
294 EDWARD KING
" The example of the Baptist will show you the true
condition of spiritual victory. It is the condition of
absolute humility, freedom from all self-seeking, and
complete self-sacrifice : He must increase, but I must
decrease, that is the great secret of success : we spoil
our work by looking for our own success ; you will be
astonished to see what good and great things GOD can do
with and through you, if you will only be content to be
made nothing of yourself : we check His work again and
again, because we want it to be done so as to make clear
our success. We are more anxious that it should be known
that we did it, than that the thing should be done.
"The right realization of GOD, and His Power and
Presence, naturally tends to humility, and humility enables
GOD S Power to work in us, unchecked by the thought of
self. If GOD could create the world out of nothing, then
He may be able to do something through me.
If That should be our way of thinking : mistrust of self
and trust in GOD that is the very essence of the spiritual
life ; that is indeed the Life of Faith ; it is that which
enabled Abraham to become the Father of Isaac in his old
age, and through Isaac to have a seed like the sand on
the sea-shore for multitude.
" Try to set GOD always before yourself, and to know
and do His Will, and you will be astonished at the great
things He will do in and through you ; only always re
member that the work is really His work, and so give
Him the glory. This is set forth in the perfected Person
ality which enabled the Apostle St. Paul to say, yet not
I, but Christ in me.
f f If you realize the Promise of Christ to be with you ?
you not only will not be afraid, but you will cease to be
SURSUM CORDA 295
surprised at the wonderful things that He will do through
you.
" Lift up your hearts then, dear Brothers, lift them up
unto the Lord ; give yourselves wholly to Him to-morrow ;
put yourselves at His disposal ; do not let yourselves be
alarmed by the Enemy, under whatsoever form or in
whatsoever numbers they may appear against you. They
shall make war with the Lamb/ that is one fact, AND
the Lamb shall conquer them. that is the concluding
fact.
" Every life has a purpose and every life is different, and
no human example perfectly satisfies your mind ; it may
help you, but not perfectly satisfy. The Presence of
Christ alone can do that, and He will help you if you
ask Him.
" Go forth humbly, but bravely, with full confidence in
His Power and Presence, and may GOD enable you to do
all such good works as He has prepared for you to walk
in, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Whom, with the Father
and the Holy Ghost, we worship and glorify world without
end."
The following fragment, written on December 22, 1909,
to Canon Porter, reflects, in a way at once plaintive
and humorous, the discomforts of the Episcopal life
" What courage the dear Will had ! * May it help us
to fight on to the end, against dark mornings, and east
winds, and troublesome people ! Small enemies compared
to his."
* See p. 289
296 EDWARD KING
On St. John the Evangelist s Day, he wrote, with
delightful simplicity, to the Princess who had visited him
in the autumn
" MADAM,
" I am afraid I ought to apologize for beginning my
letter as I did last time, but I wrote as I really felt. ... I
fear to many living in the world, Xmas joy is but a passing
pleasure resting on the conventional amusements of the
season, whereas, in truth, it is the foundation-stone of all
our Hopes of Happiness, for it means Emmanuel, God
with us.
" May it please God increasingly to refresh and comfort
your Highness with the consciousness of His Power and His
Love.
" With my Blessing on the New Year,
" Believe me to be,
" Your Highness s grateful and sincere
" E. LINCOLN."
On Holy Innocents Day, the Bishop wrote to an old
friend
"It is very good of you to have remembered me so
long ! Thank you very much for your kind wishes. It is
indeed wonderful how we have got on ! We must keep
quietly to the old ways, and trust. The great comfort
is knowing that the Church and the world are both under
the eye and control of our Blessed Lord. He is Head over
all, and over the Church. Our only anxiety should be to
know and do His Will, then calmly, thankfully, lovingly,
to trust."
That letter was written, with beautiful appropriateness,
on the eve of his last birthday. On December 29, 1909, he
THE LAST BIRTHDAY 297
struck eighty, in good health and fully able to enjoy the
many words and acts of kindness which greeted the
occasion. He was immensely pleased at receiving a gift of a
new hat and a pair of gloves from his servants, which were
presented to him before he had got up in the morning.
Another incident which was thoroughly characteristic of
him may be mentioned. His cook had made a beautiful
cake, which appeared at luncheon, and, in order to show
his appreciation of this attention, he said he must eat a
little of it even if it should kill him (to use one of his
favourite expressions) ; and then, with his customary
thoughtfulness, he proposed to take it to the Cathedral
Choir-boys ; which he did himself, although the afternoon
was cheerless and uncongenial for a walk, especially to one
of his age.
On the following day he wrote a friend who had attended
his Lectures at Oxford
" I trust you keep well, and happy, and cheerful, amid
much that is rough on the surface round about, just now.
The older one gets, the more, thank God, one feels that the
world, and, still more, the Church, are under His eye and
guidance. If we can watch His eye and guiding Hand,
and only not hinder by our own narrow views, all will be
well. It would be a great pleasure to see you once more.
If you ever go to Scotland, try to stop a night with us on
the way. It would be delightful."
The spirit with which he faced the uncertainties of the
New Year can be seen from the words he inscribed on the
first page of his diary for 1910 : " I will trust and will not be
afraid " (Isaiah xii. 2). The thought of what the future
298 EDWARD KING
would bring forth for him was continually in his mind, and
he hardly let a day go past without some allusion to the
resignation of his bishopric. "He felt very much the fact
that his time for work had nearly come to an end ; he felt
the demands that the growing organizations in the diocese
made on him ; he felt, too, the possible changes that were
coming in the political world. But he determined
courageously to put his shoulder to the burden of another
year."
On January 4, 1910, according to annual custom, he
entertained at dinner the Mayor and Corporation of Lincoln,
and during the next week he fulfilled several Diocesan
engagements, and took part in some of the social functions
to which he was accustomed to devote himself at this time
of the year.
For some time he had almost entirely given up walking
exercise, but on the afternoon of January 12, having two
nieces staying with him and wishing to avail himself of their
advice, he walked down into the City to buy a wedding
present for a young lady, who was a close neighbour, and
whose good-nature and unselfishness he greatly admired.
It was a cold and cheerless afternoon, but he managed to
walk down and up the hill without any great fatigue. In
the evening he gave a dinner-party, at which he was as
bright and lively as ever.
The next morning he got up as usual and celebrated
the Holy Eucharist at 8.15 a.m. ; he breakfasted after it,
and began to carry out his daily routine. At 11 o clock he
went to his Chapel for Mattins, during which he appeared
to be suffering some discomfort ; but he came out of the
Chapel and interviewed his Secretary, and did not complain
of feeling unwell. This was the last time he entered the
THE BEGINNING OF THE END 299
Chapel, for about 1 o clock he was seized with an attack of
sickness, and was persuaded to go to bed and send for the
doctor. The doctor thought that probably he was suffering
from a chill, and would soon be well again.
He remained much the same for the next few days, but,
during the course of the next week, the doctor noticed a
symptom which first gave rise to grave apprehensions. At
first the treatment seemed to answer, and the Bishop s
health improved a little, but the recovery was very slow.
On January 31, the compiler of a " Symposium " for
the Sunday at Home, wrote to the Bishop, asking him,
in common with others, to state " What are the Chief
Difficulties (of Religious and Social Work) in your
Diocese \ " The Bishop wrote, " Myself, and my old
age."
The time for beginning the Spring Confirmations was
drawing on, and he reluctantly consented to seek for some
Episcopal help ; which he received from Bishop Farrar, of
Antigua. It was now quite clear that he was feeling very
unwell, and his whole method of life was changed. He did
not come down from his bedroom till 12 o clock ; he had
all his meals by himself, and saw very few people. But
the most noticeable change was his consent to give up
his Confirmations, which he looked upon as the chief
delight of the year.
On February 8, being a little better, he was allowed by
his doctor to try and take some Confirmations. The first
of these was at Great Hale, a village about twenty-four
miles off. After some persuasion, he consented to go there
in a motor-car. " It was most distressing to see him
during the Confirmation Service. He could only walk
with difficulty, his voice was very weak, and he sat all
3co EDWARD KING
through his addresses. He returned to Lincoln immediately
after the service, without waiting for tea, which he was
unwilling to do, for he used to consider tea after the
service as an almost essential part of the proceedings."
The same week he took two other Confirmations, but did
not seem to be much the worse for his efforts.
On February 14, he attended an evening meeting of the
Bible Society, at which he presided and spoke. During
the next four days he was due to confirm at a distant
part of his diocese, and this involved the necessity of
sleeping away from home. He was able to take all the
Confirmations, but was quite unable to enter into the social
side of his visits to the several houses where he was enter
tained. As soon as he arrived at the clergyman s house,
he went straight to his bedroom, and remained there till
the hour of service, and returned there after the service
was over, and did not appear again.
On Sunday, February 24, being Assize Sunday at Lincoln,
he entertained the Judges at luncheon. Though he struggled
courageously to discharge the offices of hospitality, no one
who was present could fail to notice how ill he was, and how
lifeless he seemed, and how different he was from the
vivacious and charming host of so many former occasions.
The next day he went to West Allington, near Grantham,
to take what proved to be his last Confirmation. On
his return he was relieved to find that Bishop Corfe
had arrived to take the remaining Confirmations of that
week. It was that same day that his doctor, being dis
satisfied with the progress he had made, expressed a wish
to call in other advice. On February 25, the Venerable
(in every sense) Archdeacon Kaye wrote this touching
letter
THE VALLEY OF DEATH 301
" MY DEAR LORD,
" On returning from Convocation on Wednesday
evening, I was truly glad to learn that you had obtained
the help which would enable you to confirm by Deputy,
during this very inclement weather. I have been wishing
it for you ever since I heard that you were undertaking
what I knew to be a part of your Episcopal duties, in which
you take a special delight, but which necessitates a certain
amount of fatigue, and, at this season of the year, a certain
amount of exposure to cold.
" In the old days, my father always confirmed in the
summer months ; and Bishop Jackson was the first to con
firm in the Spring of the year.
" I think you may benefit greatly by the comparative
rest which the present arrangement will secure to you,
and which may the Lord abundantly bless to you, in answer
to the prayers of your diocese, and of no member of it more
earnestly than
" Yours very sincerely,
"W. F. JOHN KAYE.
" P.S. I shall be afraid to write to you, if you deem it
necessary, as I hope you will not, to acknowledge these
very imperfect expressions of my feelings. Please, take
me at my word."
From this point on, the narrative had better be given
in the words of the Bishop s devoted Chaplain and nephew,
Canon Wilgress.
" It was arranged that Dr. Clifford Allbutt should come
and hold a consultation over him at the end of that week.
His doctor s desire to seek further help made him give
302 EDWARD KING
articulation to what had undoubtedly been in his own
mind, namely that his illness was of a really grave nature.
One of the clearest proofs of this was that he sent for
Father Congreve, S.S.J.E., who came to see him on the
Thursday evening, and stayed at the Old Palace till
Saturday morning.* That same morning Dr. Allbutt came
to see him, and said he thought that the Bishop s life
might be prolonged for some months, and he did not see
any signs for immediate anxiety ; but, if there was some
organic mischief going on, the end might come much
quicker. As a result of this visit, the Bishop immediately
began to prepare for the end.
" In the evening he sent to the Dean with the petition
that prayers might be asked in the Cathedral for him.
He specially desired that the form used should be ( for
our Bishop. At the same time he gave instructions
that the Prayers of the Diocese should be requested.
" He spent the Sunday quietly, but in the evening he
told his Chaplain that he wished to talk over a few matters
with him ; he told him how he had arranged his will, and
how he wished certain things to be disposed of, including
his vestments, for which he had made no provision in his
will, and which he wished to be handed over to his successor.
This was but a single example of the trustful spirit he
showed all through his illness, for, although he had great
apprehensions as to what might happen to the Diocese after
his resignation, yet he determined to leave all in the hands
* In 1883 the Bishop wrote, with reference to Confession " I used
to go to Dr. Pusey, but for some years, to save him trouble, I have
always gone to Father . He is most simple, kind, and full of
common sense, and not the least likely to encourage scruples, or to
weaken anyone."
THE LAST LETTER 303
of God, trusting that He would send to it a Bishop who
would not make any great break in the teaching."
On February 25, he wrote as follows to his friend of
sixty years Canon Porter and with this beautiful letter
his correspondence ends
" MY DEAEEST OLD FEIEND,
" I hear you are like me, wondering and waiting
if we are to be called. I would come and see you, but I
am too ill. May God support our Faith. In THEE have
I put my trust ; deliver me in THY Kighteousness.
" This is the only sure ground of peace.
" Thank you for so many years of affection. Willie *
will be waiting for us. I pray for you always, and, D.V.,
will continue to do so ; and do you remember me.
" GOD bless you, and keep you to the end, which is really,
D.V., the great beginning.
" Always your sincerely affectionate,
! E. LINCOLN."
" Now the disease showed itself and increased with alarm
ing rapidity, and it was clear that the doctor s worst fears
would be realized. On Tuesday, March 1, the Bishop s
brother came to see him, and talk over some business points
he wished to have settled. One thing he was anxious to do
was to see how his faithful housekeeper, who had been with
him for nearly forty years, could be best provided for. On
the Wednesday morning, March 2, he said goodbye to his
Secretary and to his domestic servants. It was a touching
scene, as they left the bedside of their beloved master and
friend, all sobbing. To his housekeeper, he said, e Good-
* See p. 289.
304 EDWARD KING
bye. God bless you. You have done well. My Mother
would be pleased to know you are with me. 5 >:
In the evening he dictated the following letter to his
Diocese
" MY DEAR PEOPLE,
" I fear I am not able to write the letter I should
wish to write. I have for some time been praying God to
tell me when I should give up my work. Now He has sent
me, in His loving wisdom, a clear answer. It is a very
great comfort to me to be relieved from the responsibility
of leaving you. All I have to do is to ask you to forgive
the many faults and immeasurable short-comings during
the twenty-five years I have been with you, and to ask
you to pray God to perfect my repentance and strengthen
my faith to the end. All has been done in perfect love and
wisdom.
" My great wish has been to lead you to be Christ-like
Christians. In Christ is the only hope of purity and peace.
In Him we may be united to God and to one another.
" May God guide and bless you all, and refresh you with
the increasing consciousness of His presence and His love.
" I am, to the end,
^ Your friend and Bishop,
f!E. LINCOLN."
He asked for a Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and
received the Blessed Sacrament on the following morning for
the last time. He was only just able to get through the
service, which tired him a great deal, but about midday he
got up and dressed, and went downstairs and lay on his sofa.
BENEDICTIONS 305
This was the last time that he came down to his study, as
the effort to get down and upstairs was too great.
" On Friday he stayed in bed all day, and seemed more
comfortable, and was quite quiet and peaceful. The key
note of his mind was the loving wisdom of God ; this was
the burden of the messages he sent to his friends from his
death-bed."
The Archdeacon of Stow writes
" On the day that I had my last precious interview
with him and received his parting blessing, I had been
travelling round a large part of my Archdeaconry. I told
him how all kinds of people, and especially railway-men, had
inquired with a break in their voices, How is our Bishop ?
and one porter had said, Give my love to his Lordship if
you can/ Ah ! he said, * Give my love and blessing to
them all. How many they were to whom he sent tender
helpful messages from that dying couch ! He seemed to
forget none. His sympathy became more intense as the end
of conscious life drew near, and we cannot think that it has
been in any way impaired now that he has laid down the
burden of the flesh."
Here I resume Canon Wilgress s narrative
" From now onwards, he was more frequently uncon
scious ; but he was just able to receive a visit from one
of the cabmen who had driven him frequently to and from
the station and elsewhere, and whom he was very anxious
to get Confirmed. And to his comfort the man promised
that he would do as the Bishop wished.
" It is impossible to give any adequate description of his
x
306 EDWARD KING
demeanour during the last days of his illness. He seemed
to have been quite aware that it was fatal, and he seemed
to anticipate very nearly the actual moment when his
end would come. Perhaps two things stand out more
vividly than any others. His mind seemed lifted so entirely
above the things of this world, it seemed already living in
a higher sphere. It is all done by the perfect love and
perfect wisdom of God. J Politics and controversy
what are they in themselves but things you may snap your
fingers at ? Only live in the fear and love of God, and con
form your life to God s plan, and that must be a good one.
Trust that through it all God is ruling the world, and
He will make His power to be known. 5 That was the
tenour of his thoughts. Yet it was extraordinary how
constantly his mind was turned to little acts of kindness
e.g., he gave orders that a sum of money, promised to a
poor man suffering from cancer to buy milk for him, should
continue to be paid out of his estate so long as the sufferer
should live. He expressed a wish that the scarlet robe with
an ermine hood, which he had worn in the House of Lords,*
should be given to one of his nieces, and proposed that she
should make it into an opera cloak. He left orders that a
Prayer Book should be given to the cabman who had
come to see him on his deathbed, when he was confirmed ;
He gave instructions for a gold pencil-case to be bought
for his doctor, and that upon it should be inscribed the
words, With the Gratitude and Blessing of E. Lincoln ;
and that a present should be made to his nurse.
"When the doctor came on the following Sunday,
March 6, he found a great diminution of strength, and in
* When the Sovereign opened Parliament in person.
THE END 307
the course of the day there was a marked change in the
breathing, and it was thought that the end might come
before the next morning. However, the Bishop rallied a
little. All Monday he lay seemingly unconscious, quite
peaceful. Two or three of his relatives came and saw
him, but it is doubtful whether he recognized them.
" About 4 o clock the next morning the nurse summoned
those who were in the house to his bedside, and the Prayer
of Commendation was said ; after this he rallied again for a
few hours, but about 8 o clock this flicker of life began to
die away, and at 9.45, just as the Cathedral Bells were
summoning the worshippers to Mattins, absolutely quietly
and peacefully, his soul passed into the hands of his Fatherly
Creator.
"His body was robed in the white linen vestments
in which he had so often celebrated the Holy Eucharist in
his Chapel ; a Bible lay on his breast, clasped by both hands ;
flowers were strewn beside him. Two candles were kept
burning on a table at the foot of the bed ; and between
them stood a wooden Cross, which he had in his study at
Oxford."
The Bishop s body was laid to rest in the Cloister Garth
of Lincoln Minster on March 11, 1910. The Holy Com
munion had been celebrated in the Choir at 7.30 a.m.,
and the interment took place in the afternoon, the Arch
bishop of Canterbury officiating in the presence of a vast
congregation. So the earth closed over as true a Saint as
God ever fashioned for His own glory and the service of
men.
3 o8 EDWARD KING
To have known Bishop Edward King is indeed a
spiritual blessing of inestimable value. In him it was
granted us to see not only the power, but also the beauty
and the attractiveness, of the Christian character ; and, as
we contemplate his completed life, we seem to learn some
thing of what St. Paul meant when he appealed to his
disciples " by the meekness and gentleness " of the Divine
Master
cHa rrje TT/oaorrjroe KOL tTTieiKtiag TOV Xptarov.
BISHOP AND SAINT 309
IN MEMORIAM: EDWAED KING,
BISHOP OF LINCOLN AND SAINT OF THE CHURCH.
THE life that seemed a perfect psalm is o er :
All shadows of the present, with its pain,
Its noise of faction, its imperious hours,
Lie cancelled in the light invisible.
saintly head about whose brows there dwelt
A nameless charm ; tender human heart
To whom the humblest soul that lived and loved
Was precious, being God s : thy going hence
Is like some aureoled star, that, moved through gloom
Of hidden paths, bequeaths a lingering gleam
Of peace and beauty.
We, that mourn and wait
Through the long temporal watches, mark that gleam
Slow-brightening yet to some diviner dawn.
E. H. BLAKENEY.
APPENDIX I
LAMBETH.
June 30, 1897.
" WE knelt to receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Body
and Blood of Christ directly over the stone bearing this
pregnant inscription
CORPUS
MATTHAEI *
ARCHIEPISCOPI
TANDEM HIC
QUIESCIT.
The Archbishop of Canterbury! was the consecrator.
There were 150, or even more, Bishops present, and the
occasion was one of the deepest solemnity. The addresses
were delivered by the saintly Bishop of Lincoln. From
carefully-taken notes, as revised by the speaker, we
would strive to reproduce the very words which at this
most impressive and affecting service gave the key-note
to the discussions of the Lambeth Conference of 1897.
The quotations from the New Testament follow the Kevised
Version.
The First Address.
The Address at the Sacramental Service was brief. It
had for its theme a portion of the words of the 15th verse
of the 28th Chapter of the Book of Genesis Behold, I am
* Parker. | Temple.
3"
312 APPENDIX I
with thee, and will keep thee. . . . I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. The Bishop
thus introduced his theme
" The object of a Quiet Day is to be with God. It
is one way in which we may try and fulfil the Divine
command, e Be still, then, and know that I am God. We
all know too well how pressed our lives are how our
reading is absorbed by sermons, and our prayers by inter
cessions for others. We have very little time to realize the
presence and guidance and love of God for ourselves.
We have, in this busy world, hardly time even to think.
There is need of a sense of reality, a consciousness of our
relation to God.
" When Eugenius, Bishop of Kome, pressed his old
friend, Saint Bernard, to write something to help him in
his own spiritual life, the saint, as you know, composed
his little treatise, De Consider atione. He was fearful lest
his former companion should be so much occupied with
the work of his great position that he would not get time
even to think ; so he said to him, Vacare Consider ationi.
Surely our only safeguard, and ground of confidence, and
hope of perseverance is in an abiding sense of the reality of
the presence and guiding hand of God. This was the promise
to the father of the faithful, Fear not, Abram ; I am thy
shield, and thy exceeding great reward. This was the
ground for confidence breathed into Gideon s ear, when,
feeling his own littleness and individual unfitness to be
deliverer of his brethren of Israel, he cried out, as we are
often tempted to cry, Oh ! my Lord, wherewith shall I
save Irsael ? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and
I am the least in my father s house. And the Lord said
unto him, c Surely I will be with thee ; and so again
GOD S PURPOSE 313
in the words of my text addressed to the patriarch
Jacob.
" Jacob s life had not begun just as he must have wished ;
but God, in His love, came to him, and spake words to him
which assured him of his acceptance, and that the memory
of his past was not to take the heart out of his future. The
Moral Law must, indeed, be fulfilled, and Jacob must suffer ;
still God had prepared a work for him to do. The secret
yearning of his heart for higher things was God s voice.
God had called him, and He would not leave him till He had
done all that of which He had spoken to him.
"God has a purpose for our lives. We are not compelled
to follow it we are free but, if we really try to do His will,
He will show us what He would have us do, and He will not
leave us without His help.
" Our object, then, to-day is to be with God; to ask Him
to take away any barrier that may have grown up between
our souls and Him ; to ask Him to set us right when we are
wrong ; to help us to love what He loves, and to will that
which He wills, and to repent of all that we have done
against His will and in disregard of His love ; to ask Him
to refresh us with a renewed consciousness of His presence,
power, and love.
"We are to try to lay down the burden of our work for
a few hours ; to lift up our hearts afresh to Him and say,
Lord, what is it that Thou would st have me to do ?
Show Thou me the way that I should walk in, for I lift up
my soul unto Thee !
" And now, in this Holy Communion, let us thank Him
for this assurance of His continued favour and goodness
towards us, and humbly beseech Him to assist us with His
grace and heavenly benediction, that we may do all such
314 APPENDIX I
good works as He has prepared for us to walk in, through
Jesus Christ our Lord."
There were few eyes in this assembly that were not
moistened, few hearts, if any, that were not uplifted, as
these sweet, simple words were said. Many remained long
on their knees when the service had ended ; and in the inter
change of loving greetings between long-parted men around
the breakfast-board in the "Guard-Koom," with its portraits
of the Archbishops of Canterbury, from Warham to the late
loved and lost-for-a-time-to-us Benson, there was a solemn
joy fitting for an occasion thus prefaced by Word and
Sacrament. With the meeting of old friends, there was
joined the loving memory of those who had passed to
Paradise since the third Lambeth Conference had dis
solved. They rest from their labours and their works
follow them.
In the spirit and fashion of the old days, one of the
chaplains of the Archbishop read to the Bishops assembled
around the board a sermon by the late Dean Church, preached
on the occurrence of a consecration to the episcopal office.
The meal over, the hundred and fifty Bishops, after a
turn in the gardens, betook themselves to St. Mary s
Church, just outside the gate-house of the Palace built
by Archbishop Morton in 1490, and itself dating from the
fifteenth century. In this memorable church seven Arch
bishops of Canterbury are buried, among them John Moore,
consecrator of William White and Samuel Provoost, as
well as of James Madison. This church, which has a
" perpendicular " tower, is the mother-church of Lambeth
Parish. Its historical associations are numerous and of
interest.
THE DOUBLE COLUMN 315
The Second Address.
Mattins were said in St. Mary s at 10.15 o clock, the
congregation consisting of Bishops only. The Bishop of
Lincoln from the pulpit, after some apologetic remarks,
gave as his text St. Mark vi. 30 And the Apostles gathered
themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things,
both what they had done, and what they had taught. " Here
we may find a guide for the first employment of our
thoughts to-day, when we come apart to be with the Divine
Master Who sent us forth. Let us look back over our lives
and see how the account we have yet to render stands,
when made up under the double column, as the first Apostles
arranged their account when they returned to Jesus and
told Him all that they had done and all that they had taught.
The account of what we have done may stand quite well.
This is a busy age, and Bishops, thank God, are expected
to work ; and the danger, perhaps, is of being over-busy
doing too much, and forgetting the other account we have
to render, of what we have taught. This column, for some
of us at least, will include what we have suffered. The
question arises how far have we, for our own sakes, or for
the sake of others, borne the heat and the burden of the
day, and shared in and helped the mental sufferings of our
fellow-men ?
" With some of us at least, this question has been very
real and very fundamental. It has involved us in the
honest consideration of the very existence of Morals. Five-
and-twenty years ago this was not so easy a question as,
thank God, it is now. Natural Science, as it was often too
exclusively called, was the star in the ascendant, promising
to lead us to results which were often most beautiful, most
3i6 APPENDIX I
attractive, and full of real benefit to mankind. Some were
over-fascinated by the new enquiries, and so accustomed
themselves to the new methods of obtaining truth that they
lost the capacity for using evidences which would lead them
to the discovery and possession of truths of another kind.
Then men were raised up to help us (notably Professor
Green, of Balliol College), and we regained the conviction
of the reality of our own personality. The * I am I, and
I know it/ became a fact of priceless power and hope.
Moral phenomena became more recognized by us as facts
as sure as those of any science. We learned not to be
ashamed of confessing that we did not know all things.
Others were getting to know enough to confess that they
could not explain everything. There were confessed
mysteries in spiritual as well as in material phenomena.
It was acknowledged that it was not unscientific to admit
the existence of these mysteries. We might not satis
factorily define our personality, but we were sure of its
reality, and inseparably connected with it we found reason,
will, and love. We saw a difference between right and
wrong quite different from the difference between colours
and this difference caused an attraction or a revulsion
to our whole being. We felt that we were free free to do
right and free to do wrong. We could do either, but we
knew that we ought to do right, and thus our feet stood
on the Divine pathway of duty. We saw the exceeding
excellence of moral beauty in others, quite apart from
wealth, or rank, or intellect. We saw it in the poor. We
felt the thrill of it in ourselves. And from the vantage-
ground of the Divine pathway we were led to look upward,
and we received new assurances as to our belief in a personal
God not as a mere intellectual conclusion, but as the
ETHICS 317
outcome of our personality as a whole our reason, our
affections, our will. It was thus that we realized afresh
the necessity of offering ourselves, our souls, and bodies,
as a complete burnt-offering to God. We felt that we
could not afford, so to speak, to let go our hold on God by
any one part of our nature. God had so distributed the
evidence of Himself to our whole being that our duty
towards God was clearly to believe in Him, to fear Him,
and to love Him, with all our heart, all our mind, all our
soul, and all our strength.
"Thus the study of Ethics acquired for us a new reality.
We saw more clearly its relation, on the one side, to the
despair of materialism, and, on the other, to the Divine
pathway of duty leading up to the living God.
" But this was not all. This suffering through which
we had passed in order that we might regain, with a new
clearness and sense of responsibility, the conviction of the
reality of heathen ethics, we have learned at length to
regard as the merciful discipline of God to enable us to
realize the new standard and the new forces which have
been given to us as Christians. Sixty years ago the
Christianity of all members of our Universities was assumed.
We were taught Ethics, or Morals, chiefly from the heathen
books, and it was assumed that we should appreciate and
assimilate what was true and good, and reject, or correct,
by our habitual Christianity, what was wrong or imperfect.
This worked well enough, perhaps, for its day, until the
trial came, and men were tempted to exchange their
Christianity for a heathen moral code. Then we were
forced to ask ourselves, what would be the loss ? What
advantage, then, had the Christian ? And the answer
was, Much, every way. True and beautiful as the
3i8 APPENDIX I
pre-Christian morality was, teaching prudence, justice,
courage, temperance ; wonderful as the heights were
to which their greatest minds had attained, feeling, as
they did, after God Who yet remained an unknown God ;
we saw the need of adding to the Four Cardinal Virtues of
the older the heathen code, the Three Theological Virtues
of Christianity Faith, Hope, and Love not merely adding
them as something more of the same kind, but accepting
them as newly manifested means of placing us in relation
with new and richer truths, which brought new power into
the moral forces we already possessed, and made them capable
of attaining a higher perfection. It was an instance of not
destroying the law, but fulfilling it, Our happiness, we
discovered, was not to be found in the mere exercising of
our highest faculties, but in being brought into the presence
of the true personal God. We saw that we must no longer
be self-centred, but that we needed to go out of ourselves ;
and we saw how God was revealed in the face of Jesus
Christ, and how, through Him, in the power of the Spirit,
we had real access to the Father. We learned to say,
Fecisti nos in Te Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donee
requiescat in Te.
" We, at length, realized that Christian morality meant
a new standard, even the measure of the stature of Christ ;
that a true Christian should be a Christlike man. We
realized that Christianity meant not merely the manifesta
tion of a new example, but the gift of a new power ; that
the Incarnation was the moral force by which the Image
of God in man was to be restored. And we saw that this
line of thought could not stop here ; it could not stop in
the consideration of the individual. With a clearer belief
in God, all history became instinct with a new dignity and
THE CHURCH 319
value, as showing the working of the Divine Mind in the
higher sphere of His handiwork. This led one * of you, my
brothers, to say that the study of modem history i.e.,
since the Incarnation when compared with the study of
ancient history, was like the study of the living body
compared with that of the skeleton. * It is Christianity
that gives to the modern world its living unity, and at the
same time cuts it off from the death of the past.
" Nor could we stop here in the consideration of the
world under the general influence of Christianity. It was
obvious that there is a society called the Church, claiming
to be the covenanted sphere of the Divine Love ; not the
exclusive sphere not hindering God from working else
where but having the promise that we shall find Him
there the place that He has chosen to put His name
there.
" This led to a great increase of interest in the study of
Church history. The threat of our Disestablishment helped
it, but the observable point is not so much the increase
in the knowledge of the facts of Church history as the higher
point of view from which it is regarded. The Acts of the
Apostles, as the starting-point of Church history, has been
called The Gospel of the Holy Ghost, 5 and it has been so
called from the desire to trace the operation of the Holy
Spirit in the Church, and to see its growth as the Body of
Christ, deriving its life from Him, the living, ever-present,
ruling, guiding Head. This has been coming into view,
thank God, with increasing reality. This has given a new
interest, a new reverence, and a new value to the study of
the history of the Church.
* The Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Stubbs, in his " Lectures on Modern
History."
320 APPENDIX I
" The Apostles gathered themselves together unto
Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done;
and what they had taught. If we, to-day, could make use
of these words for the guidance of our thoughts, we might
each ask ourselves what has been the effect of the last fifty
years on one s own teaching. How far, since made a
Bishop, has the pressure of the secular part of one s work
the ceaseless letters, the routine of business, and much
that is exhausting, and yet that has little in it that is
spiritual or even of an elevating intellectual or moral
character taken one s mind away from these higher
things ? Moses, we read, was angry with Eleazar and
Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, because they had burnt the
sin-offering and not eaten it, seeing it was given to them
to bear the iniquity of the congregation. How far since
we were made Bishops have we taken our due share in the
intellectual and spiritual troubles of our people and made
them our own ; eaten their sin-offering and not burned it ?
And we, too, may humbly hope that He Who knows all
things will look mercifully on the confusion and lowness
of our present lives. Yet shall we not do well to remember
the double column of the Apostles report, and pause to
consider how far we are doing our best to prepare an account
of what we have done and what we have taught ? "
Many of the Bishops remained on their knees long after
this solemn service closed. Others walked apart in the
beautiful grounds of the Palace. It was an hour for thought
and prayer. Each one seemed very near to Jesus, the Chief
Shepherd and Bishop of Souls.
LETTER AND SPIRIT 321
The Third Address.
The Litany in St. Mary s prefaced the noontide medita
tion. The Bishop of Lincoln gave as his text St. John v. 39,
Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye
have eternal life ; and these are they which bear witness of
Me ; and ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.
" In the text our Lord finds fault with those who,
apparently, spent much time over the study of the Holy
Scriptures with a calm reverence and belief, and yet
stopped short of what the Saviour wished them to learn.
The searchers of Scripture were inclined to rest in the letter
of the Old Testament instead of interpreting it by the help
of the Living Word. They were inclined to repose where
they should have been excited to expectation. They set
up a theory of Holy Scripture which was really opposed
to the Divine purpose of Scripture. Ye search the
Scriptures . . . and ye will not come to Me that ye may
have life.
" A true scholar, the late Charles Marriott, who was
quite willing that scholarship and honest criticism should
have full freedom to do their own work, was wont to say,
The utmost that criticism can do is to prepare a correct
text for the reading of the spiritual eye.
" The reading consecutively of the Prolegomena to
the different books of the Bible in Bishop Wordsworth s
Commentary would give one a most valuable insight into
the spiritual connexion and articulation and scope of the
whole revelation of God s will, so as to feel that one is follow
ing the Saviour s own method of teaching the Old Scriptures,
when, beginning from Moses and from the Prophets, He
interpreted to His disciples in all the Scriptures the things
Y
322 APPENDIX I
concerning Himself. Christ is really the Key to the Old
Testament ; there are things written in the Law of Moses,
and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Him.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
"Going back for a moment to the rudimentary con
siderations to which reference has already been made, one
seems to find a real and helpful sequence of thought in the
seven words Duty Conscience God Scripture Christ
Church Holy Spirit. There is need of warning others
to beware of thinking that they can do their duty without
recognizing the claims of conscience, and to beware of
thinking that they will be able to keep their conscience as
it ought to be kept, without the acknowledgment of God,
and to beware lest they lose their hold on God, by losing the
aid of His own revelation, the Bible ; to beware of thinking
that they believe the Bible unless they believe in Christ,
to beware of thinking that they can partake of Christ with
all the fulness that may be theirs, except in the way that
He has appointed through His Church ; and, finally, to
beware of thinking that they can do all things in their
natural strength without accepting the gift of the Spirit.
"It is well to consider these words in their inverse order.
It is useful to caution some against thinking that they are
living in the Spirit unless they are willing to be guided by
the Church. It is needful to caution some to beware of
trusting to their zeal for the Church, unless they really look
to Christ to the example of His life, the reality of forgive
ness through the atoning virtue of His death, and the
power of His resurrection ; to beware of thinking that
they will be able to keep their hold on Christ unless they
search the Scriptures with the view of coming nearer to
Him, and of growing in grace and in the knowledge of our
RITUAL 323
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; to beware of trusting to a
mere knowledge of the Scriptures unless they set God
always before them, obeying their conscience as His
voice, and showing their obedience by doing their daily
duty, however humble it may be. Some simple considera
tions of this kind, such as any poor or simple person could
understand, might be found to preserve a living relation
to the truth, and to give unity and power to the life.
"The danger against which the Saviour warns us in
the text is the danger of not coming unto Him as the source
of our new life ; we may stop short even in a wrong study
of the Scriptures, as well as in other ways.
" It is obvious that, for example, we may stop short in
the wrong use of ritual. I know no better guide in that
matter than the advice given by Bishop Butler in his Charge
to the clergy of Durham in 1756 : Nor does the want of
religion in the generality of the common people appear
owing to a speculative unbelief or denial of it, but chiefly
in thoughtlessness and the common contemplations of life.
Your chief business is to beget a practical sense of it upon
their hearts. . . . And this is to be done by keeping up, as
we are able, the form and face of religion with decency and
reverence, and in such a degree as to bring the thoughts of
religion often to their minds ; and then endeavouring to
make the form more and more subservient to promote the
reality and power of it. The form of religion may, indeed,
be where there is little of the thing itself, but the thing
itself cannot be preserved amongst mankind without the
form.
"Unless we bear this in mind, unless we make the
externals of religion more and more subservient to promote
the reality and power of it, we may be like the Jews who
324 APPENDIX I
searched the Scriptures, but would not come to Christ that
they might have life. The mere external enjoyment of
ritual is, in truth, only a modern form of Epicureanism
in fact, materialism and has no attraction for the really
spiritually-minded among our people, and no true power
of spiritual edification ; but this is, I think, thoroughly
admitted by religious people, though it is not always
understood by the young.
"We have regained, I thankfully believe, a real position
in morals. Heal progress has been made in whole classes
of our people. In all classes of society there has been a
great increase of care in personal religion. There are, I
thank God, not a few in all classes, amongst the highest,
and amongst our citizens, railway-men, and agricultural
poor, who are living what we might call saintly lives.
" Still, it is possible for us to be earnestly and success
fully engaged in searching the volume of God s works,
which do testify of Him, to be so interested in the recovery
of natural religion, in the mysteries of conscience, and in
the power and value of a moral life, that we may stop
short and be thinking of repose when we ought to be in a
state of increased expectation.
" The new forces in society, the newly-extended political
power among those who constitute the middle and lower
classes of modern society, and the increased power of pleasure
in all classes, are so strong that there is a danger of arriving
at a condition of life which is indifferent to the claims
of Christianity, or which it is at least difficult to reconcile
with the natural meaning of the Gospel and other portions
of Divine revelation. Modern society may still preserve
the form and phraseology of Christianity, but lose, if it
does not deny, the power of it.
THE BIBLE 325
" Now, what I am anxious to say is that in the face of
these new forces, and in order that we may direct them
aright, some of us at least need to make our way of reading
the Bible more real.
" These new social forces have been gaining great
strength in late years. My fear is that some of us have
not grown proportionately in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Some of us have been so occu
pied in securing the reality of morals that, I fear, we do
not give to Christ the place which, as Christians, we should
ascribe to Him.
" Those who were engaged in the great work of the
Oxford Movement, and who spent their labour chiefly on
the Scriptures and the early Fathers, seem to me to have
done this better than some of us are doing now. Fifty-four
years ago Charles Marriott wrote thus
" Whoever has entered in by Him (i.e. by Jesus Christ
as the Door) is in a position whence he may discern the
true life and meaning of all that is in the world, of all that
really concerns man here. What is the aim of political
science but that which has begun to be realized in His
kingdom ? What is the aim of moral philosophy but the
saintly character, the transcript of His ? What is liberty
but choosing the Father s Will ? What is Christian educa
tion but f ulfilling the mystery of His Birth and our new birth
in Him ? What is reason but a partaking of the Light that
lighteneth every man that cometh into the world ? What
is poetry but the burning of the heart when He is near ?
What is art but the striving to recollect His lineaments ?
What is history but the tracing of His iron rod or His
Shepherd s staff ? This sacred bearing of all science and
326 APPENDIX I
literature is not a mere abstraction, but a living truth. The
one reason why we are apt to find history or literature dull
and uninteresting is that it has been commonly viewed in
a false light. The Kingdom of Christ, the striving for His
truth, the shadowy forms of error or imperfect truth that
have been caught at in its place these are things that
historians and critics too commonly forget to bring out
and students to look for, but they are what afford real and
vital nourishment to the mind.
" This was written fifty-four years ago. Have we
during that time grown in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ anything like in proportion to the
growth of our knowledge of the things of the world ? If
not, is there not a danger lest we should fail to see
their true relation, and guide aright their increasing
power ? Here, then, is my simple message, that, in the
midst of the growing forces round about us we should
look again into the words of the revealed Will, and so
read and weigh them that, by the aid of the Holy Spirit
we may learn more of the things that have been given
us of God, and see better how to guide ourselves and
others.
" May I suggest the sort of passages which I fear some
of us pass over as if they could have but little real mean
ing ? Romans v. 10, Saved by His life. Do we realize
this ? And again, By Whom we have received the
Atonement. Then why is our countenance so often fallen ?
Or again, Romans viii. 2, The law of the Spirit of Life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. Is the law of the Spirit of Life the law of my life ?
We know that to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
And yet again, 2 Corinthians vii. 1, Having therefore these
A HIGH STANDARD 327
promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defile
ment of flesh and spirit. What is defilement of spirit ?
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Is this my
standard ? Do I remember the words of the Master, Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father is perfect ? Or
the words of the Apostle, Colossians i. 28, That we may
present every man perfect in Christ. Whatever meaning we
may give to ri Xttov, is this the standard we unreservedly
aim at in ourselves and for our people? And once more,
Colossians iii. 10, The new man, which is being renewed
unto knowledge after the image of Him That created him.
Do I hope that something corresponding to this is going on
in me ? If so, do I find that my love is purer, less partial,
less prejudiced, so as to be rightly independent of race or
class, and that Christ is all and in all ?
"By these and other texts of Scripture we must examine
ourselves to see if we may hope that we are not giving way
to a form of Christianity which is the outcome of the new
forces in the world, nor are being tempted to repose on a
morality that may free us from the inconveniences of sin,
and satisfy society ; but that we search the Scriptures with
the earnest desire to surrender ourselves, and to come to
Christ, knowing that where He is, there is safety and
plenty. As Charles Marriott said fifty-four years ago,
* Meditation on Him, prayer to Him, learning of Him,
conformity to Him, partaking of Him, are the chief business
of the Christian life. Oh ! if we had only made it so, how
much happier, how much stronger we might have been ;
how much stronger to help others, and to make them
happy ! "
328 APPENDIX I
The Fourth Address.
An opportunity for meditation and prayer followed the
Bishop of Lincoln s address. After luncheon at the Palace
the Bishops returned to the church for Evensong and for
the closing words of this solemn, searching address. The
Bishop prefaced his final speech with the announcement of
his double text viz. Psalm xviii. 35, Thy gentleness hath
made me great, and 2 Corinthians x. 1, 7, Paul, beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. With these
suggestive texts the Bishop thus proceeded
" I have ventured to speak of the danger of stopping
short of that true union with God in Christ, which, as
Christians, should be ours. I have suggested that such a
warning may be needed now, when new forces are develop
ing around us, and producing ways of life and a conven
tional Christianity which in some ways it is difficult to
reconcile with the natural interpretation of the Gospel
and other parts of Revelation.
" Ye search the Scriptures . . . and ye will not come
unto Me that ye may have life. The remedy suggested for
this danger was a more real way of reading our Bible, a
prayerful and patient waiting for the unfolding of the mean
ing of the deeper texts, and this in order that we may first
keep before ourselves and our people the true standard of
personal Christian ethics. Our aim is nothing less than
perfection ; we are to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is
perfect. Our aim is the restoration of the image of God,
in which we were originally created.
" Christ has come to show us what that image was.
c He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
THE IMAGE OF GOD 329
" Our aim, then, is to be Christ-like Christians. This
endeavour to set the life of Christ before ourselves as a
practical guide of life, as a pattern for the formation of
our own character, was first definitely brought home to
me by the example of Charles Marriott. When Constantino
Prichard * wrote his little commentary on the Romans he
dedicated it to the memory of Charles Marriott. Mr.
Prichard was, as some will remember, a Fellow of Balliol,
and, therefore, a scholar and accustomed to the accurate
use of the words, and yet his dedication ran thus : * To
the memory of one whose noble life was a living com
mentary on the four Gospels. A Christ-like clergy would
make it so much easier for the people to believe that we
are what we are, and would help them reverently to use
and esteem the Apostolic ministry which has been preserved
for us in the Church of England.
" We need to keep before ourselves this standard of
personal Christian ethics, and to consider the reality of
the new forces which have been given us through the Spirit,
by which the new standard may be obtained. * For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works (Ephesians ii. 10). This concerns us as individual
Christians. But, then, next we need to search the Scrip
tures to see what are the real grounds on which our hopes
for Unity rest, what are the forces which are making for
Unity, and what must be the conditions of our relations to
these unifying powers.
" Even the heathen moralists could see that the indi
vidual man could not realize his full perfection unless he
entered into, and rightly used, his social relations. They saw
that Ethics should be regarded as the vestibule to Politics ;
* Sometime Vice- Principal of Wells Theological College.
330 APPENDIX I
and we should train ourselves and our children not merely
as units, but to be citizens of the great communities of the
civilized world and the Church, and we know that these
great communities, if rightly used, are of the utmost im
portance for perfecting the individual life.
" And yet here again I would venture to submit that
some of us need to read our Bibles with increasing reality.
The Church is not merely a human society, and, therefore,
morally helpful to the individual life ; but as Christians we
need to consider what being in Christ means. To be in
Christ, Charles Marriott taught us, does not merely mean
being placed in a system which Christ established, or which
depends on Him, or which is formed on the basis of His acts
and doctrine ; but, rather, to be a baptized Christian implies
a real union with a living body, the life of which is in Him
a real introduction into the midst of heavenly powers by
virtue of union with Him, a real state in which we are
related to Him as branches to a vine, although that relation
may be forfeited by our unfruitfulness.
" This will suggest at once many texts which need
careful consideration, and the aid of the Holy Spirit, Who
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For,
as St. Chrysostom says, there is need of spiritual wisdom
that we may perceive things spiritual.
" First, then, there is the great passage in that Holy of
Holies of the Scripture, the 17th chapter of St. John
That they may be one, even as We are one ; I in
them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in
one.
" Here we have the great assurance that the desire of
our hearts is real. Unity is the true goal to which we are
pressing, and it shall be ; Koivuvia is the natural end of
UNITY 331
a, but it has been well pointed out here that, if we take
our Lord s words as a pledge of what one day shall be, we
must be careful to follow our Lord s example. He speaks
of Unity, but He speaks of it in prayer. He prays for it,
6 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that
believe on Me, through their words, that they all may be
one.* He prays for it, but He does not tell us how it shall
be brought about, or when. This is our first duty to
retain the idea of Prayer.
" Then there are other texts based on figures taken from
earthly things, and therefore necessarily inadequate, but
still real and true.
" There is the figure of the Temple, implying a real Divine
Presence in us, a real unity with God ; 1 Corinthians vi. 19,
c Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost
Which is in you, Which ye have from God ? This figure of
the Temple is presented to us in another passage with the
thought of progress. We, though temples, are regarded as
living stones, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone,
etc. This thought of progress in growth towards a greater
unity is more plainly set before us in the figure of the Vine.
There we have the idea of union sustained through organic
life. I am the Vine ; ye are the branches. He that
abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.
Abide in Me, and I in you. This figure illustrates the
text, Because I live ye shall live also. It suggests the
idea of an assured provision of life ; it is like the vision of the
golden candlestick in the Prophet Zechariah, where the
several lamps are seen to be connected with the golden
bowl, and the bowl with the living olive-trees on either
side of the golden candlestick : it is indeed far more than
the vision of the golden pipes.
332 APPENDIX I
" But the figure of the Body carries us still further, and
suggests a sensible organic union, and illustrates the text,
In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and ye
in Me, and I in you. Nothing could be more definitely
expressed than the oneness of the Body, and the reality
of the several members, in spite of any difference of race or
class, For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body,
etc. And again, * Ye are the Body of Christ and members
in particular.
" And as we are thus taught the reality of the organic
unity of the body, so are we taught the reality of our relation
$o Christ as the Divine, ruling, guiding Head. It was the
belief in the greatness of the power of Christ to us-ward, as
Head of the Church, which formed the special subject of
one of the Apostle s prayers for the Christian disciples at
Ephesus.
"The Epistle is written to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus ; and yet the
great Apostle says that he ceased not to make mention of
them in his prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, would give unto them a spirit of wisdom
and revelation that the eyes of their heart might be en
lightened, that they might know what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, etc.
" Just as the Apostle prayed for himself, in the Epistle
to the Philippians (several years after he had vindicated the
fact of the Saviour s resurrection, to the Corinthians), that he
might know the power of it, so for the Ephesian converts
he prays that a spirit of wisdom and revelation might be
given to them to open the eyes of their hearts, that they
might see the power of Christ as Head of the Church.
" And there is yet a further application of this figure of
THE BRIDE 333
the Body which, if possible, would suggest a still closer
oneness with Christ.
" The Church is spoken of as the Bride of Christ. The
husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the Head
of the Church. 5 He speaks of this mystery as a well-known
truth ; he does not argue, as we might now be inclined to
do, from the analogy of the relation of the husband towards
the wife, but the Apostle puts it in another way he takes
it for granted that the Ephesian Christians knew that
* Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. There
fore, he argues that they ought to love their wives as Christ
loved the Church.
" This is indeed a great mystery, but it is not the less
true.
"These considerations are, in truth, most practical.
The idea of the body should suggest holiness in ourselves ;
it should keep us free from envy or jealousy towards other.
If one member is honoured, all are honoured with it ; it
should lead us not to be suspicious of, but to welcome, the
diversity of gifts ; it should teach us not to require the
outward expression of Christianity to be exactly the
same, but to allow a liberty for difference of race and
class. India and Japan and China may well have their
own contributions to offer for the perfecting of the Body of
Christ.
" And this thought of the love of Christ towards the
Church which is His Bride should fill us with new hope. The
thought that Christ will Himself sanctify the Church in
order that He may present it to Himself a glorious Church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, should give
us a wider and a fuller hope ; for it leads us to think of
the Church, not only as the divinely appointed means for
334 APPENDIX
accomplishing our individual salvation, but rather that our
individual perfection is required for perfecting the Bride of
Christ ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and
the powers in the heavenly places might be made known
through the Church, 5 etc.
" The Holy Spirit is not only, so to say, engaged in work
ing out our individual perfection, but He knew the whole
mind and plan of G-od, and He sees the part of the body
which we are wanted to supply, and He is preparing us
for that. He knows the whole plan of the House of God,
which is the Church of the Living God, and He has come
down to the quarries of this earth to prepare the living
stones for it, for we are God s building.
" And now may I conclude by referring to the words of
my text, Thy gentleness hath made me great ?
" The well-known texts of Scripture which I have been
quoting to-day tell us something of the high privilege to
which we have been brought, God being rich in mercy/
etc. When we think of these high privileges, and of what we
have been, and are, as a nation, as a Church, as individuals
we can only say that it is of the Lord s mercy that we are
not consumed. He has indeed been a Father to us. He has
waited for us. His patience and gentleness have spared us
that we might see how great the position is to which He hath
called us. We have been rejoicing at the goodness of God
towards us as a nation.* ... It is, indeed, a great responsi
bility to belong to such an Empire, but to-day we have to
think of a still greater responsibility, of a more widely
extending and a higher influence. The Anglican com
munion is not confined to the limits of the British Empire.
* The allusion is to Queen Victoria s second Jubilee, June 22,
1897.
THE SECRET OF POWER 335
Not long ago we were reminded by one who was com"
petent to speak,* how the centre of gravity of the world s
influence has changed from the Mediterranean realms to
the Oceanic, from the Latin to the Teuton, from the
Catholic to the Protestant. This suggests the greatness
of the position in which we find ourselves to-day, and it
may be well for us to remind ourselves of the words, Not
by might, etc. If the great lesson of the display of
England s greatness was the excellence of moral power, it
is for us to witness for the truth that the source of moral
power is the Spirit By My Spirit, saith the Lord of
Hosts.
" Organization does not produce life, though life may
produce organization, but the secret of the power is the life.
The people have seen and appreciated the beauty and the
value of moral power ; it is for us, as the stewards of the
mysteries of God, to save them from disappointment by
showing them the greater power and the higher value of
the Spirit. It is this that I have been wanting to say.
There are, thank God, many members of the great Anglican
communion now who are looking to us to guide them and
to lead them in the spiritual life. This is being made clear
to us by the lives which we can see in all classes of society,
among the poorest as well as among the richest and how
is this to be done ? * Not by might, nor by power, but by
My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts ; not by giving way to
the temptation to introduce human authority in the sphere
of things that are Divine ; not by putting obedience in the
place of truth ; not by trying to make the truth stronger or
more attractive by additions of men s devising; but by
handing on to the people in its purity, and, therefore, in
* Lord Acton.
336 APPENDIX I
its strength, the faith once delivered to the saints, as it
has come down to us in the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church, and as it may be proved by most certain warrants
of Holy Scripture. It is for this guidance in their spiritual
life that I believe many in our great Anglican communion
are looking to us to-day. God grant that we may not dis
appoint them. Only, if God has waited for us and led us
to see the greatness of our position to-day by His gentle
ness, let us remember to be patient and gentle towards
others ! "
Thus closed the Bishops Day of Prayer. Words more
solemn, more searching could not have been conceived.
The bowed form of the speaker, the sweet, sad voice
weakened by age, the face lighting up with the anticipated
glory of the life immortal, the stillness unbroken by a sound,
the dim religious light and stern simplicity of the un-
decorated walls, made up a service and a scene which can
never fade away from memory. After prolonged prayers,
silent but felt, the throng of Bishops passed to their homes.
It had been a day with God. Like the Apostles, they had
in spiritual communion told Jesus of what they had taught
and done."
APPENDIX II
A PASTOKAL LETTEK ON THE USE OF SUNDAY
Sexagesima, 1903.
" MY DEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST,
" The Holy Season of Lent is, by God s mercy,
coming round to us again. If we should make good use of
it, we should all try, with God s help, to put away whatever
may be a hindrance to our closest union with God, and with
one another in Him. In other words, we should seriously
consider how we can keep better the two great Commandments ;
the love of God, and the love of our Neighbour. If we could
keep these two great rules which God has given us for our
conduct before our minds during each of the coming Forty
Days, we should, I believe, all derive new blessings of peace,
and strength, and hope. We cannot have any real rest and
happiness except in Him. He made us for Himself, and the
soul cannot really rest until it rests in Him. While I com
mend you to the guidance of the Holy Spirit on these two
great lines of thought, I am anxious to offer you one definite
subject for your prayerful consideration, and that is the way
in which many are now behaving on Sunday.
" I think there is a growing feeling of anxiety in the minds
of religious people that Sunday is not kept so well as it used
to be ; and that there is serious ground for anxiety, and for
individual and combined effort to prevent our Sundays from
becoming less and less religious. This neglect of the religious
337 Z
338 APPENDIX II
observance of Sunday is, I am sorry to say, true of all classes
of Society ; indeed, I fear the higher classes, in some cases,
are the worst offenders, and with the least excuse. They not
only do not attend the religious services of the day as they
ought to do, but by the employment of labour they prevent
others from attending. The needless employment of carriages
and horses, and the new fashion of the week-end when the
great houses in the country are filled for Saturday and Sunday,
must, almost of necessity, destroy the religious character of
Sunday for domestic servants. This is a very serious and sad
matter for our reflection. But the unsatisfactory condition
of our Sunday is not confined to the upper classes. There
are thousands of persons with independent means who spend
the greater part of Sunday in pleasure in driving, in cycling,
in boating, in pleasure trips by train, and in many other like
ways with little or no regard for the religious character of
the day. And there are again thousands of others, who, not
having the means or the inclination for any active form of
amusement, simply idle the day away, or degrade it by
spending it in ways worse than doing nothing.
" I am afraid this is no exaggeration of the laxity which
is growing up amongst us with regard to Sunday ; if so, then
we are living in the presence of a great evil full of many and
great dangers, and it is the duty of us all to do what we can
to stop it.
" This alarming condition of our English Sunday is, I
believe, the result of many different causes. It marks a time
of transition, which affords occasion for loosening many old
ideas and customs, and which, if not carefully watched, may
rob us of one of our greatest blessings, and bring us into in
finite evil.
" If people are really anxious to keep our English Sunday,
they must think about it seriously and dispassionately, and
be prepared to exercise more self-denial, and give more of their
time and of their thoughts to religious things. We cannot
expect to check the evil all at once ; but, by resisting what is
SUNDAY 339
clearly evil, and by recognizing and developing what is good,
we may, in time, under God s guidance and help, overcome
evil with good/ and obtain a more truly Christian Sunday
than we have yet known.
" I will ask you, then, to consider this Lent
"1. What are some of the causes which have led to this
laxity with regard to Sunday ?
"2. What are some of the principles which would help
us to keep Sunday rightly ?
" One cause of the neglect of Sunday, in the present day,
lies, I believe, in the subtlety of the danger by which it is
threatened. The danger is not wholly and obviously bad ;
or it may be even good in itself, and yet bad in its relation to
other and higher things hence the evil is not seen the
neglect of Sunday does not with us, thank God, arise from a
flat denial of God, from avowed unbelief ; a very large majority
of those who do not keep Sunday as they ought to keep it
are yet believers in God. Again another great cause of the
neglect of Sunday is the enormously increased facilities for
locomotion ; yet this is not wholly bad, many go on Sunday
to see their relations and friends, many enjoy the rest and the
sense of freedom, and the refreshment which comes to us in
the enjoyment of the varied and exquisite pleasures which are
given to us through sight, and sound, and touch, in the world
of nature. This is true also of the pleasures which many
find in music or painting or in innocent recreation of any kind.
The question for each of us to ask ourselves is this : how far
are these things bad for me ? How far do they prevent me
from attending to the higher parts of the life which God has
given me my soul and my spirit ? How far do they hinder
me in my duty towards God ? and how far will they be a
hindrance to other people in doing their duty to God ? We
cannot consider too carefully at this time, the twice-repeated
warning which our Blessed Lord has given to us to the fatal
results which innocent occupations may lead to, if allowed to
340 APPENDIX II
keep us from higher duties. In the Parable of the Marriage
of the King s Son (St. Matthew xxii. 1-14), and in the Parable
of the Great Supper (St. Luke xiv. 15-24), those who made
light of the invitation, and those who made excuse/ though
doing nothing in itself wrong, were shut out.
" This seems to point to the conclusion that, if we desire
to see our Sunday better observed, there must be more atten
tion paid to self-discipline, self-restraint, self-denial. It would
be well this Lent if we could consider our obligation to observe
the rules of our Church concerning days of Fasting or Absti
nence Lent and Ember days, and Eogation Days, Vigils,
and all Fridays, excepting Christmas Day. In the present
day it is very largely the pleasures of this Life which prevent
the Seed of the Word from * coming to prefection.
" We must now consider shortly, What are some of the
principles which would help us to keep Sunday rightly ?
" We would say at once Sunday is the Lord s Day. * The
Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath (St. Mark ii. 28). It is
the day of the Lord s Resurrection. The day should speak
to us of the new and higher life in Christ. The Sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath J (St. Mark
ii. 27).
" It is the day for man s highest good. It is the day on
which we should endeavour to fulfil God s revealed will re
specting the dedication of a special portion, one-seventh, of
our time to Him. This expression of the Divine Will comes
to us with the highest possible authority. We find it indicated
from the very first when God rested from the work of creation ;
it is indicated again before the giving of the Law in the history
given to us of the Flood, and of the Manna at other times ;
it was enacted by the Mosaic Law ; it was observed by the
Apostles after our Lord s Resurrection, and has been sanctioned
ever since by the Christian Church, at all times and in all places.
We have abundant authority for dedicating this portion of
our time to God and in regarding it as the Lord s Day.
" W^hat then should be the special marks of the Day ?
REST 341
They have been differently expressed, and yet their right
meaning is not hard to see. They have been said to be Praise,
Bounty, and Rest. It has been called a Day for looking
Upward, and inward, and outward. It has been called a
Day for * Worship, and Rest, and Service. It has been
called a Home Day. Let us take three names as specially
comprehensive of our duty:
"1. It is the Lord s Day. The day for special worship
in every best way we can ; the day for the special
Christian Service, the Eucharist.
" 2. It is a Day of Rest. Only Let us not here take
I rest for idleness. . . . They rest who give over
I a meaner labour because a worthier and better
1 labour is to be undertaken, Hooker v. 60. There
* are works that we may do on the Day of Rest :
My Father worketh hitherto and I work (St.
John v. 17). We should rest from our bodily
labours that our minds and hearts may have
leisure to learn more of God. Be still then, and
know that I am God (Psalm xlvi. 10). It is a
day for attending to the higher parts of our nature,
our souls and spirits ; a day for endeavouring to
complete the restoration of the image of God in
which we were created, and which Christ came to
restore ; a day on which we should get time to
read the Lord s Book, and to go to the Lord s
House, and to say the Lord s Prayer ; it is a
day when we should specially think of the rest
that remaineth for the people of God ; of Paradise
and Heaven.
" 3. It is a Home Day. All the members of the family
are at home on Sunday ; it is a day for culti
vating Brotherly Love ; a day for rekindling the
love in our own households ; a day for doing
kind acts to our neighbours ; a day for thinking
of the whole body of Christ ; a day for reading
342 APPENDIX II
the accounts of Missionary Work abroad, and of
Prayer for the Heathen ; a day for dwelling on the
words * Thy Kingdom come/
" You can see, my dear people, what this points to
" 1. We should attend Public Worship ourselves, and
see that others have the opportunity to do the
same.
"2. We should abstain from unnecessary work our
selves, and avoid putting unnecessary work on
others.
" Thus, if we keep our Sunday rightly, we shall be keeping
the two great Commandments
" 1. The Love of God.
" 2. The Love of our Neighbour.
" So shall we be learning to do His great Will.
" So shall we be getting ready to be with Him in Paradise,
and then in Heaven, where doing His Will makes all happy.
" May God guide and bless in your efforts to keep this
Lent according to His Will, and may He grant you a Holy and
Happy Easter, and help you so to rise above the temptations
of this world that every Sunday you may be able to rest in
the Lord/ and finally through His merits, Who died and rose
again for us, may enter into that Rest where, nevertheless,
* they rest not day or night, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty, Which was and is and is to come/
" I am,
" Your friend and Bishop,
" EDWAKD LINCOLN."
APPENDIX III
FREQUENT reference has been made to the Bishop s dealings
with individual souls. The following notes taken, immediately
after private interviews, by one whom he guided through
some difficult years, give a concrete instance of his method.
" B." and " P." stand for Bishop and Penitent.
(AT 15.)
B. " Try and make a special effort these next holidays to be
kind and affectionate to your father and mother. You
know what I mean not so much words and talking to
them ; but by little actions, such as running upstairs for
them. You can t imagine how much pleasure these
things give them. They like to see how you love them.
" Then as to Popularity. A very good rule is never
to say or do anything to please others or to make others
like you, but what would please God. If you do wrong
deeds or say wrong words just to be liked, the other
fellows will perhaps laugh and like you for the time ; but
when they see what you really do it for, they will despise
you all the more. Never be pleased with anything but
what would please God.
" Never do or say anything that you would be ashamed
to speak about with each other when you are men.
" This wishing to be liked is very natural, but it must
be stopped if it leads you to do anything that is wrong.
But about your influence to lead other people right,
343
344 APPENDIX III
there s where your popularity comes in. If a person,
liked by the others, comes on the scene and says shut
up to any one doing wrong, they will stop because they
like him. But popularity for its own sake is merely
vanity, and must be stopped.
" The only way to stop Thoughts is to watch your
eyes. Avoid seeing indecent pictures or even photographs,
for I am sorry to say that indecent photographs are often
to be seen in papers, or exposed to view in the shops. I
don t know whether there are any like this in .
There may be. Well, when you see these, turn away ;
don t look at them. For, if you do, you are sure to think
of it afterwards. When you come to a suggestive piece
in a book, don t read it, but pass it over. The same
when you hear any wrong words or speeches ; if you can t
stop it, get away and don t listen. For, if you do, you
are sure to think of it afterwards. If you should think,
resist it with all your might tl^nk^ol something_else.
It is not sin to resist temptation. These temptations
must come, but you can resist them.
" A very good rule is, never say anything or do any
thing to a girl that you would not like another fellow to
say to your sister. Of course, there is no harm in talking
to them, if they are ladies. Don t mix with any one of a
different class. You know the word flirt/ Don t be
one. It is unkind to a girl to be played with. Any one
who is a flirt will never be married happily. He will be
despised.
" Boasting and exaggeration is merely vanity.
Don t, of course, descend to any * acts. It destroys the
sacredness of marriage."
(AT 17.)
B. " Swearing is going out of society now, and is regarded as
bad form. One ought to try and check one s own tongue,
and, by putting the above argument forth, stop others.
SISTERS 345
Fifty or sixty years ago swearing was extremely prevalent ;
now going under.
" Going to Communion once a month sufficient.
" Preparation. Prayer during week and examination
quite enough. It would be a good and useful plan to
read the Bible once a day.
" On growing, one has self-willed thoughts ; natural,
but should be watched.
" Thought of Impurity wrong ; as dwelling on such
thoughts may lead to action. Speaking about such things
depends on the object of the speaking. If spoken to help
those who wish for information, right. But, if only
spoken to interest, wrong. Among deeds wrong by
Bible, * Fornication. Such an argument does not appeal
to those who do not believe Bible. Impure actions tend
to lower high and right ideals and degrade mankind.
* Treat all those of opposite sex as sisters. And, from
this treatment will not only follow repugnance and shame
at personal action, but repugnance against others treating
womankind not as sisters.
" Thoughtless, hasty half -lies to be checked ; they also
lead to direct cheating. On making any exaggerated
statement, correct it immediately by saying straight out,
* I was wrong, the incident was so and so. Such things
arise from vanity and love of praise. Check them. Be
straight out, not ashamed of Christ. Then one is not a
hypocrite.
" Anger from vanity also. Loss of confidence in self,
useful, as it is conducive to humility. Be not ashamed to
stand boldly, and others, the waverers, will have secret
admiration.
" Selfishness cured. Endeavour to take back place.
Choose more uncomfortable chair, etc. Watch against
it.
1 * To decide about Gambling difficult. No exact harm in
itself. Harm comes as leading others to do wrong. Oneself
may be strong enough to stop at losing, but others not so,
346 APPENDIX III
and, for the sake of restraining others from sin, best not to
join in it.
" Such a talk as this must be one about tendencies of
character. Nothing to be frightened of here. Keep on
steadily."
(A letter.)
B. " You are, I am thankful to say, going on very well ; but,
at your time of life, when your mind is rapidly opening,
with all sorts of impressions, you may do well to remember
that there are some problems and ideas which we cannot
completely grasp with our finite intellect, and explain and
prove to others by definite argument ; yet we may
obtain sufficiently sure convictions about them by follow
ing converging lines of thought. Most of the great things
are complex, and beyond our powers to explain in a
simple way.
" Beauty, Love, Character, we know are realities, yet
hard to define ; indeed, real definition of anything is
almost, if not quite, impossible without infinite knowledge,
except mathematical and abstract questions.
" Pardon all this old man s talk, don t bother over it,
only be prepared not to be able to know all about every
thing, and yet learn as much as you can.
" God bless you and guide you and refresh you this
Easter Day.
" E. L."
(AT 21.)
B. " Pride. Shown by (a) exaggerated stories.
" You should aim at something higher. It is the want
of a high ideal something which will make yourself and
your stories petty in comparison. Try and elevate your
self above such trifles. When you see some great and
well-known man have only a two-inch obituary notice in
the Times, you recognise the futility of putting your store
on the opinion of men.
"GREATS" 347
" Shown by (6) irritability at home.
"At home one should welcome little snubs and set
backs, and always be on the look-out for a chance of
doing some slight service, either by running upstairs or
doing some kindness.
" Drink. You will remember the words of the Bishop
of London.* But if you have been able to keep yourself
well in hand, I do not see any reason why you should give it
up altogether. Perhaps some day you will feel it your
duty to do so. Then you may be able to help certain
people by giving it up. You have not got a craving for
it ? No. Then try and keep within control.
" Thoughts. A difficult subject. Guard your eyes,
is the advice you had before. Beware of books and even
picture-galleries, and, I am sorry to say, the shop-windows.
\ When they centre on some person, beware ! Keep away
I from that person. Don t touch more than necessary.
Ejaculatory prayers are valuable. Constant watchfulness
at your time of life is essential. You get rushed, especially
by people of a different station from yourself.
" Spiritual Sloth. You seem to be trying to keep on.
I believe that devoutness and spiritual perception, which
you complain is utterly lacking, is to a great extent a Gift
of God. He gives it in many ways, by sorrows, losses,
great troubles. I am sure it will come in time. Don t
trouble, keep on with the religious exercises.
" As for the cloud surrounding you, keep on. The
realisation of the Incarnation and the Atonement is a later
development. Don t despair. Whatever happens, hold
on to your Communions. * Greats, if you take them,
may try you seriously, but you will pull through. You
are evidently fond of practical ethics. Kead your Plato
and Aristotle with great care and an open mind. They
will teach you to know human nature. The life of Arch
bishop Temple will help you. He was so frank and honest,
so sympathetic. Do you remember his answer to an
* Dr. Winnington-Ingram.
APPENDIX III
Agnostic ? I have read all Pythagoras, and it does not
cover one page of the Gospels. "
(Ax 19.)
P. "Lack of concentration in public and private worship."
B. " A wandering of thoughts during the service ? Do you
find the same difficulty with your school work ? Can
you concentrate then ? "
P. " With work, yes. In service I get more and more lax."
B. " Bishop Stubbs pointed out a distinction between thoughts.
There were evil, wrong thoughts in Church ; and there
were mere wandering thoughts. We ought not to look
at any person wrongly. Perhaps the distinction is most
forcibly shown in the illustration of a subject visiting his
king. He might think of other things besides the King
and his power, but he ought on no account to allow
treasonable thoughts to enter his mind. You should try
to keep to the service, though."
P. " I do not read the Bible daily. Ought I to do so ? "
B. " It is a question on which I can lay down no definite rule to
my Confirmation candidates plough-boys, servant-girls,
and the like. I see Archbishop Temple advises in a
Confirmation Address that every one should read a certain
number of verses each day, either from the Gospels, or
the Psalms, or the Epistles. Still, it is a matter of time,
and I do not like to press it too much. When you do
read, you should read with some sort of a commentary
by your side. A simple one, but it will help you."
P. "Thoughtless swear-words occasionally are blurted out."
B. " The habit should be resisted. Such words often shock
people, who know you are trying to lead a Christian life."
P. "On reflection, my chief sin, the root of nearly all others, is
Conceit and Pride."
B. " You remember how St. Augustine pointed out that Pride
was the beginning and end of sins. We are tempted in
innumerable ways, even to being proud of our efforts to
be good. We should never be proud of any talents we
THE FRUITS OF PRIDE 349
| have, but very thankful for them. We have nothing in
ourselves and of ourselves to be proud of. You should
submit to petty humiliations ; you should not mind having
less notice taken of you than you deserve, or unkindnesses.
Take them all patiently."
P. " The sin you hint at Jealousy I find, often arises from
my Pride."
B. " It is so. You should submit to seeing others chosen before
you. Think of Not Jesus, but Barabbas. Pray to be
made more Christ-like by these very humiliations. Submit
to all such things with delight, because of this. Pray to
be humble, remembering that God despises the Proud,
and cherishes the humble."
P. " Exaggeration, little lies, too, arise from Conceit ? "
B. " Yes, they are the outcome of Vanity. We say little
things to encourage others to look up to us. Often the
friends of a man, who is always sticking a little on, take
off too much from the man s words."
P. "I have a growing tendency to an idle curiosity, which I
am much ashamed of. Prying among letters, and so on."
B. " Some one confessed the same sin to me the other day. I
did not know what to say, except that this was one of the
disagreeable sins. If people suspect you have this in-
quisitiveness, they are careful to keep things locked up
and out of the way."
P. " There is an impurity of thought, which grows and grows
as one gets older. "
B. " This is only natural. There are two great defences
against the sin of impurity in thought. One, as I have
often said, is, Guard your eyes. Do not look at pictures
or read books which will warp your thoughts. In Dante,
that master of human feelings, Paolo and Francesca have
fallen into sin, by reading aloud the loves of Guinevere
and Lancelot. Watch, then, that your eyes are kept
from parts of newspapers. Even the best newspapers
have wrong articles in them.
"Again, when a bad thought comes, dash it away
350 APPENDIX III
(quickly. Brush it off. Don t let it stop. Make some
ejaculatory prayer, God, give me a clean heart.
Strive against this sin. Pray for help against it."
P. " The general feeling of my whole life seems to me that it
is a slack life. I have very little backbone in my spiritual
life. Almost an indifference to God, and a total absorp
tion in self and the world. I probably have taken too
rosy a view of life, and missed out the long spaces where
one is given to self. "
B. " You have done very well, my dear ; I am very
thankful that you have passed the last year as you have
done. Keep on trying, keep on fighting. You are going
into a new world to see new life keep persevering."
(AT 20.)
B. 1* The difficulty of returning thanks to God for His mercy
jis a very real one. But a child does not constantly pay
thanks to his father ; he rather appears to take this as a
matter of course, and does not ever bubble over with
gratitude. Yet he shows his gratitude by acts, by being
ready to do his father s will, to run upstairs for something.
We pay thanks to God by being ready to serve Him.
" There is a real danger in regarding public opinion
more than God s Will. Make me to be pleased with
nothing else, but what pleases Thee, God. We should
apply this Godly standard to our life."
P. " Three difficulties at the University. What is the Godly
Standard ? "
B. " Drink. Perhaps for a man in a seaport town, it would
be best to become a teetotaller. Wine and spirits, how
ever, may be used in moderation. But, at the University
or anywhere else, remember it is always a low thing
to get drunk. It is such an example to set to the
poorer people. I am so sorry to hear there is a good
deal of it at Oxford. It was encouraging to see in
the Budget this year that the Drink Bill was less. You
might try to speak quietly to men who are drifting into
RUSKIN 351
the habit. Also remember your own danger. Natural
buoyancy may excite you, not drink. Don t run the
risk, the risk of being a * scandal to others, by being
apparently among the drunkards.
" Gambling. The view I take here is, partly, the great
pity it is that the working men bet so much. The higher
educated folk should restrain themselves for the sake of
the national weakness. Also, though we can afford to
lose money ourselves, yet we can never be quite sure that
those with whom we are playing, can really afford to play.
It is selfish, very selfish, to gratify our own desire of excite
ment at the risk of injuring those weaker or poorer than
ourselves.
" Extravagance. Yes, Euskin did wish us to spend
money only on necessities. He went a little too far. He
did much, though, to elevate us. If there is the money
to spend on refining influences, it is a pity not to spend it.
Flowers, for example, in your rooms, help on life and the
beauty of life. But some people are fond of handsomely
bound books. Rather have books with modest bindings,
and then occasionally you might have a well-bound book.
It is a good thing to dress becomingly. It is a pleasure to
see refined clothes and harmonious colours. This not
only gives us self-respect, but helps on the world.
" Prayer. I know the difficulties of getting people out
of your rooms. I would advise you to add the weekly
Collect to your brief prayers. It would soon give you a
stock of nice prayers. Some, of course, are more suitable
than others.
" You might every Friday add a weekly examination
to your prayers, besides a short one each night.
" My way at Oxford of observing Friday was to keep
out of Hall, and have tea in my own rooms.
" Pride. Try and think over the occasions of this sin
each night. The exaggeration should be guarded against.
Listeners discount something from tales, which always
have a point. Cynicism is a danger. Try and find the
352 APPENDIX III
good in people, not their weaknesses. Try to rejoice, rather
than be irritated at such things as wound your vanity.
" Impurity* Ejaculatory prayers are helpful against
thoughts. Thoughts are difficult to deal with. They
must be brushed quickly away. Avoid harmful books.
Sometimes, in a Picture Gallery, we have to steer clear of
pictures or statues ; yet a certain part of the feelings are
only the outcome of natural forces. Be strong.
" Coldness towards God. As I said at first, the only thing
in this case is to be ready to love and serve. Perhaps
some day the testing labour is offered you to take or to
refuse. Then you have the chance of showing your love."
P. " Vocation. I shall never be really satisfied unless I give
myself up to some work for God."
B. " I think the Egyptian Civil Service a noble work, witnessing
to goodness in a foreign land. Many of the Civil Servants,
too, are excellent Christians, and can do a great work for
Christ by force of example.
" Concentration. You can partly acquire concentra
tion by considering all your present work in the light of
your future work. The great object should be to do your
work as well as possible. Bacon says, * friends are the
thieves of time. It is a temptation to try to use your
present opportunities for talking and perhaps influencing
others, rather than to stick long to your work.
" Yet to some measure your influence among men in the
world is increased by your Class. spoilt himself
by taking 3rds, and talking to everybody he came across ;
and very useful and good he was.
" Now, my dear boy, it is a great pleasure to see you
from Oxford, and to hear you are keeping on so steadily.
I am fairly well ; neuralgia a little.
" It s a very sharp wind. Won t you put on your
coat ? I think you had better do so. Goodbye, good
bye. God bless you ! "
APPENDIX IV
CONFESSION
" I AM constrained to ask two plain questions :
1. " Which is the more honest Clergyman of the Church of
England, the one who, promising to teach the
Prayer Book, tells the sick man of Confession and
Absolution ; or the one who does not ?
2.
Which is the braver and the kinder Priest, the one
who, meaning in honesty to tell the sick man of
the pardon which he may have, waits till a burning
fever or wasting consumption has made reasoning
impossible; or the man who teaches this doctrine
plainly to his people when they are in health and
capable of understanding it, and availing themselves
of it, if, and when, they need it ?
" I do not forget, my reverend brethren, the great difficulties
which beset us in this grave matter, but now that our
attention is being publicly called to the teaching of the
Prayer Book, it is but right that we should consider both our
defects as well as our excesses; and many faithful Parish
Priests must, I am sure, deeply regret the unsatisfactory
vagueness of much of their Visitation of the Sick, and their
inability to use the Office which our Prayer Book has
provided, and which we have promised to use.
" That it is only too often impossible to use it I quite
admit. It would not be understood; we should distress,
and do more harm than good. But this should not be so,
and would not be so, after a while, if we explained to our
people what the teaching of the Church of England with
regard to Private Confession really is, making clear to them
both the reality of the blessing and what she is commissioned
to give, and the perfect liberty of her children."
From Bishop King s Charge to the Diocese of Lincoln, A.D. 1898.
353 2 A
INDEX
ACLAND, Sir Henry, 98
Acton, Lord, 335
Adderley, Father, 108-9, 128-9
Alexander, Archbishop, 278 n.
Allbutt, Dr. Clifford, 301-2
Arnold, Matthew, 266
Athawes, Rev. J. T., 199-200
Atlay, Bishop, 163 n.
BARPF, Rev. Albert, 14
Barrett, Rev. J. M., 140
Beaconsfield, Lord, 44
Benson, Archbishop, 241 n., 314 ;
quoted, 38, 39, 88, 105, 120 ;
on Bishop King, 214
, Father, 152, 153
Blakeney, E. H., 309
Blakesley, Dean, 102
Blyth, Bishop Popham, 182,
183, 194
Bright, Dr., 71, 141, 155, 163,
168, 280 ; quoted, 78, 194-7,
204, 205
Bromby, Canon, 145
Brooke, Rev. C. E., 25
Browne, Bishop, 89
Brownlow, Lord, 252
Burgon, Dean, 39
Butler, Bishop, 7, 29, 291, 323
, Dean, 91, 222 n., 237 n.
CAIRNS, Lord, 173
Chandler, Bishop, 278
Chase, Rev. D. P., 7
Chretien, Rev. C. P., 7
Church, Dean, 161 n., 198 ;
letters quoted, 88, 148
Cleaver, Rev. W. H., 189
Clements, Sub-Dean, 129, 152-4,
198, 210 ; death, 227, 230 n.
, Mrs., 176, 203, 209, 210,
227, 228, 230 n.
Coleridge, Lord, 32
Compton, Lord Alwyne, Bishop
of Ely, 116, 181
Congreve, Father, 302
Copleston, Bishop, 53
Corfe, Bishop, 300
Creighton, Bishop, 244
DAVEY, Dean, 23 n.
Davidson, Archbishop, 172, 250,
258 n.
Dawson, Rev. James, 103, 129,
149, 150
Day, Rev. John, 3
Denison, Archdeacon, 81
Doane, Bishop, 206
Dover, Rev. T. B., 106
Durnford, Bishop, 205
ELLIOTT, Rev. C. J., 69
Elsdale, Rev. D. R., 21, 110
355
2A2
356
INDEX
Elton, Rev. Edward, 10-12,
160-2
FARBAB, Bishop, 299
Field, Mr. Justice, 124, 125
GABFIT, Cheney, 251
Garner, Thomas, 135, 136
Gibbons, Rev. E. T., 46 n.
Gibbs, William, 45
Gladstone, Rev. Stephen, 33, 34,
226
, Right Hon. W. E., 34, 38,
43, 71, 85-8, 102 ; letters
quoted, 35-7, 86; on Ritual,
143
Gore, Bishop, 163, 232
Goschen, Lord, 5
Gott, Bishop, 278
Green, T. H., 121, 316
Gregory, Dean, 207
Grueber, Rev. C. S., 188, 189
Gurney, Rev. Augustus, 19
HALIFAX, Lord, 130-7, 174, 250;
quoted, 184, 208
Hanchard, J., 143-6
Hawkins, Provost, 5-6
Heberden, Dr., 2
, C. B., 276 n.
, Dr. William, 2
Heurtley, Dr., 17
Hicks, Bishop, 50
Hole, Dean, 238
Hood, S. F., 152
Hornby, Bishop, 278
Horton, Dr., 276 n.
Howley, Archbishop, 3
Hunt, Rev. R. W. Carew, 12
Hutchings, Rev. W. H., 186, 187
Hutton, Canon, 229
INGBAM, Bishop Winnington,
347
JACKSON, Bishop, 301
Jelf, Rev. W. E., 39 n.
Jeune, Sir Francis, 163, 184
Johnson, Bishop, 279
Johnston, Rev. J. O., 98, 239
Jones, Bishop, 81
KAY, Dr., 51
Kaye, Archdeacon, 300, 301
Kempe, A. B., 163
King, Mrs. (Mother), 40 n., 51,
58, 63 ; death, 80
, Anne (sister), 4
, Edward (Bishop of Lin
coln), ancestry, 1 ; birth, 2 ;
early education, 3, 4; con
firmation, 3 ; at Oxford, 4-8 ;
visit to the Holy Land, 9, 10 ;
ordination, 10 ; curacy at
Wheatley, 10-12; Chaplain
of Cuddesdon, 17-22 ; Princi
pal of Cuddesdon, 22-34 ; on
Confession, 27 ; his sermons,
32, 33; Pastoral Professor
at Oxford, 35 aeq. ; portrait
and testimonial to, 40 n. ;
B.D. and D.D., 41 ; visit
to Germany, 50-3 ; his work
at Oxford, 49, 50, 54 aeq. ;
his "Bethel," 59-62; in
Switzerland, 64 ; on Labour
unrest, 66, 67 ; and " The
Communicant s Manual," 69 ;
his correspondence, 70-6, 93,
97; and Dr. Pusey, 77-9;
death of his mother, 80 ;
accepts Bishopric of Lincoln,
86 ; congratulations to, 87
seq. ; the question of residence,
INDEX
357
96, 98, 115; testimonials to,
98, 99, 106; his farewell
address at Oxford, 99-102 ;
consecration, 103-6 ; reply to
Cuddesdon address, 107-9 ;
enthronement at Lincoln, 109 ;
characteristics, 110-15; his
first charge, 119-123; visits
condemned prisoners, 123-7 ;
in the Engadine, 129, 130, 138 ;
rebuilds the Old Palace and
Chapel, 134-141 ; on celibacy,
145 ; attacked by the Church
Association, 146 seq. ; in Italy,
151 ; cited to appear before
the Archbishop of Canter
bury, 155 ; sympathy, 156
seq. ; appearance at Lambeth
Palace, 164 ; the Defence
Fund, 167 ; his letter of
thanks, 177 ; the trial, 177
seq. ; judgment, 181 ; con
gratulations, 181-192, 204-
210 ; his statement on the
judgment, 200-2 ; his brother s
death, 203, 204 ; his health,
211 ; founds Diocesan Sunday
Fund, etc., 214 ; domestic
life, 215, 216 ; and " The New
Theology," 232, 233; the
Lambeth Conference (1897),
241 ; a presentation portrait,
252-4 ; on the Education Bill,
260-6 ; and the English Hym
nal, 272, 273 ; his last charge,
275 ; speech at Brasenose,
276-8 ; his views on divorce,
279, 280 ; presentation on his
80th birthday, 286 ; last ordi
nation, 290-5 ; illness, 298 ;
last confirmation, 299, 300;
death, 307
Kitchin, T. W., 141, 142, 186
LAKE, Dean, 91
Lear, E. W., 21
Lester, Rev. J. M., 61-3
Liddell, Dean, 92, 93
, Mrs., 58
Liddon, Dr., 14, 23, 59, 163, 232,
233; quoted, 1, 87, 88, 104,
105, 111 ; letters quoted,
17-19, 148, 155, 167 ; sermon
quoted, 40, 41 ; and Dr.
Pusey, 78
Lowder, Rev. C. F., 76
Lyttelton, Lord, 59
MACKARNESS, Bishop, 32 n., 42,
71 ; quoted, 97
Mackonochie, Rev. A. H., 52 n.,
146
Maclagan, Archbishop, 240 n. ,
285
Macrorie, Bishop, 278
Magee, Bishop, 122, 123, 146
Marriott, Rev. Charles, 5, 6, 329,
330
Moberly, Robert, 157
Moody, D. R., 215
Morton, Archbishop, 314
Myers, Canon, 79
Mylne, Bishop, 279
NAPIER, Rev. H. F., 284, 285
Neale, Dr., 46, 85
Newbolt, Canon, 92, 185, 207
Noel, Rev. M. H., 79, 92
OGILVIE, Rev. C. A., 35
Ottley, Canon, 60, 83, 86, 116.
287
Ouless, W., 251
358
INDEX
PAGET, Bishop, 87, 152, 163;
letters quoted, 80, 90, 91,
167, 168
Parker, Archbishop, 311
Paul, M. J., 193, 194
Penzance, Lord, 173
Perry, Canon, 162, 185, 197,
198
Phillimore, Sir Walter, 162, 163,
180 ; letter quoted, 183, 184
Phillpotts, Bishop, 188
Ponsonby, Rev. F. J., 106
Porter, Canon C. F., 22, 65, 289
, Rev. W. M., 289
Pott, Archdeacon Alfred, 14, 19,
23 ; letters quoted, 188
Prevost, Sir George, 23
Pusey, Dr., 5, 27, 59, 71, 273,
288 ; letter quoted, 49, 50 ;
last days, 77 seq.
RAM, Rev. Edward, 248, 249
Read, E. de L., 146, 147, 155
Rendle, Rev. H. R., 68 n.
Richmond, George, 40 n.
Ridding, Bishop, 89, 174-6, 182
Robertson, Rev, F. W., 62
, Rev. J. A;, 57
SAILER, Bishop, 120
Scott Holland, Canon, 65, 82,
115; quoted, 14, 80, 81, 90,
178, 179
Selborne, Lord, 173
Smith, Goldwin, 17
Stubbs, Bishop, 163 n., 177,
319 ; letter quoted, 89
Suckling, Rev. R. A. J., 226
Swinny, Rev. H. H., 19-23
TAIT, Archbishop, 38, 43 ; his
Public Worship Regulation
Bill, 44, 52, 65; death, 85,
170
Talbot, Bishop, 83, 84
Temple, Archbishop, 163 n.,
189 n., 243, 258 n., 280, 311 ;
and the Ritualists, 248, 249,
254, 255
Thicknesse, Bishop, 205, 206,
278
Thorold, Bishop, 115, 163 n.
Tooth, Rev. Arthur, 65
Trench, Archbishop, 226 n.
, Rev. H. F., 226
Trevor, Rev. George, 2
Tweed, J. T., 289
VATJGHAN, Dr., 35
, Rev. C. L., 5
Venables, Canon, 102
WAKEMAN, H. O., 163, 164,
187, 188
Wellesley, Dean, 38
West, Rev. R. T., 187 n.
Westall, Rev. Henry, 248, 249
Wickham, Dean, 237 n., 282
Wilberforce, Bishop Ernest, 42,
95
, Bishop Samuel, 10, 30 n.,
100, 161, 188 ; and Cuddesdon
College, 14-16, 23, 53 ; letters
quoted, 22, 36, 37 ; death,
41, 43 ; memorial to, 53
Wilgress, Canon, 284, 285, 301,
305
Wilkinson, Bishop G. H., 5, 63,
97
Williams, Prebendary Garnons,
7-9 ; death, 10
INDEX
359
Williams, Richard Davies, 7, 8
Wilson, Dr., 217, 218
Wood, Canon, 30, 232, 286,
287
Woodford, Bishop, 81, 116;
letters quoted, 89, 98
Woolcombe, Rev. E. C., 39
Wordsworth, Bishop (of Lincoln),
85, 102, 119, 278 n., 321
, Bishop (of Salisbury),
163 n.
YONGE, Charlotte, 32
THE END
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Russell
Edward King, sixtieth
bishop of Lincoln
112502
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