FRQM-THE- LIBRARY-OF
TRINITYCOLLEGETORDNTO
WORKS BY CHARLES WORDSWORTH, D.D.
Late Bishop of St. Andrews.
ANNALS OF MY EAKLY LIFE, 1806-1846. 8vo. 15s.
ANNALS OF MY LIFE, 1847-1856. 8vo. 10s. Qd.
PRIMARY WITNESS TO THE TKUTH OF THE
GOSPEL : a Series of Discourses. Also a Charge on Modern Teach
ing on the Canon of the Old Testament. Crown 8vo. 7s. Gd.
CATECHESIS : or, Christian Instruction preparatory to Con
firmation and First Communion. Fifth Edition. Small 8vo. 25.
LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 39 Paternoster Row, London
New York and Bombay.
THE EPISCOPATE
OF
CHAELES WORDSWOETH
\
THE EPISCOPATE
OF
CHARLES WORDSWORTH
BISHOP OF ST ANDREWS, DUNKELD, AND DUNBLANE
1853-1892
A MEMOIR
TOGETHER WITH SOME MATERIALS FOR
FORMING A JUDGMENT ON THE GREAT QUESTIONS IN THE
DISCUSSION OF WHICH HE WAS CONCERNED
BY
JOHN WOEDSWOETH, D.D.
BISHOP OF SALISBURY
WITH PORTRAITS
LONGMANS, GBEEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1899
All rights reserved
100194
APR 28 1977
PREFACE
CHARACTER AND DESCRIPTION OF THE MATERIALS.
I HA.VE undertaken to sketch the Episcopate of Bishop
Charles Wordsworth, my father's elder brother, which
extended over nearly forty years from his consecration
on St. Paul's Day, 25 January, 1853, to his death 5
December, 1892. I am conscious of many deficiencies in
undertaking this serious task, and especially the absence
of anything like continuous familiarity with the country in
and for which he had worked so long. But the sympathy
which comes from close relationship, kindred duties, and
common aims, and from a genuine but, I believe, un
biassed admiration of his character, may be pleaded as my
justification in doing so. The request to undertake this
duty came to me, shortly after my uncle's death, from his
two sons, Kobert Walter and William Barter Wordsworth,
who were appointed by him executors of his will, and who
confided to my care all the papers necessary for its full
completion. I have tried their patience in its fulfilment,
but their patience has been as generous as their confidence.
They and their sisters have also given me much real help
in collecting material, and in revising the proofs of this
volume.
Those who read these pages will probably, in most
cases, be already familiar with the two volumes of ' Auto-
vi EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
biographical Annals,' which proceeded from his own pen ;
one published during his lifetime, the other in the spring
that followed his death. The second of these volumes
edited by a Fifeshire man of letters, Mr. W. Earl Hodgson,
with whom the Bishop had made friends in the later years
of his life covered the period from 1847 to 1856, and
thus embraced the first three years of his episcopate. But
I have thought.it desirable to include those years also in
this volume in order to give unity to it, and to enable it to
take an independent position in the world of books. My
method naturally omits certain details which would have
place in an autobiography, and attempts something more
of an exterior judgment on the character and issues of the
Bishop's public acts. Indeed, I have thought it wise to
summarise, very briefly, the events of all the preceding
years for the benefit of those readers who might not have
the ' Annals ' at hand, and thus to prefix the most
necessary and fundamental facts of his biography to the
most important part of it.
In writing this sketch of his episcopate I have had the
advantage of his own careful preparation. This preparation
included a skeleton of three chapter headings, certain
paragraphs specially written, and references to other
paragraphs contained in five small oblong note-books, in
which he jotted down his views on different topics as they
occurred to him. 1 Some of these paragraphs are rough
and incomplete, some of them written and re-written in
several forms, while all would clearly have been subjected
to his own revision. I have, therefore, not thought it
necessary in all cases to reproduce them word for word,
but where I have done so I have distinguished them by
printing them, like the letters or extracts from books and
letters, in smaller type. In addition to these there is a
1 These are cited, as by himself, as MS. i.-v.
PREFACE Vll
nearly complete series of small S.P.C.K. almanacks with
notes of engagements and occasionally a few more interest
ing memoranda. There is also a larger note-book l con
taining only a few pages of material, but what there is is
important. It is a sort of index to the five note-books,
under paragraph headings.
His correspondence was carefully separated by himself
chiefly into years and partly also into subjects, but it
unfortunately does not contain so many of his own letters
as could be wished. For the latter I have had to depend
upon the affection and courtesy of friends who have been
good enough to send them to his sister-in-law and intimate
friend, Miss Mary Barter, whose beautiful penmanship,
unwearying labour, and keen intelligence were constantly
at his disposal throughout his life, and who has aided and
encouraged me during the years in which this task has
been in my hands. Her death, after a long and painful
illness, between its completion and the publication of
this volume, has been the removal of a bright example
from our midst. For such material I have specially to
thank the late Earl of Selborne, 2 Dean Boyle, Archdeacon
Aglen, Canon George Venables, the late Professor Milligan,
Dean J. S. Wilson of Edinburgh, Eevs. W. Tuckwell and
W. M. Meredith, and Messrs. John A. Spens and W. Earl
Hodgson. I have also some specially interesting notes of
his later years from Canon G. T. Farquhar, and generous
assistance from other clergy of the diocese such as Eev.
J. W. Hunter of Birnam, Canon Douglas of Kirriemuir,
and Dean Eorison, and from kind neighbours like Mrs.
1 Lettered VIBGIL, vol. ii. I have cited it as Note-book.
2 I have a letter from him to my cousin, B. W. Wordsworth, dated
' Gledstone, Shipton-in-Craven, 8 November, 1893,' giving permission for the
use of his Recollections. He also kindly sent a number of letters to Miss
M. Barter for my use. The present Earl has also kindly sanctioned the
use of the letter quoted on p. 195-6.
viii EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
Smythe of Methven, and Lord Hollo, and many friends at
St. Andrews, especially Professor Knight ; also from Pro
vost Ball of Cumbrae. If I have not, in many cases, quoted
their material at length, I have had it all in mind.
But, after all, the chief materials are to be found in the
Bishop's printed writings, which are very numerous and
full of varied interest, although he left no great monu
mental work.
I have before me a list of some forty Charges and
Synodal Addresses drawn up by himself in 1891, all of
them . delivered in person, and all, except one or two,
printed in some form. I do not reprint the list here,
as the contents practically form part of Appendix VII.,
pp. 366-385 ; but it is an extraordinary record of diligent
performance of duty. Every one of the papers attains a
high standard of literary excellence, and, considering how
persistently he pursued certain subjects, there is great
variety in their treatment.
The greater part of these Charges, with other printed
documents, he caused to be bound up into eight volumes in
dark cloth. The first is a 4to, lettered C. W. 1851-1887,
and contains sheets of articles from the * Scottish Eccle
siastical Journal ' and other newspapers, ' Notes on the
Eucharistic Controversy, with Supplement' (1858), ad
dresses and papers on the case of St. Ninian's, ' Articles
of Presentment' against himself (1873), fly-sheets on the
'Eastward Position' (1874), 'In re Burntisland ' (1876),
' Final Suggestions on New Testament Eevision, the Four
Gospels' (1879), and others.
The second is an imperial 8vo, lettered C. W. 1878-
1888, and containing four magazine articles by himself.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth are in ordinary 8vo,
and are lettered C. W., vols. i., ii., in., iv., and contain the
great mass of his Charges, pamphlets, sermons, &c.
PREFACE ix
The seventh and eighth are in small 8vo or 12mo,
similarly bound and lettered C. W., vol. i., and C. W., vol. ii.,
and contain nearly all the remaining publications not
separately bound on their publication.
Many of these were reprinted in two volumes, published
in 1886, at Edinburgh, under the title ' Public Appeals in
behalf of Christian Unity with reference to the Present
Condition of the Church in Scotland.' The introductions
prefixed to each of the twelve numbers are very valuable
as materials for his biography, and it is on this account
that these volumes are mentioned here.
To the matter already described must be added collections
of fugitive pieces, epitaphs, epigrams, short poems, news
paper cuttings, and printed letters. The Bishop made it a
habit, and indeed considered it a duty, to write letters to the
newspapers, sometimes in his own name, sometimes with a
'nom de plume,' and he preserved nearly everything of this
kind that he wrote. There is therefore no lack of material ;
but what I have lacked in using it has been the time to ac
quire sufficient insight into so large a mass, and the capacity
always to choose what would give colour and reality to the
memoir, and at the same time be of permanent interest. I
have, however, attempted to gain both knowledge of persons
and places for myself, so as to speak less as an outsider.
Besides a visit to Perth as a boy, in the year of the Man
chester Exhibition, I spent some happy days with my uncle
at Edinburgh in the year 1885, and again at St. Andrews in
October 1888, when I had the honour to preach at the meet
ing of the [Representative Church Council at Dundee, and
made the acquaintance of the Primus and others of the
clergy and laity of our Communion. Since his death I have
visited Scotland three times, mainly for the purpose of
gaining an insight into matters connected with this book
first early in 1893, when I also went over to Aberdeen and
X EPISCOPATE OF CHAKLES WORDSWORTH
made acquaintance with Dr. Milligan and Dr. Cooper ; next
in the summer and autumn of 1895, when I spent a
number of weeks in the diocese, making my headquarters at
Comrie, near Crieff ; and lastly in 1896, when I also visited
Edinburgh and Glasgow, mainly for the purpose of be
coming personally acquainted with such of the Presbyterian
clergy as were likely to be friendly to my uncle's great
design. In this* way I have visited nearly all the places
mentioned in this volume except the Highland centres.
Besides Perth and St. Andrews, which I have visited
several times, I may mention Methven, Crieff, Comrie, St.
Fillans, Duncrub, Muthill, Dunblane, Ardoch (Stirling),
Dunkeld and Birnam, Forfar, Glamis, Alyth and Meigle,
Kirriemuir and Dunfermline, and I have friends and
correspondents at nearly all of them.
With regard to a feature of the book which may seem
to need some explanation, viz. my own remarks upon the
questions on which the subject of this Memoir exercised
his remarkable powers, I may say that they have cost me
even more thought and care than the remainder of the
volume. I could not forget that, though belonging to a
younger generation, I have a duty as a Bishop to teach
which it is hardly ever possible to set aside, especially in
handling such weighty questions. Secondly, in order to
do justice to my uncle's own principles, I felt it necessary
not simply to say that I could not in every respect agree
with him, but to indicate the limits within which I have
ventured to differ from him. A general disclaimer of
agreement might easily be interpreted to mean much more
than I intended, whereas by pointing out the very large
amount of agreement and the subordinate character of the
difference, I am free to do all in my power to further his
objects, which were much dearer to his heart than his
methods. This is especially true of the two great subjects
PREFACE XI
to which he devoted his strength the Eucharistic Con
troversy and the Eeunion Movement. While I cannot
accept as final all his language or all his practical con
clusions on these subjects, I perceive that he had certain
true principles in view which have been obscured or over
looked by others to the detriment of the Church, especially
in the heat of controversy. In regard to the Eucharist,
his great wish was to preserve the true 'proportions of
the faith : ' in regard to Keunion, to make it clear that some
concessions are necessary on our part under the peculiar
circumstances of Scottish Presbyterianism. I trust that
readers of this Memoir will agree with me not only that he
acted conscientiously in regard to both, but that he was
right in emphasising both the general principle in the one
case and the practical duty in the other.
I have in the last chapter made a selection of the
lighter matter which lay to hand. In doing this I have
had to lay aside not a little that was of interest, sometimes
from one motive, sometimes from another. My uncle
was, as far as English verse went, strongest in epigram or
satire, and this is not generally the fairest permanent re
presentation of a man's character ; and the Latin verse,
of which he was a master, may be represented suffi
ciently by specimens. His graceful epigraphs, dedications,
epitaphs, and the like are well known to readers of the
' Annals,' and of less interest apart from the books or
places to which they belong. I should like to have added
more letters of Bishop Claughton's, but the best of them
are too outspoken and familiar for publication. Un
fortunately, only few of his own letters to Claughton have
been preserved. Others of his correspondents put ques
tions or cases in an interesting way, but their letters are
not complete without his answers. Others belong to phases
of controversy which it is inexpedient to pursue in detail.
xii EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
I have made an attempt at a Bibliography in which I
have endeavoured to steer between the two extremes of
exhaustiveness and severity. I have included every sepa
rately printed document of which I was cognisant, a rule
which appears to me the only safe guide, especially if such
a task is to supplement an imperfect Memoir like the
present. A mere fly-sheet often supplies an important
date. On the, other hand, I have purposely omitted
many letters to newspapers, while I have included those
that seemed to be most important, either as containing
fresh matter, or as incidentally showing his vigour and
vigilance, or as elucidating the course of events.
But, if any reader detects the absence of any separate
publication or privately printed document or fly-sheet, I
shall be grateful for information on such points ; and also
for any notices of articles or reviews published by the
Bishop in periodicals, or of sermons of his in series by
different writers, which I have failed to insert. I have not
attempted to record the date of every edition of the Greek
Grammar, but I should be grateful for any early copies that
friends may have to dispose of, especially that of 1843.
I have learnt much in the course of this work ; and, if I
can succeed in carrying my reader along with me, I do
not doubt that he too, if he is a gentle and sympathetic
reader, will at least learn something. He will take an
interest in the Bishop's personality and in the development
of his character under somewhat difficult and trying cir
cumstances. He will find that the questions with which
he was occupied, though local in their immediate bearings,
really concern the whole Church, and were treated by him
in a manner worthy of the great issues that attach to them.
JOHN SAEUM.
Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple,
2 Feb. 1899.
Xlll
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE : Character and Description of the Materials . . v
CHAPTER I
EAELY LIFE ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDBEWS
1806-1853
' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'
Birth and Baptism .......... 1
Harrow (1820), Oxford, Christ Church (1825) .... 2
Character and accomplishments 2
Private tutor (1830) 2
Kemarkable pupils 2
Travels (1833-34) 2
Ordained Deacon 21 December, 1834 2
Second Master of Winchester 2
Marriage (29 December 1835) 2
Death of wife (10 May, 1839) 3
Ordained Priest (13 December, 1840) . . . ... 3
Eelation to Oxford Movement 3
Influence at Winchester 4
Death of Christopher Wordsworth, sen., 2 February, 1846 . . 4
Charles Wordsworth resigns his second Mastership . . . 4
Gladstone's visit .......... 4
Glenalmond 4
Second marriage (28 October, 1846) 4
Glenalmond opened 4 May, 1847 5
Consecration of chapel (1 May, 1851) 5
Warden of Glenalmond (May 1847 to July 1854) .... 5
Elected Bishop 30 November, 1852, consecrated 25 January, 1853 5
Circumstances of the election 5
xiv EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
Unfortunate opposition 6
Strangeness of it . . 9
His views .. . . . 9
His opposition to the 'Cathedral Party' on Bishop Torry's
Prayer Book 10
Character of that Book (April 1850) . . / . . . 10
Storms raised by it 13
His strenuous action in censuring it 14
His strong defence of the principle of Establishment . . .15
His opposition to Gladstone 16
His own words' (MS. i. 3 foil.) 17
Outspokenness of antagonism in those days 17
His qualities enable him to bear opposition 18
Simplicity of faith and confidence in his own ideas . . . 19
A certain severity and impetuosity and critical instinct stand in
his way 19
But serene and large in his views 20
CHAPTER II
THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP
' Manus ad clavum : oculus ad coelum.'
The united Diocese ' the fairest portion of the Northern Kingdom ' 21
Late origin of Diocesan Episcopacy in Scotland .... 22
Rise of the Bishops living at St. Andrews . . ... 23
Patrick Graham first Archbishop (1472) 24
Short and tragic succession 25
Dunkeld and Dunblane ........ 25
His own retrospect in 1868 26
Title of St. Andrews in abeyance from 1704 to 1844 ... 27
Episcopalians tied their own hands by the * Assertory Act,' 1669 27
Extent and features of the Diocese 27
Its boundaries and river basins 28
Splendid site of Perth 28
Charm of St. Andrews 28
Other centres Dunkeld, Dunblane, Abernethy, Glamis, Forfar,
Dunfermline, Kinross 29
Character of the people ........ 31
Mixture of Highland and Lowland characteristics . . . . 31
Interest of the country to the Bishop from family traditions . 31
The Poet Wordsworth and Bishop Horsley 31
Conditions of the separation 32
CONTENTS XV
PAGE
The Episcopal Church has a right to territorial titles, yet has a
scant hold on the population . . . . . . . 32
Smallness of his flock in 1853 33
Strength of Presbyterian organisation . . . . . . 33
Character of the people illustrated by the humorous and pathetic
sketches of modern writers ....... 34
Quotations from Wordsworth's ' Resolution and Independence '
and from his description of the ' Wanderer ' . . . 35
The Bishop's great desire to create a united Church ... 37
Threefold duty realised: (1) To prevent the capture of the
Episcopal Church by an English party ; (2) Duty to con
vince the Scottish understanding of the claims of Episcopacy;
(3) Duty of making concessions : this emerged last . . . 37
Sketch of the working of these three convictions ... 38
CHAPTER III
EAKLY EPISCOPATE
1854-1856
' Crescunt dona, crescunt rationes.'
Early residence at Perth : its situation in the Diocese . . . 40
Early history of St. Ninian's (1849-50) 42
Statutes approved by Bishop Torry (1851) 43
Attempt to transfer an English institution to Scotland . . 45
Character of Provost Fortescue 46
His retirement in 1871 48
Character of Precentor Humble . . . . . . . 49
His fighting qualities ......... 50
Lay control of Cathedral 51
The Bishop attempts successfully to make the Cathedral more
Diocesan 51
Changes in 1853 52
Canon G. T. Farquhar's Summary 52
Enthronement . ......... 55
Building of St. Ninian's ........ 55
Other Churches in Perth 56
Primary Charge of 1854 57
Acknowledgment of Presbyterian Baptism . . . . . 58
Follows Hooker and Bingham in agreement with Bishop Forbes
ofBrechin 58
The author's judgment on the question . . . . . . 60
xvi EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
PAGE
The Charge well received . . . . . . . . 64
Visitations combined with Synod (1854-58) .... 64
Bishop takes charge of Muthill (1854-55) . . . . . 65
Beginnings of the Eucharistic controversy in Scotland . . 66
Originated in England (1853-54) . . .' . . . . 66
Attacks upon the Scottish Office .67
' Three Short Sermons on the Holy Communion : ' their value . 67
Extracts from them 68
Charles Wordsworth's attitude to the Scottish Office at various
times (1855, i858, 1859, 1862, 1884, 1889) .... 73
The abrupt formula of Invocation in it, introduced in 1764,
unscriptural and unliturgical . . . . . . . 74
Suggestions for its amendment 76
His final judgment .......... 78
The Bishop at Birnam Cottage, Dunkeld 80
Moves to Pitcullen Bank, Perth. End of Annals (August 1856) . 81
Trinity College becomes extra-diocesan 82
' Papal aggression in the East ' 82
The Feu House, Perth (1858). The Bishop's taste ... 82
CHAPTER IV
THE EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S
1857-1860
' The truth exploring with an equal mind,
In doctrine and communion they have sought
Firmly between the two extremes to steer ;
But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot,
To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,
And prophesy to ears that will not hear.'
WM.- WORDSWORTH, Eccl. Sonnets, ii. 40.
Bisnop Forbes' ' Primary Charge ' (1857) 84
Its connection with the controversy in England .... 85
Previous works of Pusey and Keble 86
Summary of the Charge : the Presence, Adoration, Sacrifice ;
Scottish Office 87
The Charge naturally creates excitement 95
Part taken by Bishop of St. Andrews reserved and laborious
and tending to united action 96
The Charge discussed in the Episcopal Synod . . . . 97
Agitation. ' Three Bishops' Declaration ' 100
Keble's * Letter ' to the Primus 101
CONTENTS XV11
PAGE
Clerical and lay addresses 101
Publication of Mr. Cheyne's 'Six Sermons' (February 1858)
prevents a settlement ........ 102
Their aggressive character 103
Mr. Cheyne presented to Bishop Suther 106
His attempted restriction on the parties 107
* Synodal Letter ' of 25 May, 1858, drafted by Bishop of St.
Andrews and signed by all Bishops but Forbes (p. 349) . 108
Comments on it by W. B. Barter and Christopher Wordsworth . 110
The Bishop's explanatory letter to Sir A. Edmonstone . . Ill
K. Palmer's ' Opinion ' 113
Bishop Trower's ' Pastoral.' Keble's ' Considerations ' . .114
Mr. Cheyne suspended at Aberdeen (August 1858) . .... 115
Bishop of St. Andrews' * Notes on the Eucharistic Contro
versy:' Summary of them 115
Pacific Charge of 1858 118
Mr. Cheyne's first appeal to the Bishops 119
Death of Kev. William B. Barter 121
His Character 121
Mr. Cheyne's obstinacy 122
His second trial (May 1859), appeal, and sentence (November
1859) 123
His restoration (1863) 124
Eupture between the Bishop and the Chapter of St. Ninian's . 124
History of their relations 125
Bishop's view of his position in the Cathedral .... 126
Mr. J. D. Chambers's ' Opinion ' 127
Perth Cathedral School and the ' Cathedral Declaration ' . .128
Bishop announces his withdrawal (May 1859) . . . . 128
More outspoken Charge of September 1859 ..... 129
Eastward position given up 129
Pamphlets of Mr. Humble and Mr. Lendrum .... 130
Legal proceedings against Bishop Forbes (October 1859) . . 131
His ' Letter to the Congregation of St. Paul's, Dundee ' . . 131
Anonymous ' Proposals for Peace ' by Bishop of St. Andrews :
Language of Anglican and Scottish divines . . . . 131
Further proceedings 133
Interview with Keble (8 February 1860) 133
Judgment in the case (15 March 1860) 134
The Bishop of St. Andrews' own remarks 135
George Forbes' approval of his 'Opinion ' 136
The question at issue, ' is there a Heal Presence on the Altar, in
the Elements, and a repetition or continuation of the Sacri
fice of the Cross ? ' 136
Criticism of this position from Scripture and antiquity . .137
a2
xviii EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
Quotation from his * Opinion,' on the Melchizedekian Priesthood 138
The writer's own judgment . . . . . . . . 140
There is a ' disturbance of the proportions of faith ' in the doctrine
of adoration of Christ ' in the gifts ' 140
Danger of pressing logic to extremes 141
Our ignorance of the conditions of Christ's existence in the
unseen world 143
Equal difficulties surrounding the belief in a ' Presence of
Virtue and Efficacy ' and in a ' Supra-local Presence ' . . 143
The writer inclined to the theory of Sacrifice which regards the
Church on earth as uniting with her Lord in heaven . . 143
Eucharistic adoration properly a prelude to reception of Com
munion ........... 145
Scripture again teaches a distinction between different modes of
our Lord's Presence 145
Bishop Forbes passes from the Sacrifice of the Cross to the
Sacrifice of the Upper Room without perceiving the
difference between them . 146
CHAPTER V
FIRST PART OF RESIDENCE AT PERTH. REUNION WORK
1860-1867
' Making his hardest task his best delight.'
WM. WOBDSWOKTH, Eccl. Sonnets, ii. 16.
Resolution to hold a General Synod carried in 1859 . . . 149
Its constitution 149
Committee on Canons . . . 150
Bishop Eden chosen Primus (1862) : his character . . . . 150
Meetings in 1862-63 151
Canon on Episcopal elections 151
Bishop of St. Andrews offers to resign 152
Work of the Synod 152
Continuation of reunion work . . 152
Revival in the Establishment 153
Dr. 11. Lee, Principal Tulloch, Dr. N. Macleod, Dr. Bisset . . 153
Removal of clerical disabilities in 1864 155
Commemoration addresses by Bishop of St. Andrews, 1860, 1861,
1862 156
Charges of 1863, 1864 157
Dr. Caird and Dr. Pirie 157
Dr Rorison's attempt at a Reunion Conference . . . . 158
CONTENTS XIX
PAGE
Synodal Address in 1866 158
Chichester Sermon (Euodias and Syntyche) 1867 . . . 159
Correspondence with Tulloch. ' A Plea for Justice ' . . 160
Parallel attempts to use opportunities of educational changes . 160
Advantages of Scotland as to elementary education . . . 161
Acts of 1496 and of 1696 161
Act of 1861. The ' Shorter Catechism ' 163
Attempt at a * Common Catechism : ' not published . . . 164
A ' National Catechism,' 1864 165
Changes of 1872 166
Call for united action in this matter 167
The Bishop's ' Greek Grammar ' adopted by the head-masters
of England (1866) 167
' Shakespeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible ' and ' Tercen
tenary Sermon,' 1864 ........ 168
Their value 169
Projected ' Shakespeare for the Young ' 170
Three volumes of ' Historical Plays ' (1883) 170
Other Shakespearian lectures (in 8vo. vol. C. W. iv.) published in
1885 in ' Scottish Church Keview ' . 170, 382
Foundation of School Chapel at Perth (1866) . . . .170
Letter to ' a candid doubter' (August 1866) . . . . . 171
Foundation of Keble College . . . . . . .172
Reminiscences of Keble ......... 172
Closer intercourse with England useful in itself, but not wholly
favourable to the Reunion Movement 173
Archbishop Longley at Inverness (1866) 173
Charles Wordsworth at Rochester 174
Consecration of Bishop Claughton (June 1867) . . 174
At Lambeth Conference (September 1867) . 175
His position in it between Archbishop Tait and Bishop Gray . . 176
At Chichester (November 1867) 178
Dr. Hook's letter . . 178
Reunion work dropped for fifteen years ..... 179
Conditions of progress in such matters 179
Domestic events 180
Death of Kenneth Wordsworth (1862) 180
Death of Warden Barter (1861) 181
His character .... ....... 181
Bishop Hamilton's generosity (1866) 183
Hamilton's affectionateness . 185
XX EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
CHAPTER VI
LAST YEARS AT PERTH
1868-1876
' Through evil report and through good report.'
' The gracious Providence of Almighty God hath I trust put these thorns of
contradiction in our sides, lest that should steal upon the Church in a slumber,
which now I doubt not but through His assistance may be turned away from us,
binding ourselves thereto with constancy; constancy in labour to do all men
good, constancy in prayer to God for all men.' E. HOOKER, last page of Dedica
tion of Book v. of his Treatise Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.
PAGE
Proposal to consecrate Bishop Macrorie in Scotland . . . 186
Proposal to revive Archiepiscopal titles . . . . . . 189
Irish disestablishment ......... 190
Letter from Bishop Claughton 191
Biography in ' Scotichronicon ' 191
Important conference of Clergy and Laity at Perth (1868) . . 192
Its Influence on Episcopal Synod (1869) 193
Correspondence with R. Palmer on Establishment . . . . 194
Christopher Wordsworth becomes Bishop of Lincoln . . . 196
Bishop Hamilton's death (1869). Depressing period . . . 197
Troubles among the Bishops 197
Renewed disputes at S. Ninian's. Mr. Burton Provost (1871-1885) 198
Perth Nunnery. Ritual Charge of 1872 199
Letter from Bishop Williams of Connecticut . . . . 200
Precentor Humble' s presentment : dismissed by the Bishops . 200
Special Synod of 1873 201
Proposed Committee 201
Address by Dean and other Clergy 202
Various circulars .......... 202
The Bishop gives notice of intended resignation (1874) . . . 203
Resignation suspended ......... 204
Attempts at a modus vivendi with Provost Burton . . . 204
Its partial success (1874-75) 204
Precentor Humble's death (February 1876) .... . . . 206
The Bishop's character of him ....... 207
Move to St. Andrews (October 1876) 207
Deaths of Bishops Ewing (1873) and Forbes (1875) . . .207
Of Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar (1874) 208
General Synod of 1876. Glenalmond Students. Cumbrae . 208
Sermons in England, especially in English cathedrals . . . 210
Visit to Gladstone (1876) 210
Work of New Testament Revision (1870-1881) . . . . 211
' Final Suggestions ' on the four Gospels 212
Dr. Field's * Otium Norvicense ' 212
CONTENTS XXI
Secondary advantages of the Bevision 213
Letter from Dean Blakesley 214
Charge of 1881 .... ... 214
Letter of Archdeacon Palmer 215
The writer's judgment 215
Important book on ' Outlines of Christian Ministry ' (1872) . 216
Its value 217
Supplemented by ' Kemarks on Dr. Lightfoot's Essay ' (1879) . 218
Stanley's Sermon on * the Burning Bush ' 218
Letter from Bishop Williams of Connecticut .... 218
Note on ' Sacerdotalism ' 219
CHAPTEK VII
RESIDENCE AT ST. ANDEEWS AND LAST EFFORTS AT REUNION
1876-1892
' He who would win the name of truly great
Must understand his own age and the next,
And make the present ready to fulfil
Its prophecy, and with the future merge
Gently and peacefully, as wave with wave.'
From J. E. LOWELL, A Glance behind the Curtain.
Eeasons for the Bishop's removal to St. Andrews . , . 221
Influence on him of the learned society there 222
Eetrospect. The ' Church Service Society,' founded in 1867 . 223
Its influence on Presbyterian worship 223
The Bishop renews his efforts 224
Sermon at the consecration of Edinburgh Cathedral (1879) . . 224
Eeview of Lord Bute's ' Breviary ' 225
Correspondence with Dr. Milligan (1880) . . . ' . . . 225
Duke of Argyll on origin of Episcopacy 227
The ' St. Giles' Lectures ' (1880-81) 228
His criticism in * Discourse on Scottish Church History ' . . 228
Its character 228
Letter from ' A Son of Toil ' 229
Summary of the Bishop's views on Church polity . . . . 230
' Prospects of Eeconciliation ' (1882) drawn out by Milligan's
conduct as Moderator ........ 231
Dr. Sprott's theory of { Two Orders ' 232
How far supported 232
Presentation of Portrait painted by Mr. H. T. Munns . . . 233
Invitations to preach in College Church and Parish Church,
St. Andrews, accepted (1884) 234
Letter to Dean Johnston 234
Archbishop Benson's general sympathy with his efforts . . 235
xxii EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
Description of a University sermon at St. Andrews by the poet
Robert F. Murray 236
Important article on 4 Union or Separation ' (May 1884) . . 237
Its influence on the position of the Bishop at the Seabury Com
memoration .......... 238
Address prepared by him for that event 239
Article on ' Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism ' (January 1885) . 240
Death of Bishop Christopher Wordsworth (March 1885) . . 240
Relation of the brothers 241
' The Case of Non-Episcopal Ordination fairly considered ' (3 Sep
tember, 1885) 241
' Public Appeals ' (2 vols.) published 1886 242
Suggestion that Presbyterian Orders, though irregular, maybe valid 242
Address at Aberdeen University (February 1886) . . . 245
Invitation to lecture at St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh . . . . 245
Changes in the Episcopate 246
Bishop Dowden consecrated and Bishop Jermyn elected Primus
(21 September, 1886) 246
Charge on Book of Common Prayer. Jenny Geddes . . . 246
Bishop Dowden, with his Chapter, objects to St. Cuthbert's lecture 247
' The Yoke of Christ to be borne in Youth ' published (1887) . 248
Letters from Presbyterians and others . . . . . 248
Dr. Cunningham's ' Lee Lecture ' discouraging .... 249
Other publications .......... 250
' Jubilee Tract ' . . .250
' Question of a Metropolitan ' . . . . . . . 251
Move to his last home, Kilrymont 252
Letter to Archbishop Benson on ' Ecclesiastical Union between
England and Scotland ' . . . . . . . 253
Case of the Donatists ......... 254
Wide proposals of the Committee of the Lambeth Conference (July
1888) 257
The Report re-committed 259
Charge of August 1888 on Lambeth Conference . . . . 259
Invitation to preach before University of Edinburgh, ' A Three
fold Rule of Christian Duty ' . 259
The author's own judgment 260
Discussion of Principle, Precedent and Expediency . . . . 260
These indicate weak points in the Bishop's scheme . . . 262
Further opinion reserved 263
Obvious points emphasised 264
Duty of co-operation in practical work . . . . . . 264
Altered relation to St. Ninian's 264
Healthy influence of ' Supernumeraries,' Revs. S. B. Hodgson
and G. T. Farquhar . ... 264
CONTENTS xxiii
PAGE
Bishop uses Cathedral again (1882) and onwards . . . 265
Death of Provost Burton and appointment of Provost V. L.
Korison. Lord Glasgow's failure : a blessing in disguise , 265
New life of Cathedral (1886-1890) 265
Consecration of nave (7 August, 1890) . . . . . 266
Verses to G. T. Farquhar 267
Family bereavements ......... 267
General Synod (1890). Cordial relations with his colleagues . 268
The Provost made Dean and Kev. A. S. Aglen Archdeacon . . 268
Charge describing work of General Synod (1890) . . . 269
Jubilee of Trinity College, Glenalmond (1891) . . . . 271
Charge ' On Old Testament Criticism ' (1891) . . . .271
Analogy from reaction against Wolfian theory of Homeric poems 272
Present of a chair and pastoral staff (April 1892) .... 273
Continued literary activity ........ 274
Last Charge read by Dean (October 1892) 275
Untoward incident .......... 276
Final words on Keunion. Foundation of ' Scottish Church Society ' 277
Last illness and death (5 December, 1892) 278
Burial in Cathedral Yard and Epitaph 279
Summary of the Bishop's public services by Dr. Danson and
Canon Farquhar 280
His supposed egotism . 282
His belief in the reality of the movement among leading Presby
terians . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Testimony of Dr. James Cooper ' 284
CHAPTER VIII
EVENING OF LIFE, PARTICULARLY AT ST. ANDREWS
1876-1892
' Inveni portum ! Spes et Fortuna valete !
Sat me lusistis : ludite nunc alios.'
' Immo alii inveniant ego quern, Christo auspice, portum,
Spes ubi non fallax, Forsque perennis adest.'
1. Latin verses: partnership with Deem Stanley
Motto of this chapter : its history 287
Stanley's version of these and other lines by Charles Wordsworth 287
Lines addressed to Dean Ramsay (1872) 289
Lines to Lord Beaconsfield on his return from Berlin Congress
(1878) 291
His acknowledgment 295
' Beaumont and Fletcher ' 295
Stanley's valediction 296
XXIV EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
PAGE
2. Latin verses connected principally with St. Andrews
Sophocles loquitur .......... 297
Prof. Lewis Campbell's reply . . . . . . . 298
Lines on Campbell's recovery from bronchitis . . . . 298
Lines to the ' Country Parson ' 299
Elegy on Principal Tulloch (1886) 300
Intercourse with Principal Shairp and Prof. Knight . . . 301
St. Leonard's Girls' School 302
Agnata Ramsay 's^uccess (1887) ....... 302
The ' Scarlet Gown ' (1878) 303
Dr. Macgregor's salmon 305
Dean Johnston's ' Wide-awake ' 305
3. The Wykehamist Dinner of 1880 and Athletics
Speeches at Wykehamist dinner 306
First game of golf (1890) 310
' Pindar and Athletics, Ancient and Modern ' (1888) . . .310
Letter on skating .......... 311
The ' Flying Mercury ' 312
4. Revival or continuation of old friendships Literary
correspondence
Cardinal Manning 812
Merivale's anecdote ......... 313
Cardinal Newman .......... 314
The Bishop's judgment of him 314
Opinion on Archbishop Trench 315
Letters to Dean Boyle 316
On Baxter 316
On Clarendon 316
On Hooker, Plea for Justice, &c. . . . . . . 317
Extract from Canon Farquhar's Diary : The Bishop's orderliness 318
The two Skinners 318
Letter to Dean Merivale : lines from Statius 319
The Bishop's version and the Dean's ...... 320
Mr. Tuckwell's * Tongues in Trees ' 322
Mr. Gladstone : note to Sir J. E. Eardley-Wilmot . . . 323
Intercourse with Bishop Claughton 324
Bishop Moberly's golden wedding ...... 325
Interest in his nephews' writings 326
5. Last publications in verse and prose executed and projected
Latin poem on ' Nightmare ' ....... 327
' Series Collectarum,' &c. 330
CONTENTS XXV
PAGE
Other hymns 331
* Lead, kindly Light ' . . 332
Sonnet by Bishop of Eipon after visit to St. Andrews . . . 333
Volumes of Sermons, Lectures, and Eeviews, projected . . . 334
6. Manner of Preaching and Confirming
Impressiveness of his sermons ....... 335
Dr. Danson's criticism 335
Canon Farquhar's ' Funeral Sermon ' 336
Always uses manuscript 336
Manner of confirming 336
Order of service. Cards 337
7. Lord Selborne's Character of Bishop Wordsworth . 338
The Bishop's remarks upon the book and the character . . 338
8. Conclusion 342
APPENDICES .... 343-388
I. On Bishop Torry's Prayer Book 345
II. Pastoral Letter issued by the Episcopal Synod (27 May
1858) 349
III. Suggested Addition to Church Catechism :
(A) Introductory Remarks (1878) . ... 353
(B) Confirmation Card and Addition . . . 357
IV. Remarks on the Archbishop's Judgment (1890) . . . 360
V. The Waverley Novels arranged Chronologically . . 362
VI. The Lambeth Conference of 1888 and Home Reunion.
Letter from Bishop Barry 363
VII. List of the principal Printed Writings of Charles Words
worth in Chronological Order 366
VIII. Churches and Parsonages built during his Episcopate . 386
IX. The Bishop's Family 388
INDEX 391
ILLUSTEATIONS
PORTRAIT. Painted by H. T. MUNNS . . . . Frontispiece
PORTRAIT, in later life. From a photograph . . to face p. 286
NOTE ON THE POETEAITS
The frontispiece is a reproduction of the portrait by Mr. H. T. Munns,
painted in 1882 (see p. 233), leave to copy which has been kindly given
by his son, Mr. H. E. Munns, of West-End Chambers, Birmingham.
The other is from a photograph taken in 1889, in the possession of the
Bishop's son, Mr. W. B. Wordsworth.
THE EPISCOPATE
OF
CHAELBS WOEDSWOETH
CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS
' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'
Summary of early life, 1806-1853 Harrow, Oxford, Winchester, Glen-
almond Election as Bishop Peculiar circumstances Nature of the
opposition His claims on Churchmen His criticism of Bishop Torry's
Prayer Book and views on Establishment The Prayer Book described
Charles Wordsworth's action respecting it Establishment ' an article of
the Christian Faith 'Criticism on Mr. Gladstone Strong feeling forty
years ago His character enables him to bear opposition.
CHARLES WORDSWORTH, second 1 son of Christopher Words
worth, sometime Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and
Priscilla (Lloyd) his wife, was born 22 August, 1806, the
day on which, as it happens, eighty-eight years later, I begin
writing this memoir. He was baptised at Lambeth Palace
19 February, 2 1807 nearly six months after his birth the
1 His elder brother John, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was a
laborious and most accomplished scholar, and a very amiable man, who
died young, 31 December, 1839. His younger brother Christopher, Fellow
of the same College, Head Master of Harrow School, Canon of Westminster,
and finally Bishop of Lincoln, died 21 March, 1885. Both were educated at
Winchester College as Commoners.
2 The day, as he afterwards noticed, on which his first grandson was
born in 1880.
B
2 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. I
Archbishop, Charles Manners Sutton, and William Words
worth, the poet, being his sponsors. He was educated at
Harrow School, where he went first in 1820, and at Christ
Church, Oxford, which he entered in 1825. His early
years, though chequered with occasional clouds of ill-health
and fits of nervousness, to which he was liable all his life,
were bright and successful. He was brilliant as a scholar,
and in writing Greek and Latin verse he became a poet-
Latin verse composition especially was his peculiar delight
and solace to the end of his long life. He was distinguished
in almost all manly exercises, particularly cricket, rowing,
tennis, and skating. Tall, handsome, and athletic, with a
strong and prepossessing countenance, set off by brown curly
hair and brightened by a winning smile to which the en
graving of G. Richmond's portrait does some, but not. suffi
cient justice he seemed destined for great achievements.
After taking his degree (1830) he acted for a time as a private
tutor at Oxford, numbering among his pupils a remarkable
band of eminent men, of whom Mr. W. E. Gladstone,
Cardinal Manning, Bishop W. K. Hamilton, and Lord
Canning will probably be considered by posterity as the
most eminent. After some interesting and somewhat enter
prising travels in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Germany,
in 1833-4, he came back to England engaged to be married
to a lady whom he had met at Paris Miss Charlotte Day,
eldest daughter of the Rev. George Day, rector of Ear sham,
near Bungay. On his return to Oxford he was appointed to
a public tutorship at the College by Dean Gaisford, and on
21 December, 1834, he was ordained Deacon by Bishop
Bagot, of Oxford.
In the summer that followed he became Second Master
of Winchester College, a position which enabled him to
marry (29 December, 1835). This office not only afforded
him an opportunity of teaching such as he was specially
CH. i EARLY LIFE 3
qualified to embrace, but it gave him an equally important
experience of management, since it involved the internal
control of the ancient College and its seventy scholars, to
which and to whom his heart became closely knit. Besides
the intimate friendship of the much-loved and noble-hearted
Warden, K. S. Barter, it brought him into daily and
familiar relations with Dr. George Moberly, afterwards
Bishop of Salisbury, whose mind (as I can testify from my
own experience) was specially fitted to strengthen and
clarify the Church principles and to sharpen the intelligence
of all with whom he came into close contact.
He held the office of Second Master for about eleven
years, until March 1846. His marriage was a very happy
one, but Mrs. Wordsworth died, to his extreme grief, on
Ascension Day, 10 May, 1839, after giving birth to a
daughter, the only child of their union. In the following
year, at the Advent Ordination (13 December 1840), he
was ordained Priest by the Bishop of Winchester a delay
of six years after his diaconate, such as would have seemed
somewhat remarkable in this generation, 1 especially in one
who conceived his duties as Master as involving so much of
pastoral responsibility. 2 He had left Oxford before the
* Movement ' was in full force, but he was, no doubt, con
siderably influenced by it, and for a time he appeared, at
least to others, to be likely to throw in his lot with it. 3
Certainly, in his relations to his boys, he seemed to a great
1 It may be remarked that Dr. Arnold was not ordained Priest till 1828,
having been ordained Deacon in 1818.
2 The two volumes of Christian BoyJwod at a Public Sctool, published
in 1846 and dedicated to Dr. Moberly, may be mentioned as giving a valu
able record of this relation. His sermon on Evangelical Repentance, with
its Appendix (Oxford, 1841 and 1842), is important in reference to the
question of Penitential Discipline in the Church of England.
3 He has discussed his relation to the Oxford Movement at some length
in the first volume of the Annals, 322-326. It contains, amongst other
interesting matter, an affectionate estimate of his debt to his father the
Master of Trinity.
B 2
4 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
extent inspired by its motives and imbued with its methods. 1
His work as a teacher was probably the most congenial of all
the employments in which he was at any time engaged, and
his influence on his pupils, and on the general conduct of
public school education, was remarkable. It would be diffi
cult to produce a better testimony to this effect than is
contained in the following words of the Bishop of Southwell
(Dr. George Ridding) , who was himself in after years one of
the most influential teachers of Winchester College, both as
Second and as Head Master. He writes thus on 6 December,
1892, just after the Bishop's death : ' Personally, I look upon
him as the man who did me the most real and effective good
of all who have helped me, and I hardly know at which time
I felt the value of his influence in the College most, when I
left Winchester or when I returned to it.'
In the winter of 1845-6 he determined to give up his
work at Winchester, which he found too exhausting, and he
was glad to be able to attend his father during his last
illness. The latter had retired from the Mastership of
Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1841, and died at his rectory
of Buxted, 2 February, 1846. In the spring of the
same year, shortly after he had completed his resignation
of the Second Mastership, but was residing still at Win
chester in a private house, Charles Wordsworth received a
special visit from Mr. W. E, Gladstone, which altered the
whole current of his after life. The object of this visit was
to persuade him to undertake the Wardenship of Trinity
College, Glenalmond, in Perthshire, which was then in
building as a public school for the sons of Churchmen in
Scotland, and as a training college for theological students.
This offer he accepted, and on 28 October of the same year
he entered on a second marriage, with Miss Katharine Mary
1 I may mention the evidence on this point of the present Bishop of
Truro (Eight Rev. John Gott, D.D.), who was one of his pupils.
CH. i EARLY LIFE 5
Barter, eldest daughter of the Kector of Burghclere, Hants,
and niece of his great friend, Warden Barter. A few
months were spent by the newly-married pair in Italian
travel, and it was not till 4 May, 1847, that the new
College was opened. The College Chapel, to the building
of which he was himself the chief contributor, was conse
crated 1 May, 1851, by the Primus, Bishop Skinner, with
the assistance of three other Bishops, and in the presence
of Mr. Gladstone.
From May 1847 to July 1854 Charles Wordsworth
continued to be Warden of Trinity College, although he had
been elected Bishop on 30 November, 1852, in succession to
the aged Bishop Torry, and was consecrated to that office
at St. Andrews Church, Aberdeen, on St. Paul's Day,
25 January, 1853. There was indeed no sufficient reason
why he should not have continued to hold the two offices of
Warden and Bishop, and to discharge their duties together.
The union of the two offices (as Dean Torry has stated)
was contemplated in the original project of the College, 1
and the Council of Glenalmond, after Bishop Torry's death,
unanimously resolved that the two were not incompatible. 2
The number of charges and clergy in the Diocese was, and
continues to be, very small, though it was doubled during
Charles Wordsworth's episcopate. In very many ways it
would have been advantageous to the Church if he had
retained the Wardenship (of course with such extra help in
teaching as might have been required), particularly as long
as the theological students continued to reside at Glenal
mond, whose education he considered to be a specially
appropriate duty for a Bishop. But a combination of cir
cumstances, which he has himself described, 3 led to his
1 See Annals, ii. 131.
2 Letter from Chas. Wordsworth to his brother, dated 12 October [1852].
3 Annals, ii. 168-183.
6 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
resignation in 1854, the chief being the unsatisfactory
financial condition of the College.
The circumstances of his election, which are somewhat
fully described and discussed by himself in the ' Annals/
cannot wholly be passed over here, as they had naturally a
certain influence on his after life and relations with some
of the clergy of the Diocese, and with others. These cir
cumstances involved his taking a part in the election
himself, and giving a vote which decided the choice of the
presbyterate. Unfortunately, in those days the laity had
no voice in elections of Bishops, and a bare majority of the
clergy present a very small body in this case was all
that was required by the Canons. The two parties were
exactly divided, apart from the Warden of Trinity College,
eight against eight, and he was persuaded, 1 after much
hesitation, to do as he had good precedents for doing, and
as he was conscientiously convinced it was right in this
case to do, to give his vote for himself and to subscribe
the document certifying the election to the Primus. The
election was, it so happened, twice repeated, the first
having been declared null and void by reason of the absence
of this proper form of return. His opponent on the first
occasion was the Bishop of Moray (Eden), who withdrew
when the election was cancelled, not wishing to oppose the
Warden of Glenalmond. On the second the choice lay
between himself and the Rev. T. G. Suther, D.C.L., then
the popular Incumbent of St. George's, Edinburgh, and
shortly after elected Bishop of Aberdeen. 2 The votes were
as follows :
1 I understand that Messrs. Lyon and Farquhar were specially strong in
their persuasion.
2 Dr. Suther became Bishop of Aberdeen in 1857. His name is unfortu
nately misprinted Luther in Annals, ii. 130, and on the next page, note 3,
1 Lord Thedvvyn ' should of course be ' Lord Medwyn.' Besides the Annals
I have had the use of the Minute Book of the Synod, through the kindness
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 7
For the Rev. C. Wordsworth. For the Rev. Dr. Suther.
Messrs. Blatch. Messrs. Burton.
Wood. Douglas.
Wordsworth. Forbes.
Bruce. Chambers.
Malcolm. Walker.
Johnston. Lendrum.
Farquhar. Macmillan.
Lyon. Milne.
Torry.
It will be observed that the name of the Dean of the
Cathedral (E. B. K. Fortescue) does not appear on either
side. He was present and claimed a right to vote as an
inducted clergyman ; but though this fact is entered on the
minutes, his name is not in the ' sederunt,' and he did not
put his claim into force. 1 It is also to be noticed that
before the voting the other party proposed that the election
might be rendered unanimous if Mr. Wordsworth would
promise to resign the Wardenship, but this he refused to
accept as a condition, though willing to do it if hereafter he
found the two offices incompatible. 2
of the Synod Clerk, Kev. J. W. Hunter, of Birnam. It is, however, not
complete. It contains, e.g., the protest against the election, but not the
finding of the Episcopal College of 6 January, 1853, for which see Annals,
ii. 136-7.
1 No doubt it would at once have been challenged if he had done so, as
is evident from the protest made by the Synod Clerk at the meeting of the
Synod, 18 June, 1851, when Bishop Torry's Prayer Book was discussed. See
Minute Book, p. 153 foil. Dean Fortescue withdrew his claim to a vote at
the next meeting of the Synod, 16 June, 1852, until the position of St.
Ninian's ' be determined by a General Synod ' (ib. p. 162). He had, there
fore, by his own act, no locus standi in 1853.
2 See Annals, -ii. 130. This is thus referred to in the Minute Book
p. 182 : ' Mr. Lendrum proposed that three on each side should adjourn to
the Vestry, and there hold a brief conference in order that an election
should, if possible, be rendered unanimous. The conference, though most
amiable, was unsuccessful.' A second adjournment followed after another
8 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
His own full account of the circumstances ('Annals,' ii.
124-137) places them in a very clear light, and not a
shadow of blame rests upon him. But none the less such
an entrance into office was not happy for his personal
relations in the future to some of those who were at the
time his opponents. It is, however, satisfactory to notice
that some ten years later, when a General Synod dealt with
the question of Episcopal elections, in its revision of Canon
III., and introduced a clause which seemed to himself to
weaken his position, and gave him some little disquietude,
all who still remained of those who at first opposed his
election joined in the petition desiring him not to sever
the tie between them by resignation. 1 This revision of the
Canons, while it forbade a clerical elector to vote for
himself, joined with the clergy a body of representative
lay electors, and required that the Bishop chosen should
have a majority of both orders.
Difficulties such as that to which reference has been
made are, indeed, part of the price which has to be paid
for a Church constitution in which the Episcopal office is
purely elective, especially when it is in the hands of a very
small body. They are, moreover, to be expected in a
country where free expression of opinion on religious sub
jects and a critical attitude towards the opinions of others
are parts of the daily atmosphere of life. But the period
discussion, but with the same result as the former. A motion for delay was
also lost by a minority of one.
1 See his Letter to Dean Torry dated Perth, 19 February, 1863, in reply
to an address signed by seventeen out of twenty-three clergy, to which
number two other incumbents joined themselves in even more forcible lan
guage. The Primus at the same time, in the name of the Bishops, disclaimed
implying any censure upon him in the smallest degree, though acknowledging
that his case had raised the question. This letter was printed at the
Perthshire Journal office, but not published. The address was, of course,
not signed by Rev. J. C. Chambers, the Incumbent of the Cathedral in 1852,
who had resigned shortly after the election, and so ceased to belong to the
diocese. So also had Mr. Lendrum.
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 9
was one of special tension in regard to ritual and doctrine,
particularly, perhaps, in the Diocese of St. Andrews. To
one outside the Diocese it might, indeed, have seemed
strange at the time that so orthodox a Churchman and so
eminent a man as Charles Wordsworth should have met
with any opposition. The Diocese had very few charges, and
was ill-provided in every respect, except in the possession
of Trinity College, and so able a man could hardly have
been expected to undertake its government. He was as
high a Churchman as Bishop Eden, and higher than Mr.
Suther. Not only was he an advocate for the daily service
and the use of music the whole school, in fact, acting as
a surpliced choir but he was known to be sound in his
opinions on the doctrine of the Sacraments, then debated
with especial keenness. His resolution in respect to the
Gorham Controversy on Baptism, and to the judgment
which at the time so shook the Church of England, was
adopted unanimously by the special Synod of the Diocese
held in 1850. 1 In regard to Holy Communion, he was at
that time, and for a number of years afterwards, a sup
porter of the Scottish Office, which, as Warden of Glenal-
mond, he was pledged to use alternately with the English,
and he had adopted the Eastward Position at the consecra
tion prayer. 2
His doctrine on the subject of the Holy Eucharist was
delivered in the autumn of 1851 to the students and pupils
1 See Annals, ii. 83, where it is given in full. It was held at Perth on
10 April.
- This he states himself generally in his Charge of 1859, pp. 21 foil.
' You will have noticed heretofore that in the celebration of the Holy Com
munion I have been in the habit of saying the consecration prayer with my
face towards the East.' More will be said of this later. Of. G. T. S.
Farquhar, Episcopal History of Perth, p. 344 (Perth, J. H. Jackson, 1894),
who does not, however, notice that the Bishop took the Eastward Position
at St. Ninian's for the earlier part also of the service for the sake of con
ciliation.
10 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWOETH CH. i
of the College in ' Three Short Sermons,' in which he
set forth its character as a Sacrifice, Sacrament, and
Eucharist, in terms which might content most Church
men of the present day. In these sermons he allied
himself in general terms to the school which seems on the
whole best to represent the peculiar attitude of Anglican
theology towards this great mystery namely, that which
sees in the semce on earth a representation of the service
actually offered by our Great High Priest in heaven. 1 More
will be said on these important sermons in Chapter III.
Why was it then that he was opposed ? Some no doubt
objected to the union of the qffices of Warden and Bishop ;
but the main opposition to him came from the ' Cathedral
Party,' who sheltered themselves under the authority of the
aged Bishop Torry, and resented his stern censure of the
peculiar edition of the Prayer Book which was, as it were,
the symbol of their cause. His views on Church Establish
ment, and his strenuous defence of the principle as an
article of faith, also contributed to the opinion formed of
him. A few words are necessary, especially in regard to
the Prayer Book, in order to account for the influence of
this question on his election, in addition to what he has
himself written upon it.
Bishop Torry in 1847, being then about 84 years of
age, received a request signed by seven clergy of the
Diocese consisting of his son, John Torry, the Dean, and
Revs. John Macmillan, 2 Alexander Lendrum, 2 Thomas
Walker, 2 J. Charles Chambers 2 and Thomas Wildman,
1 These sermons were printed when he was at Muthill. The preface is
dated Epiphany 1855. The references to the heavenly sacrifice may be
found on p. 10 (where he quotes the well-known passage from St. Ambrose
de Officiis Ministrorum, i. 48), and on pp. 34, 35 the latter is a passage of
considerable force and beauty.
2 It will be observed that these four afterwards voted against Charles
Wordsworth's election as Bishop.
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 11
Priests, and Rev. Wm. Palmer, Deacon stating that they
were 'deeply sensible of the importance of having the
Liturgy and usages of the Church of Scotland, for the last
century, attested by a Prelate of his age and experience,
and begging to express their desire that such a book might
be edited under his sanction as shall serve as a document
of reference and authority in regard to the practice of our
Church.' l To this request he returned a favourable answer.
The book was edited by certain Presbyters of the
Diocese, of whom, I believe, Messrs. George Forbes,
brother of the Bishop of Brechin, and Alexander Lendrum
were the principal, ' every proof being forwarded to and
revised by them.' I have also heard that a Mr. Campbell,
an Edinburgh advocate, had a hand in it. But when it
appeared in April 1850 it was found to bear this title :
' The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the
Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church,
according to the Use of the Church of Scotland : together with
the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung
or said in Churches ; and the form and manner of making,
ordaining, and consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.'
(Edinburgh : R. Lendrum & Co., Hanover Street, 1849.)
The next page bore the following certificate from the
Bishop :
I hereby certify that I have carefully examined this edition
of the Book of Common Prayer, and that it is in strict conformity
with the Usage of the Church of Scotland ; and I accordingly
recommend it to the Use of the Clergy of my own Diocese.
PATBICK TOKRY, D.D.,
Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane.
1 I take these facts from J. M. Neale's Life and Times of Patrick
Torry, D.D. Bislwp of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane. London, 1856,
p. 273. The document in which they are found is a memorandum of
Bishop Torry's own dated St. Mark's Day [25 April] 1848.
12 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
There was no hint that it was a composite production
or that this was the first time that a Prayer Book with such
a title had appeared in Scotland, 1 for Scotland up to the
present day has not followed the example of the Church of
the United States and of the Disestablished Church of
Ireland, in having a Prayer Book of its own, but is content
to use 'the English Prayer Book, with or without the
Scottish Communion Office, which is sometimes bound up
with it, but more often printed separately. Bishop Torry's
Prayer Book had not been in any way before the Diocesan
Synod, much less before the Episcopal College or the
General Synod. It was, therefore, wholly unauthorised
except by himself, and open to attack from many quarters
and on many grounds.
The salient features of this book may be summed up as
follows : It presented the Church with a large addition to
its Calendar. It sanctioned the sponsorship of parents
in Baptism, and enjoined the sign of the Cross in Confir
mation. It provided for reservation of the Sacrament for
the sick. It emphasised examination of Communicants as
to their faith, and absolution of notorious evil-livers. The
mixed chalice was prescribed and permission was given to
1 The only similar title is that called The Booke of Common Prayer and
Administration of the Sacraments and other parts of Divine Service for the
use of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1637, the service book which
was so summarily rejected in the reign of Charles I. As to the title
' Church of Scotland ' it was no doubt continued on the title-pages of many
editions of the Scottish Communion Office as in that of Bishop Falconar,
1764. It was not apparently till about the beginning of the present century
that the title ' Episcopal Church in Scotland ' or ' Church in Scotland ' came
into use (see Bibliography of tlie Scottish Office in Bishop Dowden's Anno
tated S. C. O. pp. 276 foil. Edinburgh, 1884). Thomas Stephens's well-
known book in four volumes is called, on the other hand, the History of
the Church of Scotland (London, 1848), and many similar facts could be
adduced. Nevertheless the official title of the Church as witnessed by
the Code of Canons in its various revisions, 1838, 1863, 1876, 1890, is
' The Episcopal Church in Scotland.' The titles ' Scottish Episcopal
Church ' and now ' Scottish Church ' are also used in similar documents.
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 13
celebrate with only one Communicant beside the Priest.
On the other hand, there was no change in the rubric about
the ' north side ' except the use of the word ' altar '-
and for the first time, in any English Prayer Book known to
me, appeared a rubric ordering the minister to dismiss
non-communicants after the sermon.
It is easy to imagine the storm to which this publica
tion at such a time gave rise, both in the Episcopal and
Diocesan Synods, and in the public press. The Episcopal
Synod seems to have lost no time in condemning the book,
for it met on 17-19 April and desired the publishers to
withdraw it from circulation Bishop Forbes alone dissent
ing. The Diocesan Synod met at St. Andrews on 19 June
and again at Perth on the 25th. On the former occasion
it passed two resolutions on the proposal of Charles
Wordsworth : the first concurring in the resolution which
had been passed in April by the Episcopal Synod ; the
second ' recording its strong disapproval of the use of the
book which has been so condemned, and also its determi
nation, should the book be adopted or recommended by
any clergyman of the Diocese, to institute Canonical pro
ceedings against the offenders ' (' Minute Book,' p. 142
foil.).
These resolutions were carried by a majority of eleven
to five, the Dean, Torry a son of the Bishop and the
Synod Clerk (Kev. G. G. Milne, of Cupar- Angus), voting in
the majority, while Messrs. Lendrum, Chambers, and G.
H. Forbes protested. These resolutions were sent to the
Bishop of the Diocese asking his Episcopal sanction
(ib. p. 148), as well as to the College of Bishops.
In view of the second resolution it was elicited in Synod
that Messrs. Lendrum and Forbes used the book. 1 This
1 Through the kindness of Miss Carrington, now living at Dunkeld or
Birnam, I have a copy given to her by Mr. Lendrum, which was, I believe,
for her use in the Cathedral.
14 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
was equivalent to threatening them with Canonical pro
ceedings if they continued to do so. The book was also
used in the Cathedral, and was in fact a sort of symbol
of the ' Cathedral party.'
The Diocese of St. Andrews did not of course stand
alone in condemning the book, but a similar censure was
pronounced by the other Synods, 1 and the Episcopal
College went sMll further in the controversy.
Mr. Wordsworth not only took this prominent part in
the condemnation of the book in the Synod, but also wrote
seven letters to the English ' Guardian ' newspaper, which
were occasioned by an inaccurate report of the Synod pro
ceedings in that paper sent by Mr. Chambers, and after
wards reprinted them as a Pamphlet (Edinb. 1850). This
and other actions on his part in the matter are recorded
by himself. 2
No doubt the Warden of Glenalmond was entirely in
the right in the main issue, but it cannot be denied that
he was over eager and anxious for completeness in what he
did. Accuracy and orderliness were to him objects of
almost a passionate devotion, carried into the details of
daily life. It was too, unfortunately, impossible for him
to be prominent in such a cause without seeming to act
somewhat harshly towards his own Diocesan, an old man
of eighty-five, and now afflicted with a painful disease.
One cannot read the old Bishop's reply to the Synod 3 with
its sigh < Eheu in quae reservasti me tempora ! ' without a
feeling of sympathy, and a wish that it had been possible
for his own Synod to have met him in a different manner.
For I do not think it possible to accept the explanation
1 See Neale's Life of Torry, p. 282 foil. Many documents are given
there which are necessary to the full understanding of the matter.
2 Annals, ii. 86.
a Dated Peterhead, 17 August, 1850, and preserved in the Minute Book,
p. 148. It was an echo of Archbishop Parker's note on his own consecration.
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 15
that the Bishop was led into rash action without knowing
what he was about, though, doubtless, his judgment may
have been weakened by old age.
No doubt Messrs. Forbes and Lendrum, and perhaps
Mr. Chambers, had much to do with the form of the book,
but the rubric ordering the dismissal of non-communicants
is, I think, conclusive as to the Bishop's real responsibility
for it ; l and certainly, in his controversy with the Episcopal
College, Bishop Torry showed a vigour and a determination,
in fact an obstinacy, which at once makes his own position
in the matter clear, and shows how difficult a man he was
to deal with. It also has to be borne in mind that for a
long time he had not resided in the Diocese, but at Peter-
head, north of Aberdeen, and had for a number of years
ceased to attend the Diocesan Synods. He therefore could
hardly expect to exercise the influence proper to a Bishop.
As regards the other matter which placed Mr. Words
worth out of harmony with certain others in the Diocese his
defence of the principle of Establishment 2 ' as an Article
of the Christian Faith ' it is necessary to remember that
even in England a shock had recently been given to that
principle by the Gorham Judgment, and that High
Churchmen in Scotland could not be expected to be
ardent defenders of a principle which at once brought
up the vexed question of their duty towards the Estab
lished Presbyterian Church in the midst of which they
were living. Mr. Wordsworth not only defended the
Establishment of Keligion in England, but he defended it
on a far-reaching principle deduced from Holy Scripture, as
the intention of Christ for the welfare of His Church and
people, whensoever and wheresoever circumstances reason -
1 See Appendix I. On Bishop Torry's- Prayer-book.
2 Especially in the sermon, National Christianity an Article of he
Christian Faith, published at the expense of his friend, T. L. Claughton, then
Vicar of Kidderminster, where it was preached in 1851.
16 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. I
ably admitted of it. He afterwards (in 1868) l for a time
attempted to draw a distinction between Establishment
such as we have in England and that which exists in
Scotland, in regard to which there is certainly much to
be said ; but he returned to his first broad view in later
years, and those who felt he went too far in 1853 had
divined what was the permanent bias of his mind.
Another element in the opposition to his election as
Bishop was the influence of his old friend Mr. W. E.
Gladstone, in whose principles Charles Wordsworth had
ceased to feel confidence, and with his usual outspokenness
took occasion to proclaim it. He could not do otherwise
than give his reasons for not supporting him on the
occasion of his first election for Oxford ; but it was perhaps
not very opportune to put forward his difference of opinion
on a special occasion when Mr. Gladstone was present, 2
and, of course, personally deeply interested namely, at the
consecration of the Chapel of Trinity College, Glenalmond.
He also published a ' Letter to Mr. Gladstone on the Doc
trines of Eeligious Liberty,' in reply to his letter to Bishop
W. Skinner, of Aberdeen (then Primus), 'On the Functions
of Laymen in the Church,' in which he pointed out the in
consistency of his opinions there expressed with what
he formerly held, and inferred that the principles there
enunciated would probably one day, sooner or later, lead the
writer to desire the separation of Church and State. This
must have been his last publication before his election.
Taking all these things into consideration and
1 See his Address to tlie Conference of Clergy and Laity at Perth,
1 October, 1868, p. 3, col. 2. This address was never printed in pamphlet
form, but only extracted from the Perthshire Journal. It is in many ways
valuable (see below, p. 26 and Chapter VI.).
2 I do not see. anything in the Fasque sermon preached in 1847 to which
Mr. Gladstone could reasonably object. For the Glenalmond sermon see
Annals, ii. 92, 93.
i
CH. I ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 17
remembering that Mr. J. Charles Chambers was at that time
Incumbent of the Cathedral, it is not surprising that the
party who were representatives of the Tractarian Movement
in England were anxious to prevent his election as Bishop.
His own words on this subject, written towards the close of
his life, may fitly be quoted l :
I was soon made to feel that no party spirit is more keen
and bitter than that which is directed against those who
sympathise to a great extent and approach near, but cannot
allow themselves to go all lengths in a movement, which appears
to them extreme and injudicious or ill-timed. Dr. Hook had
experienced this at Leeds.
During the whole period of my Wardenship at Glenalmond
I had to encounter much which would have been very trying
and discouraging to a man of less sanguine and resolute dis
position than I was ; and the discouragement for the most part
came from quarters in which I had every right and reason to
expect support. A few energetic men, of great zeal but little
judgment or discretion, were impatient to push on the cause of
our Church by ways which for many years proved a hindrance
rather than a help, and do so still to some extent at the present
time. They were men of advanced opinions, who looked for
guidance to Pusey and Keble rather than their own Bishops.
He then goes on to remark on the opposition of the
* Guardian ' newspaper and the prejudice excited against
himself when it was seen that he was determined to take
an independent line.
There was certainly in those days a strength and an
outspokenness of antagonism which was characteristic, not
only of those who took part in the Oxford Movement, but
of the religious newspapers on all sides, and even some
times of graver writings and graver personages. This was
partly owing to the fiery spirit of individuals, partly to the
anxiety and unrest of the times, when secessions to Borne
1 MS. i. 3 foil.
18 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
were actual, or imminent, or seemingly probable, not on
the part, as now, generally of weaker men, but of some
who were confessedly regarded as leaders. Still more was
it due to the miscalculation of the forces necessary to check
or crush the natural, and, in a degree, perfectly innocent
and salutary, development of parties and opinions within
the Church. Appeals to force, in the form of hostile votes
in Oxford assemblies, or of legislation in Parliament, or of
actions at law, were still considered natural, if not highly
creditable, weapons. It is not perhaps safe to anticipate
that they have entirely disappeared from use among us,
but it is probable that they will never again be resorted to
under similar circumstances with the same sanguine hopes,
and put in operation by men of the same high position.
It was then considered almost latitudinarian to love the
comprehensiveness of the Church of England. Now, thank
God ! there are few, at least among the clergy, who do not
understand in some degree why it is to be cherished.
In such days as these, however, Charles Wordsworth
was called to be a Bishop. His life in this great office was
not an easy one, and in many respects it was not a happy
one. He had, however, many qualities which enabled
him to make a better use of his opportunities, and to ride
through the storms which he encountered with less loss
than many a weaker man would have done. Though con
stitutionally nervous as regards things in prospect, he was
yet, as he describes himself, ' sanguine and resolute.' He
was determined to do whatever he did * with his might,'
and he threw himself eagerly into the study of any question
that presented itself. He gave his full attention to it, and,
as far as he was able, exhausted it, and thus satisfied
himself that he had done his best to arrive at the truth,
and to be able to deliver a fair judgment upon it. Having
done his best, he did not dwell with morbid introspection on
CH. i ELECTION TO THE SEE OF ST. ANDREWS 19
the details of the past. When a thing was done he did not
usually worry himself about it, or finely balance his own
motives, or the share which he had with others in pro
ducing a particular result. He had a very genuine and
healthy piety, an untroubled faith, and an unbroken confi
dence in the beliefs and convictions which he had partly
inherited and partly embraced. Eeligious doubt, such as
is now floating about us, was probably unknown to him.
Nor does he ever seem to have experienced that attraction
to the Eoman position, much less to Koman ways and
usages, which men as strong as himself have been known
at certain moments to feel. His mind, though logical,
well-trained and full, and with a great capacity for his
torical judgment, and aided by an admirable memory, was
not readily engaged by questions which concern the philo
sophical side of religion, or eagerly occupied about its more
mysterious aspects. He was naturally on the look out for
sympathy, and keenly appreciated it from whatever quarter
it came, and he was exceedingly anxious to be fair and
moderate in his judgments, but he did not enter very easily
and fully into the views and feelings of other thinkers.
Occasionally, too, his perception of the folly or weakness of
those with whom he was dealing was allowed to express
itself too frankly in epigrammatic phrase or telling anti
thesis. He was then apt to take things too seriously, and
to betray a certain lack of humour. This apparent severity
gave a wrong impression of his character and accounted
for some of the opposition which he met with, especially
where he yielded to an almost youthful impetuosity. No
doubt, too, his long experience as a schoolmaster intensified
the critical instincts of his nature, and made him ready to
express disapproval and to try to set things right, when a
man more used to policy and to weigh consequences would
have asked himself whether it was necessary to emphasise
c 2
20 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. i
and enlarge upon his disagreement in public. But gene
rally, and more markedly as he mellowed with age, he took
a large, serene and public view of things, believing that
time and good sense would work men round to views which
he supposed to have the strong balance of historical experi
ence and reasonableness in their favour. A character and
disposition of this kind, controlled by a clear and quiet
conscience, enabled him to bear opposition, suffering, and
disappointment, and to go on with hopefulness, where
many a softer or more self-conscious man would have been
thoroughly beaten and out of heart.
CHAPTEE II
THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP
' Manus ad clavum : oculus ad coelum.' 1
The Diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane Character of Epi
scopacy in Scotland Early history of the three Sees Historical interest
of the united Diocese and attractiveness of the district Strong points
of Presbyterian organisation and Scottish character Its attraction to
Bishop Wordsworth General conception of his duty Three prin
ciples adopted by him His progress in the movement towards reunion.
THE united Diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane
is in more than one respect the most eminent in Scotland.
Not only does it represent the primatial see and two others
of great dignity, but it contains within its boundaries * the
fairest portion of the Northern Kingdom.'
Before we consider its natural beauty and attractiveness
a few words will not be out of place as to the historical
interest attaching to the Diocese ; and I shall endeavour to
consider it not merely as the sphere of labour to which the
subject of this memoir was called, but also in connection
with the great task to which he specially applied himself
and the difficulties he experienced in it. In order to
understand the circumstances of a Scottish Bishop's life
it is well always to remember the general outlines of
the history of episcopacy in that country, which differ
1 This motto, which is in English ' The hand to helm : the eye to
heaven,' is regularly inserted in the Bishop's almanacks from 1857 onwards
up to 1874, sometimes with the addition of a sentence of Scripture. From 1875
onwards he wrote it, ' Oculus ad coelum : manus ad clavum,' with a reference
' see BisJwp Sanderson, ii. 93.' Sanderson writes it so. The words are on
the grave at St. Andrews : see p. 280.
L>2 EPISCOPATE OF CHAKLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
widely from those with which we are familiar in England.
It has been asserted, and I believe with correctness,
that the growth of the parochial system in Scotland
was more rapid than it was in England. 1 The growth of
Dioceses, on the other hand, was very much slower and
less systematic, though this was not from want of an
Episcopate. The members of the order of Bishops, as
distinct from flae Presbyterate, seem indeed usually, if not
always, to have been sufficient for the wants of the people,
and from time to time we have evidence that, even in early
ages, they formed a numerous body. They had, as else
where, a dignity and a certain class of duties which were
reserved to them alone. But they did not, as elsewhere,
form centres of unity, or possess the authority of Diocesan
Bishops with mutually exclusive jurisdictions. The centres
of unity and authority were rather the Abbats or heads of
monasteries, who might possibly be Bishops, but were gene
rally, like their chief, the Abbat of lona, only Presbyters. 2
In the latter case the Bishops were subordinate members
of the corporation, or they might apparently be living
unattached, possessed of Episcopal dignity, but with no
settled jurisdiction. 3
Whatever may have been the case in the south, where
the successors of St. Ninian (circa A.D. 360-432) in Gallo
way may have obtained, at an early period, some kind of
1 Sir John Connell, On Tillies (Edinb. 1815), i. p. 46, quoted by C. J.
Lyon, History of St. Andrews, i. p. 44 (Edinb. 1843), a book in which I
have found much that is valuable.
2 See on this subject generally George Grub's Ecclesiastical History of
Scotland, vol. i. chaps, x. ' The Ecclesiastical Government of lona,' and xi.
The Doctrine and Ritual of the Scottish Church during the Primacy of
lona.' Cp. e.g. p. 152: 'There was no Diocesan Episcopacy; properly
speaking, no Episcopal rule at all. Each abbot was the head of his own
monastery, and over all was the successor of St. Columba, the Primate of the
Picts and the Scots.'
* Even in later days the Bishop of the small Diocese of Brechin was a kind
of appendage to the Abbey of Arbroath rather than an independent Prelate.
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 23
jurisdiction, 1 there appears to have been no attempt at
Diocesan Episcopacy to the North of the Clyde and the
Forth till a very much later date. It was not till the
beginning of the tenth century that we find a Bishop
residing at St. Andrews, emerging suddenly in alliance
with the newly-risen power of the Kings of the Scots.
The notices of a Pictish primacy at Abernethy about
seven miles S.E. of Perth are too shadowy to be more than
just referred to in passing. For our present purpose it is
enough to remember that about the middle of the ninth
century Kenneth Mac Alpine, King of the Scots, absorbed
into his dominions the southern kingdom of the Picts and
transferred the primacy of the Abbat of Tona to the Abbat
of Dunkeld (A.D. 849). About fifty years later Constan-
tine III. and Kellach the Bishop possibly in consequence
of a recent raid by the Normans on Dunkeld entered into
a solemn compact to observe the laws and discipline and
rights of the Church. This act, which has been compared
to the signing of Magna Charta in England, took place at
Scone, near Perth, in the year 906, on a hill henceforth
called ' The Hill of Faith.' This act was not improbably
connected with the transference of the Primacy from
Dunkeld to St. Andrews 2 Kellach being the first Bishop
1 Cp. the monuments of the praecipui sacerdotes ' at Kirkmadrine in
Wigtonshire. St. Mungo or Kentigern at Glasgow, the contemporary of St.
Columba circa A.D. 600, appears to have had no definite successors. The
first Bishop of Glasgow was John Achaius, A.D. 1115-47.
2 The Eev. Hob. Keith (Hist. Cat. of the Scottish Bishops down to 1688 :
Edinb. 1824) gives seven different forms of the succession. The folio win gentry
(describing the circumstances referred to in the text) in the Chronicon
Pictorum, No. 83 (printed in the Appendix to John Pinkerton's Enquiry into
the History of Scotland preceding the Reign of Malcolm III. [1056], vol. i.
493), is one of the landmarks of Scottish Ecclesiastical History : ' Constan-
tinus fil. Edii tenuit regnum xl annis. Cujus tertio anno Normanni prae-
daverunt Duncalden, omnemque Albanian!. In sequent! utique anno occisi
sunt in Fraith heremi Normanni. Ac in vi. anno Constantinus rex, et
Cellachus episcopus, leges, disciplinasque fidei atque jura ecclesiarum evan-
geliorumque, pariter cum Scottis, in Colle Credulitatis, prope regali civitate
24 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
named in connection with the latter place. From this
point something like Diocesan Episcopacy begins in the
North of Scotland. The Bishop living in St. Andrews
received or assumed the title of ' Episcopus Scottorum '
or ' Scotorum,' or ' Episcopus Primus (or Maximus)
Scotorum,' keeping, however, his residence in the old
Culdean Monastery of Kirkheugh, which was situate east
of the Cathedral and overlooking the harbour. The first
Bishop of St. Andrews who established himself in a
separate dwelling was, characteristically enough, an
Englishman, Koger, son of the Earl of Leicester, who built
the castle at the end of the twelfth century (A.D. 1200).
Yet it was not till towards the close of the thirteenth cen
tury that the definite title ' Bishop of St. Andrews ' appears
on the seal of William Fraser or Frazer l (1279-1297 A.D.).
To the Bishop of this See was accorded by custom a kind
of Primacy. Nevertheless, it was not for a century and
three quarters after the death of Bishop Fraser that St.
Andrews acquired the dignity of a metropolitan and archi-
episcopal see. This was in the person of Patrick Graham,
who in the year 1472 received the corresponding titles from
Pope Sixtus IV., 2 and thus ousted the much disputed
metropolitical claims of the Archbishop of York. 3 It is
Scoan, devoverunt custodiri. Ab hoc die collis hoc meruit nomen i.e. Collis
Credulitatis. Et in suo viii. anno cecidit excelsissimus rex Hybernensium,
et archiepiscopus, apud Laignechos, i. Cormace filius Culenan,' etc. . . .
' et in senectute decrepitus [R. Constantinus] baculum cepit, et domino
servivit : et regnum mandavit Mael filio Domnail.' According to Pinkerton,
this chronicle was written about A.D. 1020.
1 It was used, however, somewhat earlier in the attestation of Charters
(see Dr. J. F. S. Gordon's Scotichronicon, i. 175, Glasgow, 1867). Roger
(1188-1202), before his consecration, is described on his seal as ' Electus
Sancti Andree,' ib. p. 145. Frazer, on one seal, is also ' Scottorum episcopus,
p. 174. It is noted that the Culdees were excluded for the first time from
voting for Frazer's predecessor, Wm. Wishart, in 1273.
2 Lyon's St. Andrews, i. 233 ; Grub, E. H. S. i. 376.
3 The southern part of Scotland was no doubt in the province of York,
but an attempt was made to claim supremacy over the whole kingdom. In
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 25
very remarkable that Scotland was so long in arriving at
this point of development, since as early as A.D. 816 the
Anglo-Saxon Council of Celchyth had made it a reason
amongst others for suspecting men in Scottish (which of
course included Irish) orders ' that they acknowledge no
metropolitans.' } But whilst Ireland had long accepted the
authority of Armagh, Scotland had before and during the
Church Ee volution of the sixteenth century only a short
and tragic succession of seven Archbishops of St. Andrews,
two of whom were boye and two were murdered. 2
The foundation of the second See of the United Diocese,
that of Dunkeld, is referred to the reign of Alexander I.
(A.D. 1124), the first Bishop being named Cormac, to whom,
besides the present Diocese of Dunkeld (including Dun-
fermline), were probably also assigned the territories after-
terwards divided between the Bishops of Dunblane and
Argyll. At the same time the Scottish provinces on the
left bank of the Spey, to the north-west and north of Perth
shire, were formed into the Bishopric of Murray.
The erection or restoration of Dunblane is attributed to
David L, the son of Malcolm and St. Margaret, about A.D.
1150, when the number of Dioceses was further increased
to its full extent, with the exception of Edinburgh, founded
in the time of Charles I.
1126, just after the foundation of the Sees of Dunkeld and Murray, an effort
was made at Rome to obtain the pallium for St. Andrews, but it was success
fully opposed by Thurston, Archbishop of York (see Grub, E. H. S. i.
p. 264).
1 See Haddan and Stubbs' Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents,
iii. 581 ; cp. Wilkins' Concilia, i. 170. A similar canon was enacted at
Chalons on the Saone in 813, but it went even further in declaring
ordinations by Scottish Bishops to be null. See Labbe, Concilia, vii. 1821 ;
Grub, E. H. S. i. 127-8.
2 1. William Schives or Shevez ; 2. James Stewart (aged 21) ; 3. Alex
ander Stewart (a youth of 18-23 years, natural son of King James IV., who
fell with his father at Flodden) ; 4. Andrew Forman ; 5. James Beaton ; 6.
Cardinal David Beaton ; and 7. John Hamilton. The two last were murdered.
26 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. u
Bishop Wordsworth felt the importance of his position
in succeeding to so wide an inheritance, if not of power yet
of tradition. It may not be out of place to quote here
from an important address which he delivered some years
later to the clergy and laity of the Diocese, 1 in which,
after sketching the history of the three Dioceses to his own
time, he passes to their present condition with some words
of graceful appreciation of the most distinguished of his
predecessors.
Before I proceed to take account of their present condition, I
feel that, after a retrospect which has shown us much to deplore,
it would be inexcusable if I failed to pay some tribute of respect
ful and grateful commemoration to those among my predecessors
who have been most deservedly eminent to Turgot in the See
of St. Andrews (A.D. 1109-1115), the chaplain and, after her
death, the biographer of the saintly Queen Margaret ; to James
Kennedy in the See first of Dunkeld and afterwards of St.
Andrews (1436-1466), the munificent founder of St. Salvador's
College, and in this and other respects the William of Wykeham
of our Scottish Church ; to Gavin Douglas in the See of
Dunkeld (1516-1527), our Scottish Cbaucer ; to John Spottis-
woode, Archbishop of St. Andrews 2 (1615-1639), who, having
died in London, was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey ;
to Robert Leighton, in the See of Dunblane (1661-1673), our
Scottish Fenelon ; to Thomas Rattray, in the See of Dunkeld
(1727-1743), equally memorable for his theological attainments
and for bis services in securing to our Church, as disestablished,
the basis of the pure Scriptural and Apostolical constitution
which it now enjoys. 3
The Diocese, as now consolidated, had not, indeed, very
long been so large in extent as it is at present. The name
1 At a Conference held at Perth, reprinted from the Pertlishire Journal
and Constitutional of Thursday, 1 October, 1868. See Chap. VI. below.
2 The historian.
8 This refers to his securing the restoration of Diocesan Episcopacy
against the system of ' College Bishops.' He was owner of Craig Hall, in a
romantic situation, near Blairgowrie, in Perthshire.
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 27
of the See of St. Andrews had been for 140 years in abey
ance, since the death of Archbishop Eoss in June 1704
(when the primacy and metropolitical jurisdiction of that
See came to an end), until 1844. The nonjuring Bishops
appear to have been afraid of trenching on the prerogatives
of the Sovereign whom they acknowledged, which they
supposed to include that of assigning jurisdiction to par
ticular prelates. They had, in fact, tied their own hands
by assent to the ' Assertory Act ' of 1669, under which
Archbishop Burnet was suspended, and Leighton (nomi
nally at least) translated to Glasgow. At first they were so
timid as to drop all Diocesan titles, but these, after an
interval, were revived under Bishop Eattray's influence.
It is not quite clear why they shrunk from the further step
of reviving the Archbishopric, since the assignment of
metropolitan jurisdiction is no more part of the prerogative
than the distribution of Dioceses. But probably they were
afraid of alarming their countrymen, to whom the traditions
of Archbishops were worse even than those of simple
prelacy. However this may have been, in the temporary
arrangements then and thereafter made, the county of Fife
was treated as a Diocese, with no special pre-eminence,
sometimes being administered alone and sometimes in con
junction with other districts. It was not till September
1844 that it was determined, by an Episcopal Synod held
at Edinburgh, that the ancient name should be restored,
and from that date Bishop Torry took the title of Bishop of
St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane. 1
The Diocese thus constituted consists of the entire
counties of Fife and Kinross, the whole of Perthshire except
the Carse of Gowrie, Clackmannan (less Alloa) , two parishes
1 Grub, E. H. S. iv. 250. Cp. iii. 346 foil. Before that date he was
for a time ' Bishop of Dunkeld, Dunblane, and Fife ' (Neale's Life of
Torry, p. 202).
28 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
of Stirlingshire, and a great part of Forfar. In naming
this district ' the fairest portion of the Northern Kingdom '
I am but accepting the judgment of Sir Walter Scott, who
applies that title to the county of Perth, 1 a title which he
supposes would be given to it by any intelligent stranger,
while the natives of any other district of Scotland would
acknowledge its merits at least as second to those of their
own home. Bounded on the south by the Kiver Forth, and
containing the lovely lakes by which it and its tributary
the Teith are fed, it embraces nearly the whole basin of
two other rivers, the Earn and the Tay, which rise amidst
the most beautiful mountains and descend through the
most romantic glens and passes of the Highlands. In
Perth it has a capital, close to the old royal residence of
Scone, on so attractive and so obviously commodious a
site at the head of the Firth of Tay, that its ancient
history has been prolonged into the present ages by suc
cessful commerce, which has made it one of the most
flourishing cities of Scotland. In St. Andrews, on the
sweep of a great bay of the Fifeshire coast, it has a uni
versity city, with a tragic yet not wholly mournful past,
relieved with much that is bright and dignified, and with a
sunny, breezy, present charm of its own which almost every
one who knows the place has experienced. A similar interest
and a similar beauty attach to the other traditional
centres. The Tay, which is glorious at Perth, is more
beautiful still in its narrower current higher up in the
soft wooded valley, where it is spanned by Telford's bridge,
and flows between the ancient city of Dunkeld and the
modern village of Birnam. At Dunblane the Allan, famous
in song, which drains the lowlands where Agricola fought
and conquered Calgacus 2 and Mar, in 1715, disputed the
1 Fair Maid of Perth, beginning of Chap. I.
2 The camps at Ardoch, near Braco, a short distance from Greenloaning
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 29
ground evenly with Argyll, 1 passes quietly beneath the
picturesque cliff on which the Cathedral stands, and where
the saintly Leighton loved to walk. At each little city was
a ruined cathedral, with some special grace and glory of its
own, one of which, Dunblane, was gradually restored
during Bishop Wordsworth's latter years in a manner which
augurs well for the future progress of Church life in Scot
land in the beauty of holiness.
At Abernethy, an old Pictish centre, stands one of the
two round towers of Scotland, which a good authority
supposes to have been erected as early as the reign of the
third King Nectan (A.D. 712-727), and by the Northum
brian architects of the monastery of Jarrow, 2 and to be
a remarkable link of connection with the golden age of
the North-Anglian Church in the time of the Venerable
Bede.
At Glamis, in the northern part of his Diocese, is a
castle of unparalleled dignity and strangely fascinating
traditions. At Forfar, hard by, ie a centre of Church
life, and of persistent ministry in the evil days of the last
century, which has shown what the Episcopal Church may
be to the people when led by devoted men.
At Dunfermline, on rising ground overlooking the Firth
Station, are the largest and most complete in Britain, and are supposed to
be those used by Agricola A.D. 88. See Tacitus, Agricola, chap. 29 foil.
I visited them 2 September, 1895. I find from his diary that my uncle
visited them 11 August, 1876.
1 At the battle of Sheriffmuir, though neither side gained the victory,
Argyll prevented the Pretender's army from crossing the Forth,
2 Dr. Petrie, quoted in Murray's Handbook to Scotland, p. 279, ed. 5,
1884. See also J. Kussell Walker, Pre-Beformation Churches in Fifeshire,
fol. Edinb. 1895, from which I gather that it was connected with a Church
dedicated to St. Bridget. The other round tower in the Scottish mainland
is at Brechin, and is considered to be several centuries later. It is con
nected with the Cathedral. Abernethy is sometimes called the Pictish
capital, but that is said rather to have been at Forteviot. See Grub, E. H. S.
i. 132 and 116 foil, who records the intercourse between Nectan and Ceolfrid
and possibly Bede himself, from Bede, H. E. v. 21.
30 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
of Forth, the southern boundary of the Diocese, is a busy
manufacturing city which contains some of the most
interesting memorials of the royal families of Scotland.
Here on a mound, surrounded by a deeply-cut defile,
Malcolm Canmore built his modest tower, where he wel
comed his sainted wife Margaret flying from the Norman
Conqueror, and here they became parents of a line of
kings. Here, too, in close proximity, they founded
together the Benedictine Abbey, where they and their
descendants, down to Kobert the Bruce, lie buried. The
solemn almost empty Norman nave, in style not unlike
Durham, is nearly all that remains of the ' Westminster
Abbey of Scotland,' but the great ruined front of the later
palace, close to and connected with the abbey buildings, is
intimately associated with the history of Queen Mary and
her descendants the English Stewarts, and carries on our
thoughts to times that closely affect our own.
At Kinross, which lies half-way between Dunfermline
and Perth, is a bright little county town, with red- tiled
roofs that might belong to Lincolnshire, lying on the
western shore of the picturesque basin of Lochleven the
glory of that little county guarded by the two Lomonds.
The reader needs hardly to be reminded of the historic
islands which rise from its surface, one, St. Serfs, carrying
us back to the early times of the Culdees, the other, with
its peel tower and rampart wall, the scene of one of the
hard captivities, and of the romantic escape of the ill-fated
Mary Stewart.
It would take too long to describe, even in few words,
the castles, forts, and battlefields, the abbeys and churches
and sacred shrines, of this fair district. Everywhere
throughout these counties are scenes that delight those
who look upon them, and raise images of love and pity in
the reflecting mind. Everywhere are signs of old piety
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 31
disturbed by conflict, and suddenly arrested in its develop
ment, but ready to rise again ; of old honour and glory, of
baronial state and Highland chieftaincy, now bent down
and ruined in civil warfare, now emerging from it with
renewed bravery. Everywhere are signs of modern
activity in religion, but of religion at variance with itself
and eager to display its differences. Everywhere, and
above all other sources of interest, is a strong and self-
confident humanity, yet with a quaint charm, like that of
the country itself, from its blending of Celtic and Lowland
characteristics. Here you have enthusiastic devotion to a
cause or a person, reckless of consequences, side by side
with plain good sense of duty and respect for others.
Here you will find tenderness and poetry mingled with
roughness and bluntness, strange outspokenness and
equally strange reserve, generosity and shrewdness of
dealing, the expected and the unexpected, doors opened
into the soul and suddenly shut in fact all the marked
characteristics of our composite British nature,' more
developed than in England, and, more often perhaps than
with us, united in the same persons. To Bishop Words
worth, who had come into such close contact with his uncle
William, and was in many ways imbued with his spirit, the
country which had inspired some of his most characteristic,
that is to say, at once most spiritual and most human
poems, could not but be full of an inexpressible charm. It
had also a sort of family interest of another kind, from the
exertions of the men whom the Wordsworths were specially
brought up to honour, Bishop Horsley, William Stevens,
and Joshua Watson, who were the particular friends and
benefactors of the Scottish clergy.
No region could be fitter than this to evoke the desires
of an earnest and persistent man in the fulness of life and
power, anxious for the coming of the Kingdom of God. It
32 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
was, as he said to a friend l (towards the close of his long
life), to our Lord's office as King that he looked with most
earnestness for stay and comfort, in the midst of the con
troversies and divisions in which his lot was thrown. It
would not be untrue to say that this was the guiding
principle of his life. Such a country could not fail to
stimulate him to vigorous action of some sort in the hope
of contributing j;o the fulfilment of his Master's designs and
prayers. Here was a strong people and a religious people
all about him, separated as to its great bulk into three
opposing Presbyterian communions, divided, as every
Englishman feels, for no sufficient reasons, and yet divided
by a hostility, or at any rate a rivalry, of a most practical
kind. His own historic Church, which had the right, as he
notes, to the territorial titles, at least as regards its
Dioceses, 2 was but a fraction of the population (in his later
1 Dr. J. Myers Danson (of Aberdeen), who quoted his words in his paper
entitled ' Charles Wordsworth,' one of the lectures on Scottish Church
Worthies, given in St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, in 1895.
2 This is his note, MS. i. 11 : ' Our use of territorial titles. Some
persons imagine that the use of territorial titles of the ancient titles of
their respective sees is a usurpation on the part of the Scotch Bishops, and
an intrusion into the privileges of the Established (Presbyterian) Church.
But this is a mistake. When Lord John Eussell brought in his Ecclesiastical
Titles Bill it included the prohibition of these titles, but the clause was
withdrawn and our titles were purposely left unprohibited ; in other words,
they were recognised and allowed by the Legislature. In my own case,
when I was elected Fellow of Winchester [the new statutes made by the
Governing Body and approved by her Majesty in Council, November 20,
1873, contained the following clause, under the title " Fellows," p. 4 : " The
llight Eeverend Charles Wordsworth, Bishop of St. Andrews, shall enjoy as
a Fellow of the College the same pecuniary interest, as well as the same
status therein, as the Fellows elected before the passing of the 'Public
Schools Act, 1854 ']." ' I have completed this note by the words in brackets
taken from a memorandum on a loose paper. My uncle has not, perhaps,
stated his case quite as strongly as he might have done, for not only are the
titles ' left unprohibited,' but section 3 of the ' Ecclesiastical Titles Assump
tion Act (14 & 15 Viet. c. 60) of 1851 ' provides as follows : ' This Act shall
not extend or apply to the assumption or use by any Bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in Scotland, exercising episcopal functions within some
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 33
years he described it as 3 per cent.). In the Diocese
which he was called upon to administer, it had, with the
partial exceptions of Perth, Forfar, and Muthill, no such
strong traditional centres as exist in the great towns of
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen. At the end
of his life the total Church population of the Diocese was
returned as under 7,000, and it had largely increased in
forty years. It was, in fact, to a flock of only about 3,239
souls, divided among some twenty-one charges, that he was
at the first called to minister. We can readily imagine
what a constant disproportion he must have felt between
his will and power to guide and teach on the one side and
the willingness of those about him to be guided.
Nor could he be blind to the many points of difference
and of superiority which marked the position of the Presby
terian clergy and their flocks when compared, for instance,
with the majority of the dissenting ministers and their
congregations in England. The Genevan polity, intro
duced by Melville, though much out of harmony with our
ways of thought and feeling in the Church of England,
nevertheless retained and exhibited many of the elements
of true Church life, and discharged many of the educational
functions which are characteristic of a national Church. 1
It was a polity, not a conglomerate of varying congre
gations. Not only in the Establishment, but in the two
great schisms from it there was strong parochial feeling
a realisation that every resident in a place stood or ought
to stand in some relation to the Christian religion. The
district or place in Scotland, of any name, style, or title in respect of such
district or place, but nothing herein contained shall be taken to give any
right to any such Bishop to assume or use any name, style, or title which
he is not now by law entitled to assume or use.' This Act was repealed in
1871 by 34 & 35 Viet. c. 53.
1 In illustration of what I mean, I may be permitted to refer to my
Charge of 1894 (part 2), entitled The Educational Functions of a National
Church (Salisbury: Brown & Co.).
84 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
minister was often a true ' persona ecclesias,' a parson with
pastoral habits and instincts, not merely or chiefly a
preacher. We may believe that this attitude, especially in
the Established Church, has been much stimulated by the
presence and example of the Episcopal clergy ; but there
was a basis prepared for it to grow upon, and during the
lifetime of Bishop Wordsworth it was constantly growing.
The ' Elders ' and heads of families formed a religious
Parish Council or ' Kirk Session,' which was perhaps often
fidgetty and wrong-headed ; but its work interested them,
and their friends and relations, in the doctrine, worship, and
discipline of the Church, as well as in its finance, and thus
realised a side of Church life which is often felt to be defec
tive in England. Above the Parish was the Presbytery, and
then again the Synod representing something like a Diocesan
area, and, more important still, the General Assembly,
the backbone of the whole system. More than all this
organisation, the mass of the people, baptised Christians, 1
and better instructed in the details of their faith than the
majority of our own people, and none the less ' members of
Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of
Heaven,' were zealous believers in the Presbyterian system,
and had many evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit
among them. English people have recently had their
minds opened to the depth and reality of religious feeling
among the Scottish poor by the humorous and pathetic
descriptive sketches of Messrs. Barrie and Crockett, and
even more by those of the Free Church minister who writes
under the name of ' Ian Maclaren.' 2 It may be interesting
1 Something will be said on Presbyterian Baptism in Chap. III., p.
58 foil. The subject was one discussed in the Bishop's first Charge,
September 1854.
2 In this connection Mr. Barrie's best work must be considered to be
A Window in Thrums, and Auld Licht Idylls, and Mr. S. E. Crockett's two
volumes of sketches, called The Stickit Minister and some Common Men,
en. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 35
to the reader to be reminded that the valley and village
which is idealised in ' Drumtochty ' is understood to be
close to Trinity College, Glenalmond, while the ' Thrums '
of the first writer is known to be Kirriemuir in Forfarshire,
also in the Diocese. But merely from a literary point of
view these characteristics were evident to every careful
reader of Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth.
Burns's * Cottar's Saturday Night ' had long been a classic,
and Gait's * Annals of the Parish,' published in 1821,
might almost seem worthy to be called the Scottish * Vicar of
Wakefield.' But specially would Charles Wordsworth feel
the attraction of such pictures as those drawn by his uncle
of the Leech-gatherer in the short poem called ' ^Resolution
and Independence,' and the longer and more detailed
portraiture of the humble Wanderer a gentle and philo
sophic pedlar who may be called the hero of the ' Excur
sion.'
Such passages as the following from the first book of
the * Excursion ' must have had a peculiar attraction for
him :
Among the hills of Athol was he born ;
Where, on a small hereditary farm,
An unproductive slip of rugged ground,
His parents, with their numerous offspring, dwelt ;
A virtuous household, though exceeding poor !
Pure livers were they all, austere and grave,
And fearing God ; the very children taught
Stern self-respect, a reverence for God's Word,
And an habitual piety, maintained
With strictness scarcely known on English ground.
and Bog-Myrtle and Peat chiefly tales of Galloway. But from the point
of view of the historian of religion, perhaps Mr. Watson's idealised Perth
shire villagers make even more impression. I believe that the volume
Beside the Bonnie Briar-bush has passed its hundredth thousand. I saw
it first in Australia and New Zealand, where it seemed to be as popular as
at home.
D 2
36 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
And then again from the same book describing the
same character :
The Scottish Church, both on himself and those
With whom from childhood he grew up, had held
The strong hand of her purity ; and still
Had watched him with an unrelenting eye.
This he remembered in his riper age
With gratitude, and reverential thoughts.
But by the native vigour of his mind,
By his habitual wanderings out of doors,
By loneliness and goodness and kind works,
Whate'er in docile childhood or in youth,
He had imbibed of fear or darker thought
Was melted all away : so true was this,
That sometimes his religion seemed to me
Self-taught, as of a dreamer in the woods.
Nor was the slow deliberate way of speaking, habitual
to many Scotsmen, uncongenial to one who was so careful
in his own choice of language. The reader will not be
sorry to have William Wordsworth's description of it, in
the person of the Leech-gatherer, recalled to his mind :
His words came feebly from a feeble chest,
But each in solemn order followed each,
With something of a lofty utterance drest
Choice words and measured phrase, above the reach
Of ordinary men ; a stately speech
Such as grave livers do in Scotland use,
Religious men who give to God and man their dues.
As long as the Bishop remained specially connected
with Glenalmond, and to a great extent absorbed in daily
scholastic duties, the force of these considerations would
not be so strongly felt, though felt it undoubtedly was.
But when removed from it and thrown upon himself to
answer the question how he could best spend his time to
the glory of God and the increase of Christ's Kingdom, he
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 37
could not long doubt about the answer. He could best
serve God by doing his best to reconcile the Presbyterians
to the ancient Church and thus to create one united body
of Christ, primitive, Apostolic, and orthodox, for the three
kingdoms. This became the leading principle of his life,
and gave a unity and a dignity to it which otherwise, in so
small a sphere, it might have lacked. It was for this idea
that he lived. Other interests, both literary and religious,
though pursued with the eagerness and love of complete
ness which distinguished all he did, came more and more
to be subsidiary to this great end.
Such was the basis of his after life, and when the
practical question was raised, by what steps and through
what means reunion was to be effected, two answers arose as
naturally as the first. The primary necessity of all was to
prevent the capture of the Scottish Episcopal Church by a
party, especially by a party manned by Englishmen and con
trolled from England. The duty forced upon him, as he sup
posed, by the circumstances of his election was to prevent
the Church from drifting into a mere Donatising sect (as
he sometimes thought of it), very narrow, and at the same
time high and arrogant ; to avoid giving offence to Presby
terian prejudices, and to present the whole Church to the
nation in as Scriptural and reasonable a form as possible.
The second duty was to convince the strong Scottish
understanding that their own way was, at least in part
wrong, and that ours was, in some respects at least, more
right. These two duties were taken in hand at once and
pursued, with more or less persistency, to the end of his
long life. A third emerged and developed in course of
time as the strength of the National Presbyterian ' Church
of Scotland ' was better understood by him, and the
chequered course of the history of the country, and the
nature of the precedents for approaches to union, became
38 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. n
more familiar in detail. This was the duty, as he con
ceived it, of making concessions on the part of Episco
palians, whereby the principle of Episcopacy should be
saved, while temporary expedients might be adopted to
make the reconciliation less uncongenial to the bulk of the
people and especially to their ministers. Coincident with
this conviction came his practice of cultivating friendly
relations with ^Presbyterians, especially when asked to
preach on special occasions in their churches.
The following pages will exhibit the working of these
convictions in the Bishop's mind the first especially in
his relations with St. Ninian's Cathedral and his action in
the Eucharistic controversy and in his attempts to pro
mote the co-operation of the laity in Church Government.
The second effort was mainly a literary and social one, and
exhibited itself not so much in private correspondence as in
letters to the newspapers, an instrument of which he made
unreserved use, and in a long series of Charges, tracts,
books, and lectures in defence of the Episcopal position.
Four of these may be particularly named, two of them
specially referring to Scotland, viz. a ' Discourse on the
Scottish Keformation ' published in 1861, and a ' Discourse
on Scottish Church History from the Keformation to the
Present Time ' in 1881, and two on the general subject of the
three-fold ministry, viz. ' Outlines of the Christian Minis
try,' published in 1872, followed by ' Kemarks on Bishop
Lightfoot's Essay on the Christian Ministry,' which ap
peared in 1879.
The whole subject of Keunion is treated in various
aspects in the two volumes of c Public Appeals on Behalf of
Christian Unity,' in which he collected and republished a
number of his previous addresses, connecting them together
by valuable introductions in which he summarised the
progress of opinion on his own part and that of others.
CH. ii THE DIOCESE AND THE BISHOP 39
These two volumes were issued in twelve parts in 1886,
and culminated in the last number, entitled ' The Case
of non-Episcopal Ordination in reference to Scotland fairly
considered ' (a Synodal address delivered at Perth, 3 Sep
tember, 1885), in which he stated the kind of compromise
he was prepared to recommend should the matter ever
come to a practical issue. Up to the last fortnight of his life
he was still vigorously at work on the same topic, the most
important of his later utterances being his powerful letter
to the late Archbishop Benson of Canterbury in 1888, and
his Charge to his Diocese after the Lambeth Conference was
over. Previous to these publications he had, as I have said,
taken advantage of opportunities of co-operation with Presby
terians by preaching and lecturing to audiences in which
they formed the principal part. The College pulpit of St.
Andrews, of which University he became an honorary D.D.
in 1884, afforded him a sort of neutral ground, as we shall
see in a later chapter (Chap. VII.). He also delivered an
address to the students of Aberdeen in the hall of
Marischal College on Sunday evening, 21 February, 1886.
He prepared a similar address (which he did not deliver)
to the members of the Young Men's Christian Association
of St. Cuthbert's Parish in Edinburgh, which he issued on
St. Andrew's Day of the same year under the title, ' The
Yoke of Christ to be borne in Youth.' One of his last public
appearances outside his Diocese was to preach a * Com
memoration Sermon ' before the University of Edinburgh in
St. Giles' Cathedral, 18 April, 1889, the subject being ' A
Threefold Eule of Christian Duty needed for these Times.'
This refers to his text, 1 Thess. v. 21, 22 : * Prove all
things ; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all
appearance of evil.'
40
CHAPTEK III
EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 !
* ' Crescunt dona, crescunt rationes.'
Early Episcopate Perth Early history of St. Ninian's Cathedral Bishop
Torry's Statutes Characters of Provost Fortescue and Canon Humble
Eevised Constitution accepted Enthronement Primary Charge (1854)
The validity of Presbyterian Baptism The author's judgment on it
Residence at Muthill till Easter 1855 Beginnings of the Eucharistic
Controversy Attacks upon the Scottish Office Three Sermons on Holy
Communion and their value Extracts from them Charles Wordsworth's
attitude at various times (1858, 1859, 1862, 1884, 1889) towards the
Scottish Office The formula of Invocation in it Suggestions for the
amendment of the Consecration Prayer His final judgment The Bishop
at Dunkeld Finds a home after three years at Pitcullen Bank, Perth
End of ' Annals, August 1856 ' Papal aggression in the East ' The
Feu House (1858) The Bishop's taste.
AFTER leaving Glenalmond, which he and his family relin
quished with many tender regrets, the Bishop took his usual
midsummer holiday in England, which included, as of
course, visits to his wife's home at Burghclere and to Warden
Barter at Winchester, and on many occasions also to my
father's country vicarage at Stanford, in the Vale of White
Horse, Berks, or to his canonical house at Westminster. 2
Early in September he returned to Perth, the city which
was afterwards to be his home for about twenty years,
where he at first resided in lodgings in Kose Terrace, an
open situation, with good views in front of it.
Those who know anything of Scotland are generally
1 See Annals ii., chap. ix. The motto is from one of the Bishop's
almanacks.
2 This ie the house in Little Cloisters, now inhabited by Canon Charles
Gore and the Community of the Resurrection, and is therefore still happily
a home of Christian learning.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOI'ATK 1853-1856 41
more or less familiar with Perth, which, as one of the keys
of the Highlands, 1 has a position scarcely surpassed by that
of any city in the United Kingdom. It lies compact and
foursquare between two fair, green riverside meadows, the
North and South Inches, presenting all the appearance of
having grown out of a Eoman encampment, such as that
practical nation would naturally have placed on so com
manding a site. The Tay, which here almost becomes an
estuary, flows broad and strong past the city and its two
meadows ; a nobler Tiber past a nobler field of Mars, as
local patriotism is fond of reflecting. To the north,
across the Tay, lies Scone Palace, the ancient home of
kings, and the meeting place of many Scottish Parliaments
and Councils. To the south-east and south lie Kinnoul and
Moncreiffe Hills, forming a picturesque background, and
delightful breathing places to those who feel the lower level
relaxing. The river is crossed by one bridge at the north
east corner of the ancient city, taking the place of a more
central one which was destroyed in 1621. The railway
bridge from the south-east is accessible also to foot-
passengers.
Perth is the only town of large population in the Diocese,
and it is, no doubt, the most central place in it. It was in
ancient times in the Diocese of St. Andrews, 2 though not in
the same county, being no doubt connected with it through
1 The other would, I suppose, be Stirling, and perhaps Dunblane.
2 My uncle has this note in his Virgil Notebook : ' It is curious that
Bishop Torry, in 1810 and after [1847, see Life by Neale, p. 302], is under
the mistake of supposing that Perth was in his Diocese as Bishop of
Dunkeld. It is in the Diocese of St. Andrews. At the latter date he had
been Bishop of St. Andrews, and was therefore justified in writing thus.' He
became Bishop of Fife, I think, in 1838, and took the title of St. Andrews in
1844. The old arrangement may be seen by looking at the map given by
Skene of the dioceses in the time of David I., reproduced in W. Stephen's
History of tJie Scottish Church, i. chap, xix., 1894. But Bishop Torry
probably thought of the customary division of his own times, when ' Fife '
was still a diocesan district.
42 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
the fact that kings resided constantly both in its own castle
and at Scone. But it was also easily accessible to the two
other united dioceses, which St. Andrews itself is not. It
was therefore very naturally chosen by the promoters of
the Cathedral scheme in the time of Bishop Torry as the
site for their new institution.
In order to understand the position of things which
Bishop Wordsworth found here when he left Glenalmond,
and was considering where he should settle, we must go
back for a few years and trace the outline at least of the
history of St. Ninian's from 1847 to 1854, and particularly
recall its constitution and the character of the persons who
had most to do with its management.
At the time of Bishop Torry 's death the Cathedral had
been in actual existence as a building for about two years.
The scheme had been first proposed by Lord Forbes, 1 and
recommended by the Bishop in August 1847. Two years
later the first stone of the church was laid (16 September,
1849), and rather more than a year after that the first
portion of the Cathedral, including the chancel, was conse
crated 11 December, 1850, by Bishop Forbes of Brechin,
acting by commission for Bishop Torry.
A few weeks later the aged Bishop gave his formal
approval to the Statutes of the Cathedral (6 January, 1851).
He survived long enough to hear of its working with some
measure of efficiency and with considerable beauty of wor
ship, but he passed away on 3 October, 1852. He never,
I believe, saw the building, but was buried in it ten days
later.
The constitution of the Cathedral body was a somewhat
irregular one. It was never submitted to the Synod nor was
it communicated to the clergy. What authority it possessed
1 Farquhar's Episcopal History of Perth, p. 282.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 43
proceeded entirely from the Bishop's sanction. 1 There
may have been ages in which such sanction alone would
have been sufficient to establish a Chapter, but such
power could hardly be supposed to be practically in exist
ence in the Scottish Church of the nineteenth century, in
which Synodal government was so definitely and in some
respects so strongly developed. Nor was the constitution
in itself one which could naturally commend itself to the
Diocese, or to Bishop Torry's own successor, when it was
tried and put in action. The following account of it is
given by a member of the present Chapter, Canon George
Farquhar, in his valuable recent volume, * The Episcopal
History of Perth.' 2
Cathedral Statutes.
The Statutes were twenty-seven in number, and, especially
in view of future events, it will be necessary to indicate their
leading features. All the real power was lodged in the lesser
Chapter that is, in the Dean and Canons residentiary. The
entire patronage was in their hands that is, they elected the
Dean, Canons, Prebendaries, and appointed all other officials.
They could increase or decrease the number of these. They had
the right of altering the Constitution ; and thus they took the
initiative in everything. The position of the Bishop was of a
more passive kind : ordinarily the work of the institution would
go on without him. He had no more authority over the Cathedral
than over any other incumbency. He was to adjudge all
disputes when referred to him ; he had a veto upon all appoint
ments, and everything that was done was ineffectual without his
ratification. The Scottish Communion Office, with the ancient
usages thereof, was to be exclusively used in the Cathedral. The
clergy of the Diocese were hardly connected with the foundation ;
1 Both the old and the new constitution may be found in extenso in the
Appendix to Canon Humble's Letter to the Bishop of St. Andrews (Masters,
Lond. 1859, pp. 63-68).
2 By Geo. T. S. Farquhar, M.A., Canon and Precentor of Perth Cathedral
and Supernumerary of the Diocese (Perth : James H. Jackson, 20 High
Street, pp. 299 foil. 1894).
44 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
since, when installing the Prebendaries, the Chapter were not
free to select from the whole body, but must only choose those
who held incumbencies founded by the Cathedral, or the
patronage of which was somehow vested in the hands of its
officials.
The only point of interest in this constitution not touched
upon by Canon Farquhar is the modified provision for
celibacy in section XII.: 'It is hereby provided that the
Dean and Canons remain unmarried so long as they con
tinue to be resident in the college attached to the Cathedral
Church.'
The idea was to build a college or clergy-house for the
residence of the Cathedral body ; but this never went further
than the taking of a private house as a school, which was
to be for a lower class of boys than those who could go to
Glenalmond, and to furnish the materials for a choir. 1
The relation of the Bishop to the Chapter was not, however,
as Canon Farquhar seems to imply, even as authoritative
as that of the Bishop in respect to an ordinary incumbent.
It was not, and was clearly not intended to be, so effective
in its control or power of intervention. It was rather
intended to be that of a Bishop towards one of the cathedrals
of the old foundation in England, e.g. such as Lincoln,
Wells, or Salisbury. He was to be visitor, and with a strictly
denned visitatorial power, with a right of hearing com
plaints and ratifying new statutes, and sanctioning certain
new departures and appointments. It is not clear that he
would even have had the right to visit ' proprio motu '-
that is, when he thought it expedient. Certainly there was
no provision for his taking any part in the Cathedral services
or preaching at his own will, as, of course, he can do at any
1 See Farquhar's History, pp. 297, 305, ' the dining-hall of St. Ninian's
College.' 314 : ' The maximum number of boarders at any one time was
30, of whom 16 were choristers. There was, besides, a school for the poor,
the largest attendance at which was 80.'
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 45
church or chapel of the Diocese to which he has instituted
an incumbent.
The attempt was, in fact, to transfer bodily to Scotland
an institution of a very English character, such as is suitable
to a strong and well-endowed corporation with a lengthy
history and traditions, and having a large population round
it, and in a Church where the Bishop's incessant occupations
are such that he can only give a small portion of the time
to the affairs of his Cathedral, even if he be resident in close
proximity to it. All the members of the resident body
were Englishmen. The three canons were, Eev. John
Charles Chambers, 1 chancellor ; Kev. Henry Humble,
chaunter or precentor ; and Eev. Joseph Haskoll, 2 sacristan
with the duties of the treasurer in one of our ancient
cathedrals. These three first asked Mr. Kenrick to under
take the office of Dean, and then Dr. J. M. Neale. They
then, being unsuccessful in both these directions, elected the
Kev. Edward Bowles Knottesford Fortescue on 7 January,
1851, the day after the Statutes had been signed by the
Bishop. He was instituted in June of the same year.
Of the body so constituted, only two continued to reside
after Bishop Wordsworth settled at Perth. The other two,
Canons Chambers and Haskoll, went out of residence in
1853, 3 leaving as the chief supporters and authorities of
1 Mr. Chambers resigned 17 June, 1853, and became Incumbent of St.
Mary Magdalen's, Harlow, and in 1856 of St. Mary's, Crown Street, Soho.
2 Mr. Haskoll ceased to reside in 1853, and became Incumbent of
Laurencekirk, and in 1854 Hector of East Barkwith, in Lincolnshire. He
was a man of literary abilities.
3 The Bishop appointed as their successors Eev. J. A. Sellar and Bev.
R. Campbell. Mr. Sellar was educated at Glenalmond, and was ordained to
the Glenalmond Mission. He then became a Master there, and, when he
was transferred to Perth, was put in charge of the Choir School there. He
resigned in 1858 from want of sufficient means of support to the Cathedral,
and was afterwards for many years Incumbent of St. Peter's, Edinburgh.
Mr. Campbell resigned in 1856 for the same reason, and soon afterwards
joined the Church of Rome.
46 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. m
St. Ninian's the Dean, afterwards better known as Provost
Fortescue, and Canon Humble.
As these two members of the Chapter were for a number
of years in close relations with the Bishop, and often,
unhappily, in relations of constraint and conflict, it is right
that the reader should have some detailed description of
their character. I have been fortunate enough to obtain
it, partly from general report, but more particularly from
the hand of one who was personally friendly to them, and
who sympathised with them in many of their views and
practices, so that it may, I believe, be considered free, at
any rate, from bias against them.
Provost Fortescue, who was educated at Wadham
College, Oxford, was at the time of his election as Dean
perpetual curate of Wilmcote in Worcestershire, near Strat-
ford-on-Avon. He was a gentleman of refinement and of
good family ; l married (since 1838) to Miss Frances Anne
Spooner, daughter of the Archdeacon of Coventry, and
sister to Mrs. A. C. Tait. He was a man rather of feeling
than of learning, but thoughtful and able ; and one who
exercised considerable influence, both by his preaching
and his personal intercourse. He was, however, wholly
unversed in Scottish affairs and ways of thought, and was
in many things fanciful and unpractical, and deficient in
some of the stronger qualities of character. The following
description of his outward man, and his way of thinking
and acting, will be read with interest. 2
In dress Provost Fortescue was carefully clerical, but in old-
fashioned style. Although not much, if at all, below the average
height, he looked shorter from his habit of holding his head
1 He was son of the Kev. Francis Fortescue-Knottesford, Hector of
Billesley, co. Warwick, and connected with the family of Lord Carlingford.
2 This and the notice of Canon Humble are from the pen of Provost
T. I. Ball, of Cumbrae.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1803-1856 47
rather bent and forward. His face usually wore a grave and
rather mysterious look, and he seemed sensitively to shrink from
anything like a familiar gaze. If he did not like his company,
or did not feel sure of it, Provost Fortescue used to adopt a some
what donnish, reserved, enigmatical manner, and spoke little and
(apparently) unwillingly. When at his ease, however, he could
talk much and with great animation, and when it pleased him, in
a select circle, freely to unbend, he was full of mirth, and could
tell or enjoy a good story with the best. The Provost read very
little, but thought a good deal. I do not know that he took, or
pretended to take, much interest in things in general, though he
enjoyed stories which illustrated the variations of human nature.
Otherwise his tastes were exclusively ecclesiastical. Art he only
cared for in any form so far as he thought it expressed correct
ecclesiastical ideas. His theology was fundamentally that of the
advanced High Church School. In his public teaching he was
generally content to set forth clearly and plainly, and in the very
striking manner which he could employ, the orthodox aspect of
doctrine and practice. But in private talk or conference his
great delight seemed to be as paradoxical as possible, and
he seemed to take pleasure in bewildering his listeners by
startling and apparently inconsistent statements. A favourite
way of his was to maintain the tenability of the most ultra-
Roman opinions on all subjects. This reckless manner of
argument, which was with him (at all events for many years)
only a wayward jeu d' esprit, sometimes had unhappy conse
quences, Sometimes, however, all his power of paradox was
put forth to maintain the perfection of something Anglican
which most men of his school would consider to be among
reformanda. In his own house he could be a charming host ;
for behind all his waywardness and whimsical ways you could
see the English gentleman ; but he shrank (as I have said) from
unsympathetic company. A man of this disposition was not
made for fighting, and when ecclesiastical differences arose his
inclination was to come to terms, or to look round for a loophole
of escape. Even when not on harmonious terms with Bishop
Wordsworth he was fond of saying, in his characteristic way,
that there was something ' supernatural,' the effect of the
divine charisma which a Bishop possesses, in that prelate's
official utterances.
48 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
He continued to be Provost till 1871, but resigned that
office in July of that year. Upon his resignation he
married (as his second wife) a lady of the congregation
(Miss Bobbins), and both he and his wife simultaneously
entered the Church of Rome, I believe in Belgium.
The circumstances of his leaving the communion of the
Church in Scotland were such as to produce great dis
couragement to his friends, and especially to members of
his congregation, by whom he was much beloved. They
were necessarily followed by much sorrow to himself; for
in the Eoman communion he of course suddenly ceased to
be recognised as a Priest, or to be able to consider himself
as such, though his whole previous life had been involved
in the habits of thought and action proper to that character.
I have evidence, not exactly that he repented of what he
had done, but that he was not contented with what he
found in his new communion, and that he continued to
take a strong and respectful interest in everything con
nected with the Anglican Church.
Canon Humble, the other leader of the Chapter, was a
man of very different character and antecedents. He came
from the Diocese of Durham, of which he was a native, and
was educated at the newly-founded University there. He
was a member of a family much respected in the City. His
father was proprietor of the ' Durham Advertiser ' and he was
for a time himself its editor. There can be little doubt that
his early training in journalism largely influenced his after
style, and gave him the habit of writing aggressively and
without sufficient consideration of his opponents. He was for
a time tutor at Castle Forbes, six or seven miles above Mony-
musk, in the valley of the Don . As a clergyman he is described
as a good man and a hard worker, especially among the
poor and middle-class members of his congregation. But
he was essentially combative, and I fear I must add self-
CH. in EAELY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 49
willed. His strong will dominated the Chapter both in the
time of Provost Fortescue and his successor. He was not,
however, a man of strong health, and he died of consump
tion in the early part of 1876.
The same able pen that has sketched for us Provost
Fortescue has kindly delineated the person and character
of his subordinate but more powerful companion.
Canon Humble was a typical Englishman of the educated
middle-class. He was of average height, broadly built ; he held
his head upright, slightly thrown back; he had a rather large
nose, strong and determined looking, though not of the classic
Roman shape. His dress was always strictly clerical, of rather
old-fashioned cut, without a trace of ecclesiastical foppery about
it. In manner Canon Humble was friendly, frank, and open.
His kindness and courtesy saved him, but perhaps only just
saved him, from a tendency to brusquerie. The Canon had read
much, and thought much, on a great many subjects ; his
interests were wide and general, but they were chiefly concen
trated on all that related to his profession. He was a good
talker, had a great fund of humour, and was full of common
sense ; his judgment on ordinary matters of life was sober and
clear, and he was eminently a man who attracted confidence.
He was given to hospitality, and was ready to open his purse
to those in need. He was an ardent disciple of the Tractarian
Movement as represented by Bishop Forbes, of Brechin, but
always set himself against anything like mere extravagance or
excess. His piety (as far as one may presume to judge of it)
was deep and sincere, but was entirely unostentatious. Though
in friendly and social intercourse Canon Humble never showed
anything even approaching to quarrelsomeness, contentiousness,
touchiness, or ill-temper (or even quick temper), yet he was a
born warrior. He smelt the battle afar off. One thing that
especially incited him to gird on his armour was anything that
seemed to him like oppression, or the taking of unfair advantage
of the weaker by the stronger. Those who loved and admired
him most often regretted the eager way in which he sometimes
threw himself into the defence of persons the reality of whose
wrongs was not above suspicion. And so it will be easily under-
E
50 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
stood how that, when ecclesiastical differences arose, Canon
Bumble's line was, not that they should be composed or accom
modated, but that the matter should be fought out. Even those
who most agreed with him theologically were often not a little
dismayed at his eagerness to fight, and in Dundee, where the line
taken in ecclesiastical matters, under the suave rule of Bishop
Forbes, was ruled by reserve, prudence, and diplomacy, Canon
Humble was regarded as the enfant terrible of the advanced
High Church school in those parts. Many of those who loved
and revered him most sincerely (including, I may perhaps be
allowed to say, myself) did their best to persuade him to desist
from his last contest with Bishop Wordsworth, but all in vain
the battle must be fought. It was lost, and I know he felt
keenly the want of sympathy with him that his friends showed
in the matter. But what could we do ? It was one of those
cases in which affection looks one way and judgment and reason
another. When the news arrived of Canon Humble's death at
San Remo, they who really knew and valued him did not feel
that a war-making spirit was at rest so much as that they had
lost a brave and loyal friend, on whose kindness and generosity
they could always rely.
It was with these two men, who while they differed
largely from each other, differed yet more thoroughly from
himself, that Charles Wordsworth was called to live and
work in close proximity. Had he lived at a distance from
them in the same Diocese he might conceivably have been,
outwardly at least, at peace with them ; but the Cathedral
would in that case have been a very isolated institution,
and much out of harmony with all his plans and hopes for
the Diocese and for Scotland in general. He was bound
either to leave the Cathedral severely alone and to show
himself in no way responsible for it ; or to take it well in
hand and to mould it into his scheme of work. He deter
mined, I think with good reason, to adopt the latter
course.
The new Bishop, though he felt that the Cathedral
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 51
scheme was premature and open to many objections, had
thought it right to give it a modified, but very decided
support. His reasons for objecting to it were clear. It
was a very expensive scheme, and was therefore in that
matter a rival to Glenalmond. It was or might be a rival
also to some extent as a place of education. Its constitu
tion was open to much criticism. It was a kind of outpost
of the Tractarian party in England, and was in the Diocese
without really belonging to it. It was largely controlled by
two generous laymen, who had no property in the Diocese,
and were neither of them much in touch with residents in
it. 1 On the other hand, it was in its essence an institution
with which he was bound by the traditions of his family to
be in sympathy. It was not only the first Cathedral es
tablished across the Tweed, but, in the words of Dr. Neale, 2
' the first British Cathedral (with the single exception of
St. Paul's) that had been consecrated since the Eefor-
mation.' It was a great venture of faith, and many hopes
were centred on it.
He therefore at once took steps to give it a legal stand
ing in the Diocese by inducing its promoters to accept a
revised constitution for it, and by persuading those who
looked coldly upon it to recognise it as a Cathedral for the
Diocese. This somewhat difficult task was achieved by his
wise conduct of business at two synods held at Trinity
College, Glenalmond, the first a Special Synod on 6 April,
1853, and the second at his first Annual Synod on 6 July
of the same year. At the first of these meetings, to which
laymen were for the first time invited (to speak, but not to
vote), the Cathedral was ad interim accepted, subject to
1 Lord Forbes and Hon. G. F. Boyle, afterwards Earl of Glasgow, who
died in 1890. As Earl of Glasgow he inherited Crawford Priory, in Fifeshire,
but this was not till 1869.
2 Life of Torry, p. 367.
E 2
52 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. m
some general resolutions as to the composition of the
Chapter and a revision of the Statutes by the Bishop.
This recognition was balanced with a proviso that the
acceptance was also subject to the approval of the next
General Synod of the Church. At the second meeting the
draft * Code of Statutes ' was proposed by him and accepted
unanimously. At the same time he gave notice of his
intention to ^ummon the laity to meet at a visitation to be
held the day following the Annual Synod, which was ap
pointed to be held at the Cathedral on the third Wednesday
in September 1854. The two main objects of the revision
of the Cathedral Statutes were, of course, to ensure the
proper influence and authority of the Bishop, both in the
way of appointments and in regard to the control of the
services, and to connect the Cathedral more closely with
the Diocese.
The following summary of the changes made may be
quoted from Canon Farquhar's ' History,' premising that
the whole relation of the Bishop to the Chapter was
governed by the following general clause (in Art. 2) :
The clergy of the Cathedral shall be subject to the Bishop
and amenable to Canonical jurisdiction provincial and diocesan
in all respects as the other clergy of the Diocese.
Article 4 was also of great importance :
It shall be the duty of the Provost (under the Bishop) to
govern the whole institution, cathedral, and collegiate, to
superintend and control the performance of all Divine offices,
and especially to take the chief part in preaching sermons.
These regulations were supposed at the time by all
concerned to give the Bishop plenary powers in the Cathe
dral. Mr. Boyle, then secretary and treasurer for the
Cathedral scheme, wrote to the Bishop (19 May, 1853) :
CH. in EAELY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 53
I should rejoice to see the Cathedral really yours, and worked
as such.
And again on the 24th :
After much thought and prayer I have come to these con
clusions :
1. That the scheme as embodied in your Lordship's Draft of
a Constitution is the best that can be adopted. It ought to do
much to allay the suspicion with which the Cathedral scheme is
so generally regarded, as it will no longer be worked by a few
individuals, but by the Bishop of the Diocese, and under his
unlimited control and supervision.
2. That so far as I am personally concerned, I will only work
in your Lordship's Diocese in such a way as a layman can do so,
in entire accordance with your wishes, and as far as possible in
the manner in which you most recommend. I could not for one
moment think of affording any support to St. Ninian's were it to
assume a tone of opposition to its Bishop.
It should be said that the new Statutes were drawn up
by the Bishop, with the help of the Kev. John Jebb, Pre
bendary of Hereford, a man of great knowledge and authority
on all subjects connected with Church law and order, but
especially as regards Cathedrals. The Bishop's leading
idea was (as Canon Farquhar well remarks ] ) that the
Chapter should be no longer an imperium in imperio a
close corporation, independent of the Bishop and the
Diocese. He desired, on the contrary, as he himself said,
'to maintain the unity and singleness of Diocesan Epi
scopacy ; not according to the mediaeval plan of checks and
counterpoises of government (which arose in part out of
the aggrandising spirit of the Church of Kome).'
Accordingly his new code depressed the power of the Chapter.
They were no longer to have the appointment of the Dean,
Canons, and other officials exclusively in their own hands ; they
were no longer to be the sole originators of all business at the
1 Episcopal History of Perth, p. 338 foil.
64 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. m
meetings ; they were no longer to have power to increase and
decrease the number of stalls at their pleasure ; in fact, the
initiative in the government of the institution was to be no longer
theirs. They were to act strictly under the Bishop, whose
powers therefore were largely increased ; he was to be no longer
passive and merely sanctioning or vetoing what came up to him
from the Chapter. He was to be the ordinary president of the
Chapter ; he was to initiate all business there ; he was to have
the power of proceeding against the members of the Chapter for
insubordination &c., and of making new laws or altering the
Statutes, provided he obtained a two-thirds majority. As
regards the Clergy of the Diocese, they were to be so connected
with the Cathedral that, the patronage of the Chapter having
been done away, the five oldest Presbyters in the Diocese were
always to be invited to become Prebendaries. Thus every school
of thought would have an opening. As for the Scottish Com
munion Office, though he would not interfere with its actual
exclusive use, yet it must not stand on the formal Statutes of the
Cathedral that any Canonical Service, such as the English
Office, was to be constitutionally excluded.
The Bishop was able to carry this constitution by
reason that the body of Presbyters in his Synod was still
exactly divided the half who had supported his election
being opposed to any recognition of the Cathedral, while
the other half, who had opposed him, supported it. These
latter, therefore, needed and welcomed his influence and
authority in order to obtain for it a regular position
in the Diocese. His wise use of this opportunity was of
great advantage to him at the commencement of his Epi
scopate, and gave fair promise for the future. The Cathe
dral became a Diocesan institution, and as such is now
well established and successful ; but curiously enough the
formal ratification of the act of the Diocesan Synod, which
should have been given by the next General Synod, was
never asked for in 1862 and cathedrals attained no
Canonical status in Scotland generally until 1890.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 55
Coincidently with the acceptance of the constitution
certain minor changes were made in the ritual at the
Bishop's suggestion, and about the same time two new
Canons were appointed to take the place of those who had
gone out of residence, one of whom (Kev. J. K. Sellar) was
specially to undertake the educational work of the choir
school. The Bishop was enthroned at St. Ninian's on 7 St.
Matthew's Day, 21 September, 1853, and preached a
sermon suitable to the day ' St. Matthew an Example to
Scotland ' in which he specially tried to move Episcopalian
landowners to dedicate their sons to the ministry of the
Church. The sermon also contained a warning to the
Cathedral clergy to be careful not to give offence by dis
loyal innovations, a hint which at that time they might be
expected to take in good part. Both parties had made
sacrifices, and for a time it seemed that it would be possible
for the Bishop's great gifts as a preacher to find a sphere
of exercise in a Church where beauty of worship and a high
standard of devotion were also manifest; so that the ideal
excellence of the Church might be exhibited before the
world in something like completeness. Here for five years
(1854-1858) he constantly preached, and here he held
Diocesan Synods and Visitations, including both clergy
and laity, and this annually on two consecutive days.
The actual building of St. Ninian's was at this time
and for many years afterwards only a fragment of Mr.
Butterfield's design, consisting of the choir, dwarf tran
septs, and one bay of the nave, and was capable of con
taining a congregation of about 350 persons. It was high
in proportion to its length, and the chancel was raised
above the nave, and thus it already exhibited some of the
dignity and impressiveness which the completed interior
certainly possesses. It stands in the north-west corner of
the city, near the infantry barracks and on the Dunkeld
56 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
road. The only other Episcopal church was St. John the
Baptist's in Princes Street, towards the south-east of the
city, and therefore almost as far as possible from the
Cathedral, and so placed as not to interfere with its
congregation. 1 It was natural that this name should be
chosen in a city which in early days was usually called St.
John's town or St. Johnston, but now that the old church in
the centre of^ the city where Knox preached the iconoclasm
which was so speedily put in practice has recovered its
ancient name, there is some danger, perhaps, of confusion.
A school chapel close to the Central Kailway Station was
also built by my uncle's instrumentality in 1868, and has
our family motto, i VERITAS,' over the principal entrance.
It is now no longer used for Divine service.
The residence at Eose Terrace, Perth, with a mention
of which this chapter began, was not of long duration. It
included, however, an important annual event the second
regular Diocesan Synod. This took place on the anniversary
of his enthronisation, St. Matthew's Day (21 September,
1854), and was followed on the next day by the Visitation,
at which laymen attended, and at which he took occasion to
deliver his Primary Charge.
This Charge, the first of a series of important de
liverances, contained a considerable amount of matter
bearing on the subject of Eeunion with Presbyterians, and
in particular a recognition of the reality of their Baptism,
which the Bishop held to be valid though irregular. In
this admission he was dissociating himself from his pre-
1 In 1849 the congregation of St. John's, Perth, was reunited to the
Church after a separation of nearly fifty years. My uncle, then Warden of
Glenalmond, desired that the two congregations should be moulded into
one, and published a pamphlet on the subject, A Call to Union. See
Annals, ii. 66 foil. But neither party would combine with the other. The
new St. John's Church was consecrated by Bishop Trower, of Glasgow, acting
for Bishop Torry, in 1850.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 57
decessor, Bishop Torry, and the general policy of the non-
jurors, and making the first and most essential step in the
advances which he was so much drawn to extend in later
years. The Charge was, like nearly everything he wrote,
carefully composed and guarded in its language, and well
fitted to conciliate all parties of Churchmen as things then
were in Scotland. It not only showed, as might have been
expected, both classical and patristic learning, and a con
siderable acquaintance with the treatment of the subject
by Anglican divines, but it also exhibited a true insight
into the particular difficulties of the situation. The reader
will gather its character from a few extracts, and will then
be ready to consider a little more at length the special
point to which his attention has been called.
It may, I think, be said without exaggeration that the
clergy and people of a Christian Church have rarely met
together for mutual counsel and encouragement under circum
stances of deeper and more anxious moment than those in which
we, my brethren, are now assembled. In a Diocese which
comprehends the ruins of one Archi-Episcopal and two Episcopal
sees, we have held our Synod, and now hold our Visitation for
the first time, in a corner of a Cathedral which is still but half
completed, but which, as it is the fruit of the first attempt that
has been made to erect such an edifice in this country for
upwards of three hundred years, so it can scarcely fail to cheer
our desponding hearts with brighter and more hopeful thoughts.
Ourselves but a small and feeble remnant : the Laymen of us
representing, indeed, the possessors of more than half the soil,
but not more than a hundredth part of the population of the
three Dioceses ; the Clergy representing in less than twenty
unendowed Incumbencies the two hundred parishes and upwards,
in which our forefathers ministered, reduced to struggle with
difficulties of all kinds ; and meanwhile having too much reason
to fear that every effort which we may make to recover our lost
ground, as it cannot fail to provoke the spirits of evil, and the
enmity of an ungodly world, to increased hostility, so it must
tend to aggravate and increase our trials, unless we are careful
58 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
to proceed in the faith and fear of God, -with the utmost prudence
and discretion, with the wisdom of the serpent, no less than the
harmlessness of the dove (p. 6).
In his treatment of the relation of the Episcopal Church
to Presbyterians he starts with the maxim of Cicero (de
Orat. ii. 82) : * Ad consilium de Eepublica dandum, primum
est nosse Kempublicam : ad dicendum vero probabiliter
(primum est) .nosse mores civitatis,' which he paraphrases
' In order to give good counsel concerning the Church, our
first and most indispensable care must be to know the
Church. To plead the Church's cause with a good prospect
of success, it is essential that we should know and consider
well the character of the people among whom we live, and
with whom we have to deal.' He then proceeds with the
following wise and conciliatory words :
No one, I think, can doubt that there are elements in the
Scottish character which hold forth the promise and exhibit the
capacity of producing fruits of holiness, richer and more mature
than those which at present are commonly perceived amongst us ;
but it is no less clear that there are also other elements in the
same character, as it now exists, which raise more than ordinary
impediments to the reception of certain portions of the Apostolical
system (subjected as that system has been to so much unworthy
treatment on the part both of friends and foes) ; and which must
be taken into account with the utmost tenderness and forbearance
if we desire to follow the example of the great Apostle, who
scrupled not to 'become all things to all men, that he might
by all means save some ' (p. 12 foil.).
In treating of the validity of Presbyterian Baptism, he
naturally follows Hooker and Bingham, and the general
consent of Anglican divines, in doing which he was in
company with Bishop Forbes, of Brechin. 1 He notices the
dissent of the nonjurors, and the remarkable fact that
1 See his Explanation of the Nicene Creed, ed. 2, p. 299, Oxf. 1866, and
cp. Rev. Warwick Elwin, The Minister of Baptism, pp. 275 foil. Lond. 1889.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 59
strictness in the matter also came from the Calvinistic side,
and was enforced by the earlier Presbyterians : * Denying
as they did, and blaspheming our ministry as anti- Christian,
they could not do otherwise than deny our Baptism, which,
according to their teaching, none but a duly authorised
minister is competent to give ' (p. 16). But he does not
notice the considerable amount of Anglican authority which
there also is for the stricter practice. He mentions, indeed,
the nonjurors Brett and Laurence (p. 15 n.), but not
Waterland, whose ' Letters on Lay-Baptism ' l are very
decided against its validity, and represent the judgment of
a man who has always commanded respect, especially
among the school of Anglicans to which the Bishop of St.
Andrews belonged. Nor does he refer to Maskell, whose
then recent ' Dissertation on Baptism ' contains some
valuable arguments on his own side. He was not, however,
writing a set treatise on the subject, and was certainly
justified in saying that Canon xvn. of the Scottish Code of
1838 did not enforce re-baptism, but directed conditional
Baptism in cases ' where the applicants shall express a doubt
of the validity of the Baptism which they have received
from the minister of the sect to which they formerly
belonged.' Nevertheless we must remember that not only
is there the question of a valid ministry, but also the doubt
whether baptism has been administered at all. There is, I
understand, unfortunately very good reason for this doubt
in Scotland. Strangely enough, in so well educated a
country, where judicial records are admirably preserved, bap
tismal registers have been very much neglected since 1848,
even in the Established Church, in which they have long
been ordered to be kept. And as the children only of
1 They have recently been reprinted from his Works, with notes by
F. Nutcombe Oxenham, and a preface by the Bishop of Argyll (Haldane
Chinnery), Lond. 1892.
60 EPISCOPATE OF CHAELES WORDSWORTH CH. in
* godly ' parents are admitted to Baptism, the parents are
often afraid to bring them to the minister lest they should
be refused. Very many, therefore, remain unbaptised.
For my own part, if I may express an opinion in
passing on the general aspects of so difficult a subject, I
should remark that while the command to baptise is
given to the Apostles, and through them undoubtedly
to the Apogtolic ministry, it is, nevertheless, naturally
inferred from Scripture that they rarely baptised with their
own hands. St. Paul, who was justly very eager to main
tain his full rights and position as an Apostle, and most
unlikely to have done anything singular, or calculated to
prejudice his claims to Apostolic powers, states this dis
tinctly as regards himself (1 Cor. i. 14-17). It is matter
of inference as regards the Twelve ; but our Lord's own
example naturally suggests the idea that Baptism was
recognised as, so to speak, a minor ministry (John iv. 2),
and the remarkable fact should be noticed that the passive
voice ' they were baptised,' &c. is regularly used in the
New Testament as regards Christian Baptism. The single
exception in the Acts proves the rule, viz. that of Philip the
Deacon, who, being alone with the Ethiopian, necessarily
baptised him in person (Acts viii. 38), and he of course
was not an Apostle. Yet of John the forerunner it is as
regularly noticed that ' he baptised,' evidently in his own
person. It seems clear from this, at any rate, that little
stress was laid at first on the person who administered
baptism among Christians. The faith of the recipient and
the other conditions of the Sacrament are the points
especially dwelt upon. See particularly Eom. vi. 4, Col. ii.
12, 1 Peter iii. 21.
When we come to sub-Apostolic times we find the same
thing true. In the ' Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,'
generally dated about the end of the first or beginning of
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 61
the second century, the directions about Baptism are
general, though 'the Baptiser ' is bidden to fast before it,
as well as * the Baptised.' The command to appoint
' Bishops and Deacons ' is connected with the Eucharist,
but not with Baptism. In the same way, in Justin
Martyr, where a rather lengthy description of Baptism
and the Eucharist is given, Baptism is spoken of as
if administered by the whole body of faithful Christians
(' Apol.' i. 61 &c.), whereas the ministry of the clergy is
distinctly referred to in regard to the other sacrament.
Even the well-known text of St. Ignatius, which forbids to
baptise or to hold a love-feast ' without the Bishop '
(' Smyrn.' 8), does not by any means necessarily imply
that he was the actual minister of Baptism. Doubtless
even in the second century there were two tendencies, a
laxer and a stricter one, and these two have continued side
by side ever since. On the one side, it is clear that the
Apostles were the right persons to determine the conditions
of Baptism, and in the great case of Cornelius they
exercised this authority in a most momentous manner, by
ratifying the decision of St. Peter, that Gentiles were to
'be baptised. It is further clear that Bishops succeeded
generally to this authority, sometimes to such an extent,
and with such a closeness of grasp, as to be the sole
ministers of Baptism, as was the case in the Church of
Milan in the fourth century. 1 On the other hand, the
tradition that laymen might, under proper conditions, be
ministers of Baptism has always existed in the Church,
from the time, at ahy rate, of Tertullian, though not always
without protest, and subject to greater or lesser attempts
to limit it. The question as to heretical Baptism has, from
1 See the remarkable passages on this point quoted in Smith and
Cheetham, Diet, of Christian Antiquities, s. v. Baptism, p. 166 an article
by the late Wharton B. Marriott.
62 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
time to time, been diversely decided, the East tending to be
stricter in this point than the West. Schismatical Baptism
was, however, theoretically at least, accepted in both regions
of the Church, 1 if administered in the right form and with
the right matter, and with the right faith on the part of
the recipient, even though the validity of the orders of the
sects in question were denied. There can, therefore, I
think, be no doubt that the balance of authority is in
favour of a charitable acceptance of Presbyterian and Non
conformist Baptism, whenever the conditions required by
the Church are adhered to, as they certainly are according
to the general intention of the chief bodies into which our
fellow Christians are divided. And surely in this matter
the strongly-expressed design and desire of our Saviour to
create one Church must count for very much. Faith and
Baptism are by Him and His Apostles so closely connected,
that where we find the one Faith sufficiently existing on
the part of Christians, and the intention to administer the
1 The Council of Aries, A.D. 314, which ruled the custom of the West,
upheld the anti-Cyprianic view, and decreed that a convert from heresy
should be asked to repeat his Creed, and if it should be found that he had
been baptised ' in Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto ' he was only to receive
imposition of hands. The Council of Nicasa, A.D. 325, distinguished between
the Novatian schismatics (Canon 8) and the Paulianist heretics (Canon 19).
The Cathari or Novatians were accepted on rather easy terms. Nothing is
said as to their baptism, which was clearly admitted, though their clergy
appear to have been technically re-ordained (xftpoeerovnevovs avrovs
ptveiv OVTCDS v T<$ K\-f)pcf), but admitted, as far as possible, to the same
position as they previously held. The Paulianists, or disciples of Paul of
Samosata, though there is evidence that they used the threefold name in
Baptism, were to be re-baptised, and their clergy (with some formality)
re-ordained. See the evidence carefully collected on these points by Dr.
Wm. Bright in his Notes to the Canons of the First Four General Councils,
pp. 25 foil, and pp. 66 foil. (Oxf. 1882). The re-ordination of the Novatian
clergy is a moot point, but Dr. Blight's evidence for it appears to me
sufficient, and it is the natural interpretation of Canon 8. It is, in this
case, a practically decisive precedent for the admission of Presbyterian
baptism. My uncle, in his Ecclesiastical Union between Scotland and
England, Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1888, supposes that they
werenoJ re-ordained, quoting various good authorities for his opinion (p. 18).
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 63
one Baptism equally apparent among them, we must have
very clear proof indeed that the consequent blessing does
not follow. And when we see in fact the fruits of the
Spirit's presence following (though not always with the
sweetness and maturity that we should find if all other
conditions of Church-life were present), we cannot doubt
that a valid Baptism has been administered.
The true policy for the Church, and the most consistent
with antiquity, seems to me to be to make much of Confir
mation as a perfecting of Baptism, and to be very clear and
distinct in our teaching on this head. It is this view of
Confirmation as an admission into the full privileges of the
Catholic Church that makes it important to insist upon it
in such cases as a condition preceding Holy Communion,
according to the teaching of our Prayer Book. This is
distinctly taught in the Charge which has led to this
discussion, 1 and must be remembered as the proper safe
guard of the freedom and charity which is recommended.
The reader will pardon this digression ; for I take it for
granted that no one is likely to read this memoir unless he
is already interested in the question of Keunion, or is willing
to be drawn to take interest in it. And those who know
the present condition of opinion and practice in Scotland 2
will be aware that an attempt is sometimes made to intro
duce a rigorous teaching and practice on the subject, which
1 See p. 17, where he also refers to Bingham's Scholastical History of
Lay Baptism, part 1, ch. 1, 21, 'What defects there are in the Baptism
of heretics and schismatics, and how those defects may be supplied.' The
Bishop of St. Andrews, however, did not in after years insist absolutely on
Confirmation of all Presbyterians who joined the Church as communicants.
He left a note for this volume, saying that he ' had uniformly acted on the
same principle as that by which Bishop Torry was guided : see his Life, p.
188, 205 ; ' i.e. to recommend without forcing it.
2 The two books which I have quoted above, The Minister of Baptism,
by Mr. Elwin, and the reprint of Waterland's Letters, are an outcome of
this movement. Both are useful contributions to the history of a difficult
subject.
64 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
is likely, in some degree, to endanger the efforts to which
Charles Wordsworth devoted nearly all the remainder of
his life.
The concluding portion of the Charge deals generally
with the duty of convincing members of the truth of our
own position 'the Diocesan, Provincial, or National
System ' as against the Koman and our behaviour
towards those who are separated from us. The Charge,
both from its 'tone and its matter, was well fitted to be the
prelude to such an effort as the Bishop was then steadily
contemplating. It is impossible not to reflect how much
more effective the result might have been if those who
heard him had been content to subordinate their individual
aims to a general levelling up of the small Church of which
they were representatives, instead of making it a battle
ground for the controversies which were only just tolerable
in the broader area of the Church of England.
The Charge was very well received at the time and
circulated in considerable numbers at the expense of its
hearers, both clerical and lay, and speedily passed into a
second edition. 1
The ' Visitation ' at which this Charge was delivered
was held on the day after the Synod, and was well attended.
It was continued, as I have said, for four years, when it
was dropped, being held for the last time in 1858. In
1859 the strained relations with the clergy of St. Ninian's
led to the Synod being held at Dunkeld, and some other
arrangements had also to be altered.
The Synod and Visitation being over, the Bishop took
Mrs. Wordsworth to Bournemouth, whence he was sum
moned by a call of duty, the important charge of Muthill
being vacant owing to the resignation of the incumbent,
Mr. Lendrum. When a charge fell vacant it was his habit,
1 Annals, ii. 185.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 65
when no one else was available, to take the Sunday duty
himself, sometimes for weeks in succession, going forwards
and backwards from Saturday till Monday from Perth.
But the circumstances of Muthill were exceptional, and he
remained there, in a house lent him by Mr. Lendrum's
brother-in-law, Dr. Clarke, from Advent 1854 till Easter
1855. Such spells of duty and occasional residences were
among the most valuable instruments at his command for
smoothing away difficulties and giving parochial life a new
start, and this residence at Muthill was a particularly
useful one as well as very satisfactory to himself.
Muthill is a pretty village, some three miles south of
Crieff, in Perthshire, with the remains of an old church and
an ancient tower, which are unfortunately not now (as they
might easily once have been) in the hands of the Episcopal
Church. The history of the congregation is an honourable
one, and it is in some respects one of the strong centres of
the Diocese. The following notes about it have been kindly
made for me by my friend Mr. W. M. Meredith, now
Incumbent of Crieff, but formerly of Muthill.
Whilst at Muthill the Bishop had a curate, Mr. Browning,
to assist him in the services and in visiting. There was daily
service, but it was found that those who could come did not, on
the score of innovation. One old woman tells how the Bishop's
daughter and Mrs. Wordsworth used to sing Psalm 100 at their
week-day services.
The Bishop also re-started the Church Day School at Muthill,
which Mr. Lendrum had begun, but which had apparently stopped
for a time.
From the impression made we gather that he was the first
Bishop of the Diocese in this century to wear the Bishop's dress.
He is remembered as a good visitor, and every one speaks of his
magnificent preaching, how the church was filled, and many
came from a distance to hear him.
The Bishop procured for Muthill the old Font from Trinity
College, Glenalmond, and to the people here he addressed his
F
66 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
well-known ' Plain Tract on the Scottish Communion Office,' by
which he saved the use of the Office in this congregation.
The mission at Comrie (St. Fillan's) was started as an
offshoot from Crieff (which was itself an offshoot from Muthill)
in the Bishop's life-time ; and on the other side of Muthill (in
which he always continued to take a keen interest) the town of
Auchterarder seemed to offer room for Church work. The
Bishop and Lord Rollo_went over one snowy Sunday evening and
held service in a plain, bare building placed at their disposal,
which was Attended by some three hundred people, though no
actual mission work was taken up there till many years after
wards. The Bishop, however, had the happiness of seeing the
work begun, and gave it his hearty blessing. A fine church has
since been built.
About the time of his residence at Muthill he began to
be involved in the Eucharistic controversy, though not at
first in a form that required the full exercise of his critical
powers. Controversy was indeed ' in the air ' in all parts
of the Church of England, especially on this topic. Dr.
Pusey's sermon ' On the Eucharist ' was preached early in
1853. 1 In the same year, just before Whitsuntide, appeared
the important book of Archdeacon Kobert Isaac Wilberforce
on the same subject. 2 In the autumn of 1853, and in the
following spring, Archdeacon Denison had preached three
sermons on ' Holy Communion ' in Wells Cathedral, which
were made the occasion of formal complaint against him.
Scotland felt the stir which was thereby raised almost as
much as England, at any rate throughout the Episcopal
Church. Charles Wordsworth took the opportunity of a
petition from some of the communicants at Meigle (pre-
1 See Life of Pusey, iii. ch. xvii. Second period of the Eucharistic
Controversy.
2 He was received into the Koman Church in October 1854, but
maintained to the last that his book on the Eucharist was not inconsistent
with the formularies of the Church of England. His later book, Principles
of Church Authority, undoubtedly was, and was intended to be, in opposition
to them. See Life of Pusey, iii. 426.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 67
sented April 1854), for the disuse of the Scottish Office,
which had always been in use there, to republish his three
sermons on ' Holy Communion,' preached at Glenalmond,
which defined his own position without attacking that of
others. They are so important, both in themselves and as
an index of his mind, and have the advantage of being
so uncontroversial, that the reader will benefit by the follow
ing notice of their contents and especially by the extracts of
the more important passages in them.
The full title of the publication is ' Three Short Sermons
on the Holy Communion considered as Sacrifice, Sacrament,
and Eucharist, with notice of the differences between the
Scotch and English Offices for its administration.' The
preface is dated ' Muthill, Epiphany 1855,' and notes that
the sermons, delivered in the autumn of 1851 at Trinity
College, were now committed to the press, * partly for
reasons which concern the Author's own Diocese.' The
sermons contain a statement of the doctrine under each of
the three heads with a practical application. The doctrine
of Sacrifice is thus connected with the duty of Repentance ;
that of Sacrament with the duty of Faith ; that of Eucha
rist of course with special modes of Thankfulness. The
references to the Scottish Office, which made these sermons
useful in the Meigle case and elsewhere, are explained by
quoting the following instruction of the Episcopal College
to the Warden of Glenalmond, where the two offices were
used on alternate Sundays, ' earnestly to recommend and
inculcate on his pupils the propriety of their attendance on
either service, the doctrine of the two Churches, though
varied in expression, being confessedly one and the same.'
The statement of the doctrine of Sacrifice (p. 3) is
important as a prelude to the after development of the
controversy. The Lord's Supper is first treated as an ordin
ance commemorative of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ.
F 2
68 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
We are to learn, that in this holy rite Jesus Christ is not only
preached by word of mouth, but by visible signs ' openly set
forth, crucified amongst us.' We are to see in the breaking of
the Bread His Body broken, and in the pouring out of the wine
His Blood shed. But more than this ; we are to recognise in
the same divine rite all the essential properties of a true sacrifice ;
we are to see done in very deed what Christ did, for the
remembrance of Him. And what then did He do? When
fche time of the Passover was fully come, He the great High
Priest, the Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, took
Bread and Wine, and having sanctified them by His word and
heavenly Benediction, He offered them to the Father as the
representation of Himself. This action, therefore, to be
adequately commemorated requires not only an offering to be
made, but a Priest to offer it, and an Altar (Heb. xiii. 10) to be
offered on. And this, my brethren, is the reason why the
elements of Bread and Wine are first placed upon a side table
(which we call the Credence or Prothesis) in order that the
Priest, and no other, may solemnly present them upon the Altar
as the minister of Christ, and acting in His stead.
He notes the corruption of this doctrine by the Church of
Eome, since the Council of the Lateranin[1215], 1 teaching
' that the sacrifice of the altar is not a commemoration only,
but an actual repetition of the one great and all sufficient
Sacrifice once made upon the Cross.' He accounts thereby
for the retrenchment of some portions of the service bearing
on the doctrine of Sacrifice at the English Reformation ;
and describes the * true doctrine of a representative sacrifice '
as properly restored in the Scottish Office and ' exhibited
1 The date is misprinted 1245. Keference of course is to the first
Canon of the Fourth Lateran Council, which contains the memorable
words : ' In qua (ecclesia) idem ipse sacerdos et sacrificium lesus Christus ;
cuius corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis et vini
veraciter continentur ; transsubstantiatis, pane in corpus et vino in san-
guinem, potestate divina, ut ad perficiendum mysterium unitatis accipiamus
ipsi de suo quod accepit ipse de nostro.' That ' actual repetition ' is involved
in this Canon may, however, reasonably be doubted.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 69
in the clearness and integrity in which it is uniformly set
forth in the Primitive Liturgies.'
The following passage sums up the first head of
doctrine :
It teaches us of a death to be commemorated, by visible
representation, till the end of time (1 Cor. xi. 26). It teaches
us of that death as a sacrifice for sin, for the sin of the whole
world. It teaches us of that sacrifice, as offered once for all by
Jesus Christ, emblematically at the Paschal supper, but sub
stantially upon the Cross; and as represented continually by
His appointed Ministers who still 'do this,' or rather 'make
this' that is, make this offering 'for the remembrance of
Him ' (Luke xxii. 19). It teaches us of the offering which He
made, and commanded to be repeated, 1 for a continual witness
and exhibition of His precious death to the world, to the holy
Angels, and above all to God, as none other than Himself ; Who
being from the beginning the Son of God, and so all-mighty to
save, became, in order that He might die, and so accomplish our
Salvation, the Son of Man (pp. 7, 8).
This doctrine is supported by quotations from Bishop
Andrewes, Bishop Jolly, and St. Ambrose de Officiis Minis-
trorum (i. 48).
In the second sermon on the doctrine of Holy Com
munion as a Sacrament the following gives the pith of his
teaching.
In the view we are now to take, we are to see the same
Bread and Wine which have been offered as the symbols of the
Body and Blood of Christ, first consecrated into a most holy
mystery by prayer and the laying on of sacred hands, and then
returned to us as from God by the same representative of Jesus
Christ to be to us all that that mystery portends, and all that
we ourselves had signified by the offering we had made.
1 This must refer to the offering made at the Paschal supper, as he says
above 'emblematically.' In a MS. note to p. 18 he quotes Bishop
Buckeridge, Discourse on Kneeling, p. 52 : ' Tho' there be not idem sacrifi-
cium, as it denoteth the action of sacrificing, yet it is idem sacrificatum ;
Christ crucified, that is, represented to God and communicated to us.'
70 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
Hence the Altar in this view becomes the Lord's Table
and the Priest the Steward of the Lord's household. The
former view presupposed a congregation of fellow worship
pers with the priest, the latter a companionship of guests.
' It is odious among men for one to feast by himself alone.
How much more at the Table of the God of Love.'
The careful reader will note here the phrase * be to us
all that that mystery portends,' which echoes the words of
some of the old Liturgies including those of the first
Prayer Book of Edward VI., and differing very slightly from
the Eoman form, ' ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat.' It is,
however, as we shall presently see, a reading into the
Scottish Office of what ought to be, but is not, there. The
reader will also observe the stress justly laid on the partici
pation of ' a company of guests ' to communicate with the
priest, the absence of which, except on rare occasions, can
only be justified by treating the service simply as a Sacrifice
and not also as a Sacrament. Here we have the germs
of much of the Bishop's controversial teaching in after
times.
He then adds some helpful words on the topic of the
relation of Sacraments generally to the Incarnation, and the
virtue which they derive from the presence of Christ's man
hood in them by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
Their great characteristic is that they unite us to the man's
nature of Christ, Who took our life that we might partake of
His ; Who became the Son of Man, in order that He might give
us the power to become sons of God. In this view they have
been called 'the extension of the Incarnation' that is, the
channels through which the virtue and efficacy of that stupendous
act of goodness and condescension on the part of the second
person of the blessed Trinity (whereby our fallen nature is
again renewed after the image of God) are extended and com
municated to man. . . . Hence we conclude, that whatever
efficacy the Sacraments possess they derive from hence, that the
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 71
manhood of Christ is truly present in them ; and that this
presence is effected by the operation of the Holy Ghost
(p. 20 foil.).
This naturally leads to a commendation of the special
Invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Scottish Office as
adopted from the ancient Liturgies, in favour of which
Bishop Short of St. Asaph and Bishop Wilson of Man are
quoted. Finally, he does not scruple to call the sacramental
presence of Christ ' a real, and in some sense a bodily
Presence of Christ with all who worthily receive Him in
these Holy mysteries.' In a note to this passage he shows
that the Primitive Church did not hold the modern Eoman
doctrine of the bodily presence, by referring to * the illustra
tion which the Fathers derived from the union of the two
parts of the Sacrament, to confute the heresy of Euty-
ches, who denied the union of the two natures in the one
Person of Christ.' * In another he quotes Bishop Andrewes
as testifying that unworthy Communicants receive to no
purpose a tacit reference to the controversy raised by
Archdeacon Denison.
The words which follow on the consequent duty are
worth quoting :
As a necessary consequence of the doctrine of Sacramental
Communion in the Lord's Supper we require faith. To possess
faith we require to cultivate habits of holiness. We require
charity which gives a single eye ; we require temperance which
gives a single heart ; an eye to discern Christ in these holy
mysteries, and a heart to love Him, and not only Him, but our
neighbour also for His sake. [Then follows a warning not to
consider forms of devotional preparation as by themselves
sufficient.] . . . Unless at the same time you are honestly
1 The heresy of Eutyches was what is generally called monophysite,
teaching that the human nature was absorbed by, if not wholly lost in, the
divine. In the Sacrament, as in the Person of Jesus Christ, both the divine
and the human characters coexist.
72 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
striving, watching, praying day by day to form in yourself the
habits which I have named, and which a man can no more put
on and off for the occasion than he can change at a wish the
height of his stature or the colour of his skin (p. 28).
In the third sermon there is an animated passage based
on the language of Ps. cxvi. showing how much the
Christian's reasons for Eucharistic thankfulness exceed
those of the Jew. It ends thus, and is interesting because
of its reference to our Lord's continual High Priesthood
as far at any rate as this offering is concerned :
If a Jew in thankful acknowledgment of the benefits he had
enjoyed, could solemnly promise ' I will offer to Thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving ; I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the sight
of all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house, even in the
midst of thee, Jerusalem ' ; how much more is the Christian
called upon to promise and to pay the same, who has a great
High Priest, even Jesus the Son of God, to present his offering,
and who through Him is admitted into the courts above, into
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and is joined
in presenting the same offering by an innumerable company of
Angels, and by the general Assembly and Church, living and
departed, gathered not from the Jews only, but out of every
nation and kindred of the earth ! (p. 34 foil.).
The consequent teaching on thanksgiving by word, by
alms, by offering of the creatures to the Lord of creatures,
and in the act of Communion, may readily be imagined by
the thoughtful reader. More striking perhaps still, is the
quotation from Isaac Williams * to illustrate the value of
the humble and penitential character of the English and
Scottish Offices. The sermon ends with a recommenda
tion of the practice of weekly Communion, made, we must
remember, originally to boys, by one who had great ex
perience as a master of what they were capable.
Of these sermons I do not think I shall do wrong in
1 Sermons on the Catechism, ii. 289, 290.
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 73
saying that they are even now very valuable as an exposi
tion of what is the general Anglican position, and that it
would be difficult to find it better stated in the same com
pass. For general use in England they are, perhaps, a
little unsuited on account of the frequent references in
them to the Scottish Office, in defence and illustration of
which they were partly written. The position of that
Office, and Bishop Wordsworth's attitude to it, are, however,
so important, both in themselves and as illustrative of his
policy as a Bishop, that the reader will desire to have a
general summary in this place of what is necessary for him
to know about the matter. The publication of the ' Three
Sermons ' at this time was, as I have said, with special
reference to the petition from Meigle, but the author tells
us in his ' Annals ' that during the first four or five years
of his Episcopate he received applications to sanction " the
partial or entire abandonment of the Scottish Office in
favour of the English, not only from Meigle, but from Alyth
(close to Meigle), Muthill, Forfar, Strath- tay and Blair-
gowrie. This movement he resisted to the best of his
power, making special efforts at Meigle and Muthill, but
with very little success, except (as we have seen) at the
latter place. The statistics given by him in his Charge of
1862 (p. 8) record that between that date and 1844 the
Scottish Office had (more or less entirely) been lost in ten
congregations, while it had been freshly adopted only by
three.
The fact of course is, that the Scottish Office, which is in
many respects beautiful arid affecting, and which is known
by careful students to have a distinctly non-Eoman colour,
requires not a little liturgical culture for its appreciation.
It has, moreover, one crucial point of special difficulty, and
its order is very strange to an Englishman. The latter
point strikes the most careless worshipper, who observes
74 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. m
that the Consecration Prayers are much longer than the
English, and that they come before the prayer for the
' whole state of Christ's Church,' so that a long interval
occurs between Consecration and Communion. But when
he looks more deeply into the Consecration Prayer he
observes in it an abrupt and startling formula, for which
no precedent can be found in any Liturgy, ancient or
modern. Aft^r the recitation of the words and acts of the
Institution occurs an oblation, and then an invocation after
the manner of the Eastern Liturgies in the following terms :
' Vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with Thy word and Holy
Spirit, these Thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that
they may become the body and blood of Thy most dearly
beloved Son. And we earnestly desire Thy fatherly goodness
mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanks
giving, &c.' Now, as we have seen, there is much to
recommend to us this general form of invocation. But
when we learn that the abrupt expression of its design
(may become . . . Son), without any qualification following,
or any specification of the persons for whose use, or the
purposes for which, this great mysterious change is intended,
was only introduced in this form by Bishop Wm. Falconar,
of Moray, and Bishop Eobert Forbes, of Eoss, in 1764,
and that it differs in this abruptness not only from the first
book of Edward VI. (1549), and from the Scottish Prayer
Book of 1637, but from the Western and Oriental Liturgies
of every age and country, we cannot be surprised at the
adverse criticism to which it has been subjected. The
point does not lie in the word become, but in the fact that
it is unscriptural * and contrary to all precedent to omit
1 Our Lord's words clearly define the purpose of the Sacrament, and it is
by them that we must justify the insistence of our Church upon the due use
of the Sacrament, and her refusal (at least in England) to sanction reservation
because of its misuse in local restriction of Christ's presence to the Tabernacle
or Monstrance. There can be no mistake about the emphasis, ' This is my
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 75
reference to the covenant relation which the Lord from the
first stamped upon His ordinance. This relation was well
brought out in the Prayer Book of 1549:
Hear us (0 merciful Father) we beseech Thee: and with
Thy holy Spirit and word vouchsafe to bless and sanctify these
Thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine that they may be unto
us the body and blood of Thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus
Christ. Who in the same night, &c.
and in the first Scottish Liturgy of 1637 :
Hear us, merciful Father, we most humbly beseech Thee,
and of Thy Almighty goodness, vouchsafe so to bless and sanctify
with Thy word and holy Spirit these Thy gifts and creatures of
bread and wine, that they may be unto us the Body and Blood
of Thy most dearly-beloved Son; so that we receiving them
according to Thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy institution,
in remembrance of His death and passion may be partakers of
the same His most precious Body and Blood: who in the
night, &c.
The Bishop of St. Andrews did not at first observe this
latter point. In his ' Three Short Sermons,' p. 23, he
treats the form of Consecration as ' substantially the same
in both ' the English and the Scottish Offices. On the
other hand, in his ' Plain Tract on the Scotch Communion
Office,' which was delivered as an address to the Congre-
Body which is given for you ' (Luke xxii. 19, R. V.) ; ' This is my blood of
the covenant which is shed for many imto remission of sins ' (Matt. xxvi.
28, R. V.) ; or, ' This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is
poured out for you ' (Luke xxii. 20, R. V., cp. 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25, ivhich is for
you, and the new covenant in my blood, R. V.). On the alteration of 1764, see
Bishop John Dowden, of Edinburgh, The Annotated Scottish Communion
Office, Appendix L, p. 339, Edinb. 1884. The revisers supposed themselves
to be following the Clementine Liturgy ; but (1) that Liturgy was not, as
far as we know, in use anywhere, and (2) after the clause praying that the
Holy Spirit may make or show (aTroQ-nvri) the bread the Body of Christ,
and the cup His Blood, it immediately proceeds, ' so that those who partake
of it may be confirmed in godliness, may obtain remission of sins,' &c.,
which is orthodox enough.
76 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
gation at Muthill, March 20, 1859, and had the effect of
confirming the congregation there in their old attachment
to the Office, he touches directly upon the disputed point.
He explains ' become ' as equivalent to ' come to be,' and
defends the whole expression as no more open to the charge
of teaching transubstantiation than our Lord's own words,
* This is my body,' while the Church in Article xxviii.
explicitly rejects that doctrine. But three years later, in
September 1862, on further consideration, and probably
after arriving at a more detailed knowledge of the historical
facts, he was clearly of opinion that this particular expres
sion was open to reasonable objection and required alter
ation. He observes in his Charge addressed to the Synod
of that year that one of their body [Kev. G. H. Forbes,
brother of the Bishop of Brechin] proposed to meet the
difficulty by adding the following words drawn from the
Liturgy of St. James : ' for the forgiveness of our sins,
for our growth in grace, for the bringing forth of good
works, and for obtaining life everlasting ' ; and notes that a
similar modification had since been suggested both by Mr.
Freeman and Mr. Keble.
He then further proposed (p. 22) :
1. That the Consecration Prayer in the Scotch Office be
reconsidered, more especially with a view of altering the phrase
1 may become ' &c. &c.
2. That the Prayer, when altered, be accepted by the Church
as a duplicate formula, together with the Consecration Prayer
in the English Office; as we already have duplicate forms of
collects for the Easter weeks, for the Sovereign (after the
commandments), &c. &c.
3. That the use of this duplicate formula be subject to
canonical regulation, upon these or similar terms : ' It shall be
lawful for the priest to introduce it, at his discretion, provided
its use shall be desired by not less than two-thirds of the male
adult Communicants. This rule to apply to all congregations.'
CH.III EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 77
This proposal was made in consequence of the discussion
at the General Synod held in July 1862, and continued by
successive adjournments to 13 February, 1863, which ended,
however, in an unfortunate conclusion. The text of the
Office remained unaltered, but it was removed from its
position of 'primary authority.' The English Book of
Common Prayer was adopted as the service book of the
Church, and the use of its Communion office enjoined at all
Consecrations, Ordinations, and Synods. Difficult condi
tions were laid down as to the introduction of the Scottish
Office into new congregations, while (arguing ex silentio) it
could not be introduced into old ones where it was not
already in use. Its continuance where it was in use was
tolerated, but it might be removed by a concurrence of the
clergyman and a majority of the Communicants.
This somewhat harsh treatment of an old and much
loved formula was partly due to a wish to conciliate English
prejudice, as negotiations were then going on for a removal
of the disabilities of Scottish clergy in England, 1 partly to
the growth in power of the Southern Dioceses, which were,
generally speaking, against the Office, in opposition to the
old pre-eminence of the North. It was vehemently resisted
by G. H. Forbes of Burntisland, who protested against the
competence ot the General Synod to legislate on such a
matter, and carried his protest after a time by appeal into
the House of Lords but naturally in vain.
Bishop Wordsworth recurred to the subject by re-
1 These were carried to a successful issue by the Duke of Buccleuch,
and others, in 1864, 27 & 28 Viet. c. 94. As to the views of the Anglicising
party, the reader may consult a printed letter of Bishop Ewing, of Glasgow,
to Primus Terrot, dated Bishopston, 1 May, 1858 (Grant, Edinburgh), in
which he urges ' uniformity and, if possible, incorporation with the Church
of England ' (p. 17, proposed resolution at a General Synod). He was an
uncompromising opponent of the Scottish Office, ascribing the misfortunes
of the Eucharistic Controversy mainly to it.
78 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
printing his Charge of 1862, with other matter, as a contri
bution to the Seabury Commemoration in 1884 under the
title ' English, Scotch, and American Communion Offices.'
His last printed utterance upon it was in his Charge of
1889, in connection with the last General Synod, when
he suggested the substitution of the form used by the Old
Catholics in Germany and Switzerland proposed, if I
recollect rightly, in that community by my friend Bishop
Edward Herzog, of Berne ' may be the Communion of
the Body and Blood.' But the matter was shelved.
When revision takes place, if a forecast may be hazarded,
it will probably follow the precedents of 1549 and 1637 in
reading ' may be unto us.' The formula ' may become
unto us ' would have one peculiar feature, which might
seem of value, and might be held to avoid certain difficulties,
viz. that of literal agreement with the words of the Koman
Canon Missae. But then the difference of the Scottish
Office from the Koman, in that it places the Invocation
after the words of Institution, is so marked, that this literal
agreement in phrase, so dislocated, would have really the
opposite effect. It would emphasise the thought that con
secration was not effected by the words of Institution, but
by the Invocation of the Holy Spirit, which to some might
be welcome and to others much the reverse. Altogether,
the matter is much less simple than it might appear, and I
am not surprised that the General Synod thought it wisest
to leave it alone. But some day I should venture to hope
that the Scottish Church will return, as regards the con
secration prayer, to the first Prayer Book of Edward VI.,
which is in this order : first Invocation, then Institution,
then Oblation, the prayer of the Invocation being in the
form * may be unto us.' l This would bring the Office into
closer union both with the East and the West, and with
1 This, I imagine, was intended to be a version of ' ut fiat nobis.'
OH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 79
our own Church in the first and most learned period of its
liturgical efforts, and substantially too with the Old Catholics.
I do not myself, as a student of Liturgies, believe that the
relative position of these different parts of the prayer of
consecration is very important in itself, or that the presence
of any particular one of them was, according to primitive
usage, considered to be absolutely necessary. I have
considered the evidence on this subject at some length in a
book on ' The Holy Communion.' l But as a Bishop of the
Church, and as interested in the question of Eeunion, I feel
very strongly that anything which makes for external
agreement is of the greatest possible practical importance :
and that the Scottish Office as it stands is unnecessarily
angular.
I do not think that I can conclude this subject better
than by giving the reader the Bishop of St. Andrews' own
words in which he sums up his final judgment on the
Scottish Office taken from his last note-books. 2
1. I cannot pretend to be an enthusiastic admirer of the
S. C. Office. Still less can I join in ascribing any exorbitant
share of merit to our Scotch Church in regard to it. The
feature which gives to it its distinctive value viz. the Invocation
was derived from the first English Reformed Prayer Book. 3
2. In regard to the Office itself, in my opinion the praise has
been extravagant, and the blame has been extravagant. If we
are to follow the guidance and the records of antiquity (as we
claim to follow them in other matters), it would seem desirable
to have a form of Consecration more full than that of the English
Office, including a more formal presentation of the elements and
a direct invocation of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, we
cannot suppose that the simpler scriptural record which the
English Office is content to follow is insufficient. There seems
1 Pages 132-152, ed. 2, 1892.
2 MS. Note-books, iii. 38, v. 6, 7, 21.
3 See Neale's Life of Bishop Torry, pp. 209 and 316, for the Bishop's
opinion on this point.
80 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
little room for extravagant feeling on either side, and still less
for vaunting and contending for the S. 0. as a badge of
nationality, considering that the sources from which it was
immediately derived were mainly English, and little can be
pleaded as Scotch except the unhappy alteration of 1764 in the
Consecration Prayer, which the American Church has wisely
avoided ; and no less wisely, in my opinion, has preferred the
English Order in the arrangement of the several parts of the
service. I have no sympathy with the frame of mind which
would magnify matters of that sort into the importance of
fundamental verities and would expose the Church to continual
turmoil and dissension on their account. There was nothing in
our Lord's conduct upon earth to indicate a desire to lay stress
upon such formalities, but much to the contrary.
3. In my opinion the Church will not be doing right, or
acting fairly by its members as a whole, if it consents to alter
the present canon without an alteration in the Office itself. It
is idle and untrue to allege the example and authority of our
Brethren in America in behalf of the Office until we have done
what they have had the wisdom to do by altering the phrase
introduced unadvisedly and with no Synodal Authority in 1764,
which gave reasonable offence, and rather takes from than adds
to the real value of the Office.
After leaving Muthill the Wordsworths removed, at
Whitsuntide 1855, to Birnam Cottage, just outside Dunkeld,
near where the present Bishop for a time resided. It was
in a beautiful, but rather relaxing situation on the banks of
the Tay. The Bishop's work here no doubt led greatly to
the growth of the Church in Dunkeld in after years. The
congregation then met in an upper room over a stable, but
in June 1857 he had the happiness of seeing the first stone
of the present excellent church laid.
The Synod of 1855 was held at Perth on 28 August,
the chief subjects discussed being the * Diocesan Association
for Church Purposes,' the practice of Baptism by immersion,
which was insisted upon by Mr. G. H. Forbes contrary to
CH. in EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1853-1856 81
the Bishop's judgment, and the admission of Irvingites to
Communion. The Diocesan Association was a large scheme,
but one of its objects, the endowment of the Bishopric to the
extent of fully 500 a year, was attained chiefly by the
energy of Lord Kollo, the Bishop's constant friend and
ever ready host.
The family were driven from Birnam Cottage by sick
ness, and spent the winter, as was often the case, in visits to
Burghclere and Winchester, while the Bishop composed his
lectures on ' Unity and the Christian Ministry,' which were
delivered next year with considerable success at Edinburgh,
Forfar, Perth, and St. Andrews. These lectures were never
published, but large portions were used in his ' Outlines of
the Christian Ministry/ published in 1872.
The Bishop left Birnam Cottage shortly after Easter
1856 (April 1), and about Whitsuntide took up his abode at
Pitcullen Bank, on the East of Perth, which was his home
till the spring of 1858. He had been longing for a home
for some three years, and wrote in his pocket almanack at
Birnam : ' When wilt thou come unto me ? I will walk in
my house with a perfect heart.' These years had been
years of considerable anxiety and discomfort, which he
bore with his usual faith and patience. He was now able
to have his family again about him, a society in which he
took great delight, and to enjoy once more the use of his
valuable library, of which he had been deprived for this
period. The Synod and Visitation were held at St.
Ninian's 26 and 27 August, and appear to have been of
a very satisfactory character to all present. The Charge,
like that of the previous year, contributed materials to the
' Outlines of the Christian Ministry.' At this point the
' Annals ' unfortunately cease.
It should be noticed that in this year (October 1856)
the question of the relation of Trinity College to the Church
82 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. in
was finally settled. * The College was dissevered from the
Diocese of St. Andrews and made a Peculiar under the
jurisdiction of the College of Bishops, the Bishop of St.
Andrews still consenting to hold the necessary Confirma
tions when requested by the Warden.' J
In the same year the Bishop reprinted an article which
he had contributed to the * Scottish Ecclesiastical Journal '
under the title of * Papal Aggression in the East ; or, the
Protestantism of the Oriental Church,' which contains some
valuable extracts from the answer of the Patriarchs of the
East to the Letter of Pius IX. of 1848. The Oriental
letter was sent to him by Mr. Wm. Palmer. The reason
for this publication at this time was the existence of
rumours of the establishment of Koman Catholic Dioceses
and Bishops in Scotland : an event long in contemplation
which actually took place in 1877.
As the next chapter is occupied chiefly with controversy,
I may mention here that in October 1858 the Bishop
moved into his final home at Perth, the Feu House, of
which he took a lease of nineteen years. He made it a
delightful residence. He had, I may remark, great taste
in architecture and in the laying out of grounds and gardens,
the result of which is now conspicuous at Glenalmond.
He thought it necessary to plan a terrace walk wherever he
made his abode a predilection which other members of
the family, beginning with William Wordsworth, and in
cluding my father, have shared with him. At the Feu a
broad walk of smooth-mown turf, which he designed, under
overshadowing trees, was his constant resort for a daily
4 constitutional.' To a man of his temperament these
plans and improvements were a great relief in the midst of
the controversies which we have now to describe.
1 See Gordon's Scotichronicon, vi. 395.
83
CHAPTEK IV.
THE EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN's. 1857-1860.
' The truth exploring with an equal mind,
In doctrine and communion they have sought
Firmly between the two extremes to steer ;
But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot,
To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,
And prophesy to ears that will not hear.'
WM. WORDSWORTH'S Eccl. Sonnets, pt. ii. 40. 1
The Eucharistic controversy Bishop Forbes's Primary Charge (August
1857) Its connection with the controversy in England Previous works
of Pusey and Keble Summary of Forbes's Charge : the Presence, Adora
tion, Sacrifice ; Scottish Office Part taken by Bishop of St. Andrews
reserved and laborious, and tending to united action The Charge dis
cussed in the Episcopal Synod Agitation Three Bishops' Declaration
Clerical and Lay Addresses Keble's Letter to the Primus Publica
tion of Mr. Cheyne's ' Six Sermons ' (February 1858) prevents a settle
ment Their aggressive character Presented to Bishop Suther : his
attempted restriction Synodal Letter of 27 May, 1858, drafted by
Bishop of St. Andrews and signed by all but Bishop Forbes Comments
on it The Bishop's explanatory letter to Sir A. Edmonstone E.
Palmer's ' Opinion ' Bishop Trower's ' Pastoral ' Keble's ' Considera
tions ' Mr. Cheyne suspended at Aberdeen (August 1858) Bishop of
St. Andrews' ' Notes on the Eucharistic Controversy ' : summary of them
Pacific Charge of 1858 Mr. Cheyne's first appeal Death of Eev. Wm.
B. Barter His character Mr. Cheyne's obstinacy His second trial
(May 1859), appeal, and sentence (November 1859) His restoration
(1863).
Rupture between the Bishop and the Chapter of St. Ninian's
History of their relations Bishop's view of his position in the Cathedral
Mr. D. Chambers's 'Opinion' Perth Cathedral School - Announces
his withdrawal (May 1859) More outspoken Charge of September,
1859 Eastward Position given up Pamphlets of Mr. Humble and Mr.
Lendrum.
1 I have chosen this motto as one which applies generally to the subject
of this memoir, not as thinking that truth lay absolutely on his side. My
own judgment is given at the end of the chapter.
G 2
84 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. IT
Legal proceedings against Bishop Forbes (October 1859) His
'Letter to the Congregation of St. Paul's, Dundee' Anonymous
' Proposals for Peace,' by Bishop of St. Andrews Language of Anglican
and Scottish Divines Further proceedings Interview with Keble
(8 February, I860) Judgment in the case (15 March, 1860).
The Bishop of St. Andrews' own remarks Painful circumstances
George Forbes's approval of his ' Opinion ' The chief questions at issue :
Is there a Real Presence on the altar ' in ' the consecrated elements, and a
Sacrifice identical with the Sacrifice of the Cross ? Criticism of this
position from Scripture and antiquity Quotation from his ' Opinion '
on the Melchizedekian Priesthood.
The writer's own judgment Disturbance of the proportion of faith
in the doctrine of the adoration of Christ ' in the gifts ' Danger of
pressing logic to extremes Our ignorance of the conditions of Christ's
existence in the unseen world Equal difficulties of a ' presence of virtue
and efficacy ' and of a ' supra-local presence ' The writer inclined to
the theory of Sacrifice which regards the Church on Earth as uniting
with our Lord in Heaven Scripture again teaches a distinction between
different modes of our Lord's Presence Forbes passes from the Sacrifice
of the Cross to the Sacrifice of the Upper Room without seeing the
difference between them The Church repeats the second, but not the
first.
The Principalship of St Andrews desired for the Bishop.
IN the summer of 1857 Bishop Alexander Penrose Forbes,
of Brechin, delivered his Primary Charge, which introduced l
the Eucharistic controversy in a somewhat acute form into
Scotland. As the subject of this memoir devoted a great
part of his time and strength for several years to the
scrutiny of this Charge, and to the parallel utterances of
Mr. Patrick Cheyne, which were unfortunately entangled
1 It is true that five of the Rev. Patrick Cheyne's Six Sermons on the
Doctrine of the most Holy EzwJiarist were delivered in Lent, 1857, at St.
John the Evangelist's, Aberdeen, and may have caused some local stir at
the time. But they were not published till the spring of the next year.
The preface is dated Septuagesima 1858 ; and, therefore, they were prac
tically later than the Charge, and one of them is partly based upon it. In
discussing the controversies reviewed in this chapter I have used particularly
two volumes of pamphlets &c., thirty-five altogether in number, lent to me
by the kindness of their collector, Rev. J. W. Hunter, of Birnam, some of
which must be very scarce. I have also three volumes of my own, containing
thirty-two pamphlets, which were, I imagine, the property of Rev. Henry
Aubrey, at one time Chaplain to the Earl of Morton, but lately beneficed
near Salisbury. Fourteen of these are elsewhere unknown to me, making
up forty-nine in all. I have also referred, of course, to Liddon's Life of
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 85
with it, it is necessary for us to review both the Charge
itself and the criticism to which it was subjected, particu
larly by the Bishop of St. Andrews. In the discharge of this
task I shall have no temptation to partisanship, as I had a
sincere admiration and affection for Bishop Forbes, whose
little Bible, used by him with noble dutifulness during the
cholera at Dundee, is one of my cherished possessions. I
shall attempt faithfully to represent the opinions and argu
ments of both sides, and shall also (as in regard to other
controversies described in this volume) endeavour to help
the reader to form a judgment for himself. For, as I have
before remarked, no one is likely to read this book, except
he be really interested in the questions discussed in it, as
well as in the outward life of its principal subject.
It was on Wednesday, 7 August, 1857, that Bishop
Forbes delivered his first Charge at the Synod of the
clergy of his Diocese held in the little city of Brechin.
He had been Bishop nearly ten years, but was still
a young man, just turned forty, 1 and, perhaps, partly for
that reason he had hitherto shrunk from addressing the
clergy in this formal manner. He tells us, at any rate, in
the opening sentences, that such was the case, and that it
was only on an occasion when he felt called upon to say
something that he broke in upon the reserve which he had
hitherto imposed upon himself (p. 5). The occasion was,
no doubt, afforded him by the controversy which had some
time been going on in England. Archdeacon Denison's
case had broken down in the Archbishop's Court, the Court
of Arches, on a technical point (23 April, 1857) ; but, though
Pusey, iii. chap, xviii., ' Second Period of Eucharistic Controversy,' and to
Boss's Memoir of Alexander Ewing and to Mackey's Bishop Forbes, &c.
The latter is a poor book, but has some useful documents. My uncle has
left some MS. notes on the subject, but they are not as full as could be
wished. But I have used a complete collection of his printed papers
belonging to his family.
1 He was born 6 June, 1817, and consecrated Bishop 28 October, 1847.
86 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
it was dismissed there, the question was still, in some
degree, subject to appeal, and the appeal lay to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council. Bishop Forbes refers
slightly, and perhaps a little harshly, to the circumstances
of this case in the first division of this Charge (pp. 12, 13),
but no doubt he represented the feelings and anxieties of
many in England at this time. His two friends, Dr. Pusey
and Mr. Keble,*had, both of them, lately been engaged upon
treatises dealing with special aspects of the same contro
versy, which saw the light somewhat before his own Charge.
Dr. Pusey wrote his dry but laborious book, 1 the preface to
which is dated * Christ Church, Easter 1857,' entitled 'The
Eeal Presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Doctrine of the English Church,' in order to
show in detail that his Eucharistic teaching was consistent
with honest subscription to the formularies of the Church
of England. 2 Mr. Keble's contribution was of a different
nature his treatise, ' On Eucharistical Adoration ' which
has many elements of beauty and attractiveness, but fails
somewhat in strength of argument. In regard to this
treatise a good critic 3 specially instances the commentary
on the title ' Son of Man ' (pp. 31-56) as, beyond question,
the most valuable portion of the essay. A certain weakness
1 Dr. Pusey had already published three collections of passages bearing
on the subject : (1) At the end of his sermon of 1843, TJie Holy Eucharist
a Comfort to the Penitent, from English divines ; (2) The Doctrine of the
Real Presence, as set forth in the Works of Divines and others of the
English Church from the Reformation, part i., Oxford, 1855 (advertisement
dated London, January 11, 1855) ; (3) The Doctrine of tJie Real Presence as
contained in the Fathers from the Death of St. John the Evangelist to the
Fourth General Council, vindicated in Notes on a Sermon, ' The Presence of
Christ in the Holy Eucharist, 1 preached in 1853 (Oxford, 1855 ; a volume
of 722 pp. dated, at the end, Thursday in Holy Week). It was this last
volume that was so laboriously attacked by Dr. John Harrison in 1871.
* See Liddon's Life of Pusey, iii. 447, and the whole chapter.
8 Dr. H. P. Liddon, in his notice of the Treatise in the Christian
Remembrancer for January, 1858, xxxv. 235.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 87
is evident in the more argumentative parts, e.g. in those
that refer to the practice of bowing at the name of Jesus
(as based on Philippians ii. 10). In one particular, indeed,
Keble goes further than Forbes, when he says : ' I must
take leave to say that, granting the doctrine of the Keal
Objective Presence, Adoration is not only permitted, but
enjoined by the Church of England in her Prayer Book :
those who would prove that she prohibits the one must first
make out that she denies the other ; which they can never
do as long as her Catechism and her Communion office
remain' (p. 130). The logic of this passage leaves much
to be desired. It would seem to make the absence of pro
hibition equivalent to positive injunction. But the treatise,
read cautiously, has much that is fruitful in it.
In chivalrous and warm-hearted co-operation with these
two friends Bishop Forbes composed his first official
deliverance ' on a great theological subject. He wished to
help them and their cause ; he wished also, but as a subordi
nate object, to defend the Scottish Office, which, as we have
seen, was then subject to much attack, owing particularly
to the agitation for the removal of the disabilities of the
Scottish clergy. His Charge, however, is chiefly occupied
with the four questions then debated in England the
doctrine of the Presence, the reception by the wicked,
Eucharistic Adoration, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The
Charge is, in fact, a theological treatise on a small scale
(pp. 5-42) on these four points, with an appendix, so to call
it, on the Scottish Office (pp. 42-48). I shall enumerate
the principal topics as they stand, with special emphasis on
those expressions concerning them which were most subject
to criticism.
Section 1 (pp. 6-26) deals with the 'Keal Presence.'
1 He had published in 1852 his Short Explanation of the Nicene Creed>
written at the suggestion of Dr. Pusey.
88 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
The question is said to be, * Is [Christ] Himself, according
to His own word, really present in the Holy Sacrament, as
the supernatural Bread which cometh down from Heaven ;
the strengthening and refreshing of the weary soul of man
during his pilgrimage here ? . . . Is the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper the partaking of the Living Christ, or merely
the memorial of the Dead ? ' In examining the sense of our
formularies on this question, he first states that the Articles
are conditions of clerical admission to ministry, not creeds,
and then shows what other authorities have to be taken
into consideration by loyal Churchmen. There is a fivefold
test to be supplied: (1) The Articles and Catechism; (2)
the whole language of prayer ; (3) exhortations, rubrics and
directions ; (4) Fathers and decrees of Councils ; (5) Holy
Scripture not ' development.' These are applied in turn.
Under (1) is quoted my predecessor, Bishop Geste's letter
(as Bishop of Eochester), dated December 22, 1566, to Sir
William Cecil, on the 29th Article (of which he claims the
authorship), in which he explains the words of the Article,
' after an heavenly and spirituall maner oiiely,' as not
excluding ' the presence of Christ's body from the Sacra
ment, but only the grossenes and sensiblenes in the
receavinge thereof (p. 15). l The patristic interpretation
of Scripture occupies considerable space. Then follows a
just enough criticism of the doctrine of Transubstantiation,
and another, very superficial, of the ' rationalistic theory
1 With this letter should be compared another printed (in part) for the
first time by Mr. Wm. Goode (afterwards Dean of Ripon) in A Supplement
to his work on tlie Eucharist, pp. 8 foil. (London, 1858). In it Geste sug
gests to Lord Burleigh (probably in May 1571) that it would be best for the
Bishop of Gloucester (Cheney), who was then under censure, that the word
4 only ' should be put out of the Book of Articles, which was then in
Burleigh's hands to put before the Queen. He objects, also, strongly to the
29th Article, on the wicked, &c. : and wishes to add the word ' profit
ably ' in the previous Article, so that it should run ' [But] the mean
whereby the Body of Christ is profitably received and eaten in the Supper
is Faith.'
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 89
of the presence which makes it one of power and efficacy
only,' with a further disparaging reference to ' the nonjuring
Catechisms.' 1 These hasty expressions naturally gave great
offence, though the Bishop professed to speak ' with great
reserve and tenderness.' For these expressions seemed to
be an indictment, at least constructively, of a very large
body of divines, both in England and Scotland, some of
them of the highest reputation beginning with Hooker and
ending with the authors of the usual Scottish Episcopalian
Catechisms, and the Bishop's own father, Lord Medwyn, all
of whom had used the terms, ' virtue and efficacy,' ' power
and effect,' &c. to explain the mystery of Christ's Presence.
This passage was, therefore, somewhat enlarged in the third
1 The reader will naturally compare Forbes's remarks on this point with
the fuller and more sympathetic treatment of the topic by Keble, the editor
of Hooker, to whose Ecclesiastical Polity, I suppose, is chiefly due the pre
valence of this opinion in the Church of England (Euch. Ad. chap. iv. 3,
124). Keble himself had, of course, also given currency to it in his
Christian Year ' Gunpowder Treason '
' come to our Communion Feast :
There present, in the heart,
Not in the hands, th' eternal Priest
Will His true self impart.'
The Not, as is well known, was afterwards changed by his permission, given
on his death-bed, to As, but neither seems very appropriate. Christ's
presence as an eternal Priest is, strictly speaking, neither in the heart nor
in the hands. We might say justly enough ' to the heart Through reverent
hands,' i.e. of both the minister and the communicant. I do not wonder that
Keble was reluctant to make the alteration, because he was speaking of the
presence of the ' eternal Priest ' rather than of His body apart from Him ;
and though he might not be satisfied with the first wording of his poem, he
could hardly, as a poet and as a theologian desiring to give a clear concep
tion, have approved of the last. The presence of ' power and efficacy ' was
the doctrine not only of Hooker, but of Ken (see Works, iv. 84 and 120) and
Wilson, not to speak of Jeremy Taylor, of the famous Scottish Bishops
Rattray and Jolly, and of later Bishops, long after the time of the non-
jurors. See [Bishop of St. Andrews'] Proposals for Peace, passim, and The
Recent Decision of the Episcopal Synod of the Church in Scotland, by a
Presbyter (Edin. 1859), being four articles from the English Churchman,
especially pp. 4-6 and 18.
90 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
edition (pp. 19 foil.), but without any concession as to the
possible orthodoxy of those who were thus censured.
Section II. (26-29) concerns the reception by the wicked,
on which Pusey and Keble somewhat differed. It does not
appear to need much comment. The conclusion is, 'We
may not speculate on these things ; it is enough to believe
that in some sense the wicked do receive CHRIST indeed, to
their condemnation and loss, for thus and thus only can
they become guilty of the Body and Blood of CHRIST.' He
has previously noticed that the words quoted in Article xxix.
as St. Augustine's are not really his, but those of the
Venerable Bede commenting on Augustine. The point,
however, is overlooked that the Article says, in its own
language, ' in no wise are they partakers of Christ.' This
surely required his phrase to be modified.
Sections III. (29-35), on Eucharistic Adoration, and IV.
(35-42), on the doctrine of the Christian Sacrifice, contain the
passages which were most subject to remark and criticism.
In III. the duty of adoration is logically deduced from
acceptance of the Presence.
If the Body and the Blood of Christ be there really [i.e. in
the Sacrament] (inasmuch as the Humanity of our Lord hypo-
statically united to the Divinity is itself an object of worship)
it follows that supreme adoration is due to the Body and Blood
of CHRIST mysteriously present in the gifts, which yet retain
their own substance. The worship is due not to the gifts, but
to Christ in the gifts, and this seems to be what Bishop Andrewes
meant when he says ' CHRIST the inward part of the Sacrament,
in the Sacrament, and out of the Sacrament, wheresoever He is,
is to be worshipped ' ; l and our own great theologian, Bishop
William Forbes, 2 of Edinburgh, quoting the Bishop of Spalatro, 3
says : ' Christ in the Eucharist is to be adored with divine worship,
1 Ad Card. Bellarmin. resp. 195, 266, Anglo-Cath. Lib.
2 Forbesii Consider -ationes Modestae, p. 545, Anglo-Cath. Lib. Several
paragraphs are quoted at length in the note.
3 That is to say, Marco Antonio De Dominis, who for a time resided in
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 91
as His living and glorified Body is present therein.' ... It
seems to be a logical necessity. Either CHRIST is present, or
He is not. If He is, He ought to be adored ; if He is not, cadit
Forbes then proceeds to clear this doctrine from certain
extreme results (p. 31 foil.). It does not imply acceptance
of ' the ceremonies of the festival of Corpus Christi or of
the forty hours' adoration.' The words of the Article
' the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's
ordinance . . . worshipped ' may still be accepted.
Our Lord ordained the Sacrament to be the perpetual
application of His Sacrifice and to be the means of Union with
Him. He did not ordain it to be a Palladium to confine His
Presence to certain local bounds. Historically, we find evidence
of the reservation of the Sacrament in the very earliest times
for the purpose of communicating the sick. The reservation for
the purpose of adoration was much later.
This is a valuable passage which may be commended to
the notice of any amongst ourselves who favour the intro
duction of the modern Koman Service of Benediction with
the reserved Sacrament.
He then goes on to argue that the Declaration on Kneel
ing at the end of the Communion office, on which many
arguments had been founded, condemns the Lutheran error
of ubiquitism and enunciates St. Thomas Aquinas' doctrine
of the supra-local nature of the Body of Christ in the
Sacrament (p. 32, cp. p. 10), a somewhat bold incursion
into his opponents' ground, but not wholly without justifica
tion. He also notices, with more evident reason, 1 the
England as an English Churchman, and took part in some of our Episcopal
consecrations, but afterwards reverted to Eome.
1 The reader may be reminded that this ' black rubric,' as it is some
times called, which is really in its origin a declaration or explanation added
to some copies of the rare Second Prayer Book of Edward VI., was not part
of the Prayer Book in the following reigns of Elizabeth, James I. and
92 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
change made in the wording of this document at the last
revision from Real and Essential to ' Corporal Presence of
Christ's natural Flesh and Blood.' He implies that while
we do not adore the Corporal Presence, we certainly do not
deny the Real and Essential Presence. 1
Another argument which found favour with Bishop
Forbes is that drawn from the alteration in the position of
the ' Gloria in E^celsis ' from the beginning to the end of the
service, after the consecration and before the consumption
of what remains of the gifts. The suggestion that it favours
Eucharistic adoration in virtue of the phrase, ' Lord God,
Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of
the world, have mercy upon us ! ' was afterwards withdrawn
by Forbes himself (see p. 135). It is probable that the
Keformers placed the ' Gloria ' where it is, in order to make
the early part of the service, which was and is often used
without Communion, less festal, and to reserve this great
thanksgiving for occasions when Communion had actually
taken place. The Lutheran plan of using the ' Gloria in
Excelsis,' even when there is no Communion, is hardly
satisfactory.
He draws an argument also in favour of adoration from
the custom among us that the priest receives kneeling,
whereas in the older rites he stands, as in Primitive times
it was customary for all communicants to do. Certainly
reception by the priest kneeling is a good custom of the
Church, both in England and Scotland, being enjoined by
Charles I., and was only restored in that of Charles II. in the modified
form above indicated. The alteration acquires more importance when it is
seen to have been, presumably at least, a condition of the restoration of the
document. Thus C. Wheatley, in his well-known book, On the Common
Prayer, draws attention to the change, and quotes the Catechism and
Homilies as showing the belief of the Church of England in the Real
Presence.
1 He does not use the term ' objective presence ' in this section, but in
the next, p. 40.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 93
Bishop Andrewes and Bishop William Forbes of Edinburgh. 1
But the most natural interpretation of it seems to me to be
that he thereby recognises and adores the Presence of the
invisible High Priest and King, Who ministers the Sacra
ment to him, and afterwards by him to the people, rather
than that he is then adoring His Presence in the gifts.
In IV. we have a discussion of the Doctrine of Sacrifice.
This section is largely occupied with quotations, in the
midst of which occurs the sentence which was made part
of the charge against him (p. 38) : * Moreover the ancient
doctors teach that the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the same
substantially with that of the Cross (Chrys. " In Heb. Horn."
xvii. 3, St. Greg. " Dial." iv. 58), and that Jesus Christ
Himself is the chief and principal minister of the Eucha
ristic Sacrifice (St. Ambrose " de bened. Patr." c. ix., " In
Ps." 38, n. 25; St. Chrys. "Prod. Jud."i. 6; "2 Tim. Horn."
ii. 4; St. Aug. "Civ. Dei," x. 20) 'St. Ambrose and St.
Augustine being quoted at length at the foot of the page.
Then follow paragraphs about the Eucharist being a
* proper sacrifice,' and a ' continual sacrifice,' offered by
our Saviour as the Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
The reader will notice that he does not use the Tridentine
expression * propitiatory.' This part of the Charge contains
passages of much feeling and beauty, which show the
writer's soul soaring upward in a sort of mystical rapture,
and thereby overcoming, or at least striving to overcome,
the logical and practical difficulties which beset any attempt
to describe the Eucharistic Sacrifice as truly identical with,
or a continuance of, the Sacrifice of the Cross.
1 For their opinions see my Holy Communion, ed. 2, p. 250 (1892).
Mr. Humble seems to say that Bishop Andrewes decides in favour of the
priest receiving standing. See his Letter (1859), p. 74, quoting Elementa
Liturgica, by G. Walker, p. 112, ed. 2, and ' Bishop Cosin's Notes, 1st series,'
v. p. 105. But whoever wrote these Notes is arguing against standing
which was the puritan attitude (p. 112).
94 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
We rise (he says, p. 41) from the relative to the absolute.
The nature of man is now introduced into the deepest recess of
the heavenly choir, in the person of Jesus both God and Man,
while on Earth every prayer is only accepted through Him;
every thanksgiving only received in union with that thanks
giving which He is ever offering in His Humanity ; and every
praise, in conjunction with that high and eternal laud which is
made by all the Saints and Angels on high, and by the Eternal
High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Use is also made of the vision of the Lamb of God seen
by St. John in the Apocalypse :
The same Lamb of God, whom the rapt Apostle in Patmos
saw in Heaven ' as it had been slain,' is now mystically offered
in the Church below . . . and by virtue of the Holy Ghost our
mystic sacrifice is now the Body and Blood of Him who offereth
it. Yet this august solemnity, in which the Church of God
glories, is purely spiritual, and in every way worthy of the
Gospel covenant. In a Sacrament is the Lord's death shown
forth in representation. The very image has taken place of the
shadow.
Section V. on the Scottish Office calls for no remark,
except that he defends it largely as bringing us closer to
antiquity and as thereby being a protection against new
and false revelations
which exhibit themselves most offensively in Mormonism, less
coarsely in Irvingism and in that school of the modern Roman
Catholic Church which not only rests on the theory of develop
ment, but which lays so much store by that additional religion
drawn from the visions and experiences of the Saints which
began early in the history of the Church, and has continued
through a long line, of which the most distinguished are St.
Hildegard and St. Bridget, to this day (p. 44).
There was much in this Charge that was elevating and
conducive to faith, to reverence, and even to awe. It must
be read sympathetically to be fairly judged. There was
CH. iv EUCIIARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 95
much evidence in it, too, of a desire to avoid offence, and to
define the writer's position as a loyal Churchman, who
understood the dangers of Eoman teaching and wished to
warn his hearers against them. But, nevertheless, it was
not surprising that it created great excitement and alarm.
It was not like the parallel treatises of Pusey and Keble,
apologetic ^in character, justifying a position that was
assailed, and in the main asking for toleration for un
popular or suspected opinions. It was a Bishop's teaching
addressed ex cathedra to his flock. It seemed to drive
its conclusions home with rigorous logic, and to force their
acceptance on pain of incurring the suspicion of heterodoxy.
Serious dilemmas are proposed to the reader, and the very
moderation of the language, and the reverence and solemnity
of its tone, make him feel uncomfortable if he demurs to
teaching so evidently part of the life and faith of him who
gave it. Occasionally, too, there is a sharp edge and a
slighting treatment of opponents which could not but cause
pain. On the whole, a plain man might well ask himself :
' Since the subject is confessedly so mysterious, and the
conclusions are so much a matter of inference and not of
direct revelation, has the Bishop any right to press me so
hard ? ' I think this natural reluctance to be driven by
so-called ' logic ' had much to do with the temper in which
the Charge was criticised, and especially considering how
small the community was to which it was addressed ; so
that even an individual presbyter might feel he was called
upon to accept its teaching ; or, if he could not do so,
obliged to clear himself from the imputation of accepting it.
So, again, the fear of giving countenance to some insidious
form of idolatry by adoring a Presence in the gifts an
expression much more restricted and local than those of
Bishops Andrewes and William Forbes, which he quotes to
justify it a dislike to scholastic explanations such as that
96 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
of the ' supra-local presence ' ; a suspicion of distinctions
like that between the active and the passive sacrifice, which
was afterwards used to explain the alleged identity of the
Eucharistic Sacrifice with the Sacrifice of the Cross ; a fear
above all of weakening faith in the one mediation of Christ
and His one sacrifice for sin ; all these not unworthy
motives combined to make even careful men very anxious
at this crisis, and inflamed the passions of many others
who were easily roused by party cries.
The part taken by the Bishop of St. Andrews in the
controversy was, as far as theological discussion went, a
leading one. His nature and scholarly training prompted
him to do eagerly and thoroughly whatever he undertook,
and his power of stating his case, and his evident sincerity
and desire to reach the bottom of his subject, made his
authority great in the Councils of the Scottish Church at
this juncture. His own experience no doubt made him
specially anxious as to the result. He remarks in one of
his notes on this case that, with the exception of Mr.
Cheyne, all the * esprits forts ' of the Scottish Church were
centred in the Diocese of St. Andrews, and all were men of
the same party colour any one of whom (he implies)
would have been enough to throw a Diocese into a state of
confusion. But while he was a leader in counsel on this
great subject, and felt it necessary that both public and
private remonstrances should be addressed to Bishop
Forbes, he was anxious that action should be united, and
not that of single Bishops engaging in controversy with
their brethren. A great part of his activity was devoted to
the end of securing joint action in anything that was done.
As regards his own part in the conflict two things are
abundantly manifest : first that he was very reserved in
publishing his own opinions merely as his own ; and
secondly, that he studied very hard to form a right judg-
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 97
ment as one who must give account of his stewardship.
He was perfectly justified in writing at a later date : ' If
any man ever set himself honestly to endeavour to ascer
tain God's truth on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, I
did so ' (' MS. Note-book,' v. 19). Nor did he publish any
thing, through the booksellers, directly against Bishop
Forbes. His ' Notes ' and his * Opinion ' were printed only
for private circulation. The ' Charge ' of 1858 deals only
with the fringe of the matter. The 'Charge' of 1859,
published at the formal request of the Synod, did indeed
necessarily contain some matter bearing on the Eucharistic
controversy occasioned by the ' St. Ninian's Declaration ' ;
and in an Appendix to it he reprinted his ' Pastoral Letter
to the Laity of his Diocese,' dated 16 February, 1858,
which dealt slightly with the controversy, but without
mentioning the Bishop of Brechin by name. Besides this
the only direct public and personal contribution he made to
the controversy was an anonymous pamphlet entitled ' Pro
posals for Peace,' of which something will be said below. 1
Bishop Forbes naturally felt pained by the opposition
of his brethren, especially, no doubt, that of his neighbour
the Bishop of St. Andrews, but, as the latter says, ' the
difference never led to personal estrangement or (I believe
I may say) to cessation of esteem and regard on either
side' ('MS. Note-book,' v. 19).
Without entering too much into detail I will mention
the chief points in the progress of the controversy, which
was not settled for two and a half years. The Charge was
delivered 5 August, 1857, and judgment was given upon
it 15 March, 1860. The first step was a discussion at a
Synod of the Bishops held on 29 September, and again,
more formally, at another on 11 December, 1857, both at
Edinburgh. The Bishop of St. Andrews has preserved the
1 See on this point Gordon's Scotichronicon, vi. 398 foil.
H
98 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
substance of what he said on the first of these two
occasions. See his 'Charge ' for 1858, p. 11 foil.
I said I felt how very unworthy and how little qualified I
was to pass a judgment upon what our right reverend brother
had written upon such a subject I had no doubt after much
study and earnest prayer; taken in connection with other
symptoms abroad the perusal of the Charge had made me, I
confessed, not a little uneasy ; that it seemed to me to go beyond
the teaching to which we had been accustomed ; more particularly
that the tendency of its parts was to disturb, as I thought, the
proportions of the faith ; and I instanced the Articles of our
Lord's Ascension and of the Descent of the Holy Ghost. I also
remarked upon the disparaging manner in which our Bishops of
the last century, whom we had hitherto regarded as among our
first authorities on Eucharistic doctrine, are referred to in the
Charge ; and still more upon what appeared to me to be the
unwarrantable assumption that the ancient Fathers of the Church
would be found to teach what the Bishop ascribes to them as
to the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
It is necessary just to mention this, as Bishop Forbes,
through some confusion or inadvertence, forgot to notice
this opinion, and represented the Bishop of Glasgow
(Trower), who certainly showed the most active hostility, as
alone having read and criticised the Charge at this Synod. 1
It was proposed to issue a declaration upon the subject of
the Holy Eucharist in order to reassure the minds of those
who might have been disturbed, but the proposal was lost
or rather adjourned till next year. 2 The Bishop of St.
Andrews, however, obtained from his brethren a declara
tion 3 on a minor point on which he was now in contro
versy with Provost Fortescue, and which of course was
closely connected in his mind with the sacrificial view of
1 Forbes's Charge, ed. 2 (Lent 1858), Appendix, p. 66, repeated unaltered
in ed. 3 (Easter 1858), p. 61. Cp. Bishop Trower's Pastoral Letter, p. 2.
2 See on this some letters from Bishop Ewing, dated 13 December, 1857,
in Ross's Memoir, p. 275.
8 See his Charge for 1858, p. 14.
CH. iv EUCHAFJSTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 99
the Eucharist, viz. the attendance of persons at Holy
Communion without receiving. It was, as we have seen,
the deliberate judgment of Bishop Torry that such
persons should withdraw, and the Bishops, in agreement
with the tradition on the subject, declared :
The custom of the Scottish Church does not authorise or
sanction, but rather forbids, the practice of presence at Holy
Communion of persons who are not to receive the Sacrament,
and this Synod decidedly disapproves the practice. The Synod
sees no sufficient reason for making an exception to the above
declaration in the case of persons who have previously received
the Holy Communion on the same day, or in the case of choirs.
This was a point on which many persons then felt
strongly, and probably more strongly than at present,
when the great frequency of Communion services makes it
less natural for all communicants who are in the church to
be prepared to communicate. But in Mr. Keble's judg
ment, as well as in that of the Bishop of St. Andrews, the
practice, at least in its broader form, was open to serious
criticism, and it must be carefully watched. 1
When the Synod was over those of the Bishops who
felt themselves most concerned made use of the individual
liberty reserved to them by the resolution finally adopted, 2
to issue a joint Pastoral a proceeding which seems rather
1 See Keble's Letters of Spiritual Counsel, L. cxvi. 207: 'I have a
strong feeling against the foreign custom of encouraging all sorts of persons
to " assist " at the Holy Eucharist without communicating. It seems to
me open to two grave objections : it cannot be without danger of profane-
ness and irreverence to very many, and of consequent dishonour to the
Holy Sacrament ; and it has brought in or encouraged, or both (at least,
so I greatly suspect), a notion of a quasi-sacramental virtue in such atten
dance, which I take to be great part of the error stigmatised in our xxxist
Article. Even in such a good book as the Imitatio Christi, and still more in
the Paradisus Animce, one finds participating " in Missa vel Communione "
spoken of as if one brought a spiritual benefit of the same order as the
other. This I believe to be utterly unauthorised by Scripture and antiquity ;
and I can imagine it of very dangerous consequence.'
2 See Bishops Eden and Wordsworth's Statement of 29 December 1857.
100 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
calculated to weaken the authority of the general body.
The resolution clearly only contemplated single Bishops
addressing their own Dioceses.
The agitation was chiefly in the Dioceses of Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and Bishops Terrot (Primus) and Trower
were joined by Bishop Ewing of Argyll a warm-hearted,
poetical, and impulsive man in publishing a declaration
of their own orrthe subject of the Eucharist, without, how
ever, mentioning any names. 1 Almost at the same time
Bishops Eden and Wordsworth put out a ' Statement ' ex
plaining why for the present they withheld any expres
sion of their own opinion (29 December, 1857) . 2 A copy of
the ' Three Bishops' Declaration,' as it may be called, was
sent by someone to Mr. Keble. He mistakenly supposed
that it was sent him by the Bishop of Edinburgh and that
his teaching was specially censured in it. His reason for
so doing was that he had sent his treatise on ' Eucharistic
1 There may be some doubt how far Bishop Terrot, who was a great
mathematician but not much of a theologian, really wished this Declaration
to be published. See Rumble's Letter to the Bishop of St. Andrews (1859),
p. 18, note. There is very little on this controversy in Eev. Win. Walker's
pleasant sketch of Bishop Terrot in his Three Churchmen (Edinb. 1893).
Bishop Trower was certainly the leading spirit in the matter. The Declara
tion may be found in his Pastoral Letter, published in June 1858, p. 15 foil.
Bishop Ewing was very half-hearted about it : see his Memoir, by Eoss,
p. 275. It may be found also in Kev. Donald J. Mackey's Bishop Forbes,
p. 98 foil. (1888), but in neither copy is it dated. It must, however, have
been between 14 and 24 December, 1857, since it is mentioned as in hand
in Bishop Ewing's letter of the 13th, and occasioned the Clerical declaration
to which Bishop Terrot replied on the 26th. Bishop Trower's action at this
time led also to the loss of [Dr.] Wm. Bright's services to the Church in
Scotland. He was then Bell Lecturer and Tutor at Glenalmond, and is now
the honoured Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford : see his
Statement of Facts (London, Masters, 1858).
2 The Statement, by Bishops Eden and Wordsworth, may be found
printed in a disagreeable pamphlet, entitled Romanism and Scottish
Episcopacy, a word with the Scottish Bishops on their declaration and
statement, &c. by Veritas. Edinb. T. Constable & Co. &c. (1858), pp. 31
foil. The Clerical address to Bishop Trower, and his reply on 26 December,
aje also printed, p. 34.
CH. iv EUCHAKISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 101
Adoration ' to the Scottish Bishops, and supposed that this
was an answer to it ; though he certainly should have
been undeceived when he observed that particular expres
sions were censured, which he had not used, and which had
been used by Bishop Forbes. Mr. Keble probably con
sidered (as on a later occasion) that as a Canon of Cumbrae
he had also a sort of locus standi in the matter. His letter
is in the rather provocative form of a series of inter-
rogatives. It seems to me chiefly important from the
suggestion that the ' substantial identity of the Sacrifice of
the Eucharist with the Sacrifice of the Cross ' might be
explained by the supposition that the former was a repe
tition of our Lord's sacrifice before His Passion in the
Upper Eoom. If the disputants had meant this generally
no doubt the controversy could have been settled more
readily. This letter was published by Mr. Keble himself in
the * Scottish Ecclesiastical Journal,' a proceeding, like
many others at this time, which was hardly considerate or
conciliatory.
In Scotland itself the Declaration of the Three Bishops
was met by an address from the Dean and nineteen clergy
of the Diocese of Edinburgh, expressing their full con
currence, but still making no reference to Bishop Forbes.
A similar address was adopted by the clergy in the Diocese
of Glasgow. Early, however, in February 1858 a me
morial, signed eventually by nearly six hundred laymen,
was presented to the Bishops in which he was named, and
this of course made a peaceful solution less easy, and,
indeed, may be said to have forced the Bishops into action.
On the 16th of the same month the Bishop of St.
Andrews addressed a short ' Pastoral Letter to the Laity
of his Diocese,' l in which he states that he departed from
1 This letter was printed by him as an appendix to his Charge of 1859,
pp. 31-33. He did not reprint it with his Charge of 1858, in accordance
with his desire to act with reserve as far as he was an individual.
102 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
his resolution not to take any part in the controversy that
had arisen, except as a member of the Episcopal Synod, in
deference to the urgent representation of several of his
clergy. Bishop Forbes is not mentioned, and the letter is
directed generally to discourage excitement and too con
fident definition of mysterious truths. In it the question
of Adoration is hardly touched ; but, as regards the Sacri
fice, the Bishop commits himself to the use of the terms
' virtue and effect,' of which Bishop Forbes had spoken so
slightingly.
On the other hand the Bishops received another
address, signed eventually by about sixty l of the clergy
a large number for Scotland pointing out the incon
venience of the issue by the Bishops of declarations on
points of doctrine which wore the aspect of definitions, and
deprecating quasi-definitions of faith by individual pre
lates. 2
Nevertheless, very possibly the storm might have
passed over without an open rupture between Bishop
Forbes and his brethren, had it not been for the inoppor
tune appearance of Mr. Patrick Cheyne's ' Six Sermons on
the Doctrine of the most Holy Eucharist,' with a preface,
dated Septuagesima [31 January], 1858. These sermons,
with one exception, that on ' Adoration ' which shows
evident traces of the influence of Keble and Forbes had
been preached in Lent 1857. Their publication now was
distinctly a stirring up of strife. It was also one of the
unfortunate features of Scottish Church History at this time
that the antagonisms incident to contested elections to
Bishoprics were prolonged afterwards, and sometimes
1 This is the number of signatures given by Mr. Humble, Letter, &c. t
1859, p. 19. He gives the Clerical Address as Appendix H.
2 See also Mackey's Forbes, p. 106. This and the Lay Memorial, and
other papers, may be found in Documents <&c. circulated to the Lay
Memorialists by tlwir Committee. Edinb. K. Grant & Son, 1858.
CH.IV EUCHAR1STIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 103
became very like personal conflicts. This was not only
the case in the Diocese of St. Andrews, but also in those of
Aberdeen and Brechin.
Mr. Cheyne, who had been Incumbent of St. John's,
Aberdeen, for nearly forty years, and was much respected in
that city, was a candidate for the office of Bishop after the
death (15 April, 1857) of the then Primus, the third Bishop
Skinner, when Bishop Suther was elected. 1 Mr. Hender
son, who afterwards promoted the case against Bishop
Forbes, was in a similar position in the Diocese of Brechin.
Mr. Cheyne's sermons were, as he himself calls them,
' mere sketches,' with almost no justificatory notes, but
they were sufficiently aggressive to call forth immediate
criticism. They were published evidently in consequence
of the three Bishops' Pastoral, and were a sort of challenge
to the Bishop of Aberdeen, who had so far remained
neutral. 2
Mr. Cheyne's teaching was indeed, in its general result,
much the same as that of the Bishop of Brechin, but it
was expressed in a hard and irritating manner, and without
the balancing considerations and explanations and respect
for the feelings of opponents often, though not always,
manifest in the Charge.
Bishop Forbes himself says of the sermons, at the com
mencement of his ' Opinion ' on Cheyne's appeal, ' Under the
circumstances I have regretted very much the publication
of these sermons.' ' There is a baldness of statement in
1 Bishop Suther was consecrated at Edinburgh 24 June, 1857.
2 On Quinquagesima Sunday [14 February] 1858 Keble wrote to Pusey :
' I am so sorry this storm has reached your ears. But if Bishop Forbes will
be quite patient, as I trust he will, there seems hope of its turning to good.
I believe the Bishops of St. Andrews and Moray [Eden] and Aberdeen are
all peaceably inclined. But the pressure from the Edinburgh and other
laity is excessive.' Liddon's Pusey, iii. 450. Cp. his reference to Cheyne's
sermons on the next page.
104 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
some parts of the sermons more apt to startle than convince.'
* It is barely charity to men's souls to state doctrines in a
provocative form ; ' l and other things to the same effect.
What others thought of them may therefore easily be
imagined. The following notes will give a fair notion, I
trust, of their contents.
In Sermon L, ' The Great Act of Christian Worship,' the
Eucharist is treated as ' the daily sacrifice of the new law '
(p. 15).
In II. ' The Eeal Presence ' is thus defined, * I mean
as the Church means, that, after Consecration, whole Christ,
God and Man, is really, truly and substantially present in
the Eucharist under the form of bread and wine ' (p. 22).
In III. ' The Sacrifice ... in the Eucharist is sub
stantially the same as the Sacrifice of the Cross, because the
Priest is the same in both, and the Victim the same in both,'
but there is an obvious difference in the manner of offering.
' Yet our offering is not bread and wine, which would be in
consistent with the unity of Christ's Sacrifice, and something
more worthless than the sacrifices under the law. What we
offer is the Body and Blood of Christ under the form of
Bread and Wine. That is the substance of our sacrifice.'
This was not unnaturally interpreted as a teaching of
Transubstantiation. 2
It is then explained that the only thing necessary to the
completion of the Sacrifice is the Communion of the Priest,
1 Opinion of the Bishop of Brechin in the Appeal of the Rev. P. Cheyne.
Edinb. R. Lendrum & Co. ; London, J. Masters and Co. 1858. Mr. Malcolm
MacColl, in I860, in his letter to Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cheyne and the Bishop
of Brechin, argues that their opinions were practically the same, and that
the gentle treatment given to Bishop Forbes should be extended to Mr.
Cheyne.
2 Mr. Cheyne says in his Reasons of Appeal, p. 17, that he asserted that
' the substance of Bread and Wine remains together with the Body and
Blood.' I cannot find the words in any of the Six Sermons in Mr. Hunter's
copy. This would be Lutheran consubstantiation. Cp. Forbes's Opinion,
p. 25.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 105
and it is not necessary that all who join in offering it
should at the same time receive the Communion ; though
'it is desirable, and to their great benefit, if they could
(p. 34) ; but they may plead the merits of the one Sacrifice,
and in a degree share them, when circumstances prevent
them from communicating ; and the Church has always
allowed it.' This reservation ' in a degree ' is emphasised
by Bishop Forbes in his ' Opinion ' defending, or rather
acquitting, the Defendant (p. 20).
Lastly, ' the Eucharist is called a Sacrifice for the Living
and the Dead.'
IV., ' The Adoration,' is, as I have hinted, based on
Keble and Forbes. We do not kneel to the outward visible
signs in the Sacrament ; we kneel to the Lord Himself
invisibly present < under the form of bread and wine ;
though even to these outward things, after consecration, we
give religious honour ' (p. 46).
V., ' The Communion,' contains an exaggerated state
ment : ' To us men there is no other way of partaking of
Christ's Flesh and Blood but receiving them, sacramentally
in the Eucharist, because there alone has He vouchsafed
them to be really and substantially present.' This is
practically to assert that our Lord's language in St.
John vi. relates only to the Eucharist ; whereas some ortho
dox commentators have doubted whether there is any, or at
least any principal, reference to the Eucharist in that
chapter, 1 and many of the Fathers certainly include other
ways of feeding upon Christ besides the one. 2 Our own
Church in the ' Prayer of humble access ' no doubt inter-
1 On a later page, however, Cheyne makes an exception in regard to
Spiritual Communion when the Eucharist cannot be obtained (p. 57).
2 See the evidence collected by Dr. John Harrison in his Dr. Pusey^s
Challenge Answered, 2 vols. (1871), and summarised in his Letter to Rev.
E. B. Pusey, D.D., on his unfair treatment of the testimony of the Fathers
36 onwards.
106 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
prets this language of the Eucharistic feeding, but not
necessarily in any exclusive way. For my own part I do
not doubt that our Lord's language is largely Eucharistic
here, and occupies a place in the Gospel parallel to His
teaching as to Baptism in dealing with Nicodemus, but I
could not restrict its application to the Sacrament. Further,
the receivers, whether they be good or bad, * Whatever
they are, all receive the same thing sacramentally all
receive the sign and the thing signified. The Body and Blood
of Christ are received both by good and bad ' &c. (p. 56).
In VI. ' The Intention ' is not worked out as clearly
and fully as the rest. It seems desired to make more
frequent celebrations useful to those who attend them, by
fixing the minds of the worshippers either on some special
object of their own or on that chosen by the priest. Probably
the mention of intercession for the faithful departed in a
note to p. 69 reveals the chief thought in the preacher's
mind.
Such teaching, in the temper of those times, could not
pass without an attempt at least to secure its condemna
tion. Pressure was put upon the Bishop from Edinburgh
through a lay friend, who represented that a serious schism,
far surpassing the Drummond Schism, would ensue if
Mr. Cheyne's sermons were allowed to pass unchallenged,
and certain passages, which the reader will easily gather
from the foregoing summary, were ' presented ' to Bishop
Suther by the Eev. Gilbert Eorison (an able man, then
influential in the Diocese), Incumbent of St. Peter's,
Peterhead, and two others on 23 April, 1858. l On the
26th of the same month Bishop Suther found that there
were primCi facie grounds for the accusation and present-
1 Most of the documents in this case are collected in a convenient form
in Reasons of Appeal, by the Rev. Patrick Cheyne, &c., Aberdeen, A. Brown
& Co. ; Edinb. Lendrum ; London, J. Masters & Co. (1858) one of Mr.
Hunter's pamphlets.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVEKSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 107
ment, and summoned the Prosecutors and Defendant to
appear at a Special Diocesan Synod to be held on Tuesday,
15 June, advising the parties to restrict their arguments to
the formularies of the Scottish and English Reformed
Churches, and to the authority of theological writers of
those Churches a restriction which produced much excited
and adverse comment. 1
In the meantime Bishop Forbes had given further
circulation to his Charge, which was issued in a second
edition, the preface of which bears date ' Lent 1858,' and in
a third and cheaper form dated * Eastertide.' The second
edition is very much larger than the first, and contains not
only new passages in square brackets, but a Preface, 2
authorities, notes, and appendix covering many pages.
It contains certain explanations or modifications tending to
make his language slightly more acceptable, and notably
two : on p. 36 ' the external irpoa-Kvv^cns that is due to it '
(i.e. the Sacrament) is changed to ' due to CHKIST therein
given to be verily and indeed taken and received ; ' and on
p. 41 foil, the distinction between the active and the
passive Sacrifice is introduced : ' actively it is the rite,
passively it is the victim.' Strangely enough, he makes
the same tacit transition as Keble does to the Sacrifice of the
Upper Room, first identifying the Sacrifice (i.e. the Victim)
of the Eucharist with the Sacrifice of the Cross, and then
quoting St. Chrysostom on 1 Tim. i. 8-12, who says, ' It is
1 See, for some remarks on this point, an anonymous Letter to the Dean
of Moray, dated Edinb. 17 January, 1859, in reply to an invitation to attend
a conference at Laurencekirk (held Thursday, 20 January) to protest against
the treatment of Mr. Cheyne, pp. 2 foil.
2 The Bishop of St. Andrews, in a MS. note, criticises the tone of this
Preface rather severely, and speaks of it as determining him in the opinion
that some answer was necessary. It describes his cause as ' the cause of
truth,' and states his confidence in the ' eventual triumph ' of his teaching,
as in accordance with all authority. If Forbes had said that the teaching was
worthy of toleration as a contribution to theology on a mysterious subject,
it would have been more to the purpose.
108 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
the same (Oblation) which Christ gave to His disciples and
which is now made by His priests ' (p. 42). l The third
edition contains additional matter on 'the power and
efficacy theory of the Eeal Presence,' see pp. 19 foil.
Here again we may regret that the Bishop thought it
necessary to push his Charge so prominently into notice.
Keble, in writing to Pusey in February, had expressed a
hope that Bishop Forbes might be ' quite patient,' and
perhaps had desired to draw on himself, by his letter to
Bishop Terrot, the electric fire which would otherwise dis
charge upon his friend. But Keble was not very prudent
in his manner of entrance into the contest, and Forbes was
not naturally ' quite patient ' ; and so it came to pass, by a
concurrence of all these circumstances, and by a wish to
relieve and quiet the growing agitation, especially among
the laity, that at the Special Synod held at Edinburgh on
27 May, Bishop Forbes's teaching was openly but affec
tionately censured, and the Bishop himself admonished by
all his six brethren in a Synodal or Pastoral Letter. 2 This
letter, addressed ' to all faithful members of the Church in
Scotland,' was drafted by the Bishop of St. Andrews and
accepted by the other Bishops, after a few verbal alterations. 3
It was no slight achievement to unite such different men in
a document of some length on such a difficult subject. It
1 On this see below, p. 146, and my uncle's Notes, Chap. I. p. 7.
2 It was hence called, especially by its opponents, the Six Bishops'
Pastoral. It might, perhaps, have been more Synodal in character if the
signatures had been differently arranged, the Primus signing it ' in the name
of the Synod,' and the others 'subscribing ' as giving their assent to it. But
the Scottish system has been jealous of Primacy.
3 See the Scotichronicon, vi. 398, ed. by Eev. J. F. S. Gordon, D.D. My
uncle had an interleaved copy of the section relating to his own life (up to
1868), in which he inserted a few corrections. What he did not correct
may, therefore, probably be accepted as accurate. I find from a note in the
Bishop's handwriting that this memoir was mainly drawn up under his
directions by his sister-in-law, Miss Mary Barter, and his former pupil and
friend, Eev. W. Shaw, Incumbent of Forfar.
CH. iv EUCHAKISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 109
became, of course, the subject of much controversy, not
only as to its matter, but as to the right which the Synod
exercised on censuring the writings of a brother Bishop, and
as to the opportuneness of its act. As regards the Synodal
Letter itself, the matter of which was roughly handled in
some quarters, it appears to me to be dignified, reasonable,
and moderate, and on that account it was not pleasing to the
agitators who clamoured for an unequivocal condemna
tion. 1 In some points, indeed, the Synodal Letter would, a
few years earlier, have been considered rather a High
Church document. It touched naturally for censure on
two salient points : the enforcement of supreme adoration
as due to Christ, mysteriously present in the gifts, and the
assertion of the substantial unity or identity of the Sacrifice
of the Altar and the Sacrifice of the Cross. 2 The rejection
of this teaching as unscriptural and having led to corrup
tions and superstitions, and the exhortation to the faithful
members of the Church, especially to the clergy, not to
exceed or fall short in their teaching of the Truth in regard
to the Blessed Sacrament, is justified as a right essentially
inherent in a Provincial Episcopate. 3 This last was a point
1 See for the opinions of such critics the pamphlet Romanism and
Scottish Episcopacy, by Veritas, published early in 1858, and before the
Synodal Letter was issued.
2 Dr. Pusey, in Keble's Considerations, p. 48 foil., complains that it is a
hardship that the Pastoral attributes to Bishop Forbes language which is
not his, and is ' itself in part not carefully worded ; ' and compares it to the
procedure in the case of ' the members of the Porte Eoyale,' who were
called upon to condemn propositions which they declared were not in the
works of Jansenius as being there. I cannot see that any real injustice is
done, though it might have been better to have drawn attention to Forbes'
lately introduced distinction between the active and the passive sacrifice. The
' Sacrifice of the Altar,' as used by the Bishops in a later paragraph, means
the ritual of the altar ; as explained by Forbes, in his second edition, it
means ' the Victim of the Altar Sacrifice.'
3 See Appendix II. The Synodal Letter may be also found in Bishop
Trower's Pastoral, in Keble's Considerations, in the Bishop of St. Andrews'
Notes on the Eucharist and in his Charges for 1858 and 1859 &c.
110 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH en. iv
on which Bishop Forbes vehemently protested, and chiefly
on the grounds that the duties of the Episcopal Synod were
denned by the canons, and that to assume other powers was
ultra vires.
His protest was, however, disregarded, and the letter,
after being read by the Primus, was adopted as a Synodal
act on the motion of Bishop Eden of Moray, whose adhesion
to the policy embodied in it had been previously doubted
in some quarters, and was important on account of the weight
and influence of his character. It was then resolved, on the
motion of the Bishop of St. Andrews, that it should be
formally communicated to the Diocesan Synods, so that
the clergy might, if they chose, take it into consideration.
The two following letters from the Bishop's father-in-
law Eev. William Brudenell Barter, and his brother
Christopher show how the Pastoral was received by strong
and critically minded men in his own circle. That from
Mr. Barter is remarkable, as he had not long before written
a pamphlet in defence of Archdeacon Denison. 1
The first is dated ' Burghclere, 31 May, 1858 ' :
As you are kind enough to ask my opinion, I think that, if
you were obliged to do anything of the kind, you could not have
done better than you have done, but I would not go one hair's
breadth further. My view of the subject, which I have often
printed, is this : That the consecrated Elements are verily and
indeed the Body and Blood of Christ to the Communicants and
to the Communicants only not the Body and Blood of Christ to
be held up for adoration. I think St. Paul's words plainly imply
this when he says the Bread and Wine are ' the Communion '
&c. May God prosper your single-hearted labor in His ser
vice I am most happy to see that all the Bishops are
unanimous ; this is indeed a good sign. I trust none will be
1 Remarks on the Proceedings in the Case of Archdeacon Denison. As
there is no date or publisher's name I presume this was not published.
The point specially touched is that of reception by the wicked.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 111
tempted by popular favor to go further. The ' few words ' * in
which your decrees have gone forth will give them real weight.
The second letter is as follows :
Stanford-in-the-Vale, Faringdon : 31 May, 1858.
Thank God for the Pastoral. It is indeed a blessed mani
festation of His Love in overruling ^vil for good ; and the happy
unanimity of the Six Bishops of the Church of Christ in Scotland
will do more good than the unhappy declension of the one.
Your packet arrived yesterday, on a blessed day, Trinity Sunday,
and was in happy harmony with its holy services. I am going
to stay with the Bishop of Oxford this evening and to-morrow,
and am sure that he will rejoice with you and your brethren.
The following letter of the Bishop to Sir Archibald
Edmonstone, 2 a religious layman, who wrote to him in
some anxiety as to the claim disputed by the Bishop of
Brechin, and as to the position of the letter as an authori
tative judgment, throws considerable light on the attitude
of the Synod. It is dated Perth, 7 June, 1858.
MY DEAB SIK ARCHIBALD, The case of our late Pastoral
letter appears to me to be simply this : We have undertaken in
Synod to censure a book and that Book a Brother-Bishop's
Charge.
Is such censorship allowable in the Church ? and if so, who
are to exercise it ? In England it has been exercised by both
Houses of Convocation, and even by the lower House alone in
the case of a publication by a Bishop, e.g. Bishop Burnet's book
on the ' Thirty-nine Articles,' and Bishop Hoadly's notorious
sermon on ' Christ's Kingdom.' No one questioned the right of
the Church, qua Church, to exercise the power by the Represen
tative Synod ; the only question raised was whether it would be
an interference with the Queen's supremacy ; and this was
decided in the Church's favour by the Privy Council, upon an
opinion given by the Judges, who were 8 to 4 on that side
1 This is an allusion to the Bishop's habit of bantering him on the titles
of his pamphlets, ' a few words on ' so and so.
2 Lady Edmonstone was a Miss Wilbraham.
112 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
(see Lathbury's ' History of Convocation,' chap, xii., where eight
distinct cases are mentioned). In this country, where the
principles of Bishop Sage have been adopted l (whether rightly
or wrongly), the Episcopal Synod is the Church's ordinary
Representative Council to the exclusion of the Presbytery. And
I suppose no one will doubt that if the Lower House of Convo
cation could properly censure a Bishop's book (which certainly
does seem a questionable proceeding), much more may our
Episcopal Synod do the same. In short, we have claimed a
power of censorship, as a right of the Church, and a right
belonging, by the constitution of our own Church, to the
Episcopal Synod. And now, what is this power worth? I
imagine it is worth very little except to reassure the minds of
our people when they have been disturbed. As against the
Bishop of Brechin, and those who think with him, the only
measure of their authority is their disposition to be guided by it.
They can still, if they will, not only hold, but teach and preach
as before. And for my own part, if any of them were to be
brought to a formal trial, I should not allow the Pastoral letter
to have any weight otherwise than as a ground for repeating the
same censure, in a case of preaching and publishing. Of course
in this way a charge might arise on the plea of insubordination,
but every such charge rests obviously upon a very precarious
foundation, where the authority pleaded on our side would have
nothing in it of a strictly legal force.
Perhaps I need not say more than this : however, to show
how cheerfully I accept your kind overture for correspondence on
the subject painful as it is I will add :
1. Where we speak of the Bishop's teaching we merely make
known what we think ; and, of course, we are liable to think
wrong as well as he.
'2. When we exhort the clergy we refer simply to Scripture
and the Formularies of the Church, which the Bishop's Charge
appears to us to narrow in a very exclusive and intolerant way.
3. We notice the terms 'Real objective presence,' not as
objecting to the truth which they are intended to convey (I, for
1 Keference is made, I presume, to Sage's Principles of the Cyprianic
Age, and to his Vindication of the same treatise, esp. chap. vii. 69, 70
of the latter, p. 447 foil., in vol. ii. of Sage's Works, ed. Spottiswoode Soc.
1846. Bishop Sage died in 1711.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 113
one, could not join in any such objection and in all that you
have written on this subject I quite concur), but simply to draw
attention to the fact (not an unimportant one) that they are
novel ; and as wishing to guard against any attempt to fix the
mind of the Church within narrower limits than she herself has
prescribed, by the intervention of new Phrases. . . .
As to the powers of the Episcopal Synod, the Bishop of
St. Andrews obtained an important opinion from his friend,
Boun.dell Palmer, afterwards Lord Selborne. He held that
it had no coercive or disciplinary powers, and could do no
disciplinary act, having a binding or efficacious force, in
excess of those expressly or implicitly conferred by the
Canons of the Church. But he also held that it was clearly
capable of exercising large powers of pastoral instruction
and of the utterance of counsels on matters of doctrine, and
that such proceedings were manifestly appropriate to the
position and functions of its members as Bishops. 1
The real question was probably not so much whether
the Bishops had the right, but whether it was wise to
exercise it at the moment. On this it is not very easy to
form an opinion. In December 1857 the Bishops of Moray
and St. Andrews 2 had declined, as we have seen, to join
their three colleagues, on the ground that the subject would
probably be discussed again at the next annual Synod, and
because they had been informed that the charges against
Bishop Forbes were likely to lead to judicial proceedings
against him, which would, of course, come before the Synod
in another capacity. Now, the meeting in May was not the
annual Synod, but a special one ; and judicial proceedings,
though then dormant, did actually take place later. It is
impossible not to wish that their attitude of reserve could
1 See the quotations from this Opinion in the Bishop's Charge for 1859,
p. 27.
2 See their Statement, dated 29 December, 1857, referred to above,
p. 100.
114 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
have been maintained longer, as extra-judicial proceedings
by a body which may be called to act judicially are always
liable to be misunderstood. The Bishop's letter to Sir A.
Edmonstone shows that he felt this to be a difficulty. We
can only suppose that the outside pressure of unsettlement,
especially among laymen, was felt to be extreme ; and that
it was hoped by the Bishops that the issue of the Letter
would discharge them from the necessity of entering further
into the matter. The defenders, too, of the Charge^vere,
it seems, triumphantly proclaiming that its doctrine was
that of the Church and this, of course, was a serious
difficulty, due in a great degree to the way in which Bishop
Forbes expressed himself, as if his teaching on this difficult
subject was not only to be tolerated, but to be accepted as
authoritative and as the mind of the Church at large.
The Synodal Letter, so issued, was followed very shortly
by a separate and lengthy Pastoral by Bishop Trower,
reviewing the proceedings that had followed the Brechin
Charge. It had been written, and mainly printed, in
February, but was held back until after the Synod. Some
time later in the year in June or July Mr. Keble again
came forward with his ' Considerations Suggested by a Late
Pastoral Letter on the Doctrine of the most Holy Eucharist,'
a pamphlet of fifty-four pages of small print, in which Pusey
took a considerable share J in revising the proofs and writing
an appendix. But he was then in bad health, and conse
quently the greater share of the work fell upon Keble. 2 He
writes as a Presbyter to his brother Presbyters, urging that
the Pastoral Letter was not a Synodical Act, * because
Presbyters have a right to be present in Synods, and
because the discussion was carried on with closed doors,
1 See Liddon's Pusey, iii. 452 foil.
2 In the following sentences I am much indebted to my friend Prof.
Walter Lock's John Keble, pp. 166 foil., 7th ed. 1895.
CH. iv EUCIIARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 115
and the judgment given without any statement of the
reasons ; hence the Presbyters are not bound to accept it
as authoritative.' He acknowledges what he considered
the good points of the Pastoral, especially its reserve and
its positive statements, but criticises its negative statements
as tending to Nestorianism the separation of Christ into
two persons. He holds, however, himself (and in this he
seems to vary from the view of Bishop Forbes), that the
Sacrifice of the Eucharist is not so much identical with the
Sacrifice of the Cross as with that which Christ offered
in the Upper Koom and is now offering in Heaven. He
pleads further for toleration and for not being afraid of the
mere word ' Koman,' since we ought to be glad to agree
with any branch of the Church in a matter of truth. We
must not shrink from any fulness of devotion, but 'put
forth all our strength ' (Ecclus. xliii. 30), since our tempta
tion to undervalue the atmosphere of mysteries and miracles
in which we live is so great.
It may surely be questioned how far it was fit and proper
that Mr. Keble should thus intervene to suggest opposition
on the part of one order of the ministry in Scotland against
the other, and I imagine that this was a point on which
his own conscience touched him afterwards. But the
matter of the tract is full of interest, though it had, perhaps,
little immediate result. Then followed, on 5 August, the
condemnation and suspension of Mr. Cheyne by the Bishop
of Aberdeen, in a very short and technically assailable
judgment, in which, however, he acquitted him formally
of the charge of teaching Transubstantiation.
In September 1858 the Bishop of St. Andrews for the
first time gave any full expression to his own personal views
on the subject. He circulated amongst the clergy of his
Diocese and the Scottish Presbyters generally but not to
the general public a large quarto pamphlet of sixty- six
i 2
116 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WOEDSWOKTH CH. iv
a g es now very scarce entitled, ' Notes to Assist towards
a Eight Judgment on the Eucharistic Controversy,' at the
end of which the Pastoral is printed with the title * Copy of
the Synodal Letter.' The Bishop explains that his ' Notes '
were written some months before for his own use, and now
circulated in consequence, as is clearly implied, of Mr.
Keble's ' Considerations.' These * Notes ' are, in my opinion,
of great value as really adding to the information possessed
by the parties in regard to the documents quoted and the
authorities referred to. They were never published ; but
the Bishop at one time revised them and prepared them
for publication. The reader will profit by the following
summary, short as it is.
In Chapter I. On the testimony of the Fathers, and
especially on the statement that ' the ancient doctors teach
that the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the same substantially u'ith
that of the Cross ' the author goes through the testimonies
alleged by Bishop Forbes, and certainly, it seems to me,
makes good his objections to almost all the passages quoted.
The passages from St. Chrysostom on Heb. x. 1-9 and
1 Tim. i. 8-12 are treated with great justice. As to the
first he shows that Chrysostom three times corrects himself,
and so guards himself against being supposed to extend
the identity of Sacrifice, which he recognises, to a substantial
sameness. Under the second his note is exactly just :
* Here is a testimony to prove what we all believe that our
Eucharistic Sacrifice is the same in substance as that which
our Lord Himself first administered, but nothing whatever
to show that St. Chrysostom regarded the Sacrifice of the
Eucharist as substantially the same with the Sacrifice of
the Cross. There is a passage precisely similar in Homily
i. 3 on St. Matthew, viii. 581' (p. 7). The observa
tions on St. Augustine and Theodoret are also forcible.
St. Augustine is not a very consistent writer, but the balance
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 117
of his teaching on the whole is in favour of the doctrine of
a commemorative sacrifice, both in the active and the passive
sense * peracti iam sacrificii memoria.' The teaching of
Theodoret on Heb. viii. 4 is distinctly of a cold and low type,
and as a whole it could not be cited in favour of the Charge.
Chapter II., on the use of the words ' substantial ' and
' objective ' in this controversy, is full of interesting matter.
While criticising Forbes and his supporters, he says, ' I
would no less maintain, with all the great Anglican divines,
that the elements through consecration undergo a change,'
and he guards himself and the other signatories of the
Synodal Letter from being supposed ' to confine the Presence
simply to the Eecipient ' (p. 19).
Chapter III. is on Eucharistic Adoration and the English
Canons of 1640.
Chapter IV., on the alleged testimony of Bishop Andrewes
(pp. 34-36), and other great English Divines, seems to me
very judicious and fair. The Bishop goes so far as to say,
* I am persuaded that Anglican theology must be re- written
before it can be fairly brought to support either of the
conclusions which the Synod has disapproved ' (p. 41).
Chapter V., on the fallacious reasoning attributed to the
censured Charge, is also full of point.
Chapter VI., on the tendency of the same Charge to under
mine the great foundations on tvhich our formularies rest d'c.,
is shorter and less effective ; but the Bishop makes a fair
point of the slighting treatment of the Scottish divines of
the last century by Bishop Forbes (p. 51).
Chapter VII., on the imputation of narrowing the terms of
Communion and on the authority of the Synodal Letter, takes
up the precedent of the declaration on Baptism in 1850,
when the Scottish Church so cleared itself from complicity
with the Gorharn Judgment, and describes the Synodal
Letter as an ' act of censorship ' not having any force of
118 EPISCOPATE OF CHAELES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
law, but ' a godly admonition having more than ordinary
weight, because collective and Synodical.'
The following passage on the Sacrifice may suffice as a
specimen of what the Scottish Bishops intended positively
to teach. It is taken from a sort of catena of Anglican
divines.
They have followed Archbishop Bramhall, who acknowledges
' an Eucharisticai Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving : a com
memorative Sacrifice, or memorial of the Sacrifice of the Cross ;
a representative Sacrifice, or a representation of the Passion of
Christ before the Eyes of His Heavenly Father ; an impetrative
Sacrifice, or an impetration of the Fruit and benefits of His
Passion, by way of real prayer ; and lastly an applicative
Sacrifice, or an application of His merits to our souls : ' all
which is expressed in the Synodal Letter ; and he adds, ' Let
him that dare, go one step further than we do.' ii. 276
(p. 59).
On Tuesday, the 14th of the same month of September
1858, at St. Ninian's, Perth, the Bishop of St. Andrews
delivered his Charge at the Synod, at which Canon Humble
preached. It was, as usual, followed next day by the Visi
tation. Among the subjects of the Charge were naturally
' the Pastoral Letter,' explaining his reasons for moving
that it should be communicated to the Diocesan Synod ;
the declaration on non-recipient attendance, on which he did
not ask for Synodal action on the part of the Diocese, but
rather trusted to the influence of forbearance, quoting St.
Augustine, ' Aliud est quod docemus, aliud quod susti-
nemus ' l ; and the ' Clerical Address to the College of
Bishops,' whom he defends with some warmth. The
treatment of these points is on the whole in a reserved,
conciliatory, and rather apologetic tone. The author shows,
however, a certain natural resentment at the suppression
1 Printed ' sustenemus,' but corrected tacitly to ' sustinemus ' (Charge of
1859, 26 note).
CH. iv EUCHARIST1C CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 119
by Bishop Forbes of any reference to his own action at the
Episcopal Synod in September 1857 (p. 11), and at the use
of his name, in some quarters not specified, ' as of one who
generally concurred in the teaching of the Charge ' (p. 12).
The issue of the Pastoral or Synodal Letter is defended as
a practical step required by the pressure of those who
desired to have guidance both those clergy and laity
who signed memorials, and by those multitudes who did
not do so, but waited patiently trusting that the Bishops
would do their duty.
The strained condition of affairs at the Cathedral is not
referred to with any detail, but mention is made of the
' Eesignation of Five Prebendaries ' (p. 19), ' in consequence
of differences between them and the resident clergy, solely
upon public grounds/ and the closing of the Grammar
School ' which has been so ably conducted by Mr. Sellar in
this place during the last four years, and maintained chiefly
through the liberality of Mr. G. Boyle and his friends ; the
premises not being sufficient to receive such a number of
pupils as would be required to make the institution remu
nerative and self -supporting ' (p. 20).
At the end of the month (30 September), Mr. Cheyne
made his first appeal to the College of Bishops, in the
technical part of which he had the assistance of an able
Aberdeen advocate Mr. Grub. 1 The latter part of his
* Eeasons of Appeal ' (dated 2 October, pp. 15-69) is
remarkable for its frequent references to the teaching of
the Scottish divines of the previous century.
A meeting of the Bishops took place on 2 November,
and a Synod, to hear this case, on the 4th. The Primus
1 This was no doubt the eminent historian of the Church of Scotland,
Dr. George Grub, who did not, however, agree with the advanced views of
his friends : see Eev. Wm. Walker (of Monymusk), Three Churchmen, p. 206,
Edinb. 1893. He did not sign the address to Mr. Cheyne from the
congregation of St. John's.
120 EPISCOPATE OF CHAELES WOKDS WORTH CH. IT
(Bishop Terrot) was prevented from attending by a stroke
of paralysis, and Bishop Ewing, of Argyll, as senior Bishop,
took the chair. But as he disliked definitions on such
mysterious subjects and religious prosecutions in general,
though he was much opposed to what he called ' materia
listic ' teaching on the Eucharist, he took no active part in
the proceedings, and did not vote or give an opinion. 1 We
have upon this case the printed ' Opinions ' of the Bishop
of Brechin and the Bishop of St. Andrews. I have already
quoted some of the opening sentences of the former showing
how dissatisfied Bishop Forbes was with the form and
expression of the sermons. In the body of the ' Opinion '
the arguments in favour of Mr. Cheyne are ably stated, and
the sermons explained in the best sense they are capable of.
The Bishop of St. Andrews' * Opinion ' is, as might be
expected, severe, and is directed to show, what certainly
was a natural inference from the sermons, that they con
tained a general scheme of doctrine tending in a Koman
direction. But his actual judgment is not severe, and
suggests that the Appellant should be invited to make
satisfaction to the Church by recalling certain passages.
The three statements 2 censured were : (1) ' The Sacrifice
of the Eucharist is substantially the same as the Sacrific
of the Cross, differing only in the manner of offering.' (2)
' In the Lord's Supper we kneel to the Lord Himself in
visibly present under the form, or under the veils, of Bread
and Wine.' (3) * The only thing necessary to the comple
tion of the Sacrifice is the Communion of the Priest.' In
regard to these the Court adopted the Bishop of St.
Andrews' opinion, finding ' that the teaching of the Appel
lant complained of in the Presentment is erroneous and
more or less subversive of the doctrines of the Church, as
1 See A. J. Boss, Memoir of Alex. Ewing (1877), p. 284 foil.
z See [Bishop of St. Andrews'] Proposals for Peace, pp. 31, 32.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 121
explained in the opinions of the majority of the Court now
delivered.' l The Court was adjourned to 2 December to
give Mr. Cheyne an opportunity of retracting.
On 16 November, 1858, Mr. W. B. Barter, father of
Mrs. Wordsworth, died at his Eectory of Burghclere in his
71st year. 2 He was a High Churchman, and had been long
intimate with Newman, as he continued to be with Pusey
and Keble, having been in 1811 elected Fellow of Oriel
College, at the same time as Whately and Keble. As a
man of strong and active intelligence, always disposed to
think for himself, but in entire submission to Church prin
ciples, he had taken an independent part in most of the
controversies of the period, and might almost be said to be
the leader of a school. 3 He was a determined English
Churchman, especially keen in his denunciation of the
Calvinist doctrine of * unconditional salvation,' which he
thought might easily be allied with Antinomianism, social
ism, and infidelity. He was, like his younger brother, the
Warden of Winchester, a man not only of robust physique
and manly character, but also very warm-hearted, and
attractive in his personality and devoted to duty. He
1 The Bishops of Glasgow, Moray and Ross, and St. Andrews formed
the majority, the Bishop of Brechin dissenting, and the Bishop of Argyll
abstaining from voting.
2 Mr. Barter was second son of the Rev. Charles Barter, who was Vicar
of Cornworthy, on the banks of the Dart, for seventy years, and who died at
the age of ninety-six. The eldest son, Charles, was a scholar at Tiverton
and Fellow of Balliol, and was Rector of Sarsden and Churchill, Oxon, for
many years. He died in 1868. William Brudenell Barter was also educated
at Tiverton, whence he went to Westminster and Christ Church, where he
rather weakened himself with hard reading. The third brother, Robert
Speckott, was at Tiverton, Winchester, and New College, and was for many
years the much-loved Warden of Winchester College.
3 The Ecclesiastic of August 1852 has an article entitled ' The Barter
Tracts and School,' founded on his volume Tracts in Defence of the Chris
tian Sabbath, the Church, her Priesthood and Sacraments (London, 1851),
containing some fourteen separate publications. In the following year he
published six other tracts, the last (in 1858) being Irreverence the Precursor
of Infidelity.
122 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES VYORDSWOKTH CH. iv
shone in the management of his parish, and especially in
his method of teaching the young, and in his visits to the
sick, and was greatly loved both within and outside his
parish. His character is well sketched by his son-in-law
in his preface to ' Burghclere Sunday School Exercises.'
The Bishop of St. Andrews, who had been so constantly
with him, was naturally present at the funeral at Burgh
clere, and remained to preach on the Sunday (21 Novem
ber). The funeral is described as very touching in the out
burst of grief which accompanied it. Very affectionate and
appreciative letters were also received by members of the
family from Pusey and Keble.
At Advent 1858 the Bishop of St. Andrews issued a
* Supplement to Notes on the Eucharistic Controversy ' of
14 quarto pages, dealing in a very instructive way with the
opinions of Bishops Andrewes, Jeremy Taylor, and others,
and giving some interesting particulars of the life and
works of Professor John Forbes of Corse justifying him
from undue disparagement and explaining the singular
position of Thorndike in 1659. In it he touches mainly
upon the authorities quoted in the ' Appeal ' of Mr. Cheyne,
whose case was now heard again. He had unfortunately
not been willing to listen to the admonition given to him
in November, and on 2 December, as he made no retracta
tion, the judgment of the Bishop of Aberdeen was affirmed
by the Episcopal Synod, the Bishop of Brechin protesting.
Mr. Cheyne was, therefore, now under sentence of sus
pension from his office of Presbyter, and did not deny that
it was a legal sentence which he was bound to obey.
Notwithstanding this sentence, he continued to officiate
as a Deacon, and to do other acts of a pastoral character,
though he did not preach, justifying himself by declaring
that he had only been suspended as Presbyter, and was
still Incumbent of St. John's Church. He was consequently
OH. iv EUCIIARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 123
again cited before Bishop Suther and the Synod of Aber
deen on the charge of disobedience to the sentence of the
Courts, and for a breach of his ordination vow. He was
found guilty, and on 27 May, 1859, was adjudged to be no
longer a clergyman of the Episcopal Church in Scotland,
i.e. to be subject to suspension for an unlimited period.
He had, it must be remarked, not only put himself much
in the wrong by his contumacy, and by his justification of
it by what, to many persons, seemed a quibble, but he had
perhaps even more prejudiced his case by a letter to his
congregation dated Epiphany 1859 in which he accused
the Bishops and all who agreed with them of heterodoxy,
if not heresy, and did not even entirely spare Bishop
Forbes. 1 He had, however, some legal opinions in his favour.
He appealed, therefore, from the Diocesan Court to the
Episcopal Synod, and on 9 November following received its
final judgment affirming the sentence of the Court below.
The majority, consisting of the Primus (Terrot) and the
Bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow (now Wilson), 2 acted on
1 I was able to see a copy of this scarce publication through the kindness
of Dr. Danson, when I was at Aberdeen, 23 September, 1896. It is entitled :
A Letter to the Congregation of St. John the Evangelist's, Aberdeen, in
answer to their Address, together with the Protest of the Incumbent and
Lay Communicants, by Kev. P. Cheyne, Incumbent of St. John the Evan
gelist, Aberdeen (Brown & Co. 1859). It seems to sneer at Bishop Forbes
for describing his language as ' provocative.' On p. 13 we read : ' The
majority of our Bishops have condemned the doctrine which I have taught
and you received, and in so doing they have virtually denied the Catholic
faith concerning the most sacred mystery of the Eucharist.' On p. 15 he
speaks of ' the erroneous doctrine fixed upon (the Church) by the decision
of the Bishops.' On pp. 17-18 we read : As long as there stands unrevoked
a sentence of suspension against a priest for teaching the true doctrine of
the Eucharist as the Church has believed it, so long will there remain a
standing witness that the Scotch Church is committed to the heterodoxies
which received their final sanction on 2 December last.' See also Malcolm
McColl's letter to Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cheyne and the Bishop of Brechin
(London: Masters, 1860), pp. 16, 20, 24, and Lendrum's Rights of the
Second Order, p. Ixxvii.
2 Bishop Trower, who had been particularly eager in the controversy,
124 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
the opinion of their legal adviser. The Bishop of Moray
(Eden) now joined the Bishop of Brechin in the minority.
Bishop Ewing was absent, but would apparently have voted
with the majority if he had been present. 1 Bishop Suther
could not, of course, vote on such an appeal.
The sentence, though not unexpected, was a severe one,
and a few years later Mr. Cheyne made such explanations
as were accepted by the Bishops. He explained his con
tumacy by alleging the ambiguity of the sentence, and
asserting that Bishop Suther knew of his ministering as a
Deacon for some time before he interfered ; and for his
doctrinal statements he substituted certain patristic texts.
These explanations were tendered in February 1863, and
he was formally freed from his deposition. The Bishop of
Aberdeen also withdrew his suspension on 18 June of the
same year. Mr. Cheyne died, at the age of 85, 18 Novem
ber, 1878. Bishop Suther died 23 January, 1883.
The year 1859, to which Mr. Cheyne's suspension or
deposition belongs, was further saddened for the Bishop of
St. Andrews in consequence of the open rupture between
himself and the Cathedral clergy and Mr. Lendrum, now
Incumbent of Crieff, who was the only Prebendary who
had not resigned. Some difficulty would, in any case,
probably have arisen when the Bishop came permanently
to reside at Perth, and attempted to make the Cathedral in
a real sense his own church, but it would not have taken
so acute a form apart from the Eucharistic controversy. As
time went on the Bishop's part in the latter naturally
became more eager, and questions of detail and practice
gathered importance in his eyes as expressing certain dis-
had retired early in 1859, and was succeeded by Dean Wilson, who was
consecrated Easter Monday, 26 April, in that year, and was, therefore, a
new element in these debates.
1 See Ross's Memoir of Bishop Ewing, p. 289 foil.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 125
puted points of doctrine. He was constitutionally sensitive
and particular, and this will account for his insisting on
minutiae in a manner which his opponents described as
' harassing.' But his mind was specially exercised as
regards two points, attendance of non-Communicants
(including celebration with an insufficient number) and
the position of the celebrant the latter of which contro
versies was forced by circumstances, both in England and
Scotland, into what now seems to most persons very un
reasonable prominence.
We must sketch, lightly though it be, the history of
these troubles, and for this purpose must turn back a little.
The Bishop, as we have seen, came permanently to reside
at Perth in April 1856. In May, at his suggestion, certain
considerable alterations were made in the ritual of the
Cathedral, and he constantly attended the services and
preached, though rarely being present at the early celebra
tion. It became the custom at such times to celebrate
with only one Communicant, a practice l which it was stated
he had agreed to sanction in an interview with Provost
Fortescue on 23 August, 1853. The Bishop much objected
to this, when he heard of it later (at Whitsuntide 1857),
and he made a public remonstrance on the subject at a
Confirmation on Whit-Tuesday (2 June). This was the
beginning of the open conflict, though it did not come to
a head for some two years afterwards. The Bishop's fears
about the tendency of the ritual at St. Ninian's could not
but be intensified by two secessions to Eome one of the
Eev. K. Campbell, who had resigned his Canonical stall in
1 It is said to have been an old practice of the Scottish Church. See
Humble's Letter (1859), pp. 8 and 74. This might well be the case in
times when the Liturgy was said under severe restrictions. The Bishop's
sanction of it was asserted by the Provost (see Appendix I. to Humble's
Letter, p. 96). It was permitted in Bishop Torry's Prayer Book in cases of
necessity.
126 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
1856 for lack of income, the other of a lady who was the
Provost's principal friend and assistant in the congregation,
and who continued to reside in Perth. The conflict
gradually became so acute that the parties to it began to
consider closely their legal relations to one another, and
entered upon a careful examination of the Statutes drawn
up by the Bishop in 1853, in order to discover where the
power really resided.
In drawing up these Statutes the Bishop had intended
to make his position clear and secure, and practically to
become Incumbent of the Church, 1 with the Provost as his
assistant and deputy when he was absent or otherwise em
ployed. Mr. Boyle's letters, quoted in the foregoing chapter,
show that the promoters of the Cathedral were willing to
put themselves entirely in his hands ; and Mr. Humble
acknowledges 2 that both he and the Provost supposed, in
the early years of their relations, that his power was quite
uncontrolled. He was not only Visitor and Ordinary, but
the Provost, by Article iv. of the Statutes, was to be ' under
the Bishop ' in his government and management of the
Church. But the peculiarly trying temper of Mr. Humble,
and the change in the Bishop's own attitude and practice
as regards the Eucharist, consequent upon his experience
of the controversy and its results though his actual
opinions did not vary much made this form of close
association and divided authority almost impossible.
1 I have before me a MS. Memorandum on St. Ninian's Cathedral,
Perth, dated February 1885, in which he says, on p. 4: 'In support of the
claim which I have mentioned as made by and for the Provost, and against
the opposite view which I maintained, it was argued that the latter tended
to make the Provost no more than the Bishop's Curate. If we take the
word Curate in its highest signification, it may be admitted that this plea
was well founded. But no one is required to accept the office who dislikes
such a position ; and there can be no question whatever that it is the position
clearly and unmistakably defined for the Provost under the constitution of
the Cathedral at Inverness,' <fec.
2 In his printed Letter (1859), p. 71 note.
CH. iv EUCHAEISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 127
Nor were the Provost and Precentor quite their own
masters, depending so much as they did on the generosity
of their two lay supporters. 1
Hence it was not unnatural that in the summer of
1857 they took the opinion of Mr. J. D. Chambers, Ke-
corder of Sarum, well known as a student of Kitual, on
three points : (1)' whether the Bishop could oblige the
Provost to alter the hours of Divine service, a question
intended especially to touch the early celebration; (2) whether
he could oblige the Provost to take means to prevent persons
from assisting at the Holy Eucharist without receiving ;
(3) whether he could proceed against the Provost or other
Canons for continuing to be present in Choir without
receiving. They also asked whether the Bishop could
claim authority alone to interpret the Statutes. To all
these questions Mr. Chambers gave an answer, both general
and particular, in the negative, 2 and this naturally en
couraged the members of the Chapter to further resistance.
Nevertheless, as we have seen, the Synod of 1858 passed
off amicably, with only a passing reference to the re
signation of five Prebendaries and to the closing of the
Cathedral Grammar School on the resignation of Mr. Sellar.
It was the attempt to re-establish this school without
1 The Provost had 200Z. from Hon. G. F. Boyle, and the Precentor 100Z.
from Lord Forbes. Both were supposed to have been secured ' for ever,'
but the former sum was not. Mr. Boyle, when Lord Glasgow, largely
increased his annual payments in 1869, adding 150Z. to the Provost, 100Z. to
the Precentor, and 150Z. for the maintenance of the Cathedral services. In
1878 Lord Forbes undertook the 100Z. for the Precentor, and Lord Glasgow
gave 60Z. for house rent. All Lord Glasgow's benefactions came to an end in
1885.
2 See Mr. Humble's Letter (1859), Appendix F. Mr. Chambers stated
his conclusion in general terms : ' The jurisdiction of the Bishop
over the Provost is confined to the enforcement of the Provincial and
Diocesan Canons, of the observance of the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church
of Scotland, and limited by those Canons and Liturgy ' (p. 87). This
opinion is dated Lincoln's Inn, 13 August, 1857.
128 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. rv
the concurrence and against the will of the Bishop, and
the issue of the Cathedral Declaration on the Eucharist, 1
which occasioned the final rupture. The first led to the
withdrawal of the Bishop from attendance at the Cathedral
(announced 12 May, 1859) ; the second, which was pre
sented to him on 19 June, made it almost impossible for
him to return. This Declaration was indeed so carefully
and skilfully worded consisting of a cento of phrases from
Holy Scripture, the Prayer Book, Articles, and Homilies,
and short texts of Fathers and Divines that it would
have been difficult to find any definite independent state
ment in it. But it was so evidently intended as a reply to
the Bishops' first decision in Mr. Cheyne's case that its
circulation as a manifesto, signed by all sorts of com
municant persons connected with the Cathedral congrega
tion over a hundred in number 2 could not but be
interpreted as an attack upon the Bishops in general and
the Bishop of St. Andrews in particular. For, rightly or
wrongly, the supporters of Mr. Cheyne fixed on the Bishop
of St. Andrews almost the whole odium of his condem
nation.
The Bishop practically removed his ' throne ' to St.
John's Church, Perth, and remained closely connected
with it till 1866, and, though still resident in Perth, he did
not attend the Cathedral except to perform some Episcopal
acts, such as Confirmation, for more than twelve years
(1859-7<2). 3
The rupture became more pronounced after the pub-
1 It may be found as Appendix K to Mr. Rumble's Letter, p. 97. It was,
I imagine, drawn up by him.
2 According to the analysis which the Bishop gives of it elsewhere, it was
signed by 105 persons, including 64 females, and 17 boys and girls of and
under sixteen years of age. Some of the elder persons were in receipt of
alms from the Church.
3 See the MS. Memorandum above quoted, p. 5.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 129
lication (at the formal request of the Synod) of his Charge
of 13 September, 1859. 1 This dealt rather fully and
frankly (perhaps too frankly) with the St. Ninian's De
claration, the Perth Collegiate School, and the postpone
ment of a Confirmation at Crieff in consequence of a
newspaper letter and advertisement signed by Mr. Lendrum,
and concluded with stating his reasons for ceasing to take
the Eastward Position as celebrant at Holy Communion.
He had always in Scotland taken this position at the
Consecration prayer, arid at St. Ninian's had done so from
the first Lord's Prayer onwards. The first he had done
believing it to be the meaning of the rubric ; the second
contrary to his own feeling and judgment, but as an act of
conciliation. He now had given up both, being persuaded
that he had understood the English rubric wrongly. For
his later interpretation of the rubric he quotes Wheatley,
Blunt (of Cambridge), and Kobertson, who thought that
the words ' before the table ' only referred to the
* ordering ' of the elements, and that the priest was then
intended to return to the ' north side ' or end. 2 The
Bishop's other reason for his change was in order that
he might no longer seem to encourage certain views on
the doctrine of Sacrifice. He did not, however, intend
to enforce his opinion upon those who were unwilling to
accept the same view (any more than that on non-
recipient attendance) unless the law of the Church required
him to do so. The Charge concludes with ; some sad and
affectionate words as to the opposition with which he was
met.
1 This Synod was held at Dunkeld in consequence of the strained relations
with the Cathedral Chapter.
2 Though practice was largely in favour of this interpretation, grammar
seems against it ; and certainly, as the Bishop saw, so ambiguous a direction
could hardly be quoted as involving penalties if variously interpreted.
130 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
It can never be my wish to stand towards any of my clergy
in any other relation than that of one whose solemn duty and
whose fervent desire it is to work with you, heartily and lovingly,
in a common cause a cause the noblest and most precious that
can devolve upon man. And whenever this relation is disturbed
whenever I am precluded from showing the affection which I
would fain cherish towards you all whenever my constant
prayer, ' that we may love as Brethren, being all of one accord
and of one mind,' would seem for a season, in regard to some
one or other among you, to return unto me void, the trial and
the pain are greater than I can express. It is not merely that
my feelings as a man are wounded and my natural sympathies
as your spiritual friend and adviser are obstructed and driven
back from the course in which they ought to flow ; but I lie
oppressed under the conviction that nothing which we have to
do can prosper as we wish, and that much, very much, which
might and ought to be done by us, must be left undone unless we
can act together, not only in peace and harmony, but with
mutual confidence and esteem (p. 29 j.
The reply to the Charge was disheartening. It took
the form of two pamphlets, appearing almost simul
taneously, but after it was known that proceedings would
be taken against Bishop Forbes. The first, a * Letter ' by
Precentor Humble, is a detailed and, it must be said, in
some respects able indictment of the Bishop in regard to
his whole connection with St. Ninian's, and particularly in
regard to the matters mentioned in his Charge of 1859.
It has an appendix of documents arranged in a very
convenient manner. But the tone and character of the
Letter are exceedingly disagreeable, and sometimes very
unworthy of the writer.
The other pamphlet, entitled ' The Eights of the Second
Order of the Clergy,' and dated Advent 1859, also a letter
to the Bishop, was the work of Mr. Lendrum. It was not
so able as Mr. Humble's and more rhetorical, but of the
same general character. The author soon afterwards left
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 131
the country, and his name will now disappear from this
memoir. 1 It is painful to reflect on the waste of time
and nervous energy in these and similar effusions, and in
the letters written to the newspapers and journals, and the
even more painful articles in reviews and periodicals.
But in judging of the bitterness of tone manifested at this
time we must remember that on 3 October, 1859, not
withstanding negotiations which had gone on with the
hope of averting the shock to public opinion, a formal
presentment was made against Bishop Forbes by Kev. W.
Henderson and two vestrymen of the church of St. Mary's,
Arbroath, and that on 9 November Mr. Cheyne received
his final sentence from the three Bishops, which removed
him for a time from the ranks of the clergy.
On 5 November Bishop Forbes had written a letter to
the congregation of St. Paul's, Dundee, of which he was
Incumbent, dated from Oxford, where he was engaged with
Dr. Pusey in preparing his defence. In it he cites Bishops
Ken, Wilson, and Jeremy Taylor as having used more
fervid and positive language than he had himself, and
stated that in his Charge he had written with a view to the
reunion of Christendom, and in a way which he hoped
might tone down the acerbities of polemics. The letter
was written in Bishop Forbes's usual winning manner, and
no doubt made an impression on those who were wondering
what the issue might be. Bishop Wordsworth replied to it
in a way which was unusual to him an anonymous
pamphlet, apparently intended at the time really to conceal
his personality, 2 entitled ' Proposals for Peace ; or, a few
1 Mr. Lendrum became Rector of Blatherwycke, Dio. Peterborough, and
died 14 Jan. 1890.
2 By one friend it was conjectured to be my father's work. The letter to
my father which mentions this also mentions an anonymous gift of 100Z.,
put into the offertory at Forfar, as ' the humble offering of a sincere Church
man for the Bishop of St. Andrews in token of sympathy,' on Christmas
Day 1859. On 5 November, 1871, he writes to his brother (then Bishop of
K2
132 EPISCOPATE OF CHAKLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
remarks on the Eucharistic Doctrine of Bishops Taylor,
Ken, and Wilson with reference to the recent pastoral of
the Bishop of Brechin, with a Postscript on the case of Mr.
Cheyne.' In these he showed, as he had several times
done already, that these Anglican divines, like St. Chry-
sostom and St. Augustine in older days, while using fervid
and rhetorical language in some places, yet balance, ex
plain, and justify it in others, so as to approach and
sometimes to touch what had been stigmatised as 'the
theory of virtue and efficacy.' He showed, too, that Ken
altered a passage of his ' Practice of Divine Love,' which
ran in 1685 ' how Thou Who art in Heaven art present on
the altar I can by no means explain ' into * after what
extraordinary manner Thou Who art in Heaven art
present throughout the whole sacramental action to every
devout receiver ... I cannot comprehend, but I firmly
believe all Thou hast said ' (pp. 5, 6). At the close he calls
upon the Bishop of Brechin, who had referred to these three
authorities, to accept their teaching fully and fairly.
The postscript on the case of Mr. Cheyne is also valuable,
especially in its quotations from the Catechisms of Bishop
George Innes, of Brechin (used by Bishop Jolly for half a
century at Fraserburgh, and practically by Bishop Torry),
of Bishop William Abernethy Drummond (of Brechin, and
Edinburgh and Glasgow), of Primus John Skinner, and of
David Moir, Bishop Forbes's immediate predecessor at
Brechin. It should be remembered that Mr. Cheyne had
frequently referred to the authority of Bishop Jolly and
others in his Keasons of Appeal ' ; hence the quotations
from Bishop Innes's Catechism are very much to the point.
This Catechism clearly teaches the presence of Christ's
Lincoln) that two bachelor brothers named Stewart, whom he only knew
very slightly, members of the congregation of St. John's, Perth, had left
him a legacy of 200Z. apiece, and 500Z. towards the endowment of the see.
CH. iv EUCHAKISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 133
' natural Body and Blood,' and that ' in mystery and sig
nification,' ' in power and virtue,' or < in power and effect,'
or * in power and efficacy ' this qualifying or explanatory
phrase being constantly repeated.
At the same time the Bishop of St. Andrews made in
direct communications with the presenters, endeavouring
thereby to stave off the trial ; and Mr. Gladstone and Sir
John Coleridge also used their influence to effect a peaceful
settlement. 1 But these efforts failed. It could hardly be
expected that the appeal in * Proposals for Peace ' would
have much effect on Bishop Forbes, though it could
scarcely fail to make him feel that he had spoken very
hastily in assuming that Anglican theology, in its general
result, justified his expressions. He spent the winter, I
believe in Oxford, in preparing his able * Theological
Defence,' which was the joint work of Dr. Pusey, Mr. Keble,
and himself. 2 This ' Defence ' a treatise of 235 pages
was sent in on 7 January, 1860, and when the Synod met
on 7 February it was read by the Bishop to the Court on
two successive days. Mr. Keble was present then, and on
the second day had an interview with the Bishop of St.
Andrews, of which the following contemporary note was
made in the Bishop's ' Churchman's Almanack ' :
8 February. Interview with Mr. Keble at his request, at Mr.
W. Forbes's, in which he took and kissed my hand and begged
me to forgive anything he had done amiss in the controversy
respecting the Bishop of Br[echin]. We were alone. The
interview lasted more than half an hour. We parted lovingly.
I trust 3 there was no guile on either side. (He had sent a
message to me through the Bishop of Mforay ?] to ask if I
1 See my uncle's MS. Note-book, v. 17, and Liddon's Pusey, iii. 456.
2 See Preface to Keble's Occasional Papers, p. xxi. note. Cp. Liddon's
Pusey, iii. 456.
3 I understand this to mean : ' I believe we were both of us sincere.'
Keble had been intimate with the Bishop at Winchester.
134 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
would allow him to call upon me. But I thought it more proper
to go to him.)
On the following day Mr. Henderson read his ' Pleadings/
which was, in its first edition, a pamphlet of eighty-nine
pages. The Court then adjourned till 14 March, having
fixed 23 February as the day on or before which the Bishop
of Brechin should present his printed reply. This consists
of fifty-five pages. Between this time and 14 March, when
the trial finally came on, attempts were still made to bring
the Bishop of Brechin to make such further explanations
as would enable the Synod to pass over the matter without
definite answer. 1 But they were unsuccessful. On the
14th the * Reply to the Pleadings ' was taken as read, and on
the following day judgment was given, the Primus (Bishop
Terrot), Bishop Eden, and Bishop Wordsworth reading
their opinions. The unanimous finding of the Court was
read by Bishop Wilson of Glasgow. Bishop Ewing was
again unable to be present, through severe illness. He was
averse to any penal sentence, though extremely opposed to
Bishop Forbes's views.
The finding of the Court, divested from technicalities,
was, that the presentment of Bishop Forbes's teaching
(1) on the identity of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and
the Sacrifice of the Cross, and (2) as to the supreme adora
tion due to Christ's Body and Blood mysteriously present
in the gifts, is proven, and that the teaching itself is un-
sanctioned by the Articles and Formularies of the Church,
and to a certain extent inconsistent with them ; (3) that
the charge of tmsoundness as to the reception by the wicked
1 See Liddon's Pusey, iii. 456 : ' The Bishop of Brechin was sounded as
to the possibility of his putting forth an explanation of his language, which
might make it possible for the Synod to confine itself to a brotherly exhorta
tion on the disadvantage of polemical discussion, and several letters passed
between him and Pusey in regard to the proposals thus made. But nothing
came of this effort.'
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 135
is not proven ; (4) that the charge of depraving the Articles
and Formularies, viz. as to the ' Declaration on Kneeling,'
the * Gloria in Excelsis,' and the 28th Article is partly
dealt with in the first finding, and partly unnecessary, since
the argument about the ' Gloria in Excelsis ' is withdrawn
by the Kespondent. The judgment ends as follows :
But in consideration of the explanations and modifications
offered by the Respondent in his Answers, in reference to the
first Charge, and in consideration that the Respondent now only
asks for toleration of his opinions, but does not claim for them
the authority of the Church, or any right to enforce them on
those subject to his jurisdiction : we, the said College of Bishops,
feel that we shall best discharge our duty in this painful case
by limiting our sentence to a Declaration of Censure and
Admonition.
And we do now solemnly admonish, and in all brotherly
love entreat the Bishop of Brechin to be more careful for the
future, so that no fresh occasion may be given for trouble and
offence, such as have arisen from the delivery and publication
of the Primary Charge to his clergy complained of in the
Presentment.
At this point it will be convenient to the reader to
have before him the Bishop of St. Andrews' own remarks
upon the controversy as far as his own special part in it
was concerned. 1
One of my saddest experiences arising out of our Eucharistic
controversy was that it caused on my part a breach if so I may
call it, when there had never been more than a slight personal
acquaintance with Dr. Pusey. He took upon himself to write
to me in dictatorial terms, which I could not but feel to be quite
uncalled for. It was a painful thing for me to have to sit as a
judge upon a brother Bishop, and especially such a one as
Bishop Forbes, and I did what I properly could by indirect
communication with the presenters to stave off the trial ; but
when there was no escape from the duty I set myself to discharge
it with the utmost conscientiousness. I prepared an elaborate
1 From his MS. Note-book, v. 17 foil.
136 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
judgment, which lasted, I think, not less than two or three hours
in the delivery, and, in order to be fortified with the best opinion
I could obtain, on the day before the trial came on I went to
Burntisland and requested Mr. G. Forbes, the Bishop's brother,
who was known to have made a special study of the Eucharist,
to do me the favour to read carefully what I had written, and to
give me the benefit of any suggestions he would wish to offer
for its correction or improvement. He did so ; and in returning
the MS. assured me unreservedly, and with emphasis quite
beyond what I had ventured to expect, that he went along with
me in every word.
As regards the controversy itself I take the following
paragraphs from different note-books, sometimes supplying
necessary words in square brackets, sometimes omitting
what is incomplete or superfluous, but otherwise giving the
Bishop's own expressions, unrevised as they sometimes are.
On further revision I believe he would have guarded against
the inference which might be drawn from the last sentence.
What was the question at stake ? [It centred round the
doctrine of the] Real Presence an ambiguous expression, un
known to the New Testament, and [it is] unfortunate that it was
ever introduced.
[The Church teaches] a Presence [of Christ] :
1. In the individual Christian, when in Baptism he is made
a member [of Christ].
2. In the Church at large as Christ's mystical Body.
3. In meetings of Christians for Public worship.
4. In the consecration of Bread and Wine to become Christ's
sacramental Body and Blood.
Is there in this last a Presence so far more real and different
from all the rest that it involves a Presence on the altar in the
elements (1) which ought to be adored, (2) which involves a
repetition or continuation of the Sacrifice of the Cross ? This
is what the advocates of the new doctrine of the Real Objective
Presence maintained [and] which our Church, by its highest and
purely spiritual Tribunal, denied. [In doing so it acted in union
with the] opinion of my predecessor, Bishop Torry, the Champion
of the Scottish Office and the Scotch tradition of the High
CH, iv EUCHAKISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 137
Church School ; [and in agreement with the] opinion of Dr.
Routh, President of Magdalen College for [63] years [1791-1854],
the learned representative of the Anglican tradition of the
Highest Church School [of the generation previous to my own].
Now there is no getting over the argument from the fact that
the most eminent of the Fathers again and again [not only]
speak of the consecrated elements as the Body and Blood of
Christ but also as symbols of the Body and Blood. A symbol
of a thing may be called the thing itself, as we say of a portrait
that it is Mr. So-and-So. 1 But the thing itself cannot be called
a symbol (MS. v. 41, 49).
As regards the doctrine of the Sacrifice, he expresses
himself thus, the point being substantially one which had
struck him at once on reading the Charge, as he said at
the Episcopal Synod of 1857, that it disturbed the pro
portion of the faith especially as regards our Lord's Ascen
sion and the coming of the Holy Ghost.
The doctrine of the Session [of our Lord Jesus Christ] at the
right hand of God, plainly taught in no less than a dozen passages
of the New Testament, involving [not only] (1) perpetual inter
cession, [but also] (2) [sending down the Holy Spirit to dwell in
His Church], (3) [acceptance of our gifts and presentation of
them to the Father], and (4) [feeding His people on His
Sacrifice], has been swallowed up by the notion of a continuous
Sacrifice carried on in Heaven, as though the great Sacrifice on
the Cross had been grudgingly accepted, or can be held to be
less than perfect. The notion has arisen out of the prestige
which it gives to the priesthood of the Clergy ; but it has no
foundation in the word of God, and, as I have said, it obliterates
the doctrine which has abundant foundation in that word
(MS. iii. 114).
1 This is a well-known illustration used by St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa III. quaest. 83, art. 1 : ' Utrum in hoc sacramento Christus
immoletur.' His doctrine on the Sacrifice is certainly what would now be
called Low Church doctrine. He says, we may say that Christ is ' immo
lated ' in the Sacrament (1) because it is a representative image of the
Passion of Christ ; (2) because through it we are made partakers of the
fruits of the Lord's Passion. For Bishop Torry's opinion see Neale's Life,
p. 377. Cp. also Cosin, Works, iv. p. 207.
138 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
I confess I do not like the notion (now so popular) of our
Lord's pleading His Sacrifice. 1 It seems to clash with the
doctrine of the Session. . . . The one Sacrifice on the Cross
was full, perfect, and sufficient : the pleading of it seems to suggest
either that the Sacrifice was insufficient or grudgingly accepted.
.... That we on Earth should plead it in prayers and
Eucharists is right and natural (MS. iii. 121).
In other passages he deals with the Liturgical develop
ments respecting the Melchizedekian Priesthood and the
celestial altar, which have been struck out or passed over
by our Eeformed Church, but are now ' insisted upon by
the Tractarians.' In regard to Heb. viii. 3, if we are
to translate it with Bengel and Westcott ' it was necessary
that this man have somewhat to offer ' it refers ( he says)
to the Sacrifice of the Cross. If we are to follow our
authorised and revised versions * it is necessary ' &c.
then it refers to Christ's offerings of our prayers and our
pleadings of the one great all sufficient Sacrifice when He
intercedes for us at the right hand of God. This is the
meaning, too, of the celestial altar in the Apocalypse. It is
an altar of incense, on which is offered the incense of
Christ's intercession added to the prayers of the saints.
The * other angel ' (Eev. viii. 3) is Christ.
And all the teaching that Christ in some way repeats or
continues and pleads His own Sacrifice upon the heavenly altar
has no foundation in Holy Scripture (MS. v. 28, 29).
It is fair to the Bishop of St. Andrews to exhibit part
of this argument in fuller detail from his unpublished
* Opinion,' pp. 19, 20.
1 The teaching that Christ pleads His Sacrifice is not a modern one in
the Church of England, nor specially connected with Sacerdotalism. It is
embodied in well-known hymns of the last century, and I find it stated,
with other similar points, in an interesting sermon of Henry Melvill's on
Heb. viii. 2, Christ the Minister of the Church, which has many points of
contact with doctrine usually connected with the Oxford Movement.
See his Sermons, ed. 2 (1834), pp. 35-65, and esp. pp. 50 foil.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 139
Christ, as He was a Priest over the true Israel, was a Priest
typified by Aaron and his descendants. As such, He made once
for all the great Atonement. As such, He ascended into the
true Holy of Holies, i.e. into Heaven itself, ' by His own Blood '
(observe it is not said ' with his own Blood,' but ' by ' Sia,
(Heb. ix. 12) there ' to appear in the presence of GOD for us '
(Heb. ix. 24). This was the final completion at once of the
time of His Humiliation, and of His Aaronical Priesthood.
Henceforth He became both a King for ever and a Priest for
ever. And as a Priest for ever, He is a Priest after the order of
Melchizedek. Wherefore, according to the strict and proper
interpretation of His Melchizedekian Office, as actually set forth
in Holy Scripture and unravelled from its intertexture with the
Levitical, our Lord is no longer a Priest who has to deal with
victims, or with the making of atonement. No ; He does only
what Melchizedek did. First, He receives, in GOD'S name, and
in GOD'S behalf, our tithes that is, a type of our Alms, our
Oblations, our Souls and Bodies, of all that we have and are.
Again, He blesses the most High GOD, in our name, and in our
behalf- that is, He presents our praises and Eucharists at the
Throne of Grace. These are the Sacrifices the only Sacrifices
that are specified in the Epistle to the Hebrews (see xiii. 15,
16), and doubtless they include the Eucharistic Sacrifice in all
its parts : for, as it is written in the same place (verse 10), 'we
have an altar, &c.' l Above all, He brings forth bread and wine
His gifts of Grace, His Benedictions, and His Sacraments, most
especially that precious and most comfortable Sacrament of His
own Body and Blood, wherewith, as from ' the Altar,' He feasts
us, i.e. all who are the true sons of Abraham, as we return from
the slaughter of our Spiritual Enemies, and at the same time
enables us to become still more victorious. And this He does
' for ever ' : not after the order of a transitory Priesthood such
as Aaron's, but of Melchizedek a Priesthood which the Author
of the Epistle to the Hebrews has summed up in one word,
where he says that ' He ever liveth to make intercession for us '
(Heb. vii. 23). He stands between us and GOD, both to give
and to receive (so far I would accept the Respondent's statement
that ' Our Lord's intercession is an act of not mere prayer ; but
1 Original Note. See St. Ignatius, quoted Answers, p. 28, and Irenaeus,
ib. p. 33 seq.
140 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
of oblation ') : to receive as Priest to Goo-ward to give as King
to us-ward ; or rather for we may not separate the two, even in
thought to execute at once a Royal Priesthood and a Priestly
Royalty. He does this in Heaven ; He has continued to do it
from the day of Pentecost, when, in token of His established
sacerdotal Kingship, He sent down the Holy Ghost to abide in
His stead with His Church on earth ; while He Himself occupies,
for our sake no less than for His own, the Seat of Glory which
He has won at $e Father's Right Hand; according as it is
written in that same 110th Psalm, c The Lord said unto my
Lord, sit Thou on My Right Hand, until I make Thine enemies
Thy footstool.' Here, then, we see no room left for any identity
between the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the
Cross our Lord's so-called Melchizedekian Sacrifice of Himself,
which served as the connecting link l between the two, being
altogether taken away. I do not absolutely say of Melchizedek,
1 Sacrificium nullum obtulit ' [as Bishop Andrewes did] because
I am aware that many of the Fathers, after St. Cyprian, have
said otherwise ; but I do say (and I reverence and admire the
silence of Holy Scripture in this respect) that as regards the
Type and Antitype of Melchizedek, the notion of a Sacrifice
otherwise than Eucharistical is not Scriptural.
I must now redeem my promise to state, as shortly as
possible, my own judgment on this mysterious and solemn
subject. I will first make a few preliminary observations.
I agree with the Bishop of St. Andrews that the general
criticism to be passed upon the views on Eucharistic
Adoration and Eucharistic Sacrifice, which are the main
subject of this controversy, by whomsoever they are put
forward, is that they ' disturb the proportion of the faith.'
The Holy Eucharist is a great act of worship as well
as a means of grace, but it is worship primarily and
1 Original Note. See Answers, p. 72: ' The Sacrifice here below is part
of His own Melchizedekian Priesthood. He invisibly consecrates. He
invisibly offers. He now, too, in St. Augustine's words, is the Offerer and
Oblation.' For the true meaning of these words of St. Augustine, see Notes
of the Eucharistic Controversy, pp. 12 and 47, and below p. 48, note.
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 141
specially addressed to the Father as representing the Blessed
Trinity, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
To make so much of Eucharistic worship addressed to the
presence of Christ, as distinct from the Almighty Father,
is seriously to withdraw men's finite minds from the main
object of their assembling together. Our minds are so
constituted that they cannot think adequately of more than
one thing at a time, and if we press, as a great duty, one
species or detail of Adoration, we occupy the mind and so
practically negative (though of course we do not verbally
deny) the fitting and proper attention which they ought to
pay to the other and the principal end of their worship.
In the next place, so-called logical teaching as to the
presence such as Bishop Forbes and Mr. Cheyne en
forced is justly feared and suspected in this country on
account of its medieval associations. It is a characteristic
of that scholastic theology, which dominated the un-
reformed Church from the twelfth century onwards, to
drive its conclusions to extremes and so to become dis
proportionate, when not absolutely heretical. This was a
matter of comparatively less importance when the contro
versies so raised were free to run their course and were
confined to the schools. If the controversy on Transubstan-
tiation, for instance, had been let alone by authority, as that
on Ubiquity was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
it would have made its proper contribution to thought and
then have passed into the background. Unfortunately, in
the unreformed Church the scholastic temper was, for a
time, united to a commanding position and a legal and
lawgiving instinct in its centre, the Church of Kome. As
far, therefore, as that Church was able to give laws to
Christendom it set itself to achieve two tasks : first, to
make everything as plain and definite as possible ; and
secondly, to make discipline easy and so to limit contro-
142 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH OH. TV
versy. The second end was attained by making conciliar
definitions, which were sometimes only arrived at by
secondary processes of logic, necessary articles of faith to
be accepted under pain of anathemas. Eome acted, in fact,
upon the principle that a thing must either be wrong or
right, a proposition either false or true. And it held,
further, that if the matter were a religious one, the view
taken must either be tremendously and eternally wrong
and false, or tremendously and eternally right and true.
Thus the old fallacy of the Stoics came in some degree to
be repeated that all faults are equal, * omnia peccata paria ' ;
and the great truth was forgotten that truths arrived at by
human logic are almost necessarily incomplete. A half-
truth is in one sense a truth, but relatively it may be a
most dangerous error.
Hence those who resisted the claims of logic put
forward at this time, did so with a sense that they were
resisting a feature of Eoman theology, which has been the
cause of a great deal of the misery of the Church, whether
it is described as ' unscriptural ' or ' being wise above that
which is written,' or as substituting the developments of
theological dogma for the more general vague and mys
terious teaching of the Primitive Church.
It is easy to say, e.g. Christ is either present or absent ;
if present He is certainly to be worshipped ; and if present
He must be present in His whole and perfect personality,
at once human and Divine, passible and glorified, otherwise
you are guilty of Nestorianism that is, of believing in two
personalities in Christ. Such logic can best, I think, be
met by considerations of the broader aspects of the mystery
to which the argument is applied, such as that which I
have stated at the outset, and by others akin to it,
especially by developing the thought that the Eucharist
is a great act of worship presented to the eternal Father
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 143
through the Son, and by recollecting that we have very im
perfect knowledge of the condition of Christ's existence in
the unseen world. Those who have tried to make the
mystery plain have shown that they were quite lost in the
attempt, by resorting to the substitute, for the teaching of
a presence of virtue and efficacy which they censured, or
of a presence of Christ's Person in some of its attributes
apart from others, of an equally unintelligible doctrine of
a supra-local presence. Indeed, if you consider them as
explanations, one has very little advantage over the other.
Personally I am more inclined, than the Bishop of St.
Andrews at this time was, to look hopefully to the theology
which makes much of the symbolic language of Scripture
and the Fathers about the eternal Priesthood and the
celestial altar. I shrink, indeed, from accepting the
extreme statement of the identity of the Sacrifice of the
Eucharist with the Sacrifice of the Cross, which was
surely made unwisely and in for get fulness of the priest's
true part in Sacrifice, namely, the application and presen
tation of the Blood, especially within the veil in some
measure by the Council of the Later an and more ex-
explicitly by that of Trent, and by others who have used
their language. But I cannot think that our Lord, as our
Priest for ever, can divest Himself of His attitude as a
Sacrifice for sin when He intercedes for us on High. I do
not think that it is a sufficient criticism to say that this
mode of speaking implies that the Sacrifice is insufficient
or is grudgingly accepted. The relation of the Persons of
the Blessed Trinity to one another is indeed absolutely
inscrutable, but if Our Lord can be spoken of as ' the Lamb
that hath been slain from the foundation of the world '
(Apoc. xiii. 8), and if He stands in the Vision of Patmos in
the midst of the throne no doubt in fulness of life and
power ' as a Lamb that hath been slain ' (Apoc. v. 6, 12),
144 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
this seems to make the attitude of His pleading the Sacri
fice something more than temporary. It is also to be
remembered that there are evidently two altars in heaven,
one of sacrifice and one of incense, as in the Tabernacle
and Temple. For the symbolism of the souls of those that
have been slain in martyrdom crying under the altar, of
Apoc. vi. 9, can only refer to the altar of sacrifice and not
to that of incense. It is evidently taken from the ritual
of the old covenant in which the blood (that is the soul
or life, Hebrew nephesh) of sin offerings was poured under
the altar (Lev. iv. 7 &c.) or at its base, and it is to be con
nected with the imagery of the life-giving stream issuing
from under the altar as described by Ezekiel (xlvii. 1) and
as repeated in the last chapter of the Apocalypse (xxii. 1),
where it proceeds from out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. All these things are figures which must not be
pressed in detail (as when we read in several places of our
Lord's sitting at the right hand of God, and in another of
His standing), but the whole body of them taken together
means at least this, I imagine, that in the heart of God the
attributes of Justice and Love are working side by side, plead
ing, as it were, one against another, and will so work, united
by the bond of the Holy Spirit, at least to the end of time.
I should not shrink, then, from saying that Christ still
pleads His Sacrifice as our great High Priest, and that the
worship of the Eucharist is a union of the worship of
earth with that of heaven. Bather, however, I would
urge those who teach this to remember that His position
as a Priest is higher than His position as a Victim. It is
a broader conception and it is freer from any possible
tendency to localise and limit the Presence, and so does
not lead to the confusion of the sign and the thing signi
fied, which may become practically a source of Idolatry.
It reminds us of the great truth, which makes the
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 145
Eucharist always and essentially a sacrifice of Praise and
Thanksgiving, that our Lord is living, and that we come
to meet a risen and ascended Saviour. This is a truth
very apt to be forgotten if we turn merely to the symbolic
expressions of His Passion.
To my own mind Eucharistic adoration, in the
limited and special sense in which it is addressed to
Christ, is more truly understood by the Greek Church, which
adores specially when the elements are brought in to the
sanctuary, and again as a prelude to reception of the Com
munion, 1 than by the Eoman, which attaches adoration to
the moment of Consecration and more by Bishop Andrewes
and Bishop Wm. Forbes, who speak of adoration of Christ
' in the Sacrament ' or ' in the Eucharist,' than by those
who speak of it as ' in the gifts.' 2 The fuller expression,
both verbal and practical, is surely the nobler as well as the
safer. There is something open to the charge of material
ism in the ringing of a bell to call wandering attention to
a particular moment when a certain tribute of religious
feeling is due. Bishop A. P. Forbes of course would have
shrunk from this, but his teaching leads naturally to it.
Again as to the charge of Nestorianism made against
those who demur to the teaching as to the Presence ' in the
gifts ' of Christ's body, soul, and Divinity, while I feel that
it is perilous to enlarge upon such a point in one direction
or the other, I cannot help remembering that there is a
parallel distinction surely to be made between the Presence
1 See my Considerations on Public Worship, &c., p. 21, 1898.
2 There is a passage from Bishop Beveridge, On Frequent Communion,
p. 107, quoted by Forbes, Charge, 2nd ed. p. xi., which seems to me to
show just the difference between his point of view and that of the older
Anglicans : ' How can I, by faith, behold my Saviour coming to me, and
offering to me His own Body and Blood, and not fall down and worship
Him ? ' &c. The Presence is that of Christ as Minister of the Sacrament
rather than in the consecrated species, of Christ the giver rather than of
Christ in the gifts.
146 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. iv
of Christ in Paradise and His Divine Presence on the
throne of God. The penitent robber was at once with
Jesus in Paradise. St. Paul speaks of death as to depart
and be * with Christ.' Yet the beatific vision is something
still in prospect for dwellers in Paradise, and even, as we
Anglicans believe, for the greatest Saints. There is a
sense, then, in which our Saviour can be present, for
certain purposes which may be described by the words
' grace and efficacy,' * virtue and power ' without being
present in the fulness of His Godhead. I do not dogma
tise as to whether this is so or not in the Eucharist, but
I shrink from the hard words used by those who speak of
the doctrine of a ' Eeal Presence of grace and efficacy ' as
if it was only a subterfuge for a ' Real Absence.' l This
is not the caution and moderation of a large theology
or of a loving charity which makes the best of the opinions
of our brother Christians who are trying to speak rightly
of an inscrutable mystery.
I will only add one point in conclusion. We have
noticed several times the tacit transition made by those who
assert the identity of the two sacrifices, from the Sacrifice
of the Cross to that of the Upper Eoom. This shows a
defective apprehension of the meaning of language. It
would surely have been far better if Bishop Forbes could
have confessed that he had spoken somewhat hastily on
this point. If he had said ' the Sacrifice of the Eucharist
is the repetition of the Sacrifice of the Upper Eoom as far
1 The phrase ' Eeal Absence ' is sometimes attributed to Bishop A. P.
Forbes. My uncle, however, in a letter to Bev. J. S. Wilson (of Edinburgh),
23 April, 1888, attributes it to his brother George. The story is, that when
he appealed to the House of Lords in regard to the Scottish Office, he made
a speech some five hours long, and completely mystified the judges. One of
them perhaps Lord Westbury interposed : 'I am not sure that I quite
follow your argument, Mr. Forbes ; but as I understand it, you appear to
be contending for the doctrine of the Keal Presence.' ' no, my Lord,
quite the contrary,' was his reply ; ' my contention is in favour of the
doctrine of the Keal Absence.'
CH. iv EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY AND ST. NINIAN'S 147
as human power can be authorised by God to make it, and
bears a relation to the Sacrifice of the Cross similar to
that which the Sacrifice of the Upper Koom possesses,' the
wisest of his opponents would have agreed with him.
Unfortunately, instead of making concessions of this sort,
he added this sentence in a longer passage in the second
edition : ' Our Lord said this is my Body ; and no words
of man can strengthen the tremendous and absolute identity
of the two Sacrifices, or rather, as I should prefer to say, of
the one Sacrifice in its two aspects ' (ed. ii. p. 42). Then
in the next paragraph but one he quotes St. Chrysostom, as
if he was in agreement with him : ' It is the same which Christ
gave to His disciples which is now made by His priests.'
It is difficult for a Bishop to confess that he has been in
the wrong ; and doubtless Forbes had a hope and desire to
show to our fellow-Christians on the continent, with some
of whom he was intimate as with the learned and loveable
Gallican Professor Garcin de Tassy, whom I once had the
pleasure of visiting in Paris, and who then spoke warmly
about him that the Church in this country is in many
things nearer to their own than they had imagined. I am
far from thinking that the result of the controversy was
mere disputation. Many thought more clearly in con
sequence, and God brought good out of evil ; but there was
much distraction of energy, and it is difficult to imagine
that Presbyterians were not alienated and the day of Home
Reunion postponed.
I may add here that in 1859, when Sir G. C. Lewis was
Home Secretary, the claims of Bishop Wordsworth were put
forward, and it was hoped that he might become Principal
of St. Andrews. Professor James D. Forbes of Edinburgh
was, however, appointed. I have before me a letter from
the latter, dated 16 November, thanking my uncle for his con
gratulations as specially gratifying under the circumstances.
L 2
148
CHAPTER V
FIRST PART OF RESIDENCE AT PERTH REUNION WORK
1860-1867
1 Making his hardest task his best delight.' W. WORDSWORTH, Eccl. Sonnets,
ii. 16.
Kesolution to hold a General Synod carried in 1859 Its constitution
Committee on Canons Bishop Eden chosen Primus (1862) Meetings
in 1862-63 Canon on Episcopal elections Bishop Wordsworth offers
his resignation Work of the Synod.
Continuation of Reunion work Eevival in the Establishment
Dr. B. Lee, Principal Tulloch, Dr. N. Macleod, Dr. Bisset Bemoval
of clerical disabilities in 1864 Commemoration Addresses by Bishop of
St. Andrews, 1860, 1861, and 1862_Charges of 1863, 1864 Dr. Caird
and Dr. Pirie Dr. Rorison's attempt at a Beunion Conference
Synodal Address in 1866 Chichester sermon (Euodias and Syntyche),
1867.
Parallel attempts to use opportunities of educational changes
Advantages of Scotland as to Elementary Education Act of 1696 Act
of 1861 Attempt at ' A Common Catechism ' : not published ' A
National Catechism,' 1864 Charges of 1872 Call for united action in
this matter.
The Bishop's Greek Grammar adopted by the Head Masters of
England (1866)' Shakespeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible ' (1864),
and other Shakesperian publications Foundation of St. Andrews School
Chapel at Perth (1866) Closer intercourse with England useful, but not
wholly favourable to Reunion Movement Archbishop Longley at
Inverness (1866) Charles Wordsworth at Consecration of Bishop
Claughton (1867), at Lambeth Conference (September 1867), at Chiches
ter (November 1867) Suspension of his efforts for fifteen years.
Domestic events Death of Kenneth Wordsworth (1862) Death of
Warden Barter (1861) Bishop Hamilton's generosity (1864).
IN the following chapter I propose to record the chief
events of the second period of Bishop Charles Wordsworth's
Episcopate, which succeeded the close of the Eucharistic
CH. v FIRST PART OF RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-67 149
controversy in 1860 down to the end of the year 1867, the
year of the first Lambeth Conference.
At the annual Episcopal Synod held 9 November, 1859,
the Bishop of St. Andrews had moved for a General Synod for
the purpose of the revision of the canons, and his motion was
successful. Those who are not familiar with the internal
government of the Church in Scotland will need to be in
formed that this was by no means an every-day event. While
the Episcopal Synod meets every year, and more often if
necessary, and each Bishop likewise summons the clergy of
his Diocese round him once a year, a General or (as it has
been called since 1890) a Provincial Synod can only be
called by a special resolution of the Episcopal Synod.
When summoned it consists, like our own Convocations, of
Bishops and Presbyters l meeting in two Chambers ; but,
unlike them, it has no existence in the intervals between
one time of its assemblage and the next.
Such an assembly has in fact been created only in the
present century, and has been from various causes ob
structed in its development, a fact which is naturally
criticised by members of the Established Church, who are
accustomed to be governed almost entirely by public
assemblies. There is no provision respecting it in the
oldest code of special Scottish canons, the ' Sixteen Canons '
1 The second Chamber consists of the Deans of the various Dioceses
(not Cathedrals), the Principal of the Theological College, now at Edinburgh,
and the Pantonian Professor (if they are different persons), and one
representative Presbyter for every ten or fraction of ten Presbyters entitled
to vote in each Diocesan Synod. This Chamber elects a Prolocutor and a
Pro-prolocutor. No canon can be altered, abrogated, or adopted, except by
a majority in both Chambers of the Provincial Synod ; but the body has no
judicial powers. Possibly the example of the General Assembly, which
from time to time spends much of its energy in judicial business, has
deterred the Episcopal Church from entrusting such powers to its
Provincial Synod. But more probably the prepossession in favour of the
authority of Episcopal judges has been even more powerful in this matter.
For general details see Year Book of S. E. C. (1894), p. 50.
150 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
of 1743. The * Twenty-six Canons' of 1811 provide for
General Synods when they are needed ' to alter the Code of
Canons/ An attempt was indeed made in 1828 to secure
their regular meeting, and a resolution was passed that
this should take place every fifth year. But the decision
of the Synod of Laurencekirk to that effect was rescinded
the next year at Edinburgh (1829), mainly under the
influence of Bishop Jolly, who was afraid of any diminution
of the Episcopal prerogative. 1 It was not indeed till 1843
that the Episcopal Synod itself was required to meet
annually. When it does so it can determine by a majority
whether the Provincial Synod shall be summoned or not.
In preparation, then, for this important gathering a
mixed committee of clergy and laity was appointed in
1859 to report upon the existing canons ; and the Bishop
of St. Andrews naturally threw himself heartily into its
work during the years that followed. But an event
happened before the Synod met which necessarily discon
certed him not a little.
In March 1862 Bishop Terrot resigned his office as
Primus, though he retained his position as Bishop of
Edinburgh for ten years with the assistance of a coadjutor,
dying quite worn out in April 1872. Both Bishop Forbes and
Bishop Wordsworth had supporters in the College of Bishops ;
and there could hardly be a doubt which of them was
the abler man ; but the friends of the former, finding they
would be outvoted, withdrew in favour of Bishop Eden, and
so obtained the votes of Bishops Wilson and Suther, who
would otherwise have voted for Wordsworth. It was
naturally a serious and I may say a lifelong disappointment
to the latter, who justly felt that he could have made some
thing of the position, especially in the direction of Keunion.
The new Primus, with whom he was on very friendly terms,
1 See Dean W. Walker's Life of Bishop Jolly, ed. 2, p. 128, 1878.
CH. v FIRST PART OF RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-67 151
though not a great scholar, was an able, generous, active,
and popular man, with many friends and few (if any)
enemies. He was about two years older than his colleague,
and was a senior student at Christ Church while he was a
junior student, and they had many points besides their
college in common.
Like Charles Wordsworth he was a great athlete in his
youth, and retained a good deal of the boyish spirit and
temper ; as a man he was possessed with a similar spirit of
foundation, and he had interests considerably broader than
those of the communion of which he had become a Bishop.
His great foundation was Inverness Cathedral, on which he
spent a large part of his fortune. His breadth of sympathy
was shown in his gifts to foreign missions, especially to
Newfoundland, and in his attempts to promote a good
understanding with the Eussian Church. He was also,
like my uncle, a strong advocate for extending the influence
and position of laymen in the Church and its Councils, and
he may perhaps be considered the founder of the Kepresen-
tative Church Council. He also did much to establish
closer relations with England ; yet at the same time he
was a defender of the Scottish Office. He died in 1886. 1
The election of a Primus took place on 5 July, 1862,
and the General Synod sat from the 8th to the llth, and
then adjourned to 30 September. On 3 October it again
adjourned till 3 February of next year. On the last of
these occasions the Bishop of St. Andrews withdrew from
the discussion because a new rule was introduced into the
canons which he considered, not without some reason,
might be interpreted as a reflection upon himself. This
new rule prohibited a clergyman from voting at his own
1 The best printed account of Bishop Eden is that in Eev. John
Archibald's The Historic Episcopate in the Columban Church and in the
Diocese of Moray, Edinb. 1893, pp. 325-363.
152 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
election ; but it did not contain the provision which (as he
urged) was laid down in the old Canon Law, that if the
votes were equal an elector, who assented to his own election,
had a right to be preferred to one who was not an elector.
As this was the ground on which some of the Bishops who
confirmed his own election specially relied, it was natural
that he should regret that no notice of this principle should
be taken in the new canon. He resolved, on this account,
to offer his resignation ; but this was so strongly deprecated
by his brother Bishops and the clergy and laity of his own
Diocese, that he withdrew from his intention to take this
step. 1
The principal changes in the canons then enacted were
admission of lay representatives to vote in elections of
Bishops ; the admission of assistant curates and mission
clergy of a certain standing to Diocesan Synods ; the re
striction of clerical vestments to those now in use ; and the
removal of the Scottish Office from its position of primary
authority, and the adoption of the English Book of Com
mon Prayer as the service-book of the Church. 2
During the years which immediately succeeded the close
of the Eucharistic controversy a number of circumstances
combined to give new life and hopes to the Church in
Scotland, and especially to encourage the movement towards
Keunion. Charles Wordsworth's main contributions to it
consisted of various discourses and addresses, which he
linked with the special commemorations which fell in those
years, and of an attempt to make use of the opportunities
offered by the changes in public educational policy which
began in 1861. There was at the same time a revival in
1 The circumstances are fully set out in his printed Letter to Dean
Tarry, dated 19 February, 1863. See also above, p. 8.
2 See further in W. Stephen's History, ii. 644 (1896). The treatment
of the Scottish Office has been already discussed : see above, pp. 76-7.
CH. v KEUNION WORK. 1860-1867 153
the Established Church of Scotland, which had struggled
bravely, and to a great extent effectually, to recover the
ground lost in consequence of the great disruption of 1843.
The old bitterness and suspicion were also to some extent
disappearing, and many of the methods of the Episcopal
Churches were making themselves at home among Presby
terians. The reader may be recommended to study several
interesting chapters in the biographies of Dr. Eobert Lee
and Principal Tulloch, 1 which deal in the first case with
* Scotch Episcopacy ' and the Conference proposed by
Dr. Eorison, and with ' The Church Service Society,' and
in the second with ' The Kenaissance of the Scotch Church.'
Dr. Lee, of Greyfriars, Edinburgh, though a somewhat
severe critic of Episcopalianism, and even of the Prayer
Book, was, as is well known, the champion in the Establish
ment of Liturgical development and other so-called ' inno
vations,' and especially of fixed forms of prayer, for which
he gained at least toleration. This he effected at last at
the cost of a severe and prolonged struggle, entailing much
personal suffering, at the close of which he died 14 March,
1868. The following sentence from a speech of his at the
Synod of Lothian, 1 May, 1866, attracted the Bishop's
attention, and is worth quoting as a type of Dr. Lee's
downright mode of argument.
Then they were told that they were all sworn to maintain
uniformity ; but what was the uniformity they were bound to
maintain ? When he became a minister in 1833 it was almost
the universal custom not to use the Lord's Prayer and not to
1 See Dr. R. H. Story's Life and Regains of Robert Lee, D.D., i.
chaps. 3 and 4 (Lond. 1870), and Mrs. Oliphant's Memoir of Principal
Tulloch, chap. 8 (3rd ed. Lond. 1889). See also Dr. Lee's important book,
The Reform of the Church of Scotland in Worship, Government, and
Doctrine. Part I. Worship, Edinb. 1864. His remarks on the Prayer Book
may be found in that volume, pp. 170-179, and some harsher criticisms in
the Life, ii. 99-107.
164 EPISCOPATE OF CHAELES WORDSWORTH CH. v
read the Scriptures in public worship. He never for a moment
felt himself bound in conscience to comply with a uniformity
like that.
Principal Tulloch (who afterwards became a real friend
of Bishop Wordsworth, during his settlement at St. An
drews), was a yet broader-minded man, and would gladly
have seen Episcopacy introduced as a practical improve
ment into his own communion, though not seeing his way
clearly as to the'manner. He distinguished himself at this
time by his freedom in dealing with the Westminster Con
fession and the two Catechisms. Dr. Norman Macleod also
provoked a storm at Glasgow by a protest against rigid
Sabbatarianism. The nearest approach to a better under
standing from the Presbyterian side was made, however,
not by Lee or Tulloch, but by Dr. Bisset in his address as
Moderator to the General Assembly of 1862, in which
he spoke out bravely, though in general terms, of the duty
of unity and conciliation. ' No considerable progress,'
he said, ' will probably be made in what should be a
supreme object of longing supplication to every follower of
Christ the unification of His Church until different
Communions in a spirit of humility and charity concur in
a revision of their religious constitutions.' To the disrup
tion, and to schism generally, he traced a decline in morals ;
and spoke of the decay of faith which made it the duty of
all Christians ' to coalesce and combine for the good of our
Church and country.' In passing, too, he showed marked
sympathy with the services of the Church of England, and
consequently with the ' innovations ' of which Dr. Lee was
the champion. No wonder that the latter wrote in his
diary under 2 June (1862) : * This evening Dr. Bisset, the
Moderator, concluded the Assembly with an extraordinary
address, approving innovations and suggesting more. I
never expected to hear such things in the General
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
155
Assembly, much less from the Moderator's chair ' (' Life,'
ii. 32).
The year 1864 brought added strength to the Episcopal
Church through the removal of clerical disabilities by the
Act of Parliament (27 & 28 Viet. cap. 94) which was carried
mainly by the exertions of the Duke of Buccleuch and Sir
William Heathcote, assisted of course by Mr. Gladstone. 1
Many persons in Scotland naturally interested themselves
in this matter, the most prominent perhaps being the new
Primus, Bishop Eden 2 (whose personal friendship with the
Duke is said to have largely influenced the success of the
measure), and Bishop Ewing. 3 The latter, characteristi
cally enough, wrote to his friend, Bishop A. C. Tait, of
London, urging that the concession should be conditionally
limited in its duration, and especially should contain a
provision adverse to the extended use of his constant object
of criticism, the Scottish Office. The Bill, however, was
carried without conditions of this sort, and under it clergy
of the Episcopal Church are eligible for offices and benefices
in England, with the special consent, however, of the Bishop
of the Diocese. The substantial unity of the two bodies
is thus manifested.
There was a certain soreness on the subject among
members of the Established Church, which clings to the idea
of its parity with the Church of England, and especially in the
mind of Dr. Lee. But the opposition came to nothing, and
the occasion for a call to union on the north of the Tweed
was naturally not lost sight of. The Bishop of St. Andrews
1 See some letters of Bishop A. P. Forbes to him on this subject in
Mackey's Forbes, pp. 130-132.
2 Some notes on this point will be found in John Archibald's Historic
Episcopate in the Columban Church and in the Diocese of Moray, pp. 334,
336, 341. Bishop Eden's father-in-law, Mr. Justice James Allan Park, was
also keenly interested in the Bill.
3 See Boss's Memoir, p. 362. The letter is dated 15 January, 1864.
156 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
had been vigorously using the commemorations of the
previous years to enforce his own conceptions on Keunion.
At the close of the year 1860 he had delivered an elaborate
discourse on the tercentenary of the first meeting of the
General Assembly at Edinburgh (20 December, 1560). This
was given at St. Andrews 18 December, at Dunfermline
19 December, and at Perth 22 December. His object was
to show that the^first Scottish Reformers, like the English,
appealed to primitive antiquity, of which of course he was
now a skilled exponent, and consequently to advocate a
union between -the Established Churches in England and
Scotland without sacrifice of national independence. 1
Similar thoughts occupied his mind and his pen, espe
cially in connection with Archbishop Leighton, in his Charge
of 1861, delivered at Leighton's own little city of Dunblane
and dealing with the memories of 1661 and 176 1. 2 The
first year was that in which Leighton was appointed to the
See of Dunblane, the second the beginning of the reign of
King George III. and of the Primus- ship of Bishop William
Falconar, from which year the persecution of Episcopalians
began to abate.
In 1862 he took occasion from another bicentenary, that
of St. Bartholomew's Day 1662, when English noncon-
forming clergy were deprived of their benefices, to impress
the same argument on an English audience. This address,
entitled ' Eeunion of the Church in Great Britain,' was
delivered at Kidderminster 22 August, at the request of his
1 This discourse was published as a separate volume in 1861, with the
title, A United Church of England, Scotland, and Ireland advocated : a
Discourse on the Scottish Reformation. A second edition was published in
1863, with a slightly varying title. It was reprinted, with some curtailment,
in vol. i. of his Public Appeals in behalf of Christian Unity (No. 5) under
the title, The Scottish Reformation Impartially Examined (Discourse on
Tercentenary of Scottish Reformation).
2 This Charge, delivered on 29 August, was never published separately.
See, however, Scottish Eccl. Journal, p. 124, and Public Appeals, i. 281-286.
CH. v KEUNION WORK. 1860-1867. 157
lifelong and much valued friend, T. L. Claughton, afterwards
Bishop of Eochester, and then of the new See of St. Albans.
It was very well received, especially in Scotland, and it
naturally contains a number of references to the remark
able address of Dr. Bisset, delivered in the spring of 1862,
of which some notice has already been taken. He also
draws attention to the more amicable attitude of the Free
Church as expressed by its Moderator * the philanthropic
Dr. Guthrie.' '
His Charges of 1863 and 1864 dealt with closely allied
subjects, the first * On Uniformity in Church Government,'
in answer to Dr. Caird (afterwards Principal of the Uni
versity of Glasgow), and the second * The Principle of
Episcopalians a Basis of Unity,' in response to an appeal
made by the then Moderator, Dr. Pirie, Principal of Aber
deen well known as an opponent of Dr. K. Lee's who
invited those who were separated from the Presbyterian
Establishment to come forward and state their grounds.
A portion of the latter Charge was so highly approved by
the then excellent Bishop of Llandaff (Dr. Alfred Ollivant),
that it was, at his instance, translated into Welsh and
circulated by the Society for Promoting Christian Know
ledge. 2
This Charge led to some correspondence with Dr. Pirie,
but of no very effective character. His speech and that of
Dr. Bisset illustrate the lack of continuity in Presbyte-
rianism. A Moderator may make an impression for the
moment, but when his year of office is over he falls to his
former level.
The most practical effort towards reconciliation made at
1 This address is reprinted as No. 6 of Public Appeals, i. 289-334.
2 The Charges for 1863 and 1864 were separately published as
pamphlets, and also as Nos. 7 and 8 of Public Appeals, at the beginning of
vol. ii.
158 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
this period came, however, from a somewhat different
quarter. In the Autumn of 1864 Dr. Korison, Incumbent
of Peterhead who was mentioned before as the prosecutor
of Mr. Cheyne wrote certain letters to the * Scotsman,'
referring amongst other things to the recent improvement
of the position of the Episcopal Church by the Duke of
Buccleuch's Act, which led to a correspondence between
him and Dr. Lee, Dr. Eorison was himself satisfied that
he was the spokesman of a great majority in the Church. 1
* Nineteen-twentieths of the laity wish Eeunion ; the
southern clergy generally ; perhaps half the northern clergy,
and (I think) five or six of the Bishops. The ultra party
are noisy, but not now in the ascendant.' And he ventured
to add ' Of course I would never pen a line or stir a step in
this matter if I did not believe Eeunion practicable ivithout
the slightest disrespect to the clergy of the Established Church.
Their full recognition as ordained Presbyters is a sine qua
non' In consequence of these somewhat bold assertions,
preliminaries for a conference of a few leading clergy and
laity on both sides were considered; and Lord Eollo
(without pledging himself to the details of any scheme)
went so far as to offer that the meeting should take place
at Duncrub. But the conference was never held. Dr.
Eorison had clearly gone beyond what Episcopalians as a
body were prepared to offer, and feeling, such as it was,
in favour of such a conference among members of the
Establishment, became critical and suspicious. It was an
occasion lost ; but the negotiation cannot have been wholly
fruitless.
It was partly, perhaps, on account of this failure that
the Bishop of St. Andrews did not continue his series of
discourses until after the lapse of another year and then
dropped them for a considerable period. His last efforts
1 See Story's Life of Robert Lee, ii. 126 foil.
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
159
at this date were a Synodal address, 11 September, 1866,
' The Ministry of the Church Historically Considered,' which
contains matter afterwards worked up and enlarged in his
* Outlines of the Christian Ministry,' published in 1872, and
a sermon preached just before the Lambeth Conference and
repeated at the re-opening of Chichester Cathedral, after
the rebuilding of the spire, 14 November, 1867. Of the
Charge of 1866, which contained much interesting historical
matter, Major Hugh Scott of Gala, then editor of the
* Scottish Guardian,' writes (26 September) to the Bishop's
daughter : * There is a general agreement it is his most
telling Charge. In fact it nearly exhausts the branch of the
subject, and I hope he will not be deterred by the obstacles
in his way ; for, if he cannot accomplish the work under the
Providence of God, no one else can.' The sermon entitled
' Euodias and Syntyche : the Scottish Church in its relation
to the Church of England ' l is full of the historical know
ledge, and clear and fair statement of historical facts, which
I often regret was not used by the Bishop for the composi
tion of a book of larger volume than any that proceeded
from his pen. He would have done admirable work as a
university professor of Church history, not perhaps from
very minute insight into personal character, but from the
fairness and accuracy of his exposition, his broad view of
the tendency of ecclesiastical movements, and the scholarly
treatment of all that he handled.
The sermon in question was, as its title implies, an ex
hortation to the sister Churches in England and Scotland to
be of the same mind in the Lord (Ep. to Philippians, iv. 2).
In this sermon he well draws out the great misfortune of
the absence of anything like popular consent on the part
1 It should no doubt be Euodia and Syntyche, as it is in the Revised
Version of Philippians, iv. 2, as he notices in his reprint in Public
Appeals, ii. 555 note. The names are both female.
160 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
of Scotland to the consecrations of 1610 and 1661 and the
association of the Church with arbitrary power, especially
in the hands of the Stuarts.
In the same period (1865-6) falls a correspondence with
Principal Tulloch of St. Andrews, which was collected by
the Bishop, with some remarks of his own, under the title,
* A Plea for Justice to Presbyterian Students of Theology
and to the Scotch Episcopal Church.' It took occasion
from the admissions of Dr. Tulloch himself with regard
to the confession of faith, of Dr. N. Macleod in regard to the
observance of the Christian Sabbath, and of Dr. K. Lee in
respect to Liturgical worship, to point out that Presbyterian
students had also been unfairly treated in regard to the
evidence in favour of Episcopacy (p. 35). It deals par
ticularly with the testimonies of Hooker and Leighton and
with Tulloch' s statement of them and estimate of them in
an address to his students. Incidentally the Bishop rather
strongly blames Leighton for pusillanimity in retiring from
a position where his presence was much needed (p. 13).
The correspondence brought out amongst other things
Tulloch' s willingness to allow Episcopacy to be an Apostolical
institution and one of great practical utility. The Bishop
replied that it was also as scriptural as infant Baptism, the
observance of the Lord's Day, or the doctrine of the Trinity
(p. 51). This controversy would seem to have laid the
foundation of the friendship which afterwards existed
between them. He seems to have met not only Principal
Tulloch, but Dr. K. Lee and other leading men of that
group when on a visit to Mr. E. Skinner, Incumbent of the
Episcopal church at St. Andrews in March 1866.
Side by side with these general efforts in the cause of
Keunion, or rather of temperate statement of our position
accompanied by a growing insight into the strength of the
other side, was an attempt on the Bishop's part to use the
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
161
occasions of the changes in educational policy, which were
going on in Scotland as well as in England.
A few words on the history of popular education in
Scotland may not be out of place, as the main facts ought
to be in the minds of all who take a practical interest in
the welfare of that country. Scotland, though in earlier
days not so forward as England in some of those matters
which conduce to social comfort, has been far in advance
of the sister kingdom in the matter of elementary and
middle-class education, and has long brought her own type
of university training within the reach of boys of all classes.
The movement began by an Act passed in 1496 in the
reign of James IV. Ever since 1567 it has been closely
connected with religion. The ' First Book of Discipline '
had declared the policy that a school should be planted in
every parish and endowed out of the patrimony of the
Church. 1 But, though the credit of the policy lies with
Presbyterians, the inception of practical efforts in its execu
tion may be largely set down to Archbishop Spottiswoode
and the Assembly of 1616 in the reign of James I. of
England and VI. of Scotland. 2 An enabling Act of 1633
gave certain powers to the Bishops to found schools, which
were being acted upon by the clergy when the Civil War
broke out. In 1646 the first Act was passed to make such
schools imperative, but it was unfortunately repealed at
the Kestoration. In 1696, however, to the great honour
of the country, the policy, thus pursued for exactly two
centuries under many drawbacks and difficulties, received
its crown in the * Act for Settling of Schools ' (Acts of
William III. s. vi. c. 26) an encouragement to those
statesmen and social reformers who may be tempted to
1 See Dr. John Cunningham, Church History of Scotland, ii. 198 foil.,
ed. 2, 1882.
2 See W. Stephen, History of Scottish Church, ii. 217, 234, &c. 1896.
162 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
despair, when the cross currents of politics, time after time,
thwart their good desires and obstruct their progress. By
this it was enacted that the heritors or landed proprietors
should found a school, and provide a house and salary for the
master, in every parish. Scotland therefore has had a very
long start of England, both in theory and practice, and
she has profited accordingly. What an advantage this has
been to its strong young men, often of humble parentage
and small means, but endowed with aspiring genius or
dogged perseverance, is evident when we consider the very
large proportion of Scotsmen who have filled positions of
trust, both public and private, in every district and in
almost every corner of the world-wide British Empire. 1
The long and intimate connection of this education with
religion has been also no small factor in the honourable
and trustworthy character of these men, even when they
have in later days revolted from the narrow limits imposed
upon their hearts and consciences by the form in which
religious instruction was imparted.
But no one looking at the ' Shorter Catechism,' which
is the chief instrument of such instruction in Scotland,
from the standpoint of a broader theology, could be satisfied
with it or fail to wish to see it altered in some respects.
When we ask ourselves why law-abiding and sober-minded
Presbyterians in our colonies, such as Canada and New
Zealand, are often so impatient of permitting or encourag
ing religious instruction in our elementary schools, we
naturally regard their feeling as in some degree a reaction
from the system with which they were familiar at home. In
some cases, especially when they belong to the Free Church
or other dissenting bodies, they are doubtless affected by
1 The reader may be glad to be reminded of the effective handling of
this topic by Lord Macaulay in his speech on education in 1847. See his
Speeches, pp. 481-483, Lond. 1854.
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
163
the principles of Vinet, and wish absolutely to separate
religion from any association with State control a strange
hallucination and practical inconsistency on the part of
those who would compel parents to confide the whole
formation of character during school-hours to agents of the
State without taking any guarantee as to their religious
character. In other cases they may be jealous of the
activity of clergy and teachers of the Church of England,
who are honourably distinguished in many countries for a
zeal in education which is not possessed by all ministers of
religion. But reaction from the * Shorter Catechism ' would
seem the most potent influence of the three, and this not
only on account of its character but on account of the
means used to enforce its being learnt. * Is it a fact,'
asked the chairman of the Koyal Commission of 1864-5
when examining Dr. K. Lee ' Is it a fact that the " Shorter
Catechism" is taught more by whipping than any other
branches of instruction ? ' * Much more,' replied Dr. Lee,
* because it is much more difficult to learn than anything
else that man can conceive ' (' Life,' ii. p. 93). The mental
association of the ' tawse ' with the first principles of religion
is not only not desirable, but is in some cases little short
of disastrous.
It was natural, therefore, that the Bishop of St. Andrews
should wish to take advantage of the * Parochial Schools
Act ' of 1861 (24 & 25 Viet. cap. 107) to attempt something
in the way of an improvement in religious instruction,
especially as it seemed probable that Episcopalian schools
would be largely affected by it and perhaps absorbed into
the general system. 1 By that Act the hold of the Esta-
1 As a matter of fact there has been little change in the Diocese. In
1861-2 there were eight day schools belonging to the S. E. Church, with 634
pupils in average attendance. In 1894 there were nine, with 1,309 scholars
of the same character.
M 2
164 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
Wished Church on education was somewhat broken down.
The masterships of schools were thrown open to teachers of
all denominations. But also for the first time the ' Shorter
Catechism ' was recognised by the law of the land. No
teacher, indeed, was obliged to sign a Confession of Faith, but
he was required to subscribe a declaration that he would not
teach any opinions opposed to the Divine authority of Holy
Scripture or tp the doctrines contained in the * Shorter
Catechism,' and that he would faithfully conform thereto in
his teaching and do nothing to the prejudice or subversion
of the Established Church (sec. 12). This seemed to make
an opening for at least some broadening of the religious in
struction. The Bishop could not help observing that the
' Church Catechism ' and the ' Shorter Catechism ' covered
to a great extent different fields, though they had the great
advantage of a common groundwork in the Creed, the Com
mandments, and the Lord's Prayer, which also occur in
both in the same order. He was further not insensible to
the strong points of the Scottish Catechism l and to some
criticisms which may be passed upon our own. He therefore
attempted an amalgamation of the two documents, with
some slight additions to both, under the title of ' A Common
Catechism/ in which he omitted the abstruser parts of the
Scottish form, as well as those which might be liable to be
misunderstood and misapplied. Such were questions 7, 8,
and 20, on ' the Decrees of God,' and 31-35 on ' effectual
calling.' A few questions and answers were added to intro
duce subjects not in either Catechism, such as the three
fold ministry and the use of Confirmation, and the language
of both were slightly modified, partly for the sake of style.
His object was to combine those portions of the * Shorter
1 It was, of course, really English in origin, being the work of the
Westminster Assembly of Divines. It was adopted in Scotland, however, as
early as 1648.
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
165
Catechism' which lift the learner into a high region of
thought and feeling such as the answer which speaks of
man as being made ' to glorify God and to enjoy Him for
ever,' and the explanation of our Lord's three-fold office
as prophet, priest, and king and the fuller and more
detailed explanation of the Commandments and the like,
with the characteristic excellencies of the Church Catechism.
Among minor points suitable to a Catechism, the repetition
of the substance of the question in the answer may be
named as a merit of the Scottish form.
The extreme difficulty of such an undertaking in itself,
and the severe criticism to which it would certainly be
exposed on both sides, the probable accusations of un
faithfulness from one party, and of secret designs from
another, led the Bishop to abandon its publication in
accordance with his brother's advice. 1 He preserved a few
copies of it with careful annotations by certain friends to
whom he had sent it, the most elaborate being by G. H,
Forbes.
But it is worth while to recall that he made the attempt
and with a certain measure of success. The Catechism
was printed by Thomas Constable, Edinburgh, 1861 ; but
I have only seen his own copies of it, and imagine it must
be very scarce, if circulated at all.
In a later year (1864) he was examined before the
Eoyal Commission, then sitting at Edinburgh, on December
5, and besides the evidence he gave, which is printed in
the Keport of that Commission, pp. 231-240, he tendered
to it a ' National Catechism,' which he hoped might lead to
a system of combined religious instruction. This was a
much less hazardous venture than the ' Common Catechism '
1 He says in his letter of 12 August, 1861 : ' Mainly in deference to your
judgment.' He mentions that on that day he had received letters from two
brother Bishops deprecating its abandonment.
166 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
and simply consisted of so much of the * Shorter Catechism *
as relates to the Creed, the Commandments, and the Lord's
Prayer. I am not aware, however, that it excited much
attention or exercised much influence.
The time perhaps may come, nay, in my judgment, it
has already come, when we ought to take up these earlier
tentative efforts in a more practical way. A great change
took place in Scotland in 1872, though in some ways not
so violent as in England. Elementary education was then
removed entirely from the control of the Established
Church, the Presbyters of which had hitherto acted as
managers, and up to 1861 as examiners (though not, I think,
taking much part as teachers), and, generally speaking, had
acted to the advantage of the schools. Owing mainly to
the jealousy of the Free Church, which was ready to throw
up all its schools, school boards were made universal and
a board school established in every parish, though voluntary
schools were still permitted to receive Government grants.
The Act of 1872, however (35 & 36 Viet. cap. 62), was very
different in its attitude towards religion from the English
Elementary Education Act of 1870. Not only was religious
instruction given a prominent place in the preamble, and
was thereby made one of the main objects of the Act, but
there was no Cowper-Temple clause to limit the use of
catechisms or formularies. It was in fact taken for granted
that the custom in use would go on. Only emphasis was
laid on the conscience clause, and a limitation of the hours
of religious instruction and observance was provided, as
in England, restricting them to the beginning or ending
(or to the beginning and ending) of the school meetings
(sec. 68) . The ' Shorter Catechism ' is still largely taught ;
but it is growing less common, and means should be
devised for supplying its place. There is nothing to
prevent an alliance between Presbyterians and Episco-
CH. v REUNION WORK. 1860-1867 167
palians for this object, except mutual jealousy and mistrust,
and possibly the incapacity of our theologians to frame a
document suitable for children, and at the same time
orthodox and effective as an instrument of teaching, under
the limitations to full expression of doctrine which would
be felt on either side. Certainly such a common catechism,
if it could be framed, would have a great future before it,
both in English board schools and in the colonies, where at
present, for the most part, religious teaching is of the
scantiest and the most ineffective character. I am well
aware of the exceptional advantages afforded by the legis
lature in New South Wales and Tasmania, and more
recently in Western Australia ; but I know also something
of the difficulties of the other colonies, and of the great
mischief caused by the antagonism or want of harmony
between English Churchmen and Presbyterians. It seems
therefore opportune to emphasise the farsighted proposals
of the Bishop of St. Andrews, and to suggest to those who
read these pages to take up the matter again under perhaps
more favourable circumstances.
About this time (1866) the Bishop had the gratification of
receiving a remarkable testimony to the success of an earlier
educational work of his the ' School Greek Grammar ' *
which the Meeting of Head Masters of Public Schools asked
him to reduce in length (omitting the syntax), with a view
to its being adopted in all their schools . He was thus able
to claim the remarkable honour of producing a ' National
Elementary Greek Grammar ' (as my father had prophesied
he would do in an article prepared and printed for the
' Quarterly Eeview ' in 1840, but withdrawn in deference
to Etonian feeling). He was in this way more fortunate
in the field of classical learning than in that of theology ;
1 See his letter to Dr. Moberly, then Head Master of Winchester, with
this title. Edinb. 1866.
168
EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
and indeed there can be no question that his small income
was most happily and worthily increased by the adoption of
this excellent and well-planned book, which still continues
in use after an existence of some sixty years. I remember
that about the same time my father had the mortification
to find his ' Edward the Sixth's Latin Grammar ' which
till then had been very successful superseded by Dr.
Kennedy's * Public School Latin Grammar.' The sale
almost suddenly stopped, a result which was I think not by
any means in proportion to the relative merit of the two
books. I may mention that my uncle's ' Greek Primer,'
translated by his second son, was published in January 1871,
and that 5,000 copies of it were sold in less than five months.
Another excellent and popular book by the Bishop of
St. Andrews had been published a few years earlier, on
' Shakespeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible,' which
appeared in April 18C4. It was connected in his own mind
with the wish to make Shakespeare familiar to young
people, arid was intended to be a prelude to a ' Shake-
Hpearo for the Young,' a project in which his old friend
J. 1). Wai lord the mathematical maHter beloved by many
generations of Wykehamists was much interested. The
following I'H bin own account of it :
I was provoked to undertake the tank partly by the want of
judgment which liowdler had shown in his expurgated edition,
which gocH in great measure upon a mistaken notion that every
reference to Holy Scripture must imply irreverence, and partly
hy the charge of profarieriesH brought against Shakespeare even
hy the critics of the highest repute, such as Johnson and such as
(Jillord charges which I believed I could show, and I have
shown, to he utterly unfounded. The hook was very favourably
received. l<Yon Mr. llalliwell Phillipps (who was acknowledged,
I believe, to know more about Shakespeare and everything
Shakespearian than any other literary man of his time, and
with whom i had no further acquaintance than that 1 had met
him once for a few moments in the street at Stratford during the
CH. T
RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1880-1887
of 18[Wj) I bad the
U Tr:,-:^r. I8B4,
is. :: my !**, la*
The book was published by
Co., who paid him fifty pounds for it ; and it shortly
into a second edition. But lor
though every copy of both edition
Cm 1871) estimated that they had lost
pounds upon it. It reached a third edition in 1880, 1 and a
fourth edition in 1898, and wflL I imagine, keep a per
manent place in our literature.
The reader of this book cannot fafl to grasp a very
important lesson namely, that much of the charm of
Shakespeare is due to his wonderful familiarity with Holy
Writ and to his mmtmrml use of its language, without cant,
slang, conventionality, or profancness such as too often
disfigures the pages of some, even of eminent writers, who
use Scripture freely. And through this familiarity lighter
English literature has gained a dignity both of style and
matter which has never entirely left it When we think of
Montaigne and Itibciliin we realise the Mi^mi^ of Rhakr-
speare.
Another Shakespearian publication was his admirable
Tercentenary Sermon at Stratford-on-Avon (Sunday,
24 April, 1864), 'Man's excellency a cause of praise and
thankfulness to God.' In it he draws inspiration from the
judgment of John Kehle in his ' Oxford Lectures on Poetry,*
one of the few books in modern Latin that have an *>^K^g
place in our literature of this century. He points out
Shakespeare's consistency, imperially in his
I- ;hc OM
170 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
and his perpetual reference to a high standard of virtue,
his consistency as the poet of the English nation and of
home life, his sympathy with classical literature as opposed
to mechanical and physical philosophy, marking his mind
as a kind of antithesis to that of his contemporary, Francis
Bacon. He points out also his claims to our regard in
virtue of his personal character, his meekness, modesty,
and gentleness. I wish that this sermon could be prefixed
to one of the 'many cheap editions of Shakespeare now
issuing from the press. It would be a great help to young
students as indicating to them what sort of beauties to
notice, instead of, or in addition to, those more or less
important philological and critical points to which
lecturers too often alone direct their attention.
The ' Shakespeare for the Young ' was never completed,
but three volumes, containing twelve of the ' Historical
Plays,' were published by Messrs. Blackwood in 1883, with
useful marginal explanations, introductions, and longer
notes. Had the whole been completed, and then each play
published cheaply in parts, the book might have met with
the success it deserved, and have been largely used for
reading in clubs or by the fireside, and for examinations.
As it is, I fear it is too little known, chiefly, perhaps,
because the plays most often desired for reading aloud were
left unedited.
The same period (1866) saw the beginning of a new
plan for the City of Perth, in which the Bishop and his
family took a deep and continuing interest the foundation
of St. Andrews School Chapel near the great railway
station. Since 1859 he had worshipped with, and ministered
to, a solid and well-to-do community in St. John's Church ;
but he now began to feel that more might be done for
the poor, and that the spirit of Congregationalism and the
system of pew-rents was injuring the religious life of the
CH. V
KESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867
171
Church. The scheme was put forward in a sermon before
the congregation of St. John's, ' The claims of the poorer
brethren in assemblies for Christian worship 'based
naturally on the teaching of St. James. He appealed for
funds to build a church to be called St. Andrews, intending
to add schools and a schoolmaster's house to it. The
school-chapel was all that was then built, and it was opened
23 August, 1868. An infants' school was added later. The
Bishop practically became its incumbent, being assisted by
the Bev. James Christie, who was ordained by him a month
before as his curate. It is pleasant to note the name of
Bishop Forbes, of Brechin, as a subscriber of ten guineas
to this new church, and to find the Bishop of St. Andrews
confirming for him at Dundee in April 1868. The
Bishop's correspondence contains many notes from the
Bishop of Brechin, asking for his services as a preacher, or
for help in regard to an inscription and the like.
The following letter, which belongs to this period, shows
the Bishop's thorough knowledge of Anglican theology. It
refers to a portion of Jeremy Taylor's famous work of
which I must candidly confess my previous ignorance. It
is dated 3 August, 1866.
In answer to an unknown correspondent who writes to me
from Dublin describing himself * a doubter,' but as he trusts ' a
humble and candid ' one, I would simply recommend a small
portion of Bishop Jeremy Taylor's ' Ductor Dubitantium,' which
contains * a moral demonstration, proving that the religion of
Jesus Christ is from God ' (see Book I., chap, iv., rule 2 ; Vol.
xii. 89-66, Heber's edition), and of which the pious Bishop
Home declared that ' no tract ever came from the pen of man
better calculated to dispel those doubts and difficulties which
may arise in the mind of a believer, or to work conviction in that
of an unbeliever who can bring himself to give it a fair and
attentive perusal.' And the reason why I give this advice is,
because it is not with us as it was with those to whom, as eye-
172 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
witnesses of them, the evidence of miracles and in many
instances the evidence of miracles alone was first offered, and,
to some of them at least, proved sufficient. But our case is that
of persons to whom God presents a combination, or rather an
accumulation of evidences all of which are to be taken in, as it
were, at once by the mind's eye, if we are to do justice to the
Divine Goodness and to the responsibility of our own position.
I have pleasure in complying with the request of my
correspondent, and I pray God to bless the advice which I have
offered.
Another letter in the same month (21 August, 1866),
and addressed to Major Scott, of Gala, is also of interest of
another kind :
Pecuniarily I can do little to promote the cause of ' Keble
College,' but all I can do (as I trust, honestly) I do most cheer
fully and thankfully by enclosing a cheque for Si.
My copy of the ' Christian Year ' was a gift, in 1829, from my
dear father one of the first to recognise in the book the merits
which are now universally acknowledged as may be seen from
a letter of his in the memoirs of that good layman, Joshua
Watson (vol. i. p. 311) : ' He is full of beauties and goodness.
I have given a copy to each of my three boys.'
I also possess a copy of the first edition, 1827.
You refer to the attitude assumed by Mr. Keble, on a painful
occasion, towards our Church, as a matter to be regretted but
also to be forgiven and, as far as may be, forgotten. I agree with
you entirely ; and I rejoice to think that several communications
which I had with him subsequently were all of a nature to render
that desirable course more easy and natural. Among the rest
he was so good as to send me * from the author ' a copy of his
' Life of Bishop Wilson,' the last work which he published. And
it is a circumstance not a little remarkable that on the very last
page of that work he had occasion to print in an ' Erratum '
certain words of Bishop Wilson's ' Sacra Privata ' which had
been omitted in their proper place, and which, while they are
irreconcileable with the teaching of ' Eucharistical Adoration,'
are strictly in accordance with that recommended and prescribed
by our Episcopal Synod.
CH. V
RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867
173
The years 1866-7 were marked in several ways by a
growing intercourse between the Church of England and
the Scottish Episcopal Church, which were of considerable
importance to the latter, and not without influence on the
development of the larger body helping it to throw off
something of its often unconscious Erastianism. The
laying of the first stone of Inverness Cathedral by the
Archbishop of Canterbury was an event which, at the
moment, excited no little comment. The annual Episcopal
Synod was held in that pleasant northern city on 16 October,
1866, and on the next day Archbishop Longley, who
had been tutor to Bishop Eden (as well as to Bishop
Wordsworth), laid the stone in the presence of all the
Scottish Bishops and of the Bishop of North Carolina,
U.S.A. (Bishop Thomas Atkinson). Bishop Wordsworth
chronicles this as ' a distinction won so deservedly by the
character which the esteemed Primus of our Church has
borne through the whole course of his life.' l A remarkable
feature of this gathering was the sympathy of Inverness
Presbyterians, many of whom contributed to the building
fund. 2 Nevertheless it stirred up no little controversy, in
which the newspapers took part. The London ' Times/
for instance, wrote strongly in condemnation of the Arch
bishop's action. Fortunately the * Scotsman ' took a more
impartial view. The Bishop of St. Andrews preserved the
memory of this incident in a Latin quatrain, which may be
inserted here : 3
Jupiter e coelo fulsit tonuitque sinistro
Anglus, et inde sequens nil nisi fumus erat.
Dextrorsum at Scotus respondit Jupiter, et mox
Inde sequens toto lux erat alma polo :
1 See TJie Lambeth Conference a Synodal Address, 1 November, 1867,
p. 1. 2 See Archibald's Historic Episcopate, &c., p. 349.
3 See Public Appeals, &c. ii. 530. The reader will again notice the
spelling coelum (as if from oTAos), which my father and uncle generally
374 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
which I may give in English :
Heaven lightened on the left : in thunder spoke
The English Jupiter : then all was smoke.
But on the right the Scottish Jove replied,
And genial light was spread on every side.
Another happy event to the Bishop of St. Andrews,
and to the Church at large, was the consecration of his
most intimate friend, Thomas Legh Claughton, Vicar of
Kidderminster, to the See of Eochester. He was naturally
invited to be one of the consecrators, probably the first
time for more than two centuries that an Archbishop of
Canterbury had accepted such aid from a Scottish prelate.
At the same time he received authority from the Bishop of
Oxford to confirm in two places in his Diocese for my
father at his benefice of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks,
where he confirmed forty candidates, and at St. Peter's
College, Kadley, between Abingdon and Oxford, where he
confirmed eighteen. At Kochester he was the guest of
Archdeacon Grant, well known for his stirring and instruc
tive Bampton Lectures on Missions,' who was afterwards,
to my great advantage, a near neighbour of my own when
I was Canon there (1883). Claughton was consecrated
in his own Cathedral by Archbishop Longley on 11 June,
1867, and Bishop Wordsworth was naturally interested on
such an occasion to trace out links of connection between
Kochester and Scotland, and his own Diocese in particular.
One there is which must strike every visitor to the Cathe
dral who inquires into its history. The Early English
choir, which has been added to the rather solemn Norman
nave the most ancient of any Cathedral in England was
erected with the proceeds of offerings at the shrine of St.
adopted, although scholars now agree that caelum, &c. is the more correct
form. My uncle adopted it in his later years. See p. 21.
CH. V
RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867
175
William, the good baker of Perth, who gave every tenth
loaf to the poor. His title to saintship was sealed, or
perhaps rather created, by his murder on a pilgrimage to
Canterbury in the year 1201 an opportune event for the
monks of Kochester, who thus became possessed of a
wonder-working shrine. 1 The remains of his tomb are
preserved in the north-east corner of the northern
transept. Later associations 2 attach to Bishop Kichard
Neale, one of the consecrators of Spottiswoode in 1610, and
to Bishop John Warner, who, in 1667, founded scholarships
at Balliol College, Oxford, for the support of the Episcopal
cause in Scotland. A yet closer friend to that communion
was good Bishop Horsley, who, in 1792 (while still Bishop
of St. David's), had first succeeded in repealing the op
pressive penal laws, which, amongst other things, forbade
clergy in Scottish orders from ministering to more than
five persons in the same room.
But there was a still more important business outside
Scotland in which the Bishop of St. Andrews took part in
this period, viz. the first Lambeth Conference of the Angli
can Episcopate, held in 1867 3 a great venture which was
much criticised at the time, but which has been abundantly
justified by its results.
The first suggestion of such a meeting came from the
Canadian Church in February 1866. After the proposal
1 My uncle preserved an interesting letter from Precentor Venables, of
Lincoln, on this subject (26 November, 1867), in which he describes how
the miracles worked at this tomb proved a convenient instrument for
assisting the monks of Kochester in their rivalry with other religious
foundations. St. William was formally canonised in 1256.
2 See The Lambeth Conferencea Synodal Address, Edinb. 1867, pp. 1
foil, and 17.
3 See Life of Bishop Wilberforce, by his son, B. G. Wilberforce, iii. 229
foil. (Lond. 1882), Life of A. C. Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury, by B. T.
Davidson and W. Benham, i. 574 foil. (Lond. 1891),. and The Lambeth
Conferences, S. P. C. K., ed. B. T. Davidson (now Bishop of Winchester), and
Bishop Wordsworth's Synodal Address.
176 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
had been under consideration for about a year it was deter
mined by Archishop Longley that the experiment should be
tried, and invitations were issued by him, dated 22 February,
1867, and addressed to all the Bishops of our communion, who
then numbered one hundred and forty-four. Of these, rather
more than half (seventy- six) met in the Guard-room of
Lambeth Palace where the Conference of 1897 also met
for a four days' private discussion, of which, however, a
report crept surreptitiously into the * Guardian ' from
24 to 27 September inclusive.
The chief figures at this gathering from the Colonial
Church were Bishop Gray of Capetown, and Bishop G. A.
Selwyn of New Zealand men, both of them, in a way, of
heroic character ; and of the home Church, Samuel Wilber-
force (then of Oxford) ; A. C. Tait of London, and Connop
Thirlwall of St. Davids. The chief subject of debate was,
naturally, the case of Bishop Colenso of Natal, who had been
deposed by Bishop Gray in a sentence signed December
1863, but who was in various ways upheld by the Civil Courts
to which he had appealed. This matter had been excluded
from the agenda paper; but it was found that so many
Bishops had come together in the hope of discussing it, that
it could not be kept back from consideration. While no one
defended Colenso's opinions and proceedings, there was a
good deal of feeling among members of the home Episco
pate of the danger of independent and, perhaps, overbearing
action on the part of the representatives of some of the
Colonial Churches. This feeling led to a division between
men like Gray and Selwyn, to whom Wilber force generally
lent his aid, on one side, and Tait and Thirlwall on the other.
The former were champions of colonial independence, and
thought that the Mother Church had much to learn from
the colonies ; the latter were in favour of the principle
of Establishment and desired to do nothing to provoke a
CH. v RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867 177
conflict with the State. Objection was taken to the consti
tution of the South African Court, and to the method of
trial ; and it was felt that a court of first instance, especially
if some of its members had previously expressed themselves
strongly on the subject afterwards brought before them
judicially, could hardly deliver a judgment from which
there was no appeal. We have seen this difficulty in the
the Forbes case ; it was even more acute in that of Colenso.
In regard to the principle of Establishment, Wordsworth
was at one with Tait, and, as the latter remarks, 1 endorsed
what he said. He further acknowledged certain imper
fections in Bishop Gray's procedure, but he thought them
almost inevitable under the difficult circumstances. He
did not, unfortunately, make any minute notes as to his
part in the Conference, but it is evident from Bishop Gray's
' Life,' and from letters addressed to him later by Archbishop
Longley and Bishop Tozer, that he had taken rather a
prominent part in amending and drafting various resolu
tions, particularly ' the paper signed by the great majority
of Bishops about the Natal difficulty,' as Bishop Tozer
describes it (13 February, 1868). This must have been the
following, signed by fifty-five Bishops : ' We, the under
signed Bishops declare our acceptance of the sentence pro
nounced upon Dr. Colenso by the Metropolitan of South
Africa, with his suffragans, as being spiritually a valid
sentence' (' Gray's Life,' ii. 350). His opinion on the sub
ject generally will be found more at length in the next
chapter.
Among the by-events connected with this Conference
was a series of sermons by Bishops in St. Laurence's,
Gresham Street, in the week preceding it. It was here
that Bishop Wordsworth first delivered his sermon on
' Euodias and Syntyche,' already referred to. Being
1 Life ofA.C. Tait, i. 380.
N
178 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
suddenly called to supply the place of the Primus on
another interesting occasion the reopening of Chichester
Cathedral (14 November) he repeated the same sermon,
for which he received the warm thanks of Dean Hook.
He wrote the same night :
Ten thousand thanks for your glorious, manly permit me to
say English sermon. I send you my sermon on the consecra
tion of Bishop Luscombe. I wrote to the Primus, Bishop Gleig,
to know how I was to describe the Bishops he would not hear
of their being named from their Sees. Bishop Sandford told me
that until his new chapel was built he never ventured to wear a
surplice when he first went to Scotland bis cbapel would have
been pulled about his ears. Bishop Jolly told [me] that when he
was preaching as a young man some soldiers were seen
approaching the village, and all his congregation fled, leaving
him in the pulpit alone in his glory.
In the previous month of October Bishop Wordsworth
had also taken part in the Wolverhampton Church Congress,
so that he was now well known and appreciated in England.
Dean Stanley, a few years later, wrote of the Chichester
sermon (after remarking that Oxford divines used to speak
of the Church of England as Judah, and the Church of
Scotland as Samaria) : The most accomplished scholar, the
most purely Oxford theologian among the Scottish Bishops,
has in these latter days spoken with a far truer and nobler
sense of the mutual relations of the two Churches, and
entreated them to be at one with another on the equal
terms of " Euodias and Syntyche." ' l
These incidents, which were refreshing to himself and
helpful to the Episcopal Church, were not, however, without
their bearing upon the Keunion movement in Scotland.
The Presbyterians of Inverness were, unhappily, not a type
of the general feeling towards Archbishops and Cathedrals ;
1 The Church of Scotland, p. 176, ed. 2, 1879.
CH. V
REUNION WORK. 1860-1867
179
and the Moderator of the General Assembly (Dr. Crawford)
delivered a rather unfriendly and disheartening address, in
which he committed himself to the strange position that
our Lord did not intend that the Church should have an
outward and organic unity. Various other causes com
bined to check the movement, political as well as ecclesiasti
cal ; and checked it certainly was. It was not till after an
interval of fifteen years (1867-82) that the Bishop of St.
Andrews took it up again with something of his old zeal.
Indeed, it can hardly be expected that movements of this
kind should go on at all, except in waves or steps and
steps of slight elevation followed by long intervals of level
ground, sometimes sloping downwards. But, if Christian
love has lifted us ever so little, the downward slope will not
descend quite to the old level. The Episcopal Church was
now more closely allied with the Church of England, and
this was resented by Presbyterians. Yet this alliance was
necessary to the Episcopal Church in order to give it
greater breadth and knowledge, and a greater feeling of
confidence. An interval was therefore needed for such
growth and for similar parallel growth in the Presbyterian
Establishment after which it became possible to take up
the question once more.
The year 1867, in which the Bishops of the Scottish
Episcopal Church took their places side by side with their
English brethren, therefore marked an epoch in history,
which cannot be overlooked, and may fitly serve as a term
to our survey of public events in this period. The same
year saw another important movement in the Presbyterian
Church taking shape, viz. the foundation of the ' Church
Service Society.' From this year, then, there were new
beginnings in both these bodies which had necessarily to
develop and still have to develop internally before they
could, or can, draw much nearer to one another. To put
N 2
180 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH OH. v
it plainly, it was necessary that the Episcopal Church should
move more with the times and become a body more worthy
of national confidence and of proved ability to lead, and that
the Presbyterian should become more Catholic in its usages,
habits, and feelings. It will take a long time to produce the
necessary changes ; yet something was done by the subject
of this memoir, as we shall record in a later chapter.
But before Concluding this chapter, some details of a
more personal nature must be mentioned belonging to this
time.
The domestic events which touched the Bishop most
deeply were doubtless the deaths of his old friend and col
league, Warden Barter, which took place on 8 February,
1861, and that of his then youngest son, 1 Kenneth, a bright
and beautiful boy, who died the next year at Glenalmond,
where he had only just been sent (16 May, 1862).
He was the youngest boy in the school, and entered
eagerly into the games. At the annual school sports he
overheated himself in a race and took a cold which attacked
his throat, and proved fatal in a few days. His grave is
under the east window of the College Chapel. The occa
sion of his death is referred to in the concluding lines of
his much-sorrowing father's epitaph, which we may
render :
Sport, boys : but sporting know Death lies in wait.
To search for serious thoughts may be too late.
The whole inscription, of which this is a part, is as
follows :
H(ic) s(itum) e(st) | quod mortale habuit | Kenneth Andreas
Wordsworth | [puer ix annorum et ii dierum] | vix prius ad
1 Another son was born to him a few years later (1866), and then a
daughter (1868), the thirteenth and youngest of the family.
CH. v RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867 181
scholam missus | quam ad domum, uti spes est, | coelestem
avocatus ; | Quatuor filiorum nasci ultimus, | Primus decessisse ; |
Parentum nuper deliciae | nunc, si Deus misereatur, | pro brevi
tempore desiderium. Natus MaiaB xiv, 1853. Obiit Maiae
xvi, 1862. ||
Lude, puer, si vis ; memor at tu lude propinquse
Mortis : post mortem seria sera nimis.
The death of Warden Barter was an event in which I also
had a very real concern, as it occurred a few months before
I left Winchester School, where his house was (through
his affection for my uncle) always open to me. He was to
us boys a sort of hero, and a worthy one, especially to those
of us (and they were not a few) who were constantly enter
tained by him on * leave-out days.' Even in his old age he
was a man of noble presence and most attractive genial
aspect. He was known to us as having given his name to
a glorious forward drive at cricket, as an untiring walker,
and a man of unflinching courage, and a thorough Christian
without cant or pretence. He knew how to talk charmingly
to boys without any appearance of being bored or making
conversation, yet without losing dignity. No wonder that
every one loved him.
The following admirable sketch was written by the
Bishop of St. Andrews for Mr. Adams's ' Wykehamica,' l but
only a sentence or two was printed by the latter from it.
The reader will be glad to have more of it.
In asking me to contribute to your volume upon Winchester
a few sentences about Warden Barter, you are so good as to say
that no one could speak of him with more weight than myself.
It is very true, so far as intimacy goes ; to which he admitted
me so unreservedly, that I looked upon him almost as a second
father, or elder brother. But the consciousness of this weight
1 Published in 1878 ; see note to p. 324. The book contains some other
interesting matter, both on the Warden and his brother.
182 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
presses me down, just in proportion to my knowledge of him and
my attachment to you. It is indeed a constant reflection with
me, now that I have passed my threescore years and ten, that to
have known him and one other friend not unlike him in many
points of character the late Bishop Hamilton of Salisbury so
intimately as I did, has been among the greatest blessings of my
life blessings for which I must give account. If ever there was
a man in whom there was not a grain of selfishness it was
Robert Speckott Barter. And to this perfect absence of all con
sideration for self was added in equal perfection the finest, nicest
discernment and regard for the feelings and circumstances of
others; so that the difficult Christian precept to 'honour all
men ' from the beggar to the prince, seemed to come to him as
part of his natural disposition. And what is perhaps a still
rarer gift, he had the happiness of being able to give expression
to this discernment if called upon to do so on any public occasion,
either of business or festivity, with an ease and felicity of speech
such as the greatest orator might have envied, but could not have
surpassed. Intellectually, it must be confessed he never did
himself justice. He lacked the ambition to excel others which
so often gives the spur which is necessary to overcome consti
tutional indolence; and while he had no inclination for self-
display, the natural talent which he possessed enabled him to
meet the calls made for the exercise of his literary powers either
in the pulpit or elsewhere with only too great facility. In short,
it may be said with truth that he had within him all materials
for making not only one of the best (for that he was), but also
one of the most distinguished men of the time in which he lived :
while his personal appearance, his noble form and features, the
amiable disposition shining out so clearly through the sweet
expression of his countenance, would have contributed to render
him an object of universal admiration on a much wider sphere,
had he made it any object of his life to be so admired.
Among the athletic exercises in which he excelled in early
life, he became eventually most famous as a tennis player.
Indeed, during his latter Oxford days he had the reputation of
being one of the best gentleman players in England. It was
this which first led to my acquaintance with him. . . . Soon
after Mr. Barter, having been elected Warden of Winchester,
left Oxford to settle in his new office, 1832, and both the Master-
CH. v RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867 183
ships of the College fell vacant. ... As I was myself a Harrow
man, and as there had been, I believe, no instance since the
foundation of the College of the appointment [of second Master]
having been bestowed upon any but a Wykehamist, it is not
probable that I should have ventured to come forward, and still
less that I should have been elected, if my tennis acquaintance
with the Warden had not tended to smoothen the ground and
induced him to regard my candidature not only without pre
judice, but (I believe I may say) with some prepossession in my
favour.
He then goes on to describe the Warden's sympathy
with, and genial encouragement of, every effort for the good
of the boys, instancing especially the experiment made by
Mr. Hullah of teaching them all to sing as the College
boys, at any rate, were bound by the Statutes to profess
themselves able to do before their election.
In this happy sketch the Bishop connects Warden
Barter's name with that of another kind friend and admirable
man my honoured and much-loved predecessor, Walter
Kerr Hamilton, whose premature death in 1869 was a
cause of wide-spread sorrow. Of the two he wrote at the
close of his life :-
Walter Hamilton and Warden Barter. The two men whom
I have known in the course of my long life most full of the
milk of human kindness most free from any taint of selfish
ness most ready to prefer others to themselves, were Walter
Hamilton [and Robert Speckott Barter]. 1
Of the generosity of Bishop Hamilton he has left the
following delightful account, which I venture to think is
most creditable to both parties concerned. 2 It belongs, I
believe, to the year 1864 3 and, if so, to 28 or 29 May.
1 MS. Note-book, in. 36. 2 MS. Note-book, iv. 45, 46.
3 I find a letter from Bishop Hamilton asking where I may pay to your
account 200J.' It is dated 20 December, and is filed among the letters of
1866.
184 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. v
I have now to record and I do it with the deepest gratitude
to the Giver of all good and to His noble-hearted instrument
an instance of sympathy and generosity in a friend such as I
suppose that few in this uncertain life have had the happiness to
experience. I was staying with Walter Hamilton, the Bishop at
Salisbury, and we were walking together one day in the Palace
garden, when quite unexpectedly he said to me : ' I have been
thinking over your circumstances in Scotland, and I am sure
with your small income and so large a family you must find it
difficult to get on, so I propose to raise for you a sum of 200Z. a
year from among your friends in England, which I can do with
perfect ease.' The proposal took me quite by surprise. I had
never given him reason to suppose that I was in pecuniary
difficulties, and now, though I admitted I might sometimes be
rather straitened, I assured him such was not the case. I
thanked him for his great kindness ; but I urged that my
independence as a Bishop might be compromised by such
assistance, and therefore I could not accept it. He was not, how
ever, to be diverted from his purpose. He promised that I should
never know from whence the money came, and that I need be
under no apprehension of the least curtailment of my freedom in
any quarter. I did not give my consent, and the matter was left
apparently undecided. Nevertheless the money came, came
regularly year by year through a banker's hands never less,
sometimes considerably more, than 200/., till Hamilton's death
(1869), and after his death, at his request the subsidy was carried
on by Claughton [Bishop of Rochester], and only ceased when I
was elected Fellow of Winchester [May 1871]. My income was
largely increased through that appointment. When it is con
sidered how many and various are the claims which an English
Bishop has upon his time, his thoughts and sympathies, I think
it will be felt that such an example of genuine disinterested
beneficence and simple goodness of heart ought not to be allowed
to pass unrecorded. Up to this day I have never learned who
my other benefactors were, with the single exception of Lord
Robartes, because he left an order under his will that his
donation should be continued till my death (see 'Annals of
Early Life,' p. 96).
Some other incidental notices of Bishop Hamilton which
CH. v RESIDENCE AT PERTH. 1860-1867 185
appear in my uncle's correspondence are worth mentioning.
My father writes to his brother (February 1867) : ' Thank
you very much indeed for your kind words of encourage
ment on the notes to Joshua. English Bishops, alas ! have
no leisure to obey St. Paul's precept to give attendance to
reading ; and I cannot expect any such cheering language
from them. One exception there is your excellent friend
and brother of Sarum.' Bishop Hamilton himself writes
most characteristically (23 May, 1867) : ' I know not when
I have shed so many tears of joy as I did on hearing that
dear Claughton was called to the Episcopate.'
186
CHAPTER VI
LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876
' Through evil report, and through good report.'
Proposal to consecrate Bishop Macrorie in Scotland Proposal to revive
Archiepiscopal titles -Irish disestablishment Bishop Claughton
Biography in ' Scotichronicon' Important Conference of Clergy and
Laity at Perth, 1868 Laymen in Synods Letter to Koundell Palmer on
the principle of Establishment and his reply Christopher Wordsworth
made Bishop of Lincoln (1868-9) Hamilton's death (1869) Depressing
period Troubles among the Bishops Kenewed troubles at St. Ninian's
Mr. Burton Provost (1871-1885) Perth Nunnery Eitual Charge of
1872 Letter from Bishop Williams of Connecticut Precentor Humble's
presentment : dismissed by the Bishops Special Synod of 1873 Pro
posed Committee Address by Dean and other clergy Various circulars
The Bishop's intended resignation (1874) Resignation suspended
Attempts at a modus vivendi with Provost Burton Its partial success
(1874-5) Precentor Humble's death (February 1876) Bishop moves to
St. Andrews (October 1876).
Deaths of Bishops Ewing (1873) and Forbes (1875) Of Kev. W. G.
Shaw, of Forfar (1874) Sermons &c. in England, especially in English
Cathedrals Visit to Gladstone (1876) Work of New Testament
Bevision (1870-1881) Final Considerations Dr. Field Dean Blakesley
Secondary advantages of the Revision Charge of 1881 Letter of
Archdeacon Palmer The writer's judgment Removal of Divinity Stu
dents from Glenalmond and consecration of Cumbrae Cathedral (1876).
Important book on ' Outlines of Christian Ministry ' (1872) Its value
Supplemented by ' Remarks on Dr. Lightfoot's Essay ' (1879) Letter
from Bishop Williams Note on ' Sacerdotalism.'
ONE issue of the Lambeth Conference of 1867 was to draw
attention to the Episcopal Church in Scotland as a body
which might fulfil an important function for the benefit of
the Colonial Church, as it had done in the preceding cen
tury for that of the United States. During the month of
January 1868 negotiations were in progress between the
Bishop of Capetown and the Scottish Bishops, with the
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 187
cognisance of Archbishop Longley, in which Bishop Hamil
ton also had a share, with a view to the use of a church in
Scotland for the consecration of a Bishop for the Diocese
of Natal. Legal difficulties were interposed in England,
otherwise Bishop Wilberforce would have permitted the use
of a church in his Diocese, and Mr. Burgon would have
been glad if it could have taken place at St. Mary's, Oxford.
A majority of the Scottish Bishops were quite inclined to
lend a church for the purpose, and passed a resolution
to that effect at a conference held at the Bishop of St.
Andrews' house, Wednesday, 29 January, the Primus and
the Bishops of Brechin (Forbes), St. Andrews, Aberdeen
(Suther), and the Coadjutor of Edinburgh (Morrell) being
present. At the same time they were strongly and unani
mously of opinion that it would be most desirable that the
consecration should rather take place in the Province of
South Africa. The minutes (which are in the hand of the
Primus) further state that the Bishop of Argyll protested
against the proposal to take action in the matter, and the
Bishop of Glasgow was decidedly opposed to it. It was a
relief to them when, on the last day of January, the Primus
announced that Bishop Gray had withdrawn his request.
The following letter, addressed to Dean Kamsay, who in
this matter was the mouthpiece of Bishop Tait and Dean
Stanley, puts my uncle's own position in a very clear light.
It is dated 12 February, 1868 :
I return the letters with which you favoured me, having
read them with much interest.
You are quite right in supposing that I never in my heart
desired a Consecration in Scotland. I was also, and still am,
scarcely less opposed to a Consecration in England. In the
discussion at the Lambeth Conference, and afterwards privately
to the Bishop of Capetown at the Wolverhampton Congress, I
ventured to offer my strong opinion that, having the moral
weight which he already possessed, any further clinging to
188 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
England would be a mistake, and would only tend to injure his
own cause. Claiming to be a Provincial Church (now free from
State control) they must act as such (as we in Scotland do), and
take the responsibility of their action to themselves. I saw
several objections (some connected with the election of a new
Bishop) which could only be solved, as I thought, by action in
the Province, and partly also in Natal itself. In short, I feared
that, by pressing for more than he had already got, out of the
Province, he would at once increase his difficulties, and put
himself and his Province into a false position. And all this so
far, I am afraid, has come to pass.
On the other hand, with regard to our own action, my
opinions if you care to know them have been these :
1. I consider Dr. Colenso to have been canonically deposed,
and the two links which Mr. Dodd speaks of worth nothing ' in
foro Ecclesise.'
2. When the matter first came to us (and before I knew the
Archbishop's opinion) I strongly recommended caution to the
Primus, because
(1) We Bishops are not the Church.
(2) I think the Bishop of C[ape] T[own] a little impulsive.
3. When it seemed necessary to form a practical judgment,
having ascertained how some Churchmen of weight in this
Diocese felt about the matter, I saw no sufficient grounds upon
which I could take to myself the responsibility of refusing, still
less of urging upon others the refusal of compliance with the
Bishop of C[ape] Town's request, backed as it was with the
virtual approbation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. That
responsibility in the sight of God was, I think, a very awful one.
The Bishop of C[ape] Town (not, indeed, without the im
perfections incident to humanity under such difficult and un
paralleled circumstances) has acted most nobly the part of a
Confessor for God's Truth against one whom five years ago
(February 1863) the English and Irish Archbishops and Bishops,
as one man, pronounced unfit for his sacred office by suggesting
to him to resign it. Since then substantial justice all the
justice that case admitted of for the maintenance of the Truth
has been done upon the offender. How he is yet to be dealt
with, or how the place which he has forfeited in the sight of
God and man is to be supplied being still impenitent and
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 189
contumacious is a matter which, for various reasons, as Mr.
Dodd justly observes, requires the deepest and most far-sighted
prudence on the part of the Church Authorities of the Province
itself, subject (so far as they are subject) to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, but to no other person, power, prince or potentate
upon earth. In such a case I may venture to give private
advice (as an Anglican Bishop), asked or unasked but I cannot
do more ; I cannot refuse assistance, which I may give (in my
opinion) not uncanonically, not unlawfully, when applied to by
those who are alone responsible, who ought to be able to judge
best, and who consider (rightly or wrongly) the assistance asked
for necessary or advisable pro bono Ecclesice.
Dean Ramsay acknowledged this letter as ' most satis
factory.'
The Bishop was concerned with two other public matters
in the spring of 1868, viz. the question as to a revival of
Archiepiscopal titles in Scotland, raised in connection with
the Roman Catholic movement towards the establishment
of a titular hierarchy, and the disestablishment of the Irish
Church. The first of these questions did not, I think, come
before the public ; but, from the letters which the Bishop
has preserved, it seems probable that more would have been
heard of it if either the Primus had been Bishop of St.
Andrews or the Bishop of St. Andrews had been Primus.
But even had it been so, the practical difficulties at that
time were so great that it is unlikely that the movement
recently taken by the Canadian Church, and followed in
1897 by the Cape, West Indies, and Australia, would have
been anticipated nearly thirty years before in Scotland. It
was no fault of Bishop Eden's, however, that it was not
done, for he writes on 11 July :
Do you see that the Romanists have got the start of us by
making Dr. Errington Archbishop of Glasgow ? The sooner you
are Archbishop of St. Andrews the better. We must sound the
Church at once as to the revival of Metropolitical Jurisdiction.
190 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
As to the Irish Church, the Bishop was asked by the
Primus to draft and promote a petition, to be headed by the
Scottish Bishops, in opposition to Mr. Gladstone's Bill ; and
he went some way towards doing so. He tried, however, in
vain to bring in prominent men of the different Presby
terian bodies, and did not even succeed eventually in gain
ing a clear vote of the Scottish Bishops for it the two
* Alexanders,' for different reasons, and Bishop Wilson, of
Glasgow, being opposed to it. A form of petition, couched
in the names of the Bishops alone, was, however, circulated
in print. A copy lies before me which was evidently sent
to Bishop Hamilton. It has no signatures attached, and
bears evident traces of its authorship. It states that, ' at
present the entire realm of Great Britain and Ireland is
consecrated by the national profession of the Christian
religion.' ... ' At present the forms of Christianity pro
fessed by the State throughout these kingdoms recognise
no foreign or extra-national jurisdiction. This we believe
to be in strict accordance with the doctrine of Kevelation,
and, at the same time, a necessary safeguard of our
national liberties.' The proposed legislation would give
increased ascendancy in Ireland to Borne. It would weaken
the testimony given by the Legislature against Roman
error. Mention was made further of the weakness arising
from the establishment of a different form of Protestantism
in Scotland. Sympathy was also expressed with Boman
Catholic political disabilities. Finally, the petition refers to
the sufferings of the Episcopal Church from disestablish
ment in Scotland, and draws a conclusion unfavourable to
the prospects of such a measure in its effect on the sister
Church of Ireland.
The following is a specimen of Bishop Claugh ton's
hasty, amusing, and very intimate notes (24 April, 1808).
It refers to the debate in the House of Lords on the Irish
Church :
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 191
My dearest Andrew, If you had heard Lord Derby speak
last night you would have exclaimed * There's Life in the old
Dog yet ' (you remember the Picture at the Manchester Exhibi
tion bearing that title an old Shepherd's Dog found at the
bottom of a rock nearly dead ; next to which there was a
Picture of Lear in his last moments. An old Lady with a
Catalogue in her hand applied that title to King Lear).
Abiit Renn Dickson Heref. Succedet Edwardus Inf. Dom.
Convoc. Prolocutor. Ita dicit T. L. Roff. 1 Dear old Sarum
revivificatus est. How you must be elated and yet depressed
by the fulfilment of your vaticinations irtpl rAaoVroi/iov ! !
When do you come to Danbury ?
I think there is a reaction beginning about the Irish Church.
The Bishop of London's [Tait's] words were well received in the
House of Lords last night. He spoke so well. Brother Samuel
not so well. Now, my dear Andrew, you never write to me.
I do so wish I were a good speaker. There is such an infidel
coterie just opposite me in the H. of Lords. . . . We had a
delightful day at Maplestead. Old Barter of Sarsden was so
genial. 2
In May of the same year the Bishop was forced, by Dr.
Gordon's insisting upon publishing Lives of living Bishops
in his * Scotichronicon,' to direct two friends in revising or
re-writing his own. It was this, perhaps, that first gave
him the idea of writing his Autobiography. (See above,
p. 108 n.)
The ordinary Synod of this year was held in May, at
Lord Hollo's hospitable house, Duncrub ; but it was much
surpassed in importance by a conference of clergy and
1 'Renn Dickson [Hampden], Bishop of Hereford, is gone. Edward
[Bicker steth], Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, will succeed
him. So thinks T. L. [Claughton] of Kochester.' Hampden's successor
was, however, Bishop Atlay. Bishop Hamilton was taken ill the Wednesday
before Easter (8 April, 1868), but rallied enough to take his ordinations and
to confirm in the autumn in Dorset. After a painful illness in London, he
returned home 29 July, and died at Salisbury 1 August, 1869.
2 Mr. Charles Barter died a short time after, 24 June.
192 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
laity held later in the year at Perth. The school chapel
(St. Andrews) was opened on 23 August, and in it, a month
later, was held this conference (24 September), which was
intended to be annual, after the fashion of our Diocesan
conferences now familiar in England. I have already
quoted from the Bishop's interesting opening address,
which gave a sketch of the history of the Diocese, in
Chap. II. I will add here some particulars of the condition
of the Diocese at this time, which will serve to mark the
steady growth that had taken place during his Episcopate.
Of the thirty-seven churches and chapels of all kinds now in
the Diocese, all except two (Blairatholl and Kirriemuir) have
been built, or otherwise acquired, since the beginning of the
present century. Or if the view be confined to the period of my
own Episcopate, which began when the first half of the century
had expired viz. in 1853 of these thirty- seven churches and
chapels, twenty-one have been built or otherwise added since
that time ; that is within the last fifteen years. In these fifteen
years new churches (to place them in chronological order) have
been erected at Meigle, Bridge of Allan, Callander, Alyth,
Pitlochry, Birnam, Kinloch-Rannoch, Crieff, Cupar-Fife, and
lastly at St. Andrews. Mission Chapels have been opened at
Weem (where a new church is now in course of erection), at
Leven, Dollar, Doune, Dunning, Elie, Croiscraig, Perth ; besides
the private chapels open to neighbours, poor as well as rich, so
far as they can afford accommodation, at Duncrub Park, Dupplin
Castle, and Glamis Castle. Of course this increase of con
gregations implies a similar increase of clergy; the seventeen
clergy of fifteen years ago being now twenty-nine. And, I am
thankful to add, the increase in the provision for their permanent
accommodation is still more remarkable. In 1853 there were
only two parsonages in the Diocese viz. at Dunblane and
Kirriemuir. Since then, in addition to those two, there have
been built, or otherwise acquired, fifteen, so that there are now
seventeen.
He mentions further that in the school chapel, where they
were assembled, 100 scholars had been gathered in a month.
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 193
Besides encouraging details, he had, however, to note that
thirty years before there had been larger congregations at
Blairatholl, Strath-Tay, and Tummel Bridge; and that
extinct congregations, noticed in the last century, at Auch-
terarder, Balgowan, Kinclaven, Glamis, Cortachy, Memus,
&c., ought to be revived. Indeed, the Episcopal Church
ought to be represented in every one of the 159 parishes of
the united Diocese. He spoke in something like despair of
the failure of his attempts to co-operate with Presbyterians,
referring specially to the promise taken by ministers at
their ordination to do nothing to subvert Presbyterian
government and discipline. But he hoped the truth would
in time make its way.
The subjects discussed were Church progress in town
and country districts, and good speeches were made both
by leading clergy and laity; but no resolutions were
passed. The Conference was considered to have been very
satisfactory. The Primus writes about 'the marvellous
success of your first Conference. I was glad to see Methven
[i.e. Mr. Smythe, a leading layman and great friend of the
Bishop's] was there, and should much have liked to have
watched his countenance.' Bishop Forbes writes : ' I never
have had the opportunity of expressing to you my admira
tion of your able address at the Conference, which seems to
have been on the whole a great success.' The results of
this Conference were seen in a resolution of the Episcopal
Synod held next year at Edinburgh (16 and 17 November,
1869), when the question of the powers and functions of
laymen in Synods was remitted to the consideration of
Special Diocesan Synods, to be held before Whitsunside
1870, and the resolutions to the following effect were agreed
to by the Bishops : (1) that in future notices of the annual
Synods should be read in church two Sundays previous to
the Synod; (2) that all Lay Communicants should be
o
194 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
invited to attend ; (3) that such laymen should have free
leave to speak. The subject, and others connected with it,
was discussed at the Special Synod of 1870, but no definite
action was taken. It was reopened at the Episcopal Synod
of 1873, but without any immediate result. Finally, in
1876, the General 'Synod established the Eepresentative
Church Council, which dealt with matters of finance and
external administration, a point beyond which the Episcopal
Church has not yet gone. Those who are interested in the
question, as many now are in England, will find useful
material in Bishop Wordsworth's ' Charge ' of 1870, and
its Postscript in reply to arguments. He dwells much
upon the proper qualification of Laymen to be admitted
they must not only be confirmed and be communicants,
but 'accept the canons and make some form of subscription.
He would not elect the lay members, but have their names
as Synodsmen put in by the clergy. This is to apply to
Diocesan Synods. As regards General Synods, laymen
are to be chosen from Diocesan Synodsmen, and be fully
thirty years of age, and be obliged to attend. The safeguards
he contemplated were : voting by orders if demanded ; a
right of veto in each order ; and a power in any of the
three orders to claim reconsideration of a resolution by
another General Synod. He considered that such General
Synods should meet triennially , and their functions not be
confined to legislation only. He would not, however,
abolish the Episcopal Synods.
In November 1868 interesting letters passed between
the Bishop and his old friend, Koundell Palmer, on the
latter's candidature for Parliament and his ' Richmond
Address.' The Bishop, in his zeal for the principle of
Establishment (notwith standing difficulties which he felt as
to applying it to the case of Ireland), went so far as to
say that his friend had neglected the teaching of revelation
CH. YI LAST YEAKS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 195
on the subject. His language was startling, as he after
wards felt himself :
' The notion that the ruled are to be judges of what is right and
best for them in matters of Eeligion, and that Eulers are to
accept their judgment and not God's, appears to me an unscrip-
tural, an infidel, notion excluding God from the government of
His own world ; or at least supposing Him to prefer such mere
human justice (so to call it) to the maintenance of His own
Truth,' &c.
The letter is of course that of an intimate friend,
speaking his mind, and must not be judged as in any way
harsh or rough. The reply acknowledges its kindness, and
is written in a very open and affectionate style. ' I shall say
to you some things which at the present time I could not
be induced to say to (almost) any one else, and which I have
not said to any one else in fact.' The writer comments on
the strength of the Bishop's language as calculated to
search his own conscience, especially as coming from one
' who though of an impetuous natural temperament is not
usually rhetorical or unreal in his way of handling great
subjects.' The substance of the reply is practically that
he differed from the Bishop on the question of the revelation
of the duty of Establishment. I will quote a few sentences
which exhibit the noble character of the author a character
afterwards proved in action, as all his contemporaries knew.
When I gave my reasons for not holding the opinion that a
political Establishment of Eeligion was always required by the
duty of a Christian State, I said (in effect if not in words) that
the best way of promoting or advancing the interests of religion
appeared to me to be not at all times and in all places one and
the same ; but to be liable to variation, according to circum
stances : and that State Establishments of Eeligion, when most
certainly right, had not been created upon any abstract or prior
theory of the duty, in that respect, of a Christian State, but
had arisen spontaneously, as the natural fruit of the religious
o 2
196 EPISCOPATE OF CHAKLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
anxieties of the people. By ' the interests of religion ' I certainly
meant the interests of Truth, and the advancement of the
Knowledge and Service of the God of Truth. Had I believed
that this cause (to which, by God's grace, I desire to devote my
whole life, and for which my mind is wholly made up to renounce
everything else which I believe, or even suspect, to have a
tendency to tempt me to be unfaithful to it) would be endangered
or compromised by one course, rather than another, of those
which I was called upon to consider, I should, without hesitation,
have stated thisas a reason for rejecting that course.
After discussing Scottish and Irish Establishment the
letter concludes as follows :
My doctrine is, that every act of a Christian man, public or
private, political or individual, should be done with a view to the
promotion of God's glory, and should be consistent with faith in
His revealed Truth : but (if I may, without irreverence, allude to
words not Christian) that in the government of nations there
are TroXXal ^op^ai not of Truth, but of the means of serving the
GOD of Truth.
Ever yours affectionately,
R. PALMEE.
A few days later my father, then Canon of Westminster,
received a note from Mr. Disraeli (dated 13 November,
1868), in which he expressed his intention, if it met my
father's views, of recommending the Queen to raise him to
the Episcopal Bench. No See was named, and it was
doubtful what was meant. He was first desirous to decline,
but it was rumoured that it was Ely, which attracted him
from its relation to Cambridge. On the day he received
the letter he went down to Wellington College, where he
was the guest of Dr. Benson (afterwards Archbishop) ; and
consideration in company with that kind friend led him to
accept what he then supposed would be, as it turned out to
be, nomination to the See of Lincoln.
The Bishop of St. Andrews was naturally called to assist
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 197
in the consecration, which took place on St. Matthias' Day
(24 February, 1869), at Westminster. Immediately after
it he went down with his wife, who was in very poor health,
to Seaton, in South Devon, where he remained nearly two
months, and then paid his brother a visit at his new home,
Riseholme, a few miles from Lincoln. The Bishop from
time to time felt his isolation in Scotland very deeply, and
his friends at this period were anxious to find him some
Cathedral preferment in England ; but nothing came of
their applications. There was also some talk of his going
to Edinburgh, on the vacancy of the place of coadjutor-
Bishop Terrot still living on, a wreck of his former self, till
2 April, 1872. The expenses of a large family pressed
heavily upon him, and it was not till May 1871 that he had
the relief of a Fellowship at Winchester College. Bishop
Hamilton's death on 1 August, 1869, was also a great
sorrow. The next few years were, in fact, years of con
siderable depression and disappointment, chiefly connected
with the renewed disturbances in the Chapter of St.
Ninian's, which were at their height in 1872-3. But
there was also considerable discomfort in the College of
Bishops. One question concerned the propriety of Bishops
and others preaching in Presbyterian Chapels. Certain
English dignitaries did this, and sides were taken in con
sequence. Then Bishop Ewing accepted an invitation to
preach in the University Church at Glasgow, and Bishop
Wilson interfered to prevent him a dispute in which
Bishop Wordsworth openly took the part of Ewing. Then
there was considerable heart-searching (in 1871) as to
Bishop E wing's theology which in its way was. as broad
as the Bishop of Brechin's was high. The latter had
published his book on the Articles in 1867, and it reached
a second edition in 1871. His further publication of a
service containing prayers for the departed, in a way
198 EPTSCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
which seemed to implicate his brother Bishops, gave
renewed alarm, though no public action followed.
But the St. Ninian's disputes were so near home
that they were a perpetual source of distress. I will not
enter much into detail about them, but something must be
said as to the principal events.
The fact of Provost Fortescue's resignation in July
1871 has been already referred to (Chapter III. p. 48). The
Provostship was then offered to Mr. Shute, Incumbent of
Callander, who, as the Bishop had reason to suppose, was
likely to be acceptable to the congregation. He declined,
apparently because of the insecurity of the endowment.
At length (October) the Bishop determined to offer the
place to Mr. Burton, who had been in the Diocese upwards
of twenty years at Blairgowrie, Alyth, and Meigle.
He possessed many recommendations. He had the qualities
of a Christian gentleman and a competent scholar. He had long
experience of the Diocese, and hitherto he had shown no tendency
to extreme doctrines or extreme practices ; and I hoped that he
would work with me. But in this I was disappointed. He had
been brought into the Diocese originally by Mr. Forbes, of
Medwyn, and he had not strength nor, perhaps, inclination
to resist the closer and sturdier influence of Mr. Humble, who
knew Lord Glasgow's mind, and this, for serious reasons, must
remain paramount. The consequence was there followed no
permanent improvement in my relations with St. Ninian's. I
made once more the attempt to attend the services, but I soon
discovered that they were still not conducted in a manner for
which I could make myself responsible (which, the Cathedral
being regarded as the Bishop's Church, my attendance would
seem to imply) without serious damage to my general influence
throughout the Diocese.
We have already described (in Chapter IV.) the main
circumstances of the earlier conflict. They were to a
certain extent repeated in this period. As in 1859, so in
1872, the Bishop's Charge at the ordinary Synod was a
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 199
detailed censure of the proceedings at St. Ninian's. The
special subject then was the Collegiate School ; now it was
the 'Perth Nunnery,' an institution not definitely con
nected with the Cathedral, but supported by the same
interests. There was also the question of ritual, on which
Mr. Burton had accepted a pledge that it was to be * in
conformity with ' or ' not in excess Of ' that usual in
English cathedrals. The Bishop took pains to inquire
what English usage was, and found that it was exceeded
by that of St. Ninian's in some more or less important
respects. In particular, he found fault with the East
ward Position throughout the Communion service, and the
use of the chasuble. It was not as if the Cathedral had
laid hold on the public mind through its services. On
the contrary, the Bishop had good reason to think that it
had not been a success during the time of his withdrawal
from it. Mr. Burton informed him that when he came
into office the average congregation on Sunday morning
was under twenty. The Bishop, knowing his own powers
as a preacher and a teacher, could not doubt that if he
were practically Incumbent, and the Provost and Precentor
his curates, he could have made the Cathedral a power in
the city. But the statutes, while defining the Provost's
position to be ' under the Bishop,' were so drawn as to
make the Provost and the Precentor acting together almost
as independent of him as the Dean and Canons of an English
Cathedral. The Bishop's disappointment found vent in
his Charge, delivered at the Ordinary Synod 26 September,
1872, in which he reviewed the various painful circum
stances of his relation to the Cathedral, sometimes men
tioning names, but more often not doing so, and in general
terms displaying his suspicion of the loyalty of the Cathe
dral party. It was on this Charge that Bishop Williams,
of Connecticut, wrote (5 December, 1872) :
200 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
It is a real comfort, in these days, to read such words as it
contains. We have all had, I suppose, our share of trouble from
these men, who have, as I told one of them the other day, ' taken
up everything in Romanism except its principle of obedience, and
abandoned everything in Protestantism except its self-will.' I
am particularly gratified to find that you have taken up the same
ground on which I have all along placed myself, i.e. that you
will not move judicially till a formal and proper presentation is
made. It is very easy for Presbyters and Laity to say that the
Bishop ought te move, and so to shift off upon his shoulders
responsibilities which fairly belong to them. I have held, and
shall continue to hold, just that very position, and I rejoice to
find it endorsed by an opinion which I rate as highly as I do
yours. The great trouble with these people is their awful
insincerity
Men were hard hitters in those days !
All those passages in the Charge that touched persons
named or unnamed were swept together by Mr. Humble,
and represented as an indictment of himself; and the
Bishop was thereupon presented to the Episcopal Synod as
having publicly censured a clergyman subject to his Epi
scopal jurisdiction ' without previous trial or consultation
with the members of the Synod in terms of Canon No.
44, and without his having any opportunity of being
heard in his own defence,' and accused ' of perversion of
justice and of oppression of the said Eev. Henry Humble,
and also of violating the provisions of the said 44th Canon
above mentioned, and also of behaviour unbecoming the
character and office of a Bishop.' This presentment was
signed by Mr. Humble, Lord Charles Lennox Kerr, and
Kev. Hardwicke Shute, 'late of Callander, now of 28
Netting Hill Square, London,' and the articles were served
upon the Bishop 30 January, 1873.
The presentment was heard by the Episcopal Synod,
and the charge unanimously dismissed on 27 March. At
CH. vi LAST YEAES AT PERTH. 1868-1876 201
a special meeting of the Chapter on 17 April it was
attempted to give effect to the words ' under the Bishop '
as meaning that ' all the ministrations of Divine service
shall be subject to the Bishop's approval and control,' but
the motion was lost by three to five. A Special Synod
was then held on 8 May, in which the history of the
Cathedral was recounted at some length by the Bishop,
and special stress was laid (inter alia) on the custom which
had grown up of celebrating with only one Communicant,
and the consequent exaltation of the sacrificial element in
the Lord's Supper so as to obscure the Communion element.
There was some controversy as to whether the Bishop had
at one time sanctioned this practice, which was apparently
permissible in Scotland in cases of necessity, such as had
frequently occurred in the past history of the Church. He
felt convinced that he had not sanctioned it ; but, if he
had, he fell back upon the result of his bitter experience,
which had taught him * to distrust where he had formerly
placed confidence,' and 'slowly and even reluctantly to
mislike some practices which formerly he had deemed
innocent.' This Charge contains near the end a forcible
passage on the work which the Cathedral ought to do and
might do, and it is remarkable as containing no reference
to the presentment out of which he had come victorious.
The Bishop subsequently offered to endeavour to treat St.
Ninian's as the Cathedral if he were allowed a veto on the
arrangements of the Church and the future order of the
ritual, but this was declined. The Synod wound up by a
resolution for the appointment of a committee to confer
with the Chapter as to the nature of the necessary amend
ments in its constitution. But, after some hesitation, the
Bishop declined (on 12 May, 1873) to have anything to do
with the appointment of such a committee, and there was
apparently no other constitutional way in which the Synod
202 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
could give effect to its resolution. He was bitterly dis
appointed, and for the time abandoned St. Ninian's (as he
wrote in 1885) ' in despair,' determining to treat it as any
other * ritualistic church ' to which he might have duties
as Diocesan, but which he could not be expected to do
more than tolerate. He felt that he must decline re
sponsibility for its management and the conduct of its
services.
The majority, however, of the clergy were not willing
that the Cathedral should sink to such a position, and
about the beginning of the next year l the Dean of the
Diocese and about eighteen others addressed him on the
subject, asking him either to resume his place at St.
Ninian's or to sanction the action of the Cathedral Chapter,
apart from its Bishop, ad interim till the holding of the
next General Synod. To this he replied, in a circular
dated 12 January, 1874, declining either course, and at
the same time speaking of himself as * being pained and
injured ... by breaches of faith in more than one quarter.'
Provost Burton replied to this, in a circular sent to the
Dean and all the clergy, showing considerable irritation,
dated 28 January. The Bishop replied, in another circular
to ' Mr. Burton ' (he did not call him ' Provost '), dated
29 January, also sent to all the clergy, in which he justifies
in detail the charge of breach of faith. Mr. Johnston, of
Kirkcaldy, and Mr. Tuttiett, of St. Andrews, also printed
circulars in defence of the Bishop. Mr. Burton naturally
replied in two other circulars, one addressed to the Dean
and one to the Bishop, and so the matter in dispute became
unhappily only too notorious.
1 The address is undated, but the Bishop docketed it as received
12 January. It had been drawn up some weeks previously, and neither by
the Dean (Torry) nor by the Provost and resident Canons. I do not, in
fact, know by whom it was composed.
CH. TI LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 203
It is not surprising that the Bishop should have thought
this an opportunity for seeking to discharge himself of a
troublesome post, and in the month of April he wrote to
my father enclosing the draft of a letter announcing his
resignation to take place at Whitsuntide. My father
accepted the resolution as having been well weighed,
adding, * You have a right to a discharge.' Others, how
ever, like Bishop Claughton and Archdeacon Grant, feared
that it might be precipitate. The former ends his letter :
L. sends you her best love, and is in amazement what is to
become of Mrs. Wordsworth, and at the loss of the Feu. So
am I. It was the most delightful house in Scotland. I hope
you have not been too precipitate.
The letter was, however, issued, dated 15 April, and
addressed to the Dean. It refers to his wish to live and
work in England, where he had a locus standi as Fellow of
Winchester College. He mentions the eclipse of his hopes
in regard to closer relations with the ' Established Church,'
the most material cause of which was the disestablishment
of the Church of Ireland. With regard to the Diocese,
though progress had been made, there was * at the heart
. . * a cause of anxiety, of difficulty, and trouble, which no
other Diocese of our Church has experienced in the same
degree.' He refers to the sympathy which had been
shown him in his stand against ultra -ritualism and
Eomanising practices, which sympathy, however, had been
recently much neutralised (of course by the Address of the
Dean and eighteen clergy and what had followed it). He
touches on other influences with which he had to contend.
Leighton's retirement is naturally cited as a precedent,
and the letter ends by thanks to his brethren in the Epi
scopate and to the great body of clergy and laity of the
Diocese. It was clearly intended to be a farewell.
204 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
Many remonstrances, however, followed and, further, it
was difficult to find a fitting successor to take such an
office. The income was only 5001. a year even now ; and,
much as he desired to retire, he could not with equanimity
think of being succeeded by one who might take a party
line in opposition to his own.
He spent most of the next month in England, in
London (for |he Eevision of the New Testament), at
Salisbury (where he was actually thinking of taking a
house in the Close), Winchester (on College business), and
Kidderminster (where his eldest son Charles was now
curate). On his return to Scotland he issued a short note
addressed to the Dean (dated 26 May), saying that he had
received so many urgent solicitations praying him to re
consider his intention, that he felt it his duty to postpone
his resignation for the present. The matter seems gradu
ally to have dropped.
The very day on which he came to this decision he
determined and I venture to think he could hardly have
done otherwise to reopen negotiations with the Provost
for a better understanding at St. Ninian's, the details of
which negotiations were prolonged till the end of the year.
But peace was so far secured at once that he preached in
the church rather frequently in the month of June and
later. The Provost, who was naturally desirous of peace,
was ready to accept a compromise when the Bishop was
present, i.e. at the midday service. The chief points were
that the vestments were to be given up, and the Eastward
Position not taken except at the consecration prayers and
the prayer ' for the whole state of Christ's Church,' which
follows them in the Scottish Office. In making this latter
concession the Bishop was clearly moved by my father's
' Plea for Toleration by Law in certain Kitual Matters,'
added to a pamphlet called ' Senates and Synods : in
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 205
reference to the Public Worship Regulation Bill ' which then
agitated the Church of England, which pamphlet was pub
lished in June 1874. l The Bishop of St. Andrews wrote a
good deal at this time and later in reference to the Position of
the celebrant, especially in letters to Mr. Beresford Hope and
to the * Times,' which he republished in 1876 with an essay
under the title, ' Three Conclusive Proofs that the use of the
Eastward Position is contrary to the mind and intention
of our reformed Church,' dedicated to his friend Claughton.
His explanation of the words ' before the Table ' was that
they referred to the ordering of the bread and wine, and
that the Priest was expected to return to the ' north side '
after he had so ordered them. The * north side ' he
understood to refer to the long side of a table placed
east and west along the gangway of the church. Like all
similar writings of his, this tract contains much informa
tion. It is still worth reading, though since the Lambeth
judgment of 1890 the matter is on a different footing. The
Bishop's views on that judgment are given in the Appendix.
He was, however, in 1874, prepared to accept the E.P. in
others under certain circumstances and to a certain extent.
Unfortunately Precentor Humble did not lend his aid
to a peaceful compromise. And the Bishop, on his part,
thought it his duty to call attention by circular to the Pre
centor's paper on ' Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament '
in Mr. Orby Shipley's volume of * Studies in Modern Pro
blems ' a paper containing much that was open to criti
cism, and extremely disrespectful to the Scottish Bishops
generally, and to his own in particular. Canon Humble
did not reply in detail, but protested that the Chapter,
to whom the circular was addressed, was not the proper
tribunal to sit in judgment upon him.
Notwithstanding this interruption the Bishop continued
1 See, also, his Miscellanies, ii. 135 foil.
206 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
to officiate at St. Ninian's and printed a sermon ' preached
in the Cathedral ' on 1 January, 1875, called * Spiritual
Edification in reference to the Public Worship of God '-
a short and simple discourse in which he laid down two
good principles adopted from a ' distinguished layman '-
probably Beresford Hope as to any changes in public
worship :
1. That the change should be in its own nature favourable to
a devout and intelligent adoration of God in the sanctuary.
2. That it should not limit, but increase, the active partici
pation of the flock in the service.
Finally he urged that all should unite in making the
subordination of the external element of worship to the
spiritual a mark of the Cathedral services.
For some time he continued to preach in St. Ninian's
when he was at home, and his family returned to worship
there ; but, though certain practices were altered, the tone
and temper of the worship was distasteful to him, and the
reconciliation did not really last till the close of his resi
dence at Perth and removal to St. Andrews in the autumn
of 1876. The chief actor in the dispute was, however,
himself removed by another cause. Canon Humble, who
had long been in failing health, was persuaded to go for a
six months' holiday to the south of France, and he died at
San Kemo at the early age of 57 on Monday, 7 February, 1
1876.
On his deathbed he desired a clergyman who was with
him to express regret to the Bishop for any ' harsh or un
fitting words' he might have used in the heat of those
controversies in which he had felt it his duty to engage with
him. He was buried at San Kemo. My uncle calls him,
1 Some accounts say Sunday, 6 February, but he survived to the
Monday morning. I have before me a note in Provost Burton's hand:
' Copy of telegram received this morning from San Eemo " Canon Humble
died six o'clock 7 February." ' This was stated more at length by the
Provost in his funeral sermon.
CH. vi LAST YEAHS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 207
like Mr. Mackonochie, a man of adamantine mould in regard
to what he considered to be right ; but his range of vision was a
narrow one. He had good abilities, and was well informed on a
certain class of Ecclesiastical subjects. Faithful and kind,
especially to the poor, in the discharge of pastoral duty, his
chief interest lay in the maintenance of ritual, which not only
prevented progress, but went far to empty the church in which
he ministered.
It was not, therefore, without a feeling of relief from
painful associations and responsibilities unsatisfied, that
the Bishop's thoughts turned towards the opportunity for
making himself another home in the ancient City of St.
Andrews itself. The landlord of the Feu House refused
to renew his lease except on terms that he thought un
reasonable, and he determined, not without some regret, to
leave the centre of his Diocese for the circumference. He
left Perth 26 October, 1876, and entered upon his large new
house ' The Hall ' (called by him * Bishop's Hall ' or ' Bishops-
hall'), formerly a boarding-house for students at the Uni
versity (of which my friend Mr. Andrew Lang was once an
inmate), on 20 November. This move was a turning point
in his life, and naturally opens another chapter of his
biography. He was seventy years of age, but he had
sixteen years of vigorous life and work before him, an
episcopate, that is to say, as long as that of my father, or any
of my three immediate predecessors in the See of Salisbury.
It will be convenient, however, before we close this
chapter, to record some of the more prominent events of
the period affecting the Bishop's position.
Bishop Ewing, of Argyll, died on Ascension Day 1873,
and Bishop Forbes, of Brechin, 8 October, 1875. The
former was succeeded by Eev. G. E. Mackarness, brother
of the Bishop of Oxford, the latter by Bishop Jermyn, of
Colombo, the present Primus. Both the deceased Bishops
'208 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
were considerably younger than himself, and both were
friends as well as neighbours, Bishop Ewing especially so,
as his many frank and affectionate letters testify. But
perhaps the most important loss sustained by the Bishop
of St. Andrews was that of his old pupil, and attached
supporter and fellow-worker, the Eev. W. G. Shaw, who
had been for twenty years Incumbent of Forfar, which took
place 25 October, 1874. I do not find any letters in his
correspondence which are more thoroughly sympathetic
than those of Mr. Shaw. He was apparently a man quite
after the Bishop's own heart, unaffectedly simple, generous,
and conscientious, and worthy of the fullest confidence. 1
Of the Bishop's public work for the Church in Scotland
generally, the most important was a long speech in the
Episcopal Synod of 1875, which led to the meeting of the
General Synod in 1876. 2 His object was to urge that
the General Synod should (1) give canonical recognition
to the Scottish Cathedrals ; (2) restore Trinity College,
Glenalmond, to its original status, and (3) provide for the
meeting of the General Synod at fixed intervals. With
the first and third of these objects I should imagine that
few of those who wish well to the Episcopal Church can
fail to sympathise, nor can the second be a subject of much
difference of opinion as far as the duty of supporting the
school, as the principal school for Churchmen in Scotland,
is concerned. The retention or removal of the Divinity
students is a question of a different character, as in most
cases it would seem to be the teaching of experience that
young men of university age and schoolboys cannot pru
dently and effectively be educated within the walls of the
same college. But the Bishop was very keen for Glen-
almond as originally planned and as successfully worked
1 See the Funeral Sermon preached at Forfar, All Saints' Day 1874, The
Gospel a Defence against Evil Tidings. 2 See Public Appeals, ii. 595.
OH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 209
by himself, not realising, perhaps, how few Wardens were
capable of the combination which he had achieved. The
removal of the students to Edinburgh took place in 1875
on account first of a fire at Glenalmond. He desired their
return, but there they remained, and there they are now
conveniently located close to St. Mary's Cathedral. Of
this matter he wrote at the end of his life as follows :
The removal being now a fait accompli, and accomplished, I
hope, with every prospect of success, I have no wish to revive
the controversy concerning it. Only I think it due to the
founders of the College to place on record the opinion which I
held, and still hold, in opposition to my Episcopal brethren and
others. I have no doubt the main promoters sincerely believed
the change would be for the advantage of the students ; neither
can I doubt that other motives were allowed to give the convic
tion an undue bias. It was an important object to the Bishop
of Edinburgh [then Bishop Cotterill] to supply the want of
endowment for his Cathedral. To be able to place the Pantonian
Professor and Bell Lecturer upon his staff would be a material
help in that direction. But this, of course, must involve the
withdrawal of so much strength and support from the Staff of
the College. The Professor himself would naturally feel the
attraction of Edinburgh society as a decided gain in comparison
with the solitude of Glenalmond.
His wish for legislation in the General Synod about
Cathedrals was not only due to his desire to see St. Ninian's
put on a better footing, but was concerned with the move
ment for making the little College Chapel on the island of
Cumbrae into a ' Cathedral of the Isles,' and developing
the College in a manner which he imagined might be inju
rious to the divinity training at Glenalmond. He naturally
regretted the diversion of money and interest towards what
he could not but regard as rather a fanciful project, but any
rivalry of a serious kind never existed. The consecra
tion, however, of the Chapel as a Cathedral took place on
Wednesday, 3 May, 1876.
210 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
Unfortunately nothing was done at the General Synod
of much importance except the establishment of the
* Representative Church Council.'
Of other public work in which he was engaged outside
Scotland in the period embraced in this chapter, I may
mention his assisting at the first consecration of a ' suffragan '
Bishop in our own times, that of Mackenzie Sub-dean of
Lincoln, who was made Bishop of Nottingham, 2 February,
1870. This was one of the occasions when Archbishop
Alexander Lycurgus, of Syra and Tenos, who was then my
father's guest, attended a solemn function of our church.
The "Bishop of St. Andrews also preached frequently in
English Cathedrals, as at Norwich and Peterborough in
1870, Rochester and Salisbury (1872), Durham (1873),
Norwich (1875), and Chester (1876). On the latter occasion
he visited Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden, an incident of which
he gives the following account in a letter to Miss M. Barter,
written (29 August, 1876), just before he left the Feu
House.
You have heard, I dare say, of my visit to Mr. Gladstone ; a
busy, restless-minded man, if ever there was one. I looked
upon him with a sort of melancholy interest, and all the more,
when, through the vista of the past, I remember Lincoln (New
castle), Canning, Herbert, Bruce (Elgin), Hope (Hope-Scott),
Hamilton (your dear Bishop), Twisleton all more or less my
juniors, like himself, and all gone ! and Manning and W. Palmer
gone also, in another sense. We talked over Glenalmond, of
course, and, after sundry other topics, came at last to Homer ;
and he kindly gave me, at parting, two of his Homeric articles
which have appeared in the ' Contemporary.'
He preached again at Salisbury the Sunday (5
November, 1876) after the reopening of our choir the
other preachers at the festival being Bishop Moberly,
Bishop Woodford of Ely, and Bishop Mackarness of Oxford.
In his sermon, 'The Worship of God to be maintained
CH. VI
LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876
211
under all Circumstances,' he paid, as might be expected, a
warm and affectionate tribute to Bishop Hamilton, in whose
memory the restoration was carried out. 1 His sermon at
the Norwich Choral Association meeting in 1875 was also
printed, and contains some interesting material. It was
published at the expense of the Committee. He quotes in
it an anecdote related by Bishop Home of two Portuguese
noblemen attending the anniversary of the National Schools
in St. Paul's (when 6,000 children sang together), who
exclaimed, ' This is life indeed ; we have never lived until
now.' In printing he added a remarkable and beautiful
passage from the heathen philosopher Epictetus, on' songs
of gratitude due to the Deity, by those who can sing them,
which I have never seen quoted elsewhere. His historical
knowledge was shown in a sermon on a similar occasion at
St. Albans (preached some years earlier, 27 July, 1871),
entitled ' Preservation of St. Albans Abbey a National
Duty.'
But the most important external occupation of these
years was the Bishop's share in the Eevision of the New
Testament, on which Committee he was elected, on the
proposal of Bishop Moberly, of Salisbury, 5 July, 1870.
He attended 109 times out of a total of 407 as many as
could be expecied considering the distance which he had to
travel. Although the New Testament was not published
till 1881 it may be convenient to treat the subject here
rather than in a later chapter. The journeys to England,
the visits to friends, the association with other learned men,
were secondary results, which to a man of his tempera
ment and circumstances were extremely valuable. Of the
primary results it is not easy to speak. He did not,
indeed, find himself in harmony with the methods and
1 The subject of the sermon is Daniel's continuance in prayer (vi. 10) ;
see below, p. 279.
p 2
212 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
actions of the majority of his colleagues, and his elaborate
' Final Suggestions on New Testament Eevision : the Four
Gospels,' printed in 1879, disclose the fact that he con
sidered many of the alterations unnecessary and pedantic,
especially those made in regard to the use of the definite
article and the tenses of verbs. 1 He feared rightly that
the revisers ran the risk of preventing the popular accept
ance of their work by the amount of changes they intro
duced, and this particularly because the first part of that
work was the Gospels, in which needless alteration would be
most generally felt and most keenly resented. He agreed,
in fact, with Dr. Frederick Field, whose ' Otium Norvi-
cense, Pars Tertia,' was probably the most important
criticism of the many to which the Eevised Version was
subjected. Unfortunately both the ' Considerations ' arid
Field's ' Otium Norvicense ' were only privately printed,
though as many as 1,000 copies of the latter were struck
off. 2
The following paragraphs were prepared for the
' Annals.' I have had to fill them out here and there.
One of our New Testament company [Dr. Roberts] has
written to me quite recently [(September 1881) : * Since I wrote
my " Companion," my judgment as to the Revised Version has
become much more unfavourable. Indeed I cannot but look
upon it, in its present state, as being a deplorable failure.'] I do
1 These suggestions were intended for the use of his colleagues, and
were made under a resolution which forbade the re-opening of the most
serious questions : they are, therefore, not a complete representation of his
opinions.
2 In a letter to my uncle, Dr. Field says (20 December, 1881) : ' I printed
1,000 copies, and have up to this time distributed nearly half that num
ber to such persons, dignitaries (as Bishops, Deans, and a few others),
libraries (of colleges, schools, &c.), and private scholars, as I thought most
likely to be interested in the subject. I have received many letters of
thanks, and I find a general consensus of opinion in regard to the revision,
expressed in very similar terms to those which you have pronounced in your
Charge and myself in my prefatory remarks.'
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 213
not quite go so far as that, but [I was seriously dissatisfied with
the result].
Our Chairman had many excellent qualities for his post, 1 but
he was much to blame for not reminding us that by introducing
so many minute and unexpected alterations we were exceeding
the terms of our commission, 2 and not only for not reminding us
of the fact, but for not preventing it, as I think he might and
ought to have done. It was not enough that he felt (as doubt
less he did) that he was only carrying out what appeared to be
the wishes of the majority of the Company. [But he had a duty
to those who felt as I did :] Non haec in foedera veni.
I joined the Company on the understanding [that our instruc
tions would be exactly followed]. And when I found, at the
completion of the Gospels, that we had far exceeded those
instructions I was anxious to withdraw; but Dr. Scrivener
persuaded me to remain on to the end. He himself shared my
dissatisfaction, at least to some extent ; and he assured me that
when the end came I should have an opportunity of joining with
others against the proceedings of which we disapproved ; but
this was never done. No such opportunity was ever found.
He goes on to remark on the occasional jests which
some members of the company allowed themselves, observ
ing, however, that the Nonconformist members of the body
always set an example of gravity, and then proceeds :
This suggests to me the remark that the Revision gave
occasion to other important results besides those immediately
connected with the work itself. The perfect level upon which
we met, and the brotherly cordiality which prevailed throughout
our meetings, rendered it impossible that the barrier which had
previously existed to social equality between Conformists and
1 Out of 407 meetings Bishop Ellicott attended 405, and Dr. Troutbeck,
the secretary, 406. Dr. Scrivener came near them with 399 attendances.
2 Beference is made to resolutions passed 25 May, 1870, viz. : 1. ' To
introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorised
Version consistently with faithfulness.' 2. ' To limit, as far as possible,
the expression of such alterations to the language of the Authorised and
other English Versions.' These resolutions reproduce the sense of the
Keport accepted by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1870.
214 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
Nonconformists, at least to some extent, should any longer be
maintained. And for my own part I rejoiced in this. I looked
upon it as a step taken, not only towards bringing about more
intimate relations, but, if it please God, ultimate reconciliation.
The attitude of Dean Blakesley, of Lincoln, was similar,
but not quite so critical. He writes (9 January, 1881) :
I hardly know whether to rejoice or grieve at the termination
of our task of^Revision. It is certainly an improvement on the
old Version ; but then it might have been made much better
still if executed by fewer hands. I certainly think it has proved
useful in allowing common occupation to Churchmen and Dis
senters: (some of whom) were so mild and so diligent and
accurate, that one felt tempted to say, ' Talis cum sis, utinam
noster esses.' Moulton, the Methodist professor, struck me as
being one of the most valuable members of the whole Company.
The ' Final Considerations ' were never published ; but
in his Charge for 1881 the Bishop took occasion to discuss
the subject of Revision in a manner which must have
influenced those who were present. It was in one sense a
misfortune that this valuable paper was not published in a
more permanent form, but only in the newspapers, such as
the ' Scotsman/ the ' Glasgow Herald,' and the ' Glasgow
News' (all of Friday, 23 September).
On the other hand, the Bishop seems to have felt that
in making his protest public he had done as much as his
conscience required him to do ; while he might have
seemed to be disloyal to his colleagues l if he had circu
lated it with all the advantages of a well-printed pamphlet,
which would go down to posterity as an indictment of
their immense and self-denying labours. 2
1 See Public Appeals, ii. 597. He reprinted a small part of the Charge
there that dealing with the nomenclature of the orders of the Christian
ministry.
2 Mr. John Henry Parker, of Oxford, actually offered to publish it for
him gratis, to be sold for a penny.
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 215
Edwin Palmer, then Archdeacon of Oxford, a brother
reviser, who went generally with the majority, and did
good service to their cause by his excellent edition of the
' Greek Testament with the Kevisers' Headings, ' wrote thus
(on 26 January, 1882) in acknowledging a copy of the
' Glasgow Herald.' He regretted the Bishop's dissent, but
on the whole thought that it might not injure the cause in
the end :
I do not hold it likely to add to the credit of our work that
you should appear as a frequent dissentient, and indeed as
adverse to the general methods adopted by the Company. But
I never understood that individual Revisers were under any bond
to hold their tongues after the publication of the work, and I am
not sure that there is not some advantage in the liberty of
criticism on the results of the majority in which you and others
have indulged yourselves. No outside critic can suppose now
that ' the Revisers ' hear for the first time from his mouth
such objections as Sir E. Beckett and Dean Burgon, in the
January ' Quarterly ' (the October article stands on different
ground), showered upon us so bountifully. Nor can such an
objector reasonably doubt that, when his view was advocated in
our conclave by such men as yourself, it received the fullest con
sideration. So I am not sorry, upon the whole, that you have
given your protest to the world.
If the reader cares to know my opinion, after
sufficient time for reflection, it is that the pedantry and
awkwardness of the Eevised Version would not strike us
as much as the early critics contended, if we heard it
read often enough to become thoroughly familiar with it.
Rhythm depends very much on accent, and right and
seemly accent is a matter of habit quite as much as of
rule. The distinction between pedantry and faithfulness
is not a very easy one to draw, and I am personally
grateful to the revisers for their determination to give a
faithful rendering, even at the risk of seeming pedantic.
I have seen too much of the mischief caused by the care-
216 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
less and superficial revision of the Latin New Testament
by St. Jerome, to have any sympathy with the idea that a
mere patchwork emendation would have availed to bear the
judgment of posterity.
On the other hand I think it was distinctly a misfortune
that the Gospels were the first portion of the Bible revised.
The Epistles were much more in need of emended transla
tion than the Gospels, and certainly the revisers have made
them muchrmore accessible to English readers than they
were before. If they could have been circulated in a
limited number of copies and exposed to criticism, the
revisers would have tested public feeling better, and have
been more cautious in regard to the more sacred pages of
the Gospels. As it is, we have to take the work as a whole,
and to test it by reading it aloud in order to give it a fair
trial. In some twenty years' time I hope a further revision
will be possible, which will remove some obvious blots from
the revision, like ' men in whom he is well pleased ' (Luke
ii. 14) * in the angels' song, but leave the general body of the
work to be used concurrently with the Authorised Version.
The most important independent publication of the
Bishop in this period was undoubtedly his volume on the
Christian Ministry. Its full title is * Outlines of the
Christian Ministry delineated and brought to the test of
Beason, Holy Scripture, History, and Experience : with
a view to the Keconciliation of Existing Differences con
cerning it, especially between Presbyterians and Episco
palians ' (London : Longmans, Green & Co. 1872). It was
dedicated to his Felloiv- Labourers from Scotland 2 in the
1 Dr. Field has shown that &vQpu>iros is not used in Biblical Greek with a
qualifying genitive, but that this construction would require tv avSpda-iv
(uSoKtas. The construction cuSoKeti/ lv avdptivois is also the usual one.
2 These were Principal D. Brown, of the Free Church College, Aberdeen ;
Dr. J. Eadie, of the U. P. College, Glasgow ; Dr. Milligan, of Aberdeen ;
Dr. Roberts, of St. Andrews
H. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 217
ivork of revising the Authorised Version of the New Testa
ment in token of sincere esteem and affection, recognising
their common desire to ' Love the truth and peace.' The
book consists in substance of three lectures delivered by
the author in the principal cities and towns of Scotland,
especially in the four University cities of Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews. The manuscript
had been laid aside, but was taken up after a perusal of
Dr. Lightfoot's essay on the same subject attached to his
commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians, first
published in 1868. It is occupied with three main
arguments (1) that a priori, from the general character of
the Church and the analogies of nature, and of the consti
tution of the Jewish Church, and similar considerations ;
(2) from Holy Scripture and from history with answers
to objections against the threefold ministry ; (3) ex conse-
quente, from the consideration of the evil consequences
that have followed from the abandonment of the threefold
ministry, especially among Presbyterians. The tendency
of the book is, therefore, wholly ' apologetic,' to use a
technical term, viz. to defend the threefold ministry,
particularly the Episcopate, against attacks. There is
little or no attempt to treat the duties of the ministry,
pastoral and sacerdotal, from a practical point of view.
Nevertheless, even in this matter the third head of argu
ment is very interesting and helpful, and it is perhaps the
most original portion of the book.
I do not know any treatise in which the student of
theology can more conveniently or .profitably begin the
study of this subject. If he then goes on to read Bishop
Lightfoot's 'Essay,' with the Bishop of St. Andrews'
' Remarks ' upon it, published (by Parker & Co.) in 1879,
and then turns to Canon Gore's 'The Church and the
Ministry,' published in 1889, and Professor E. C. Moberly's
218 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vi
' Ministerial Priesthood,' published in 1897, and Professor
Sanday's ' Conception of the Priesthood,' published in 1898,
he will have as full a statement of the case from learned and
balanced theologians of the Church of England, and from
different points of view, as his heart can desire.
The 'Remarks' above mentioned were called forth
principally by a sermon entitled ' The Burning Bush,'
preached by Dean Stanley, at Glasgow, before a large
Presbyterian audience, 27 March, 1879, ' in which he put
an interpretation on Bishop Lightfoot's views as favourable
to Presbyterian ism to an extent certainly not warranted by
his arguments taken as a whole. A second edition of the
* Remarks ' was published in 1884 ' (' Public Appeals,'
ii. 616). Stanley's sermon may be found at the end of
the second edition of his characteristic volume of ' Lectures
on the History of the Church of Scotland, delivered in
Edinburgh in 1872,' published in 1879.
The following letter (4 July, 1879) from Bishop Wil
liams, of Connecticut, is a remarkable testimony to the
value set on the Bishop's work by an excellent judge in the
sister Church of U.S.A.
Professor Hart brought me yesterday the copy of your ' Out
lines of the Christian Ministry ' which you were kind enough to
give him for me. ... I shall especially prize this copy as your
gift ; and, besides, it will enable me to have a clean copy for
myself. For it may interest you to know that your excellent
book the copy, that is, which I have long had has done yeo
man's service in these regions. I have found it so useful for
candidates for Holy Orders, and especially to persons coming to
us from Congregational or Presbyterian bodies, that it has been
kept in constant circulation. Indeed, I hardly see it from one
year to another. It or what is left of it, for it has been
dilapidated in its manifold travels is now in the hands of a
Methodist minister who is seeking Orders in the Church.
You will not wonder that I am particularly grateful, not only
CH. vi LAST YEARS AT PERTH. 1868-1876 219
for your remembrance, but for enabling me to keep by me a work
the value of which I so thoroughly know and appreciate. I wish
I could send you something in return ; but my work in theology
is not to write, but to teach candidates. This year has completed
the quarter century of my own Divinity School, from which nearly
250 clergy have gone out into the Church.
I will add here in conclusion the Bishop of St. Andrews'
own note on * Sacerdotalism ' prepared for this volume :
All Christians are Priests, as all Israel was a Priestly Nation ;
but, as under the law, so now under the Gospel there is an
unction a special element of xap to 7* a (this Principal Tulloch
allowed) given to rightly ordained ministers of Christ, by which
they are separated from the Laity, to enable them to discharge
in a more effectual manner the functions of their sacred office
and for the benefit of those to whom they minister and that
there may be no confusion in the Body, but order and good
government.
This Dean Stanley denied, and Bishop Lightfoot does not
seem to admit ('MS. Note-book,' ii. 36).
220 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH
CHAPTER VII
RESIDENCE AT ST. ANDREWS AND LAST EFFORTS AT REUNION.
tf
1876-1892
' He who would win the name of truly great
Must understand his own age and the next,
And make the present read} to fulfil
Its prophecy, and with the future merge
Gently and peacefully, as wave with wave.'
From J. R. LOWELL, A Glance behind the Curtain.
Reasons for the Bishop's removal to St. Andrews Influence on him of the
learned Society there Retrospect The ' Church Service Society ' founded
in 1867 Its influence on Presbyterian worship The Bishop renews his
efforts Lambeth Conference of 1878 Lord Bute's Breviary Sermon at
the Consecration of Edinburgh Cathedral (1879) Correspondence with Dr.
Milligan (1880) Duke of Argyll The ' St. Giles's Lectures ' (1880-1) His
criticism in ' Discourse on Scottish Church History ' Its character
Letter from 'A Son of Toil' Summary of the Bishop's views on Church
polity ' Prospects of Reconciliation ' (1882) drawn out by Milligan's
conduct as Moderator Dr. Sprott's theory of ' two orders ' How far
supported Presentation of portrait Invitations to preach in College
Church and Parish Church, St. Andrews, accepted (1884) Letter to
Dean Johnston Archbishop Benson's general sympathy with his efforts
Description of a University Sermon at St. Andrews by the poet Robert
F. Murray Important article on ' Union or Separation ' (May 1884) Its
influence on the position of the Bishop at the Seabury Commemoration
Address prepared for that event Article on 'Archbishop Hamilton's
Catechism ' (January 1885) Death of Bishop Christopher Wordsworth
(March 1885) Relation of the Brothers' The Case of non-Episcopal
Ordination Fairly Considered ' (3 September, 1885) ' Public Appeals '
(two vols.), published 1886 Suggestion that Presbyterian Orders, though
irregular, may be valid Address at Aberdeen University (February
1886) Invitation to lecture at St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh Changes in
the Episcopate Bishop Dowden consecrated and Bishop Jermyn elected
Primus (21 September, 1886) Charge on ' Book of Common Prayer '
Jenny Geddes Bishop Dowden, with his Chapter, objects to St. Cuth
bert's Lecture' The Yoke of Christ to be Borne in Youth ' published
(1887) Letters from Presbyterians and others Dr. Cunningham's ' Lee
CH. vii RESIDENCE AT ST. ANDREWS. 1876-1892 221
Lecture ' discouraging Other publications ' Jubilee Tract ' Question
of a Metropolitan 'Letter to Archbishop Benson Ecclesiastical Union
between England and Scotland ' Case of the Donatists Wide proposals
of Committee of Lambeth Conference (July 1888) Charge of August
1888 ' On Lambeth Conference ' Invitation to preach before University
of Edinburgh : 'A Three-fold Eule of Christian Duty 'The author's own
judgment: discussion of principle, precedent, and expediency These
indicate weak points in the Bishop of St. Andrews' scheme Further
opinion reserved Obvious points emphasized Duty of co-operation in
practical work.
Happy alteration in the Bishop's relation to St. Ninian's Healthy
influence of ' Supernumeraries,' Kevs. S. B. Hodson and G. T. Farquhar
Bishop uses Cathedral again 1882 onwards Death of Provost Burton
and appointment of Provost V. L. Eorison Lord Glasgow's failure : a
blessing in disguise New life of Cathedral (1886-1890) Consecration
of Nave (7 August, 1890) Verses to G. T. Farquhar The Provost made
Dean and Kev. A. S. Aglen Archdeacon Charge describing work of
General Synod (1890) Charge ' On Old Testament Criticism ' (1891)
Analogy from reaction against Wolfian theory of Homeric poems
Present of a chair and 'pastoral staff (April 1892) Continued literary
activity Last Charge read by Dean (October 1892) Untoward incident
Final words on Keunion Foundation of ' Scottish Church Society '
Last illness and death (5 December, 1892) Burial in Cathedral yard.
Summary of the Bishop's public services by Dr. Danson and Canon
Farquhar His supposed egotism His belief in the reality of the move
ment among leading Presbyterians Testimony of Dr. James Cooper.
THE following is the Bishop's own account of the reasons
which actuated him in his removal to St. Andrews :
The lease of the house which I had occupied [at Perth] for
nearly nineteen years was now expiring, and as my landlord
insisted upon raising the rent, which I thought unreasonable
(as I had done much and spent large sums in improving both
the house and grounds), I determined not to renew it. Had
my relations with St. Ninian's been such as I could have wished,
I should have been very unwilling to remove from Perth ; but
as this was not so, and as no other suitable house was to be
had in the town or immediate neighbourhood, I was obliged to
look out for a residence elsewhere ; and the offer of Bishop's
Hall, then for sale at a price greatly below the original cost,
tempted me to St. Andrews. The situation of St. Andrews at
an extreme corner of the Diocese, while Perth was at the very
centre, was a serious drawback ; but, in other respects, its recom
mendations as a residence for the Bishop in comparison with
222 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vn
Perth, were great and obvious. The building of Bishop's Hall
was larger than I required, though I had then seven daughters
at home. But I had means of turning its accommodation to
account for the benefit of my clergy, and in other ways. Perth,
for so large a town, was deficient in literary society, and, when
the trouble of the removal was over, I felt at once a pride and
a pleasure in finding myself among men such as Principals
Tulloch and Shairp, Dr. Boyd, Professors Baynes, Campbell,
Mitchell, Roberts, Crombie, Dr. Rodger and, later on, Professor
Knight, to saymothing of the society of occasional visitors
during the summer months; while in the other parts of the
year the presence of the young men at the university afforded
objects of interest of a different and a higher kind.
In another note he mentions also Principal Cunningham
(who succeeded Tulloch) as one of those whose acquaintance
he made during the later part of his life at St. Andrews,
and calls it ' a literary and clerical society nowhere to be
surpassed.'
There can be no doubt that this period of the Bishop's
life was in most respects far happier than that which had
preceded it. It also clearly deepened his conviction of the
necessity of making some practical concessions to Presby
terians, in respect to their orders, if reconciliation was to be
attained. I attribute this conviction not a little to the
personal society of the good and able Presbyterian teachers
into which he was thrown, whom he found to be, or thought
to be, ready to accept Episcopacy if the manner of its
acceptance could be tempered so as to avoid subjecting
them to humiliation. He saw what an immense blessing
a national Episcopal Church of Scotland would be if it
embraced such men, and he saw also that the existing
Episcopal Church was unable to claim anything like
equality with the Establishment in the number of its
learned sons, while in its general hold upon the people it
was miserably inferior.
CH. vii RESIDENCE AT ST. ANDREWS. 1876-1892 223
We have seen that at the time when the Bishop inter
mitted his Keunion work in 1867 the Established Church
began to move internally in the organisation of its own
forces. In that year the ' Church Service Society ' was
founded for the study of the Ancient Liturgies and the
preparation of suitable offices for public worship l thus
using the liberty which Dr. Kobert Lee had vindicated for
the Clergy of his Communion. The formation of the
Society was suggested by Dr. Sprott, an independent
inquirer in this field. The Society took its origin among
the Glasgow clergy, on the invitation of Mr. George
Campbell, Minister of Eastwood. Naturally its leaders
were what could be called * High Churchmen,' viz. Prin
cipal P. C. Campbell, of Aberdeen, Mr. Campbell, and Dr.
Sprott; but though Dr. Lee did not favour it, younger
men of his school, ' Broad Churchmen of the older
type,' such as Principal Tulloch and Dr. Story, joined it,
and the latter especially took a prominent share in its
formation.
Its chief work was the remarkable ' Euchologion ' or
' Book of Common Order,' which has passed through many
editions and is extensively used. It provides forms for the
two great Sacraments, and for the sacramental acts of Mar
riage and Ordination, and also for Burial. It has provided
for the orderly reading of Holy Scripture, and revived the
celebration of Marriage in church, and the use of a Burial
Service at the graveside. It has helped to restore the observ
ance of the chief Festivals of the Church by the provision of
Lessons and Collects. Principal Tulloch was instrumental
in procuring the insertion in it of the Nicene Creed.
This movement went on side by side with such Litur
gical developments and enrichments as we have been
1 In the following sentences I have followed Dr. James Cooper, The
Revival of Church Principles in the Church of Scotland (Oxford, 1895).
224 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vn
familiar with in England in the form of Children's Ser
vices, improved Hymnals, restored Churches, and the like.
The Holy Table came, in some (now perhaps in many)
churches, to have its proper place of honour; organs,
painted windows, and the like were introduced ; the cross
is frequent in monuments and on the outside of churches.
Communion every quarter (instead of once or twice a year)
is now common, and a monthly, or sometimes more than
monthly, celebration is not unknown.
A knowledge of this movement, and the healing influ
ence of time in regard to his own troubles, gradually
enabled the Bishop to recover from the ' great despond
ency ' which was noticed in his Charge of 1875. It will
be seen from the Suggestions as to the Catechism printed in
Appendix III at the end of this volume, that the Bishop
took very little direct part in the Lambeth Conference of
1878, being only present at the first day's session. He
presented to it, however, the draft of his important ' Sug
gested Addition to Church Catechism,' which afterwards
received the approval of the Episcopal Synod in Scotland.
The first fresh effort on his part, in the direction of his old
Keunion enterprise, may perhaps be found in the sermon
which he preached at the Consecration of St. Mary's
Cathedral, Edinburgh (30 October, 1879) a noble building,
especially in its interior, given to the Episcopal Church by
the piety of two sisters, Barbara and Mary Walker, and
probably the most important material instrument which it
has received in this century next to Trinity College, Glen-
almond. The sermon, entitled ' More than Solomon is
here,' was evidently intended to conciliate the Scottish
mind by showing the general advantages which such an
institution possesses, rather than to sound a note of
triumph. Of it he writes to his sister-in-law, Miss M.
Barter :
CH. vii LAST EFFORTS AT REUNION. 1876-1892 225
If it had any merit it lies in its abstinence from anything
very demonstrative. I have learnt that the Scotch mind is not
to be carried by storm, as the English mind may be ; and there
fore I believe it was not unsuccessful here, though in England
perhaps more would be expected on such an occasion.
Another timely publication at this date was an article
on the Marquess of Bute's * Translation of the Koman
Breviary ' (a book in 2 vols. 8vo.), which appeared in the
' Edinburgh Courant ' of 16 December, 1879. The publi
cation of which the article was a critique was not likely, in
its original form and it is now very scarce to pass into
many hands. The Bishop did a service to the Church by
pointing out publicly some of the salient features of the
Breviary, as compared with the Prayer Book, its cumbrous-
ness and complexity, its addresses to saints of prayers that
ought to be addressed to God, its retention of ridiculous
legends and apocryphal matter, its large use of human
words as ' Lessons,' and its comparatively small and very
inconvenient use of Scripture. The reviewer also does not
fail to indicate a certain bold and independent treatment of
his material on which the Marquess had ventured.
This, however, was rather an excursus of a congenial
sort than a definite step in the Eeunion movement except
so far as it rright show the anti-Eoman, but fair and
courteous, controversial spirit of the reviewer. Next to
the Edinburgh sermon I should count among such steps
(and it was a much more decided one) a correspondence
with the late Professor Milligan, of Aberdeen, whose friend
ship the Bishop had made over New Testament Ke vision.
The latter wrote to me that the Bishop did not write much
to him, and, as he (Milligan) went to St. Andrews once a
year or so, he contented himself with the hope of seeing
him personally there.
But from time to time letters passed between them, and
Q
226 EPISCOPATE OF CHARLES WORDSWORTH CH. vn
the following is important enough to be inserted here. It
is dated Bishopshall, 19 April, 1880.
No truer words were ever spoken than some which I see you
are reported to have used in your last Croall lecture. * To speak
of making the world believe in a Risen Lord by mere Bible
circulation or missionary exertion was to waste time and strength,
unless it were attended by the spectacle of Unity,' &c.
I have often said the same ; but, as coming from one in your
position, I rejoice to think it is infinitely more likely to carry
weight. I also quite agree with you that there has been ' too
much speaking about unity and too little action.' I have not
only spoken much perhaps too much but have also done some
little though perhaps too little (though the best I could see my
way to) and now I shall look to you to help me to do more,
or at least to invite me to march under your standard, with its
admirable motto, ' Visible Unity and (Mutual) Helpfulness.' For
some twenty years I have used daily the enclosed prayer, 1 and
would gladly do anything more you may recommend.
The following was the answer, dated Aberdeen,
24 April :
1 Visible Unity and Mutual Helpfulness.'
Let the excellent motto stand. I think that I should have it
printed at the top of the note paper I am to use, that it may
be constantly before my own eyes and those of my corre
spondents.
I am greatly pleased that you should have found anything to
give you satisfaction in the newspaper report of my last lecture.
... By and by I shall have to publish the lectures and shall then
have to try and speak out. What am I to do now ? I really do
not well know. I fear that I am not fit for much action, and
thinking that we have had plenty at least of general speech, I
too often sit moping in my own den here and let things go their
way. There can be no doubt, however, I imagine, as to the great
necessity which exists for a thorough reviewing on the part of
all our Christian bodies of the whole situation. The solution
1 Probably the prayer for Unity from the Accession Service, with a
clause specially applying it to Scotland. See Appendix III. p. 358.
CH. vii LAST EFFORTS AT REUNION. 1876-1892 227
offered by the mere fact of Disestablishment seems to me so
short-sighted and so imperfect, that I can hardly think that even
those most eager about it can thoroughly believe in their own
panacea. I can hardly resist the conviction that there must be
widespread beneath the surface the feeling that something more
is necessary. You have lived long enough among us to know
the hollowness of our Church cries.
Other letters followed on both sides, and the outcome,
though not immediate, was doubtless a drawing together
of two single-minded and wise-hearted men who between
them laid the foundations of separate pillars that must
some day grow together into an arch in the Church of God.
The Bishop, notwithstanding his kindly feeling to
Presbyterians of a certain class, was nevertheless at all
times on the alert to criticise and demolish inaccuracy in
argument on their side, and in his Charge of 1880
(' Public Appeals,' ii. 616) he had occasion to notice a slip
of the Duke of Argyll's, when he laid down, in a speech at
Ballachulish, that Episcopacy grew out of Presbytery just
as the Papacy grew out of Episcopacy, and urged his
countrymen not to sacrifice any part of their ancient
traditions, viz. of antagonism to this development. The
Bishop's answer naturally was that the Papacy was no
natural outgrowth of Episcopacy, but was due to the
historical fact of the Pope's being Bishop of Rome, the capital
of the civilised West. The Papacy was really the enemy
of Diocesan Episcopacy. In the East Episcopacy had al 
