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A PASTORAL BISHOP
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A PASTORAL BISHOP
A MEMOIR
OF
ALEXANDER CHINNERY-HALDANE, D.D.
SOMETIME BISHOP OF ARGYLL AND THE ISLES
BY
THOMAS ISAAC BALL, LL.D.
PROVOST OF CUMBRAE CATHEDRAL
WITH THREE PORTRAITS
..
LONGMANS,, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1907
All rights reserved
PREFACE
I HAVE endeavoured, before all things, in this work
to set forth before my readers a human document.
I have, therefore, reversed the order which I have
noticed is frequently, perhaps generally, observed
in " Lives," or biographies. The story of the life
comes first, and then, as a kind of summing up, a
character sketch, with an epitome of opinions, is
given. There are advantages in this order, but it
seems to me that it is not in this way that human
things generally proceed. Do we not, as a rule, feel
interest in a man s life-story because we have first
become interested in himself? A man s character
strikes us as attractive, his opinions seem to us
worthy of attention ; and so we want to know the
story of his life, and to trace if we can the influences
which formed these opinions, and the influence
these opinions have had txn the life. For if it be
partially true, as it certainly is within limits, that a
man s opinions are to some extent the result of his
environment, it is also true that every man con
tributes to the making of his own environment,
and that the way in which he does this is the result
of his opinions.
I have then endeavoured, first of all, to show the
Bishop as he was in the maturity of his age, in
vi PREFACE
character, in belief, in religious position ; those who
by reading of this have their interest in the man
roused, quickened, or enlightened, will, I think,
certainly wish to know something of the life which
the man formed for himself, and which in turn
helped to form the man.
I have called this work a " Memoir," that is, a
remembrance, and I am the one who here re
members ; this being so, I have found it difficult to
keep the recognition of my own personality as
much out of the Memoir as I could have wished.
Newman says somewhere, that sometimes egotism
is the truest modesty. Surely this is a wise saying.
An elaborate attempt to appear as if one were
keeping one s personality out of sight, is in reality
more ostentatious than to allow one s personality
to appear when simplicity would take it for granted
that it would do so. Though I have not been at
the trouble to conceal myself under ambiguous or
roundabout periphrases, I trust that I do not in
trude unpleasantly into the course of the history.
I have hoped that beside helping men in their
love of the good and beautiful, by presenting them
with the picture of a pure and devoted life, I may
have also helped English Churchmen to understand
a little better the way in which a Church, which is
an integral part of the great Anglican Communion,
does its work in the Northern Kingdom ; a subject
about which English Churchmen are too often
strangely uninterested, and lamentably ignorant.
Not infrequently even highly placed ecclesiastics
have a better and more accurate idea of the history
and position of their Communion in China than they
PREFACE vii
have of the history, the position, the prospects, the
working, of their Sister Church over the border.
This is neither intelligent nor creditable.
The Bishop once told a mutual friend, that we,
he and I, agreed absolutely on every point, save
one. (I am not quite sure what exception he may
have had in his mind when saying this.) No doubt
this was true as far as entire agreement in great
leading beliefs and principles is concerned ; but it
is fair to say that with regard to these, also with
regard to lesser things, there were certain shades of
difference in opinion between the Bishop and
myself. In my record of his beliefs and opinions I
have striven to express exactly what he himself
said, without comments of my own as to the
tenability of these opinions or the reverse. But
this absence of comment is not to be taken as
always indicating complete agreement.
On his death-bed the Bishop expressed the wish
that if anything in the shape of a Memoir were
written of him, I would undertake the task. This
must be my apology for having presumed to write
this book. In all that I have written 1 have en
deavoured to write as the beloved and revered
subject of my memories would have wished me to
write. I have tried, in the first place, to be simply
true : what is the value of anything that is written
if it be not true ? The life that I have dealt with
was a singularly sincere and true life, and it would
be a wrong done to it to write of it otherwise than
truly. " Love the truth and peace," says the
Prophet, and I trust that in seeking to write truly
I have not forgotten the duty of being peaceable ; I
viii PREFACE
trust that I have written nothing that will stir
strife, or mar peace on earth among men of good
will. May all that is written tend ad majorem Dei
gloriam. May God accept all that attains this end.
If in anything I have proved unfaithful in my
pursuit of this end, may God forgive me.
I must gratefully acknowledge the kindness with
which relations and friends of the beloved Bishop
have put letters and other documents at my
disposal. Some of these have requested that their
names should not be mentioned as having contri
buted in this way to the work ; perhaps it will be
better to observe this rule with regard to all, and
to ask all who have helped me to accept this
general expression of my gratitude. Even when
letters have not been quoted they have often been
of assistance by the side-light they have thrown on
the Bishop s actions or opinions.
Two exceptions I 1 must make to my rule of
reticence with regard to the names of my kind
helpers. I cannot refrain from saying that with
out the unstinted care and attention which Mrs.
Chinnery-Haldane graciously accorded to every
inquiry which I brought before her, when prepar
ing this Memoir, the work could scarcely have
been brought to completion at all ; I am no less
indebted to her for her discriminating revision of
the book when in manuscript. Those who read
this Memoir will not need to be told how greatly
I am in the debt of Canon Duncan for his valuable
contribution to it.
The Editor of the Guardian has courteously
permitted me to make use, here and there, of
PREFACE ix
matter contributed by me to that paper on the
occasion of the Bishop s death and obsequies.
The Portrait which forms the frontispiece to
this Memoir, and that which faces Chapter IX.,
are reproduced from photographs taken in the
studio of Messrs. J. Russell & Sons, 17, Baker
Street, Portman Square, London. The Portrait
which precedes the last chapter is from a photo
graph by Kate Pragnell, 39, Brompton Square,
London.
In both cases the artists have been obliging
enough to consent to the reproduction of their
pictures in this work.
THOS. I. BALL.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. CHARACTER 1
II. RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 14
III. ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 35
IV. FAMILY HISTORY : EARLY LIFE, 1842-1866 . . 47
V. CALNE, 1866-1868 64
VI. EDINBURGH, 1868-1878 80
VII. BALLACHULISH, 1878-1883 95
VIII. EPISCOPATE, 1883 103
IX. EPISCOPATE continued 125
Charges Lambeth Conferences The College at Corn-
brae Mr. Mackonochie s Death Minister of Baptism
D.D. Degree.
X. EPISCOPATE continued 149
Revision of Scotch Office lona Rome and Anglican
Orders Liturgical Work
XI. FOREIGN TRAVEL 167
XII. THE END, 1905-1906 . 187
ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE PAGE
PORTRAIT OF THE BISHOP, OCTOBER, 1890 . Frontispiece
From a Photograph by Russell $ Sons, 17, Baker Street, W.
PORTRAIT JULY, 1897 124
From a Photograph by Russell $ Sons, 17, Baker Street, W.
PORTRAIT APRIL, 1902 186
From a Photograph by Miss Kate Pragnell, 39, Broughton Square, S. W.
A PASTORAL BISHOP
CHAPTER I
CHARACTER
PERHAPS no human character would be found
unworthy of study, if only we could know enough
about it. But, whatever may be the case with the
rank-and-file of average men and women, certainly
the character of one who exercised over his fellow-
men a very real though unobtrusive influence
(which extended more widely than was generally
supposed) must be eminently worthy of careful
consideration and thoughtful study ; it is sure to be
interesting, and there will be much to be learned
from it.
Usually the first thing that struck those who
came to know Bishop Chirinery-Haldane was, a
quiet, self-possessed urbanity, accompanied by
great modesty and charming courtesy in manner.
This courtesy was a very marked characteristic.
It could not be called " courtly " politeness, for it
lacked just the touch of artificiality which a
" courtly " manner implies. It was something of
a higher quality, it was the genuine product of a
refined and considerate mind. The more one came
2 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to know the man, the more one found that his
courtesy was part of himself, it was no mere
superadded acquirement.
The Bishop s courtesy was, in fact, based on the
principle expressed in the words, "in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than him
self." No one was more ready than he to re
cognize the respect and consideration justly
demanded by rank and position, yet he never
seemed to claim anything that was due to him, in
these respects, for himself, and he certainly never
failed in courtesy towards others because of their
low estate.
As might be expected in one who was pre
eminently " a man," this courtesy was exercised
specially in intercourse with women. He was
greatly scandalized at the free and easy manners of
men, specially of young men, towards women in
these times. " When I was a young man," he used
to say, " I looked upon a lady as almost a goddess
to be worshipped ; but the young men of the
present day -!" Nothing hurt or disturbed
and vexed him more than to come across any exhi
bition of rudeness and discourtesy.
And there was more than only consideration
for what was due, in manners, to others in all this.
Never was there a tenderer heart, more ready to
feel with those in pain or sorrow, or mere anxious
and ready to relieve them, at no matter what cost
to himself.
Those who made acquaintance with this gentle-
mannered, courteous, and considerate man, were,
perhaps naturally, inclined to look on him as one
CHARACTER 3
of weak, if amiable, character, easily led where
those whom he trusted would wish him to go. " I
suppose you do what you like with your Bishop,"
said one to me. I forget what my answer was ;
but it was unexpected. For those who came to
know Alexander Chinnery-Haldane well, whether
as Bishop or otherwise, found that behind this
gentle manner there was a power of fixed deter
mination which could be turned from its end
neither by his nearest, his dearest, nor his most
trusted relations or friends.
When this characteristic was mentioned to
some one who knew the Bishop fairly well, but not
intimately, his remark was, " The usual obstinacy
of a weak character ! " But no judgment could
have been more mistaken.
The distinguishing feature of genuine obstinacy
is that it is impervious to reason. Sic volo, sic
jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas, is the motto of the
obstinate man. But the Bishop s firmness was
founded on principle, and was amenable to
reason.
There was in his mind a delicate conscientious
ness and a simple sincerity that would not allow
him to commit himself, in word or action, to
anything that his mind did not approve of as
entirely right. His mind and judgment must
always approve of what he did or said. Those who
became aware of this quality, and had dealings
with him during his episcopate, felt that it gave
unusual weight to all his works and words, and
did much to increase confidence in him as a ruler.
Possibly sometimes his careful conscientiousness
4 A PASTORAL BISHOP
was carried to a needless extreme; but it was a
fault that leaned to virtue s side.
But though nothing could move him from an
adopted course, as long as he was fully persuaded
in his own mind that it was the right one, the
Bishop never refused an ear to argument and
reason, and was quite capable of honestly acknow
ledging that his mind was changed, when he was
once fairly converted.
And here one has to notice a non-moral quality
of mind which strongly influenced the Bishop in
the exercise of his moral and intellectual qualities,
and which laid him open to very serious miscon
ception in more ways than one. I refer to the
extreme slowness with which his mind moved. I
believe that physically he had a very slow circula
tion. As to whether this was the cause or not of
his mental slowness, I will not venture to give an
opinion, but the mental slowness was extreme.
When pressed with reasons for changing an
opinion or line of conduct, the Bishop would appear
to be entirely unaffected by them. But he neither
ignored nor forgot them ; they were stored in his
mind, pondered on again and again, and sometimes,
after the lapse even of years, it would be found that
they had produced their effect and had brought
about a change of action or opinion.
This slowness affected not merely his mental
processes, but many other things connected with
character and conduct. It affected his manner of
officiating in church, and specially at the Altar. Of
this the .Bishop was painfully conscious, and en
deavoured to master it, but the peculiarity proved
CHARACTER 5
too strong for him. He even gave himself a set
time within which his celebration of the Eucharist
was to be comprised, and celebrated with his watch
on the Altar, that he might be able to compel
himself to keep within the assigned limits ; but it
was of no use.
A result of this characteristic was that the
Bishop never seemed able to be economical in his
use of time. He was unable to pass with ordinary
quickness from one occupation to another. He
was without any innate sense of the need of punctu
ality. If he had been left simply to his own
devices in the management of house or church, it
is difficult to say when meals or services would
have begun ; or, if begun, when they would have
ended. But so great was his mastery over himself,
and so strong his sense of what is due to others,
that when he was with punctual people, he was
himself among the most punctual. When, in later
years, he stayed with us at Cumbrae, either as guest
or to take part in a Retreat, he was always strictly
up to time both as to social and ecclesiastical
appointments. All this must have implied a great
deal of self-discipline on the part of a naturally
unpunctual man.
Another characteristic which gave the Bishop
great trouble was an extremely faulty memory;
and this naturally grew worse as years and cares
increased. Like most faulty memories, the
Bishop s was very capricious. One was often sur
prised at small things vividly remembered, when
more important things were forgotten. I may
mention a curious instance of the way in which
6 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the Bishop s faithless memory was apt to fail. A
form of Special Service for use in the diocese on the
King s Coronation Day had to be prepared. The
Bishop and myself happened both to be in London,
and he invited me to his hotel, to sup with him,
and to compile the desired form of service a kind
of work that always keenly interested him. I
went, as arranged, and we spent some hours over
our work. 1 found, only a few months afterwards,
that the entire occurrence, with all that was con
nected with it, had clean gone out of his memory,
and nothing that I reminded him of could in any
way recall it !
Two things would probably be taken for
granted beforehand by those who might hear of a
man of slow-moving mind combined with a fickle
memory : he could not be trusted to keep appoint
ments ; he would be a bad correspondent. Neither
of these was true of the Bishop. By means of
an exactly written-up note-book he managed to
remind himself of all his appointments, of which I
never knew him to omit to keep even one. Of
course such a lapse may have occurred, but I never
heard of a case of it.
And as to correspondence, never was there so
prompt and painstaking an answerer of letters.
His scrupulous conscientiousness and consideration
for others would never allow him to depute to any
body the answering of a letter to which he thought
a reply might be expected from himself. And in
his replies every point was gone into with careful
completeness. God and good Angels only know
the hours and hours, snatched from sorely needed
CHARACTER 7
sleep, which the Bishop spent, not once and again,
but continually, over his correspondence. He would
often prolong his work till 2 a.m. ; occasionally he
has gone on till 4 or 5 a.m., when he has lain down
for an hour or two s sleep, and has risen again in
time to celebrate at 8 or 8.30 a.m. That all this
was prudent, no one will say; it is anguish to
think that it probably contributed to the evil which
cut short his life.
A notable feature of the Bishop s character was
a gracious optimism. He always hoped for the
best, both as to persons and things. But this
optimism was not blind ; it gave way surely, if
very slowly, before the indisputable evidence of
facts. With persons, he nearly always began by
seeing something laudable or attractive in them,
and, if pressed to acknowledge the unpleasant
qualities of some undeniably dreadful person, he
was wont to evade a condemnation by saying,
" But I think he is a good man." This was his
last resource.
He was tender to evil-doers, and sought to
shield them from the consequences of their sins
rather than to bring them to judgment. A dis
honest servant was convicted of stealing some of
the Bishop s clothes ; he had to be dismissed, but
his master said to him, " I give you those things
which you took from me ; keep them as a present
from me." In referring to the incident, the Bishop
said, " I could not bear the thought of a few
miserable clothes of mine being a cause of sin to
that man s conscience."
But, like all righteous men, he was capable of
8 A PASTORAL BISHOP
high indignation at certain forms of sin. One
thing that outraged him specially was cruelty in
any form to man or beast. He used to say, " We
are required by the Gospel to forgive doers of all
manner of wrongs and injuries ; but I don t think
this includes the cruel man." Other moral evils
filled him with almost unpitying wrath. Once in
his hearing some one expressed sympathy with a
clergyman who, from a high position, had fallen
into shame and humiliation through some grievous
crime ; in a hard, stern voice, which I could hardly
recognize as his, the Bishop said, " I am not sorry
for him at all ; I would SCOURGE him."
The really strong, overmastering element in
the Bishop s character has yet to be mentioned
I mean his deep and profound religiousness. If
any one ever possessed the anima naturaliter
Christiana^ surely he did. Religiousness manifests
itself after various types. The theological and
ecclesiastical form which the Bishop s religiousness
assumed is dealt with elsewhere ; here it may be
enough to note that it was of the intensely reverent
type ; his soul was largely endowed with the gift
which theologians call pietas. " Reverence and
godly fear " eminently characterized his religion ;
yet it was without the "fear" that perfect love
casts out ; it was rather the fear of the adoring
seraphim, overwhelmed by a sense of the Majesty
of the Thrice Holy, that dwelt in the Bishop s soul.
How far he was habitually conscious of the pre
sence of God, it is not for man to say ; but I am
sure that what he said of his revered friend, Mr.
Mackonochie, was equally true of himself : " If
CHARACTER 9
lie were called away from the midst of a dinner
party to hear a dying man s confession, I am sure
the summons would find him in a fit state of mind
to fulfil the duty."
Although the Bishop had, in early life, derived
much of the religious impressions which made so
profound a mark on him from Evangelicals of a
type much given to bringing pious phrases into
ordinary conversation, in season and out of season,
there was not in him a trace of this habit. Pro
bably his deeply reverential mind shrank from
treating references to the sacred things of God
and the souk as current coin in ordinary talk.
Though he might say nothing he was not unseldom
keenly hurt by the way in which even good people,
in social conversation, seem sometimes to overstep
the bounds of reverence by light allusions to
hallowed things. He was almost Jewish in his
anxiety that no printed paper which contained
any Divine Name should be put to a profane use.
Church newspapers, with reports of sermons, etc.,
he insisted should be burned, and would not allow
them to be used for packing, etc.
This intense, ever-present, religiousness did not
shed a gloom over the Bishop s life : far from it, a
calm cheerfulness was habitual to him, and his
sense of humour, though it moved, perhaps, rather
slowly, was quite genuine, and was always ready
to come into play. Nor did his religiousness
prevent him from taking a keen interest in human
things ; in persons, and indeed in almost anything
that had in it " any virtue or any praise." He
was no artist, but his ideas on art were carefully
10 A PASTORAL BISHOP
developed, and were not contemptible ; sculpture
and architectural detail did not appeal to him, but
he knew a good picture from a bad or inferior one,
and he had an appreciative knowledge of the works
of the older painters. He was no musician, and
the tone of his voice (though neither harsh nor
unpleasant in private or public speaking) repre
sented, according to a skilled musician, no dis
coverable note in music, yet he had a discriminating
taste in music, he at least knew what he liked and
disliked, and could give a comprehensible reason
for his preferences. He had a genuine apprecia
tion of refined poetry. He was fond of botany,
and knew something about it. Genealogy and
heraldry were also favourite subjects of study and
investigation.
His favourite recreation was some form of
athletic exercise, but during " evenings at home "
he could enjoy a game of whist ; he was not, how
ever, an accomplished player. With regard to his
love of exercise, I remember an amusing incident.
Some time after his consecration as Bishop, I was
strolling with him one evening along a lonely road
in the Isle of C umbrae ; he asked if any one were
likely to come by, for, he said, he had not had a
chance of a good run for some days, and it would
be a great refreshment if he could take one then
without shocking people with the sight of a Bishop
tearing along the road like a maniac. I assured
him that he might reckon on privacy ; he stripped
off coat and hat (which I held), and for a short
time he raced up and down the road in approved
athletic fashion.
CHARACTER 11
Among what may be called minor traits of
character, one must not fail to notice the Bishop s
strict regard of propriety in everything that could
demand it. Foppishness would have been impossible
to him, but he was always scrupulously careful in
dress, and was annoyed to observe the reverse in
others.
Those who have taken the pains to synthetise
the varied elements of the solid and interesting
character which I have endeavoured to describe,
will readily see that its possessor could not fail to
exercise a strong influence within the sphere in
which he moved. But the Bishop s influence was
not equally powerful with all sorts and conditions
of human beings. He was mainly influential with
the grown-up. There was in him a dignified, kindly
sincerity, entirely without " side " or cant, which
recommended itself to men ; while an unfailing,
gracious courtesy appealed to what is best and
most womanly in women. There was, however, a
complete want of sympathetic rapport between the
Bishop and the young. Children, and especially
boys, he confessed were utterly unattractive to him.
He was entirely aware of this, and regretted it, but
could not help it. Speaking once of some youths
whom he feared he had failed to influence for good,
he said, with a pathos that was comic (though it
was not meant to be so), " But what could I do ?
I could not skip and dance into the room, crying,
Come along, boys, and let s have a jolly time
together ! One assured him that this was not the
sort of thing that was wanted.
He said himself, of his failure to understand and
12 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to attract the young, that he feared that it was
because of his want of inward purity of heart. But,
unless a singularly pure and blameless life were a
deception, the cause did not lie where he would
have put it. The cause was more probably to be
looked for in that extreme mental slowness which
has been spoken of above. The young are quick
and changeful in their moods, and find it difficult
to take things with any great amount of serious
ness ; there was a natural and unconquerable in
compatibility between this phase of human nature,
and a man to whom deliberation was a necessity,
and who made even the smaller things of life a
matter of conscience.
One peculiarity of the Bishop s character must
not be left unmentioned, and that is his inability
to estimate the value of money, and his want of
business capacity. The first deficiency was, partly
at least, the result of defective early training ; he
was never, either as youth or young man, educated
(so to speak) in the use of money. There is a
story told of him as a schoolboy, which if not
exactly true, is very characteristic. It is said, that
he was going to spend the day with a school-fellow,
and found his purse ill-supplied. No member of
the family was at home, so he rang the bell, and
when the butler appeared, he said, "Bring some
money, please." As though money, like tea or
biscuits, were kept in a tin in the pantry, to be
taken out by the spoonful or handful when re
quired ! His family means were limited, but when
a large fortune was put at his disposal, he was
inclined to lavish it, always however on the Church,
CHARACTER 13
on charities, on the necessitous; but on personal
self-indulgence he never cared to spend one penny.
Like most men of his disposition, his inability to
estimate money at its real value, sometimes made
him inclined to think that charges were extra
vagant when they were not so, in fact. But he
was always ready humbly to acknowledge that he
was probably wrong.
As to the second deficiency named (want of
business capacity), it was more apparent than real.
His extreme slowness of mind made it very difficult
for him to take in the exact bearing of business
matters ; but when at last he did take it in, his
judgment was usually sound.
CHAPTER II
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS
I CAN imagine that it might be said As Bishop
Chinnery-Haldane has no claim to be considered a
a man of unusual learning, nor a propagator of
original opinions, is it not waste of time to write or
read anything in detail about his religious beliefs ?
He professed the Catholic Faith ; is not all said
when this has been said ?
To this I would reply, that the same Faith
assumes varied aspects as it is reflected in and from
various types of mind. This is the case even
among those who accept as authoritative definitions
of credenda which leave the least possible margin
for variety. No one would say that the Faith
as presented by a Newman, would wear exactly
the same aspect as the same Faith expounded by a
Manning. Or to go further back, and to take a
wider example, Dominicans and Franciscans and
Jesuits all accepted and accept the same theological
definitions, yet their variations in interpreting them
are notorious.
Over many the late Bishop of Argyll possessed
a spiritual power which influenced them greatly; to
them, a word or opinion from him was of no ordinary
value. They will like to know how many things
14
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 15
that concern the Faith common to us all appeared
when reflected in his mind.
And to all students of religious human nature
it will be of interest to study the aspect of certain
truths and dogmas of Christianity which appealed
to a man of such marked character as the Bishop.
Nothing in his religion was, to the Bishop, a
mere idle acceptance of traditional ideas, or of
other people s opinions ; he " proved all things " and
held fast to that which he believed to be good as
the result of trained and matured conviction. His
earnest devotion to the active life gave him no
opportunity for the study of the more elaborate
theological works which from time to time appear.
But, in his student days, he read carefully and
mastered accurately the greater works of many of
those standard divines, who are generally admitted
to be the Doctors of Anglican Theology, and all
through his life he studied the lesser theological
works of men of note, and kept himself au courant
with the flow of religious thought by reading the
reviews of contemporary literature in the more
important periodicals. When travelling, one item
in his luggage was a small wooden box, supplied
with books ; these were almost invariably theo
logical ; he spent no time in merely ornamental or
amusing reading ; but in the train, on the boat, in
his own room, he not only read about, but studied,
some theological or ecclesiastical question, by the
aid of some book from his wooden box ; these
books, by the pencil marks in them, and by the
analytical notes at the end, bore witness to the
pains which he took to be continually learning
16 A PASTORAL BISHOP
and thinking, and this continued to the end of
his life.
The Bishop s native modesty made him shrink
from ever obtruding his opinion; he never at
tempted to shine in argument, nor to draw atten
tion to his own view of matters under discussion.
But when it was a duty to do so, he could state his
case with a quiet precision and accuracy which
occasioned surprise in those who knew the man
only slightly. One who in ecclesiastical matters
was generally in disagreement with, and sometimes
in opposition to him, and who was not ; disposed to
estimate his intellectual powers highly, expressed
his great surprise at the way in which the Bishop,
when brought to the point, would show that he
had a firm and accurate grasp of some difficult
subject.
The religious opinions of such a man as Bishop
Chinnery-Haldane are surely worth a little attention
from more than one point of view.
The immovable foundation of the Bishop s
religion was certainly laid in his youth, through his
education in the old orthodox Evangelical school.
As I was brought up in that same school myself, I
am personally able to realize what the effect of
that education would be. My intercourse in later
years with men of the Evangelical school has been
somewhat restricted, so I do not know how things
may stand at present, but when the Bishop and I
received our religious training, the great central
doctrine of the orthodox Evangelical school was
a passionate belief in the Very Godhead of our
Blessed Lord ; this doctrine, far more than correct
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 17
views about Justification by Faith, was to men
of that school the articulus stantis aut cadentis
Ecdesice. No doubt the doctrine was often held
with a great deal of theological inaccuracy, but
it was held, and held with an intense and uncom
promising faith. I remember my own father, a
fervent Protestant, saying that no doubt good
Roman Catholics might be saved as they believed
in Christ s Deity, but that anything but the worst
doom could await Socinians and Unitarians was
not to be thought of for a moment. I remember,
too, as a child, shrinking from going too near to a
Socinian lady, as though from contact with an
infected person. These personal reminiscences
may, I hope, be excused, as they serve to illustrate
the matter in hand.
That Faith in the Godhead of Christ which
Bishop Chinnery-Haldane received as a child
became the very breath of life to his religion. In
the atmosphere of that Faith he lived and moved
and had his religious being. As he grew in years
and knowledge, he built himself up in his in
tellectual appreciation of that Faith by reading, by
study, by argument, by meditation, by the tenour
of his devotions. While as to many matters, (as
we shall have occasion to note) time and circum
stances caused his opinions to change and to be
modified, as to this there was no change in him,
except perhaps that as years increased he held to
his Faith, in this point, with an ever-increasing
intensity. And his acceptance of this Faith did
not consist in the mere mental appreciation of what
was to him a favourite or attractive dogma or
c
18 A PASTORAL BISHOP
doctrine, it was rather that adoring and affectionate
loyalty to a -Person, which a soul can only render
to One whom it accepts as God Most High, and
Supreme Benefactor. At the thought of Christ,
his spirit rejoiced in God his Saviour.
In ordering and maturing his intellectual con
ception and conviction of this his Faith, the Bishop
was quite content to accept as final the presentation
of it set forth by Catholic authority, notably in
the Nicene Creed. Faith in the Godhead of
Christ was naturally and inevitably accompanied
by a firm belief in the Catholic doctrine of the
Trinity. The clear and precise dogmatic state
ments of the Athanasian Creed were to him a
source of positive enjoyment, and he delighted in
repeating them. But he came to admit that the
warning (or minatory) clauses were fairly open to
misconception, and might reasonably be taken to
express what they were never intended to mean.
He was attracted by the Dean of Westminster s
theory about the frame as distinguishable from the
picture, though he hesitated about accepting it as
wholly satisfactory.
It was suggested to him in conversation that
the difficult clauses might be paraphrased, and
given a positive rather than their present negative
meaning, somewhat in this fashion
" Whosoever desireth to attain to salvation :
before all things let him hold fast the Catholic
Faith.
" And if he keep this Faith whole and undefiled :
without doubt he shall be saved everlastingly.
" Now the Catholic Faith is this, etc. . . .
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 19
" He therefore that would attain to salvation :
let him thus think of the Trinity.
" Furthermore, for the attainment of everlasting
salvation : let him also believe rightly the Incarna
tion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
" For the right Faith is, etc ...
" This is the Catholic Faith : and if a man
believe it faithfully and firmly he shall certainly be
saved."
The Bishop said he would welcome such a
paraphrase as this, which without compromising
any doctrine would remove most difficulties. But
it must be remembered that this was an obiter
dictum.
As to the doctrine of the Atonement, it is
enough to say that the Bishop was a disciple of St.
Anselm. He carefully studied and mastered the
teaching put forth on that subject in the Saint s
Cur Deus Homo ? and it satisfied him.
The danger of " particular devotions " is well-
known to theologians ; their adoption and propaga
tion is only too apt to disturb the " proportion of
Faith." The Bishop in his later years developed
what might be called a particular devotion to the
Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Although
the moderation and profoundly reverent tone of
his own mind prevented this from producing any
unfortunate theological result as far as he himself
was concerned, it may be doubted whether the
effect of his influence, in this matter, was altogether
wholesome as far as others were concerned.
The place which the Church occupied in the
Bishop s religion was simply that indicated in the
20 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Creeds, where belief in the Church is set forth as
the (may we not say " necessary " ?) corollary of
belief in the Holy Spirit. The Bishop s conception
of the Church was the " Catholic," as distinguished
from the " Papal " conception.
And here I may say, once for all, that I use, in
these Memoirs, the terms " Catholic " and " Pro
testant " (as they are ordinarily used at the present
day by educated persons) to signify two opposed
conceptions of the Christian religion. I am per
fectly aware of the argumentative legerdemain prac
tised by some writers, whereby it is endeavoured to
show that what is usually termed " Protestant," is in
fact only the same thing as what is in fact genuinely
" Catholic ; " and that the things for which the
term " Catholic " is claimed, are in reality essenti
ally " Protestant." And that therefore the more
" Protestant " you are, the more truly " Catholic "
you are at the same time ; and vice versa. Despite
the ingenuity lavished on this trifling with the
generally accepted meaning of common terms, no
one is really deceived by it, and educated people
will understand exactly what I mean by the use
I shall make of these terms, which I shall employ
as they are commonly understood.
As the Bishop held the Church to be a divine
creation, a living body, of which the animating
spirit is the Holy Ghost ; he accepted without
reserve everything that could make good a claim
to be approved by the mind of the Church ; he
agreed with those who regard as a satisfactory test
of what is, or is not, to be received as enjoying the
sanction of the " whole Catholic Church of Christ "
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 21
the well-known rule laid down by St. Vincent of
Lerins, that whatever can be proved to be, or to
have been, accepted, semper, iibiqiie, ab omnibus, is
to be regarded as possessing Catholic sanction ; a
rule which, despite the fact that it is not always
easy to apply it convincingly in practice, neverthe
less possesses a solid value of its own, which has
made it, and which will continue to make it, a
helpful guide to minds of more than one class in
matters of religion.
About the Sacraments the Bishop believed as
Catholics generally believe. He had what one
may call a great devotion to the Sacrament of
Baptism, and often spoke of the happiness he
experienced in administering it. He was specially
careful that the pouring of the water should be so
copious as to be a real ablution. In the case of
his own infant sons he secured that they should
be baptized by immersion.
Originally the Bishop accepted the teaching
about the Minister of Baptism which is authori
tatively sanctioned in the Latin Church, and very
generally received among Anglicans. That teach
ing is, that all other necessary conditions being
complied with, the status of the Minister of Baptism
is a matter of indifference so far as the essential
validity of the rite is concerned. Any Baptism,
administered according to Christ s ordinance, is
valid Baptism, is " of Christ," whoever the Minister
may be. After being some years in the episcopate,
the Bishop was induced, by the arguments of a
learned friend, followed by reading and investiga
tion on his own account, to doubt if this teaching
22 A PASTORAL BISHOP
really represents the mind of the whole Catholic
Church on the subject. Specially he became con
vinced that the mind of the Eastern Churches
was not clearly at one with the Latin Church as
to this. Nor did he think the Anglican Church
committed to the current Latin Doctrine. He
did not think that this doctrine could stand the
Vincentian test, and he came seriously to doubt
the validity of Baptisms not administered by
validly ordained ministers. As the position which
he ultimately assumed towards this question has
been much misunderstood, it may be well here to
state precisely what it was. The Bishop did not
profess to decide the question. He maintained
that the mind of the whole Church was at least
not clearly manifested concerning it. He did not
undertake to assert that all lay Baptisms under
all circumstances were certainly invalid. But he
considered that the validity of such Baptisms was
dubious. Such being the case, he could not (he
felt) act officially with regard to lay Baptisms as
if they were certainly valid. He could not, con
sequently, either confirm or ordain any who had
not been baptized, at least conditionally, by a
minister of apostolic ordination, Bishop, Priest,
or Deacon. The adoption of this attitude with
regard to lay Baptism involved the Bishop in
some distressing difficulties.
The Bishop s belief as to the Holy Eucharist
may be best described as being that phase of
Catholic doctrine on this Mystery which is set
forth in the works of such writers as Keble and
Pusey. Controversies about Transubstantiation,
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 23
and such-like subtilties, did not in truth interest
him. He was content to leave them on one side.
That the bread and wine verily and indeed
" become," through consecration, the Body ana
Blood of the Living Christ, was enough for him.
He believed and adored ; and he was ready without
reserve to accept all the practical consequences of
this belief. For instance, he thought the service of
" Benediction " as practised in the Latin Church
beautiful and edifying, and valued the privilege of
being present at it, when travelling on the Con
tinent. While he did not think that the vise of
such a service in Anglican Churches could be
justified, he had no hard words to say of those
who thought otherwise.
As to the Eucharistic Sacrifice, holding the
faith which he did, the Bishop did not think that,
due reverence being secured, it could be too
frequently celebrated. When leading his normal
life at home, his practice was to celebrate every
morning, and he took personal charge of all the
arrangements in his chapel, that it might always
be in a state of preparation for the Daily Sacrifice,
When from home, he lost no opportunity of Com
munion, or of Celebration, or at least of assisting
at the Mysteries ; but in this, as in (one may say)
all such matters, he acted with a moderation, and
a discretion, without fuss or ostentation, which
drew no attention to his devotion.
The Bishop had a dread of merely formal, or
unprepared Communions ; he thought that there
was great danger in the indiscriminate pressing of
frequent Communion, as a duty, on all and sundry,
24 A PASTORAL BISHOP
which is rather characteristic of some High
Churchmen. I remember his once writing to me
that in some church in his diocese, he was " glad "
to say that there had been fewer communicants
than on a similar occasion the previous year. He
had had reason to fear that there had been laxity in
preparation among the people in that place, and he
hoped the fewer numbers were a sign of greater
seriousness on their part.
It is almost needless to say of one who believed,
as the Bishop believed, concerning the authority of
Catholic tradition, and concerning the Eucharist,
that he was a scrupulous observer of the rule of
celebrating and communicating fasting ; though in
pressing the observance of this rule on others he
used a cautious moderation.
The Bishop did not see, in constant and frequent
assistance at the Eucharist without sacramental
reception, any of the spiritual dangers which may
beset great frequency of Communion, nor did he
attach the least importance to the imaginary evils
which a certain school of Anglicans endeavour to
conjure up as sure to accompany this pious practice.
Experience among ourselves, and the results of
Continental practice as to this matter (and with all
this the Bishop was intimately acquainted), con
clusively show that what is rather clumsily called
" non-communicating attendance " does not en
courage a disregard of the duty of oral Sacramental
Communion. If it is urged that the writings of
the sixteenth-century Reformers show us that the
practice does produce the dreaded disregard ; it
may be answered, that the Reformers lived in a
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 25
period when prejudice and passion were at white
heat, that their denunciations and accusations
must be received with extreme caution ; and
further, that we do not live in the sixteenth century,
that the spiritual dangers prevalent now differ
toto ccelo from those which prevailed then, and that
it is irrational to argue that what was said or done
in religious matters then is wholesomely applicable
to the present state of things. Experience at home
and abroad convinced the Bishop of the high
spiritual value of non- communicating attendance
which he encouraged in every way in his power,
among children and adults, rich and poor, educated
and uneducated. The Scottish Liturgy is hampered
by no rubrics requiring a certain number of com
municants ; this Liturgy is so extensively used
in the diocese, that the Bishop found no rubrical
or canonical hindrance to the encouragement he
gave to his priests to celebrate as frequently as
their devotion moved them, whether they could
reckon on the attendance of communicants or
not, in accordance with the sentiment attributed
to Bishop Overall, 1 " Better were it to endure the
absence of the people, than for the minister to
neglect the usual and Daily Sacrifice of the
Church, by which all people, whether they be
there or no, reap so much benefit."
The Bishop had no objection whatever to the
1 John Overall, 1559-1619 ; Bishop of Norwich, 1618. The opinion
quoted is attributed to him in that curious and sometimes con
tradictory collection of Notes on the Prayer-book, once believed to be
the work of Bishop Cosin, but the authorship of which is now a matter
of controversy. The Notes are to be found in vol. v. of the Works of
Cosin, in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology.
26 A PASTORAL BISHOP
use of the term " Mass " as applicable to the
Anglican Liturgy, in any of its forms ; he frequently
employed it himself, though always with prudent
regard to the prejudices and predilections of those
in whose company he might find himself.
But though the Bishop could thus accept as
convenient and allowable the use of the term Mass,
he had the very greatest dislike to the Ordinary
and Canon of the Roman Mass. His objection
was, that the wording of that Liturgy is incon
sistent with Catholic belief as to the Eucharist,
and it was based on those well-known passages
which, it must be confessed, Latin theologians have
the greatest difficulty in explaining at all, and of
which, perhaps, no explanation, really satisfactory
to modern minds, has ever been given. The Bishop
could not stand the high-sounding epithets applied
to the unconsecrated bread and wine at the
Offertory, which are in truth precisely the very
terms applied to them after they have been con
secrated, and adored, as Body and Blood of Christ.
Immaculata Hostia, and Calix salutaris, at the
Offertory ; Hostia immaculata, and Calix salutis,
after consecration. Nor could he abide the prayer
in the Canon (Supra quce, etc.), which seems to
ask that the Sacrifice presented in the Mass, which
is none other than an efficacious Memorial of
Christ s Oblation of Himself, may be regarded by
God as being acceptable in the same way as the
typical sacrifices offered by Abel, Abraham, and
Melchisedech. This seemed to him almost blas
phemous. The difficulties raised by these well-
known passages were, to the Bishop, insufferable.
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 27
Sacramental Confession was held in highest
esteem by the Bishop ; but he regarded it more as
a means of receiving assurance of pardon from one
who, by Christ s authority committed to him, had
power to absolve the penitent from all his sins,
than as a means of procuring spiritual guidance.
Absolution rather than direction, was the end the
Bishop sought for through Sacramental Confession.
I do not think that he ever materially altered the
view of this matter which he expressed in a letter
written in the earlier days of his ministry : " Am I
wrong, but I am so glad not to have any director ?
But I feel I cannot go often enough to Confession.
The oftener the better for peace of mind. Who
the priest is, I care exceedingly little, so long as he
is a respectable man. . . . The true Absolver is
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the true Director the
Holy Spirit. I get our Lord s pardon through the
priest, because He has so ordained it, but I think
the Holy Spirit works more through the public
preaching of the Word." Though the Bishop
both publicly and privately encouraged the use
of Sacramental Confession, he shrank from pressing
its use on the unwilling or half-unwilling ; he had
what some would think an exaggerated dread of
insincere confessions, which he looked on as
sacrileges, and he felt that it is better for a penitent
to make no confession at all, than to make one that
would be deliberately and intentionally incomplete.
This kind of dread, though eminently justifiable,
may obviously be allowed to influence unduly a
pastor s dealing with souls.
The Bishop s belief in the inspired character of
28 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the whole Scriptures was firm and sincere, and his
reverence for, and delight in, the Holy Bible were
profound. But in the course of years he was by
no means uninfluenced by the critical method of
treating the Scriptures which for a considerable
time ihas been so much in vogue among scholars,
both believing and sceptical. As regards the Old
Testament, he candidly confessed that he was quite
unable to deny that it presents many and serious
difficulties to the faith of the Christian believer.
Especially he felt that it is more than hard to
reconcile the character of the Almighty, as depicted
in the Books of the Old Law, with what is set
before us to be believed, in the New Testament, of
" the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
I remember that when we were preparing for
diocesan use a series of Epistles and Gospels for
week-days in Lent, he desired me to find a
substitute for Exod. xxxii. 7, etc., which the
Roman- S arum Missal assigns " for the Epistle " on
Tuesday after Mid-Lent Sunday. He said that
the representation there given of Jehovah being
turned from His declared purpose by force of the
poor motives urged on Him by Moses, was so
discordant with the character of the Almighty as
set before us by Christ, that he could not but
think that the history, as there recited, is some
legendary account that somehow has found its
way, like many others, into the Divine Scriptures.
He would not be responsible for setting forth this
passage from Exodus as a special lesson. With
regard to this, and other Old Testament difficulties,
the Bishop was full of confidence that the Holy
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 29
Spirit will in time reveal to the mind of the
Church how they ought to be regarded, and
reconciled with Catholic belief in the inspiration
of the Bible ; meanwhile, he was content to wait
for God s time for making these things plain.
He deeply regretted the amount of time and
attention usually given in the religious instruction
of the young to Old Testament subjects ; time and
attention which he considered out of proportion
with the care taken to ground children in the
knowledge of the Gospel story. Except so far
as it bears on the New Testament, the Bishop
was inclined to think it a matter of indifference
whether children are taught anything about the
Old Testament or not.
As to the New Testament, the Bishop followed
with care the opinions put forth by believing
critics as to the composition of the books that
compose it, and accepted or rejected their con
clusions according to the impression they made on
his mind. What (to be accurate) must be called
the " imaginings " rather than the " criticisms " of
the Loisy school seemed to him to be so absolutely
inconsistent with any belief in the Divine character
of the Gospels, that he hardly cared -to consider
what was propounded by writers of this school. It
did not seem to him to be worth while.
There are many who feel as the Bishop felt
about Biblical difficulties ; and some are apt
because of their inability to see a way out of them
to conclude that they have lost their faith, that
their religion is gone, and that there is nothing left
for them to do but to sink down into a hopeless
30 A PASTORAL BISHOP
agnosticism, or worse. It may help such to have
put before them the example of one whose faith
in Christ and His Church continued firm to the
end, but who nevertheless felt Old Testament
difficulties as keenly as any could feel them.
For the Saints the Bishop felt, and exhibited,
an earnest and profound reverence. He delighted
to celebrate their feast-days, to study their histories,
and in every way to perpetuate their memories.
Pictures, and other things that recalled them to
eye or mind, were sources of religious pleasure to
him.
Specially was all this the case with the Blessed
Mother of God. For her he felt something of that
" all but adoring love " of which Keble speaks.
He could well make his own, to the full extent of
till that the words imply, the exclamation of Bishop
Hall, " O Blessed Mary, he cannot bless thee, he
cannot honour thee too much, that deifies thee
not ! " I remember his objecting to a clause in a
Collect, which prayed that we might share in our
Lady s heavenly joys, on the ground that it was
presumptuous on our part to ask for a " share "
in the blessedness of " so exalted a personage."
And this reverence was not a matter of words
or sentiments only. In his private chapel a picture
of the Virgin and Child hangs to the left of the
Altar ; before it, on a shelf, flowers are placed,
and candles burn at times of prayer. The Bishop
approved of the erection of a similar shrine in his
parish church (St. Bride s, Onich), and of the
placing of a statue of the Virgin with her Divine
Child, in a chapel in his cathedral at Cumbrae, on
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 31
a pedestal which bears lights and flowers placed
before the image. In a letter which he wrote to
myself during a pastoral tour, he expressed the
pleasure which it gave him to find that Keble s
beautiful verses, " Ave Maria ! blessed Maid," were
sung in a church in his diocese.
Strange to say that with all this (which might
truly be called a cultus of the Blessed Virgin and
the Saints), the Bishop shrank from approving of
even the moderate amount of invocation involved
in the ora pro nobis. He was, of course, too
sound a Catholic, and too discriminating a theo
logian, to justify this repugnance on such foolish
grounds as, that such invocation is in itself an
offering to the creature of the homage due to God
alone, and so forth. But as to the authority for
the practice, the Bishop felt that if the Vincentian
rule were applied to it, direct invocation of Saints
could not claim to stand the test of quod semper.
On this subject he certainly allowed himself to be
haunted by the continual memory of the extra
vagant reliance which Latin Christians often appear
to put in the intercessions of the Saints, he never
seemed to be able to consider invocation apart from
these abuses. In his later years, however, the
Bishop considerably modified the vigour of his
objections to ora pro nobis, and such like mode
rately expressed invocations, and made many
admissions in answer to arguments urged in justi
fication of the practice. 1 The great strength of his
prejudice lay in the way in which certain prayers
1 He freely circulated and recommended a theological manual in
which invocations of the kind just mentioned are justified.
32 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to the Saints certainly do seem in words to ignore
the mediatorial office of the Incarnate Son, and his
zeal for the honour of Christ made him intolerant
towards such an abuse.
I do not think that the intricate questions
which have been raised as to the present condition
of those " who have gone before us with the sign
of Faith, and who slumber in the sleep of peace,"
engaged the Bishop s interest ; he was content to
think of the faithful departed as "with Christ,"
Who is " Lord both of the dead and living," and
Who is able and willing to make perfect the souls
for which He died. And so the Bishop loved to
commend in prayer the souls of those who have
passed hence to that Divine power and mercy,
specially when he offered "the Sacrifice of our
Ransom " for them, as St. Augustine says, when
speaking of the Mass celebrated at the funeral of
his mother.
I once showed the Bishop s, and my own, dearly
beloved friend, the llev. A. H. Mackonochie, a
wood-cut in a French illustrated Catechism, repre
senting the lost imprisoned among flames under
a grating, over which the word ^ETERNITAS
appears in fiery letters, and I remarked on the re-
pulsiveness of the representation. Mr. Mackonochie
agreed, and added, " Yes, one would like to be able
to think that all will at last find refuge in the
bosom of the Father." I repeated this to the
Bishop, who said he could not at all accept this
view of things. He thought that Scripture, as
understood by the Church, leaves us no alternative
but to believe that the final condemnation of the
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS 33
wicked will be everlasting, a doom from which
there can be no escape.
But (as I learned from several subsequent con
versations with him on the subject) the Bishop did
not think that the Bible and the Church require
us to believe that this irremediable punishment
will consist in the infliction on the lost for all
eternity of sensible torment in soul and body. He
said that the natural sense of justice which God
has implanted in our minds forbids us to think
that it would be just thus to punish even the most
inhuman monster that ever lived. This punish
ment would be out of all proportion with the offence.
A just God could not act thus, unless our sense
of justice be a deception. It is true that some
passages in the Bible seem to speak as if the final
doom of sinners will involve them in suffering, but
the general language of Scripture teaches us to
speak of and to regard that doom as a " death,"
as everlasting death. Now the idea of death is
inconsistent with the idea of continued conscious
ness. Death, as we know it, brings the cessation
of all consciousness in the dead body. Scripture,
too, sometimes speaks of the final doom as a de
struction. Destruction, again, is inconsistent w r ith
continued consciousness. Evil, and the finally
evil, will be struck with eternal death ; will be
destroyed. Scripture in many passages plainly
teaches this, and those passages which speak of
suffering should be explained by them, and not
vice versa.
When I asked the Bishop if he meant that the
finally evil would be annihilated, and if he had
D
34 A PASTORAL BISHOP
considered the difficulties that surround the con
templation of such a process as annihilation as
even possible? he replied, that he did not mean
to maintain anything that would fall under the
technical definition of annihilation. Death and
destruction, as we know them in this world, do
not involve annihilation, and we have no reason to
think that when these terms are used of something
that will take place in the other world that the
result there will be annihilation either. But to
speak of any creature that once was living as dead
or destroyed is inconsistent with the idea that it
continues in a condition of active suffering ; and
this was all that the Bishop contended for.
On Predestination and Election the Bishop s
mind inclined towards Augustinian or Thomist
doctrine ; but he shrank from any teaching that
would appear to imply arbitrary reprobation on
God s part. On this point the teaching of even
St. Thomas Aquinas seemed to him to be "a hard
saying."
CHAPTER III
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION
IN every religious body there are those who, having
been brought up in it, remain contentedly and
happily and conscientiously in it, greatly because,
for whatever reason, their minds have never been
really disturbed as to the rightfulness of their
ecclesiastical position. They may have heard argu
ments urged against it, but to their minds these
arguments appeared to be without weight, and so
did not trouble their consciences.
This was far from being the case with Bishop
Chinnery-Haldane. Brought up in the straitest
sect of Evangelical Orthodoxy, he worked his way
from a Protestant to the Catholic conception of
the Christian Faith. He could hardly have escaped,
in the course of time, having the claims of Rome
pressed on his attention. And he did not escape
this. Twice in his life he felt himself obliged
seriously to face the Roman question. And once,
at least, he had to give thought and prayer to a
careful examination of the validity of the Anglican
position, in itself, considered apart from the Roman
controversy. These periods were to him veritable
crises, and caused him keen perplexity, pain, and
distress. But he came out of them all satisfied
35
36 A PASTORAL BISHOP
that he was already where the Master called him
to be, and that therefore he was on the only
safe road.
But though he clung to the Anglican Church,
and devoted all his powers of body and mind, and
all the material resources at his disposal, to its
service, lavishly and without stint, it was not at
all because he had become convinced that it is a
Church in a perfect, or in anything like a perfect
condition. Indeed, speaking of one great source
of scandal among us, he said, that (as to this), " I
fear we are the most corrupt Church in the world."
The abuses connected with the sale of patronage
and with presentations to livings, which prevail in
the Church of England, drew this remark from
him. His devotion to the service of Christ in the
Anglican Communion was inspired by his matured
conviction that the Churches in that Communion
are in valid and essential oneness with the great
Catholic Church of Christ spread throughout the
world.
The scandals and corruptions which exist in
our Communion produced less effect on his allegi
ance because his study of ecclesiastical history had
very strongly impressed him with the fact, that at
no period, in any Church, had an ideal state of
things as to doctrine, morals, or discipline, prevailed.
The Church of Rome is shown in history to have
been just as liable to lapses on all three points as
any other Church. He looked on the search for a
perfect Church as an endeavour to discover Utopia.
A search for the non-existent. Wherever one
turns, wherever one goes, one must be prepared
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 37
for shortcomings, abuses, scandals ; to leave the
part of the Church in which one s lot is cast by
Providence because of the scandals there, is merely
unreasonable impatience. One may not find the
same scandals in another Church, but there will be
others as bad ; and if one doesn t see them, it will
only be because one doesn t choose to see them.
The conviction that all this is true, greatly
enabled the Bishop to preserve his stedfastness.
He was wont to comment on the curiously illogical
line of reasoning which some, who leave the Church
of England for Rome, seem to find convincing,
" The Church of England is wrong, therefore the
Church of Rome must be right." The one pro
position by no means demands the other as a
necessary consequence. The Bishop s practical
acquaintance with, and reverence for, the Eastern
Churches, enabled him to appreciate the fact that
where England may be in the wrong, Rome may be
in the wrong also ; the tertium quid which is the
right, may perhaps be discovered in the Oriental
Church.
With the Reformation and the Reformers of the
sixteenth century, the Bishop was entirely out of
sympathy. However much he may have valued
some of the things in doctrine and practice con
tended for then, and by them, he abhorred the
violence of the Reformers, their unrestrained and
abusive language, their unfairness in controversy.
He expelled their works from his library. I am
sure he would have subscribed willingly to Keble s
dictum, " Anything which separates the present
Church from the Reformers I should hail as a
38 A PASTORAL BISHOP
great good" (Liddon s "Life of Pusey," vol. ii.
p. 71).
Although an optimist by nature, the Bishop
was by no means optimistic in his estimate of the
whole state of Christ s Church, militant here in
earth. If there are corruptions and abuses in
England, so are there in Rome. He used to com
pare the condition, as to this, of the Anglican
Church to that of a person suffering from a
scorbutic disease ; the evil and the disfigurement it
causes are painfully and hideously obvious ; while
he compared the condition of Rome to that of a
person with fair unblemished skin, and beautiful
complexion, suffering internally from the ravages
of a consumptive malady. Anglicans are ever
ready " to wash their dirty linen in public ; " they
proclaim their scandals at the top of the street.
Romans, on the contrary, wisely keep theirs out
of sight ; but they exist for all that.
While the Bishop felt it to be our duty to bear,
and not to flee from, our own scandals, he was fair
enough to think the same with regard to Roman
Catholics. He was not enthusiastic about con
versions from Rome ; he never encouraged them.
For this reason he was hesitating in his sympathy
with the Old Catholic movement on the Continent.
He said had he been a Continental priest at the
time of the proclamation of the dogma of Papal
Infallibility, he would have done his utmost con
scientiously to accept whatever authority might
have put before him ; but if unable, he would
quietly have retired into private life, he could not
have aided any movement which to simple believers
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 39
would have had the appearance of schism, and
which might result in upsetting the faith of the
" little ones " of Christ. Of course there are other
views of this difficult matter, of which, perhaps, the
Bishop hardly appreciated the importance.
As years went on, while the Bishop came to
feel less and less that Rome had any attraction for
him, or any claim on his allegiance, he, at the same
time, became more and more gentle and tolerant in
his judgment of those who leave us for Rome. At
one time his attitude towards these deserters was
almost bitter in its severity. But all this passed
away, and yet personally he was no nearer to
Rome. I mentioned to him the case of a London
lady, who had been used to enjoy the religious
privileges afforded by such churches as St. Paul s,
Knightsbridge, and who was quite satisfied with all
that she found there ; circumstances compelled her
to reside permanently in the country, where the
only available Anglican church was in the hands
of an extreme Low Churchman ; she announced
her intention of joining the Roman Church, not in
the least (she said) because she had any real
attraction to anything specifically Roman, nor
because she was at all dissatisfied with anything in
the Anglican Church, as she had known it in
London, but simply because at the Roman Catholic
chapel near her she would be afforded the sacra
mental means of help and consolation which the
Prayer-book provides for, but which would be
denied her at the parish church. On hearing the
lady s resolution, the Bishop s comment was, " I
don t see what else she could do." And yet, it was
40 A PASTORAL BISHOP
about that same time that he said to me, " I could
almost more easily imagine myself turning Presby
terian than becoming a Roman Catholic ; I could
imagine that circumstances might compel me to
trust my soul to God s mercy, without the Sacra
ments, but I cannot imagine that anything could
make me accept what I should have to accept were
I to become a Roman Catholic." He could see
that another might feel conscientiously obliged to
take a line that would be impossible to himself.
He did not regard his own bushel as the measure
for every one s corn.
One thing which the Bishop especially felt that
it would be impossible for him frankly to accept,
and which he would have had to accept had he
submitted to Roman authority, was the position
accorded, practically at least, to the Blessed Virgin
and the Saints in the economy of grace by
preachers, by theological writers, and in books of
devotion, in the Roman communion. He felt
(especially with regard to our Lady) that the
powers ascribed to saintly intercession by Roman
Catholics, go beyond what can reasonably be
looked for from " the effectual fervent prayers " of
creatures making petition for each other.
And can those who know what is the teaching
of such books as " The Glories of Mary " say that
there was no reason for the Bishop s strong feeling
in the matter ? One of the last conversations
which 1 had with him, before he lay down to die,
was occasioned by a print sent to me from Italy,
which represents our Lady protecting a number of
devotees beneath the ample folds of her mantle,
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 41
while her Divine Son appears from heaven above
darting forked lightning at the cowering crowd ;
but His thunderbolts fall harmless, they are broken
at their contact with the Protectress s mantle.
What can the moral of such a picture be, except
that we should seek to Mary to save us from
Jesus ?
The Bishop knew that many aboriginal Roman
Catholics who are loyally devoted to their Church,
acknowledge (at least privately) that things of
this kind are intensely repugnant to them. As
everybody is not born to try to set right everything
that he sees to be wrong, the Bishop quite under
stood that these good men may feel it their duty
to keep silence about many things which they
cannot approve of, but which they cannot mend.
But he felt that any one voluntarily submitting
to the Roman Church is morally responsible for
accepting ex ammo all that he may find there (at
least, all that is prescribed or knowingly allowed
by authority), and the Bishop knew that he could
not honestly appear to accept the cultus of our
Lady and the Saints as it prevails under the pro
tection of authority in the Roman communion.
As regards Presbyterian and other Protestant
Churches, the Bishop recognized the fact that the
vast majority of those who belong to them have
simply inherited their ecclesiastical position, as a
tradition some three hundred years old ; it would
be absurd, then, to regard them as morally or
spiritually responsible for being in separation from
the Catholic and Apostolic Church. He found it
easy, with his strongly Evangelical tone of mind,
42 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to believe that a sincere personal belief in, and
devotion to, our Lord would compensate in their
case for whatever might be amiss with regard to their
attitude towards the Visible Church. He delighted
to discover community in faith and devotion in
his intercourse with individual Protestants.
But this feeling, though it was very strong, did
not prevent the Bishop from being sure that it is
impossible, consistently with fidelity to the Truth,
to do anything to promote ecclesiastical co-opera
tion, between the Anglican Church and Presbyterian
and other Protestant bodies. Such a co-operation
must involve disloyalty to important principles on
both sides.
So warm a heart, so full of the love of God
and man, as that of Bishop Chinnery-Haldane,
could not but be attracted by anything that seemed
to tend towards the reunion of the separated ser
vants of Christ, and he willingly joined in an asso
ciation which has been formed, and which includes
both Anglicans and Presbyterians, the object of
which is to promote mutual prayer for reunion,
together with conferences having the same object
in view. But after some experience of its working,
in one of the last letters which I had from him
(before the fatal disease which ended his life had
declared itself), he expressed a doubt as to whether
the association were not likely to do more harm
than good. This doubt is worthy of serious con
sideration. One unfortunate result possible in the
case of plans honestly intended to bring about re
union is, not a reasoned demonstration of the
actual existence of points of agreement, but a
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 43
mere blurring in men s minds of the lines of
demarcation which divide opposed principles from
each other, an obfuscation which creates a sort of
feeling that nothing is quite true, and nothing
quite erroneous, and that consequently it doesn t
much matter what Church you belong to ; this,
instead of helping to bring about wholesome, high-
principled agreement in ecclesiastical matters, only
feeds that miserable indifference which is the bane
of present-day religion. There is reason at least
to fear that this serious danger may beset some of
the praiseworthy efforts in the direction of reunion
which have been attempted in Scotland.
It would be impossible to deny (and there is
no occasion to do so) that the Bishop was what,
in the popular sense of the term, would be called
"a ritualist." To a man of his respectful, reve
rential mind, strongly imbued with Catholic belief,
Catholic ceremonial naturally appealed, as afford
ing a seemly and appropriate method of exhibiting
religious sentiment. To the Bishop, what is (with
technical inexactness) called " ritual," was a means
of asserting that his belief in Christ, His Church,
His Sacraments, was that of the Catholic Church
throughout the world. Hence, though he took
great and intelligent interest in Christian antiquities,
and in the study of ecclesiology in general, and
subscribed to societies having the elucidation and
investigation of these matters as their aim, yet in
the practical ordering of ceremonial, the Bishop
always gave decided preference to modern Con
tinental use and wont, over customs revived out
of dead and buried antiquity. He said to me, " If
44 A PASTORAL BISHOP
I had two usages before me, one obsolete and
antique, the other in living use and modern, I
should say, all oilier things being equal, by all
means adopt the modern." On the appearance of
a little work which endeavoured, while advocating
what is commonly called "ritual," to put it in a
non-Roman light, he wrote to me, " Why should
we be too cowardly to admit, that to an obvious
imitation of Rome in ceremonial matters during
the last fifty years, we owe most of the outward
improvements in public worship now generally
approved of?"
With regard to the exact observance of the
rubrics of the Common Prayer-book, and of other
authorized directions, the Bishop s attitude was
one of strictness tempered by common sense. He
had a disgusted contempt for the spirit (occasionally
alas ! manifested by some priests) which leads them
to disregard clearly expressed rubrics out of mere
wilfulness, because they like some other way of
doing things better, or are too careless and in
different to take ^the pains to observe the letter
of what is prescribed to them. But at the same
time, he always practically acted on the principle
that the rubrics are made for man, and not man
for the rubrics. Of course he would never have
tolerated any tampering with those rubrics which
prescribe something which belongs to the tradition
of the whole Catholic Church of Christ. But with
regard to rubrics of a less sacred character, he
allowed very free modifications in their observance ;
he suffered and practised many omissions, sub
stitutions, additions, and abbreviations, with regard
ECCLESIASTICAL POSITION 45
to prescribed forms, if edification or charity called
for them, or if there seemed to be any other serious
weighty reason why the exact observance of the
letter of a rubric or rubrics might be dispensed
with. As an instance of this, it may be mentioned,
that as the Scottish Liturgy contains no rubric
requiring the participation of communicants at
every celebration, the Bishop was in the habit (as
has been already noticed) of celebrating, and of
encouraging others to celebrate, even when no one
present was prepared to communicate with the
celebrant. On these occasions the Bishop omitted
the Short Exhortation, Confession, Absolution,
and Comfortable Words, and he permitted others
to practise this omission on suitable occasions.
This omission must surely be held to be justified
by common sense, even if strict rubricians would
frown on it.
The Bishop felt very strongly that the mind
of the Catholic Church, as expressed by Councils,
and in Canons, was opposed to the marriage of
ordained persons. As he had himself married before
Ordination, he considered that he was morally free
to let his feeling in this matter rule his conduct
when (for instance) he was asked to officiate at
a clerical marriage. He always declined to do so.
If he knew that an ordinand was engaged to be
married, he required that the marriage should pre
cede the Ordination. I remember an amusing
correspondence with the future father-in-law of
an ordinand, in which the beau pere that was to
be showed great nervous anxiety lest his daughter s
fiance should, after marriage, fail to pass the Bishop s
46 A PASTORAL BISHOP
examination. The mixture of courtesy and per
sistence which the Bishop knew so well how to
employ, on occasion, enabled him to carry his
point, without offending anybody, in this instance,
as in many another difficulty of similar or different
kind.
CHAPTER IV
FAMILY HISTORY : EARLY LIFE, 1842-1866
THE Haldanes of Gleneagles in Perthshire hold
honourable rank among the distinguished families
of Scotland. The family is probably of Norse
origin. Passing by legendary accounts of its
earlier history, we are put on to sure ground by
a charter, still in the possession of the family,
granted by King William the Lion, in the twelfth
century, to Roger de Haldane, securing to him
certain lands, part of the Gleneagles estate. This
charter is one of the earliest of Scottish feudal
records still extant.
The name of Haldane is not conspicuous in the
annals of the history of Scotland, though members
of the family, from time to time, were entrusted
with various posts of honour, and took a more or
less active part in the political events of their
period. The family, however, maintained a good
position in the country, and became, in the course
of generations, connected by marriages with the
noble or baronial families of Graham, Arnott, Mar,
Seton, Monteith, Montrose, Lawson, Perth, Glen-
cairn, Hume, Tullibardine, Wemyss, Lovat, Grant,
Strathallan, and Erskine of Alva.
To the average Englishman, even though he be
47
48 A PASTORAL BISHOP
an Evangelical, the name of Haldane does not
suggest anything in particular as regards religion,
and to the younger generation in Scotland the
name has scarcely any such special significance.
But this was not the case a generation or two ago.
In those days the name of Haldane meant in
Scotland almost the same as that which the names
of Wesley and Whitfield signify (or have signified)
in England.
The cause thereof was this. At the end of the
eighteenth century the family of Haldane was
represented by two brothers
Robert Haldane, born 1764 ;
James Alexander Haldane, born 1768.
Both these gentlemen entered the Royal Navy,
and both, after a short period of service, retired.
Both of them became convinced of the supreme
importance of Evangelical religion, which in their
own opinion, and in that of others, was almost
dead, and almost entirely discredited, in the
Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland of
that day. The brothers, therefore, felt themselves
called upon to preach the religion which had
assumed so great an empire over their own souls.
Like many who adopt similar opinions, the brothers
JJaldane did not think they needed any other
authorization for the undertaking of this work,
than the Divine call which they conceived had
come into their own souls. They accordingly
journeyed through the length and breadth of the
land, preaching the Gospel (as they understood it),
and gathering congregations of those who accepted
their message. Their work naturally excited
FAMILY HISTORY 49
extreme opposition on the part of those who did
not sympathize with their views ; but the work
prospered extensively. The brothers sacrificed
everything for the furtherance and development
of their pious schemes. Time, money, lands, social
advantages, were all given up without stint that
the work might gain. It is reckoned that in twelve
years, Robert Haldane spent 70,000 on the work
of a society formed to propagate Evangelical
religion. The theology favoured by the brothers
was of the most extreme Calvinistic type, and they
both eventually practically adopted the views of
the Baptist sect. Their influence became enor
mous, not only in Scotland and England, but
also in the Protestant Churches of France and
Switzerland.
It is difficult to see that any permanent result,
the direct outcome of the brothers labours, remains
as a monument of their work. The Edinburgh
" Tabernacle," the scene of many of their spiritual
triumphs, has long been known, under that name,
as a noted emporium of second-hand furniture.
But their sympathizers would no doubt say (and
perhaps rightly), that the inestimable indirect
results of their labours are a sufficient reward for
all that was done.
Be all this as it may, this is not the place to
pursue the subject further. We may here go on to
note that
Robert Haldane, who died in 1842, left no male
issue.
James Alexander Haldane, who died in 1851,
was twice married. By these marriages he became
E
50 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the father of fifteen children. The eldest surviving
son of these was
Alexander Haldane, of the Inner Temple,
Barrister-at-law ; he died in 1882 ; he married
Emma, youngest daughter of Mr. Joseph Hard-
castle. He was the father of six children ; of these
five were daughters ; the youngest was a son, who
became Alexander, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles ;
the subject of this Memoir.
This son was born on August 14, 1842, at
Hatcham, which at that time was hardly the
suburb of London which it has since become, but
was rather a rural neighbourhood, in which many
gentlemen s residences were pleasantly situated.
As the Haldane family were so conspicuously
committed to Baptist principles, it is hard to say
why, but so it was, the child was baptized in
infancy according to the rites of the Church of
England, by Viscount Midleton, Dean of Exeter,
in the parish church of Deptford ; for at that time
Hatcham was ecclesiastically within the parish of
Deptford. At the font the child received the
united names of his famous ancestors, and was
christened James Robert Alexander. By his
family and friends he was, however, always desig
nated by the last of these names only.
Young Haldane received the earlier part of his
education at home ; and with regard to one of
his tutors some curious circumstances may be
mentioned. The services of a gentleman were
engaged mainly for the boy s instruction in the
classical tongues. The tutor was known to be an
Austrian subject, and a political refugee, but it was
EARLY LIFE 51
neither known nor suspected that he was a Roman
Catholic, and a priest ; this, however, was the case.
During his intercourse with the Haldane family, he
gave no indication of his faith or of his profession,
nor did he in any way endeavour to influence his
pupil s religious opinions. At some time, after his
tutorial engagement was ended, this clergyman was
able to return to his native country, where he
obtained a good position, and eventually became
Bishop of Pressburg, in which capacity he received
in after years a visit from his former pupil, whom
he welcomed with great affection. If the pupil,
while pursuing his studies, put inconvenient
questions, or made inconvenient remarks, the
prudent tutor would reply, " If you wish to know
anything about politics, ask your father ; if you
wish to know anything about religion, ask your
mother ; if you wish to know anything about Latin
or Greek, ask me."
After a time of home education, Haldane went
to live at Bury St. Edmunds with a married sister,
and attended the Grammar School there. He has
told myself, and others, that his school life was to
him a most unhappy experience. Not from any
unfeeling harshness on the part of masters, nor
from ill-treatment by fellow-pupils, but simply
because the whole thing was intensely distasteful
to him. There is a wide- spread tradition among
grown-up people that a boy s school life is the
happiest period of his existence, and poor young
Haldane (like, perhaps, most boys) sometimes had
said to him, by well-meaning friends, " Remember
this is the happiest time of your life." He used
52 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to think, as he related in after years, " If this is
the happiest time of my life, what a dreadful tiling
life must be ! "
Grown-up people, because they see that boys
run about, and shout, and laugh, and seem easily
pleased, are too apt to conclude that there are no
depths in boy nature. The inward sufferings which
some of these apparently careless, light-hearted
creatures are capable of, God and His Angels only
know. The boyhood of some may be as shallow
as it seems, but this is not the case with all. It
was not the case with young Haldane, whose school
life was a time of continual secret suffering, though
it is not on record that any one ever suspected
this.
Such was the case, yet it is not easy to see
why it was the case. From the very first, all the
boy s tastes were manly. He was no moody
dreamer fond of indoor hobbies. He loved life
in the open air, he rode, he shot, he rowed, he
delighted in athletic exercises. True, he never
cared much for games, but one would have thought
that his other interests would have put him in har
mony with at least one phase of school life ; but
it did not. He was more than averagely fond of
reading and study, so the other, the scholastic,
phase of school life could not have been the cause
of his intense distaste for the whole. In after
years he confessed (as has been noted elsewhere)
to a complete and instinctive lack of sympathy
with the life and ways of youth, and especially of
young men and boys, and it probably was the early
working in his mind of whatever was the cause
UNIVERSITY LIFE 53
of this characteristic that put him so miserably out
of inward harmony with his school surroundings.
But all things come to an end ; school life,
whether happy or unhappy, can only last for a
strictly limited period. At length the time came
when a profession must be chosen for the young
Haldane; his father wished his son to follow his
own profession, and to train for the practice of the
law. To this the youth had no objection, and he
went to Trinity College, Cambridge, with the view
of eventually becoming a barrister.
Haldane s college career seems to have been
simply unremarkable ; it was neither a failure, nor
a striking success. At this period of his life the
higher and stronger features of his character do
not seem to have made themselves conspicuous
even to his intimate friends. One who knew him
well at this time (the Rev. C. S. P. Darroch,
Vicar of St. Thomas, Southborough) writes of
him thus :
" My recollections of my dear old friend, Aleck
Haldane, at Trinity, Cambridge, are all of the
pleasantest nature. I think that I may say that
I was one of his most intimate friends. Reference
to my old diary shows how many were the even
ings which we spent together in his rooms or my
own, how many the walks we enjoyed together.
The two features of his character which dwell
chiefly in my memory, are his simple piety and
his unfailing good humour. For some considerable
time four of us kept up a little Bible reading.
Alas ! I am now the sole survivor of that small
band. Although we had not met for years, the
news of his illness and death came upon me with
54 A PASTORAL BISHOP
a keen sense of personal loss. Such simple-minded,
God-fearing men are as the salt and light of a
corrupt and dark world, and we can ill spare them.
The memory of the just is blessed."
Though unhappy at school, Haldane evidently
enjoyed university life. He was careful and diligent
in his studies ; his favourite recreation was boating,
in which exercise he attained some distinction.
His home letters, at this time, are full of the
pleasure which his life is giving him.
It will be worth while to give a few extracts
from these letters, as they show, better than any
thing else could show, the fresh wholesome interest
he took in the things which concerned his college
life in its various aspects.
The following, with its bright little sketch of
Kingsley, is from a letter written November 21,
1862 :-
" This has been the last afternoon of the Colqu-
liouns. Only two men were left in, B. of Christ s,
and L. the Eton freshman, who yesterday bumped
out P. who has till now held a great reputation
up here. All knew that the race of this afternoon
would be a mere farce, as B. had a poor chance
with his antagonist, who is a wonderful sculler,
and one of the handsomest men I have seen for
some time. He is something between a boy and
a man, and stands about six feet ; his back is won
derfully straight, and his chest broad and muscular.
His complexion is dark but ruddy, and he has a
good crop of thick black hair. On account of the
certainty of his success, the bank was not so much
crowded as usual, but among the few spectators
who were hanging about the boats before the start,
UNIVERSITY LIFE 55
I recognized the face and voice of your friend, the
Rev. Charles Kingsley, who was deeply engrossed
in an earnest but, on his part, stammering discourse
on the distress in the North. At the moment I
heard him he was saying something about the
wages of the mill workmen. A minute after he
cleared at a bound a ditch which separated the
river s bank from a green meadow, and so ended
his discourse. To-morrow night there is to be a
meeting of all the old Bury and Ipswich men in
my rooms to discuss the Scratch Fours, which I
hope will be rowed on Monday should all be well."
" March 4, 1863.
" I have had two great irons in the fire, the
boat and the Little-go. The first has been taken
out to-day, the last race having been rowed. I
always think there is something melancholy in the
breaking up of a crew after rowing and breakfast
ing together for a long time. Most likely we shall
never all pull together again. However, on Friday
we are to have a sort of farewell breakfast together
for the last time. The races lasted three days, and
we leave our boat exactly in the same place we
found it on the river, having neither gained nor lost
a place.
" The other great iron has to be in the fire
several days longer, though it is already getting
very hot. Monday, the 16th, is the first morning
of the examination," etc.
" October 28, 1863.
" You would have liked to have been with me
this morning. I have just returned from a lecture
by your friend K[ingsley], the first of a set I mean
to attend. They are to be on the destruction of
the Roman power by the Teutons. [Here follows
a short well- written precis of the lecture.] . . .
56 A PASTORAL BISHOP
The Backs with their rich mingling foliage of red,
brown, and green, are in their glory. These are
the colours of the chestnuts. The elms are green
patched with yellow. As the season advances, the
green will disappear first, the red and yellow will
follow, and then brown will become predominant.
But these colours remind one of the far more
brilliant hues of the North, etc. [This careful
observation and keen appreciation of the beauty of
nature, was characteristic of the writer to the end
of his life.] ... I have now to hurry down to the
river. There appear to be no drag-hounds this
term, which is a bother, as rowing is very slow with
the untutored freshmen who can t yet have a notion
of pulling."
"Novembers, 1863.
" I have been to another of Kingsley s lectures.
It was on the sacking of Rome by the barbarians,"
etc. [A long precis of the lecture follows.]
i February 3, 1864.
" I have been this morning to my first law
lecture. It was given in the same room in
which the great K[ingsley] used to hold forth on
the Goths. This time the subject was not so
entertaining."
" February 19, 1864.
" I have been rowing in the races yesterday and
to-day. They end to-morrow. Our boat made its
bump yesterday, and rowed over without being
touched to-day."
It was in 1864 that Haldane took his LL.B.
degree.
Those who only became acquainted with the
Bishop in his later years, will have difficulty in
UNIVERSITY LIFE 57
recognizing that the often careworn-looking prelate,
earnestly occupied with the most serious things of
life, whom they knew, could be one and the same
with the light-hearted undergraduate, so interested
in all that concerns the art of rowing, who wrote
the letters from which the above extracts are
taken.
As it was about this time that Haldane became
possessor of a relic still carefully preserved, and
much prized in his family, it may be well to give
the following quotation from a letter which records
his acquisition of the treasure :
" September 24, 18G3.
" Have you heard of my luck ? The great Mrs.
Oliphant, of Gask, has given me part of the lock
of the Prince s hair, celebrated in Lady Nairn s
song about the Auld House of Gask, in the
following words
e And the Leddy, too, sae gently
There sheltered Scotland s Heir.,
And clipt a lock wi her ain hand
Frae his lang yellow hair. "
The following excerpt from a letter written
about this time, will give an idea of young Mr.
Haldane s literary tastes at this period of his life :
"Trin. Coll. Camb., February 26, 1864.
" I have been studying Milton a good deal of
late. Of all his poetry, I like L Allegro and II
Penseroso the best. They present a succession of
most graphic word pictures. Lycidas, too, is
beautiful, but all these poems require careful con
sideration before they can be fully appreciated.
AV., whom you met at B. s, came in to tea a few
nights ago, and read some Milton with me. He is
58 A PASTORAL BISHOP
a fellow of great refinement, a great admirer of the
poets of the English Augustan age, and also of
Tennyson and his school. He holds liberal views
of religion, and feels after truth like the ancient
pagan philosophers. What a folly to seek for what
is already revealed !
"Like all of that school, he undervalues Sir
Walter Scott s poetry, which made me read him a
few passages to see whether he really could resist
their beauty.
" To me, Sir W. Scott seems to combine all
beauties. There is a sweet music in the measure,
and the poetry itself goes to the heart, while it
is ever presenting before the eyes of the mind,
pictures which are almost more charming than
reality."
But events were at hand which were destined
completely to change the course of young Haldane s
life. The Haldane family had moved to London,
and resided in Westbourne Terrace. In the social
circle which they frequented in London they became
acquainted with the family of an Irish baronet, the
Rev. Sir Nicholas Chinnery, of Flintfield, County
Cork. Sir Nicholas had an only daughter and
heiress, Anna Elisabeth Frances Margaretta. Mr.
Haldane s only son and Sir Nicholas Chinnery s
only daughter were much of the same age, they were
frequently thrown together, what more natural
than that they should become attached to each
other ? This, in fact, happened, and soon after
taking his degree young Mr. Haldane was married
to Miss Chinnery, by her father, in St. John s
Church, Paddington. This was in 1864. As the
bride was heiress to a considerable fortune, it was
MARRIAGE 59
stipulated, by her family, that her husband should
add the surname of Chinnery after his own ; this
was effected by Royal Warrant.
The young couple after their marriage spent
a much longer time than the usual honeymoon in
travelling and visits before settling down in a home
of their own. One of their visits was to Cloan
Den, 1 in Perthshire, the residence of the bride
groom s uncle, the late Mr. Robert Haldane, the
father of the Rt. Hon. Richard Burdon Haldane,
now (1906) Secretary of State for War. Here the
bride made the acquaintance of many members
of her husband s family, and received the kindest
of receptions ; a very happy time was spent.
A year or so later the newly married pair went
to make visits among Mrs. Haldane- Chinnery s
relations in Ireland ; this expedition produced im
portant and unexpected results, for it was during
the course of it that young Mr. Haldane- Chinnery
came to the conviction that he was called upon to
change his vocation. What exactly led him to
this conclusion no one knows, but one day he sur
prised his wife by asking her if she would be
opposed to his taking Holy Orders. On learning
that she was ready to acquiesce in his desire, he
treated the matter as settled, and in due time
communicated his resolution to his father, who
viewed the matter favourably. Mr. Haldane, who
was a prudent as well as a sincerely religious man,
was most likely more easily moved to favour his
son s change of profession as he was himself at
that time in close association, in many ways, with
1 Now known simply as* Cloan.
CO A PASTORAL BISHOP
the well-known Earl of Shaftesbury, who was for
so long practically the dispenser of State eccle
siastical patronage.
The change of vocation being now an accepted
fact, Mr. Haldane-Chinnery returned with his
wife to Cambridge that, under a well-known
tutor of the day, he might read for Holy Orders.
Out of a certain delicacy of feeling, he was for
a time anxious that it should not be known that
he had originally been destined to the Bar, as he
feared it might be thought that he had turned to
the Church only because he had failed in the Law ;
this, of course, was not at all the case, and his
original vocation was a fact that could hardly be
kept out of sight.
It was about the time of his change of vocation
that another change, which had been for some time
working and developing in Haldane-Chinnery s
mind, began to take definite shape. He had been
brought up in the straitest sect of Orthodox Pro
testant Evangelicalism, but for some years his mind
had been moving in the direction of the Catholic
conception of religion. What were the influences
which brought about this change can hardly be
said to be known.
As I myself passed from Orthodox Evangeli
calism to Catholicism I may, perhaps, be excused
if I here once more refer to my personal experi
ences ; I fancy they may throw some light on the
way in which a change came over young Mr.
Haldane-Chinnery s opinions. The older Evan
gelicals had a very singular way of treating the
Prayer-book. It was lauded to the skies, and
ORDINATION 61
esteemed as next in value to the Bible. I remember
that the sentiment, " With the Bible in your right
hand, and the Prayer-book in your left, you can
hardly go wrong in religion," was warmly applauded
among Evangelicals. Our Liturgy was scriptural,
incomparable, pure, primitive, " almost inspired."
But when those who used these high-sounding
praises were compelled to particularize, it was
found that the laudations were only meant to
apply to those portions of the Prayer-book which
are usually read at the ordinary morning and
evening services on Sundays. The sacramental
teaching of the Prayer-book, especially in the
Catechism, and the whole scheme of devotion set
forth in it, with its round of daily offices, holy-days,
feasts, and fasts, were regarded with contempt or
even with abhorrence ; much of the sacramental
teaching was accounted blasphemous, while the
ordered round of devotion was at best "unspiritual."
How the Evangelicals managed to combine their
horror of the system set forth in the Prayer-book
with their professed admiration of portions of the
services in it, I never discovered. As I have said
before, I am not at present very closely in touch
with Evangelical feeling, but that it was such as
I describe it, at the time I speak of, I know from
intimate experience. When those who had been
educated in this strangely inconsistent way of
regarding the Prayer-book began to use their own
judgment, what sometimes happened was this, they
did not see why the ardent approval bestowed on
the limited portion read from the Prayer-book on
Sundays should not be extended to it as a whole ;
62 A PASTORAL BISHOP
investigation led them to accept the sacramental
teaching and the devotional system as consonant
with Scripture, and spiritually edifying, and so
they were led, simply by sincerely accepting the
Prayer-book as a whole, to the Catholic conception
of the religion of Christ. This was the history of
my own transit from Evangelicalism to Catholicism.
The influence of neither man nor woman had any
thing to do with it ; I was sent to the Prayer-book, I
went to it, and it taught me the Catholic religion.
I expect this has been the experience of many a
one beside myself, and I suspect that this would
more or less exactly describe the way in which the
transit of Haldane-Chinnery came about, for one
can learn nothing of any friend or teacher who
can be supposed to have been the originating
cause of the change which took place in his religious
opinions.
This much is certain, however, that the circum
stances which accompanied his Ordination and his
entry on clerical life tended very strongly to
accentuate and stereotype his change from Pro
testant to Catholic views of religion.
When the time came for Haldane-Chinnery to
seek a title for Holy Orders, Dr. Charles Anthony
Swainson, the Norrisian Professor of Divinity, who
had heard him well reported of, recommended him
to a friend of his own, the Rev. John Duncan, at
present Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral, and
then, as now, Vicar of Came in Wiltshire. The
title offered by Mr. Duncan was accepted; this
involved Ordination by the Bishop of Salisbury, in
whose diocese Calne is situated. Both the Bishop
ORDINATION 63
at that time (W. K. Hamilton) and the Vicar were
pronounced High Churchmen, and their influence
on the young ordinand not only strengthened any
tendencies in a Catholic direction which he already
experienced, but opened to him in many ways new
views of the truth and beauty of Catholic religion.
And here, for a while, I lay aside my pen, in
order to allow the story of Mr. Haldane-Chinnery s
ministry at Calne to be told by Canon Duncan,
the man better qualified than any other to tell
what has now to be told.
To my own loss, my personal acquaintance
with Canon Duncan is of the slightest. I have
never, in correspondence or conversation with him,
exchanged memories or opinions concerning the
late Bishop s character ; what he has kindly written
in the following pages has been written without
any knowledge of what is here written by me.
I mention this because, as so much that Canon
Duncan writes exactly corresponds with what is
said in this memoir by myself, without this expla
nation, any ordinary reader might quite naturally
conclude that we have written in collaboration,
which has not been the case.
I may add beforehand to that which Canon
Duncan writes, that Haldane-Chinnery spent the
whole night preceding his Ordination as deacon
in vigil on Salisbury Plain, fasting and praying
amid the solemn pillars of Stonehenge, till the
sun rose on his Ordination day.
CHAPTER V
CALNE, 1866-1868
By the REV. JOHN DUNCAN, M.A., Prebendary of Salisbury
Cathedral, Vicar of Calne, and Rural Dean
IN 1866 the late Bishop of Argyll and the Isles
(he was then called Mr. Haldane-Chinnery) was
ordained at Salisbury, at the Trinity Ordination,
by Bishop Hamilton, to the curacy of Calne, in
Wiltshire. He had shortly before taken his degree
at Cambridge. The curacy had been suggested to
him by the Rev. Dr. Swainson, one of the Pro
fessors of Divinity, who had been Principal of
Chichester Theological College when the Vicar of
Calne was a student there. Mr. and Mrs. Haldane-
Chinnery consented to occupy, for a time, a very
small and inadequate house. Their life in Calne
began with a great sorrow. Their baby girl, of
about two months old, died in a few weeks after
they came to Calne. Her body was laid in the
Trinity churchyard. A white marble cross marks
the grave. The inscription on it was composed by
Sir Nicholas Chinnery, Mrs. Haldane-Chinnery s
father, and is in these words: "Agnes Elizabeth
Haldane-Chinnery. Born May 6, 1866; baptized
into Christ, June 4 ; died July 5, 1866."
Mr. Haldane-Chinnery was specially attached
64
CALNE 65
to the church of the Holy Trinity, a chapel of ease
to the parish church. His work was chiefly among
people of the artisan and labourer classes.
He came to Calne a young man, bright, and
full of life and hope, with the vigour and buoyancy of
youth and good health. His face had a singularly
attractive expression of guilelessness and purity.
He at once prepossessed people in his favour.
He was a delightful colleague and an invaluable
assistant, devoted to his work and unwearied in it ;
always ready and cheerful ; courteous, loyal, affec
tionate ; a true friend and brother ; a man whom
one instantly loved, and loved more and more as
time and circumstance proved the truth, the
courage, the unselfishness, the devoutness of his
nature. Every association with him gave pleasure ;
every memory of him is sweet and tender, " as
tender as infancy and grace."
Mr. Haldane-Chinnery, in coming to Calne at
the time when he did, was placed in an unusually
difficult position for a young man of fervent con
victions. Not very many years before there had
been a good deal of Unitarianism in Calne. It was
a common thing for people to go to church in the
morning and to the Unitarian chapel in the evening,
the difference between the faith of the Church and
Unitarianism being regarded as of little importance.
Afterwards, for about forty years, the teaching of
the clergy of the parish had been in conformity
with a rigid Calvinism. The dominant party in
the Church and parish was vehemently Calvinistic.
Its members, while calling themselves Churchmen
and coming to church, avowed that they did not
F
66 A PASTORAL BISHOP
believe the Prayer-book. And so Mr. Haldane-
Chinnery found himself in a position of great
delicacy when he began work in Calne as a newly
ordained deacon.
About three months after his coming to Calne,
in the absence of the Vicar, Mr. Haldane-Chinnery
visited the workhouse. He had procured some
copies of Albert Durer s " Crucifixion," and gave
them away to the people in his district. Some of
them he gave to the old people in the workhouse,
and they were greatly pleased with them. One
old man pasted a copy on a piece of wood and
hung it up in the living room ; others fastened the
pictures with a pin to the walls. On the Vicar s
return, he received from the clerk to the guardians
a parcel containing these pictures, and a letter with
these words : " Extract from minutes of guardians
meeting, held August 29, 1866. The guardians,
on visiting the workhouse this morning, observed
that over the mantelpiece of some of the sick wards
there were engravings representing the Crucifixion,
which, on inquiry, they found had been placed
there by the Rev. A. Haldane-Chinnery. It was
resolved, that as the guardians consider the intro
duction of these or similar representations are (sic)
contrary to the principles of the Established Church,
the master be instructed to return the same, and
also be directed to see that this or similar proceed
ings are not repeated." So the poor people had to
be contented with pictures of " The Owl," " Nose
rings and ear-rings," and other like cheerful illustra
tions. Mr. Haldane-Chinnery was not agitated
by these and other similar storms. He went on
CALNE 67
calmly and earnestly with his daily pastoral work,
for which the graces of his soul and the beauty of
his character supremely fitted him. His earnest
Evangelical teaching could not but win those who
held the true faith of the Church in Jesus Christ.
Even those Church people who had no faith in the
Church, felt the power of the Gospel which he
preached. Some of them remonstrated with him
because his teaching was not Calvinistic, and he
listened to them with patience and courtesy.
When, however, one of them introduced into his
argument the name of Mr. Haldane-Chinnery s
father, he drew himself up, bowed stiffly, and
abruptly left him.
His profound faith in God expressed itself in the
reverence with which he conducted divine service.
He was as one who saw the invisible. While his
reading was free from the slowness of a later period
of his life, which was perhaps excessive, it was marked
from the first by a reverential recollectedness.
His conviction of the truth of the Catholic
faith, and of the authority of the Catholic Church,
was already well developed when he came to Calne.
His faith in the Real Presence of our Lord in the
Holy Eucharist was firm and intense. Simplicity,
solemnity, and absorption were evident in the
devoutness with which at first he assisted at the
Holy Eucharist and afterwards celebrated it. The
reverence of his voice, and of his movements, indi
cated a conviction of the Majesty of God and his
own unworthiness. He celebrated the Eucharist
with a great joy, finding in it the Presence of the
Lord Jesus and all that his soul desired.
68 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Soon after he came to Calne, he made his first
private Confession. It was made at Oxford to Dr.
Pusey. It became a habit of his life, for he believed
in Confession and Absolution as a habitual means
of grace He did not, however, urge it indiscrimi
nately, in private or in public. It was specially
the Absolution received after Confession which he
valued. He sought for it frequently and anywhere.
Direction, in the Roman sense of the word, he did
not value; indeed he disliked and disparaged it.
Of his private prayers and intercessions, to which
he gave much time, it is not for me to speak.
His belief in sacramental grace made him very
earnest in persuading parents to bring their children
to Holy Baptism, and in drawing persons who only
attended morning or evening service to become
communicants in the Body and Blood of the Lord.
This faith and his earnest temperament combined,
at this period of his life, to make him somewhat too
urgent in respect of the latter of these Sacraments.
His experience in Calne wrought a change in him.
In later life he was more emphatic on the necessity
of careful inward preparation ; recommending, in
its possible absence, delay in communicating and a
less frequent reception, rather than immediateness
or frequency.
He loved the daily services of the Church, and
never failed to be present except when a sufficient
reason prevented him. In such a case he said the
Divine offices in private, not only from obedience to
the law of the Church but from personal choice and
pleasure.
His sermons at this time were carefully prepared
CALNE 69
in writing, and were read with a sincerity and
earnestness which gave them considerable power.
There was not much variety in them. Their
subject was always the Lord Jesus Christ and the
work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. The holy
gospels were more especially the mine from which
he dug his precious metal. He loved to study the
actions and words of his Lord and to draw others
to study them. He was above all things a believer
in Jesus. Behind the teaching was the man ; and
people who cared little for sermons were moved by
the graciousness of the personality of the preacher.
He was a constant visitor in his district.
Sympathy was in him not merely an inspiration
of duty as it is, most commendably, with some
people. It was also a natural gift, a part of that
sweet and beautiful nature with which God had
endowed him. With the poor his intercourse was
delightful and winning. Howsoever ignorant and
outcast men or women might be, they felt in
stinctively that he reverenced them. To all of
every kind and rank he spoke and acted with the
same gracious and irresistible courtesy. People
felt that the courtesy was inward as well as out
ward; that here was a man who had love in his
heart and loved his fellow- creatures ; loved them
for their own sake because of the loving nature
that was in him. And so he was as much beloved
in Calne as he was afterwards in his diocese and
wherever he was known. It was the same with all
ranks of society, with people of the middle class
no less than with those of a higher or a lower class.
He was so sincere in his kindliness that he did
70 A PASTORAL BISHOP
more than put people at ease with him ; he drew
them into his kindliness, so that they at once
trusted and loved him. Yet his natural dignity
was such that no one could take a liberty or be
vulgarly familiar with him. On one occasion
only did I see him the subject of an advance to an
intimacy which he did not welcome, and then the
silent and severe dignity with which the advance
was received at once checked and ended it.
His strength of character and will, united with
a lively and eager disposition, would naturally
produce a temper capable of strong and vivid
expression. But it was on rare occasions and only
on great provocation that he showed by any out
ward sign the strength of feeling which was in his
heart, and which would have been expressed with
more or less emphasis by men of blunter conscience
and less self-control. As life advanced, the self-
restraint grew with other graces to form the man
whom in his maturer years all who knew loved as
much as they admired him, and admired as much
as they loved him.
When he lived in Calne he was of a very joyous
disposition. The anxieties and disappointments of
his later years had not yet dimmed the outward
brightness of his conversation and bearing. At
the age of twenty-four, every person and incident,
except suffering or sorrow, ministered to his happi
ness. Every touch from without drew from a
heart so charged with love a flash of joy. It shone
in his face. People said it was a pleasure to see
him pass the window, as he always looked so
happy. The abiding thankfulness of his spirit and
CALNE 71
the strength of his faith contributed to this per
sistent brightness. " My soul doth magnify the
Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Saviour." This joyousness, combined with a
natural wit, kindled in him a charming humour
which made his common talk original and delightful.
His belief in Jesus, which inspired him with a
great love for the Creeds of the Church, expressed
itself, when he was visiting the sick, in a manner
which was characteristic of him. He recited the
Apostles Creed, standing by the bedside, with
clasped hands, and with great solemnity. 1 This
Act of Faith, which was then a new thing in
Calne, impressed the people deeply, leading them
to realize their belief in Jesus, and lifting up their
hearts to Him in adoration.
Even in the time of his youth, while he lived in
Calne, he was a man of sound judgment ; not only
on questions in which he was not personally inte
rested, when most people can form an impartial
opinion, but also on things which intimately
affected himself and moved his deepest feelings.
His sense of humour may have had a part in
producing this balance of mind. Mainly, how
ever, it was due, first, to his freedom from vanity,
which is the chief perverter of our judgments in
matters affecting ourselves. Of vanity he had ap
parently none. What people would think of him,
or how he could make himself better thought of
by others, never seemed to throw a shadow on his
mind or a cloud over the clearness of his vision.
1 This continued to the end to he a characteristic of the Bishop s
devotions with the sick.
72 A PASTORAL BISHOP
And secondly, as all our judgments are ultimately
moral, and only " charity never faileth " to guide
us aright, his loving sympathy with others shut out
all bias in his own favour and rather influenced
him against himself; so that he could see things of
profound interest to himself in their true propor
tions and relations. And then, further, he had that
help which is specially prayed for in the Collect for
Whit-Sunday (he often used it), the guidance of the
Holy Spirit of God, who gives " a right judgment
in all things " to them who seek it from Him.
At the time he lived in Calne, what is now
called " The Higher Criticism " was beginning to
occupy the minds of biblical students. His belief
in the Church as "the pillar and ground of the
truth," and as the living witness to the resurrection
of our Lord, enabled him to regard the controversy
without panic or bitterness. He was a lover of
truth and had kinship with every honest and
humble seeker after it. His " assurance of Faith "
in Jesus as Incarnate God and as the living Head
of His Mystical Body on earth, inspired him with
the conviction that all things will " work together
for good to them that love God," by the confirma
tion of the faith of the Church and the quickening
of her life. On all political and social questions he
had in his youth, and I believe in his later life,
an open and unprejudiced mind. But he was
unshaken in his confidence that the only " Saviour
of society " is Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the supreme charm of his character was
his humility ; a grace which is the root of all other
graces and the loveliest of all ; of which no display
CALNE 73
can be made and of which he sought to make none.
In him it was true and deep, for it was his by
virtue of his union with Jesus Christ. It was a
part of his being, and everything was impressed by
it : his conversation, his preaching, his pastoral
ministrations. It was the inspiration of his charm
ing courtesy and of his unstudied self-effacement.
It was a perfume of which every one who ap
proached him felt the sweetness and the strength.
It won for him an immediate entrance into the
heart of strangers and a sanctuary in the heart of
his oldest friends. Only once do I remember
hearing him speak of himself, except in the way
of an obviously sincere depreciation and this one
instance is an illustration of his loyalty and his
humour. Some time after he had become Bishop
of Argyll, he and several other clergymen were
talking together in the college at Cumbrae ; among
them was the Vicar of Calne, myself. Some one
said to me that a certain clergyman, of whom he
had a poor opinion, had been ordained to Calne,
and added, " You make a poor sort of clergyman in
Calne." The situation was saved by the Bishop,
who said, with his humorous smile, " Oh, but you
know he made me."
His humility made him a perfect listener. It
inspired him with a desire to give full weight to
the reasoning and feelings of another, and to subor
dinate his own to theirs ; so that his courtesy as a
listener was genuine and sincere. With perfect
patience he would hear all that another had to say,
accepting and confirming any remark that he could
agree with. People who did not know him thought
74 A PASTORAL BISHOP
that they were going to make a convert of him and
have their own way, because he listened to them so
politely. But they found in the end that nothing
but the conviction of his reason could move him.
If any one fancied that by the weight of personal
influence or position, Mr. Haldane-Chinnery might
be induced to give up an opinion or modify a
course of action, which he had adopted as being
right, that person always found in the end that he
had mistaken the man. With gentleness and
sympathy, but with inflexible firmness, he let it be
felt that he was unmoved in his decision and pur
pose. It was an occasion of much amusement to
his friends to be present when a stranger of this
sort was led on by his quiet courtesy into a voluble
exposition of some opinion or plan, evidently think
ing that he was carrying everything before him and
overcoming all his interlocutor s objections, and
then to witness the same unvarying end of the
interview. Yet he never gave offence ; not only
because he was always courteous, but because he
made it evident that he had carefully considered
the question on all sides and had formed a con
scientious conviction.
He was very generous and never refused to help
any person in his district who begged from him.
In this generosity Mrs. Haldane-Chinnery was at
one with him, as she was in all the work of his life.
He was equally indulgent to "tramps." And
herein he learnt nothing even from the great
teacher Experience, because he was more afraid
that he might refuse to help in a case of real
need than he was of being deceived. He gave a
CALNE 75
valuable set of Altar vessels to Trinity Church. He
contributed liberally to good works in Calne, and
thereby greatly helped the Vicar in the working of
the parish. To perpetuate in Calne the memory
of his generosity the Vicar named the first endow
ment of a girls secondary school, which he founded
some years afterwards, the Duncan Haldane-
Chinnery endowment.
From his ordination onwards he read theology
with a genuine interest, and as he advanced in
years he became more and more absorbed in books
on that subject. In everything he was real, and
strove for reality, especially in religion and religious
teaching, and he was much more anxious that
children should be taught the Christian faith in its
fulness than the details of the history of the judges
and kings of Israel.
He took great pleasure in works of art. He
was always ready to go out of his way to see a
cathedral. He knew well the pictures in the
National Gallery as it was in the "sixties." He
was much attracted by the works of the Pre-
Raffaelite Brotherhood ; no doubt, because of the
earnestness of their spirit and their reverence for
Nature. He had already when in Cable begun to
be interested in foreign architecture and painting,
and at this time and in subsequent years he found
much delight in them.
He was not musical. Yet he enjoyed music in
a way, and recognized the duty and the beauty of
offering to God in the worship of the Church,
especially in the Holy Eucharist, the best music
that the worshipper can offer. Anthems he did
76 A PASTORAL BISHOP
not like. Congregational singing he highly
valued.
He was a lover of Nature and revelled in gazing
at beautiful scenery. He was never conventional
in his appreciations and judgments, and was as
independent in respect of Nature as of other things.
It was very pleasant to be with him when he was
enjoying a lovely view, his face being lit up with
intelligent appreciation and genuine enjoyment of
the various elements of beauty before him. He
was sensitive to the charm of the meadows, the
trees, and the downs around Calne.
He was manly in every way: every inch a
man : with a courage moral and physical which, so
far as one could see, never failed. Where moral
courage was the force required to make him sted-
fast, he was immovable. His physical courage was
similarly complete.
He was fond of bodily exercise though not of
games and sports. He would run for a long dis
tance by the side of a horse or a carriage. When
Mrs. Haldane-Chinnery rode on the Downs, he
would run for many miles by her horse s side with
all the enjoyment of a healthy boy.
During his residence in Calne he passed through
a period of severe perplexity and distress. It arose
from the comparative claims of the English-Catholic
and Roman-Catholic communions. His estimate
of the importance of the question was so high and
his conscientiousness was so keen, that for a con
siderable period he gave up to it all his spare time
and many almost sleepless nights. The subject
was discussed at the Vicarage in long and anxious
CALNE 77
conversations. It led to a correspondence with
Dr. Pusey, and to more than one visit to him at
Oxford. No labour was spared to reach the truth.
No personal interest or relation was allowed to bias
him. He hesitated for a long time, and, as was his
wont, made every effort, by study, thought, and
prayer, to ascertain God s will before he came to a
conclusion. When he did at last reach the conclu
sion that the English Church is the true Catholic
Church in this country, he was never afterwards
shaken in his conviction.
It will be said that such a character as has been
described here may most fitly be summed up in the
one word " holy," and that Mr. Haldane-Chinnery
was a holy man. In truth, he seemed to his friends
to be radiant with the " beauty of holiness." But
we may, perhaps, rightly shrink from pronouncing
any man holy, whosoever he may be, lest in doing
it we assume a prerogative which belongs to God
alone. Only by Him who "seeth not as man
seeth" can men be judged without presumption.
In the awful light of His holiness the holiest of
men knows himself to be but a guilty thing.
" There is none good but one, that is, God." It
would have been a grief, true and deep, to the late
Bishop s heart had he anticipated that the word
holy would be applied to him. He would have
shrunk from it, through the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost, by an instinct of his soul. With perfect
truthfulness he would say, as St. Paul said, " Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; of whom
I am chief." To be a true penitent, to grow in
penitence as he grew in years was the strongest
78 A PASTORAL BISHOP
desire, the very passion of his soul when he was a
young man ; and I know it was so to the end. His
attitude towards God was ever that of the Prodigal
Son, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and
before thee." To us who remain the answer sounds
clear, " Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him ; " or rather the still higher benediction given
to him who never forsook his father and his home,
" Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have
is thine."
After two years residence in Calne, Mr. Hal-
dane-Chinnery s connection with it was brought to
an end by a great tragedy. He had returned to
Calne from accompanying Mrs. Haldane- Chinnery
to Edinburgh, where she had gone to stay for a
few weeks. He had come to the Vicarage to
luncheon and brought with him the news that a
bad railway accident had happened at Abergele to
the Irish express. He also mentioned that Sir
Nicholas and Lady Chinnery had left London for
Dublin the day before. He seemed to be occupied
by his thoughts and inclined to be silent. A
telegram from Abergele was brought in with the
words " Come at once." The suggestion contained
in the words was evident, and he went away some
what prepared for the fate of his father-in-law and
mother-in-law. Some wagons laden with barrels
of petroleum had broken loose at the top of an
incline and rushed down it to dash into the ap
proaching express. In the first part of the train
were the passengers who had joined the train at
Chester, as Sir Nicholas and Lady Chinnery had
CALNE 79
done, having broken their journey there. The
petroleum from the shattered barrels poured over
the first part of the train, and catching fire from
the engine burst into a mass of flame, which en
veloped and reduced to ashes the carriages and
their inmates.
To people who did not know the late Bishop
this description of him as a young man in
the first years of his ministry may seem to be
coloured and exaggerated. Every man, they will
say rightly, has some faults. No doubt Mr.
Haldane-Chinnery had his faults. I did not see
them and cannot recall them. He was, at any
rate, a man so genuine that longer acquaintance
with him and further insight into his character
revealed him only as more and more pure and true,
more and more to be admired and loved. Strangers
to him may exercise their fancy in finding out his
faults ; they who knew him well will be satisfied if
he is described as they knew him.
"Requiem seternam amico delectissimo dona
Domine et lux perpetua luceat ei."
" Make me to be numbered with Thy Saints in
glory everlasting."
JOHN DUNCAN.
In the year 1867 Mr. Haldane-Chinnery had a
great sorrow. His mother, to whom he was tenderly
attached, passed away.
CHAPTER VI
EDINBURGH, 1868-1878
As will be evident from the subsequent course of
the narrative, the tragedy with which the last
chapter concludes, was directly or indirectly the
cause which determined the course taken by the
whole of Mr. Haldane-Chinnery s after career.
When (as related in the last chapter) Mrs.
Haldane-Chinnery went to Edinburgh, in May,
1868, her husband accompanied her thither, and
remained with her some time before returning to
his duties at Calne. Even during this short sojourn
in a city which was not his residence, Mr.
Haldane-Chinnery could not be happy without the
work of his calling ; he offered his services, during
his stay, to All Saints Church, and he also gave
occasional help in other churches and chapels.
This temporary connection with All Saints was
destined to have important results.
The tragedy involved the Haldane-Chinnerys
in family business which demanded their presence
in London ; while there Mr. Haldane-Chinnery
did much curate work at St. Mary s, Paddington.
For private reasons he decided that it would be best
to resign his curacy at Calne: where should he
take up work next ? The claims of the mother
80
EDINBURGH 81
country of his family spoke loudly to his imagina
tion and his heart, and he decided on offering his
services to the Church in Scotland.
But before this desire could be carried out
many things had to be arranged. For one thing,
the terrible experience of the tragedy called for
thorough change of scene and interests, and so the
winter which followed it was spent in Paris. It is
at this point that the Bishop s carefully kept journal
commences. In it he recorded neither opinions
nor impressions, but simply the occurrence of daily
events. The Paris journal shows how wholly his
real interests were ecclesiastical and religious, and
how carefully he made himself acquainted with the
Church life of that beautiful city. The writing up
of his journal was almost the last thing which he
abandoned under the pressure of the disease which
ended his life.
It was eventually decided that Mr. Haldane-
Chinnery should take up residence and work in
Edinburgh. A picturesque old mansion, Green-
hill House, had been bought as a residence for
the Bishops of Edinburgh, but subsequently it
was pronounced to be unsuitable for the purpose,
being too far removed from the centre of the town
to be easily accessible to the clergy. It was
delightfully situated, just at the end of the Brunts-
field Links, to the south of Edinburgh, in charm
ing, though not extensive, grounds, which included
all that remained of the Burghmuir Forest. The
grounds contained many fine forest trees, where
forest birds used to come and nest, year after year.
This mansion was for sale, and the Haldarie-
G
82 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Chinnerys bought it for 7000. One attraction
to this property was that it was within a quarter
of an hour s walk of All Saints Church, to the
rector of which Mr. Haldane-Chinnery had offered
his services as curate, greatly moved to do so by
his pleasant memories of his work there during his
temporary residence in Edinburgh.
In order to understand what that offer meant
to All Saints , the condition of that church in 1869
must be recalled. At that period Edinburgh
" Episcopalianism " still retained, to a large extent,
what had long been its traditional cachet. It was an
alarmingly respectable form of religion ; eminently
unprogressive and unaggressive ; not without a
liberal and kindly, if somewhat condescending, care
for "the poor," but quite content to live and let
live, without attracting too much notice. Its
theological colour was nebulous, and tended
towards a sort of Evangelical Latitudinarianism.
The even tenor of Edinburgh Episcopalianism had
been somewhat disturbed by the High Church
" goings on " at St. Columba s, at the back of the
Castle ; but there were reasons why St. Columba s
was only benevolently disapproved of. All Saints
was originally started as a mission from the sedate
and respectable St. John s; when it was found
that the young and earnest priest in charge was
going much the same way as they had gone at
St. Columba s, there was indignation at St. John s.
The special reasons which it was thought partially
excused St. Columba s did not apply to All Saints ,
and there were other special reasons which it was
considered justified St. John s in its indignation.
EDINBURGH < 83
These reasons are long forgotten, and there is no
occasion to revive their memory ; the result of the
indignation is all that concerns us now, and that
result was, the withdrawal of valuable pecuniary
help, which priest and people at All Saints had
good reason to think they could have counted on.
Many works had been started, which of course
needed money for their support and development,
and funds were not to be had. The influence of St.
John s (perhaps the second Church in importance
among Edinburgh Episcopalians) was naturally
great, and through the severe disapprobation of
this congregation, All Saints came to be considered,
in a certain way, as under a ban ; it was looked on
as a kind of by-church, which only eccentric people
would have anything to do with.
The appearance of the church itself, at that
time, helped this uncomfortable impression. It
stood in a half-built, semi-genteel neighbourhood ;
its west end was unfinished, and the place of the
narthex, which was to be, was supplied by a sort
of rough shed or shanty, of the shabbiest descrip
tion. Next to the church was a plot of waste
ground, the site of the future parsonage. There
was a squalid forlorn look about the whole thing
which was very depressing. The late rector 1
himself has told me that matters were at such a
low ebb that he did not know where to turn ; it
seemed as if everything must simply come to
an end.
1 The Rev. .Canon Murdoch, first incumbent of All Saints , who
died October 30, 11)06, while this work was passing through the
press. R.I. P.
8* A PASTORAL BISHOP
Imagine the effect produced when to this
despised and poverty-stricken Church there came
a young priest who socially could hold his own
with the best in Edinburgh, the master of a fine
mansion, with a suitable establishment, and who
had the command of a handsome fortune lavishly
and generously put at his disposal by his wife, who
had inherited it from her father. Edinburgh did
not know what to make of it. Evidently it would
no longer do to regard All Saints as beyond the
pale. The story is told of an old club habitue, who
remarked to a friend that he thought he knew all
the Edinburgh private carriages, but that one had
appeared in Princes Street which he could not
name ; he pointed it out. " Don t you know
whose carriage that is ? " was the answer. " It
belongs to Haldane-Chinnery." "And who is
Haldane-Chimiery ? " " The Curate of All Saints ."
The clubman positively gasped. " The Curate of
All Saints keeps a carriage ! By Jove ! I ll go
and hear him." And so he did ; but no wonderful
result followed.
The advent of Mr. Haldane-Chinnery 1 to All
Saints was spoken of to me, by the late rector, as
its " salvation ; " but the pulling of it out of the
social Slough of Despond was, hi truth, the least
part of the work which Haldane-Chinnery did
there. He threw himself, heart and soul, with
the most single-minded devotion into the pastoral
and spiritual work of Church and parish. What
Canon Duncan has said of his work at Calne,
1 During his tenure of office at All Saints , Mr. Haldane-Chinnery
was usually spoken of shortly as " Mr. Chinnery."
EDINBURGH 85
was generally true of his work at All Saints . He
lived for it.
The shock of the great tragedy acting on a
high-strung, sensitive nature, had naturally made
Mrs. Haldane-Chinnery shrink from mixing much
in general society, and to him mere formal society
entertainments were nothing but a bore. He was
the soul of hospitality, and loved to enjoy the
companionship of real friends and to give them of
his best. In all this he was seconded, with infinite
charm and graciousness, by his wife. But neither
he nor she sought or attracted "society" in the
usual acceptation of the term. The result of this
for him was that his whole time was left free for
the work which was his life.
His daily round was something like this. He
began the day by celebrating or being present at
the daily Eucharist in All Saints ; after this he
returned to Greenhill House for breakfast ; he then
went to church again for Matins at 11 a.m., after
this his entire day, until dinner-time (about 7 p.m.),
was spent in pastoral work in the district, the work
house, the infirmaries, or elsewhere. He never ate
luncheon, and was not dependent on afternoon tea.
At one time he used to carry raisins in his pocket,
and said that a few of them sufficiently satisfied
him if he felt faint or hungry. Dinner seldom
meant the end of the day s work to him. He
frequently went, after dinner, to church again, for
Evensong, and perhaps also for a class of some
kind.
He used to congratulate himself on being
curate and not incumbent. He said that the
86 A PASTORAL BISHOP
routine business, the keeping of accounts, the
organizing of work, and the hundred other things
which an incumbent must attend to would be most
uncongenial to him. Whereas, as curate, he was
free to attend solely to what was to him of
supreme interest and delight, the ministering as a
pastor to the souls of men. It would be impossible
to imagine that in any one the pastoral instinct
could have been stronger. And the people re
sponded to this instinct. I knew much of his
work among the people, yet I never discovered any
special trait or feature in his dealings which seemed
to reveal the secret of his pastoral influence. His
words and methods were simplicity itself, one
might call them commonplace. But the intense
reality and religious sincerity of the man gave a
power, that was felt, even to commonplace words.
And one thing is worthy of notice in this respect.
I never knew him make his experiences in pastoral
visitation the subject of light or amusing conversa
tion. One sometimes comes across priests, gene
rally young men, who return from a round of
pastoral visits with a budget of anecdotes, mostly
humorous, or supposed to be so. Though he
might have much to say of what he had heard and
seen, if help had to be given, or something done for
the good of those whom he had visited, Haldane-
Chinnery treated his pastoral intercourse as some
thing too serious and sacred to be used as food for
gossip or chat.
His pastoral visitation often involved going
considerable distances, partly because in Scotland,
even more than in England, the congregational
EDINBURGH 87
rather than the parochial idea prevails in ecclesi
astical matters ; an attendant at All Saints Church
might have to be looked up at the other end of
the city ; and besides this, visits to the workhouse
meant a journey out of town. All this was done
by Mr. Haldane-Chinnery on foot, and the Green-
hill carriage was soon suppressed, just because it
was hardly ever used either by its master or its
mistress.
Though the indefatigable curate shepherded
impartially all sorts and conditions, working men,
fathers of families, were those whom he most pre
ferred to deal with. Of these he had a Bible Class,
which met periodically in the vestry at All Saints .
One evening, in the course of proceedings, the door
burst open noisily, and a woman bounced in. She
surveyed priest and disciples with a sarcastic expres
sion, and said, "You are here instructing these
men in holy things ; but if they knew what I could
tell them about you, they would not listen to you
long ; you are a nice man to be teaching others,"
and more in the same style. Haldane-Chinnery
heard the outburst with undisturbed serenity, and
then gently induced the woman to leave the vestry.
The only impression she produced on the minds of
her hearers was the conviction that she was mad ;
and so the poor thing was.
One of Mr. Haldane-Chinnery s specialities in
dealing with people was a quiet, courteous persist
ence in pursuing a desired end ; all refusals or
exhibitions of unwillingness being calmly ignored.
If this perseverance remained unrewarded, he
showed neither temper nor irritation. One thing
88 A PASTORAL BISHOP
which he tried to impress on his class of men was
the importance of having family prayers at home
at least every evening ; and he endeavoured (per
haps not very successfully) to make them pledge
themselves to practise this form of devotion. One
evening, late, he visited one of the members of his
class, and found him comfortably tucked away in
bed. " May I ask, my friend," said Mr. Haldane-
Chinnery, " if you had family prayers before you
lay down ? " The answer " No " was signified by a
grunt from under the bedclothes. "Would you
mind my having prayers with your wife and
children now ? " the persevering curate inquired.
Of course permission could not be refused, and
some simple prayers were said. The man s wife
used to relate the story, and to add that, as he lay
hidden under the bedclothes during the devotions,
her husband was so ashamed that he felt as if he
could never look Mr. Chinnery in the face again.
Doctors sometimes, from a want of a sufficiently
delicate knowledge of one phase of human nature,
make the mistake of trying to keep believing
patients from intercourse with ministers of their
religion. No doubt, from a doctor s point of view,
a minister of religion could only be regarded as one
who would act as an irritant to a sick unbeliever ;
but it is far otherwise with one who is ill, and has
kept his or her faith. This even a doctor might
appreciate. Mr. Haldane- Chinnery found himself
constantly refused access " by doctor s orders " to a
pious elderly lady who was very ill. So next time
he called, he quietly ignored the refusal, calmly
walked past the servant, and went straight to the
EDINBURGH 89
patient s room ; he was received with pleasure and
gratitude. Had he made a fuss, no doubt harm
might have come. But by simply ignoring the
prohibition, with confident courtesy, he comforted
the patient and irritated no one.
Neither at Calne (as Canon Duncan has noted)
nor in Edinburgh did Mr. Haldane-Chinnery attain
to distinction as a preacher. He loved to preach,
but not at all because he thought he excelled in so
doing, he knew that he did not, but because he
experienced a sincere, heartfelt delight in impress
ing on others the truths which he felt were dearer
than life to himself. But though his sermons
might have been thought somewhat commonplace,
in subject and expression, a discriminating hearer
said that he could always listen to them with profit
and pleasure, because one could but feel that every
word was uttered with intention, everything that
was said was meant, there was no padding, no
uttering of banalities for the mere sake of saying
something, of filling up time. A priest once said
in my hearing, " I was preaching, and my sermon
was, what I suppose our sermons generally are,
about nothing in particular," etc., etc. Alas ! this
is perhaps true of a too large proportion of the
sermons which are usually delivered, but whatever
else might be the case with them, from first to last,
as curate, rector, or Bishop, this description could
never be given of the sermons delivered by the
subject of this Memoir, they always were about
" something in particular."
Rightly or wrongly, devout people almost
universally expect their Confessors to undertake
90 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the spiritual direction of their souls ; this being the
case, it is not surprising, considering his views as to
the unadvisability of "direction," 1 that Mr. Hal-
dane-Chinnery did not to any very great extent
exercise the office of Confessor ; though, of course,
he received confessions and gave counsel when
applied to by penitents.
But although he deprecated habitual reliance
on priestly "direction," letters of advice and
counsel written by him show a spiritual insight,
a wise discrimination, and a " sanctified common
sense," which must have been very helpful to
those who received them. These qualities are
conspicuous in a letter which he wrote while at
All Saints , from which an extract is given below ;
it was written to a High Church lady living at
home in an Evangelical household.
" I think two extremes have to be guarded
against.
" On the one hand, you should avoid troubling
your father with a needless bringing forward of
things likely to give offence. On the other hand,
all approach to deceit should be resolutely put
aside.
" For instance : suppose you went out one
morning to a shop on the way to a sermon at
St. Alban s, which you afterwards attended. On
returning home, it would not be necessary to tell
everybody that you had been to the sermon if you
knew that would, or might, give trouble.
1 A Russian ecclesiastic, speaking of the practice of his own com
munion, observed to a friend of mine, The Orthodox Church shuns
direction."
EDINBURGH 91
"But on the other hand, if on being asked
where you had been ? you were to answer, To a
shop, I think the concealment thus involved would
not be permissible between members of the same
family, certainly not between daughter and father.
"Above all, if you believe that you have re
ceived more than those who do not follow so closely
the teaching of the Church, do strive to recommend
the truth by a consistent life. If it is of import
ance that others should feel as we do, and believe
as we believe, surely we should check all acts and
words likely to bring discredit on our faith and
practices. It is most important that the disciples
of Christ should learn to endure. Now I think you
sometimes fail in this duty. You fight !
"You fight against all that you cannot under
stand. If the dealings of Providence seem hard or
unjust, because you cannot see through them, you
seem to demand an explanation, and sometimes 1
fear put your demands into words. . . . You can
never have peace this way. Learn to submit.
What God says is straight, to you will often seem
crooked. Learn to see prayer apparently un
answered, and efforts for your own soul, and for the
souls of others, apparently fruitless and believe in
spite of all that God is doing all for the best,
though you cannot possibly make out how.
" If you try to learn this lesson you will get
peace, and perhaps you will be enabled to see that
for some good purpose God now and then sees fit
that you should be in profundis. When the next
gloom comes on accept it patiently, as from Him,
and then perhaps He will see fit to remove it
92 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Perhaps you will never know till you see the King
in His beauty how much you have gained, or from
what dangers you have been delivered, by these
apparently evil fits of depression."
The social and pastoral help which Mr. Haldane-
Chinnery s advent brought to All Saints by no
means exhausted all that he did for church and
congregation. All parochial institutions were
liberally helped financially out of the fortune which
Mrs. Haldane-Chinnery allowed to be freely drawn
upon. She herself soon put right the disgraceful
condition of the west end of the church, by the
erection of the porch and narthex, and from time
to time she contributed otherwise to tlie orna
mentation of the sacred building, besides giving
generous help to the building of schools, parsonage,
and convent.
It should not be left unmentioned that twice
Greenhill House was utilized for the holding of
Clerical Retreats, the private chapel there making
it a very suitable place for the purpose. On one
occasion the conductor was no other than Alexander
Forbes, the ever to be venerated Bishop of Brechin.
At these Retreats the main charge of the entertain
ment of the clergy who attended them was borne
by the Haldane-Chinnerys.
When everything is considered, it is evident
that, for reasons which will occur to every one, and
which therefore need not be dwelt on, the position
of Haldane-Chinnery as assistant curate at All
Saints was anomalous. One feature of anomalous
positions is that they inevitably tend to come to
an end ; they cannot be permanent.
EDINBURGH 93
The circumstances which brought about the
severance of connection with All Saints may be
briefly described thus the Haldane-Chinnerys
went in 1874 to stay, for the sake of Highland air
and scenery, at Ballachulish ; the tastes of both
were in favour of country rather than of town life ;
Edinburgh, as a place of residence, was congenial
to neither of them ; they were both enchanted with
the beauty of their temporary abiding place. They
found there a house the situation of which was all
that they could desire. As was his wont, Haldane-
Chinnery could not be content without aiding in
the work of the Church in the place where, for the
time being, he was living ; the romantic interest of
work among the Highland population appealed to
him; the Bishop of Argyll (Mackarness) received
him with open arms, and made him feel how wel
come he would be as a permanent member of
the diocese. The result of all this was, that Mr.
Haldane-Chinnery felt that for once inclination and
duty coincided ; that there was more need for such
services as he could render in the Highlands which
he loved, than in Edinburgh, which in itself did
not attract him ; so he decided for the Highlands.
At first he tried a compromise : for two or three
years he worked in the Highlands during the
summer and autumn, Baking up his Edinburgh
work in winter and spring ; but this plan did not
prove satisfactory, and in 1878 the official connec
tion with All Saints was finally severed.
In 1878, for family reasons, a change in the
order of surnames seemed desirable, and, with the
consent of all parties interested, a Royal Warrant
94 A PASTORAL BISHOP
was procured, which authorized the change of the
family designation to Chinnery-Haldane, in place
of Haldane-Chinnery.
In 1879 Greenhill House was sold for 21,000,
treble the amount paid for it ; the reason of this
increment being that the site had become valuable
for business purposes ; in a very short time, the old
mansion and its beautiful grounds disappeared to
give place to a crowd of "lands" of middle-class
flats. A panel, with a representation of the old
mansion, in bas-relief, has been inserted in the side
of one of the new buildings. Caustic remarks were
uttered by clever people on the large profit which
had been made, by a clergyman, out of the purchase
and sale of Church property ; these acute persons
did not know that not one penny of the 14,000
gained was to find its way into the coffers of the
Chinnery-Haldanes ; the whole was dedicated to
the work of the Church in various forms.
CHAPTER VII
BALLACHULISH, 1878-1883
ALLTSHELLACH 1 HOUSE, which the Chinnery-
Haldanes (as we must now write the family name)
secured for their Highland home, enjoys a situation
of almost unequalled grandeur and beauty. It
stands on the crest of a sort of promontory jutting
out into Loch Leven on its northern side. Turn
which way you will, on every side the eye rests on
a glorious panorama of mountain and loch ; so
manifold is the variety of the scene that one s sight
becomes almost bewildered in trying to take it in ;
and under no two circumstances does it present
quite the same appearance ; morning and evening,
spring, summer, autumn, winter, all bring their
changes, and every aspect is wonderful ; the mag
nificence of the sunsets, to be seen over the range
of mountains to the west, passes all description.
Originally the house was insignificant, and it stood
in grounds of small extent, possessing no claims to
special beauty, but in the course of years the house
has been greatly enlarged and embellished ; con
siderable additions have been made to the grounds,
which have been laid out and planted with great
skill and discrimination, so that at present a fine
1 Alltsliellach, a Gaelic designation, means " Willow-burn/
95
96 A PASTORAL BISHOP
and commodious house stands in charming grounds
of adequate extent. All this change has been the
gradual work of many years. Among the additions
to the house is a modest but handsome chapel, so
arranged that it can be entered by persons from
outside through the porch, without interfering with
the privacy of the family.
Alltshellach stands in the centre of a district
which is one of those regions in Scotland which
are the traditional homes of " Episcopacy." In
the Nether Lochaber district, in which the house
is situated, there is a good sprinkling of tradi
tionally " Episcopal " families. On the other, the
south side of the loch, in the Ballachulish and
Glencoe districts, it may rather be said that the
population is " Episcopalian," with a sprinkling of
Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. On the same
side, to the west, in the Appin district, there used
to be a considerable population of " Episcopalians,"
but this has been much diminished, not by apos-
tacies, but by that process of depopulation which
is going on in most rural neighbourhoods. As
Chinnery-Haldane remarked, after long experience
there, Ballachulish (with its neighbourhood) is a
place where people never change their Church
except through mixed marriages. If the " Epis
copal" Church there rarely gains by conversions,
it at all events as rarely loses by perversions. If
its numbers are less than they used to be any
where in that neighbourhood, it will be because
the population has changed, or diminished.
Circumstances enabled Bishop Mackarness to
give Mr. Chinnery-Haldane a free hand in the
BALLACHULISH 97
exercise of the pastoral office over a large area in
this district. On the northern side of the loch, a
beautiful little church, St. Bride s, Nether Lochaber,
had been erected, greatly by the exertions and libe
rality of Lady Alice Ewing ; in 1876, while still
going backwards and forwards, Chinnery-Haldane
had been appointed incumbent of this church ; in
1879 he became rector of St. John s, Ballachulish,
on the south side of the loch ; and when, by his own
generosity, a church (St. Mary s) was built and
consecrated in Glencoe, he was put in charge, as
rector, of that church and congregation also.
Here was a sphere of work wide and large
enough to occupy the energies of three or four
priests ; but Chinnery-Haldane proved equal to the
situation. Not by a skilfully devised scheme of
organizations but by sheer, hard, personal work, he
kept his flocks well in hand. From time to time
he had other clergymen working with or under
him, but the burden of the work was borne by
himself. To speak at all in detail of the character
of his work, would only be to repeat what has been
already said of his labours in Calne and Edinburgh.
But there was this great difference to him between
work in the Highlands, and labour in the streets
and lanes of a town : although he could enjoy to
the full the artistic and antiquarian interests which
a great city can offer, city life in itself was not
congenial to him ; he preferred the simpler life of
the country, and, as an athlete, it was a keen
physical joy to him to go forth into the free
air, to row himself (if need required) across the
loch, and to winder over moor and mountain,
\ H
98 A PASTORAL BISHOP
for miles and miles, in the pursuit of his pastoral
duties.
In the course of his pastoral wanderings he had
some strange experiences. I may here mention
one or two instances of these, which, as I had them
from his own lips, are not of the merely ben trovato
kind. 1
On one occasion Mr. Chinnery-Haldane went
on a long expedition across the hills to a distant
parishioner, intending to sleep, half-way home, at
an inn, where he had stayed before. Being delayed
longer than he expected, he found himself at the
inn, after midnight, in a storm of wind and rain.
The innkeeper and family were all in bed, the house
was locked, and pebbles thrown against the bed
room windows attracted no attention. What was
to be done ? Chinnery-Haldane went round to
the back of the house, found that the kitchen
window was unlatched, opened it, and entered.
There were the remains fof a fire in the grate, this
he managed to make into a cheerful flame ; he
found oat-cakes and milk, which he ate and drank ;
he divested himself of some of his wet clothes and
hung them to dry ; made a bed of chairs before the
fire, and lay down to sleep. A small monkey
watched all these proceedings with displeasure, and
fled to the top of a press, whence he chattered
angrily at the intruder. However, he contented
himself with this, and did no harm, so the intruder
slept safely and soundly, till he was wakened by
1 I am not sure how far these may belong to Mr. Chinnery-Haldane s
subsequent career as a Bishop ; but they are typical of many adventures
of the same kind which befell him during his Highland ministry, and
so may be told here.
BALLACHULISH 99
the scream of the maid-servant who, coming into
the kitchen in the morning, was terrified to see an
unsuspected guest stretched out asleep before the
grate. The object of her terror looked up, and
with a benign smile, said, " Good morning ! "
Another adventure nearly cost Chinnery-
Haldane his life. To visit an outlying district,
he wished to cross a ferry, and applied to the
ferryman to row him over. The man was well-
known as a churl ; it was late, and the evening was
inclined to be somewhat stormy. The ferryman
consequently refused very rudely to perform his
office. He said the crossing would be dangerous,
and he would ferry no one across that evening
" no, not if Queen Victoria herself came down,
and wished to cross." Chinnery-Haldane, piqued
at the man s rudeness, and believing the danger to
be imaginary, quietly went to the shore, helped
himself to a boat, and began to row himself across.
But he soon found the danger to be as real as
the incivility had been. What with the darkness,
the rough weather, cross currents, and other dis
advantages, he found that he was wholly unable
to guide his boat. After drifting about for a time
at the mercy of the wind and waves, his boat
struck against some shore ; he was able to land,
and to pull up the boat. He then found he was
on an uninhabited rock-island, where, strange to
say, a belated wanderer in something the same
plight as himself had also found refuge. The two
had to do the best they could to keep themselves
warm, till the tardy light of a winter s morning
enabled them to put off. Chinnery-Haldane rowed
100 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to his destination. I asked him what the ferry
man had to say about the rape of his boat ; he
replied that he did not know, for he left the boat
on the shore where he landed, and thought the
surly ferryman deserved any trouble he might have
in getting it back, as a punishment for his incivility !
But he admitted that the adventure was a serious
warning, and said that he would take care not to
run such a risk again.
As I have noticed before, care and neatness in
attire was one of Mr. Chinnery-Haldane s marked
characteristics, so the astonishment of the servant
may be imagined when he arrived one day to pay
a call at a gentleman s house, his hands smeared
with blood, and his clothes in general disarray,
and asked to be shown to some room where he
could remedy all this disorder. The fact was,
that on his way to make his call, he had come
upon a crofter who was vainly trying, unaided, to
skin the carcass of a sheep. Unable to see any
one in difficulty without endeavouring to be of
use, the carefully dressed ecclesiastic had stayed
to help the poor man in his scarcely dainty task,
without a thought as to what might happen to his
own person and clothing, with the result that has
been described. Readers of Walton s " Lives "
will remember that he relates a somewhat similar
incident in the life of George Herbert.
The " Dean " of a Scottish diocese is generally
a puzzling personage to English people. And no
wonder, for his title does not in any way suggest
the functions which he fulfils. Archpriest, Arch-
presbyter, Archdeacon, or Vicar-General would
BALLACHULISH 101
be a more satisfactorily descriptive title. To put
the matter shortly, a Scottish Dean is a priest
nominated by the Bishop, from among the insti
tuted clergy of his diocese, to take precedence over
the rest on occasions when such a preses may be
required. While the See is vacant, the Dean acts
as Vicar- General, and administers the diocese in
all such matters as do not require the intervention
of one in Episcopal Orders. The Primus acts as
Episcopal Ordinary. In 1881, the office of Dean
in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles fell vacant ;
what more natural than that the Bishop should
confer the honour at his disposal on the priest who,
since his reception into the diocese, had laboured
with such conspicuous and unstinted zeal? The
honour was offered and accepted, and Chinnery-
Haldane became Dean of the United Diocese of
Argyll and the Isles.
In 1882 the |Dean had a great sorrow. His
father, for whom he had a reverent tender love,
passed away, at a ripe old age. The son had the
privilege, which was a great comfort to him, of
administering the last consolations of religion to
his parent on his death-bed.
I am inclined to think that this (1879-1883)
was the happiest period of Chinnery-Haldane s
sacerdotal career. He had abundance of the work
he loved best ; he pursued it under most congenial
circumstances; he was in enjoyment of splendid
bodily health and strength ; he had no more cares
and anxieties than a man who has mens sana in
corpore sano can easily bear; he possessed the
fullest confidence of his ecclesiastical superior, with
102 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the deep affection of many, and the regard and
confidence of all with whom he was associated.
But a change was at hand which, if it were destined
to ripen and ennoble his already beautiful character,
was no less destined to bring the weight of many
cares into that earnest life of his, and to make a
great difference not only in the circumstances of
that life, but also in the man himself.
CHAPTER VIII
EPISCOPATE, 1883
ON April 20, 1883, George Richard Mackarness,
Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, passed away, the
victim of a cruel malady, from which he had vainly
sought relief by a painful operation. The vacant
See had to be filled.
According to the Canons of the Scottish Church,
a Bishop must be elected by two chambers. (1) A
Clerical Chamber, formed of the priests of the
vacant diocese, of a certain standing. (2) A Lay
Chamber, formed of lay communicants of the
diocese, elected every three years, in every charge
which has attained a certain canonical position.
The elected must have secured a majority in each
chamber. Only members of the Clerical Chamber
have the right of nomination.
It is the duty of the Dean of the diocese to
summon the electors, and to arrange for their
meeting, after receiving a mandate from the Primus
(Primate) requiring him to do so. On the recep
tion of this document, Dean Chinnery-Haldane
summoned the electors to meet at Cumbrae (where
the cathedral church of the United Diocese of
Argyll and the Isles is situated) on June 13.
Most of the electors arrived the previous evening,
103
104 A PASTORAL BISHOP
and were entertained by the Earl of Glasgow in
his residence, The Garrison, or in the college
attached to the cathedral.
On the day of election the Holy Eucharist was
celebrated at 8 a.m. and at 11 a.m. ; after this later
service the meeting for the election was duly con
stituted by the Dean, who presided dejure. After
the reading of the mandate from the Primus, the
Dean called for nominations. Only his own name
was proposed, the nominator being the Synod
Clerk, the Rev. R. J. Mapleton, Incumbent of
St. Columba s, Kilmartin. On votes being taken,
it was found that all who had voted, in both cham
bers, had given their suffrages for the Dean, who
had the task, somewhat embarrassing to a man of
his great modesty, of declaring his own unanimous
election, and of transmitting notice of the same to
the Primus.
According to the Scottish Canons, an election
to a vacant See is not finally effectual until it has
been confirmed by the Primus with the consent of
the corn-provincial Bishops. The Dean s election
had been announced in the public papers, and had
drawn forth many comments and congratulations ;
his painful embarrassment may then be imagined
when he received a letter from the Primus (Robert
Eden, Bishop of Moray and Ross), saying that
he delayed confirming the election until he had
brought before the Dean a suggestion made by
another of the Bishops, and that was, that it might
be well, before the election was confirmed, that
the Dean should resign his membership of two
societies, which were considered " party " societies,
EPISCOPATE 105
and to which it was known that he belonged, the
Society of the Holy Cross, and the Confraternity
of the Blessed Sacrament. The Primus quoted
the instance of a resignation by a nominee to an
English bishopric, under somewhat similar circum
stances, which had lately occurred. The Dean had
no hesitation as to the answer he must make. In
terms of great humility and respect, he replied that
he had joined these societies for his spiritual benefit,
and had received great help from his membership
with them ; he should consequently despise himself
for ever if he severed himself from them in order
to make sure of an ecclesiastical dignity. The
Dean himself told me, at the time, that he felt
when this letter was despatched that all was over,
and that he practically had resigned the bishopric
to which he had been elected. But it was not to
be so. He received a gracious letter from the
Primus, saying that membership of the societies
in question on the part of the elected could not be
considered a bar to the confirmation of the election ;
that he had thought it his duty to hand on the
suggestion that had been made ; and that he deeply
respected the motives which made it impossible for
the Dean to act upon it. 1 So the election was
confirmed. The example given in this incident,
and the lessons to be drawn from it, are of great
value, but are too obvious to need dwelling upon.
The election (happily confirmed) naturally ex
cited intense interest in the region which knew the
1 Subsequently the Dean, when Bishop, withdrew from the Society
of the Holy Cross, but not under pressure, only because he did not
think that membership continued to be a spiritual help to him. To the
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament he belonged to the end of his life.
106 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Dean s labours. Some presentations and addresses
were offered by the congregations which had known
his pastoral care. It was wisely decided that the
Consecration of one who had so identified himself
with the cause of the Church in the Highlands
should take place in the Highlands. A suitable
church for the purpose was found at Fortwilliam ;
there the mean chapel in which " Episcopalians "
long had worshipped had been replaced, through
the exertions and munificence of Mr. G. B. Davy,
of Spean Lodge, by the sumptuous little Church of
St. Andrew, which is still one of the handsomest
in Scotland. The day fixed for the ceremony was
the Feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24). From
far and near ecclesiastics and lay people flocked to
Fortwilliam and its neighbourhood, and a temporary
gallery had to be erected in the church in order to
accommodate those who would be present.
There was a large house party at Alltshellach of
those who were to be present at the Consecration.
Among the guests was the Dean s beloved friend,
the Rev. A. H. Mackonochie, who had just resigned
the living of St. Alban s, Holborn, to go to St.
Peter s, London Docks. The Dean felt with
intense seriousness the spiritual importance of the
great change in his life which was coming on him.
The bustle and excitement of a house full of guests
was more than he could bear, he retired with his
friend to Banavie, and spent the eve of his Conse
cration in religious retirement, making his Con
fession, and employing the time in exercises of
devotion.
At the ceremony next day, the Primus (Bishop
EPISCOPATE 107
Eden) was principal consecrator, and he was
assisted by the Bishops of Glasgow (Wilson),
Edinburgh (Cotterill), and Brechin (Jermyn), and
also by Bishop Lightfoot, of Durham, who was
travelling in Scotland at the time, and by Bishop
Kelly, late of Newfoundland (afterwards Bishop of
Moray, etc., and Primus). There was a large
attendance of priests, and the services of a com
petent choir had been secured for the occasion.
The church was packed to its utmost capacity.
On the entry of the procession, the Veni Sancte
Spiritus was chanted, and the service proceeded
according to the prescribed order, which there
is no occasion to describe in detail. The sermon
was preached in Gaelic, by the Rev. Hugh
MacColl, Rector of St. Andrew s Church, from
St. John iv. 37, 38. The effect of the solemnity
of the occasion on the consecrandus was so over
powering, that it almost overcame him. Luncheon
in the schoolhouse followed the service, and later
in the afternoon Evensong was sung in the church,
and a sermon preached by the Rev. B. M. Kitson,
the Vicar of All Saints , Clapton; now (1906) Rector
of Barnes. So ended a most memorable day.
On his elevation to the episcopate, Bishop
Chinnery-Haldane appointed in his room as
Dean, the Provost of Cumbrae Cathedral, the
Very Rev. F. R. H. H. Noyes, D.D.
The episcopate of the Catholic Church produces,
and has always produced, Bishops of several types.
There is the theologian Bishop, the philosopher
Bishop, the educational Bishop, the organizing
Bishop, the orator Bishop, the preaching Bishop,
108 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the political Bishop, with other varieties which
need not be named. He, of whom I may
henceforth speak as "the Bishop," conformed to
none of these types ; I have before noted that he
was a born pastor, and he became pre-eminently
a pastoral Bishop, a type which has produced
perhaps a larger proportion of Episcopal Saints
than even the learned or theological type.
After his Consecration, the Bishop would by
no means drop his pastoral or parochial work,
but he gradually came to appreciate, more and
more, the wider and more extended import of his
office. The Episcopal Synod of the Scottish
Church, though it is not, by itself, a legislative
body, fulfils important judicial, executive, and
administrative functions of various kinds. The
periodical and occasional meetings of this body
are fairly frequent ; and matters of weight, by no
means confined to mere routine business, have to
be dealt with by it. The attendance of the
Bishops is also desired at many of the quarterly
board and committee meetings of the Repre
sentative Church Council, and also at the general
meeting of that Council held annually. The
place of meeting of these Synods, boards, and
committees was never in the Bishop s own
neighbourhood ; to attend them put him to not
a little expense of time and money, and involved
on each occasion some days of absence from
home. Except when matters of purely spiritual
and ecclesiastical interest were to be debated in
Synod, the greater part of the business transacted
was uninteresting, sometimes unintelligible to him
EPISCOPATE 109
(for, as has been noted, he was without what is
ordinarily meant by business capacity), yet, despite
all this, because he came to consider attendance
at these meetings a duty involved in his office, he
was diligent and punctual in being present at them.
Often and often, after an attendance of hours at
some board or committee, he would groan lament
ably over the waste of time, and confess that he
had not understood what the discussions had been
about; still, he never relaxed in his attendance;
it was his duty to be there.
He felt the same of the occasions on which
Scottish Bishops are invited to England to join
with others of the Anglican Episcopate in taking
part in, or in discussing something of mutual
interest. He made it a matter of conscience to
be present on these occasions. In every way, he
realized that he had been consecrated not merely
to be the overseer of a handful of charges on
the west coast of Scotland, but to exercise the
office and work of a Bishop "in the Church of
God." And this realization increased in serious
intensity as time went on.
But this realization of the wider scope of his
office did not weaken for an instant the strength
of the pastoral instinct in his heart and soul.
After his accession to the episcopate, he very
reluctantly severed his parochial connection with
the charges he had cared for so long. He
gradually provided them with rectors of their
own. It was long before he could persuade him
self to resign the incumbency of St. Bride s, Nether
Lochaber, into other hands ; but circumstances at
110 A PASTORAL BISHOP
last convinced him of the wisdom of doing so.
Even after he ceased to be a parochus, he took
every opportunity of fulfilling the office of a pastor
to those who lived around him.
And his regimen of his diocese was eminently
pastoral. He was no organizer, and he was not
in his element as president or chairman of com
mittees or meetings. The slowness with which
his mind moved made it impossible for him to
follow the course of proceedings, or to discern
when matters were getting off the right course,
with the alertness so absolutely essential to an
efficient chairman. But his deficiences in these
respects were more than compensated for by
the superlative excellence of the way in which
he fulfilled the character of a pastor pastorum.
This was eminently noticeable in his Confirmation
tours. When he was to confirm in any parish,
he frequently arrived at the place the night
before. He always avoided, if possible, staying
at the great house ; not from any ungenial dis
like to social intercourse, but mainly, I think,
because the deferential courtesy, which was natural
to him, prevented his taking advantage of the san-s
gene which is to most such an agreeable feature
of modern hospitality ; in a great house, he used
to say, he could not feel his own master ; he felt
more bound to hold himself at the disposition
of his host and hostess than they would perhaps
have expected him to be, and so he was conscious
that his time was wasted in waiting for what other
people might be inclined to do, and he could not
get to what he longed to be doing. Consequently
EPISCOPATE 111
if possible he preferred, in making his tours, to
stay at an hotel or inn, unless he felt sure that he
could be received at the parsonage without em
barrassment to his own liberty, or that of others.
After arrival, his first question to the rector
often was, " Is there any one whom I should go
and see ? " And then, either accompanied by the
parish priest, or alone, as was deemed most
advisable, he would go and visit any who were
recommended to him, high or low, rich or poor, sick
or whole, Church people or dissidents. He liked
on the occasion of these visits to say some simple
prayers with the family, but he was always ready
to accept the suggestion that it would be wiser not
to offer to do this. He would sometimes stay two
or three days in charge, visiting scattered members
of the Church, cheering them by his kindly interest,
strengthening them in their faith.
During his stay, he valued opportunities of
celebrating or preaching. The priest might have
to apologize for small attendances at church, for
few candidates for Confirmation ; but the Bishop
never discouraged, his pastoral experience enabled
him to sympathize with a priest in his parochial
difficulties and hindrances, he knew that evident
success does not always attend good honest work,
and he could discern the faithful pastor by other
signs than by large congregations. I remember
hearing an experienced ecclesiastic, of the Evan
gelical school, say, that it makes all the difference
to the parochial clergy in their dealings with their
Bishop whether he has himself been a parish priest
or not; if he has, there is a bond of sympathy
112 A PASTORAL BISHOP
and mutual comprehension between priest and
Bishop, which is wholly wanting in the case of a
prelate, whose experiences have been only scholastic
or academical, however kind and wise he may be.
The link was not missing in the case of Bishop
Chinnery-Haldane. In administering Confirma
tion, his whole manner bore witness to his intense
realization of the sacramental character and un
speakable sacredness of the rite. But his Con
firmation addresses appealed more to the elder
people who heard them than to the younger
candidates, for reasons which will be obvious to
those who realize certain of the special charac
teristics of the Bishop s mind.
While administering other Sacraments gave
him a continually renewed pleasure, the Bishop
shrank from conferring Holy Orders; he feared
so greatly the responsibility of sending forth into
the Church men with such terrible powers of
harming the cause of Christ as the clergy. This
fear caused him an anxiety which was a real pain.
He rather discouraged men from seeking Ordi
nation in his diocese, on the reasonable ground
that the isolated position of most of the charges
in it would probably expose a newly ordained man
to the solitary exercise of his ministry, just when
he would need all the supervision and opportunities
of experienced counsel that he could get. He did
not think it right to expose shepherds and flocks
to the evils which must arise out of this state
of things.
No candidate was accepted without full know
ledge of his antecedents, from personal observation,
EPISCOPATE 113
or as the result of anxious painstaking inquiry.
When accepted, the Bishop had a way, specially
his own, of dealing with ordinands. He was very
chary of exercising his canonical right of dispensing
with the preliminary educational qualifications
authoritatively set forth in the Canons as desirable.
But what he required before all things was, that
the ordinand should be faultlessly orthodox in the
Nicene Faith, and should be able to express it in
unexceptionable theological terms. He took the
same course with regard to the doctrine of the
Holy Eucharist. As years went on, he left ordi
nation examinations less and less to his chaplains,
and more and more conducted them himself, con
ferring constantly with the candidate personally,
during the time of examination ; himself setting
the papers of questions, and carefully going over
the answers given. After examination, he used
to like to have, with the accepted candidate, a sort
of spiritual retreat, of longer or shorter duration,
during the time before the Ordination day. Some
spiritual book would be read, with much prayer,
and such advice was given as was thought to be
needed. During this time, the Bishop minutely
instructed the candidate for Priest s Orders in the
manner of celebrating the Eucharist ; no detail
was thought by him to be too insignificant to be
gone into. Occasionally, the next day after Ordi
nation the newly ordained priest would celebrate,
the Bishop himself serving him.
Priests are not infrequently urged to be loyal
to their Bishops. So they should be. But is there
not a loyalty which the Bishop should show to
i
114 A PASTORAL BISHOP
his priests? Certainly Bishop Chinnery-Haldane
seemed to think that there is, and he showed this
loyalty. He never (to use a current expression)
" gave away " his clergy to the complaining lay-man
or woman; he never sought to secure, what he
valued most highly, the good will of the laity,
by sacrificing their priests to their animosities or
prejudices.
In his clergy, I should say, the first thing he
desired was that they should be men. He had,
along with a tender consideration for physical
weakness or ill health, almost a contempt for mere
softness and luxuriousness in a priest. He never
seemed, I remember, to get over what was almost
a positive dislike to a clergyman because of the
unmanly fuss he made over a slight accident which
befell him while visiting some cottages with the
Bishop. The case was mentioned before him of
a priest who was wont to exhibit himself to his
parishioners in tops and breeches, flourishing a
hunting-crop. The Bishop admitted that this was
unseemly, but he added that if he were dying,
and wished to make his Confession, he would sooner
send for the man in boots and breeches than for
a man in flannels on his way to play lawn-tennis
with a party of girls; the hunting cleric would
probably be a man, whereas the other !
But if the Bishop wished his priests to be men,
he no less wished them to remember that they
were clergymen. He had the greatest possible
dislike to anything unprofessional in dress or
manner. A moustache on a priest s face apart
from a beard, he could not abide. He not only
EPISCOPATE 115
desired to see the clergy in raiment of a suitable
cut, but he was pained at the way in which some of
them seemed to think that Ordination exonerated
them from the necessity of being well groomed,
especially when in general company. I have often
heard him remark, " Why should a man, because
he is a priest, think that he can go among people
with an ill-brushed coat, soiled collar and cuffs,
and dirty boots, when, were he a layman, he would
not dream of doing such things ? "
Though the Chinnery-Haldanes went very little
into society, Alltshellach House was from the first
a centre of generous hospitality, and this continued
to be the case, on even a larger scale than before,
after the master of the house was raised to the
episcopate. The Bishop has been described as
" a perfect host," and he presided over a perfectly
ordered household, the special charm of which was,
of course, due to the way in which things were
managed by a gracious hostess. Those who were
privileged to be of the autumn house parties at
Alltshellach met there many notable, interesting,
and agreeable fellow-guests with whom they were
sure to have " a good time ; " but perhaps the days,
the memories of which linger most of all in the
mind of the visitor, are the Sundays ; they were
like Sundays nowhere else. The day began with
a Celebration of the Eucharist at 8.30 a.m. in the
private chapel, a convenience for those who were
not inclined to walk the short mile to the parish
church, St. Bride s, where a Celebration took place
at the same hour. At both these services un
mistakably Catholic ceremonial was used, with the
116 A PASTORAL BISHOP
ornamenta that such ceremonial demands ; but all
was done so entirely without fuss or ostentation,
that Evangelical visitors of the non-militant type
could attend the service at either church or chapel
with edification. After breakfast, there was a
general adjournment to St. Bride s for Matins and
Litany, or on occasions for a Celebration accom
panied by simple music and hymns. As the
singing at these services was entirely unpretentious,
no one thought of criticizing it. The sermon was
often preached by the Bishop, who always took a
share in the service, sitting in a stall in the choir,
and wearing a simple surplice and stole. After
this service, and the midday meal (which on
Sundays at Alltshellach was " dinner "), the guests
were free to enjoy the beauties of the place, and
to occupy themselves at will, there being no after
noon service to make a demand on any one s
devotion.
After tea came what was the characteristic
feature of the day. At St. Bride s the evening
service and sermon were wholly in Gaelic, which
made them, as a rule, unattractive to visitors.
The whole house party consequently traversed the
loch in a boat or boats, to attend the service at
St. John s, on the other side. The Bishop generally
assisted in rowing his company across, divesting
himself of coat and hat, and plying the oars
vigorously. He did this in the simplest way,
as if for a Bishop to row a boat full of guests
to church was a mere everyday occurrence, and
yet no one felt that he lost in dignity by the
way in which he acted boatman. Evensong at
EPISCOPATE 117
St. John s was in English, varied by some prayers
or lessons in Gaelic ; the Bishop in surplice and
stole assisted in the English part of the office, and
often preached. As at St. Bride s, the singing at
St. John s was hearty and unpretentious. There
was no landing-stage on the Ballachulish side of
the loch, and the re-embarking, jin the gloom of
an autumn evening, from the broken shore, was
the cause of many small adventures, and much
cheerful embarrassment. In the end all were
rowed safely back to Alltshellach, where a well-
spread supper awaited them, over which the Bishop
presided with that look of calm, pleased geniality
which will never be forgotten by those who once
saw it. In the lively talk, which is a necessary
characteristic of a cheerful supper-party, the Bishop
took his full share, always ready to listen, and to
fall in with the humour of the moment, but never
descending to anything that could ever be called
foolish, still less to anything that came near the
limit that separates right from wrong. Those who
did not know the Bishop en famille, at his table,
did not know him under one of his most charming
aspects. The day closed with Compline in the
chapel.
Oh, those autumn Sundays at Alltshellach !
How they linger in one s memory ! The sanctity
of the day pervaded everything, yet there was no
gloom, formalism, or constraint. The very sky
seemed brighter, and the mountains more solemn
and restful, and the lochs more calm and peaceful,
on those beautiful Sabbaths. And the simple
devotion of the services, and the courteous geniality
118 A PASTORAL BISHOP
of the host, and the grace of the hostess, and the
agreeable companionship can it be really true
that those days have passed away for ever, and
can never return in all the unique charm which
made them so precious ?
It may have been noticed above that the
Bishop took no part in the Gaelic service at St.
Bride s, or in those portions of the service at St.
John s which were said in that tongue. When he
first began his work at Ballachulish as priest, he
endeavoured to acquire " the Gaelic," and he even,
to a limited extent, attempted to use the language
in officiating. He was, however, not expert as a
linguist, and he soon found that he was past the
age at which he could have hoped to acquire
sufficient facility in a new tongue to be able to use
it to edification. So he very wisely resolved to
keep in Divine Service to " the English."
An English priest, to whom I spoke of the
Bishop s labours, asked the number of charges and
clergy in the diocese. On hearing the number,
he said, with a smile, " Why your Bishop can have
nothing to do ! " In reply, I showed him a map
of the Diocese ; a very short study of it caused him
to change his mind. There may be others who,
like my English friend, judging from numbers
alone, might be inclined to think the Bishopric of
Argyll and the Isles a sinecure. There could be
no greater mistake. I have heard it stated of one
of the busiest English dioceses, that the Bishop
from his cathedral city can reach by railroad the
furthest limit of his diocese in twenty minutes.
The Bishop of Argyll, starting from the centre of
EPISCOPATE 119
his diocese and travelling by water as well as by
land, could not reach the more distant charges
much under a day s journey even at the season
when train and steamer arrangements are most
favourable ; out of this season the same journey
would cut into two days. From this some idea
may be formed of the labour involved in super
intending even a few charges scattered up and
down in islands and on a coast so deeply indented
and intersected by lochs and estuaries, which more
or less directly open into the Atlantic Ocean, that
at times it affords anything but a tranquil water
way for the traveller.
120 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Qt. Bartholomew s
1883
The following graceful poem, written under the
inspiration of the Consecration Service at Fort
William, expresses what many hearts were feeling
on the occasion. To explain the allusions in the
opening lines, it should be said that St. Bartho
lomew s Day, 1883, began amidst heavy gloom
and pouring rain.
Heavy breaks the morning grey
O er Loch Linnhe s silent way,
Heavily the curtain chill
Creeps along the shrouded hill.
Thick and fast the huge clouds steal
Where the bays of fair Loch Eil
Wind by many a mountain crest
Far into the viewless west.
Thus it breaks, this gladsome day.
But no mists can chase away
Sunshine from the hearts all bright
With a supernatural light.
Such the light that, all unseen,
Sheds its hallowing festal beam
O er this village, neath the hills
Such the unearthly joy that fills
Where in high august array
Heaven s own Princes meet to-day ;
Meet, to frame another strand
In the dread Christ- woven band,
That beneath a thousand skies
Binds the nineteen centuries.
EPISCOPATE 121
Land of Saints ! through bitterest ways,
Thou hast reached thy peaceful daya :
Outcast on the mountain side
Thou hast kept thy Passion-tide,
Learning by His side to wait
Whom they led " without the gate."
Thou hast seen thy faithful band
Crushed beneath the tyrant s hand.
Priests and people watch have kept
While the winter storm wind swept
Wild across the moor and glen
Thou hast reared thine Altar then
And beneath the lowering skies
Offered up the Sacrifice.
Land of Saints ! the prayers of old
Circle still the one true Fold ;
Still Columba pleads for thee,
As beside the Western Sea,
Pleads with wrestling mightier still
Than in his own I-colm-kill ;
Still St. Ninian s work a sweet
Savour brings to Christ s dear feet ;
And thy glorious Patron s name
Glows with Apostolic flame.
Echoes still thine exile-cry
In thy new-found liberty.
Far and wide the sheep have strayed,
From the Fold s all-sheltering shade.
By the Shepherd s toil and pain
Thou must win them back again ;
Send thy sons the lost to seek,
Heal the wounded, raise the weak,
In His steps, the Shepherd Good,
Whose they are, the bought with Blood.
Scotland s Church, august and fair,
By the might of work and prayer,
By the Faith revealed of yore,
Thou shalt win the land once more.
Clear and loud the bells ring out,
Shaming fear and scattering doubt ;
128 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Loving faithful hearts they call
To the awful ritual.
Where by man to man is given
Christ s own Pastoral Staff of heaven ;
Where the Princely hands of power
Pass the dread Apostle s dower
To the faithful Priest they own
Meet to fill the Island s Throne.
Now with song and fair array
Pass the Priests who meet to-day,
Come from many a distant home,
From beside the Western foam,
From the haunts of endless toil,
From the city s din and moil,
Who have faced a faithless age
For the Church s heritage ;
Thee we greet amidst the Feast,
Brave Confessor, dauntless Priest,
Who hast waged the war divine
By the Proto-Martyr s shrine.
One by one, in solemn line,
They who hold the Gift Divine,
Fathers of the Church, pass on
To the white-robed Altar-Throne.
Prelates from the Sisterland
Join the Apostolic band.
Scotland s Bishops welcome there
Him who fills St. Cuthbert s Chair ;
Last he comes, whom Scotland owns
First upon her Pastoral Thrones,
Whose cathedral stands to bless
The fair city by the Ness.
Pastoral vows are duly made,
Prayers with solemn lips are said,
Sacred hands are raised in might
There in men and angels sight.
He who kneels before the shrine
Rises up, through grace divine
Strong in sacramental dower,
Now to wield the Staff of power.
EPISCOPATE 123
Countless are the hopes that rise
O er the Bloodless Sacrifice
Offered up for him whose brow
Bears the awful Mitre now.
Countless are the prayers that go
Heavenward in resistless flow.
Deep the thanks that he to-day
O er the Western land holds sway.
And with glow of special yearning,
With a strange unuttered burning,
They for him must wrestle there
Who have owned his priestly care,
By Loch Leven s mountain side
On the stretch of moorland wide,
Where the storm clouds hurrying go
O er the peaks of wild Glencoe.
Hewers in the mountain stone,
They have heard his loving tone
Telling of their chosen place
In the building of God s grace,
And the faithful souls that He
Calls its living stones to be.
It is done ! the awful Rite.
Eyes are sparkling ; hearts are bright ;
And beside the loch s still shore
Brother souls must part once more.
And the calm grey afternoon
Deepens into eve full soon
With a silence strange that fills
All the village neath the hills.
So the wondrous Feast-day ends :
And the festal gladness blends
With a thrill of solemn calm
Like the closing Compline psalm.
But the wonder and the grace
Years avail not to efface :
And the Church s long sad story,
Echoing through this morning s glory,
124 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Binds with deathless cords our union
With the high august communion,
That with dauntless hope within
Lives the strife of God to win,
Drawing souls in patience wise
To her ancient ministries.
Christ be with thee, Prelate true,
Pledged for Him to dare and do.
Christ be with thee, guide thee still
With His Light thy land to fill.
Loch and moor, and mountains crest,
All the sweet mysterious West,
Kintyre s shores and Islay s bays,
Argyll s loch-indented ways,
Skye s dark peaks and waters wild,
Fill them with His sunshine mild ;
To the barren western shore
Midst the great Atlantic s roar,
Where the rocky headland stands
Looking to the Arctic lands.
Christ be with thee, aid thy strife,
On the tossing sea of Life.
Christ, the Shepherd good, with power
Guard thee in thy sunset hour.
Christ, upon the golden shore
Crown thy work for evermore !
Photo : Russell and Son*.
JULY, 1897.
CHAPTER IX
EPISCOPATE continued
Charges Lambeth Conferences The College at Cumbrae Mr.
Mackonochie s Death Minister of Baptism D.D. Degree.
THE Canons of the Scottish Church require that
each Diocesan Synod shall meet annually. On
these occasions it has always been customary for
the Bishop to address his clergy on some topic of
interest, if any such happens to be attracting the
attention of Churchmen, but a formal Charge is
often dispensed with. The Bishop of Argyll,
however, at the first meeting of his Synod after his
Consecration (August 30, 1883), delivered a Charge
which was the first of a series regularly delivered,
annually, at the Synod. The Bishop surrounded
the delivery of these Charges with all the solemnity
possible. The canonical celebration of the Eucharist
was at an early hour ; later in the morning the
Synod usually met for business in a hall or school
room, but before this the clergy assembled again
in church, where the Bishop, arrayed in cope and
mitre, after invocation of the Holy Ghost, sat in
his chair before the Altar, and delivered his Charge.
These Charges were always printed (in extenso,
or abridged) in the Church newspapers, and they
were afterwards issued in full in separate form. It
125
126 A PASTORAL BISHOP
is a remarkable fact that these Charges were eagerly
looked for, not only in Scotland, but throughout
England, and even in America and in the Colonies.
Again and again the question was asked from
England, " Why do our Bishops never give us
such Charges ? " The question may have been
fair or unfair ; it certainly was asked repeatedly ;
I merely record the fact.
The attractive power in these Charges did not
lie in the treatment of theological or ecclesiastical
questions in an original, novel, or deeply learned
fashion, for as a rule doctrinal matters were dealt
with according to the most usual way of treating
them among Catholic theological writers, with a
strict regard for accuracy and a studied modera
tion ; their attraction rather lay in the appeal they
always made to the more sacred spiritual instincts
in man, in the way in which they strove to reach
the heart.
Those who knew the history of the composition
of these Charges hardly wondered at their spiritual
power. They gave out what had been put into
them. While writing a Charge the Bishop was
(one may almost say literally) " in travail " with it.
Days and nights were spent over the work, the
Charge was written and rewritten, and written
over again. And this, not to secure a finished
literary style, of which the Bishop never imagined
himself to be a master, but just to be sure that
everything was so expressed as best to bring out
the spiritual truths he wished to emphasize. In his
anxious humility to make the best of his work, the
Bishop would sometimes consult others about it ;
CHARGES 127
but no one could be of use to him ; he had his own
ideal, he felt obliged to express it in his own way,
and the adviser was nearly sure to miss the point.
I remember his consulting me about a Charge
which he felt was too long. I suggested the
omission of certain sections, these were concerned
with the very points he wished most to insist on !
I suggested that there was an overabundance of
epithets and adjectives, the curtailment of which
would greatly lighten the composition, every
epithet and adjective had been put in with a
purpose ! I suggested that some clauses were only
repetitions of what was also said elsewhere, the
repetitions were made of set purpose ! And so on.
Whether they could have been improved or no, the
Charges were the outcome of much prayer, and of
intensely earnest effort to speak for the best ; no
wonder they exercised a spiritual power that could
be felt.
Two meetings of the Lambeth (Pan- Anglican)
Conferences were held during Bishop Chinnery-
Haldane s episcopate, in 1888 and in 1897 ; to these
he was of course invited, and he attended them.
He paid the closest attention to all proceedings on
both occasions, and was intensely interested in
everything ; but he did not take a prominent part
in any of the debates. An unsympathetic observer,
however, noticed that when he did address the
Conference he obtained an amount of interested
attention which was surprising considering how
small was his share in the gifts that make a success
ful public speaker. But his dignified modesty
would conciliate attention, and serious men engaged
128 A PASTORAL BISHOP
in serious discussion would respond to the serious
ness of purpose which marked every word uttered
by him in public, and which more than atoned for
his lack of oratorical gifts.
At the annual meetings of the Representative
Church Council, which (as has been noted) the
Bishop never failed to attend, he very seldom spoke,
and if he did, he did not seem to produce much
impression on the meeting, though his personality
always secured him a warm reception ; but at the
first annual meeting of the Council (May, 1906),
held after he had passed away, a member, who
observed what a blank his absence made, said, in
reply to the remark that the Bishop seldom spoke,
" Yes, but it is an influence that we miss."
About the middle of the last century, the sixth
Earl of Glasgow (then the Hon. George Frederick
Boyle) restored the continuous exercise of the
worship of the Church in the Isle of Cumbrae,
where " The Garrison," his favourite residence, was
situated in the town of Millport. He constructed
a chapel (St. Andrew s) just within the borders of
his private grounds, and soon afterwards he erected
a small but stately church dedicated to the Holy
Spirit, flanked north and south by collegiate
buildings, and situated in charmingly laid out
grounds in the immediate vicinity of his mansion.
This institution ultimately became, (1) a theo
logical seminary for training ordinands for the
service of the Scottish Church ; (2) a sort of long
vacation resort for English University men, who
were reading for Orders. The first of these pur
poses the college at Cumbrae did not fulfil to any
CUMBRAE 129
considerable extent ; for the second purpose it was
largely taken advantage of; the names of many
who have since risen to eminence in the Church
of England are found in the college calendars
among those who came to read at C umbrae. A
school of resident choristers was also established
by Lord Glasgow s liberality. For a considerable
time the college seemed to be in a condition of
great prosperity. It was under the government
of a Provost, who was assisted by three resident
canons (one of whom w&sparochus of St. Andrew s) ;
there might be as many as seven or eight clerical
residents, some of whom acted as tutors or
lecturers, and some eighteen or twenty students.
The Founder secured, as he believed, a sufficient
endowment for his institution, and his purse was
always opened with lavish generosity to supply
anything and everything that was needed or
supposed to be needed. In 1876 the church was
solemnly consecrated, and was constituted the
Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Argyll and
the Isles.
In 1885 a crash came. It was heard with
astonishment that Lord Glasgow had succumbed
to overwhelming financial disaster. All that be
longed to him in the Isle of C umbrae was sold,
and the whole of this portion of the earl s property
was bought by a well-known Roman Catholic
nobleman, the late Marquis of Bute. The church
and college buildings with their grounds were saved
to the Church because they had been safely vested
in the hands of trustees ; but of the endowments
it was found that part was lost through a legal
K
130 A PASTORAL BISHOP
defect in the deed of donation, while the rest was
not available for ecclesiastical purposes during the
Founder s life. A Roman Catholic nobleman could
not be expected to allow the continuance of an
Anglican chapel in the private grounds of a mansion
which had become his own ; but Canon Dakers,
who was then parochus of St. Andrew s, with great
promptitude secured a disused schoolroom to which
the furnishings of the lapsed chapel were trans
ferred, and where the services formerly held in the
surrendered sanctuary were carried on. As to the
cathedral and college, the Provost (Dr. Noyes l )
resigned and left, clerical and academical residents
departed, the choir school was broken up, and the
buildings closed.
This catastrophe laid a burden, full of cruel
perplexities, upon the Bishop. What was he to
do with this ruined institution ? Some said, Let it
go. It was known that Lord Bute was ready to
give any sum that could reasonably be asked for
the buildings and grounds. The college had
never in any notable way served the cause of the
Church in the Diocese, why not be content with
securing little St. Andrew s, which would serve all
practically required purposes, and use the money
gained by the sale of the college in any way that
would best benefit the diocese ?
But the Bishop would not undertake the respon
sibility of adopting this course. First, chivalrous
consideration for Lord Glasgow s feelings would
not allow the Bishop thus, in the Founder s life
time and before his eyes, to deal summarily with
1 Now Rector of Crichel, near Wimborne.
CUMBRAE 131
what had been the fruit of his noblest intentions.
And then, taking a large view of matters, the
Bishop said, that through the newspapers the
report would go forth, far and wide throughout
the world, that an Anglican cathedral in Scotland
had been sold to the Roman Catholics. Hardly
any one would know the real insignificance of the
transaction ; the impression created by the report
would no doubt be wholly delusive, but for all
that it would do untold harm, to the reputation
of the Scottish Church in particular, and even to
some extent to that of the Anglican Communion
in general. Some people called this quixotic, but
thoughtful men saw that there was real reason in
the Bishop s apprehensions.
To bring the painful position of things to an
end, the Bishop, by means of ample resources put
at his disposal, became personally responsible for all
costs and charges involved in retaining possession
of the college buildings and grounds. But to what
purposes could they be put? To maintain them
in their former condition would be an expense
beyond the Bishop s large means.
In 1886 a London clergyman offered to come
and reside at the college, and to undertake to train
such occasional aspirants to Holy Orders as the
Bishop might send him. The Bishop accepted
the offer with some misgivings, as he felt out of
harmony with some of the clergyman s ways of
looking at things. However, the experiment was
tried, but it was not a success. The priest, the
single occupant of a deserted college in a small
island, found his isolated position less bearable than
A PASTORAL BISHOP
he had expected, and there were other difficulties ;
so at the end of 1887 he left, and the church and
college relapsed into desertion and solitude, in
which condition it remained, except on some three
or four occasions, for the next four years and
more.
In 1890 the Founder passed away. He was
buried (30th April) in the cathedral cemetery ; the
Bishop officiated at the obsequies.
The cathedral and college in its desolate silence
was a haunting distress to the Bishop s mind. He
frequently talked the matter over with me, and at
length, in 1891, suggested to me in Edinburgh,
where I was then serving, that I might be willing
to help him in the matter. When Provost Noyes
resigned, in 1885, the Bishop had appointed himself
Provost, as a stop-gap arrangement; he now
proposed that he should resign this office, and
appoint to it myself, offering to make financial
arrangements which would enable me to undertake
the post. I agreed, and the plan was carried out.
In February 1892 I came into residence in the
college, at Cumbrae. At the time that all these
arrangements were made, it was taken for granted
that Canon Dakers would remain at Millport as
parochus, but his health failed; he resigned his
charge, and left Cumbrae in May 1892. 1 At the
end of the year the Bishop appointed me Rector of
St. Andrew s, so that the spiritual charge of the
faithful in the island might be in one hand.
One great desire of his, which the Bishop hoped
would be accomplished by the restoration to use of
1 Canon Dakers died at Clifton in 1899. R.I. P.
RETREATS 133
the cathedral and college buildings, was the re
sumption of the daily round of prayer and sacrifice,
in the name of the whole diocese, in the Mother
Church; and accordingly very soon the daily
Eucharist,! with daily public recitation of the Divine
Office, was recommenced, and has been continued
ever since, at least whenever the Provost is in
residence. Another of the Bishop s heart s desires
was the annual provision of an opportunity for a
spiritual Retreat in the college, for the priests of
the Diocese and elsewhere. This desire also was
fulfilled, and (with one omission) a Retreat was
held in the college year by year, from 1892 to
1905.
These Retreats were a matter of the greatest
interest to the Bishop ; he spared no pains in his
endeavours to secure competent conductors, and by
word or writing he personally pressed the import
ance of taking advantage of each occasion as it
occurred on his clergy individually. He never
once failed to attend the annual Retreat himself,
and his presence there was, as has been said, " an
inspiration and an example." He was punctual in
attendance at all the Hours, and at the addresses
and meditations. At the Daily Office in choir he
sat in what would technically be called the
" Cantor s " stall, robed in laced rochet, with stole
and pectoral cross. The part he liked to take was
the reading of the lessons, for which purpose he
did not go to a lectern, but turned round in his
stall and read from the office book which he held
in his hand. The simple gravity and reverence
with which he punctually performed all the lesser
134 A PASTORAL BISHOP
ceremonies, usual among Catholic worshippers, was
in itself a lesson in reverential worship. At
entering or leaving church or choir, during the
Eucharist or Offices, in approaching or leaving the
Altar, he never omitted the bowings, the genu
flexions, the signings with the cross, which common
custom among Western Catholics prescribes. Yet
all was done with quiet unostentation.
The situation of the church and college at
Cumbrae, shut in amid groves of well-grown
trees, with quiet shady alleys for meditative walks,
makes the place an ideal resort for a religious
Retreat, but unfortunately it is difficult of access.
It is not very easily reached from any great centre
which travellers frequent, except Glasgow ; it is on
the way to nowhere else ; and the necessity for
employing a double mode of transit (by railway
and by boat), adds, in more ways than one, to the
difficulty of getting to or from the island.
Living in an island is apt to be more expen
sive than elsewhere, so large a proportion of the
things necessary to modern life have to come from
beyond, this adds (by means of extra carriage,
pier dues, carter s charges) a percentage that can
be felt to the price of everything. Hence providing
for a Retreat at Cumbrae is a more costly affair
than many might imagine. The Bishop stipulated
that all the diocesan clergy should be received as
his guests, free of all charge ; he would not allow
other retreatants to be asked for more than fifteen
shillings for their entertainment ; he insisted on a
generously supplied table, wine and beer being
provided ad libitum. It will be seen from all this,
RETREATS 135
that at the end of each Retreat there was a serious
discrepancy between the cost of entertainment, and
the sum paid by retreatants. It is needless, per
haps, to say that the Bishop always made this
deficiency good; in addition, he defrayed the
conductors travelling expenses, and gave generous
gratuities to various servants and officials.
Among the cell-like bedrooms in the college
is one that bears on the door the quaint inscription
Infirmorum cubiculum; it was intended to be an
infirmary chamber for sick members of the com
munity. A window opens into the choir of the
church, through it one looks down on to the High
Altar. This bedroom, being the most commodious,
was always reserved for the Bishop s use, and he
occupied it at Retreats and at other times. The
room is so associated with him in one s mind that
it is impossible, even yet, to realize that he will
never occupy it again. I think I shall scarcely be
startled if, on going into it, I shall some day see
him, in purple cassock, seated at the table covered
with books and papers, busily writing, the window
wide open (whatever the weather or time of year)
to let in a flood of the sweet fresh air from outside.
In 1886 a distressing domestic calamity fell on
the Bishop and his family. His second son,
Vernon, in the August of that year, went out
shooting in company with a young servant. As
they were crossing the loch, the gun became
somehow entangled in the boat s rope, and went
off; the charge lodged in Mr. Vernon s right arm.
At first it seemed possible that, though the accident
was serious enough, the arm might be saved, and
136 A PASTORAL BISHOP
between hopes and fears the time lingered on
till things came to a crisis. On October 15, it was
plain that amputation was inevitable, and it took
place. When the accident happened the Bishop
was from home, on a diocesan tour ; on his return
he found things worse than he had anticipated ; his
distress may be imagined. When the crisis came
he ministered to his son with tender solicitude.
From early days, St. Alban s, Holborn, greatly
attracted the Bishop. But the attraction did not
lie chiefly in the stately ceremonial for which the
Church became famous, even though it was accom
panied by the clear enunciation of Catholic truth
which was heard from the pulpit, but what
appealed above all to the Bishop was the strongly
Evangelical character of Mr. Mackonochie s preach
ing ; a feature scarcely less prominent in the preach
ing of his faithful friend and coadjutor, Mr. Stanton.
As time went on, things were done and said at
St. Alban s which (for a variety of reasons) did not
approve themselves to the Bishop s mind, yet he
never lost his affection for the Church, and never
failed to be at least among the worshippers there
when he was in London. He knew perfectly well
that his cleaving in this way to St. Alban s laid
him open to misapprehension, that it did him no
good with some whose approbation he valued, but
he felt that here were men, who by making a
stand for that Catholic and Evangelical religion
which he valued more than life, had sacrificed all
their prospects of worldly advantage. If they
made mistakes, so does every one, and the Bishop
had a heart too generous to allow him to make
REV. A. H. MACKONOCHIE 137
these mistakes an excuse for obscuring the fact
that in all main principles he was at one with them.
He felt too great gratitude to St. Alban s for the
spiritual comfort and building up which he had
received from the preaching there.
An eminent ecclesiastic, a personal friend of
Mr. Mackonochie s, sent him privately a message,
when troubles began to thicken, that he was heart
and soul with him as much as ever he was, but
that he thought he could help his friend best by
seeming to " pass by on the other side." Of course
the message was not put into such crudely plain
language as this, but this was what it meant. Of
such mean diplomacy as this the Bishop was
incapable.
For Mr. Mackonochie the Bishop had a deep
personal affection ; though he did not regard him
any more than any one else as his spiritual director,
he frequently made use of his ministry as confessor.
This is not the place in which to enter on the sad
and weary story of the prosecutions and persecu
tions which harassed the clergy of St. Alban s
during so many years ; the effect of them on their
principal object was calamitous to the last degree.
Mr. Mackonochie bore the long-continued series of
cruel anxieties, affronts, suspicions, accusations,
and penalties, with a brave front, and to all out
ward appearance with an unbroken spirit; but
even a courageous man, strong in health, mind,
and body, cannot endure some things beyond a
certain limit with impunity. Mr. Mackonochie s
mind became strangely confused and clouded ; his
right judgment in things moral and spiritual
138 A^PASTORAL BISHOP
remained unimpaired, and his faith clear and
unshaken ; but in dealing with practical matters
he was apt to become so hopelessly confused that
it was impossible to guess what strange mistake
he might not make next. In this distressing
condition it was, of course, impossible for the
really martyred priest to continue his pastoral
work anywhere; but the doors of Alltshellach
were always open to receive him, there he was
sure to find a refuge where he would be sur
rounded by all the care that reverent affection
could suggest.
In December, 1887, Mr. Mackonochie was
staying with me in Edinburgh ; he had been with
the Bishop in the north, but had come with him
on a visit to the capital. The Bishop had gone
north again, and his friend was to join him at
Alltshellach later on. I had a letter from Mrs.
Chinnery-Haldane imploring me to keep my guest
till the Bishop had actually returned ; she had an
instinctive dread of danger from the long walks
which Mr. Mackonochie delighted to take, if he,
in his present state of mind, went alone ; she was
not strong enough to accompany him on these
lengthy expeditions, and she had no one at home
whom she could send with him as companion.
But most strangely Mr. Mackonochie had a
fatal idee fixe that the Bishop expected him back
at an earlier date than it really was wished he
should return. Remonstrance was useless. He
owed so very much to the Bishop, he said, that it
would be a failure in due respect if he did not go
back by the date which was fixed in his poor head.
REV. A. H. MACKONOCHIE 139
So there was nothing for it but to let him go. He
made his Communion (his last) on Thursday,
December 8, the Feast of the Conception of our
Lady ; it was on the following Saturday that I saw
him off from the Waverley Station, on his way
back to Ballachulish ; he accomplished the journey
without accident. What happened afterwards is
best told in the following graphic letter from the
Bishop which he wrote to me, as will be seen,
immediately on the occurrence of the tragedy
which it relates.
"Ballachulish. IV. Sunday in Advent, 1887.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,
" Though our beloved brother Mackono-
chie has doubtless entered into the joy of his Lord,
this is to us a day of sorrow and sighing. But I
am anxious to tell you all.
"... Last Thursday morning, before I had
returned from Ardchattan, etc., our beloved friend
told Mrs. C.-H. that he intended to take a long
walk to the head of the loch. The day was fine
and he took his luncheon with him, as he did not
intend to be back till late in the afternoon. He
was in perfect health and good spirits, and had
taken nearly the same walk the day before, though
then he had not allowed himself time to get quite
to the head of the loch. The road all the way is
excellent, and fit for carriages. He was seen by
several people going along the road with the two
dogs, and being, as you know, an excellent walker,
he reached Kinloch (the head of Loch Leven)
before two o clock. After that he was seen (in
stead of returning home) making his way up a glen
through which a river flows down from the great
mountains of the Mamore Forest. Why he left
the good road and ventured among the hills with
140 A PASTORAL BISHOP
his back to home, and within two or three hours of
dark, I cannot say. It may be, however, that he
got puzzled, and fancied the road he took might
lead home some other way, and he may have
fancied he was going westward towards Ballachulish,
when in reality he was going eastward towards
the trackless wastes that lie between us and Perth
shire. After this he was never seen again in life.
" Evening came and I had returned home. As
dinner time approached, we wondered why he had
not returned, and though, knowing that he knew
the road so well, we were not really anxious, we
sent two men with a lantern along the road by
which he would naturally have been returning.
Several hours passed, and they did not come back.
So fearing that he had got lost in the dark, I got a
carriage and pair of horses from the inn, and with
the gardener set off to search along the road. At
last we met the two men, who had been all the
way to the head of the loch. They could give
us no definite information (not even as much as
I afterwards learnt, and have told you at the
beginning of this letter). All they had found out
was that he had been seen about Kinloch in the
middle of the day, and that no one had seen him
on the homeward road. Real distress and per
plexity now began. For supposing him to have
left the regular road, there were various mountain
paths by which he might have gone, and which of
these many ways to follow who could tell? Be
sides (as I afterwards found by experience) a night
search on the mountains is a sadly useless thing.
So that Thursday night (sic) we returned to
Alltshellach in perplexity, at about 4 a.m.
" On Friday, as soon as possible, we organized
three search parties. One crossed over the loch
to search all the way up to the head, on its south
shore, by which he might possibly have attempted
to return. Another party searched the hills on the
REV. A. H. MACKONOCHIE 141
north side, while I, with the rest of the searchers,
went up to Kinloch itself. At the end of the day
we had made no discovery, and the other two
parties had been equally unsuccessful. So as a last
hope, we planned two night searches, though now
people only talked about finding the body !
One of these parties took a way up through the
hills to a distant keeper s lodge, and, as it turned
out afterwards, they must have passed near the
place where our dear friend was lying the darkness
hid him, and the noise of the storm would have
drowned the bark of the dogs if they barked at
all. (But there they were all the time, no doubt,
faithful creatures, keeping their watch, as we after
wards found them.) Meanwhile the expedition
that went with me explored a more likely way
(as we thought) the Devil s Staircase, a pass
between the Kinloch hills and Glencoe. I shall
never forget that awful night s work. It was pitch
dark, except for the light of our lamps, which
sometimes got blown out through the force of the
wind, and we stumbled on for hours over rocks and
ice, and sometimes through deep snow. Mean
while the howling tempest and the driving hail
were almost overpowering. It seemed like some
other terrible world that we had got into. If thus
it was to me, one of a large party, provided with
lanterns, what must the previous night have been
to the dear solitary wanderer in the midst of total
darkness, and with as bad or worse a tempest to
struggle against ?
"At last we returned to a shooting lodge at
Kinloch, after having met with a third party who
had made their way through the hills from the
Glencoe side of the Devil s Staircase.
"Next morning (Saturday) I set off again, this
time with quite a crowd of men and dogs who had
come in from various quarters. We followed the
same track up into the * Forest of Mamore, that
142 A PASTORAL BISHOP
had been followed by the party of the night before,
who did not go with me to the Devil s Staircase.
As the afternoon came on, we began to think that
this search was to prove as vain as the rest had
been. But at last some of the foremost raised a
cry that the dogs (our dogs) were seen in the
distance. We followed on, till we were in sight of
them, and then some one said to me, No doubt
we shall find it there. The word it was horrible
to hear. True enough, when we got to the spot,
there was the sad truth revealed. Between the
deerhound and our little terrier, who seemed ready
to fly at any one who came near, lay our dearly
loved brother, cold and stiff, having evidently been
long dead. His body seemed almost frozen, and
his head was half buried in the snow wreath which
had formed his last pillow. But on his face there
was his own most pleasant and holy look of peace
and joy, and not a trace of suffering, so far as his
expression could show. But I fear there must
have been a distressing struggle among the rocks,
in the darkness and tempest, before he lay down
(or fell) for the last time. For his right foot was
bare and stained with blood, and both boot and
stocking were gone. After I had knelt down to
kiss and pray over him, we all stood up and said
the last prayers. Then, after some difficulty, I
dug away the frozen snow from his dear head, and
several of the men who were with me formed a
sort of bier of sticks, on which we began to carry
him. This was a very difficult matter, as we had
to pass through mountain torrents now much
swollen, and over rocks and through deep snow.
The men walked on each side supporting the
sticks, and I walked behind supporting the head
with my two hands. At last a better bier was
formed of some wood that was found, and thus we
went on to Kinloch, which we reached almost before
dark.
REV. A. H. MACKONOCHIE 143
"I must not forget that just at the moment
we discovered the body, and while we were moving
it, the clouds in the west, over the Glencoe moun
tains, divided, and such a glorious evening light
came out over the whole landscape, that I can
hardly think the circumstance was a mere accident.
" At Kinloch, where the carriage-road begins,
I got the precious burden placed in the carriage
I had brought from Ballachulish, and with it we
drove home through the dark night to Alltshellach.
We at once moved him into the chapel just as he
was, and I washed his feet and hands and face, and
with assistance of two women who have this office
in the place, laid him out for his long sleep. I also
vested him, as I thought he would wish, in the
black cassock I wore at Jerusalem, amice, alb
with lace, girdle, maniple, stole (a very beautiful
one that had been given me by some friends of his,
made like the one of St. Thomas of Canterbury),
and the white stuff chasuble from St. Bride s.
Thus he now lies in the chapel which is, of course,
lighted with candles. On his breast is a large
crucifix which I found on him, and which I think
he always wore, and he has also his * Priest s Prayer-
book saturated with wet, that I found in his
pocket, and S.S.C. cross, his C.B.S. medal and
also another. It was sad on Thursday night to see
the bright fire in his bedroom, and the comfortable
bed prepared for his return, with the fear that he
was out (we knew not where) in the storm and
darkness, though then we hoped that though
unable to return, he had found shelter somewhere.
But now it is still more sad to see the same room
all dismantled and his little treasures, including his
well-worn Office-book (you know that thick one)
all put aside in drawers. The place in the forest
where he fell asleep must, of course, be marked by a
memorial. . . . Please realize that a forest here
does not mean anything to do with trees, but a
144 A PASTORAL BISHOP
stretch of barren mountains and moorlands devoted
to deer.
" I have tried my best to tell you all I can
remember about the sad events of these last three
days. But I have written in a hurry. . . .
" I celebrated the Holy Eucharist this morning
in the presence of the dear form, and I thought it
right to uncover his face. I used the Epistle,
Gospel, and Offertory from the Missal you and the
C.B.S. gave me. * If this tabernacle be dissolved/
etc., Other men laboured and ye have entered
into their labours. How true this last of him ! . . .
" Ever your affectionate and sad-hearted brother,
"A. C.-H.
... r phose two dear dogs should be remem
bered, the little skye terrier, and the great deer
hound. He was so fond of them and they of him.
They appear again and again in his journal and
correspondence."
At the time when the account of Mr. Mac-
konochie s romantically tragic end first appeared,
all minds were naturally engrossed with the
thought of the passing of him who was thus
taken, by a mystery of the Divine Will, from
our midst, but here it is fitting to call attention
to the splendid devotion of the faithful friend
who did little less than risk his own life in the
search for the beloved wanderer, a search which
(be it observed) was carried on for the space of
two days and two nights in the midst of raging
storm and tempest, without relaxation or repose.
Truly if Mr. Mackonochie merited the unstinted
devotion of a friend, he certainly found it.
Reference has already been made, in the
MINISTER OF BAPTISM 145
chapter on the Bishop s Religious Opinions, to his
change of attitude with regard to the status of the
Minister of Baptism. In his Charge of 1886 he
gave an indication of the direction which his mind
was taking on this subject, but in 1888 he declared
his matured convictions plainly, and announced
the course he should feel obliged in future to
take henceforth he could receive no one as a
candidate for Confirmation who had not been
(at least conditionally) baptized by a lawfully
ordained Minister. This announcement brought
upon him a flood of remonstrances and pro
tests, friendly and unfriendly. Having once
with prayer and deliberation taken his line, he
was immovable. The feeling which had been
excited found vent at length in a long-continued
controversial correspondence in the Church news
papers, which caused the Bishop the keenest dis
tress. In controversy, he was thoroughly out of his
element. To begin with, controversy of any kind
was distasteful to him, his gracious nature always
inclined him to agree with others rather than to
differ from them ; and then, he was destitute of
all the qualities, moral or mental, good or evil,
which characterize the able controversialist. His
intellectual slowness was partly, at least, the
cause of this. When driven into controversy, he
defended his own position at too great length,
and replied to his opponents with over-minute
attention to detail ; he was not quick to see
what was not worth defending or refuting. And
then his kind and courteous nature would not
allow him to make those keen thrusts (which so
146 A PASTORAL BISHOP
often trench on the personal) which professional
controversialists think they find useful in their
contendings.
The Bishop had a real indifference as to what
was said of him by strangers or avowed enemies
(if indeed he had any), but when friends, those
to whom he had shown attention and regard,
attacked him with hard words and unfriendly
suggestions, it cut him to the heart. And such
attacks he had to bear from letters printed in the
correspondence which went on in the Church
press, on the subject of his line of action as to
the Minister of Baptism. "Mine own familiar
friend whom I trusted ! " was his exclamation
after reading the cutting remarks contained in
a letter of this kind. But he was never bitter
about it, only unspeakably hurt. He felt, how
ever, that in the newspaper correspondence the
controversy, on the whole, went against him, and
his distress was great, not from wounded vanity
at a defeat of this kind, but because of his sense
of inability ably to defend a cause he had at
heart. And the worst of it was, that among
those whose assistance and co-operation he sought,
some were unable to help him, just because
they conscientiously considered that the line he
had taken was a mistake. The Bishop was too
just and generous to resent conscientious abstinence
from helping him on the part of friends who
refrained from attacking him; but he felt keenly
the disadvantage in which he appeared. It was a
relief to every one when the correspondence ceased.
As a matter of fact, the Bishop s requirement
MINISTER OF BAPTISM 147
as to the Minister of Baptism did not check
the progress of the Church in the Diocese, and
where it was enforced with gentleness and
prudence few serious difficulties arose. It may
be questioned whether this would have been the
case in a larger diocese than that of Argyll and
the Isles, under a Bishop whose personality was
less attractive than that of Bishop Chinnery-
Haldane.
The Bishop himself never wavered in his con
viction that he had taken the right line; his
matured feeling on the subject may be gathered
from the following excerpt from a letter to Canon
Meredith written in 1892 :
" Of course the question of Lay Baptism must
be considered on its own merits, and apart from
any consequences it may seem to involve. I am
more and more persuaded that the rule we follow
in this Diocese is the more excellent way. The
conclusion of the fifth year during which I have
required conditional Baptism in the case of all
converts whom I have confirmed, shows more
than double the number of candidates presented
during either of the two years before the new rule
came into force.
" I do not remember having lost one candidate
through my action in this matter, and on the
contrary, I have had many interesting cases. One
Presbyterian shopkeeper objected to be confirmed
because I would not relax the rule in his case.
But he soon gave way, and not only so, but
together with his wife, he of his own accord
brought all his own children for conditional
148 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Baptism. I had another case of a solicitor who
turned away on the same ground. But in about
a year he came back and was conditionally baptized
along with the acting editor of the local newspaper.
" But still, as I have said before, the question
is one that must be faced on its own merits."
The Bishop had proceeded to the degree of
LL.M. in 1884 ; in 1888 his university offered
him the degree of D.D. jure dignitatis. The
Public Orator in presenting the Bishop for the
reception of this honour referred to him in a very
graceful speech as the representative of the long
line of Bishops of Lismore, and reminded his
hearers that the Bishop s diocese included St.
Columba s Isle of lona, and the pass of Glencoe,
" once infamous as the scene of cruel slaughter,
but where now the Mysteries of the gentlest of
religions are celebrated, in the presence of reverent
throngs, in their own tongue." He also referred
very happily to the pathetic passing of Mr. Macko-
nochie. " From his [the Bishop s] house too, you
will remember, as his guest, that English priest
went forth, who last winter found, amid the calm
snow-drifts of a secluded glade, rest for his weari
ness in death, after a life of heroic endurance. On
that fatal day, indeed, the relics of that faithful
man were searched for in vain all night by the
faithful Bishop, but were loyally guarded by the
loyal guardianship of dogs till their master him
self appeared."
CHAPTER X
EPISCOPATE continued
Revision of Scotch Office lona Rome and Anglican Orders
Liturgical Work
THOUGH he had no claim to be considered an
expert liturgist, things liturgical always possessed
a strong attraction for the Bishop. In 1889 a
liturgical matter arose (it ended very unhappily)
which engaged his most intense interest.
To make things clear to the ordinary reader
some explanations are necessary. All liturgical
writers agree that the alterations made in 1552
in the Communion Service or "Mass" of the
Prayer-book of 1549 were most unfortunate. These
ill-judged alterations, in their main characteristics,
are still found in the Communion Service in the
existing Prayer-book. The defects caused by these
alterations chiefly concern (not the validity, but)
the structure and arrangement of the Prayer of
Consecration. Though all liturgical writers have
been unanimous in acknowledging and deploring
these defects, they have never been remedied in
England ; but when, in 1637, a Prayer-book was
prepared for the restored Church of Scotland, the
Prayer of Consecration was, in some of the more
important respects, brought back to the model of
149
150 A PASTORAL BISHOP
1549. This Prayer-book was never extensively
used.
In 1688-9 the Church of Scotland was dis
established because of the adherence of its Bishops
to the Stuart (Jacobite) cause, and its clergy were
subjected to humiliating disabilities of many kinds.
The Bishops of the disestablished Church soon
began to endeavour to bring in the use of a Com
munion Service superior to that in the current
English Prayer-book. The Service in the book
of 1637 was printed separately, and authorized for
use. Editions of that Service, with divers altera
tions, began to appear. At length a change of
considerable importance was ventured on.
A difference in the arrangement of the Prayer
of Consecration has existed always (so far as is
known) between the Latin Liturgy of the Roman
Church, and all the Liturgies of the East. In the
Roman Canon of Consecration explicit prayer for
the sanctification of the Bread and Wine ^omes
before our Lord s consecratory words are said.
In other Liturgies our Lord s words come first,
and a prayer for the sanctification of the Sacrament
by the Holy Ghost (called the Invocation or Epi-
klesis) comes afterwards. 1
In the Prayer-book of 1549, and in that of
1637, the Roman order was followed. But the
Scottish Bishops considered the example of the
Eastern Churches to be of greater weight, and
editions of the Communion Service appeared in
which the Eastern order was followed ; the Words
1 This order is preserved under Roman sanction in the Liturgy of
those Greeks who have accepted the authority of- the Pope of Rome.
THE SCOTCH OFFICE 151
of Consecration came first, the Epiklesis came
after. In 1764 an edition of this kind (mainly
the work of two of the Bishops) was put forth,
and obtained such favour that it almost wholly
superseded all previous editions. This form of
the Liturgy is usually termed for shortness " The
Scotch Office." In 1811 a Canon in general terms
approved of the Scotch Office as the normal Com
munion Service of the Church, but permitting the
use of the Service in the English Prayer-book
under specified conditions.
In 1862-3 a movement was made to remove by
parliamentary legislation the remaining disabilities
under which clergymen of Scottish Ordination
still lay. It was stated by persons of influence in
England that one hindrance to the desired removal
was the use by the -Scottish Church of a special
Communion Office differing from that used in the
Church of England. To obviate this objection a
Canon was passed reversing the relative position
of the two Offices ; the Communion Service in
the Prayer-book was henceforth to be the normal
use, the Scotch Office was exceptionally tolerated
under such restrictions that it was expected its use
would soon cease altogether. The special disabilities
affecting Scottish clergymen were eventually re
moved by Parliament.
At the very time when canonical humiliation
was inflicted on the Scotch Office (which is
admittedly a finer work of liturgical art than the
English) it was felt by many earnest Churchmen
that the course taken was an unworthy expedient,
needlessly resorted to to gain an end which it was
152 A PASTORAL BISHOP
quite certain would have been gained sooner or
later. As years went on this conviction gained in
strength, and there was an increasing feeling that
something should be done to remedy, at least
partially, this miserable mistake which had been
made. A Provincial Synod (the supreme legislative
authority in the Scottish Church) was to be held
in 1890, and the Bishops desired to give effect to
the wide-spread desire for improvement in the
canonical status of the Scotch Office. But when
they faced the matter, they were at once met by
this difficulty, there is no authorized version of
the text of the Scotch Office ; nothing corresponding
to the Sealed Copy of the English Prayer-book.
The text had been left to the mercy of printers and
private editors ; true these irresponsible persons had
made no startling innovations on the teoctus receptus,
but variations existed, and it was obviously desirable,
before greater authority was given to the Office,
that its authentic text should be put beyond doubt.
So the Bishops resolved to undertake the work
of a careful revision of the text of the Scotch
Office, and here a grave tactical mistake was made,
of which more presently. Into this work of
revision the Bishop of Argyll entered heart and
soul, and gave it his most studious attention ;
nothing connected with the work was too minute
to be overlooked by him ; he literally weighed the
effect of every comma, and capital letter, and had
no hesitation in pressing upon his brethren every
point that he considered important, till, usually,
his suave persistence prevailed.
While the whole Office was subjected to a
THE SCOTCH OFFICE 153
minute and careful revision, special attention was
paid to the wording of the Invocation ; against the
traditional form given to this in the textus receptus
of the Scotch Office it had been urged by men
of weight and learning that it did not in reality
accurately represent the Oriental Epiklesis to which
it was professed that it was equivalent. It was
said, that in the Oriental Epiklesis the descent of
the Holy Spirit is invoked on the faithful as well
as on the Oblation, and that therein it is prayed
not only that the Gifts may indeed become by
the virtue of the Holy Ghost the Body and Blood
of Christ, but that the Sacrament may be hallowed
for the benefit of recipients. These features, it
was asserted, are wanting in the Scottish Invo
cation ; it was also urged that the word " become "
as used therein does not exactly correspond to any
term used in the ancient Liturgies. The Bishops
admitted the force of these objections, and revised
the Invocation so as to obviate them. How far
these criticisms were justified, and how far the
amendments made by the Bishops met them suc
cessfully, the reader will be able to judge if he
will compare together the Epiklesis from a typical
Oriental Liturgy, and the Invocation as it stands
in the textus receptus of the Scotch Office, with
the revision proposed by the Bishops, as given
below :
Epiklesis from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
"VXTE beseech, pray, and supplicate Thee to send down Thy
Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these Gifts here set forth,
and make this Bread the precious Body of Thy Christ, and that
which is within this Chalice the precious Blood of Thy Christ,
154 A PASTORAL BISHOP
changing them by Thy Holy Spirit; so that they may profit
those who partake of them, to sobriety of soul, to remission
of sins, to fellowship of the Holy Ghost, to the fulfilment of
the kingdom of heaven, to confidence towards Thee, and not to
judgment nor condemnation.
The Invocation in the textus receptus of the Scotch Office.
A ND we most humbly beseech Thee, O merciful Father, to
hear us, and of Thy almighty goodness 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.
TJie Invocation as revised by the Bishops.
A ND we most humbly beseech Thee, O merciful Father, to
hear us, and of Thy almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless
and sanctify with Thy Holy Spirit, this Bread and this Cup,
that they may be the Body and Blood of Thy most dearly-
beloved Son, so that whosoever shall partake of the same, being
filled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, may be sanctified
both in soul and body, and preserved unto everlasting life.
The Bishops thought, not unreasonably, that
the revision which they enterprised had best be
carried out in the first instance by themselves,
among themselves, and then submitted to the
Church for criticism and ultimate acceptance. So
they met in private conclave and effected their
revision. But here came in the mistake to which
reference has been made. The average British
mind is apt to see a plot or a conspiracy in every
thing not done in the middle of the street. The
Bishops failed to reckon with this not very intel
ligent tendency. While the revision was in pro
gress the Bishop of Argyll was warned by a friend
that probably when the work was made public
THE SCOTCH OFFICE 155
it would excite a commotion in the Church such
as had not been seen since the Cheyne and Forbes
controversies thirty years before ; the Bishop com
municated the warning to the Primus (Jermyn)
who pooh-poohed it ; every one would be delighted
with the revision when once they saw it. So the
revision was completed, and a draft of it was
sent to the clergy accompanied by a circular
(dated August 2, 1889) asking for their opinions.
Immediately the storm burst. The revision was
denounced as an insidious attempt, concocted in
secret, to water down the doctrine of the Scotch
Office in the interests of Protestant misbelief. The
malcontents were mostly men of standing in the
Church, but they were few in number, and did
not represent the more learned section of the
clergy; they were, however, persistent in opposi
tion, and strong in language.
The Bishops tried to weather the storm ; an
improved revision was put forth, and this second
draft was sent to the Synods to be discussed. In
his own Synod (August 22) the Bishop of Argyll
delivered a carefully written Charge, earnestly
advocating and commending the episcopal revision.
The net result of the reception of the revision by
the Synods was only dubiously favourable to it,
if even that, and the opposition to it did not
decrease in bitterness, so the Bishops, greatly to
their honour, rather than let the service for cele
brating the Sacrifice of Peace become a source of
strife and contention, withdrew the consideration
of the status of the Scotch Office from among the
matters to be dealt with by the Provincial Synod ;
156 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the former Canon which regulated the matter was
provisionally re-enacted, and there things still
remain. But the whole question is sure to be
re-opened some day, perhaps before very long.
At the time, the Bishop was much disappointed
at the failure of the revision to secure acceptance,
and at the consequent abandonment of any attempt
to improve the status of the Scotch Office ; even
more was he saddened at the temper excited by
the opposition to the scheme ; yet in after years
he said that he had come to the conclusion that
it was better, perhaps, that the settlement of the
whole question had been deferred.
As might be expected, the many charms which
adorn the sacred Island of lona, situated as it
is in his Diocese, appealed most strongly to the
Bishop s piety and imagination. The natural
attractions of the Island are not insignificant ; its
romantic situation in the great Atlantic Ocean,
the verdant beauty of the green sward which covers
it, the fresh sweetness of its air, all these the
Bishop could appreciate ; but more than all, the
Island spoke to his heart as the home of St.
Columba (one of the few Saints of ancient days
of whom we have a real biography, and not a
mere romance) ; from this place, once the home
of continual prayer, the light of the Gospel had
shined forth over so large a part of Scotland.
With Adamnan s "Life of St. Columba" in his
hand, the Bishop traversed the island, identifying
as far as he could the localities connected with
the Saint s memory; but it was grievous to him
beyond words that in the whole Island there was
IONA 157
no place in which, as a Bishop of the Church,
he had a right to gather together any of the
faithful who might be there, for prayer and sac
rifice. This regret sank deep into his soul. At
length (about 1893), greatly owing to the good
offices of the Duchess Amelia (herself a fervent
Church woman), the Bishop obtained from the
Duke of Argyll, as over-lord, the grant of a feu l
on which to build a house for prayer and religious
retirement. No sooner did this become known
than it gave rise to an extraordinary exhibition
of sectarian animosity. The minister of the Estab
lished Presbyterian Church in lona actually pre
sented a petition to the Duke, purporting to
be signed by all the inhabitants of the Island,
praying him to rescind his grant, on the ground
that the erection of the Bishop s house would
outrage the religious feelings of the people ; the
petition further asserted that were it attempted
to commence the building not a man in the place
would raise a finger to help in the evil work. The
Duke replied in somewhat caustic tone. Of course
the revocation of the grant of the feu was out
of the question, but he reminded the petitioners
that as the Presbyterians in lona were divided
into two parties, the Established and the Free,
each of which had its separate place of worship,
they were witnesses against themselves that all
men could not be always expected to be able to
worship together. Why, then, should they wish to
hinder other people enjoying the same liberty
1 A "feu" in Scotland answers, roughly, to a piece of ground
granted on perpetual lease in England.
158 A PASTORAL BISHOP
which they enjoyed themselves, and to prevent
them having a chapel where they could worship
God in their own way ? He further remarked
that it was curious that the number of petitioners
exceeded the number of the population of the
Island.
Those who have had any experience in obtain
ing signatures to petitions know how easily half-
taught simple people will sign anything they are
asked to sign, without really grasping the meaning
of the document. Something of this kind pro
bably happened in lona. When the Duke s answer
became public, the petitioning signatories felt they
had been led on to the ice, and they were indignant
with the man who had drawn them into a foolish
position. When the building of the Bishop s House
(or, House of Retreat, as it was ultimately named)
was commenced, the islanders gladly gave all the
assistance in their power to the work, and have
always manifested the greatest civility and cordiality
to those who, from time to time, have occupied the
house. Possibly the parish minister took up his
belligerent attitude under a misapprehension, and
did not wait before acting to see whether his fears
were likely to be realized. He may have thought
that the building of the house indicated the com
mencement of a proselytising campaign which
would disturb the peace of the Island. But he
need have had no fears on this score, the Bishop
knew the people well enough to be aware that any
such attempt would produce no valuable result ;
his sole wish in procuring the building of the
house was to secure a pied a terre for the Church
ION A 159
in the Holy Island. It is worth mentioning that
the Bishop s gracious courtesy made a firm friend
of the Free Church minister ; this reciprocal good
feeling lasted to the end of the Bishop s life. The
house was finished in 1894, and was unostentatiously
dedicated in June of that year.
The house which that munificent aid which
never failed him enabled the Bishop to build is
of somewhat original plan, and deserves a short
description. The whole structure is of granite
and it stands on the shore, midway between the
usual landing-place of passengers, at the Martyrs
Bay, and what remains of the cathedral. In the
centre is a gabled chapel, of severe simplicity, yet
dignified and devotional in character. It has the
usual Catholic fittings. There is no east window,
but outside in the east wall is a niche holding a
statue of St. Columba in the act of blessing,
facing the sea. Flanking this chapel on the ground
floor, to the right are a common room, and a
refectory ; to the left are the kitchen and offices ;
communication between these two wings is obtained
by a passage in front of the chapel from which it
is screened off. Above, the chapel is flanked by a
series of cell-like bedrooms, six on either side ;
communicaton between the two sets is through
the gallery which runs across the west end of the
chapel. A severe simplicity characterizes the
whole building ; but it is well-arranged, compact,
and eminently suited to the purposes which the
Bishop hoped it would serve.
Those purposes were quite clearly before the
Bishop s mind from the first, he meant the house
160 A PASTORAL BISHOP
to be a House of Prayer and Eucharist, of study
and meditation ; but how he was to secure that it
should be used for these purposes he did not in the
least foresee. He trusted entirely to the leading of
Divine Providence in the matter. His first wish
was to place the house in the official custody of
the Church in Scotland, but there were hindrances
which prevented that being done.
The Bishop had always given a warm welcome
in his Diocese, to the Fathers of the Society of St.
John the Evangelist, whose mother house is at
Cowley, near Oxford. The idea occurred (or was
suggested) to him that the Cowley Fathers might be
ready to take over the house, and to engage to
maintain it, for the purposes for which it was
intended. On the matter being brought before
them, the Fathers cordially accepted the suggestion.
Accordingly, on St. Columba s day, June 9, 1897,
the thirteenth centenary of the passing of the Saint,
in a simple but impressive service in the chapel, the
House of Retreat was made over to the Cowley
Fathers, who undertook under carefully specified
conditions to maintain the house, and to use it for
the purposes for which it was founded.
On January 16, 1895, the Bishop officiated at
the marriage of his second son, Mr. Patrick Vernon
Chinnery-Haldane, to Miss Rebecca (Rebe) Mon-
teith, in St. John s Church, Oban.
In the autumn of the year 1896, there appeared
the Apostolic Letter of Leo XIII., Apostolicce curve,
which renewed the traditionary repudiation of the
validity of Anglican Orders on the part of the
Roman Church. This letter was the outcome of
ANGLICAN ORDERS 161
much that had preceded it, and these preliminaries
have been so persistently misinterpreted through
ignorance or malice, or both, that it will be well
to put them in their true light.
It was quite recently stated in a public address
that the English Archbishops formally approached
Leo XIII. to obtain a recognition of their Orders,
and that he contemptuously repulsed them ; it has
also been asserted, in the same public manner, that
certain of the leading men among the " ritualists "
(so called) applied to the Pope for a recognition
of Anglican Orders, and that his answer was this
Apostolic Letter repudiating them. Both these
ways of representing what led to the promulgation
of the Apostolic Letter are in plain language simply
mendacious.
What really happened was this. Roman con
troversialists in England have found that to succeed
in throwing doubt on the validity of Anglican
Orders is one of the most potent means at their
disposal for shaking the allegiance of Anglicans to
their Church. But in the course of some three
centuries the controversy about Anglican Orders
has somewhat shifted its ground on both sides.
It was felt on the Roman side that their contro
versial weapons needed bringing up to date, and
so a movement was made for obtaining a new
examination of the question by Rome. The real
object of this move was obvious. It was merely
wished by the Roman authorities in England to
obtain a new and more emphatic condemnation of
the validity of Anglican Orders by the supreme
authority of the Pope ; nothing was less desired
M
162 A PASTORAL BISHOP
than any recognition of them. But when the
matter began to be bruited abroad, certain French
theologians interested themselves in the matter,
and it is possible that some of them would have
welcomed sincerely a modification, or perhaps even
a reversal, of the tradition of repudiation. But
French patronage was no assistance at Rome to
the Anglican cause ; the French are not, and never
have been, regarded with favourable eye in the
Curia.
When the papal Commission of Inquiry was
called into existence, certain Anglicans, acting on
their own personal initiative, thought it would be
as well to obtain permission to bring their own
statement of their own case before it. They
sought this permission and obtained it.
In correspondence with those who favoured
and who assisted in this informal representation of
the Anglican cause in Rome, the Bishop of Argyll
strongly deprecated any such course. He did not
see how any favourable or helpful result could
possibly be expected from it. Rome is a Church
whose counsels are always ruled by far-sighted
diplomacy rather than by anything else. The
repudiation of the validity of Anglican Orders is
one of the most effective of the weapons her agents
in this country are able to wield. Was it credible
that the Papal Curia would deprive them of this
invaluable weapon ? The pleasant and hopeful
things which the delighted Anglican emissaries
reported as having been said by Cardinal this, Dom
that, or the Bishop of the other, the Bishop regarded
merely as polite snares, meaning nothing more than
ANGLICAN ORDERS 163
that the speakers wished to be civil. He was con
vinced that the Anglican pleaders were riding to a
fall ; that they judged those on the other side by
their own desire for justice and charity ; and that
Rome could afford to be neither just nor generous.
And the Bishop s anticipations proved to be
well-founded. The Letter, when it appeared, was
in substance only what he expected. It once more
affirmed the invalidity of Anglican Orders, mainly,
this time, on the ground that there was no intention
on the part of those who originally compiled and
used the Anglican Ordinal to confer the Catholic
Priesthood, notwithstanding the express declaration
officially prefixed to that Ordinal, that the intention
of those who compiled the offices contained in it
was to continue the Order of Priesthood existing
at the time of the publication of the Ordinal ; the
uncandid omission in the Apostolic Letter of even
the slightest reference to this crucial declaration
is one of its most curious and discreditable features.
The English Archbishops replied to the
Apostolic Letter in an Encyclical, Scepius officio,
addressed to all the Bishops of the Catholic Church,
defending their position. And there the matter
rests for the present.
Reference has been made to the Bishop s interest
in things liturgical, and in the year 1900, there was
brought to a happy result by him a piece of litur
gical work which gave him the greatest gratifica
tion ; this work was the compilation of a collection
of Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, for days and
occasions not so provided for in the Common
Prayer-book. The compilation of this collection
164 A PASTORAL BISHOP
was a work which took many years in the doing,
owing to certain very characteristic qualities of the
Bishop s mind which this kind of work brought
into play. The compilation was to be undertaken
by myself, and it was, of course, to be subjected to
revision by the Bishop before he sanctioned it. I
submitted to him a series of translations and
adaptations of Latin Collects, ancient and modern,
but with the result that he could sanction none of
them ! I must have perpetrated some few hundreds
of translations of Collects in my time, and in my
own judgment, have rarely been really successful
in producing a prayer that had a satisfactory
rhythmical flow. I did not then present my work
to the Bishop under any illusion as to its freedom
from defects. But exactly what it was that he felt
to be intolerable I never made out ; nor could he
suggest how things might be bettered. His objec
tions were not theological, nor literary ; what, then,
were they based on ? I never discovered. The
hours spent in conference with him over this work
were some of the most painful I ever spent in my
life. I had the miserable baffled feeling which
comes from trying to enter into the mind of
another, only to find one s self in a dense fog. I
proposed abandoning the work altogether ; but this
pained him deeply, and in his courteous, humble
way he apologized for not accepting my work,
saying that the issue of this collection was some
thing he had greatly at heart, and that he was
sure I should eventually be able to help him to
accomplish his desires with regard to it.
And so it proved to be. The Bishop came
LITURGICAL WORK 165
upon a collection of Collects which, to meet a
special difficulty, I had compiled strictly in the
exact words of the Bible and Prayer-book ; he
thought them " delightful," and begged me to
compile a similar series for his projected collection ;
this was done, and the work met his entire appro
bation, although to myself it did not appear worthy
of the warm approval which it received. The
collection was completed and published, with a
formal authorization of it for use in the Diocese, in
1900, by Messrs. Mowbray, of Oxford, in handsome
form for Altar use. Frequently, in subsequent
years, the Bishop in writing to me would mention
that, that morning he had used at the Altar " your
delightful Missal."
In addition to the Altar edition of supple
mentary Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, the Bishop
had the Collects from that collection reprinted in
smaller form, together with lists of Proper Psalms
and Lessons for certain occasions. This was also
authorized for diocesan use.
Besides these liturgical works, the Bishop (before
his elevation to the episcopate) published " The
Scottish Communicant," a manual of Eucharistic
devotions accommodated to the Scotch Office ; this
little book went through many editions (the last,
the seventh, is dated 1901) ; as each successive
edition appeared, every word, and comma, and
capital letter in the book was reconsidered again
and again, and revised with anxious care. The
manual was a great favourite with simple people,
for whom indeed it was mainly intended.
The Bishop also printed some little books of
166 A PASTORAL BISHOP
catechism and instruction for use in schools and
classes.
The last work to which he put his hand was
an exhaustive and minute revision of " A Brief
Directory of Elementary Ceremonial," a new edition
of which appeared in 1905; although not actually
penned by him, the book expresses his matured
judgment on the matters dealt with in it.
On April 23, 1902, the Bishop officiated at the
marriage of his eldest son, Mr. James Brodrick
Chinnery-Haldane, to Miss Katherine Annie Napier,
in St. Stephen s Church, South Kensington.
CHAPTER XI
FOREIGN TRAVEL
A MEMOIR of Bishop Chinnery-Haldane which did
not include mention, and prominent mention, of
his fondness for foreign travel, and (during a long
period of his life) his frequent visits abroad, would
indeed omit a notable characteristic of his life,
especially when the very marked effect which
those visits had on his opinions and practice is
considered. The taste for foreign travel showed
itself in early youth, and for many years an annual
tour on the Continent was a part of the Bishop s
course of life.
Those who have taken the trouble to read with
attention what has been related of the Bishop s
character will hardly need to be told that he was
not a tourist of the conventional globe-trotter kind.
He used to set out with the definite design of
visiting some place or places of interest ; he would
prepare for his visit by carefully informing himself
of whatever was worth seeing there, and would go
provided with all the best attainable guide-books,
maps, and similar works of reference. Every place
visited was studied with intelligent care. He
returned from his tours with an ample store of
photographs of all the more interesting buildings,
pictures, and other works of art which he had
167
168 A PASTORAL BISHOP
seen, and these he had systematically arranged in
albums. As a rule, he did not care to buy and
bring home the odds and ends of curiosities and
local souvenirs with which some tourists take
pleasure in loading themselves ; but from the
Holy Land he did bring back a large selection
of memorials from the sacred sites.
It has been said that a Scotchman is naturally
much more of a citizen of the world than an
Englishman ; and observation of the way in which
men of the two nationalities comport themselves
during residence or travelling in foreign parts
would tend to confirm the truth of this remark.
An Englishman too generally goes abroad firmly
convinced of the superiority of everything English,
and only prepared to notice those things in which
foreigners fail to come up to the standard of
English excellence. That there are other things
to be observed, in which foreigners excel the
English, never enters his head as even possible.
Not so the Scotchman ; he nourishes in his heart,
no doubt, a secret conviction that there is no place
like Scotland, and no people like the Scotch, but
he goes to foreign countries ready to take things
as he finds them, and intelligently and frankly to
observe and acknowledge all that is best and
superior in them. The characteristic of the wise
man mentioned by Ecclesiasticus, " He will travel
through strange countries ; for he hath tried the
good and the evil among men," is eminently true
of the Scotchman. Surprise is often expressed at
the fact that so often in a foreign land a Scotch
man rather than an Englishman is found at the
FOREIGN TRAVEL 169
head of affairs ; but no surprise need be felt. An
Englishman soon gets at loggerheads with those of
other nationalities (not only because of his deter
mination to assert the superiority of his own way
of looking at and dealing with everything, but
also) because of his inability to take hold of the
strong points of men of other nations, and to deal
with them. A Scotchman, on the contrary, works
his way into confidence and influence because (as
Ecclesiasticus puts it) he has " tried the good "
among the men he has to deal with, and knows
how to utilize it.
The Bishop in^his travels was a typical Scotch
man. No man could have a more intense attach
ment to the native country of his family than he ;
his attachment to Scotland was almost romantic ;
but he was ever keen to note in foreign lands those
things from which something could be learned,
those things in which our neighbours are better
than ourselves. Of course his observation was
chiefly directed to the things that concern religion,
and as to this he became convinced, as all candid
observers must be convinced, that external religion,
as expressed in " assembling together " for the
worship of God, has a far greater hold on the
affections of the common people in those countries
in which the national religion is Catholic (even
though papalized) than in foreign Protestant lands,
or in England, where, as Dr. Neale puts it
" England s Church is Catholic, if England s self be not."
To ascribe what is outwardly excellent and
admirable to some unworthy inward motive is a
170 A PASTORAL BISHOP
miserable moral meanness of which the Bishop was
incapable. He could never have taken his place
among the shallow and narrow who at once exclaim,
" Superstition ! " when they come across a phase of
religion which they do not understand, and think
that this settles the matter; no, he "tried the
good," and to his mind the secret of the good
which he noted in continental religion was this
the worship of Jesus Christ must always have a
great attractive power to those who believe in
Him ; the practice of what we may conveniently
call " continental Churches " with regard to the
Sacrament of the Altar offers to the people oppor
tunities of worshipping Christ, and of coming to
the Father by Him, in a way which is supremely
attractive to devotion, and which is concrete and
definite to the understanding.
The Bishop looked through the tangle of theo
logical subtilties with which divines have sur
rounded the doctrine of the Eucharist, and through
the crudities of popular expressions of devotion,
and saw truly and clearly that fundamentally and
substantially adoration of the Host is neither more
nor less than adoration of Jesus Christ under a
consecrated Symbol (which yet is more than a
mere Symbol), and that devout assistance at the
Mass means coming to the Father through Christ
as the Propitiation for sin. In the attraction
which the Mass and Benediction have for the
minds of pious Christians in Catholic countries,
the Bishop saw a manifestation of the attractive
power of Him Who said, " And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."
FOREIGN TRAVEL 171
The cultus of our Lady and the Saints, as the
Bishop saw it on the Continent, did not appeal to
him, and it did not seem to him that it is in
practices connected with this that the great attrac
tive power which draws the common people to
their churches is to be looked for. More and
more did his observations during his visits abroad
convince the Bishop that with regard to the Sacra
ment of the Altar continental churches are in
practice more in the right than those of the
Anglican Communion ; and there is no doubt
that this conviction powerfully influenced both
his teaching and his own practice. He was too
real, too cautious, and too considerate a man to
try to press or to force on priest or people an
ethos with respect to the Sacrament of the Altar
for which they were unprepared, and which they
might be in danger of taking up merely as a
fashion, and not " in spirit and in truth." But, to
his own mind, what is ordinarily, though clumsily,
called " continental " practice with regard to the
Mass was so far ideal that in it he saw nothing
with which he could find serious fault ; he would
fain have seen Christians at home, like their
brethren abroad, haunting their churches daily, and
crowding them on feasts, in order to worship their
Saviour and to seek His propitiatory intercession
through the medium of those Holy Mysteries
which He Himself has "instituted and ordained."
But the Bishop was too diffident of his own powers
to expect that he could revolutionize the religious
habits of three hundred years, he was made of finer
moral material than that which goes to compose
172 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the revolutionist or the reformer, and so he did
not venture to do more towards the realization
of his ideal than to sow seed which hereafter might
bear good fruit, by the example of his personal
practice, and by the clear, but moderately expressed
enunciation of Catholic doctrine on the subject of
the Sacrament of the Altar.
In his personal practice at the Altar the Bishop
avowedly followed "continental" example in all
those details which concern what is popularly, but
inaccurately, termed " ritual." He considered that
the " ritual of the Altar " as seen on " the Continent "
demonstrates what the uninterrupted experience
and practice of hundreds and hundreds of years
has developed as most conducive to edification,
and most practically convenient; he thought it
more reasonable that we should take advantage
of the pattern thus provided than that we should
evolve out of uncertain and incomplete relics of
the past a pseudo-antiquarian use, especially as the
neglect and slovenliness of the last three hundred
years has ill-prepared us for the work of original
ceremonial development.
His observations during his tours in Russia,
and the East in general, filled the Bishop with
respect and admiration for the popular devotion
there exhibited. The discipline of Oriental Churches
does not permit of the celebration of the Mass
with the frequency that is habitual among Latins.
Though the worship of Christ, and recourse to His
mediation through the Mass, must in consequence
necessarily be more restricted among Easterns than
among Westerns, yet the Bishop thought that
FOREIGN TRAVEL 173
devotion to our Blessed Lord was even more
marked among Orientals than among Latins. He
used to say that devotion to our Lord among
Latins seems to be so identified with what one
may call ecclesiastical artificialities and conventions ;
an incident in the Passion is (to the Latin) " one
of the Stations of the Cross," an event in Gospel
history is a joyful, dolorous, or glorious " Mystery
of the Holy Rosary," trust in Christ as Lover of
men is " devotion to the Sacred Heart," and so on ;
whereas to the Eastern, devotion to the Saviour is
more simple, direct, and unartificial. Others beside
the Bishop have noticed the effect of this difference
in religious tone in the conduct of pilgrims in the
Holy Land. To the Russian pilgrim every spot
sanctified by association with the Saviour is adorable
for that reason alone; to the Latin pilgrim (not
always, but too often) the interest taken in a holy
place will greatly depend on whether prayer there
has been " indulgenced " or not.
The public devotion shown by Moslems in
Mahometan lands greatly impressed the Bishop ;
but here, of course, the predominant feeling excited
was that of shame and regret that in outward (and
evidently most sincere) religiousness, followers of
a vile creed should so far exceed those who profess
the Faith of Christ.
There were other matters, beside those con
nected with the Mass, as to which the Bishop
thought we might learn something worth learning
from our continental neighbours. For instance,
he saw many admirable features in the much-
abused "continental Sunday." A Sunday in a
174 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Catholic city the crowded churches in the morn
ing; the happy groups of people of all classes
listening to pleasant music in the public parks in
the afternoon, or (in Germany) assembled in the
beer gardens in the evening ; the absence of
drunken or rowdy disturbers of the peace; the
easy cheerfulness, and gay companionship without
rough or vulgar hilarity all this appealed to
him greatly, and in comparison with it he felt that
the normal " Scottish Sabbath," as seen in Edin
burgh (for instance), leaves very much to be desired.
I have already mentioned that the Bishop s
love of foreign travel was developed early. He
was fond of relating an amusing adventure, or
series of adventures, which befell him on the occa
sion of one of his early continental tours. When
a young man he started with a friend on such
an expedition, and they journeyed together as far
as Switzerland. Here they parted ; the friend re
turned home by a direct route, but young Haldane
had another plan in his head. He had in his purse
sufficient money to bring him straight home with
ease, but he determined to make it supply him
with the means for undertaking divers expeditions to
see interesting places and things en route. Naturally
this put a strain on his resources, and he had in
consequence some unusual experiences. One thing
in which he exercised economy was eating and
drinking; he sometimes had not enough to eat,
and learned by experience what it is to be hungry
and to know that you have not enough money at
command to buy sufficient food. One day he
calculated that he could afford himself the treat
FOREIGN TRAVEL 175
of dining at the table d hdte in the hotel in which
he was lodging, and all day he looked forward to
this unwonted luxury. As he went through the
streets of the town (I am uncertain where it was)
he saw a crowd, and found that the attraction was
the bleeding corpse of a poor workman who had
fallen from a ladder, which in turn had fallen on
him and crushed him to death. The sight was
sickening and it haunted the sensitive lad, so that
when he came to enjoy his coveted banquet he
could not eat ! He said that it did seem to him
to be very hard that when he with difficulty had
managed to afford the money for an ample meal
he could not eat it. The Bishop used to say that
his experience of the pains of hunger was most
valuable to him in after life ; it enabled him to
enter into the feelings of the poverty-stricken and
hungry with a keen sympathy that can only be felt
for another by a man who has actually gone
through the same misery himself.
The young adventurer had also, as funds
diminished, to select the cheapest lodging he
could find ; this, once at least, brought him into
a situation which might have cost him his life.
In some French town (Paris or Lyons) he put
up at some dreadful loge a pied, which offered
accommodation at small cost. When he came to
think over things in after life, he was sure the
house must have been a place of the worst repute,
possibly a haunt of thieves and burglars, for at
night an iron shutter was let down over the
entrance, and securely fastened inside, apparently
to prevent the possibility of a surprise visit from
176 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the police. However, young Haldane, under
the protection of that kind Providence which
watches over the innocent, passed a safe night
and escaped in the morning from this strange den
without harm or hurt.
In the course of his tours the Bishop visited
France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden,
Prussia, Bavaria (beside other German States),
Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Russia, Servia,
Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Holy Land, Egypt,
Morocco, and Algeria. Some of these countries
he visited again and again. He used to say that
he had sojourned in every European capital except
two, Christiania and Lisbon. As he lived habitu
ally in the midst of the noblest natural scenery, he
preferred to go for change and recreation abroad
to towns and cities rather than in search of the
grandeurs and beauties of Nature in other lands ;
these he took by the way, as they came, and
keenly enjoyed them, but towns and cities, their
contents and their inhabitants, engaged his chief
interest and attention when on his tours. In his
diary the Bishop kept a minutely careful record of
all the places and interesting things that he visited
and saw, but as it was his practice merely to note
the fact that he had visited this place, and seen
that picture or work of art, without adding much
in the way of opinion or reflection, it would not
be worth while to reproduce any of these entries ;
they are only similar (one must suppose) to the
entries made in their diaries by hundreds of
cultivated persons who have travelled.
The last of these continental tours, which had
FOREIGN TRAVEL 177
such a profound effect on the Bishop s way of
regarding many things, was made in 1898 ; it
had Constantinople as its end (the Bishop had
visited this city before, in 1872). On January 24
he started from London and journeyed to his
destination by way of Calais, Brussels, Aix-la-
Chapelle, Cologne, Coblenz, Mayence, Darmstadt,
Nuremburg, Ratisbon, Passau, Vienna, Buda-Pesth,
Belgrade (in all of these places a longer or shorter
stay was made), through Servia and Bulgaria to
Constantinople, which was reached on February
12. Here the Bishop stayed some ten days, and
during his sojourn had an interesting audience of
the Orthodox Patriarch. The following excerpt
from an account which he subsequently wrote of
it may appropriately be given here :
" Having expressed a desire for an audience, the
Deacon Hierotheus came from the Patriarchate to
see me, and to arrange the preliminaries. With
the aid of Monsieur Gregory Ananiadi, a lay
member of the Orthodox Church (whose kind help
as interpreter on this occasion, and afterwards at
the Patriarchate, was invaluable), the good deacon
took the opportunity of this our first meeting for
communicating to me his desire that something of
a practical kind should now be done in the direc
tion of a re-union something which, as he expressed
it, might open a door. Could there not be pub
lished in London, he went on to say, a periodical
which should invite, from both English and Greek
writers, contributions in both languages, and of
such a character as would make Anglicans and
members of the Holy Orthodox Church understand
N
178 A PASTORAL BISHOP
one another better than they do at present, and
thus, through a mutual interchange of opinions, be
drawn nearer together ?
"On the day appointed for the audience, M.
Ananiadi called for me with a carriage which he
had provided, and, accompanied by Mr Dowling,
the chaplain of the Anglican Memorial Church in
Constantinople, we drove to the Patriarchate. This
is situated in the Phanar district of Stamboul, not
very far from the ancient western wall of Constanti
nople, which, with its ruined towers, bounds the
city between the Sea of Marmora and the Golden
Horn. The Patriarch s residence, though promi
nent among the surrounding buildings, does not
aspire to be palatial. Its distinction rests on far
higher grounds than mere architectural beauty.
Like many of the houses of Constantinople, both
ancient and modern, it seems to be mainly built of
wood, and its windows project from the walls. In
front there stands a gateway, with a gate now
never opened. For over it, as I was informed, a
former Patriarch was hanged about eighty years
ago, thus meeting his death, along with many
other ecclesiastics, at the hands of the Turks.
" On entering the lower hall we found ourselves
in the midst of a number of the Patriarch s house
hold servants, who, however, from their dress might
easily have been mistaken for Turkish soldiers or
police. But we were received and conducted up
the staircase by several of the clergy, among whom
we recognized the Deacon Hierotheus. We were
then led round into an ante-room hung round with
a number of portraits of former occupants of the
FOREIGN TRAVEL 179
throne of St. Chrysostom, among which we recog
nized the face of the aged Patriarch Anthimos,
whose blessing I had the privilege of receiving
nearly twenty-six years ago. He died in 1873,
and was, I believe, as cordial towards the Anglican
Church as is the present Patriarch.
" In a few moments we were shown into another
apartment, of moderate dimensions, with windows
looking out upon the Golden Horn, and with a
copy of Raphael s Transfiguration hanging upon
the wall. Here we found ourselves in the august
presence of his Holiness. He was dressed in his
usual black flowing robes and head-covering, but
without any visible cross or ornament. He received
us standing, and after an interchange of greetings,
according to the usage of the Eastern Church I
was made to sit down beside him. This visit, I
may mention in passing, was a much less formal
one than my visit to the Patriarch Anthimos in
1872, when I was received as a Presbyter, and on a
more public occasion involving more ceremony.
" Many of the words of his Holiness were, to
begin with, general expressions of welcome and
brotherly kindness. Afterwards he spoke of the
Church as being like a tree with many branches,
but only one Root. The Root, he said, was Christ.
But the Pope of Rome (or the Papacy?) had
brought in schism.
" In the course of our visit, during which we
were regaled with sweetmeats, water, and little
cups of Turkish coffee, his Holiness asked me about
our Scottish Liturgy, a copy of which in Greek,
the work of the late Bishop Forbes of Brechin, I
180 A PASTORAL BISHOP
had asked him to accept. Turning over its pages,
and reading some of it aloud, he expressed his
pleasure, and said it was like what he himself used
continually. But he asked what was its origin,
and who was its author ? adding that the Liturgies
of the Orthodox Church had for their authors St.
Chrysostom and St. Basil. And then, after a little
further consideration, he said I suppose your
Liturgies are derived from those of the Catholics.
The word Catholic, I must remind the reader, is,
as a rule, used at Constantinople, as well as through
out Russia and the East, not in its theological
sense, even by ecclesiastics.
"Our conversation lasted for something like
an hour, and seemed as if it might have gone on
longer, had not the Servian Minister arrived for an
audience. So after a farewell as affectionate as our
first greeting, the clergy who had left us alone with
the Patriarch returned, and escorted us to the
neighbouring Church of St. George, which we
desired to see before leaving the Phanar. But first
they took us into the Synod Chamber, which is
within the Patriarchate itself. This is arranged, as
one would have expected, with seats on each side
and a sort of throne at the upper end for the
Patriarch, with the Byzantine eagle above it. In
addition to the usual conventional ikons, there
were on the walls a number of engravings.
" In the Church of St. George, which has the
appearance of a small basilica, with a sombre but
rich iconostasis, we were shown, in addition to other
objects of interest, ( the throne of St. Chrysostom,
which is occupied by the Patriarch when, as would
FOREIGN TRAVEL 181
be said in the West, he assists pontifically. Re
cesses in the walls were also pointed out to us as
the resting-places of certain saints, whose bodies
are hidden from view only by the drapery thrown
over them.
"Thus our visit came to an end, the clergy
saluting me at our parting, on this as on other
occasions, in the same way as they salute their own
Bishops.
" The next day the Patriarch, having appointed
an hour, returned my visit by deputy, sending as
his representative the priest of St. George s, whom,
through the kindness of Mr. Dowling, I was able
to receive at his house, which stands in the grounds
of the beautiful Crimean Memorial Church. He
brought with him a photograph of the Patriarch as
a present from his Holiness, and signed with his
autograph. Before leaving, our visitor expressed
his desire to see the church, with which he seemed
much interested, noting especially its remarkable
font, which is constructed so as to be available for
baptisms by immersion even in the case of adults.
On entering and on leaving the church he signed
himself with the Cross, as also on approaching the
altar, towards which he reverently bowed down to
kiss the mensa. Then, with renewed expressions
of mutual regard, we separated."
The return journey (which included a stay at
Munich) was made by much the same route as the
journey out. London was reached on March 7.
The itinerary of this tour may be taken as
generally typical of the way in which the Bishop
was accustomed to order his journeyings ; it will
182 A PASTORAL BISHOP
be seen that a full use was made of the time at
command, without hurry and without attempting
too much.
The Rev. Theodore E. Bowling, Canon Resi
dentiary of St. George s Collegiate Church, Jeru
salem (after mentioning his attendance on the
Bishop as Chaplain on the occasion of his au dience
of the ^Ecumenical and Armenian Patriarchs),
writes as follows :
" I need scarcely mention that the Bishop was
one of the first contributors towards procuring
holy vessels and vestments for the use of Anglican
clergy in the Chapel of Abraham, at the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, and his interest in
the Eastern Church is proved by his close con
nection with the Eastern Church Association.
" During my residence in Jerusalem I constantly
received from his Lordship monetary assistance to
be spent as I thought fit. On most occasions
these most welcome offerings were devoted to the
education of very poor Orthodox native boys in
St. George s Day School, where they are educated
with the full approval of the Patriarch of Jeru
salem. Occasionally I was thankful to be able to
help, through his generosity, sick members of the
Orthodox Church, who were unable to help
themselves.
" It was my pleasure to keep the Bishop in
formed of what transpired in Orthodox Church
affairs, knowing how deeply interested he always
was in everything that concerned the spiritual
welfare of the Holy Eastern Church."
A disagreeable experience which the Bishop
FOREIGN TRAVEL 183
had in connection with one of his visits to the
Holy Land may be worth relating, if only as a
warning to those who may find themselves in a
somewhat similar position to that which he occu
pied when he fell into what proved to be a snare.
During his visit to Palestine in 1875 (while still
only in Priest s Orders) the Bishop, or Mr. Hal-
dane-Chinnery as he was then, accompanied by a
friend stayed in the Latin hospice at one of the
sacred localities. The Pere Gardien, an Italian,
had lived in England, and spoke English perfectly.
He received his guests with cordial courtesy, and
to him Mr. Haldane-Chinnery exhibited, by way
of credentials, letters of introduction from two
Anglican bishops, and also his Letters of Orders
issued by the Bishop of Salisbury. This document
testified (in the usual terms) that the person
referred to in it had been ordained priest according
to the rites of the Church of England. Much
agreeable intercourse ensued ; in the course of it
the Pere learned that his clerical guest was married ;
his knowledge of English ways enabled him to
hear this without surprise, and he was, of course,
prepared to find that his guest wished to attend
the local Anglican Chapel, to which he showed the
way with ready courtesy.
Mr. Haldane-Chinnery had with him every
thing necessary for celebrating the Holy Eucharist ;
this he intended to do privately in his own room,
his friend assisting. The Pere Gardien knew of
this intention, and had the room specially arranged
for the service; but he suggested that his guest
should rather make use of the Latin Altar at the
184 A PASTORAL BISHOP
local shrine. His offer being accepted, he supplied
some things for use at the service. The Celebra
tion took place, the Scotch Office being used ; the
service was said audibly and, of course, in English ;
Mr. Haldane-Chinnery s friend served him and
received Holy Communion in Both Kinds in the
usual way. Two friars praying at the shrine were
present during part of the service.
Subsequently the guests took their departure ;
their dismissal was as cordial as their reception had
been ; the Pere Gardien complimented them on
their superiority in devout demeanour to many
other Anglican travellers, and he presented Mr.
Haldane-Chinnery with his portrait, to which he
appended his signature (the photograph lies before
me as I write) ; all kinds of farewell courtesies were
exchanged. The matter seemed at an end. As
there had been nothing confidential or clandestine
in the offer of the use of the Altar or in its
acceptance the Bishop in future years frequently
mentioned the circumstance to those likely to feel
interested in it.
No one endowed with the smallest modicum of
good sense could regard the Pere Gardien s act as
in any way an official recognition of the lawfulness
of the Anglican position on the part of Roman
authority ; it simply testified to the personal desire
on the part of an individual Roman Catholic
clergyman to be civil to an Anglican priest. But
among those who heard the story of the Pere s
obliging conduct, from the Bishop himself in
private conversation, was a clergyman who eventu
ally seceded to Rome and was reordained. This
FOREIGN TRAVEL 185
man (in 1883), after his secession, thought it worth
while to try to procure some official repudiation
of the Pere Gardien s conduct from the Roman
authorities, and so far succeeded that (one can only
suppose from authoritative pressure brought to bear
on him) the unhappy Gardien put forth a statement
affirming that the privileges which he had accorded
were granted under the impression that his guest
was an ecclesiastic in communion with Rome. This
audacious excuse was published in a Glasgow news
paper and elsewhere. In reply the Bishop wrote a
temperate letter, which duly appeared, pointing
out that the Pere Gardien s assertion was in irre
concilable contradiction with facts. To these
facts no answer was possible.
With his usual gracious charity the Bishop
would never allow the treacherous Pere Gardien to
be spoken of harshly. He said that he had re
garded him as a friend, and that he was sure he
had been forced by his superiors (whoever they
might be) for reasons of policy to write what he
knew to be not true ; perhaps he could hardly help
himself. We may feel contempt for a system of
morals which condones fast and loose dealing with
truth in the supposed interests of religion, but we
should rather pity than scorn a good man who was
perhaps more the victim of the system than its
willing accomplice. Thus the Bishop excused his
false friend.
The sequel of this disagreeable history is in
structive. The clergyman who, through treacherous
use of what had been related to him in the confi
dence of friendly intercourse, endeavoured to put
186 A PASTORAL BISHOP
the Bishop into a painful and false position, left the
Roman Communion, apostatized from the Faith,
became a Unitarian, married, and went to one of
the colonies to found a congregation of the sect to
which he had given his adherence.
The moral of the whole story is perhaps this
that the more cautious Anglican priests are in
accepting apparent tokens of fellowship from
Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, so much the better.
Roman Catholics might also draw some not super
fluous lessons for themselves from the story ; but it
is not my place to indicate what these might be.
Falsehoods and calumnies sometimes die hard,
and I have thought it worth while to give the true
version of the affair related above, as only a short
time before the Bishop s decease I had to reply
to the question, " Did not your Bishop once say
Mass at a Roman Altar abroad, having led people
to think he was a Roman priest?" Those who
knew the Bishop know that such an act of mean
dissimulation would have been utterly impossible
to him ; but all did not know him.
Photo : Kat<> Pragnell.
APRIL, 1902.
From last set of portraits taken.
CHAPTER XII
THE END 1905-1906
WHEN in October, 1905, it was announced that the
Bishop of Argyll was stricken down by a mortal
malady, the news created something like con
sternation in the general circle of his friends
and acquaintances. It was a bolt from the blue.
It was but yesterday that he was seen going here
or there in much his usual health.
But the tragic crisis did not thus take by
surprise the few who had known and observed his
life more intimately during the previous years.
The thought of their hearts rather was, " The thing
which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that
which I was afraid of is come unto me." Shortly
after all was over, I said to the one who knew the
Bishop s life, and understood him, better than
any one else, " I have seen slow suicide going on
for years." And the reply I received was, "And
so have I."
The fact was that the Bishop drew lavishly with
out calculation of the certain effect, and without
the smallest regard for economy, on the physical
resources of a splendid constitution. This uncalcu-
lating expenditure was all for the glory of God,
and for the good of his neighbour ; never to secure
advantage or pleasure for himself. He was like
187
188 A PASTORAL BISHOP
a millionaire who might treat his large funds as in
exhaustible, but who would inevitably find that
even they had their limit. On whatever you may
spend your means you have only to be lavish long
enough and your money will come to an end.
And so it is with physical strength (at all events,
after the earlier years of life), it does not grow by
usage. All this the Bishop ignored.
For some years disquieting signs had been
observed. At times he would look like a worn-
out old man twenty years older than his actual
age ; this would pass off, and his normal appearance
would return. Anxieties, public and private, de
pressed him more than used to be the case ; the
cheerful optimism, which at one time always
enabled him to give importance to the brighter
rather than to the darker aspect of things, seemed
to be losing its influence. The cause of all this
was evident. He was over-doing ; he was over
taxing himself mentally and physically ; but
nothing would induce him to recognize this, re
monstrance was simply thrown away. He saw
what he considered he ought to do, and he would
do it ; the cost to himself he ignored. Was this
very unlike the mind of St. Paul, as revealed to
us in his epistles ?
The way in which he spent May Day in the
fateful year, 1905, will give an idea of the extent
to which he taxed mind and body. During the
week in which that day occurred the Representative
Church Council held its meetings in Aberdeen.
The Sunday saw the Bishop confirming at Campbel-
town, which, as the crow flies, is some one hundred
THE END 189
and eighty miles distant from Aberdeen. On the
following morning he celebrated in the church at
6.30 a.m., and after a hasty breakfast in his hotel,
took boat to Glasgow, where he joined the train
to Aberdeen, arriving there about 6 p.m. The
journey was by no means restful to him, for at
the different stoppages he went from carriage to
carriage to confer with those bound for Aberdeen
on the same errand as himself. He had taken no
refreshment of any kind since breakfast; in
Aberdeen he dined, and after dinner attended a
lengthy service and sermon; this over, he retired
to his hotel, where he sat up till the small hours of
the morning writing letters. This is but a specimen
of many days frequently spent in a similar way.
It must be remembered that these days were thus
spent by a man over sixty, in the course of a life
of incessant occupation.
Already the shadow of coming doom was
beginning to fall on him. In the early summer
of that year he complained of feeling done, and
said that he felt he needed a rest, an unheard-
of confession on his part. Pains in the chest came
on, and he submitted to a thorough examination
by a trusted physician. The verdict was, " There
is not a sounder man in Scotland." He was told that
all his organs were in excellent condition, that he
was suffering from overwork in mind and body,
that his pains were the result of indigestion caused
by imprudent dieting. But in his own mind the
Bishop was not convinced ; he had an intuitive
suspicion of the real cause of his malady.
In July he was in London for the christening
190 A PASTORAL BISHOP
of his little grand-daughter, his eldest son s second
child. Thence he went to pay a visit to his sister
in Eastbourne, and then returned to Scotland. On
August 16 he wrote to me from Alltshellach, " I
don t feel well, and occasionally of late have put
up little clots of blood, but the doctor cannot
detect any disease. My recent sedentary life has
not been good, nor the many perplexing letters.
But I hope to get a rest and change in October."
I replied in a letter expressing the affectionate
anxiety I naturally felt. And he answered me,
under date September 7, from Perth, whither he
had gone to attend an Episcopal Synod, " The
reason of my silence has not only been my weak
ness, and press of work, but because I could not
bring myself to answer words of such kindness in
a hurry. But I am driven to do this at last, and
when we meet, please God, next week I will try
to express myself more fully. ... I did my two
churches last Sunday, both of which, had I not
gone to them (Duror and Portnacrois), would have
had absolutely no services," etc., etc. The date of
the letter also records the hour at which it was
written, " 1.30 a.m." ! Be it remembered that all
this is recorded of a man on whom the hand of
death was already laid.
Next week he was with us in Cumbrae for the
annual Retreat ; the conductor was Canon Gough,
of Newcastle, and the Bishop felt that the medita
tions and addresses that were given to us were a
real spiritual edification and comfort ; but though
he forced himself to be present at them, and at the
accompanying services, as far as he could compel
THE END 191
himself to do so, his physical state was pitiable.
The pangs came on with dreadful power, and he
was forced to lie down from time to time, and just
to endure. This he did with all the patience and
sweetness possible. We, in the meantime, quite
on the wrong track, imagined the torment to be
the result of indigestion, and vainly endeavoured
to relieve him according to our mistaken notions.
A priest who was present at this Retreat wrote,
when all was over, " I shall always feel that it was
a very high privilege to have been allowed to spend
those few days in his company. To see him in
Church gave an inspiration, and set an example ;
his voice reading the lessons still lingers in my
ears. How little it seemed that the hand of death
was on him then."
After the Retreat the Bishop returned north
to spend what was to be the last fortnight of his
ordinary daily life in his beautiful home. And
I shall always esteem it " a very high privilege "
that I was permitted to spend it there with him.
During that fortnight life at Alltshallach went on
much as usual. The Bishop celebrated nearly
every morning, and was daily ministering to a
young tailor dying of consumption who lived near.
On Sunday (September 23) he insisted on going
to take the service at Duror, six miles distant
across the loch, where the Rector was lying hope
lessly ill. It was with difficulty that he was per
suaded to celebrate in his own chapel instead of
going for that purpose to St. Bride s, which (there
and back) would have meant a two miles walk,
fasting ; and it took much to induce him not to
192 A PASTORAL BISHOP
cycle to Duror, but to drive there. During the
forenoon service he only escaped fainting away by
rushing into the contiguous Rectory for a draught
of water. The Bishop was also absent from home
for a day or two at Lunga, on Loch Shuna, the
seat of Major Stewart MacDougall, to dedicate the
Chapel of St. Mary there ; he was accompanied
by his friend and chaplain, Canon Wedderburn.
All this time he was subject to frequent attacks of
the terrible pain.
As these attacks became neither fewer in
number, nor lighter in character, it was agreed
that he should see an eminent physician in Edin
burgh, with whom an appointment was made for
an early day in October.
He was to start for Edinburgh on Monday,
October 1 ; on Friday a telegram arrived requesting
the Bishop to attend in Oban on the ensuing
Tuesday, to administer Confirmation to a nurse,
who with difficulty had secured an opportunity
for receiving that Sacrament. In the family circle
exclamations at once arose, " Impossible ! " " Of
course you can t go ! " The only thing that seemed
to distress the Bishop was that such exclamations
should be made. Quietly and firmly he said, " Of
course I shall go ; it is a duty, and 1 have no
choice ; I know all the circumstances, and I shall
be glad to go." A happy suggestion was made, by
which the Confirmation was enabled to take place
without altering the Bishop s arrangements. But
even the more accommodating plan involved a long
drive on the Saturday, which the Bishop cheerfully
undertook. The whole man was summed up in
THE END 193
this one incident. Not even the most pressing
demands of personal health and comfort could be
allowed to stand in the way of an opportunity of
ministering to a spiritual need.
On the Sunday before he left for Edinburgh,
after celebrating in his chapel, the Bishop suc
cumbed to so severe a collapse that it really seemed
as if the end had come ; he revived, however,
sufficiently to be able to journey the next day.
The Edinburgh physician only said what had
been said before, the patient was organically sound,
but was overwrought; he advised a "rest cure,"
residence for some time in a Nursing Home, with
a carefully ordered diet. This, he hoped, would
put things right in the course of a month or two.
So the Bishop (who all this time was accompanied
by Mrs. Chinnery-Haldane) set out for the south,
in search of a suitable place for the rest cure.
In passing through London he saw one of his
most intimate friends, who tells what occurred as
follows : " When he came to London the last time,
as usual he asked me to dinner. Next morning I
carried him off to see Dr. Z. He had clean for
gotten that I had done this same thing a few years
before. The doctor remembered him at once, and
eventually the Bishop recalled the fact. Dr. Z.
had advised him most strongly to make more use
of a chaplain as secretary or to employ a secretary
to relieve him of such correspondence as could be
done in this way."
At this (second) interview, Dr. Z. only echoed
the opinions already given, but he did add, that he
was not satisfied that all was right with the lungs ;
o
194 A PASTORAL BISHOP
he did not seem, however, to fear that there was
any deadly mischief there. The Bishop then went
to stay with his sister at Eastbourne, while the
desired Nursing Home was looked for. But
meanwhile the agony of the pains became almost
intolerable.
During this dreadful time he wrote to me as
follows (October 18) : " Excuse my silence and this
short letter, as my strength has reached a low ebb. It
is strange to realize the change since this day week.
But I hope the tide will turn when I get into the
Home, where I am soon to be. I have done what
the late Bishop did at the end of his reign, under
similar circumstances, and have appointed the Dean
as Commissary and Administrator. This will
relieve me of almost all anxiety and responsibility.
Of course, I cannot be at the Provincial Synod, etc.
I know I may hope for your private prayers,
especially at the Showing of the Lord s Death. I
don t think the time for public prayers has yet
come, and perhaps they may not ever be needed.
Anything to avoid a needless fuss. But I am very
weak and helpless now
His state became so distressing that a local
physician was called in ; he soon suspected some
thing of the real state of the case, and advised a
return to Dr. Z. for a more exhaustive examina
tion. This was done, the Rontgen rays were
applied ; the doctor discovered that there certainly
was a growth on the lungs ; operation was im
possible ; he believed that the patient had at most
a fortnight to live.
All this happened between October 21 and 22,
THE END 195
(Saturday and Sunday) ; the arret de mart was not
at once communicated to the patient. The intimate
friend above referred to may here take up the
pathetic story. (On Monday, 28rd) " I went to the
Nursing Home to see him, and found a letter from
Dr. Z. saying that there was no doubt it was cancer,
and that nothing could be done, and asking me to
break it to him. I went up, and the Bishop said,
I don t like all this uncertainty, I wish they would
tell me what it is. I said, Would you really like
to know ? He said, Yes. I gave him the
doctor s letter. He read it, put it down, clasped
his hands, and said, * Thank God ! I am so glad to
know. And at once he said he would like to go
and die in Scotland. I saw him off at Euston next
morning, and helped to carry him to the carriage
in the train. ... At the last moment, I walked
in, and up to him, gave him a kiss on the forehead,
and said * Good-bye ! "
Dr. Z. had said that the journey to Scotland, if
undertaken at all, must be undertaken at once.
He even feared that it might prove too much for
the patient. So before the start on Tuesday morning,
the Bishop was visited by his valued friend, Mr.
Suckling (of St. Alban s, Holborn), who heard
his confession, anointed, and communicated
him. Thus prepared for all events he left
Euston in an invalid carriage, accompanied by
Mrs. Chinnery-Haldane, a friend of hers, and a
trained nurse. As the journey proceeded, he warned
the nurse not to let him be asleep when the border
between England and Scotland was to be crossed ;
he must see and know when he passed for the last
196 A PASTORAL BISHOP
time into the native land of his family. His wish
was, of course, respected, and when the border was
at hand, he was raised in bed that he might see the
country through the carriage windows. When the
crossing was over, he repeated three times the
Gloria Patri, and added, " Now nothing can ever
take me out of my beloved Scotland again."
After an excellent journey he reached Edin
burgh at about 7 p.m. Here doctor and friends
had all in readiness for his arrival. An ambulance
carriage took the Bishop to a Nursing Home,
where he remained for a week, and thence was
removed to the Roxburghe Hotel in Charlotte
Square.
With the arrival in Edinburgh began a period
of three weeks which those who went through it
will always remember as one of the strangest
experiences of their lives.
As the news spread of the Bishop being in Edin
burgh, in a dying state, it brought expressions of
sympathy, esteem, and affection from every quarter,
from all sorts and conditions of men and women.
Nearly every hour there came a visit, a message, a
letter, a telegram, a gift of flowers, or some similar
token of the widespread reverence and love with
which the most unostentatious of Bishops was
regarded by his fellow-churchmen.
To the Bishop himself these tokens of regard
were gratifying to an extent that was positively
oppressive. He more than once said that two
things were a real burden on his mind one thing
was the thought of the goodness of God, who
had blessed his life so far beyond his deserts ; and
THE END 197
the other thing was the goodness of His servants.
"Why," he asked, "should people be so kind to
me? What have I done to deserve it?" He
wished an humble acknowledgment of his un-
worthiness to be written and sent to all who had
inquired after him ; and more than this, he dictated
and signed a general confession of his sins, which
he wished made public, at least after his death ;
he so shrank from appearing to accept those
natural expressions of esteem which visitors or
inquirers made use of, and which came to his
ears. It was felt by his family and friends that
his wishes with regard to these voluntary humilia
tions had better not be carried out, for obvious
reasons. The question was referred, with his con
sent, to a trusted adviser, who was strongly of
opinion that what he desired had better not be
done ; and there the matter rests. But it is
well to record all this, as a token of the pro
found humility of a saintly heart; and perhaps
this brief mention of his wishes may really secure
all of value that would have been attained had
his confession been published.
The Bishop now felt that the time was come
when he should ask for the prayers of his Diocese,
and accordingly he dictated the following prayer,
which was circulated for use in Divine Service.
All who knew the author of the prayer were well
aware that its touching expressions of humility were
no mere pious pose, but it was impossible to use
them in public worship. I do not suppose that the
prayer was used anywhere without modification :
" O Lord, our Heavenly Father, Almighty and
198 A PASTORAL BISHOP
Everlasting God, look down with Mercy upon Thy
weak and sinful servant, the Bishop of this Diocese ;
grant unto him true Repentance, and the Forgive
ness of his many sins, and the help of Thy Holy
Spirit in this his time of need and danger ; grant
him sure trust and confidence in Thy dear Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, and give him some portion with
Thy servants in Thy Heavenly Kingdom, through
the merits of the same Jesus Christ Thy Son our
Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the
Unity of the same Holy Spirit, ever one God,
world without end. Amen."
Family ties and associations had always pos
sessed a very strong attraction for the Bishop
among the lesser matters which engaged his
interest ; it was therefore with pleasure and
gratitude that he received from his kinsman, the
Earl of Camperdown, a message of kindness and
sympathy, with the offer, should his malady
end fatally, of a last resting-place at Gleneagles,
where many ancestors of the Haldane family lie
buried. This offer greatly appealed to the
Bishop s predilections and imagination ; but he
answered that he felt he must make his last
resting-place in the Highlands, among those who
had become " his own people ; " he, however, asked
that, if he passed away in Edinburgh, his corpse
might repose, on its way northward, for a night
among the ashes of his ancestors in the little
mortuary chapel at Gleneagles. This was to
have been done, but events made it impossible
for the plan to be carried out ; the Bishop him
self eventually relinquished all idea of it.
THE END 199
All during his stay in Edinburgh, the Bishop
was ministered to by his faithful friend and
chaplain, Canon Wedderburn, who confessed and
communicated him at suitable intervals. His
gentleness, patience, and incessant thought for
others won all hearts. One who had the charge
of nursing him, for a time, said, " I did not think
that such goodness was possible."
It is seldom wise to make public letters of con
dolence and sympathy ; such letters are naturally
of a strictly private and personal character ; but it
is obvious that the high position of the writer gives
a special significance to the letter which was
received from the Archbishop of Canterbury. On
representation being made to his Grace, that his
letter would be read with interest and gratification
by many of the Bishop s friends, he very kindly
gave permission for it to be printed here. The
essentially private character of the letter must not
be overlooked :
" Old Palace, Canterbury, Oct. 30, 1905.
" MY DEAR BISHOP,
" I have this moment heard of your ill
ness. Need I tell you that you are, and will be,
constantly in my prayers. You have friends
everywhere who will remember you in like manner,
as you would most desire to be remembered. We
all owe much to your example of quiet, devoted,
sustained service, and it is to me a matter of thank
fulness when circumstances make it possible for a
Scotchman to serve in Scotland! I have often
had qualms on that subject. But I should, I think,
have been less welcome to Scottish Churchmen
than you have been ! If it be indeed the case that
200 A PASTORAL BISHOP
your earthly ministry is drawing to its close, your
Nunc Dimittis will have much about it of the Te
Deum too. May God have you in His keeping.
" I am, most truly yours,
" RANDALL CANTUAR."
It was during the sojourn in Edinburgh that a
friend sent the Bishop water from Lourdes to
drink, in the hope of a miraculous recovery. He
declined, because he could not be sure, he said,
that what was said about Lourdes could claim
Catholic sanction, and (to quote his own words)
not because of " any want of the deepest venera
tion for, and devotion to, our Blessed Lady."
He added, " I should wish this to be known."
But this time of waiting in Edinburgh,
brightened as it was by such unceasing tokens of
love and sympathy, was a time of unspeakable
anxiety to us who were watching round the sick
bed ; what the anguish of it all was to the one
who knew and loved the dying man better than all
the rest, cannot be dwelt on, this must be passed
over in reverent silence. The doctor s death
sentence, " Only a fortnight to live," sounded
continuously like a knell in one s mental ear. Yet
the end did not seem to be drawing nearer. The
days rose and faded away, the nights came and at
last passed, and there was no perceptible change
for better or for worse. The tension was dread
ful. At length the fatal term was over ; still no
change.
When the second week in the hotel was drawing
to its close, and there was no sign of any change,
and it became increasingly uncertain how long this
THE END 201
state of things might last, it was asked, Could the
dear sufferer be removed safely to his own home,
to await the end there ? The Edinburgh doctor
who had charge of the case, said that there was no
reason whatever why this should not be attempted.
Thanks to skilful arrangements promptly made,
with the ready and obliging co-operation of rail
way and other officials, the transit was not only
attempted but was successfully accomplished.
On the afternoon of Monday, November 13, the
Bishop found himself comfortably in bed in his
own home, where the library had been prepared for
his reception. He lay, facing a bow window,
through which he could see, on the other side
of the loch, a panorama of the mountains he
loved.
The Bishop s return excited much interest and
pleasure among the people of the place. They
would not believe that he had only come back to
die. No, was the general cry, we shall soon see
the Bishop walking about among us, just as before !
But this was not to be.
The excitement of the journey, and the pleasure
of finding himself in his own home, brightened
the patient up for a few days, but he soon fell
back into what became a normal condition of
patient weariness. By God s great mercy he
suffered none of the acute agony which charac
terized the early stages of his malady. His mind
was clear, and there was wonderfully little of that
confusion of thought which is so often a result of
long continued weakness and illness ; his condition
caused, however, what is no less one of its frequent
02
202 A PASTORAL BISHOP
effects, he gradually ceased to care for nearly every
thing that had formerly given him pleasure. His
pleasure in the music of the pipes, in the sight of
the mountains, in the company of his dogs, in
flowers, in pictures, forsook him, piece by piece, as
it were. All he longed for was to be allowed to
lie undisturbed. He said to me, "These good
people are all very kind to me and take great care
of me, but if they would only let me alone ! Why
will they insist on howking me out of my bed ? "
It was very pathetic ; it was like the coming on all
at once of the tiredness of a whole life of hard work.
But his interest was easily roused by certain
things. In January there came on the time when
the Diocesan Synod should assemble ; he was
conscious of his inability to address to it anything
in the shape of the usual Annual Charge ; l but he
dictated the following message to be read to the
Synod when it met his last words to the clergy
and people whom he had been called to rule as
Bishop :
f Alltshellach, Onich, Inverness-shire,, 21st Jan., 1906.
"My REV. BRETHREN,
" Though unable to be with you, I am
still able through our Dean (to whom I owe a
deep debt of gratitude) to address a few words to
you assembled together in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ (True God and True Man), Whom
we love, and Whom we must try to serve in the
power of the Holy Ghost, Whom He has sent
1 From notes found among his papers after his death, it appeared
that the Bishop had already commenced to sketch the plan of this
Charge.
THE END 203
unto us from the Father, and without Whom we
can do nothing.
"All Christians are called to be Prophets,
Priests, and Kings unto God and our Father.
This is especially true in the case of those who
have been called to exercise the ministerial Priest
hood. You, my brethren, are Priests indeed,
called upon not only to offer up yourselves a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is our reasonable service, but you are also called
very often to celebrate the Mysteries of the Holy
Eucharist, to offer up the Sacrifice in humble
remembrance of His death upon the cross, who
said to His Apostles: Do this in remembrance
of Me.
" You are also called to be Kings, rulers of His
Church, not by might and power, but by precept
and example.
" And you are also called upon to be Prophets
indeed. This is a work that can only be per
formed aright by those who are filled with the
Holy Ghost, Whose office it is to glorify Christ,
the Blessed Master, Who said to His disciples:
He shall glorify Me, and ye shall also bear
witness.
" This sacred ministry you can fulfil indeed by
the preaching of the Gospel.
" In the light of the eternal world, I feel, my
dear brethren, more and more convinced of the
vital importance (for our own souls, and for the
souls of those whom we may desire to benefit) of
those doctrines commonly called Evangelical. I
do not use this word in its Protestant sense,
whatever that may be.
"What I mean is that in our teaching we
should be determined to know nothing among
those to whom we are sent but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. We should point to sin as we
must see it in ourselves, and then point to Him,
204 A PASTORAL BISHOP
nailed to the Cross, as our only hope of pardon and
acceptance.
" We should point to Him risen from the dead
as our assurance of eternal life, and we should
point to Him ascended into heaven that He
might be our Advocate with the Father, as well
as the Propitiation for our sins, * the Lamb upon
His throne, to Whom be all glory for ever and
ever.
" And now farewell, my beloved brethren. I
would commend you to the grace of the Lord and
Saviour, of Whom I have spoken, to the love of
God our Father, and to the help and protection
of the Holy Ghost, now and for evermore. Amen.
"ALEX."
Mention may here be made of a singular
bequest which he made to his brother Bishops.
He desired that in his name a copy of " Streaks of
Light " should be sent to each of them, with this
inscription :
" I should like a copy of Streaks of Light to
be sent to each of the Bishops.
" Streaks of Light may seem a strange gift
for Bishops, but Bishops and Sunday-school
scholars are in very much the same position.
They must grow in the knowledge and love of
the Lord Jesus. I have never got beyond this
little book. People say it is a child s book, but it
has been my companion and help for many years."
" Streaks of Light " (many will need telling) is
one of " The Peep of Day Series " of books nar
rating the Gospel Story in almost baby language.
Surely a more singular bequest was never made by
a Bishop to Bishops. But the message by which
THE END 205
it was accompanied leaves little doubt what the
thought in Bishop Chinnery-Haldane s heart was :
he wished as his last words to his episcopal brethren
to encourage them to feel and resolve with the
great Apostle, " The Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified, . . . Christ the
Wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. ... I came not unto you with
excellency of wisdom, for I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified."
The weary days lagged on ; days lengthened
into tedious weeks, and weeks into dreary months.
No change, nor any prospect of any, for better or
for worse. At last many, and even the nurses
among them, began to wonder if this long lingering
might not mean ultimate recovery to some degree
at all events. But no, the end was drawing near
though with silent footsteps, and at last it came,
swiftly, gently, unexpectedly.
It was the afternoon, about 3 p.m., of Friday,
February 16. The Bishop s second son, Mr. Vernon
Chinnery-Haldane was with him, reading to him
the letters which the post had just brought, and in
the contents of which the Bishop was taking his
usual quiet interest. All of a sudden, Mr. Haldane
saw that his father was collapsing. He hastily called
his mother, who came instantly, and the nurse, who
made use of the remedies usual in such a case. By
what one dare not call an accident, the eldest son,
who ordinarily never visited his father at that hour,
came in, as he was passing the house. The Bishop
did not rally, he gave one or two gentle sighs, and
206 A PASTORAL BISHOP
in a quarter of an hour, all was over. The Bishop
had passed away as surely he would have most
wished, with his family round him, and on the day,
and at the hour which, for the death of a Christian,
has a tender yet awe-ful consecration, on a Friday
at the Ninth Hour.
The Bishop s body, attired in Eucharistic vest
ments, and mitred, was laid out in the chamber in
which he died ; the pastoral staff lay by his side.
A Crucifix and lighted candles were placed at his
head, flowers and other lighted candles were dis
persed about the room. Hither many came to pay
their last respects to the inanimate form of a
beloved friend and pastor. No sooner did the news
of the death go abroad, than tokens of respect and
reverence poured in like a flood, wreaths of all
designs, crosses and other devices, of every degree
of simplicity or costliness, came in profusion. And
one realized at that time the spirit and meaning of
these offerings as one had not realized it before.
Those who sent them had a right and natural long
ing to testify personally their reverence and love
for the dead: in what more beautiful and appro
priate way could they carry out their heart s
desire? Surely, the words at the end of
obituary notices, " No flowers, by request,"
somewhat churlish sound. On the evening of
Tuesday (20th) the body was coffined and conveyed
to the chapel.
It was arranged that the funeral should take
place on the following day, Wednesday (21st).
Although the weather had been threatening and
unsettled, the funeral day was one of unclouded
THE END 207
beauty; the sun shone brilliantly in a clear blue
sky, lighting up the magnificent panorama of
mountains, snow-capped, or white with snow to
the foot ; the wind was still, and there was a great
calm.
At 8.30 a.m. the Holy Eucharist was celebrated
by the Dean of the Diocese in the Bishop s chapel,
in presence of the corpse ; the family assisted at
this service, and the Primus and Bishop Richard
son (who had arrived the night before) were also
present. At the same hour there was also a cele
bration in St. Bride s Church.
Before the time appointed for the obsequies
(1.15 p.m.) a considerable crowd had assembled at
Alltshellach House. When the coffin was brought
outside a Collect was read by Canon Wedderburn.
The procession to St. Bride s, where the interment
was to take place (a short mile distant), was then
formed in the following order the local Volunteer
Corps, accompanied by their pipes and drum play
ing Highland dirges ; the Rev. K. Reid bearing
a processional cross ; the coffin covered with a
purple pall, on which lay a superb floral cross ; two
priests bearing the pastoral staff and mitre of the
r 1 ^ceased prelate ; Mrs. Chinnery-Haldane sup-
. Tied by her two sons and accompanied by other
members of the family ; and a long train of neigh
bours and friends.
At the entrance to St. Bride s cemetery the
coffin was transferred to the Dean and five other
priests of the Diocese, habited in surplices and black
stoles, to be borne into the church. Ready to
receive the funeral procession was the Primus, in
208 A PASTORAL BISHOP
cope and mitre, attended by a chaplain bearing his
staff; he was accompanied by the Bishop of
Glasgow, the Bishop of Moray, and Bishop
Richardson, with their chaplains, and by others
of the clergy in their surplices. After the Primus
had recited the opening sentences of the Burial
Office, the way into the church was led by a
surpliced choir of men, preceded by a crucifer
bearing a cross veiled in crape. On entering the
church, the hymn " When our heads are bowed
with woe" was sung. The chancel was adorned
with a profusion of the wreaths and crosses of
choice flowers which had been sent. The Altar
was brilliant with lights, and six tall tapers of
unbleached wax burned around the bier in the
centre of the chancel.
After the coffin had been deposited on the bier,
and the Bishops and clergy had taken their places,
Psalm xc. was chanted, the Lesson was read, and
then, while the hymn " On the Resurrection morn
ing " was sung, the procession re-formed, and pro
ceeded to the grave in the cemetery outside. At
the grave the Primus and Canon Wedderburn
recited the Burial Office to the end of the first
prayer ; two verses of the hymn " Now the
labourer s task is o er " were then sung ; the Rev.
A. S. Maclnnes (St. Mary s, Glencoe) next said
" The Collect " and " The Grace " in Gaelic, after
which three verses of the metrical version of Psalm
xxiii. were sung, also in Gaelic, to " Martyrdom."
The Primus then pronounced the general Benedic
tion. To conclude the solemn ceremony the late
Bishop s piper, in Highland costume, played the
THE END 209
lament " Lochaber no more," marching to and
fro at the foot of the grave.
It was calculated that, gathered within and
around the church and cemetery, at least a thousand
persons must have assisted at the obsequies. In
recognition of the sacred link of affection and
sympathy existing between the Bishop and the
clergy and parish of St. Alban s, Holborn, the
present Vicar, the Rev. R. A. J. Suckling, travelled
expressly from London to be present at the funeral,
and took his place among the surpliced clergy on
the occasion. The grave was surrounded and
decked by a mass of green boughs of fir and
laurel, sent by the Earl of Camperdown from
Gleneagles to adorn his kinsman s last resting-place.
JESU ! Who didst Thy pastor crown,
And send on him Thy blessing down,
Hear us, we pray !
Thou art Thyself the Diadeui,
Radiant with many a living gem
And heavenly ray.
Proof of his love, and pledge of Thine,
He bears the mission from Thy shrine,
Thy staff to hold ;
The charge of Thine own ransomed sheep
Which Thee the Father gave to keep,
And guard Thy fold.
He knows them all, of them is known,
He knows and goes before his own,
By stream and rock,
To lead, and sheltered pastures give ;
They hear, they follow, and they live,
A gentle flock.
210 A PASTORAL BISHOP
When one hath wandered from his sight,
He seeketh it, both day and night,
The mountains round ;
And joy repayeth all his fears,
When to the fold he homewards bears
The lost and found.
Oft as the unbloody Sacrifice
He offers up, of countless price,
And shares the feast ;
Himself he on the Altar lays,
And his own flock, with prayer and praise,
A holy Priest.
ISAAC WILLIAMS, from the Latin of Guillaume du
Plessis de Geste, Bishop of Saintes (d. 1702).
THE END
J-JtlNTKD HI WILLIAM CLOWES ANP BON8, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLKS.
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