IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL OBSERVANCES.

327

ments of a profound thinker and a wise man ; not as deeming it necessary to offer any arguments in justification of those clergymen who were desirous of obeying all the directions of the Rubric, and of exhibiting to the people what was really the established, though long-neglected, order of the Church." And lest any of them should be disheartened, in the event of their failing to see immediate fruits resulting from their more frequent and more careful performance of the offices of the Church, the Bishop reminded them, that any change in the religious habits and practice of the population must be a work of time. His own hope, evidently, was, that a general uniformity and patient perseverance in giving effect to all the provisions made by the Church for the edification of the people, would be productive of the happiest results in the promotion of true religion. "The truth is, reverend brethren," he observed," that until the Church's intentions are completely fulfilled, as to her ritual, we do not know what the Church really is, nor what she is capable of effecting. It is the instrument by which she seeks to realize and apply her doctrines; and the integrity and purity of the one may, as to their effect, be marred and hindered, in what degree we know not, by a defective observance of the other."

CHAPTER XXI.

Undutiful Reception of the Charge-Assumption of Episcopal Functions by the "Record "-The Evangelical Clergy-Their Refractory Conduct - Its Vexatious Consequences-Effect on Bishop Blomfeld's Health - Confirmations-Addresses to the Clergy-General Compliance-Submission of the "Record”Ecclesiastical Revolt at Islington-The Bishop of Calcutta- His Admiration of Bishop Blomfield's Charge - Newspaper Attack of the Recusant Clergy-Their Appeal to the Government-Archdeacon Hale's Charge-The Offertory Question-Spread of Clerical Contumacy-Appeal for Support from the Laity-Lay Address to the Islington Clergy-The Proprietary Chapel and the Bishop— The "Times" and the "Quarterly"-Lay Support declined by the Bishop-Perplexing Alternative-Self-denying conduct of Bishop

Blomfield.

ITTLE, when he delivered this masterly Charge, did Bishop Blomfield anticipate the effect which it was destined to produce. How, indeed, a document so able in its character, so impartial in its spirit, so legitimate as regards the authority from which it emanated, and, considering the circumstances as well as the parties to which it addressed itself, so eminently seasonable, nay, so obviously called for, could have given rise to so intemperate an outery as that which followed its publication, it is not easy to understand. That the Bishop himself was wholly unprepared for such a reception of his pastoral counsels and directions, is evident, both from the unaffected surprise with which he beheld the storm he had unwittingly raised, and from the inability which he betrayed to cope

COUNTERCHARGE OF THE "RECORD."

329

with its fury. Ardently desirous himself of promoting the peace and welfare of the Church, and ready to take her law for the rule of his conduct, he did not suspect the existence, among his clergy, of so wide-spread a feeling of indifference to the former, and of undutiful disregard of the latter; nor does he appear to have contemplated the possibility of his episcopal authority being so completely set at naught by those who were bound by the most solemn vows to follow his godly admonitions, and to submit themselves to his godly judgments. Still less had he calculated upon that unreasoning violence of party spirit which, wholly inaccessible to the voice of truth, would not rest content with anything short of wholesale condemnation of those to whom it was opposed, and resented the slightest word of commendation bestowed, however deservedly, on them, as an act of treason.

The lead in the unhallowed warfare against Church order and Church authority which ensued, was taken, consistently enough, by a religious newspaper of presbyterian principles, to which, as the recognised organ of the Evangelical party, the clergy of that school were too much in the habit of looking up, and which most of them were ready to take, in preference to their Bishop, for the guide of their opinions. No sooner had the echo of the Charge died away within the walls of the Cathedral, than, in the true spirit of Korah, and with an entire disregard of all decency, the Record assumed the ecclesiastical government of the diocese of London,-for which, on the ground of "Tractarian leanings," its Chief Pastor was deemed disqualified,―and issued a species of countercharge, of which a copy was forwarded to every clergyman in the diocese. "We have," so ran the presumptuous announcement of this arrogant proceeding, put our remarks on the Bishop of London's Charge in circulation through the entire diocese of London:" and to this intimation a modest request was appended for contributions

66

330

DISOBEDIENCE AMONG THE CLERGY.

to be transmitted to the office, to defray the expense of extending the circulation" through the Church."

The effect of this was,-to the great discredit of the clergy who submitted to such unauthorised dictation in opposition to their spiritual superior,-to nullify the endeavour of the Bishop to obtain a uniform obedience to the Church's rule, and thereby to relieve the Church from a reproach which formed a powerful weapon in the hands of her insidious Romanizing assailants. Although the Bishop's suggestions were complied with by many of the clergy, by some from a sense of duty to their Ordinary, and by many more from a desire to do their part towards the abolition of party badges, and the restoration of peace and concord in the Church,—their obedience was rendered nugatory by the disobedience of the refractory portion of the clergy; and, not only so, but they were exposed to imputations of the most painful kind through the operation of ignorant prejudice, sedulously fomented, both from the pulpit and in the press, by the mouthpieces of the Evangelical school, who represented conformity to the rule of the Church, and the expressed wishes of the Bishop for its stricter observance,

as a sure token of " Puseyism" and of " Romanizing

tendencies."

To the Bishop himself these results of his Charge-so diametrically opposed to what he had intended and expected-were a source of bitter disappointment, and, -as individual instances of the mischief which had been caused were brought under his notice,-of perpetual vexation. He had not, indeed, to reproach himself with any undue exercise of power, or any deviation from the straight line of duty, still less with any partiality towards the Tractarian movement; on the contrary, what he had done, was simply the consistent acting out of the convictions which he had cherished from his earliest days, and expressed at the very commencement of his Episcopal

ASSERTION OF EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY.

331

career, that conformity with the Church's rule, in regard to ritual observances, was both obligatory upon Bishops and clergy, and eminently conducive to the efficiency of the Church at the same time he could not conceal from himself that, by forming too favourable an estimate of the conscientiousness of a not inconsiderable portion of his clergy, he had altogether miscalculated the strength of his own position; a conclusion which, especially to a mind accustomed to view a careful regard to consequences as an essential ingredient of practical wisdom, could not be otherwise than deeply mortifying. The effect of all this upon a more than ordinarily sensitive mind, and a physical constitution severely taxed at an early period of his life by excessive application to study, and, subsequently, by the indefatigable discharge of the arduous duties of his station, was such as might have been anticipated. Early in the year 1843 the Bishop's health began to exhibit unequivocal, though not at the time alarming, symptoms of general derangement. Impaired action of the digestive organs, accompanied by nervous debility, the precursors of latent mischief developed at a later period,―reduced the once vigorous Prelate to a condition which, though it did not at any time interfere with the regular performance of his duties, deprived him of much of his wonted energy and decision. Nevertheless, under the conviction that he ought not to acquiesce in the contempt which had been shown towards the law of the Church and his own Episcopal authority, he nerved himself to a fresh attempt to induce a proper and decent conformity on the part of the clergy committed to his charge. Taking advantage of the confirmations in the spring of the year, he personally addressed, after each confirmation, the clergy of the district, representing to them the guilt incurred by those who had hitherto neglected to carry out the instructions and recommendations contained in his Charge, and pointing out to them the injury which their conduct was calcu