The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-25 00:00:00

lic3tou4ribgc 05crinr.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1869.

THE LATE BISHOP OF EXETER.

The Right Reverend Henry Philpotte, Bishop
of Exeter, was, in many respects, one of the
most remarkable " men of the time." Hs made

his way in the world by sheer force of Intellec-
tual strength.. He had no advantage of. birth,

or powerfa-1 friends in his youth; and his edu:
cation, in a.college school, was an ordinary one.

,
.. . .
But he early gave indications of considerable
ability, a proof of which is found in the facts
that when he wasput thirteen years Soda half

old be was elelted to a scholarship at Corpus
Christi Colle,.se, oxford, and that he took his

„
degree of B.A. when he was but eighteen years
of age. University honours and prizes followed
rapidly upon him, and whi•n we bear in mind
that these are always best., wed without favouritl
. . .

these facts
.are quit, sufficient to prove that

the 'ability which was's° conspicuous throughout
his long life had its germs mut springs in even
. . .

his boy:hood's days. —Freve the memoir of the
deceased bishop which we elsewhere give, it
. .

will be seen that he successively obtained 'nu-

merous ecelesisnatipal appointments, and there
• . .

eviry reason to believ-e. that in nearly every
case, if not actually in all, these were conferred

upon him in testimony to his remarkable con-
troversial power, and his force of character, and, I
therefore great influence as a politician.
Dr. Philpotts, indeed, was quite as much of a
politician as a priest or a bishop. lie was, liter
ally, a member of the Church militant, and in
Parliament and out of it he manfully fought for
what he considered her rights. Ills name is
identified with a long series of ecclesiastical
conflicts, many of which, happily for the present
age, were but of temporary and passing interest,
but which were, nevertheless, waged at the time
with a fierce vigour which, however it nifty have

proved the Axiablice of sincerity, t‘,/, deelAy to
be regretted. Dr. Philpotts was a keen antago•
nist, 211,1 he waged polemical warfare with the
zest which At,wed that he loved it. "He never
wrote anything bat a pamphlet," says one of his
i biographers, " bat 1112 patophicteering energy
I was so vast that the move titles of his works fill,

It la said, QOM sixteen pages of the British
Nuacura catalogue." These, however, were
mutiny written before special Church newapa-
pers had their beinr, and when pamphlets had
more weight in oontroveray than thoy now have.
But the acme Spirit of controversy manifested
itself in the clergymen, the dean, tho prebend-
ary or whatever other character he asanmed be-
fore arriving at the dignified post in connection
with which he is best known. His name will be
long remembered in conjunction with several
ecclesiastical prosecutions. " The Gorham
controversy" fills a portly octavo volume which
few would now have the courage to read, and
from which it is doubtful whether any practical
good can he derived. This contest, throughout
the long period which it lasted, showed at once
the late bishop's sincerity, his determination,
and his proud independence even of his eccle-
siastical superior. The Archbishop of Canter-
bury had instituted the Rev. G. C. Gorham to
the living of Brantford speke, Devon. The
bishop refused to induct him, maintaining that
Mr. Gorham held doctrines contrary to those of
the Church of England. The Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council was appealed to, And
decided in favour of the Archbishop, who was
ordered to carry out the law. On his proceed-
ing to do so, the bishop denounced the primate
as a promoter of heretical tenets, said that he
had forfeited all right to Catholic communion,
and added that he, the bishop, " therefore re-
nounced communion with bhp." This was as
near exconnuuuication as anything which a
bishop could do to an archbishop, and clearly
proves the undaunted spirit, as well as the un-
doubted conscientiousness of the deceased pre-
late. Among other ecclesiastical prosecutions
with which the name of the late bishop is con-
nected, is that of the Rev. Mr. Shore, who
wished to resign a living in the diocese of Exe-
ter, but whose resignation the bishop would not
accept, maintaining, " once a clergyman, always
a clergyman," a principle, by the way, which Ito
carried into the episcopal ranks ; for it may he
remembered that when the late Dr. Blomfield
resigned the metropolitan see, Bishop Philpotts
addressed to hint a letter severely animadverting
on the course that the Bishop of London had
taken. During these and other prosecutions,
and, in fact, throughout a long career, Bishop
Philpotts supported the High Church party, a
party which of late years has produced higher
parties still. Whether Dr. Philpotts thus pro-
moted the interests either of the Church of
England as au institution, or those of religion
as Protestants understand the term, we have no
intention of discussing. But it is certain that
whether as a prelate or as a politician, he dis-
played marvellous ability throughout a very long
career; and it needs no special charity to arrive
at the conclusion that the course which Dr.
Philpotts consistently pursued was dictated by
conscientious conviction.