The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-08-23 00:00:00

_
PRIMARY VISITATION OF _ THE BISHOP

OF SALISBURY.

The Bishop of Salisbury commenced. his first viaita-
tion on Tuesday, at the Cathedral, Salisbury. There
was a numerous attendance of the clergy, churchwardens
and others.
The reading of the Charge occupied about two
hours.
The BISHOP commenced by paying an affectionate
tribute of respect to the memory of his predecessor.
Bishop liamilton,although he said there might have been
some diversity of views between them. Reference was
made in feeline terms, to the death during the year, of
the Rev. 'W. W. Tatum, rector of St. Martin's, Salis-
bury, the Rev. James Fisher, of Dorchester, the Rev.
B. C. Dowding. of South Broom, Devises, and other
clergymen. The increase of Dissent, and the gradual
course of legislatioa, had for many years put turned
the minds of thoughtful men to consi ler the probable
future of the Church of England, in respect to its
connection with the Mate, and the principles on which
it required to be permanently ad !tasted. The ancient
principle of the co-extensiveness of the Church and
State—the principle that, in fact, they were the name
body—bad been long linen given up in praeice, and
except by small body of men in theory too; while the
counter proposition, that the State hail nothing to do
with religion, except to protect its profsteors from
persecution, had been proclaimed be a few. The actual
battle appeared to be one of detail. It was no part
of his duty to exprees an opinion upon the measure
that had brought about the disestablishment of the
Church in Ireland. The measure being passed, he
regarded it as irrevocable. It had, however, a most
important bearing upon the future of the Established
Church in England. No person could doubt that the
same principles which had led to one result were
capable of being applied with considerable force to
another case oi • similar kind. Dissent in England
hold • position not altogether without analogy to Roman
Catholicism in Ireland ; and it could not be doubted
that there was a large numbar of per,ons who on dif-
ferent grounds—religious, political, or philosophical—
were most eager and anxious that meseures of the same
kind as those taken in Ireland, or less considerate 0001,
should be adopted in England. The attack, indeed,
had already begun, and unfortunately there were
diversities of opinion amongst the defenders that were
highly embarrassing. He did not hesitate to
say that, so far as he could judge, no heavier
calamity could possibly fall upon the people and
nation of England than the disestablishment of the
national church. Take from it all the deductions
claimed by the Nonconformists, he believed there was •
balance of good in favour of the well organised and
faithful ministration of the clergy If the Church of
England, He regarded the connection of Church and
State as an inestimable blessing to the people of Eng-
land, and although he could not deny that the blessing
had been purchased at the cost of considerable freedom
of action and efficiency of discipline, he yet felt, from
the bottom of his heart that the disestablishment of
the Church of England would be one of the most
terrible misfortunes that could befal the temple of
England : he said emphatically the people of Fnitland
and not merely the clergy. Everything short of the
betrayal of sacred truth Ruff should be endured,
rather than the provoking or hastening of such • result.
The maintenance of the blessings we enjoyed depended
upon our own faithfulness to the truth. The Church
of England had still • hold upon the minds of the
majority of the people. This was evident from the
work of church restoration that was everywhere being
pushed forward with an energy that had been un-
paralleled in English history since the reign of Henry
the Seventh : he doubted if it was paralleled even then.
He believed that the Church of England had now a
firmer hold than ever upon the minds of the people;
but at the same time it should be remembered that
every layman, as well as every clergyman, formed
an element of strength or weakness. His lordship
defended our cathedral establishments from the
" unkindly and ignorant" attacks which had been
made upon them, and then referred to the subject of
the religious education of the clergy. There never was
• time whei. the clergy stood more in need of all the
learning that honest, industrious study could give them.
The Right lice. Prelate said he was prepared to license
properly qualifiad lay readers for the help of the clergy,
and he recommended them to look out for intelligent,
earnest, and devout young men who might be ready to
devote themselves to such work. His lordship dwelt
at come length on the importance of lay co-operation
in the work of the church ; and in reference to the
proclamation of the Pope's infallibility, said his earnest
conviction was that by that act—an act done in defiance
of Scripture, of ecclesiastical antiquity, of history, and
of reason—the Roman Catholic couiruunion had broken
away, he feared irrecoverably, from the primitive
church, and given the Freatest conceivable encourage-
ment to every sort of tnfidelity and irrelie,ion in the
world. In regard to Christian missions, his lordship
said he regarded them us a strong proof of the life of
the Church. Of the 570 parishes in the Diocese, 346
sent in contributions in the course of 1140, amount-
ing to £2,621 in aid of the general fund of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and
the sum of £286 had also been contributed for special
ohj,cts. Of the remaining 234 parishes some hail, no
doubt, contributed to the Church Missionary and other
societies, but, from returns which he had rewired,
it was plain that a considerable number of them
gave no help at all to the great missionary work. He
suggested the preathing of a sermon once at least In
ow, ry year in aid of missions, without saying • word as
to the channels into which the contributions should
f/ow. He approved of missiorary Boar Is, as suggested
in Cmvocation, but i.sid tin it Z,ltCelll most depend
upon the loyal and single-hearted faith'ulnem of those
who accepted agencies under them. They had already
a missionary college at Warminster, and he hoped to
bring the subject fully under the notice of the Diocese
next year. Passing on to speak of women's work in
the church, the Bishop said he earnestly hoped to see •
well organised and efficient system, under which
devout women, bound by no vows, nor sacred obligation'
even more ensnaring than vows, might be trained to
such services as none else could so effectually render,
such as nursing the sick, lifting up the fallen, and
minitering to the wants of the orphan. fle expressed
himself strongly in favour of the offertory in lieu of
church rates, although it should not, he said, be forced
upon an unwilling parish. It was, however, ordered
by the rubric as part of the service on every Sunday
and holy day, when there was no communion, The
Right Rev. prelate spoke at considerable length
on Mr. Forster's Elementary Education Bill, and,
in reference to the compulsory clauses, said be was
ready to acknowledge that voluntary seal, sup-
plemented though it might be by public grants,
had reached its limits. He doubted if larger
grants would enable them to reach the many thon.ands
in town and country who were still neincluded in our
schools. There was an insoluble residue whom we did
not, and he feared could not, reach by the existing
method. He thanked God that mere secular, apart
from religions instruction, had found little favour from
the Government, and nothing like genera/ favour from
the country. The power, however, that was vested In
the Education Department might prove, on trial, to be
too great. At the same time it was the duty of the
Church frankly to adopt the pmvisions whieh bad been
laid down, and to throw itself heart and soul into the
religious part of the work. Sunday schools would
acquire additional Importance; and we must have
Training Schools, which must be of • religious
character. Having expressed himself in favour of •
Diocesan synod, for dealing with the question of educa-
tion, the Bishop referred to various measures which bad
come before Parliament during the past Session, and
said he rejoiced at the postponement of the liu.:als
Bill, which had been promoted by the Nonconformists.
Ile ids strongly condemned the Bill for legalising the
marricge of a widower with his deceased wife's sister.
and raid that if the women of Wilts and Dorset would
petition the House of Duda against it, he would
rowdily take charge of their petitions and support them
to the utmost of his power. In conclusion, a hope was
expressed that God in His great mercy would be
pleased to bless what he (the Bishop) had said and
done for the good of souls.