The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-30 00:00:00

THE LATE PRIMATE.

Our Leaders May be interested in the relation of one or
two incidents of the life of Dr. Longley. While at Harrow
he acquired the affection as well as the esteem of the boys,
and the fact was once prettily illustrated in the House of
Peers. Lord de Ros informed the House in the course of
a debate that in early days he had had the honour of
frequently cleaning the shoes of the most reverend
prelate at the head of the bishops' bench, and
he had never found himself the worse for it.
While at Ripon he had to carry on a long controversy with
the clergy of St. Saviour's at Leeds, who were in the
habit of secretly practising auricular confession, and in
other ways very much inclined towards the ceremonies at
that time considered peculiar to the Church of
Rome. Some of the clergy were censured and
inhibited, and, as a consequence, both those who
were and those who were not rebuked, shortly afterwards
went over to the Roman Catholic communion. The
bishop deeply felt the responsibility of the part he took
iin this matter ; but he truly declared it was a responsibility
mposed upon him by the laws of the Church and
the realm, and he could not shrink from its exercise.
In 1853 the deceased prelate had a controversy with the
Low Church party. He refused to confer priest's orders
on a deacon because the latter held that baptismal
grace only came to those infants who bad received
the gift of " final perseverance." A memorial
was presented to the bishop upon the subject, in
which the inconvenience and hardship of such
rejections were forcibly insisted on. But the Bishop
cleverly replied, " Let the past amount of that hardship
be tested by the fact that in sixteen years I have ordained
upwards of nine hundred persons as either dea-
cons or priests, two only of the whole number
having been rejected on questions connected with
baptism." It is stated that during the last illness of
Dr. Sumner, Dr. Longley was brought into connection
with the Court, and that the Queen was very favourably
impressed with his manner and bearing. Whether this
or some other circumstances led to his elevation we
do not know, but in 1862 he exchanged York
for Canterbury, and was duly enthroned in the
chair once occupied by St. Augustine. One of
the most important subjects which came under his
notice during his archiepiscopal career was the appeal
from the Court of Arches in the matter of "Essays
and Reviews." The Bishop of London took the
side of the law lords, but the two arch-
bishops dissented from the notion that suclr writings
could be reconciled with the expressed doctrines of the
Church of England. It is understood that Dr. Longley
expressed himself freely and most eloquently amongst the
judges, but that he was precluded from taking part in
delivering judgment by the rules of precedent. However, the
Archbishop took the earliest opportunity of making known
his views upon so important a subject. In a pastoral
issued to the clergy, and also printed in nearly every
newspaper, the most rev. prelate made use of these words :
" The Church has a right to know my mind on matters of
such solemn interest to each of her members. . . . I
must claim to myself the privilege of giving expression to
opinions formed prior to the delivery of the judgment,
and wholly irrespective of the terms in which it is
couched. . . . I conceived that I was bound, by the
most solemn obligations, to maintain at its exact level
that estimation in which Holy Scripture is held
by our Church, as shown by the tenour of her
Articles and Liturgy ; and to beware lest I should
seem to sanction a decision which would detract
one jot or little from the authority with which
it is invested according to their language."
The Archbishop in his life nobly illustrated the beauty
and charity of the Christianity he taught, and in his
death he has given us an eloquent lesson of the courage
with which such a career will comfort a dying bed,
and the modesty of the true saint, who, having done
all that his human weakness could, yet claimed no reward
from his Master for his long service, but prayed for mercy
as " a poor and guilty sinner," who only looked for pardon
through the merits of his Lord.