The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-01-11
PULPIT AND PEW.
NEWS AND COMMENTS OF INTER
EST TO CHURCH PEOPLE.

ks.inent Religious Leaders Who Passed
Away In the Course of 1890 canon Lid
dsa. Dean Church and Archbishop
1homson-yitai Statistics of the jews.
The number OF ecclesiastics. eminent In
learning OF position, who were called away
last year Is not large, but IT includes
several whose loss has been and long will
" deeply lament d. Men like DIR. Dollin-
ger aud Cardinal Newman had reached the
extreme limits Of human existence, and had
~ good az entered on immortality, but each
,ne had retained his intellectual Vigor TO
such degree that his voice was still heard
when there was need for il. and through
tnem we could reach back into dis
ssnt past. They seemed Ike sigb
osts OF another age, and Yet they
we're almost vital forces even IN
presert life. Or. DOilinger, though b.
broke with the Roman Church. will be r.
membartd az its most eminent ecciesiasti-
chi scholar during the century, the'last ~ a
great race Of learned men. Of whom Europ.
sias had constant, succession from Eras-
nus and GrOtius down TO our own time.
Cardinal Newmar, IN point OF lam.
awakened 10 "A new iite when he pas
AWAY, His life was divided equally int
two paris. one Anglican and the Other
Roman, and two SITS OF people mourned h.s
Heath aud 0welt with nder memories upon
what NJ had been to them.
The death of these men was expected
But hye leaders have been taken from ihr
English Church, which has suffered IN thi
respect more than any other religious COM
munion during the year, four Of Wh'n'
were not greatly advanced IN ne. ana only
one of whom could be said 20 have finished
his career. DIR. iatch, OF oxford UniVer-
sity, the leader Of the new order OF eccifsi-
,stical scholarship in England, passed away
,t "A time when, though be had made hi
mark, he was just beginning to bring MS
extended learning 10 bear in full upon the
more radical Treatment OF ecclesasti-
cal and theological origins, and h.
was such y scholar as II not often
produced. For Engllsbmen be can
10 said 10 have compelled the fresh
study OF church organization. and he IL tue
first OF moderns 10 point out IN plain terms
The influence OF Greek thought upon early
Christianity He has LETT his permanent
mark upon tae religious life OF scholarly
England. but, with his splendid equipment.
what he did was but the earnest OF what he
might have done had his life been spared.
Bishop LightfOOt was, by general con
fessiOn, the master Of patristic learning
He had made the field Of the Christian
fathers his own. aud had realized the timcs
In which they wrote. - that h,
lived In their atmosphere and had
caught their spirit. His ecclesiastical
services pale away, important though tn,
were. by the side OF bis gifts Of sch0l
arship. ard though he b ID probably accom-
plished in this direction nearly all ihat
was IN his power TO d.. the position winch
ne held as one of the foremost. II not ia
first. patrisIc scholar IN Europe was such
that no questions connected with Christian
apoogeiics could be raised while he wae
living that he was not likely 10 b" able L
answer. HIS loss IL irrepara le. England
has half dozen eminent Biblical and pa
tristic scholars, but Bishop Lightioot was d.
leader 10 whom none Of them nearly al-
prOach.
Three other leaders have recently passed
avav. Cannon LiddOn. Dean Church, and
Archbishop Thomson, each Of them unique
and unrlyaled in his own lines. Canon
Liddon was great as a defender Of the ihlh
in the pulpit, in which he assumed the role
OF Christian APOLOGIZE quite as dis
tinctly as that of great preacher. lie Dehl
all his efforts 10 pulpit OratOry, and al
81. Paul was admitted to have the fines
opportun ~ for magniyng his Office now
afforded in English Christerdom. He had
unique gifts. He could make himself heard
better than any one else IN that great
auditorium, and he could make himself
understood as well rs heard. Canon
Liddon had not the sympathetic magma
ton Of Cardinal Newman, but he had
clear views OF the truth and The conscious
ness Of a message, and these stood 10 him III
place Of spiritual insight which is the gift
OF genius alone. He was less leader than
a great preacher and he lacked that SYM
patty with modern life which expresses H.
self i'm the adjustment Of vital truth To new
needs and demands. The late Dean Church
was far less notable as "a preacher, bu'
vastly his superior IA the largeness Of hi
intellectual equipment. lie had moral
genius in the sense that Cardinal Newman
had IL. and the fact that the most eminent
and trusted men in England sought hi-
counsel as last resort in The settle
ment of difficult questions irdi-
Gates the moral supremacy whici
he enjoyed among his fellows
and emphasizes the qualities winch
give his writings a permanent place III Eng
fish literature. He was as eminent IN the
quality of moral touch and spiritual insight
as Matthew Arnold was N the quality Of
fncisiye criticism. Archbishop Thomson
was not cast in quite the same mold. He
was intellectually the peer OF Dean Church
or Canon Liddon, but, though the SECOND
ecclesiastic in England aud unrivaled I'D
MS lntelecludl euotttf, nc vi" h"' h"'N ."
large following and was more OF force
than a genial presence in ecclesiastical CIR
Giles. He was the successor IN spirit Of
Archbishop Whately among the Anghcans.
These are the chief eccle.dstics who have
passed away during tue year In tins
country Dr. Dexter, the foremost of Puritan
scholars, is the only notable loss to bc re-
ported, and In his case, as IN those of tn
Others here mentioned, none Is To be- ionnu
xvho CON emma forward and tili the plac. ht
has left vacant.