Arizona republican., 1922-05-01
Bishop Atwood Discusses Life of
Arthur Stanley In Second Lecture

work. To all his various endeavors
for reconciling hostile and opposing
forces, for the betterment of the con-
dition of the poor, for making the
deanery the center of social life and
a high and uplifting influence in
the Intellectual philanthropic and
religious life of London and of the
nation, she gave a. warm and steady
support and sympathy He was the
greatest dean that the Abbey has
ever had.
In lecture and in sermon, in prose
and in verse. in public speech and
private talk, his great heart and
mighty brain worked for the unity
of Gods kingdom here upon earth
Every human interest became his
own. This eager pursuit of infor-
nation opened wide to him every
the aristocracy of England, his SYM
pathies were yet with every class Of
his countrymen. While his nature
was warm and sympathetic and af-
fectionate. while he loved peace and
controversy seemed far apart from
his natural temperament, yet his
love of liberty. and of fair play. his
ardent sympathy for those who were
unjustly treated, his wide CHARITY
made him rush to the defense Of the
unpopular cause whenever IL de-
manded and advocate.
While he was personally loved and
admired as perhaps no other clergy
man in the Church of England by his
fellow countrymen, yet there were
some who looked upon him with
aversion and distrust. From the
words of some of these opponents
you would judge that he was seeking
the overthrow Of Christianity itself.
instead of the enlargement of the
church. But even his fiercest op-
ponents were conquered by the per-
sonal charm. the forgiying and grac-
ious temper of his mind. his unsel-
fish and affectionate nature, when
once they had come into contact with
him. His mind was concerned with
the great external verities, and not
with the external and nonessential
coverings so far as the great essen
tial truths are concerned. Ills theo-
logical position may be summed up in
the three propositions that he laid
down.
First That the essential super
riority of Christianity to all other
religions in the world lay in its rest
ing on a divine life, a life that was
the image of God. because he who
lived it was all goodness and truth.
Second: That its essential object
was to produce character, which in
tIuthfulness, in independence, in
mercy. in purity, in charity, may re-
call something Of the mind that was
in Christ.
Third: That what makes a man a
Christian is to have the character of
Christ, a master worth living for.
worth dying for, whose spirit was to
be the regenerating power of the
whole world.
AS a prose writer. he ranks among
the greatest masters of English prose
In our time, in the same category
with Ruskin, Matthew Arnold and
Cardinal Newman. His style is rich,
vet ample, and flowing like a brook,
clear and transparent, as We're his
own character and opinions. 1t is as
a historian and as an ecclesiastical
historian that he is best knownl and
here you viii find the religious
events, facts and characters of church
history and of the life that he de-
scribes, pictured in a fascinating and
realistic manner equalled by no other
writer on ecclesiastical history that
know.
After ALL Dean Stanely's genius
and greatness lay chiefly in his char
acter and in the life for which he
stood.
1t was 40 years ago that he die1
but the memory or my own grief is
still vivid in my mind. of the sense
of personal loss to the church and To
! mankind by the removal of his noble
and consecrated personality. What
felt was experienced by thousands
who never knew him, who never had
| looked upon his face, nor heard his
voice, as well as by the vast num-
| bers who knew him and had loved
and been loved by him. This feeling
was not TO receive it's counterpart
until II years later. when his friend
| and fellow laborer in Gods vineyard
| the man so akin in spirit, life and
aim with his own. Phillips Brooks :
| Of large heart and broad and catholic
synpathies, intellectual and spirit
ual like those of Stanley-passed &C
| his rest and his reward amid the
grief and lamentations of two con
| tinents.
| In the abbey which he loved and
had served so nobly is the grave OF
his wife whom. five years before, he
had laid to rest with broken heart
they buried the great dean.
Such a funeral Westminster abbey
had never seen in all its long ano
eventful history. There came this
members of the royal family of Eng.
| land the great statesmen of the
country, the bishops and archbishops
of the Church Of England and the
| non -conformists. the men OF science
and of literature, the aristocracy and
the workingmen of Great Britain. tc
pay the tribute Of their love and rev.
| erence and grief for the clear anG
sacred memory of Arthur Stanley, the
brave knight without fear and with
out reproach' of our nineteenth cen
/ tury Christianity.