to try and turn the tide in the right direction.' And he concluded by regretting that so many leading Churchmen did not appear awake to the fact that now there was a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood might lead on to fortune.' I ventured to say that I thought what frightened some of us in his Lordship's scheme, large and generous as it was, lay in his apparent assertion of the non-necessity of the re-ordination of Presbyterian Ministers. Well,' he said, 'I am aware of it, and no doubt things would be in an irregular condition for a generation. But during that time those who did not recognise the validity of Presbyterian Ordination would not be forced to recognise it; they could, as now, resort to the ministrations of the properly ordained clergy, and as every fresh ordination would be Episcopal, the abnormal state of things would gradually pass away. In 1662 this was the course formally adopted by the Scottish Episcopate. The Presbyterian Ministers were left in possession of their parishes without re-ordination, and if doing this once has not unchurched us, doing it twice would not.' I will conclude this chapter with an extract from a sermon preached in the East Parish Church, Aberdeen, by Dr. James Cooper, which may serve as a specimen of what Presbyterians of the most liberal and advanced type of Churchmanship were not afraid to say about his work. Dr. Cooper reminded his congregation of the forty-six years of service to the cause of Christian Unity which the Bishop gave, and then thus proceeded : In 1846 he came to Scotland animated with the high aimto which he dedicated all his after-life-of healing the breach which since 1661 had separated Presbyterians and Episcopalians. The aim was noble, Christian, and, in the best sense, patriotic. It was surely not impracticable. Men-Scotsmen-who preferred Presbytery managed in the first half of the seventeenth century to live together in one unbroken Reformed Church. And even had there never been agreement in the past, is there never to be any in the future? Surely,' to quote a saying of the late Principal Campbell, to which Bishop Wordsworth very frequently referred, 'surely the visible Church is not to remain always in .... its present divided condition.' The prayer of our Lord will one day be fulfilled- That they all may be one . . . that the world may believe.' To my thinking, Bishop Wordsworth's aim was the noblest to which any Churchman in our modern Scotland could devote himself; and certainly he pursued it in no unworthy spirit -with no selfish or sectarian ends, with unfailing courtesy, with rare candour and wonderful perseverance-through good report and bad report; with unswerving singleness of heart; with hope undying because it rested on the word of Christ and trusted in the power of the Holy Ghost. 286 CHAPTER VIII EVENING OF LIFE, PARTICULARLY AT ST. ANDREWS (1876-1892) 'Inveni portum! Spes et Fortuna, valete! Sat me lusistis, ludite nunc alios.' 'Immo alii inveniant ego quem, Christo auspice, portum, 1. Latin verses: partnership with Dean Stanley. Motto of this chapter: its history-Stanley's version-Lines addressed to Dean Ramsay (1872)-Lines to Lord Beaconsfield on his return from Berlin Congress (1878)-His acknowledgment-Beaumont & Fletcher' -Stanley's valediction. 2. Latin verses connected principally with St. Andrews. Sophocles loquitur-Prof. Lewis Campbell's reply-Lines on Campbell's recovery from bronchitis-Lines to the Country Parson'-Elegy on Principal Tulloch (1886)—Intercourse with Principal Shairp and Prof. Knight-St. Leonard's Girls' School-Agnata Ramsay's success (1887)— The Scarlet Gown' (1878)-Dr. Macgregor's salmon-Dean Johnston's 'Wide-awake.' 3. The Wykehamist Dinner of 1880 and Athletics. Speeches at Wykehamist dinner-First game of golf (1890)—' Pindar and Athletics, Ancient and Modern' (1888)-Letter on skating-The 'Flying Mercury.' 4. Revival or continuation of old friendships—Literary correspondence. Cardinal Manning-Merivale's anecdote-Cardinal Newman-The Bishop's judgment of him-Opinion on Archbishop Trench-Letters to Dean Boyle-On Baxter-On Clarendon-On Hooker, Plea for Justice, &c.— Extract from Canon Farquhar's Diary: The Bishop's orderliness-The two Skinners-Letter to Dean Merivale : lines from Statius-The Bishop's version and the Dean's-Mr. Tuckwell's Tongues in Trees '-Mr. Gladstone: note to Sir J. E. Eardley-Wilmot-Intercourse with Bishop Claughton-Bishop Moberly's golden wedding-Interest in his nephews' writings. |