Untitled - Electric Scotland

1863-67] MEMORANDA I
.Y THE BISHOP 497
ing. To say nothing of the danger of false doctrine, and the
substitution of sacerdotalism in the place of the simple real
Christianity, it has appeared to me that, on grounds of policy,
the growth of this party must be steadily guided and gently
restrained, lest it alienate from our Churches the vast body
of the
religious
in the middle class. I am free to confess that late
experience has convinced me of the very great influence which
the clergy of this school gain over the young men who form
their choirs, etc. And I gladly recognise their self-denying zeal ;
but still, looking to the faults of their religious system, and the
horror in which it is held by the great body of religious persons,
in the middle class especially, I feel convinced that its prevalence
would end in the denationalising of the Church of England.
As one element amongst several, [it no doubt does good, and
some of the best people in the world belong to this school ; but
it must be restrained, otherwise its faults will prevail over the
good
"
within it.
(2.) Still more, the poor. To them especially the Gospel
requires to be preached in London. The great efforts of Bishop
Blomfield to build Churches and found new parishes have done
much. But somehow there was something wanting in the work
as he left it. Incomplete
of course it must be in its extent as
long as the population grows at its present alarming rate ; but
there seemed to me something wanting too in the spirit of these
efforts. Hence it appeared to be my chief call during
the earlier
part of my Episcopate, by preaching myself to the poor wherever
they could be found, and stirring up a missionary spirit amongst
the clergy, to endeavour to bring life into the existing machinery,
and add an expansive power to all our Church movements. I
think by God s blessing a good deal has been done in this way.
and the example has spread in the kingdom. The preaching
under the dome of St. Paul s is an outward symbol of what is
wanted. The Diocesan Home Mission has been the centre of
this work, as the Diocesan Church Building Society is the centre
of the more regular and business operations of the Church in
the London Diocese. When Palmerston wished to withdraw me
to the Archdiocese of York last year, I felt the danger of the
Diocesan Home Mission perishing, perhaps more than any other
consideration, as an inducement to remain where I am.
"
(3.) And then, besides,
I have felt and tried to meet the
great danger of the more thoughtful and inquisitive spirits being
VOL. I. 2 I