F. Spencer was induced to begin this paper controversy by the hope of conveying some information about Catholic dogmas to those who would not read Catholic books, but would, and did, read newspapers. Shortly after, he learnt, by one instance, what little good generally comes of this kind of contention. He paid a visit to Hagley, and, in a conversation with Lord Lyttelton, asked him if he had seen the Birmingham Gazette lately. "Yes," replied the other, "but delicacy forbade me to allude to your share in that concern." The sum of it was that his lordship thought George under a perfect delusion, and wondered he was not confounded at such powerful refutations as his adversary's were. All F. Spencer wrote looked to him perfectly trifling; so much so, that he had made up his mind to take George in hand himself, and convert him back again, and was then actually getting up some little theology to aid him in doing so more summarily. This George took in very good humour, and hoped good from, especially as Lord Lyttelton appeared to be the leader in the family in point of religion. He was doomed to a sad disappointment; for Lord Lyttelton died shortly after this conversation, and, as far as documentary evidence goes, without having had another conversation with Father Spencer.
CHAPTER VII.
Private Life And Crosses Of F. Spencer.
It could scarcely be supposed that the self-denying, laborious life of F. Spencer in West Bromwich, which has been already alluded to, could be one of those effervescent fits that pass away with the newness of change, when one remembers his life as a Protestant minister. He did not abate one iota of his mortifications or labours, but he became systematized with them, and managed, under the advice of his director, to keep from extremes. He no longer scrupled paying for a conveyance, if he thought the object of his journey was worth more than the coach-fare. For letters, he followed the same rule, though, as he was in a position to obtain franks very frequently, he had not so much difficulty to put up with in the matter of paying heavy postage. To bear these remarks out, we have some of his own letters, but the letter of a lady, who made his acquaintance some time about 1835, and had frequent opportunities of observing him up to the time of his becoming a Passionist, will be more satisfactory than snatches of sentences here and there, which accidentally tell what he was doing.
"In the year 1835 I first became acquainted with the Catholic religion, and, in consequence, with the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer, who instructed and afterwards received me into the Church. From that time till the present I never for a moment doubted of his extraordinary sanctity. He never in all his discourses with me, which were numerous, spoke of anything but with an aim to the glory of God. I knew his housekeeper at West Bromwich, a very good woman, who has been dead many years. She told me that she many times found him, very early in the morning, cleaning his own shoes, and she dare not let him see her for fear of confusion. She often remarked that he spent a very long time in the exercise of prayer and meditation. He was so zealous for the salvation of souls that whenever he saw any new comer in his chapel he would find them out, go to their houses and speak with them; he thus brought many into the Church. Although he was insulted in all kinds of ways, on his walks, he rejoiced and thanked God for all. When he opened his mission in Dudley, rather than go to a public inn he slept, wrapped up in a large rough cloak, on the bare floor of what served as for sacristy, and continued to do so for some time until he had a proper place prepared. Many nights at his own home he used to disturb the bed a little, but it was found that he had not lain in it at all for the whole night. When he was instructing me in the year 1836, he broke a blood-vessel, and though the blood literally flowed from his head into a dish, he continued on the instructions. He visited the sick constantly. On one occasion he went to see a poor woman, who had not one to attend her; she became very restless whilst he was there, and wanted to go downstairs; he wrapped her up in a blanket and carried her down. She was no sooner down than she wanted to be brought up again; he brought her up, too; she got quiet then, listened to him, and after a short time expired before he left the room.
"At one house where he visited, a child was suffering from a bad mouth, so that it was quite distressing to look at it. Father Spencer laid his finger on the child's tongue, and said, 'It will be well;' in a half-an-hour afterwards it was quite well. Once my grandmother was at the point of death; he came and blessed her, and in a day or two she was quite well." Miraculous cures are wrought very frequently by priests' blessings. "Whatever thou blessest shall be blessed," is not pronounced in vain at their ordination; and "we must," as Father Ignatius would say pointedly to those who reflected little on them, "remember that our Lord's words do deserve some little attention." Faith can remove mountains, and it is only proper and just that faith could do something less. Since the faith of the person "made whole" is often as powerful as the faith of the servant of God, each side escapes the vanity of having wrought wonders, by attributing the effect to the other. "He generally went to the kitchen himself, or other places, to get what he wanted, and would often do without a thing, rather than trouble his housekeeper or a servant, if he knew them to be engaged. He wished to be not only his own servant, but the servant of everybody as far as he could. He used to beg of my father and me to pray that he might become poorer than the poorest man we ever knew. He even once asked my father to pray that he might become so poor as to be compelled to lie down and die in a ditch. I never saw him out of heart or in the least discouraged, however difficult a case he might come across: he would generally say, 'We must go on, rejoice and thank God; it will all come right in the end.' One of his former high-up friends and he were walking by a lunatic asylum once, and his friend remarked that he should soon be fit for admission there. This he used to relate with as great glee as if he had received a first-rate compliment, perhaps greater. When he visited our house in the country once, he struck his head against a beam somewhere, and I was astonished at hearing him exclaim, 'Served me right.'"
Several dear friends die about this time, and the conflict between affection and religious detachment is beautifully pourtrayed in the yielding of the former to the latter by several remarks of his own and others, which we subjoin.
He hears of the death of Cardinal Weld about the beginning of the year 1837, and thus writes to Mr. Phillipps about it: "You have heard, of course, of Cardinal Weld's death. I have felt that it is to me like the loss of a father almost; for he treated me as a child, as no doubt he did a great many more. But we must not give way to sorrows, for we have enough to do with our feelings in the battle against present evils, without wasting them on evils which are irremediable." The next death he heard of was that of the Honourable George Quin, a nephew of his, and he wrote to Mr. Phillipps: "That is another warning to us to pray better for the remainder, when one of our four families is carried off before the fruit of our prayers appears." Somewhere about this time Lord Lyttelton dies also, without having succeeded in the project he formed last year, nor did poor Father Spencer succeed much in bringing him over to his side. He always respected this good brother-in-law, and the feeling was returned. He felt greatly for his loss, as well as for the bereavement of his sister. To add to his trials, a change comes over the relations between him and his family. Hitherto it was stipulated that Father Spencer was to be always received as a welcome guest provided he never spoke on religious subjects. The Bishop thinks it, as of course it was, unfair to place restrictions upon him, and not leave the matter to his own discretion. It was not quite becoming for a priest to pay visits, and keep his lips closed by contract on everything that was proper to his sacred character. On the other hand, the family did not like to have their agreeable parties disturbed by controversy, which was likely to draw out hotter words than was suitable to the state of things. Both sides had some kind of reason to show, and Father Spencer was placed between them. He communicated the decision of his bishop to the more influential members of the Spencer family, but he found they would not bend. He cheerfully gives up visiting, and even consoles some of his friends who manifest their concern that he should be debarred a pleasure so innocent and apparently so justifiable. How much he felt this, notwithstanding his cheerful resignation, may be seen from the following testimony, of one who knew him well, to the affection he had for Lady Lyttelton, his sister, who still survives:—
"In the year 1837 Mr. Mackey (Mrs. Mackey writes the letter) was engaged painting a picture for Father Ignatius, for his chapel at West Bromwich, and we saw a great deal of him. He was devotedly attached to his sister, Lady Lyttelton, and he often used to speak of her loving care of him when a boy; and once, when I quoted those lines of Gray:—