He keeps up correspondence by letter with some of his old friends at college, and with one or two of the Tractarians, Mr. Palmer, the author of the "Church of Christ," among the number. An old friend of his writes to him from among the Irvingites, and Father Spencer writes to another in these terms:—"The supposed miraculous voice, to which that party (the Irvingites) attend, has named 12 men as Apostles, who expect shortly to be endued with miraculous powers to enable them to restore the Church in its perfect beauty. Drummond the banker is one. Spencer Percival, and my great friend Henry Bridgman, Lord Bradford's brother, others." It is not a little strange that this Mr. Bridgman comes into the journal of Father Ignatius's Cambridge life very frequently, and mostly in the character of a Mentor.
Father Ignatius never gained much from correspondence, sought on his part, with leading men in the great religious movements of the period. But whenever others sought his advice, they generally became Catholics. They were disposed for truth, and he could remove objections, tell them of books, and pray for them. He broke off this kind of unasked-for correspondence at this time, but he resumed it again on a different footing, as shall be related in its place.
He had another means of doing good now, which could not come into his line while simple pastor of a country district. The college of Oscott was a place worth seeing, if not as a specimen of architecture, at least as being the stronghold of Catholicism, and the centre of a great deal of intellectual and moral training. Many of his great friends, who could not hitherto devise any plausible plea for visiting him in his retirement, could find one immediately now, from the place he dwelt in as well as the position he there held. His name was also noised abroad, and persons would feel some curiosity for the acquaintance of one who was moving heaven and earth for their conversion. Accordingly, we find that he entertains his two brothers, the then earl and his successor, on one day; Lord Lyttelton and Mr. Gladstone on another day, and so forth. Thus, that particular power he possessed in his conversation had a field upon which it could be brought into requisition, in a manner which former arrangements had debarred to him.
Several of the sermons he preached were published and distributed. There was no faculty of his, natural or supernatural, no good deed he was capable of doing, that did not come into play far better by his late transfer to Oscott. He was also practised in the drudgery of a missionary priest— that sphere of action which fills up a priest's ordinary life; and he was able from experience to teach others, not only how to prepare themselves, but how to succeed with profit to themselves and others in this work. He had also peculiar advantages here; he could give the young ecclesiastics not only the abstract rules for missionary labour, but a taste and relish for it, for very seldom can one succeed well if his tastes run counter to his duties. He did this by continuing in Oscott his old parish work; he visited the sick, brought them the sacraments; he gave a portion of every day to his favourite work, and by the incidents he came across, and the results of his labours, he raised up the young gentlemen's notions to the looking upon that as the poetic side of their ministry which is generally supposed to be the most prosaic. This is a great secret in the training of young men; to tell them best is best, and prove it to them, will convince them of course; but it will not lead them; there must be some grace, some romantic aspect put upon the thing, and then it entices them of itself. This was Father Spencer's secret, and, indeed, it might be said that it was his rule. He writes in a letter now, that he condemns asperity in controversy, and that civility and good breeding, with pity and love, is the way to confound opponents; and that he would rather see a clever argument unanswered than met with pungency and acrimony. This might be quarrelled with, for in war all things are lawful; but the real state of opinion to which he came on these matters was, that opponents were surer to be conquered by being enticed than driven. Let the Catholic religion but be seen in its native beauty, and thousands will be led to examine it.
CHAPTER XI.
Some Of His Doings In Oscott College.
Father Spencer's way of training young men has been already hinted at. He carried it out while he remained in his new office; he would go heartily into all their sports, make up their matches for cricket, and even give the younger ones instructions in the art. They had all a high opinion of his sanctity, and therefore the keeping of their juvenile spirits in order was not always a difficult matter. Oscott contained at the time 140 students, 30 only of whom were ecclesiastics. Among the lay students, who are mostly younger than the others, and have a notion too that because they do not intend to be priests they are not obliged to be so guarded as the rest, there were several who were not very manageable. One day a class he had in hand were rather uproarious; he quietly advised them to come to better sentiments; his words were, however, lost, and the noise was not abated. He remonstrated again, but all to no purpose. At length he got a hearing, and said: "Since I cannot correct you, and do not wish to chastise you, I shall pray to God to chastise you Himself." This, said in his sad mood, had such an effect upon the boys that it was never forgotten, and he never had the least difficulty with his class again.
On another occasion he did something in execution of his duty, which gave great offence to one of the young men. This young man grossly insulted him, in words that shocked all who were within hearing, and particularly reflected on the Father's character as a gentleman and a man of honour. The insult must have been the more galling as the person who was guilty of it was by birth and education in the position of a gentleman. One calm and placid look was the only answer from Father Spencer, which reminded many present of our Lord's look at Peter after his denial. For this anecdote and the next we are indebted to the Right Rev. Dr. Amherst.
"When he (Father Spencer) was a superior at Oscott, I had the good fortune to be under him. He frequently visited me and several of my companions in our rooms, where he would talk with greatest earnestness of the conversion of England, of the sanctification of the priesthood, and of the entire devotedness which should characterize a priest. Sometimes his visits took place late at night after we were gone to bed, when, if we were not asleep, he would sit upon a chair, a table, or the edge of the bed, and speak of his favourite themes for an hour. Once I remember awaking in the morning, after one of these visits, and expecting to find the father still seated on my bed, not perceiving that the night had passed. He had, no doubt, found that I had gone asleep, and went away quietly."
Another time one of the students, a young man about 17, who is now a zealous priest in the English Mission, happened to be out shooting somewhere. He took a shot at a blackbird, and some poor old woman was within range, and received a shot just over the eye. She cried out that she was shot, and one may imagine the embarrassment of the young student. She recovered, however; but in a year or two after the occurrence, a quack doctor applied some remedies to a new swelling in the eye, and swelling and remedies resulted in her death. There was an inquest held in Birmingham, to which the student was summoned. Whilst awaiting the day, the poor fellow was in very low spirits, as might be expected. Father Spencer went to his room to console him, and said that he had no reason to be cast down, that it was quite accidental, and permitted by God as a trial, with a great deal more. It was of little use, the poor student said, "but they might transport me." "Beautiful, beautiful," exclaimed the good Father; "fine field for the exercise of apostolic zeal among the poor convicts." "But then they might even hang me," rejoined the student. "Glorious sacrifice," said Father Spencer; "you can offer your life, though innocent in this case, in satisfaction for your other sins." Well, the student, though he thought the sentiments very high for his grade of spirituality, did not fail to profit by them, and tells the story to this day with a great deal of interest. Thus did Father Spencer work among the students, a model in all virtues, and so sweet and holy in his manner that his words went to the very heart with effect.