The public mind of this country is slow to recognise the importance of abstract doctrine, and is somewhat scornfully indifferent to the extravagancies of mediæval ritual. But when the working of a system is shown in practices which introduce the priest into the place of the Saviour—aye, and which threaten the very foundations of morality—public opinion raises its indignant protest, and demands that the evil shall be cast forth from our Church. Let all forbearance be shown to the honest perplexities of thought; but let not a church, which is Protestant to the core, ally herself with the enemies of the Reformation, or cherish within her bosom practices which are Scripturally indefensible, and morally wrong.
I venture, however, to think, that in cases which touch no moral ground, the wisdom of a sound expediency, as well as the spirit of the Gospel, suggest the anxious employment of every weapon of persuasion, of every influence which love can devise, before recourse be had to the harsh and repellent forms of law. Truth must ever be the great weapon of persuasion. Strife is an element alien to the Gospel. ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men . . . in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.’ (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.)
I pass on from the official to—
The Personal Life of the bishop.
Very close is the connexion between the two lives.
‘Holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away made shipwreck concerning the faith.’ (1 Tim. i. 19.)
‘Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.’ (1 Tim. iii. 9.)
‘Take heed unto thyself.’
It is a condensed enforcement of the counsels of verse 12, ‘Be thou an example of the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.’
It is needless to dwell upon the truth that a holy life is the best recommendation of holy doctrine, and that what gives force to the utterances of the Christian minister is the hidden fire of the spiritual life which burns within. And if this be true of the humblest of God’s servants, it is pre-eminently true of those who occupy high stations in the Church. If in one sense a bishop’s life is a protected life, a life guarded and shielded from many forms of temptation, it probably has its special and peculiar trials; and it only becomes a safe life, when it is lived as in the very presence of God.