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TUCKEK, M.A. Asmi.ant Secrdary to the Society for the Propagation of the Gonpd in Formgn Parf.% Secretary to the Associates of the late Rev. Jh\ Bray, Author of "Under JJii Banner," fti;. " Xon ff.t Episcopatus artificium transigendix vitir fallacis." S. Aur.usTiNK, Ej), Ixxxv. ad raulum. SKCUM) THOUSAMJ. WITH PORTRAIT AND MAP. W. WELLS GARDNER, Paternoster Buildings. 1877. [All nights Reserved.^ LONDON; l(. tXAV, .IONS, AND TAYLOR, PBINTKIW, uhead srnKET iiili., QUKEN VICTOIIIA STKEKT Fwvr J. . 1 -' CONTENTS. ("HAiTKi; 1.— 1801-1843 . . 'l CHAi'TEn II.— 1844 2fi Chaptkk III.— 1845-6 38 CiiAi'TKi! IV.— 1847-8 54 ("HAi'Tici! v.— 1849-50 . . . , . . . . .83 Chai'Tkr VI.— 1851-8 . . 102 Chapteu VII.— 1859-63 142 ("IIAITKU VIII.— 18t)4-(>6 .181 CiiAPTKi! IX.— 18(>7-71 224 Chai'TKII X. — 1872-6 248 Chaiteu XI.— CoNCLr-sioN 281 Ari'KNDix A 299 Ai'i'KNDix B 305 I ^ • Oi'To: dvev 0eov eirraro he^io^ opvtt.' 0DY88 : O. 530. I I t PREFACE. The memory of a great man is not public property' in tlie sense which would jus'ify any one in assuming uninvited the office of his biographer. I certainly should not have ventured to have compiled the present book had I not been requested to do so by those who were nearest to the great Bishop of Newfouna^and, who loved him best and to whom his memory is most dear. To have been, however unworthy, the chronicler of an Episcopate so noble, and of a life so saintly, has been to me a precious privilege, a labour of love and of solemn interest. I desired to add to my own record of his manifold labours some independent testimony to the value of such a faithful, chivalrous life to the Oliurch, both at home and abroad, and I sought for it from that eminent states- man, who, amid the manifold cares of his high posi- tion, has always found time in which to promote the best interests of religion, and by his office of Treasurer to the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund since its establishment in 1841 to the present time, has shown continued sympathy with the extension of the Church of which he is a devout and faithful son. By the kindness of Mr. Gladstone I viii PHEFACK. 1 1 t J ■• \ '-■ 4 i, am permitted tc publish tlie following letter, written in answer to iny request, and the opinion of such a man, " simply as one of the public," is the very testimony which I desired. " EwvAumiS, September 18, 1376. "Dear Sir,— I was not personally acquainted with " Bishop Feild, and I am, in regard to hinj, simply one " of the public : any sketch, therefore, drawn by me " would be wholly wanting in the vital condition of " individuality, nor would this defect be compensated " by my cordial admiration for his character. " It is, indeed, I fear, true that not the whole, " but a part, of our Coloninl Episcopate has sunk "below the level established for it tliirty and thirty- " five years: ago by the Bishops of those days. But '• how high a level it was ! And how it lifted the •' entire heart of the Church of England ! so that he " who witli content and a noble thankfulness buried " hunself fur life in the frost and fog of Newfoundland *' was in ti uth one of the most effective labourers in, " as well as for, the Church at home. " Many and many a Bishop at home has set, and sets, "us a high example; but so high as Bishop Feild in " labour and sacrifice for Christ it is hardly, from their " position, given them to rise. May his memory long " be as bright as his rest is blessed ! " Believe me, faithfully yours, " W. E. Gladstone." Five-and-twenty years ago the name of Bishop Feild was suggestive of hope and comfort to many who, amid the controversies of tlie Mother Church, looked abroad PREFACE. IX 1 in ' i and found in Newfoundland the pledge and token of a living Church and a vigorous Apostolate. I cannot but fear that while recent biographies have been written to keep before the Church the memories of Armstrong, of Mackenzie, of Patteson, of Gray, and of Cotton, these pages may, ior the firs! time, bring before the present generation the labours of one who was still earlier in the field, but inferior to none of these great men in the works of his vocation. It ought to be to us a source of thank- fulness that an Episcopate once so widely known and esteemed should, in the space of so few years, have been to some extent crowded out of men's thoughts by instances of like zeal and self-sacrifice in Africa, in Asia, and in Melanesia. While the revival of the life of the Mother Church lias been mercifully vouchsafed by God to the labours of a faithful Priesthood, the extended frontiers of the Churches of our communion in either hemisphere, their happy organization into Dioceses and Provinces consolidated and ruled by Synodical action, their inde- pendence of secular interference and patronage, their self-contained, self-supporting, and self-controlled condi- tion, seem with equal plainness to have been vouchsafed to the labours of a faithful Episcopate. There is nothing in the career of Bishop Feild of the sensational element which wins sympathy for those who labour among Hindoos or Kafirs or Chinese. His work was what tlie world would call eminently " commonplace." He braved no perils among the heathen ; he had not to contend with systems of unbelief, whose very antiquity makes them venerable ; he met with no ethnological or linguistio problems on which to exercise his mind as he ^ PREFACE. went among his people ; he lighted on no ruined temples or shrines which in certain lands set men speculating on their origin, their antiquity, their uses : while labourers in other parts of the mission field are led to see the utmost height to which civilisation, unaided by Christianity, can raise niankind, as well as the depths to which heathenism and barbarism can degrade— a -bishop of Newfoundland has only to minister to those who by baptism are of the household of faith, but who, if neglected by their spiritual mother, are in a fair way to becor-e as the heathen. While the missionary in India discovers with keen delight the trace of a long defunct language in the speech of some native with whom he converses or argues, and on such a foundation weaves for himself many an airy theory on the origin of his race, and its migrations and vicissitudes, a bishop of Newfoundland has sometimes to pause and translate for himself the provincialisms of his poor fisher flock ; while, instead of trying to discover in an antique superstition some semblance of common ground on which to rest his argument for the truth, his labour must often be to discover words sufficiently simple in which to convey the rudiments of Christian teaching to unlettered but not unwilling hearers. All the more honour to those who for the love of God and of souls undertake work which in itself is so humble, and which must be carried on under con- ditions so arduous and adverse. In this respect Bishop Feild differs from those mentioned above : he shows us that among our colonists, quite as much as among the heathen, there is room for the exercise of the highest courage, the practice of the greatest endurance, the devo- ti( th e\ spi tl a I PREFACE. XI tion of all gifts and talents, altliouj^li there may be wanting the applause of those who have ear and heart and purse ever open for the heathen, but little care for the English- speaking and Christian Colonist. It is on this among other grounds that the great Bishop of Newfoundland challenges our respectful admiration — tliat wliile by his manifold gifts he was qualified for the highest places in the world and in the Church, he without murmur devoted all his powers to the spiritual good of the poor neglected fishermen who w^ere given to him as his charge. It happens that I send my book to press on this day when the Church commemorates all who have fallen asleep in the true faith, the small as well as the great, the unknown as well as the known, the martyr and confessor as well as the hidden saint; and as, ere I finally lay down my pen, I once more think of him, whom for many years I have held in reverent honour, and whose works and words and writings have latterly occupied much of my thoughts, I cannot but quote, and apply to him, the words of a living writer on one who was a conspicuous character in the Mediaeval Church, and which seem to describe his present place "in the noble company of the strong and meek, who 'lave not been afraid of the mightiest and have not disdained to work for and with the lowliest; capable oi' the highest things, content as living before Him, with whom there is neither high nor low, to minister in the humblest." ^ It remains only for me to thank those (too numerous in all cases to be specified) who, by contributing their ^ Dean Church on S. Anselm. xii PREFACE. 1 1 f % I personal reminiscences, or by the loan of letters and documents, have rendered my task comparatively easy, and have given to this biogi'aphy whatever of interest or merit may be found in its compilation ; especially I desire to record my obligations to the Most Eev. the Primus of Scotland, the Bishops of Chester and Salisbury, the Dean of Wells, the Eev. G. D. Adams, Vicar of East Budleigh ; the Eev. E. J. Beck, Eector of Eotherhithe; the Eev. Edward Coleridge, Fellow of Eton College ; the Eev. J. C. Clutterbuck, Vicar of Long Wittenham ; the Eev. W. Falconer, Eector of Bushey; the Eev. J. C. Harvey, of Port de Grave ; the Eev. G. M. Johnson, Eector of Bar- ningham Parva; the Eev. L. Lough, Eector of Pa^^et, Bermuda ; the Eev. E. Machen, of Eastbach Court ; the Eev. A. W. Mountain, Vicar of S. Mary's, Stony Strat- ford ; the Eev. J. Eigaud, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford ; the Eev. U. Z. Eule, formerly Missionary "at the Bay of Lslands ; the Eev. Canon Seymour, of Wor- cester ; the Eev. E. H. Taylor, of Brigus ; and the Eev. Cecil Wray, formerly Vicar of S. Martin's, Liverpool. London, All 6'ainti Day, 1876. mmmmmmmmmmm^ mmmtm ^^tmmmmti u Yerd M BAY Cky, Sons & Taylor, Liti.Breau S'M.E C m i«i 46*; ■6V LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD, BISHOP OF NEWFOUNDLAND. ' -BO id] 1 I vigtu. uv re % BAY yLand 47 16 CHAPTEiR I. [1801—1843.] •' Mark'st thou in him no token true Of Heaven's own Priests, both old and new, In penitential garb austere Fix'd in the wild, from year to year, The lessons of stem love to teach. To penitents, and to children preach, Bold words and eager glances stay. And gently level Jesu's way ? " Lyra Innoccntium. Edward Feild, the subject of this memoir, was born at Worcester, on June 7, 1801, the third son of James Feild, Esq., the representative of an ancient family long settled in the county of Worcester. Nothing specially worthy of notice has been chronicled concerning his boy- hood ; the performances of maturer years are generally in inverse proportion to the promises of a precocious child- hood, and it is not surprising that, in the case of one whose subsequent life was so exceptionally noble, his nearest surviving relative should say that in his early years B C LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [ouAP. r. there was nothing remarkable about him. Having spent some years at a school at Bewdley, he went in 1814 to Kugby, and in 1820 carried off the first prize out of four awarded for Latin composition, the subject being, " Mulierum legatio ad M. Coriolanum patrice suce arma inferentem." From Rugby he took an Exhibition to Queen's College, Oxford, where he gained a Michel Scholarship. He graduated B.A. in Easter Term, 1823, obtaining a second class in the classical school, and his name stands alone in the first class of the mathematical school. He became a Fellow on the Michel Foundation as a matter of course, and in due time was appointed Lecturer of the college. The present Dean of Wells,^ who shared his labours in that capacity, says, " I recollect very well that he worked very hard, and threw a deal of vigour into the system as far as was possible in the then state of things. There was one tutor and three lecturers, and the system was as bad as could be." For the system it is obvious that the lecturers were not responsible. In the spring of 1826 he was an unsuccessful candidate for a Fellowship at Oriel ; there v/ere two vacancies and twelve competitors, the fortunate ones being Richard Hurrell Froude, and Robert Isaac Wilberforce.^ But it is with his life and work as priest and bishop that these pages are » Very Rev. G. H. S. Johnson. • The Bishop of Salisbury, himself an unsuccessful competitor on this occasion, has kindly given me some interesting particulars of this contest. His lordship writes :— The candidates were *• versified " by Mr. James of Oriel, as follows : — 'Avfpts olSe SvditK' 4v *fl/j-?.V ^\6ov dyma, ^ *povSos,^ Tojo^dpoj, k' 'A\4iCTopes,^ 'Ix^ios &a,* Ka\6v ipos,'^ Aitraal vfTpai,^ ApvoflKe\os,''''Aypo^,^ Kp7 ofjiday,^ Biirov t* 6 7' ivdw/xos rj/xer tpoto,^" "apas t' otvoft' ^xw." leal iKitv Hkovti Si Ovfi^}^ ' Fioude. » Bowman. » Cox. • Rowe. • Beaiimont. • Copleston. ^ Oakeley. « FeUd. » Moberly. •"> Cobhau. ** Carey. •^r Mr. James, the wnter, was vicar of Cobham, which explains No. 10, •* Wilberforce. 1801-1843.] ORDINATION, , chiefly concerned ; on May 21, 1826, he was admitted to the Diaconate by Bishop Legge, then Bishop of Oxford, his fellowship being hio title; at Christmas, 1827, he was ordained priest by Bishop Lloyd, having a few weeks pre- viously been licensed to the curacy of Kidlington; and here commenced that course of ministerial activity, guided by profound learning and simple devotion to duty so undeviating and unhesitating as to seem to have been rendered without effort, which marked his whole career of service for nearly fifty years. These pages will have been written to little purpose if they do not show how, at all times, and in all respects, he was in advance of his contemporaries in his estimate of duty and in his treatment of the many problems, social and political, as well as moral and ecclesiastical, which must occupy the thoughts of every intelligent clergyman, however humble may be his sphere. The standard of ministerial obligations in 1827 was very different from that which is demanded now; fifty years ago even those saintly men, with whose memories we connect the origin of that glorious movement which, under God, has made the Church what now we see it, were content to reside in Oxford, going out to their parishes, in some instances twelve or fifteen miles away, for their Sunday duties, and when other- wise required by their parishioners. But Mr. Feild set a better example ; although his parish was only five miles distant he made it his chief work and lived on the spot, coming to Oxford for his lectures, which he regarded as a parergon. A friend writes to me, " When I went into residence at Wadham in 1829 Mr. Feild was soon pointed out to me riding past the college every morning from one of the northern parishes, of which he was curate, reversing the practice of clerical fellows, for instead of* living in college he lodged in his curacy." The result of his residence and his teaching was B 2 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [OHAP. U remarkable. At this distance of time it may be stated, without offence it is hoped to any, that Kidlinj^ton was reputed to be a bad parish; its village green was noted for fights, and these the courageous curate made a point of attending; and at length, by suasion, by force of personal influence, by loving interference, and where all other means failed, b'-; -^he strong arm of the law, he wrought a real change in this .id other respects among his parishioners. He was a Dioneer in the work of education, and built schools at Kidlington which were regarded as models for the neighbourhood. I am indebted to the hmdness of a contemporary of Mr. Feild's^ for tlie following account of his work in this his first charge : — "The energy with which Feild commenced his work rather grated on the good, though high and dry feelings of his rector ; nevertheless he had no reason to complain of want of support and assistance either from him or the college. When I accepted this small college living (and before that), I was anxious to learn lessons in school keeping, of which I had already seen soxi'ething elsewhere, but which was then completely iv its infancy. I paid many visits to Kidlington. Feild did not rest till he had seen efficient schools built. He was the master, and, so to speak, the mistress of the schools. His influence o\ er the children was surprising. Infant schools were then few and far between. I'rom what I saw at Kidlington I at once organized one when I became vicar here. Whenever I think of infant schools, which I have always made an indispen- sable part of the school system here, I think of Feild and his, so to speak, magical power over the infants ; his whole soul seemed to be cast into the work. I feel sure that I never should have done what I have done in that direction but for him at starting. A visit to Kidlington was always one of the bright days of his visit to England, as, no doubt ' Rev. J. C. Clutterbuck, vicar of Long WittenLam. 1801-1843.] SWING RIOTS. 1 the well-being of the pftrish was the object of his prayers 1 fancy that I can now see the infant children in the scshool contending for his caresses whilst he held one in his arms." Anotner friend^ wiites — " I visited his schools at Kidlington, and at times met him fit the house of the late Hector of Exeter College. I used also to see him often, but as we both had our own work to do, and he never lost time, little then passed be- tween us. He readily made up his mind, and was firm in execution ; he was no talker, made no display, und all proceeded from him earnestly indeed, but naturally from the sober temperament and habit of his mind. Ho was what the French would call ' cntier ' ; but in the best sense. " I was remarking upon the difficulty I found in compo- sition, making frequent corrections, &c. * I never,' said he, * change what I write, and could not do so.' At the time I was much surprised at his answer, but I afterwards thought it characteristic of himself." Those were stirring times, and Mr. Feild's active mind was keen to take in all that was going on around him and to direct the minds of his parishioners. The " Swing Kiots" were in full vigour, and burnings, and other acts of violence were of frequent occurrence. None occurred in Kidlington, but the neighbouring parishes were not so exempt. Cavalry were stationed at Otmoor and elsewhere, and the whole of the rural population was in a state of ferment. In the schools which he had been instrumental in building, he was wont to assemble his people and to deliver to them addresses on subjects in which they were concerned, but which were not so suitable for being dealt with in the pulpit. On November 28, 1830, he delivered an address on the state of the country, in which the prevalent delusions con- cerning the mischievous efifects of the use of agricultural machinery were exposed with manly courage and cool ^ Rev. W. Falconer, rector of Bushey. I LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. i. common sense. The address was printed, and found readers far beyond the circle for whicli it was written, running through six editions. The whole pamphlet is full of the soundest political economy, and shows how in all matters the future bishop was in advance of the position which the clergy of those days assumed. The address was given at a period of unusual panic, and in their fear passion usurped the func- tion of argument among all classes ; but the curate of Kidlington was quite calm, and was able to appeal to principles. In the first place he appealed to the patriotism of the villagers. " It used to be our boast and our bless- ing that every one in this free land could go where he pleased, and act as he pleased, without fear of danger or interruption. Every one could lie down at night and rise in the morning secure both of his life and his property. But now matters seem for a moment to be very much changed ; every day brings us some fresh account of pro- perty destroyed and of lives threatened : the soldiers are called out to protect us, and almost every second man, who can be trusted, is sworn to act as a constable for the pre- servation of the king's peace and the general safety of us all." He then showed that whatever the distress of indi- viduals might be, the destruction of the food of the people must increase that distress, and that, as the immediate consequence of these disturbances, labour was at a stand- still, the farmer was driven from his property, labourers were without employment, the well-to-do people quitted the country for the towns, and only desolation and nakedness were to be seen. " For myself," he said, " nothing, I hope and believe, would drive me from my post ; and as long as I can serve any of you I am bound to do it, and, by God's help, so I will ; but if such disturbances should happen here as have happened in some places, could I, with any propriety, keep the rest of my family here ? Could any J ^'^^•^i,*-*'* 1801-1843.] SWING RIOT.«. ladies remain here ? and if all these should remove to the neighbouring town, r ould not the poor man lose many a kind and valuable , liend ? " Some people drew a distinc- tion between destroying com and burning or breaking machines ; Mr. Feild could see none. " A man's nmchine," said he, "is his property, and what right can 1 or any person have to destroy another man's property ? . . . What country is this to live in, if a man's property is to be destroyed at the whim of every ignorant and selfish person who would bring all men to a level, not by raising himself but by keeping every one else down ? It would be quite as wise and quite as just to say to some man of great talents and gi-eat education, ' Sir, I find your head is a much better head than mine, for I find that you are getting rich by it, while I remain poor ; and therefore I desire you will use your headpiece no more, for if you do I shall certainly come and break it.* . . . You say liberty ! liberty ! and I say liberty ! liberty ! but what liberty is that when a man may not keep his own property, or use his own machines, or enrich himself by his own inventions ?" He then proceeded to prove that machines were a bless- ing to the country, and that if they injured the poor, although that circumstance would not lead him to assist in their destruction, yet it would certainly make him regret their introduction ; but he was convinced that so far from injuring they greatly benefited the poor, and this he proved by the history of printing, by which where 1,000 persons were formerly engaged in writing books, 10,000 were now engaged in printing them. So with spinning, paper-making and the like, the increased facility of production caused increased expenditure, so that before the introduction of printing-presses there were probably not more than four Bibles in Kidlington, and any one who could read was regarded as a wonder. Now there were at least 400 Bibles and everybody could learn to read, and almost ►-^j-v*-. 't»rn— "^l^t— T- • LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. I. I all were able to do so. So with clothing : the poorest now had articles which but a few years before were to be obtained only by people of property. "Last winter," he said, "I sold a blanket to a poorperson between sixty and seventy years of age, who told me she never before had possessed one in her life. And how is it that you can possess these comforts which your fathers could not ? Why, they are cheap ! And what has made them cheap ? Why, machines." The lecturer went on to prove that if machines were destroyed the manufactures would go to France and Ger- many and other foreign countries. " You have heard, and heard truly," he said, " that England is the richest country in the world. But what has made her so ? Why, chiefly her machinery. I have travelled myself in other countries where mactLines are not so much used, and the poor there are beyond comparison worse fed and worse clothed than in our own country. In some parts of France all the poor wear wooden shoes. Would you like to wear wooden shoes ? I am sure you would not. Yet these people have few machines ; if they had more machines they would buy the other necessaries of life cheaper and would have more money to spare for shoes ; so you see how much better we are off with machines than they without." Tlnse were easy lessons in the first principles of political economy, but they were such as only an able man would have dared to give. It will be observed that the arguments used were such as would fall within the experience of the audience, who literally would know where the shoe pinched. Th :^ lecturer next tried to show that the obnoxious thrash- ing-machines themselves were a direct benefit to the poor, and to enforce his argument he quoted facts within the cognizance of aU. He said — " You all know very well that soon after harvest you generally find your bread rise somewhat in price ; some- times a penny, sometimes three-halfpence, sometimes two- 1801-1843.] POOR LAW COMMISSIONERS. Ml pence the loaf. You don't like this advance in price. I have often heard you complain of it. But what is the occasion of such a rise in price just at the time when we should suppose corn was most plentiful ? The occasion is that it is impossible to get the grain to market so fast as it is wanted for use, and so the price rises of course. La- bourers are employed, some getting in the late harvest, some ploughing, some in other field work ; and they don't like to be shut up in the barn at that season of the year. Some labourers, I know, refuse to thrash during the season of harvest. What then is to be done ? The corn rises in price, and this, of course, is very unpleasant, but especially to the poor man. To remedy this evil thrashing-machines were invented, which can bring a large quantity of corn into the market in a short time, and so help to lower the price and save us from want, and I believe if they were laid aside we should all suffer more or less in consequence." But having exhausted all the arguments which political economy supplied, Mr. Feild took higher ground, and appealed to the Christian fellowship which they were bound to recognize as binding all classes together in the only sure bonds, and so his well-meant lecture in politics developed, as was right and proper, into a terse and prac- tical sermon on the duties of Christian citizenship. Mr. Feild's arguments are not yet obsolete, and his lecture might in the present day be circulated with advantage among the thoughtful but discontented and illogical people who organize strikes and trade unions. While wholly on the side of order and law, his sympathies were ever with the poor; no pseudo-aristocratic prejudices warped his judgment or influenced his mind as he studied the social problems of the day. He took a keen interest in the then new Poor Laws, which were the outcome of the Swing Riots, and his answers to 10 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. I. i questions of the Commissioners on the Poor Laws appear in the First lieport of that body. The questions were forty- six in number, the last in the series being, " Can you give the Commissioners any information respecting the causes and consequences of the agricultural riots and burnings of 1830 and 1831 ? " The answers given to so very wide a question are, as may be supposed, extremely varied in terms and character, but having looked through some hundreds I have not found one which for boldness and acuteness approaches Mr. Feild's. It was as follows : " The causes appear to have been the mal-administration of the Poor Law, and the inefficiency of the clergy : the consequences, however injurious to individuals, have beyond question been greatly beneficial to the community." In June 1831 he dehvered another address in the school- room, w.-. oh was also printed and largely circulated. A labouring man in an adjoining parish, stung by the re- proaches of his wife and of his own conscience, but unable to conquer his intemperate habits, which had brought his family to beggary, had committed suicide, calmly and de- liberately. The sad event made a great impression and the zealous curate seized the occasion, "to say things which could not so properly have been said in church, but which are nevertheless of the utmost importance to your best and everlasting interests." And as in his previous address he had advanced principles which subsequent events have proved to have been sound, so now he pleads for wholesome liberty, and looks to moral improvement rather than to Acts of Parliament to lessen the crime of drunkenness. " Many persons ask, What shall we do to check the evil ? Shall we ask Parliament to make beer dear again, and to put down the beer-houses ? Shall we put our hands to a paper saying we think cheap beer a nuisance and the beer- houses a nuisancj ? I know many good and worthy persons '4' I h ji v_.*^ I. 1801- 1843.] TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 11 'f have done so, and already many petitions have been forwarded to Parliament ; but I have never signed any such petition and I never will. I always rejoice and always shall rejoice, when any of the necessaries or comforts of life are brought within reach of the poor, and therefore instead of wishing to make beer dearer, I heartily hope it may be cheaper still. ... I don't, however, mean to deny that the cheapness of beer may for a time encourage and increase the mischief. If you have curbed in a horse too tight, when you loosen the rein it is likely he will at first go a little too free ; but this is soon over, and when we see his powerful action and free paces, who will not confess that he goes better and safer now than when curbed and cramped and deprived of his liberty ? It is just so when an indulgence has been newly granted to those who have been deprived of it too long ; but let them have time to recover themselves and to understand their privileges, and the mischief will cease. The good will overcome the evil." The sanguine hopes of the curate of Kidlington in 1831 have not, it is to be feared, been realized, but it will be observed that a famous dictum of the present Bishop of Peterborough, when speaking on this subject in the House of Lords, was but an echo (unconscious no doubt) of the words of Mr. Feild spoken more than forty years previously. His great antipathy to what he called " the self-righteous absurdities of teetotalism," appears on several occasions in his letters and reports : intemperance caused him great anxiety both in England and in Newfoundland, and he was himself almost a_toJal abstainer, but he objected to the pledge as superfluous and immoral. In 1834 he became rector of English Bicknor, a college living in the most beautiful part of Gloucestershire. It seemed as though this were likely to be the scene of his life's labours ; unselfish to the last degree, without any thought r# 12 LIFE OF EDWABD FEILD. [chap. I. I £ i of worldly advancement, and happy in the sphere in which he found himself, it may truly be said of him ** The calm delights Of unambitious piety he chose, And learning's soUi dignity." Within the limits of this parish and in the performance of his pastoral duties, he found occupation that amply satisfied his " ighest ambition, and here the next ten years of his life were spent. They were not uneventful years, and his peculiar gifts were called forth for the beneiit of an area much wider than that of his small parish ; he pursued as rector the same policy which had marked his residence at Kidlington. His successor, the Rev. J. Burdon, who is still rector of English Bicknor, has been so good as to send me the following description of the results and traditions of Mr. Feild's incumbency : — " The bishop is remembered with .affectionate regard to this Jay by a great many people of the neighbourhood. His great influence was through schools, which he built at a time when nobody troubled themselves about such things, and he exercised wonderful influence over the chil'iren, though strict even to severity in his management of the school. They were afraid of him, and yet they liked him very much. The last time he was over, several of the rather elderly people had stories about their school days, and how ths bishop had thrashed them, and such like agreeable reminiscences, which I retailed to the bishop, greatly to his amusement. Some of them he remembered. He listened to the stories with a quiet smile, half grim and half jocose, which one often noticed in him. He had a very strong sense of humour. " One fact I remember regarding his management of the school, which has always struck me as very singular. He had not the slightest ear for music, and yet he contrived to tea'^h the children music by note. They sang in parts, and t ■ !1 ?3 I. 1801-1843.] ENGLISH BICKNOR. 13 )f d s s I 3 J formed the choir. None but the children sang in church, and really the singing was very fair. The schoolmaster had little or nothing to do with the singing, the bishop did it all or nearly all himself, and yet he was utterly deficient both in voice and ear. He had printed a little book for teaching singing, of which I think I still have copies by me. This was quite of a piece with his character, which took delight in grappling with difficulties. " I should think there were no such schools in Glouces- tershire as these at Bicknor while under the bishop's superintendence; and yet if any clergyman attempted to carry out so strict a discipline in these days he would be had up before a magistrate before three months were over. Nevertheless his pupils remember him with the utmost respect." From another correspondent, a lady well qualified to give an opinion, I have received testimony to his labours as a parish priest, which is the more valuable as it gives the impression made by them on the mind of a young child : — " My recollections of Bishop Feild, as rector of English Bicknor, are those of a little child, who delighted in him as the most genial and pleasant of playfellows— and who was more proud of than frightened at being catechized by him with the village children, ' after the second Lesson at Evening Prayer ' on the Sundays in Lent. This catechizing was of the simplest and most literal kind, 'saying the Catechism ' in fact — yet it was the revival of that strict and accurate attention to the rubrics of the Prayer-book, love for and obedience to which he was the first to instil into the minds of many children of the Church. This descrip- tion of his catechizing in church would give little notion of his power of teachirg, which of course was one of his special gifts in those^days, and which I even can recoUect in Sunday school lessons when I was often present. He 14 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. I. not only organized, but created schools— day and Sunday schools, unknown in this district till he came into it. His_^ love for children was intense, he never passed one without a smile or a pat ; at the same time even with little children he could be severe, when .occasion required. His own energy and power of work was so great that he was apt to be exacting, perhaps, from others of feebler powers both as pupils and as workers in the parish ; he could not tolerate work of any sort imperfectly or half done, if it was possible for the doer to do it better. He never spared himself, and the stern self-denial so conspicuous in his long and noble episcopate was equally remarkable in the softer, easier life of his much-loved parish." The Kev. E. Machen, of Eastbach Court, has enabled me to add his reminiscences of tjie bishop as a parish priest, and the testimony thus collected from three distinct sources will, it is supposed, clearly show what proof he made of his ministry as an English vicar : — " My earliest remembrances of Bishop Feild date from the year 1834, when he came to take possession of the rectory of English Bicknor. It was very soon seen wLat manner of man he was. He had not been many weeks in the parish before all felt that they had a real man among them, to whom they could look up with respect and reverence ; but it was only by degrees that the gentle tender nature made itself felt through a certain sternness and ruggedness of exterior, and we found that we could not only esteem him highly but love him heartily. I was a boy at Rugby at the time, and he delighted me by his ready sympathy with all Eugby doings and pursuits. He would look over the Oxford class-lists with great interest, and take delight in finding the names of any Eugbeians who had been doing honour to the old school. Shortly after his arrival, I remember, he was invited to preach a school anniversary sermon at a neighbouring church. I have no recollection f I 2SS wm I. ly is_ It in n ;o IS e e d B 3 1801-1843.] ENGLISH BICKNOR. 15 of the sermon, except that he drew a comparison between the waste uncultured forest land around and the barren untaught minds of children who were receiving no religious instruction. There was a large gathering of the neigh- bouring clergy and gentry, and all were invited, the preacher of course amongst the rest, by the clergyman of the parish to luncheon. But Feild declined. He had heard of a sick person in a distant part of his own parish, which he had not yet explored, and I well remember his asking me to point out the road to it. This may seem a trifle to put on record. But it exactly shows the manner of the man — always duty put before pleasure in small things as well as great. He built schools in English Bicknor, at considerable cost to himself (there had been no day-school before his time), rebuilt the church, and left many external marks of his ten years' residence in the parish. But he left far deeper, more enduring marks in the hearts and affections of those committed to his charge, many of whom to this day, after an interval of thirty-five years love to dwell upon his sayings and doings. He had a very special love for children. I often now meet with rugged men and toilworn women who speak of lessons learned from Mr. Feild at Bicknor School. He could be severe at times, ho may occasionally have erred on the side of severity — for his righteous soul was specially vexed at anything like deceit or falsehood or iireyerence in a child. " Mr. Feild was a man of very strong constitution and active habits, but the parish of English Bicknor is a widely scattered one, and many of the hamleta and outlying cottages can only be reached by very rough and steep roads, so that he employed a curate during the greater part of his incumbency, and two or three young men to whom he gave a title have ever had reason to bless the day in which they became associated with Feild in the charge of a parish. He taught them their work — saw that H LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. I. ^ they were diligent and regular in their visits to the sick- bed and the school, and did not shrink from criticizing their sermons, and pointing out any deficiencies in state- ments of doctrine, and any errors in matters of taste. Nor did he take it too much to heart if they sometimes winced a little under his treatment. " I can well remember the universal and genuine regr«3t that was felt and expressed throughout the parish, when it became known that he had decided to accept the Bishopric of Newfoundland. Rich and poor alike felt that they were losing a true pastor and a friend indeed. The state of society at English Bicknor, when Feild came to the parish, was at a very low ebb. There were two or three disreputable public-houses, and the noisy contention of drunken men in the streets was by no means uncommon. The farmers did not generally set a good example — the ringers and singers were a troublesome lot. He had to do a good deal of rough work, and his unflinching courage — his utter contempt for what is commonly called popularity, his steady purpose in all that he did and said to please God rather than man, exactly fitted him for it. It had long been the wish of his heart to obtain possession of the 'Old Bear,' a public-house close to the church and the rectory (and which was the scene of frequent drunken brawls) for the purpose of building almshouses on the site. This wish was never accomplished during his stay at Bicknor, but when he paid one of his rare and hasty visits to England, he had the pleasure of seeing a suitable and commodious building, erected on the site of the * Old Bear,' tenanted by six ' ged parishioners, who were spending a peaceful old age, * fast by the church, whose aisles in youth they trod.' This was a great satisfaction to him, and he often used to say playfully, ' that when he was worn out and past work he should ask for a room in the Bicknor almshouses in which to end his days.* " f ].S(tM843.] INSPECTORSHIP OF SCHOOLS. 17 M The fame of liis powers in scliool matters was now widely spread Education was becoming?, what it lias since con- tiiuied to be, a foremost and pressing question. Existing Kchools were known to be as bad "t it was possible to con- ceive ; the teachers were ignorant, and aimed at nothing beyond teaching by rote ; Diocesan Boards of Educatioii had begun to be established in several places, and the National Society determined to appoint a number of ins])ectors whose duty it should be to visit all the schools in a particular diocese with the sanction of the bishop. Tlie first person selected for this tentative position was Mr. Feild. From May 10 to August 19, 1840, he was engaged in the diocese of Salisbury, and on October 9 in the same year until May 31, 1841, he was engaged in similar work in the diocese of Worcester. Thus he gained experience both in a rural and in a manufacturing diocese. He con- sidered his duties to be, " (1) to ascertain the actual state of each school ; (2) by encouragement and counsel to suggest remedies for apparent defects or deficiencies as experience might enable him, remembering always that an inspector should know the difficulties and hindrances of parochial education as only a parish minister can." How true is the foregoing passage many a school manager will feel who has smarted under the unsympathetic demand of a Govern- ment Inspector to whom, although perhaps in Holy Orders, none of the trials and difficulties of parochial life are known. How sore was the need of some inspection may be gathered from Mr. Feild's report, that in many places no registers of attendances were kept, and no explanation was given of what was read. " Often master and children stand aghast together when I propound any question ; the very easiest, being new and strange, are difficult to them." The inspection was thorough and minute, extending to questions of drainage, ventilation (little thought of in those c 18 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD, [chap. I. !i days), even to the supply of hat-pegs, and the like : in every school he inquired about the private prayers of each child, and found that in Dorsetshire they generally said the Lord's Prayer, the Creed (which was regarded as a prayer, the children kneeling and holding up their hands while repeating it), and one of the many versions of " Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John :" these versions were so many and different that he made a collection of them, which finds a place in the Appendix of his report. In Warwickshire he was " pained to hear of the spread of Teetotal ism among the schoolmasters ; " one refused to continue to communicate because he was pledged to total abstinence, and another "suspended in his schoolroom a sheet almanac headed (with a kind pf parody on the sacred title of all Christian almanacs) ' The Temperance Almarac, in the Year of Total Abstinence, 8.' Surely persons of such unstable minds (he adds) are most unfit to be intrusted with the education of children in the obligations of the Christian covenant." His two reports (which were in addition to the confiden- tial reports sent to the bishop on each parish) occupy 27 and 76 pages of closely-printed matter in the Reports of the National Society for 1840 and 1841 respectively, and it may fairly be doubted whether the Privy Council Office contains more statesmanlike documents on the great ques- tion with which they deal ; certainly the armed host of Inspectors who are sent out from Whitehall with all the authority which the State can give them, might study with advantage both to their own work and to the schools which they visit, these two reports of Mr. Feild. The docu- ments, it is fair to add, brought to the writer an oflfer of a Government Inspectorship, which he declined, stating as his reason that he had resolved to give himself up wholly to what he conceived to be his proper work. There is a tradition among his friends that the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had no personal knowledge of him, was so struck by the 7 wmmmmm^m I ,!»,^" JlEi.Ml- 1801-1843.] METHOD OF 1NSPFX;TI0N. 1l» reports, and his conduct in refusing the Government ap- pointment, that he said, " this man ought to be a bishop." In other parts of the country where education wns attracting the thoughts of the clergy, men looked to Mr. Feild and his experience before venturing on plans of their own. Among those who thus sat at his feet was the writer of the following letter, now the honoured Primus of Scot- land, and the friendship thus commenced secured, as will be seen hereafter, the most valuable sympathy and material assi-sitiince when the famous Inspector became Bishop of Newfoundland. Bishop Eden writes to me thus : — " I had been for some time joint secretary with the pre- sent Dean of Winchester of the Essex Board of Educa- tion, when the late Bishop of London (Blomfield) asked me to inspect the schools in Essex. At that time there was no Government Inspection of schools. Mr. Feild, the first inspector of schools, was just then engaged in his inspec- tion of the schools in the diocese of Worcester. I had heard of the admirable way in which he had accomplished his work the year before, and I asked the Bishop of Lon- don to allow me to go down to the diocese of Worcester, and, with Mr. Feild's permission, to accompany him for a short time, that I might learn the then novel lesson of school inspection before venturing to undertake the task to which he had invited me. The bishop most readily entered into the proposal, and having obtained Mr. Feild's permission, I went down and accompanied him in his in- spection of several schools. He was a most kind instructor, and as able as he v/as kind. His system of inspection was at once so simple and so thorough, that he soon made me master of it ; and thus armed, I was emboldened to accede to my bishop's request, and conducted my inspection entirely in accordance with the * Feild Organization.' So thorough was his system that he examined, I may say, every child in each class, beginning from the lowest to the 2 so lAVV. OF KDWAIU) KKILD. [CIIAP. t. hifrlioRt, (Hsmiftfting from the school oiicli class as lie oxa- miiiod it, ami having given occupation to tho otlirrcliildivn who worn not under oxaniinatio. . He entered Mk^ result of hia examination of each class when he had e<)Mii>leted it, in a little paper book which lu- had prejum^d under different luiadings, anil Iroiu these books he framed the daily report of each school." The diocese of Worcester having been thus inspected, Mr. Feild returned to his i)ari8h in 1«41, and there con- tinued until, in 1844, he was summoned toNewibundland, where for thirty-two years he was abundant in labours which may, without exaggeration, be said to have been uninterrupted and unparalleled. On the fact of his nomination being known, oficrs of material help came to him from all sides. The Provost and Fellows of his college immediately commenced th(» formation of a fund for ecclesiastical purposes, to be jtlaced at his disposal, "feeling confident that the well-known character of Mr. Feild, his sound judgment and discretion, his past labours in the Church, and his zealous performance of the duties of a parish priest for many years, aflbrd a suflftcient guarantee that his office as chief pasi/Or will be efficiently discharged whilst health and strength are afforded him, and that the 8i:m placed in his hands will be employed in the best way calculated to advance the spiritual welfare of those committed to his charge." This was testimony as creditable to those who offered it as to him who was the subject of it ; and certainly, if faithful and long-continued labours for God and the Church, if simple piety and hard- ness endured not only voluntarily but without complaint, if statesmanlike forethought, and practical wisdom in the founding and subsequent government of a church, and a life lived as in the very presence of God and guided always by the Spirit and teaching of the Gospel, be subjects of legitimate admiration to those who witness them. Queen's ^ 1801 18J4,] ACCKITANCK OK TlIK IWHIloriaC. 21 •I ('ollc^'c, Oxford, liuH lind no no])k'r or moro distinj^uished iiMMiilu'r in tliis [^'oncriition tliiin he to wlioiii his contcin- l)oriiri(!8 imitod in doin^' honour beloro l»o U'.i't liin native country for l\w .stcrilo ahorcis of Newf«)undhind. To thcj fund thus raised liia parishionerH contributed hirgi'ly ; but his letter of thanks and acknowledgement sliovvs that, pressed for money as all colonial bishops are, specially at the comnuuicenient of their work, he valued tile prayers and intercessions of his poor village flock far above silver and gold. Thus he wrote : — , " Enolimii Bicknor, Aprils, \8i4. " My dear Friends and Parishioners, " I desire to thank you most heartily and sincerely for your very liberal contribution to the iuud for ecclesiastical })urpose8 in my future charge, and for the affectionate declaration of your regard and good wishes which accom- panies it. This is not an occasion for many words ; if you do not give me credit for feeling, deeply and gratefully, you would not, I am sure, be better convinced and satisfied by set forms and phrases. I can but thank you, and you will believe I do it from the bottom of my heart, in all simplicity and sincerity. I must be allowed, however, to assure you, that the amount of your donation, and the manner of collecting ami l)res9nting it, are very gratifying to me. While so consi- derable a sum of money (78/.) will materially assist the good works whicli our brethren in Newfoundland, my appointed future charge, have in hand (and such assistance is greatly needed), the long list of contributors, names so familiar and dear to me, will remain in my possession a pleasing memorial of your dutiful regard and goodwill. I can honestly assure you no piece of silver or gold plate, however costly or beautiful, could be regarded by me with more gratitude and satisfaction, or preserved with greater care, than this simple record of so many dear friends and parishioners, of every rank and degree, associated in a common design of acknowledging my past poor services m \ 22 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. I. among them, anil of strengthening my hands and comfort- ing my heart in my distant and more arduous sphere of labour. If I might venture so to apply the holy Apostle's words, ' I seek not yours but you ; ' I value far more than any silver or gold your list of many names, hoping and be- lieving that they are the token and assurance of many good wishes for my success and welfare, and of many prayers. And what is the power of silver and gold in comparison of effectual fervent prayer? I will then hope and believe, whenever I look at your list of names, that you remember me at the throne of grace ; that as you have helped together in your contributions, so you do and will help together in your prayers to God for me. There is not at present time, neither, I would hope, necessity, to declare my earnest good wishes and sincere love for you. Words are at best but poor evidence in such a matter, and with respect to my actions and labours among you, it little becomes me to speak, and God knows, and I know, there is nothing to boast of. Yet, however feeble or imperfect they were, and however small the measure of sucicess attending them, they were done (if it be not too bold to say so) for the glor}'^ of God and the love of you. And I shall ever rejoice and praise God that I have been permitted to assist in several good works in the parish, which, if you retain and use them in a spirit of Christian faith and patience, may, under the divine blessing, help you forward, and your children after you, in the way of righteousn'^ss and peace. I conclude with my most earnest desire and prayer that aU your works may be begun, continued, and ended in God, that so you may glorify His holy name, and by His mercy obtain everlasting Itfe through Jesus Christ our Lord. Your most affectionate and grateful Friend and Servant 'n Christ, EDWARD FEILD. " To the Parishioners of English Bicknor" To one, a kindred spirit, whose acquaintance accidentally made while Mr. Feild was inspector of schools, ripened ^m 1801-1844.] PROSPECTS AND PLANS. 28 into friendship which ended only with life, the bishop designate wrote the following grave and thoughtful letter: — " Feb. 28, 1844. " It is a source of great encouragement and comfort to me, on undertaking an arduous and responsible office, to be assured of the sympathy and good wishes and effectual fervent prayers of many kind nnd highly esteemed friends, and more especially of those who are called to and engaged in the same ministry. For such assurances on your part accept my warmest thanks. I am well aware of the in- terest you have felt and shown in the Colonial Church ; and it is therefore peculiarly pleasing to me that you can Bpeak of my appointment with so much satisfaction, well knowing that you would not express satisfaction, where you did not really feel it. My visit to K is, and always will be, one of the green spots in my bygone journey. Of the many acquaintances it was my privilege to make in my tour of inspection, I can truly say there was not one it would have given me more pleasure to cultivate, or from which I should have expected more profit as well a,s plea- sure, than yours, if it had pleased God to e^iow it. I remember well your giving me some little papers containing among other things, an extract from one of your sermons which pleased me much ; but I little thought that I should be personally and peculiarly interested in your pleadings for the Colonial Church as a minister of that Church, and much less as chief pastor of an important, and (till lately) much neglected branch of it. I should rejoice very much to have an opportunity of talking with you of my plans and projects, and to have the benefit of your opinion and advice. The late bishop made some great and good be- ginnings, but was removed before any of his works received their completion. I shall earnestly desire to carry them on and, if it please God, to reap the fruits of them. I 24 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chat. I. I f I expect that my consecration will take place at Lambeth the 21st or 28th of April." The bishop was jealous of the manner in which his name was spelt, and was always ready to defend it. In the "Table Talk" of the Ottardian newspaper for August 11, 1875, there appeared the following Epitaph, which occurs in S. Giles's Church, Norwich :— " My name speaks what I was, and am, and have, A Bedding Field, a piece of earth, a grave. Where I expect, untill my Soul shall bring Unto the Field an everlasting Spring, For Rayse, and Rayse out of the earth and slime, God did the first, and will the second Time. " Obijt die 10 Maij, 1637. " Elisabetha Bedingfi'eld, Sorori Francesco sue.— S.R.Q.P." The Editor of the Guardian added the following paragraph : — " The same correspondent notices that ' for some reason or other the present family of Bedingfield always drop the letter i in the last syllable, but so far as I know, it is a novelty introduced of late years.' " On September 29 the Guardian jontained the following rejoinder : — "Sir,— Observing in the 'Table Talk' of the Guardian of August 11 an epitaph containing a play on the name of * A. Feild,' the person buried, I send yen herewith a copy of a like display of wit (on the same name and about the same date) on the monument of a Bishop of Hereford, by name Theophilus Feild, in Hereford Cathedral. It appears that the see of Hereford was the third in succession the Bishop had occupied, which gave occasion for still further exercise of that wit, which in those days so often found expression in epitaphs or obituary verses : — " ' The sun, that light unto three Churches gave, Is set, the Feild is buried in a grave ; This sun shall rise, his Feild resu.Tie its flowers, Their sweetness breathe for ages, not for hours. ' " Attached to the epitaph on the monument is the following : — ' Anagram : He ail'd not any,' which I should bd glad to see exi>lain('d. Your coiTespondent speaks of dropping the letter i in the word usually spelt 'field ' as a novelty, which in these days it is ; but such (feld) was the original spelling : and when the i was introduced diflerent parties placed it differently, some before, others after the e. I contend that after the e (feild) is the more correct. Not only the occupant of three sees in succession so spelt his name, but the learned author also of the Book of the Church, Richard Feild, Dean of Gloucester. I observe that in the title-page of Professor Brewer's edition of that useful book the author's name is spelt ' Field '—an error which the Professor might have avoided (if not for other and better reasons) out of respect for his old tutor, Ed. Newfoundland. "S. John's, Newfoundland, Sept. 9, 1875." The bishop's name provoked witticisms at all periods of his life : in his Rugby days he was the subject of two lines still remembered by Rugbeians and perhaps uitelligible only to those who know the phrases in use at the " Ecce tremendus Ager, pugno metuendu: ovino, Dilectus Musis, et tibi, Phoebe Pater." CHAPTER II. [1844.] " Go to the harvest- whitened West, Ye surpliced Priests of God, In all the Christian armour drest, And with the Gospel shod : Go, for the midnij^ht wanes apace. The Sun himself is nigh ! Go to the wild and loaely place, ■ And in the desert cry." Bishop Cleveland Coxk. n Ti?E Island of Newfoundland in its early days had suffered, perhaps irretrievably, from the neglect of the Mother Church. As long ago as 1704 there were English clergy settled in the country and ministering to the res^'dent population, then ^ery limited in numbers, and to the thousands of sea-faring folk who in the fishing season crowded the harbours with their ships. These for the most part came from Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and the Channel Islands; there has always been likewise a con- siderable influx of Irish immigrants. Ecclesiastically, Newfoundland was a part of the diocese of Nova Scotia, but it may be truly said that its fruition of episcopal care was wholly nominal, for although the See of Nova Scotia was established in 1787, it was not until forty years had elapsed that a bishop of that diocese was enabled to visit this distant portion of his charge. 26 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. II. Whatever was done in those days was the result of private devotion and zeaL In 1823, a Newfoundland merchant, Samuel Codner, grieved at the lamentable state of ignorance in which the people were living, and the more lamentable prospects of the ne;rt generation, founded a School Society for the education of poor children. This society, commenced with such excellent intentions, has not always been managed wisely, or for the good of the Church, and it often gave infinite trouble to the bishop ; »ut it was at this time the means of bringing into the country a body of Christian teachers, although of numble attainments, and it had an interest of its own in being the free-will offering of a layman in days of great spiritual apathy. ^ In 1830 a courageous clergyman, Archdeacon Wix, whose honourable career ps a pioneer of the Church of Christ is worthy of a more Ibrmal chronicle than this passing allusion, made a tour of the southern shore of the island, and a considerable tract of the Labrador coast. In 1835 he spent six months in similar labours, and appears to have made a complete visitation of the whole coast-line. Newfoundland has been well described as a " rough shore with no interior ;" and this is true, for although in area it is equal to Ireland, there are no roads except in the neighbourhood of the capital ; the queen's highway is to be found only on the water and, in the winter, on the ice ; a glance at the map shows a jagged coast-line marking a series of coves and creeks, and lanes of water locally called " Tickles," and these separated from each other in a way that renders com- munication between the populations of the several coves a matter of much difficulty, while inland it is an untraversed ^ This organization has been known under many names which it has adopted in succession. Beginning as the " Newfoundland School Society," it has in turn passed under the following titles : — " School Society for Newfoundland and British North America," " The Church of England School Society for Newfoundland and the Colonies," " The Colonial Church and School Society," and " The Colonial aad Continental Church Society." 1844.] ARCHDEACON WIX. 27 and almost unknown country, abounding with bogs and rocks ; isolation is a fruitful source of ignorance and vice, and Mr. Wix' account of his experience is in all respects consistent with what we should expect to find. He wrote : — " I was frequently, during my journey, struck with sur- prise at the very marked difference which might be observed between the inhabitants of places only separated by a few leagues from each other. The difference of extraction has occasioned, as may be supposed, a marked dissimilarity between the descendants of Jersey-men, Frenchmen, Irish, Scotch, and English people. The people, too, with whom the first settlers and their immediate descendants may have had contact or intercourse have contributed much to the formation of the dialect, character, and habits of the present settlers. The inhabitants of Conception Bay, although a neck of land of only a few miles in extent sepa- rates them from Trinity Bay, differ from the inhabitants of the latter as much as if they were a distant nation ; the same may be said of the difference between those who live in Placentia and those who live in Fortune Bay. But a cingle league may often carry the traveller upon the same shore, from a people whose habits are extremely coarse and revolting, to a population which has suffered nothing — perhaps has gained — from its being far removed from the seat of advanced civilization and refinement. Much of the character of a settlement must, of course, depend, for several generations, on the character of its original settlers. The descendants of some profane run-away man-of-war's man, or of some other character as regardless or ignorant of decorum and delicacy, are likely to show, to a third and fourth generation, a general licentiousness of conversation and conduct which betray the foul origin of their stock. Between the people of the Bay of Islands, and those of Bay St. George, there was a difference as wide as between 38 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. II. the untutored Indian and the more favoured child of refinement. There were acts of profligacy practised, ind'^ed, in this hay, pt which the Micmac Indians expressed to mo their horror and disgust. I met with more feminine deli- cacy, I must further own, in the wigwams of the Micmac and Canokok Indians than in the tilts of many of our own people. Except some sympathy be excited for the improve- ment of our people in this and like places, they must fast merge into a state similar to that in which the flrst missionaries found the inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas ; unless, indeed, which seems not improbable, nature vindicates herself, and the vices and excesses by which their natural vigour and constitutional energies do seem already impaired, shall, in a generation or two, exterminate them as completely as drunkenness has some of the tribes of Indians." It was to a country whose inhabitants could be thus described without exaggeration, and whose physical features, combined with a winter of six months' duration, tend to make it a place of residence unattractive to the last degree to all save the seekers of gold or of souls, that in 1839 the episcopate was tardily given. Bishop Spencer, who is better known to the present generation as having for many years held the See of Jamaica, became first Bishop of Newfound- land. To him belongs the credit of first grappling with the confusion and chaos in which all ecclesiastical matters were involved; he made two long visitations by sea, for the most part in open boats ; he found alarming spiritual destitution everywhere; the means of education were insufficient, but the absolute dearth of clergy induced him to admit to the Diaconate some of the schoolmasters of the Newfoundland School Society, already mentioned, with the understanding that they would continue as deacons their work as schoolmasters; he confirmed nearly 3,000 persons ; he mapped out the diocese into rural deaneries :>•■" — ' — } : ■ 1844 ] BISHOP SPENCER. 20 for the better administration of ecclesiastical matters ; he established a seminary for Divinity students, which became tlic nucleus of a Tlieological College, and raised a considerable sura of money witli the hope of building a Cathedral, the first stone of which he laid before quitting the diocese. The severity of the climate, however, com- bined with the difficulty of locomotion to one who had not a ship always at his comniand, and the thought that even with such a possession there would be many harbours and settlements utterly beyond his reach, seem to have disheartened him, and his translation to the See of Jamaica, in 1843, was welcomed as a relief from a burden under which he was evidently sinking. He left Newfoundland too late in the year to allow of a successor being sent out until the following spring; the authorities of the Mother Church had, therefore, ample time in which to make their selection, and for their guidance Bishop Spencer wrote the following memo- randum : — " The Missionary in Newfoundland has certainly greater hardships to endure and more difficult obstacles to surmount than those which await the messenger of the Gospel in New Zealand or India, or perhaps any field of Christian labour yet opened to the known world. He must have strength of constitution to support him under a climate as rigorous as that of Iceland : a stomach in- sensible to the attacks of sea-sickness ; pedestrian powers beyond those o^ an Irish Gossoon, and an ability to rest occasionally on the bed of a fisherman or the hard boards in a woodman's tilt. With these physical capabilities he must combine a patient temper, an energetic spirit, a facility to adapt his speech to the lowest grade of intellect, a ready power of illustrating and explaining the leading doctrines of the Gospel and the Church to the earnest though dull and ill-informed inquirer, and a thorough preparation for controversy with the Eomanist, together «•*::;:>- *»-^'* 80 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. II. with the discretion and charity which will induce him to live, as far as may be possible, peaceably with all men." This passage has been quoted at length. Those who know what manner of man was the second Bishop of Newfoundland, well know that all the qualifications de- scribed above were found in him ; nor were these all : others he possessed, not less valuable, although more un- common. With profound learning he combined humility and simplicity of character which made even his admirers occasionally smile. " If there is one man's character and memory which I revere more than another's," writes the Rev. Edward Coleridge, " it is that of the guileless saint who has just ended his earthly labours. He spent his last Sunday with us at Eton [in 1847] and I shall not forget the impression of sincerity, itiXtKpiveia, which he raade on us all." Undaunted in spirit, clear in his convictions and sense of duty, he never hesitated as to his action, and this not from an impulsive temper, but from a habit of instinc- tively and promptly following what his conscience told him was his duty : full of the spirit of his Mother Church and thoroughly trained in her discipline and laws, he simply followed this Divine leading ; I suppose he never for a moment thought of paring down and adjusting the faith or practice of the Church to conciliate the world or to satisfy the unbeliever ; and it would be inconceivable to any who knew him that he fc.hould have changed his course by a hair's-breadth through fear of what ^the *world or unin- structed public opinion would say. Whether as priest or bishop, he had the grace to disregard and even despise popu- larity, and so he escaped the snare which in the present day especially hinders ministerial usefulness in the highest as well as in the humblest positions. " If I were popular," he wrote on one occasion, " I could do much — much to exalt myself, degrade the Church, and mm souls ;" but having valued popularity at its true worth he went on his *■■ 1844.] A LAYMAN'S TESTIMONY. 81 I way, and in time, as ever happens, he gained, not indeed the indiscriminating applause of the vulgar and irreligious, but the respect and affection of all good men — and the respect thus acquired was not merely for his personal character, which to a right-minded man is a secondary matter altogether, but was extended to the Church whose servant he was. It seems well here to give the impartial judgment of a military critic, who nearly thirty years later formed his estimate of the bishop and his episcopate during a protracted residence in the island : — •* In truth it was not long before I found the good bishop was either loved or respected by the whole community. The secret simply lay in a conviction now firmly rooted, but long time struggling for growth in a rocky ungenial soil, that in striving after the glory of his Master and the good of his fellows, the man had forgotten his own self and his own pleasure. He had, in as much as he could, obeyed that Divine yet hard command, to forsake his own home, his own com- forts, his own belongings, to follow, amid much opportunity for the dazzling things of earth, a self-denying pathway. That path men saw that he kept straight towards his end, doing the allotted work along its narrow sides, nobly, honestly to all ; without fear or affection undue to any. It was said of him that he had engaged in the labour not willingly ; but that having accepted it, he took up the burden and heat of the day at once, calling on and expecting others in his vineyard to do likewise." ^ Among the minor gifts which he possessed was one not to be undervalued as a sustaining power under continual discouragements, a sense of humour which was simply un- failing ; it appears in all his letters, and sparkled in his conversation ; always playful, nothing interrupted it ; how- ever sore were his discouragements and anxieties, under ^ Lost Amid the Fogs, by Lieut. -Col. R, B. Macrae. London : Sampson Low. m St LIFE OF EDWARD FEIIiD. [CHAr. II. stress of these things it hecame grim, but it was simply proof against all the conditions which, in ordinary men, would have extinguislied it ; to this must be added a keen love of nature, which diycovered bennties in the most deso- late scenes : the other gifts and graces which marked his daily life, both public and private, his voluntary endurance of hardness, his forgetfulness of self, his indifference to discomfort, liis munificent charities — these will appear from time to time in the following pages. With this not unne- cessary digression we go back to the commencement of his episcopate. He was consecrated in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, on April 28, 1844, the sermon on the occasion being preached by the Eev. Jlichard Davies, Rector of Staunton, from Jlev. xiii. 10, "Here is the patience and the faith of tlie saints." Mr. Davies and the bishop had been at Itugby together, and they remained fast and attached friends through life — and the rector of the quiet little English parish always felt the warmest sympathy with the great work which was being carried on by his old friend and neighbour on the bleak shores of Newfoundland. This sympathy and in- terest were a great support and comfort to the bishop, and he acknowledges in most grateful terms the receipt of long letters from Mr. Davies, containing often copious extracts from new publications, elaborate discussions on the various questions of the day, as well as minute and various parti- culars of all that was going c ^ among his old friends and parishioners in English Bicknor. Mr. Davies died in 1857, and the bishop's letters on that occasion show that distance and separation had by no means chilled the warmth of his regard and esteem for his departed brother. On June 4, the bishop sailed from Liverpool in the Acadia. He had the privilege of celebrating Holy Com- munion in S. Martin's, Liverpool, the church of which his friend the Eev. Cecil Wray was vicar, and a large body of T ■?i r^ 18^4.] LETTER TO KEV. C. WilAY. sa cliurclinien went with him imrncdiatoly after the serv'^o to tho sliip. A fortnight was spent at Ilaliliix lor the pur- pose of conferring with the liishop of Nova Scotia, and it is cluiractoristic of hia unfailing love of chihlren that amid the many distractions of his novel position the bishop should have found time to write the following letter: — " Halifax, July 1, 18-14. " Dear Friends, — The alniannc this morning carries ma in thought and good wishes to your hajtpy home and nursery, for I promised your little girl that I would re- member her on her birthday, a promise easily kept, for from the time of making it to this, the season for its fulfil- ment, scarcely a day has passed without my thinking of you and your hos|)itable house, and all the kindness you showed me for our common Master's and llis Church's sake. May there be to all of you many happy returns of this day." On July 4, he landed at S. John's amid signs and cere- monies of welcome which were eminently distasteful to him, but which he accepted for the sake of the kindly s[)irit which prompted them. " I found," he wrote, " to my surprise, great preparations had been made to receive me. Two boats came off to meet the packet on her entering the harbour : one containing the clergy of S. John's, with their churchwardens and some other respectable inhabitants, the other from H.M.S. Eurydicc, having on board the Governor's son and private secretary. I was directed to enter the latter, into which also the two clergymen (for, alas ! there are but two in the district of S. John's, containing nearly 20,000 souls widely scattered,) entered, having first ascended the packet to salute me. In three or four minutes we were at the wharf, and there I found the Royal Newfoundland Com- panies, with their officers, drawn up to receive me, who II LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. II. presented arms on my landing, and the officers most kind y and courteously welcomed me to Newfoundland. 1 hardly knew how to acknowledge such novel and unexpected salutations, but having done what I could, I was directed to Lady Harvey's carriage, waiting for me at the head ol the wharf. The two clergymen still accompanied me, and we soon r.'ached Government House, where I was received by his Excellency, Sir John Harvey, the Governor of Newfoundland " Such was my introduction to my diocese • not, it is too manifest, in primitive or apostolic fashion, } \ I should hope, as not to give offence to any charitable nglit-minded Christians. The respect and ceremony were paid to me as a bishop of the Church ; and though I should have preferred a procession with litanies and holy services attended by priests and clioristers leading me to the church, yet, where none could be found to make or understand such ceremonies, the mixture of secular with ecclesiastical respect was not to be contemptuously rejected. To ne, personally, the whole proceedings were as distasteful as they were unsought for and unexpected, — which helped to reconcile me to them, and made me hope they might have a good effect upon others, if God will." Little time was lost in making plans : but before any schemes were ])ublished for the good of the diocese, the spiritual life of the capital was at once cared for. The new bishop immediately commenced daily morning prayer in S. Thomas* Church, and announced that as soon as he could take possession of his own home — for at first he was the guest of the Governor — he should have daily evensong as well ; and it may here be stated, that this rule of the Church has been the diligently observed rule of the diocese. In S. Thomas' Church there was no font ; and pulpit, desk, and clerk's desk occupied the centre of the church, obscuring the altar : as a Visitation of the clergy and an Ordination were 'I n ?* I 1844.] ri.ANS ON AIIRIVAL. 3S li u to be held in this church in September, the bishop deter- mined ut once to make such alterations as might " exhibit to the clergy the proper arrangements of a church." His own house was no sooner occupied than he opened a school for children of the upper classes, who attended church in the morning : this, the bishop thought, would " prevent the establishment or mil ^'ato the evil of a public academy on liberal principles (i.e. religion excluded), for the establish- ment of whicli an A *'t had already passed the House ot Assembly." The Theological Seminary which his predecessor hiul established was found to be a poor wooden building in which six students attended daily to receive instruction from the clergyman of S. Thomas' Church : they lived in lodgings, and were under no surveillance. These the bishop required to attend daily prayers in church, and he caused them to be instructed in church-music, that they might take part in the services. He saw the need of their living under collegiate discipline, and in time a theological college was established, which has trained many clergy for the diocese, rnd by the bishop's exertions was ultimately endowed to the amount of 7,500/. Amid his many plans he felt the obvious necessity for more clergy ; but although fresh from England with her endowments, he was quite free from the feeling which, then more than now, led churchmen to look to Government or to England for help. He consistently, and from the very beginning, insisted on churchmen helping themselves. " No assistance," he wrote, " can be expected from the Government either at home or here, except clogged with conditions, or followed by consequences which do more harm than their money can do good." By the kindness of the present Primus of Scotland, then lector of Leigh in Essex, the bishop was not allowed to suffer, as his predecessor had suffered, for lack of a suit- able vessel in which to make his visitations. Mr. Eden D 2 86 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [ciiAr. ir. presented to the diocese the Emma Eden, a brig of 80 tons wliich should be the Church ship ; but as her rig and size did not fit her for the new work for which she was intended, the generous donor allowed her to be sold, and with the proceeds a smaller, but more handy vessel, the Hawk, was purchased. This was arranged before the bishop left England, but the necessary alterations detained the vessel in the Thames for some weeks. At length all was ready, and Bishop Blomtield, who amid all the great and varied works which he originated or directed for the good of the Church at home, ever found time for the interests of the Colonial Churches, visited the ship at Blackwall on August 10, and held a solemn and impressive service of dedication on board. Her voyage was prosperous, and the bishop wel- comed her and her precious freight of missionaries, present and prospective, with thankfulness. The cost of her altera- tion and outfit had been great, and already expenses were pressing on the bishop and making him. anxious. Tt may be here stated that his episcopal income was 1,200/. per annum, of which 500/. were granted by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and 700/. from parliamentary and colonial funds. The following letter will serve as an instance of the profuse liberality with which he ever spent all that he had for the good of the Church and the glory of God, while his personal expenditure was altogether insignificant : — " S. John's, September 6, 1844. " While I have any grace left I hope I shall never spea Iv- or think of any of your labours or proceedings on my behalf but with the sincerest and warmest gratitude ; but what is to be done respecting these bills ? . . . . " I am obliged to put some furniture into my house and to provide for housekeeping; and though all is done in the most economical way, there will and must bj3 an outlay of nearly 300/., no very large sum for furnishuig an episcopal ■;. mmmmm mmmmmm 11. lis id d, IS It 3l 1844.1 FIRST VISITATION. 87 residence for a bishop, chaplain, schoolmaster, two catechists and two students. I have bought nothing new but of plain deal, and have no curtains in the house ^no looking-glasses, except little hand-mirrors stuck against the walls— no carpets upstairs. Then I am just about to open the Colle- giate School, and am obliged to pay for all books and furniture and to take another house on ray own risk and responsibility. At this time I have not a farthing of money either private or episcopal. My goods and effects were only just enough to pay my debts in England." The first Visitation was held on S. Matthew's Day. An Ordination had been held on the previous Sunday ; twenty- four out of twenty-five clergymen of the diocese had attended and received their bishop's charge and experienced his hospitality ; and these events over, the bishop turned his attention to another and very dissimilar part of his diocese. si \^\ CHAPTER lir. [1845-1846.] •' Where the remote Bermudas ride In Ocean's bosom uuespied." Andrew Marveli,. The Bermudas, or Somers Islands, which had formed pai t of the original diocese of Nova Scotia, were added to the charge of the Bishop of Newfoundland when that See was founded. They are a cluster of islets, connected by bridges, in the midst of the great Atlantic, extending from one end to the other for about twenty-five miles, while nowhere are they more than three miles in breadtli. To most persons it would have been a welcome change to spend the winter in these sunny islands, and to leave the larger and more important Island of Newfoundland to the mercy of fog and storm and ice ; to Bishop Feild it was a perpetual source of regret to have to make a long voyage of more than 1,200 miles across the Atlantic, and to be distracted by the thought that the diocese must at all times suffer loss in one extremity or the other by the absence of its chief pastor. " It is quite outrageous," he wrote, "to tie Bermuda and Newfound- land together ; * Nequidquam Deus abscidit Prudens oceano dissociabili Terras,' " if these regions with so little in common are to form one diocese." He offered thus early in his episcopate to give up the portion of bis income which was attached to the Archdeaconry of Bermuda if only a new See might be t mmm mm ■m ■P 1845-1846.] WORK IN BERMUDA. 89 founded : on a subsequent occasion he offered to give up one half of his income if his diocese might be thus divided, and to take either portion of the divided See, " expressing and, if possible, exhibiting no preference," and after longer experience of the difficulties of his position he expressed a wish to resign the whole diocese with its income, and to continue to act as coadjutor and rector of S. John's. But although a diocese thus widely severed in its component parts can never be satisfactory, the evils were reduced to a minimum by the zeal and devoted care of the bishop. His rule was to visit Bermuda every alternate winter, and in course of time he saw reasons to modify materially his ob- jection to the arrangement: but as his sojourns in the islands rarely lasted more than ten or twelve weeks, his visits exposed him to two voyages of an especially dangerous character at the very worst seasons of the year. In the autumn of 1844 his first visit enabled him thoroughly to grasp the needs of the island, and largely to supply them. He wrote — " During the months of November and December, 1844, I remained in S. George's, the garrison town and ancient seat of Government. At the commencement of the year I removed to the parish of Warwick, a central spot, and near to the town of Hamilton, and residence of the Governor. There I remained during the rest of my stay in Bermuda, except a few days which I spent in the parish of Somerset, at the western extremity of the colony. I thus became acquainted with every parish and part of the islands, which, indeed, is no very difficult or long task. " I preached three times in each of the churches but one, and in that twice, and in S. George's, in Paget's, and in Warwick, much more frequently. " I visited and preached in each of the three convict hulks; visited all the parochial and free schools, and carefully examined the children ; baptized four adult negroes, confirmed eight times, in as many different •-• ' ' ' * f ^ (i» ■■! » 1W " -' SSMti^^-. !l r« 40 LIFE OF EDWARD FEfLD. [chap. hi. churches; held a Visitation of the Clergy of the Islands, when I delivered a Charge which was printed at their request. I addressed copious articles of inquiry to all the clergy, both rectors of parishes and chaplains of the hulks, and in other ways endeavoured to make myself acquainted with their circumstances and proceedings, and have offered such advice, and given such directions, as seemed to me necessary in each case." Two sermons, preached on S. Matthias' Day and the Feast of the Annunciation respectively, were printed ; in the one "plainness of speech," in the other the observance of Saints' Days was insisted on. His work in Bennuda was characteristic of his whole episcopate ; nothing was overlooked ; none were too poor or too degraded— indeed, poverty and degradation seem ever to have called forth his special sympathy and care. There was much in the condition of the' Church to discourage him ; the Governor alone issued marriage licences " as Sole Ordinary in and v^ver these Islands ; " the clergy were accustomed to marry in private houses and at any hour, and Holy Matrimony was supplanted by profane wedlock, which was regarded only as a civil contract. His efforts to adjust these anomalies were very offensive to the Governor, who conceived his dignity to be compromised by the proposal to curtail his functions, but by the clergy and laity the bishop's action was cordially approved. The negroes of the island and their efforts to raise themselves socially were matters of real concern to him ; he saw that they would in time become a powerful section of the population, and was most anxious that suitable education should be provided for them. " At present," he wrote, " their sole possessions are their clothes, and on Sundays these, it must be confessed, are gaudy enough." Early in the spring of 1845 he returned to S. John's, there to discover that he had not yet learned the limits of his diocese. Were ever :^T-a « rt s r: If ' I, \ 1845-1846.] LABRADOR. 41 Letters Patent issued jtl without a blunder ? Hardly a diocese is to be found that has not its own story or tradition of errors, geographical or otherwise, in these now happily obsolete documents. He wrote to one to whom he was wont to have recourse in all his difficulties : — " Do tell me whether or not the coast of Labrador is part of my diocese ? It is not mentioned in my commission. I am frequently entreated to send a clergyman there, but I need not tell you that I have no ability even if I have authority. But can I refer the poor people to any other bishop ; and is it really so, that no clergyman of the Church of England can be found to put his life in his hand and go forth among them for Christ and His Church's sake ? Hundreds of our people go to the Labrador with their families every summer, and never see a church or a clergy- man during their stay. Then I have applications from all parts of this iskind, and what can ^ do ? Nothing but hurry skurry, run and drive liere and there, which indeed is worse than nothing, and after all nothing done." This picture of a bishop overwhelmed with work which only himself could do, and harassed still more by demands for ministrations which it was out of his power to supply, is surely one that merits sympathy. The bishop himself wasted no time in vain regrets, — what man could do he did. As soon as the waters were open, the Hawk was put in commission, and the bishop visited the eastern coast as far as Twillingate and Togo. The church ship was received with all the tokens of welcome usual among seafaring people ; flags were hoisted and guns fired, and on all sides warm greetings were offered and given. At Togo and Twillingate churches were consecrated: already had the bishop made his influence to be felt, and, at his desire, the people who had been accustomed to possess pews, which were bought and sold as private property, now made the buildings over to himself, in trust, for the perpetual use of 42 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. iit. rs. I!' all the inhabitants. After a week spent in S. John's the Hawk again spread her wings, and the bishop was carried along the southern shore as far as S. George's Bay. Much of the voyage was made through " ever brooding, all con- cealing fog," but when Cape Ray was reached, on Sunday July 27, the weather became clear and warm, "adding much to the enjoyment of the services of that holy day." Sandy Point, the extreme limit of S. George's Bay, was the limit of this voyage, and here " the church, school, and mission-house were seen lying together in that happy alliance which forms such an interesting feature, and pro- mises such manifold blessings in many English parishes." "Well may the good bishop sigh after his own church and parsonage and goodly schools, in which he took such pride in the distant valley of the Wye, yet the circumstances of Sandy Point may have reconciled him to his position and his work, for many of the inhabitants a few years ago had never seen a church or a clergyman, and now there was among them a Bishop of the Church, with two priests and a deacon, solemnly setting apart this temple, their work and offering, to the honour and service of Almighty God. The next morning the bishop confirmed sixty-two persons, and then, with mutual prayers and blessings, took his leave of the promising settlement. The southern shore was visited carefully on the return voyage, it having been impossible to land in the fog which prevailed on the outward voyage. Here the bishop came on coves and settlements whose inhabitants were seventy miles from the nearest clergyman ; he found traces of Archdeacon Wix' visit of ten years before, the people repeating the prayers which he had taught them, and showing the Bibles and Prayer-books which he had given to them, cheering instances of seed scattered but not in vain. In some places he found spiritual life sustained by the piety of the resident agent of the merchants, who read -r:.3rirat:: scscissr.. 1846-1846.] NEED OB^ CLERGY. 43 e (I prayers in his house every Sunday, and welcomed all who would join him, but the lack of religious instruction and tine means of grace, in these distant settlements, (no Bishop of the Church had ever visited beyond Placentia Bay,) was upon the whole distressing. Thousands of church-people were scattered along the coast, literally as sheep without a shepherd. Between the heads of S. George's and Placontia Bays — a line of coast probably of 400 miles in extent, calculating the various bays and harbours, all more or less inhabited — there was one only clergyman. It will i believed that this was no pleasure excursion tr the bish p, when he was continually solicited, even with ears, to pro- vide some remedy or relief for this wretched destitution of all Christian privileges and means of grace, but at least he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had not spared himself. He had sailed 1,600 miles, and had been afloat three months, and everywhere had visited the sick, baptized, confirmed, and made such provision as was possible for their spiritual needs. What his own impressions were may be judged by the following letter addressed, to the Rev. Cecil Wray : — " S. John's, Sept. 24, 1845. " Can you by any possibility find any men who, for love of souls and Christ's sake, will come over and help us in this most forlorn and forsaken colony ? Oh that the men who are tearing the bowels of our dear Mother (none of them caring or thinking to say * Nequeo lacrymas perferre parentis,') would direct their zeal and devotion to the relief of our suffering and sorrowing brethren — brethren in Christ as well as in race ! I have visited thousands who have not seen a clergyman for two, three, five, twelve years ; and I can truly say, simply and sincerely desiring to be instructed and to hold the truth in righteousness. For 500 miles of 44 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CIIAI". 111. stormy coast I have two deacons and one priest, and all these a short time ago (one of them still) Newfoundland schoolmasters ! One clergyman represents the missionary zeal of the two famous Universities, as far as my d" 3eso is concerned. One of our little company is gone home ill ; one has asked and obtained leave to go to England to settle his son after a long absence, worn down with toil ; two more, at least, are going away ill, while I am looking out for eight more, and there is none— not one. Pray for us. My poor blessing to you and all yours." But while thus appealing to the chivalrous devotion of the Mother Church, the farseeing bishop knew full well that if the Church of Newfoundland would flourish and extend her borders she must trust to herself. He wrote, " Until the Church is thrown much more upon the people than at present, it cannot be in a sound or safe condition." It is a cruel policy which long maintains for a colonial popu- lation the blessings of religion. From the very first the young colony should be compelled to make some efforts for itself, and at the earliest possible day it should be left to provide all that is needful for the sustenance of the Church and her priesthood ; as it is, emigrants have so long been accustomed to the endowments which the Church possesses at home, that they are slow to learn the lesson (which Nonconformists instinctively acquire), that if they will have the ministrations of religion they must provide themselves with them. Bishop Feild, with his wonted courage, laid on every parish the obligation of doing its part, and by the establishment of a central fund he obviated the evils of Congregationalism. In a pastoral letter he wrote thus : ^— " The duty of impressing these truths on the people is incumbent on the clergy; they * Circular to the Clergy of the Diocese, 1845. -:::r.-:^-j»a^ jr' iiii| m i I ii h.k ! .J g >.L>*g: ' --t-;::. . >"K.JmJi.v K -KiKTam *mm m >mmiim rj t ... ' ' '. if imfcii ■ 1845-1846.] CIRCULAU TO THE CLEItOY. 45 iimst declare, they must carry it into operation, it is a duty not to or for themselves only, but to their people, — nay, I will add, to their God and Saviour also. No part of the collection will arise from pew-rents or assessments — all must be received din^ctJy from heads of families or individuals, who of course will be entitled, for their pay- ments, severally and collectively, to the ministrations of the clergyman and Churcli. I have now only to entreat you, for Christ's and the Church's sake, to use your endea- vours, with prayers for God's help and blessing, to render this plan as general and effective as possible. You cannot feel more strongly than I do that a very laborious and irk- some service will be superadded to duties already sufficiently onerous and ill requited ; but if it be, as indeed it is, for the honour of God and His Church, and the maintenance of Scriptural truth and Apostolic order in this country, I confidently expect you will not shrink from performing or attempting it. As far as possible, I am prepared to share with you all the unpopularity or other pain which may at first attach to this new and unexpected demand." He insisted with all his power on the Church Society being supported throughout the diocese as the financial machinery of the whole Church, and he endeavoured, spite of unceasing opposition, to make the pledge to contributp to this the sign of Church-membership and of the desire to receive the ministrations of the clergy. Here were sound principles, both of finance and of something far higher and more important, and high must have been the courage of the bishop who, after little more than twelve months' acquaintance with his people, made such sweeping changes : but the bishop ever acted on principle, and where it was a question of right or wrong he knew no fear. No doubt his popularity was ship- wrecked by the line he took, but popularity, as has been already stated more than once, he held very cheaply, and. 46 LIFE OF ED^YARD FEILD. [chap. mi. ns always happens when men fearlessly do the right, they gain not only their end, hut the respect of their fellows. Thus it has come to pass that in Newfoundland, with its exceptional poverty, the Church has develoj)ed a spirit of self-sacrifice and independence; while in the wealthiest diocese of Australia the recent withdrawal, after more than twenty years' enjoyment, and with five years' notice, of a Government subsidy of no less than 23,000/. per annum, made churchmen, both clerical and lay, to wring their hands in despair, no remedy being apparently left to them but shamelessly to beg from England, and to repre- hend the indifference of the civil power which would no longer deprive the Church of its highest privilege. The immediate need of clergy pressed sorely upon the bishop at this time, and, as always, he was forward to make any personal sacrifice. To the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel he offered to give up the 500/. per annum which that Society paid to himself, if by so doing five clergymen could be procured, to whom he said he could promise that they should live as well as he did. He was perpetually challenging men to come forward in the spirit of self-sacrifice, and he had little patience with those who were not content to live as plainly and even as hardly as their bishop. Of a Scripture Reader who had obtained ordination and then disappointed him, he wrote : " Mr. is constantly telling me that he is called to preach the Gospel to every creature, but he seems to have no intention of preaching it, even to a small flock, for less than 200/. a year and a house." Certainly he never tried to bribe men by drawing bright pictures : he insisted on the healthiness of the country, and declared that a mis- sionary had everything supplied to him that was requisite At the same time he wrote to a coiTespondent who was searching for fitting men the following graphic picture of a Newfoundland clei^man's lot: — 1846 1846.] CONDITION OP THE CLEKGY. 47 " What is 150/. per annum for ti mnn and family ?— a mere maintenance — bread and fish — a lodging and clothes. Wine and beer are out of his re 'ch, and generally, I believe, out of his thoughts (we have none of either in my house) ; fresh meat for some months in the oul harbours cannot be purchased ; hvah butter in many cases is almost equally scarce, and * bread ' means ' biscuit ' only (tl^re is a tub of them always standing in my dining-room) ; l)acon is almost as great a rarity as fresh meat, for native pork can never be eaten but by natives, and American is not much l;etter. What is used generally conies from Hamburg. ... I am not without hopes of men devoting themselves to the missionary work in our Church without any desire or necessity of more than food and raiment for themselves — willing, nay rejoicing, to be put into situations of difficulty and privation for Christ's and His Church's sake. Is it vain or presumptuous to hope that we may yet have better, more able, and more devoted men in proportion to the decrease of worldly preferment and recompense ? If it be vain, alas for the Church in Newfoundland ! alas for the Church of England ! If the bishops and pastors of the flock would (as privately as the occasion would allow) require a certain number (say twerty) of promising young men from the universities, or two from euoh diocese, to undertake a mission of ])eculiar difficulty and privation, with no prospect of worldly preferment or recompense, but to be content for this life with food and raiment, I presume to think that some noble and ardent spirits would still be found ready to spend and be spent, here and elsewhere, ' besides vhat the grim wolf with privy paw, Daily devours apace, aud uothiug said.' "I had really and trul;/ no intention, no thought of writing in this way on this subject, but these are the 48 LIFE OF EDWAUI) FEILD. [c'llAP. III. Spontaneous expressions of my most deep-rooted con- victions, of my hopes and feurs ; 1 mij,'lit truly stiy — ' Of hojM'H, (irul fours that kiiull*' hope, An unilislin^'iiiNliiililo IIiioik;,' " On December 8 tlio bishop lel't for llalifax, en route to liermuda ; the passage was unusuiilly stormy and perilous, and it was not until thci 10th that Halifax was reached. The packet for Bermuda had left, and so, after assistinnr I'ishop iTiglis i" his Ordination, the bishop sailed on Dec. 23 in a small brigantinc. This second voyage was even more jicrilous than the provluuij one, and the bishop's journal thus describes hia "Christniur: in the ( !ii]f Stream : " " We were obliged to lie ^'> all day and were us wretched as can well be conceived : the ladies did not leave their berths, and the pea was -' high 1). it no meal could be pre- pared. The gentlemen also were ill, and little inclined to feast or to enjoy their Christmas. 1 took nothing at all but a bisjnit till the evening, when I got a little cold ham on another biscuit, but without plate or knife or any other convenience or condiment. The vessel, however, lay to pretty well, and we were thankful that matters were no worse. I read the services of the (hiy to inysell, for no one' else could attend, or would, and I saui; my c'\ hyriis of r)icknor joyfulnes.?, the Kidlington CaT-oJ and the Loar's Head Song, all to myself; and how did my thoughts and affections visit each loved spot, and k'ar fiiends and parishioners far away, whose society I liad enjoyed and Irved ! The schools, the children, the churche .^ the congre- gations, my own dear relations and companions on this happy day, how I saw and blessed them all i^^ spirit ! I trust I have learned something by the great ( liango and privation — God be praised for teaching me." In May the .Hawk fetched him back (o S. John's. His own report stated that the " voyage was made without any ^ «i 1846-1846.] BIBLE SOCIETY. 49 discomfort, although I gave up my cabin to a gentleman and lady ; God bless those, and especially the one who gave me such accommodation in the good ship Hawk." On arriving at S. John's he found an offer awaiting him, the refusal of which utterly destroyed for him all chance of popularity for some years : this was the offer of the Presidentship of the Local Branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He declined the office, stating the ground of liis refusal in a printed address " to my own flock and friends, and all friends of the Church in New- foundland." He justified his refusal by showing (1) that there was no necessity for the existence of such a Society in the Island, as the Sacred Scriptures weif^ already to be procured at the cheapest possible rate ; and (2) that the organization of the Society was not such as a churchman could consistently join. The Bishop of Salisbury (Denison) had years before withdrawn from the Society, and the Bishop of Newfoundland availed himself of his English brother's example. He summed up his address with these two conclusions : — " 1st. — That if a bishop of the Church, of great wisdom, piety and experience^ is constrained to withdraw from the Society, knowing its nature and practical working, a younger bishop may well be excused if he hesitates to join or support it. 2nd. — If one bishop is constrained to withdraw from the Society, and not one, but many, hesitate to join or support it, and your own clergy, influenced by these and other reasons, all reject it; you, as churchmen and friends of the Church, must reflect and pause; especially when you have another Society, long established among you, pursuing the same object, sanctioned and supported by your own bishop and clergy, and by nearly all the bishops and clergy of the Church of England." On Trinity Sunday an Ordination was held, and the E CO LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. hi. bishop was preparing for his next cruise, when a calamity befel the whole community at S. John's, which has since formed an era from which the good people fix all their dates. "The year of the fire" is a well-understood chronological fact even to those who have since been born ; but the story shall be told as the bishop told it to a frequent correspondent. " June 12, 1846. " Little did I think when on Sunday last I ordained two priests and eight deacons in our old church, and complained that such a structure, so mean and miserable, was ill adapted to the sacred services, that I should never officiate again there, and that in two days not a vestige of the building would remain, and I should wish in vain for half the accommodation I perhaps too lightly esteemed ! But such, alas ! and far more dreadful and extensive than I can describe, is the destruction wrought in one day by a furious and fatal fire." In fact, not only the church, but by far the larger portion of the city was destroyed ; the distress of the 12,000 poor houseless people was of course excessive, and for the poor bishop the prospect of that self-support which he had so earnestly pressed on the people seemed dark indeed. Then the claims from the neglected Labrador were pressing upon him, and his voyage of Visitation could not be delayed unless the summer was to be lost. On July 10, the Haivh again sailed for the north, and the bishop reached as far as Greenspond, everywhere exa- mining schools, visiting the sick, confirming, baptizing, preachmg: the wind being dead ahead, he ran back to S. John's after three weeks, his presence being much needed in the distressing condition of the people; but on August 18 he again sailed with a fair wind, and this time reached Twillingate and Fogo on September 2. Meanwhile kindly aid was coming from England in answer 1845-18-^6.] VISITATION OF THE N.E. COAST. 51 > to the bishop's sorrowful letters, and while lying at Fogo he wrote to the Eev. E. Coleridge of Eton the following letter : — " The Church Ship, Foqo, Sept. 2, 1846. " My dear Friend, — Your letter, full of words of comfort, and reporting the substantial acts of kindness to me and my afflicted flock, in S. John's of many fellow-helpers, over- took me, to cheer and refresh my heart in my Visitation, about 200 miles from the capital. You are of course aware that I perform my Visitation, only and entirely by sea; none of the people living more than two or three miles, and very few even one mile, from the shore, and there being no roads from one settlement to another, except in the neighbourhood of S, John's. Indeed, most of the settlements are on separate islands, and therefore can be approached only by sea. The most barren and unpoetical imagination could hardly descend to a scene so bare and desolate as this island of Fogo — a mere rock of bluff heads and huge boulders, with occasional patches of grass in the valleys, but not a tree or shrub of any kind. Tlie houses are all of wood, and generally coloured red, and all stand, as do the churches and other buildings, on sticks or shores ; and the fish-stages and flakes in like manner, supported from rock to rock, and running into the sea, present an appearance and scene which is so foreign and strange, that no description could, I think, make you understand it. The people of course are all fishermen, or in some way connected with the fishing trade, and they have no other occupation, except that of building their houses, boats, and stages. Many of them retire into the distant woods in winter for shelter and fuel. Even at this time there are some huge icebergs at the mouth of the harbour, so that you will easily understand they seldom lose sight of snow and ice during the whole year. But if you were to think of the people, as in like manner strange and different in their E 2 52 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [ciiAP. iir. thoughts and feelings from the rest of mankind, or from your poor English neighbours, those particularly of Dorset and Devonshire, you might err and do them wrong. There are upwards of 1,200 church-people in this Mission, the poor of this world indeed, but as capable of instruction, and generally as willing to receive it, as the like number in any of your rich and fruitful and quiet parishes. Their misfortune is, that being so scattered in different bays and creeks, and even, in this one mission, on different islands, they can but seldom receive the visits of their missionary, or attend the services of the Church. One church is completed and two more in progress in this mission — all of wood. I expect to confirm some seventy candidates in the finished church this morning. This circumstance will account for, and I hope partly excuse, my wandering from the subject, which you will perhaps think ought solely or primarily to occupy my thoughts, and receive notice in writing to you — I mean, your very great kindness in appealing to so many of your good Christian friends to pity and succour my suffering flock in S. John's, and their equally great generosity in answering that appeal. I cannot pretend to thank you and them as T ou^ht and would wish to do. I can but return you my poor blessin8 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. upon the constitution,— these do not keep at home soldiers or civil officers. How many sons and brothers are cheer- fully sent to the camp on the Sutlej, or in Xew Zealand, with the clear prospect of war added to the trials of a new country and climate ! Let such persons ask themselves, (for it is indeed hard to answer for them,) why they do not desire and propose that these sons and brothers should go into these same countries as soldiers of the cross, in the more sacred and blessed office of Missionaries-— as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things ! ' I said, Why do Christian parents not desire and propose such employment for their sons ? but I should rather ask, Why do they withdraw them from it, and put impediments in their way? as I have found unhappily the case. The question ought to be answered, and the cause or causes of the difference and disparity I have alluded to impar- tially weighed, by all who would not come under the censure of loving son and brother (nay, should we not rather say, of loving this world and its honours ?) more than Christ. But my feelings, I am afraid, are carrying me too far ; and I am sadly conscious that I am not in a condition to discuss such a subject, and its circumstances, calmly, and with moderation. I ought, perhaps, to have avoided touching upon it, if I only and my diocese could complain of such desertion ; but is it not a still more affecting view of the case when we look at almost all other professions overstocked, but the ministry of the Church quite unequal to the calls upon it, both abroad and at home ? Is the Church alone, or shall I say the Church of England alone, condemned to the * barren womb ' and ' dry breasts ? ' Will not our rulers desire and devise some remedy before it is too late ? T :i. n IL \ i t / 1847-1848.] THE CLERGY OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 00 I write with great difficulty, in a ship labouring with a heavy sea and head wind." It was characteristic of the bishop thus to exalt the service of the Church, and to mourn that others did not, like himself, regard the hardest post of Missionary labour as the post of special honour, and therefore to be coveted by all chivalrous souls; but while throughout his whole episcopate there was rarely any point of time at which the diocese was adequately supplied with clergy, a comparison with other dioceses would show that, while the attractions of Newfoundland were the fewest of any, other more favour- ably-conditioned coantries have experienced a greater minis- terial dearth, and it may with truth be said that nowhere have the clergy been more patient, more contented, more united among themselves, and more devoted to their work, than in this desolate island. Of those now labouring in the diocese, many have been trained under the bishop's eye in the Theological College of S. John's, which he built on the foundation of a Seminary established by his predeces- sor, and for which he was enabled, in the course of years, to provide a suitable endowment; and whatever be the merits or demerits of an hereditary priesthood, it is a creditable fact that the clergy in many instances have sought no more prosperous career for their sons than a succession to their own ministerial toils and corresponding poverty. Bishop Feild, with the simplicity that adorned his character, never suspected that the power which kept these men contentedly at their post was the example of his own hard and devoted life ; nor when, as happened more than once, or twice, or thrice, men were led to make sacrifices and to leave England for hard and voluntary service in Newfoundland, that the real magnet which attracted them was himself. It may be well here to give a layman's estimate of the clergy of this diocese. The no LIFE OF EDVVAliD FEILD. [CllAP, IV. u following quotation is from a book which has already been mentioned in tliose pages : — ^ " In the faces of all the men I saw engaged in this work contentment and peace were unmistakeably stamped. Nor is it alone to poor living, mere absence of comfort, their hard lot extends. This might be borne amid humble domestic joys and a circle of duty close at hand; but that circle extends for decades upon decades of weary, inhospitable miles, from fishing cove to fishing cove, where the Sunday services come round to eu^li once in so many weeks or months. Upon the instant must the parson rouse and trudge through snow and ice, no matter the weather, no matter the distance, on a summons from a parishiouei." The same writer says elsewhere: — "The influence of good as of evil is contagious, and the chief Missionary who gave up his delights in the fairest vale of earth has not wanted followers, even in this sacrifice." He describes a picnic party of \\ liich he was a member, and which brought him face to face with an example of the devotion of which he had heard : — " Suddenly from behind a fir-grove was heard the tinkling, tinkling, tinkling of a vesper-bell, gently bidding all good folks and wayfarers to come and join its modest worship. Except from a Koman source it was ah/'ost the lasttlr'ng one might have expected to hear in such ; place, and ret v e soon found that this invitation came from an orthv-^driw ofi'shoot of the 'Anglican branch of the Catholic faith,* as some folk here so love to style it. Just as we entered the portals of the neat wooden edifice, a thin, elderly man, who had been tolling his own summons, ascended the lectern and began to read the daily Evening Service of the Church. None but ourselves, chance visitors, were there ; and we, who came not to scoff, remained with that simple, trusting man to pray. After service my friend ^ Lost Amid the Fogs, by Colonel Macrae. 1847-1848.] A NEWFOUNDLAND VICAR AOE. 61 I H whispered to mo that this was another blessing to tlio Church brought by the influence of the bishop. They were perRonal friends, and first -class men at Oxford, and, like thf bishop, this man, besides being the possessor of ample private moans, gave up his living in Englan' 1 to come out and W(jrk under his old college friend in this remote fisliin^-village on the edge of the wild Atlantic, where liis intercourse with the great civilized world beyond was but scant indeed. Wliilu ho told us thi«i simple tale of loving faith, its hero joined us close outside his cottago-presbytery, which ho nisked us to enter. What a strange interior it was! Boxes, trunks, deal chests l>y dozens, lying about in every direction, tables and chairs, littered with pamphlets and lottors, scattered broadcast around. It was a literary chaos, through which one could barely move, a true picture of a man without o. helpmeet, of a house which was not a home. The uncarpeted room served both for parlour and kitchen, and the parson's humble fare — tea, bread, two eggs, boiled with his own hands, and a large basin of butter cut with a spoon — sen appeared on the table. Thus the hermit lived, keeping no norvant, but depending for a scrub to his house, for the making of his bed, and, indeed, almost for the simple necessaries of daily food, on his friends in the village below. If they came to his need, well and good ; if not, he rubbed on without thinking much of or heeding his necessities, so that he might liitve health and strength to ring iiis little belP for matins and evensong, and watch over the sick beds * This church must have been furnished on a scale of unusual lnxur}% for the "sound of the churchgoing bell " is rarely heard in Newfoundland. The usual means of summoning people to church is a flag, whioh is hoisted an hour before service, half-masted after half an hour has elapsed, and struck when it is time for service to commence. This is said to be both a cheap and an effectual, and certainly a picturesque mode of summoning the worshippers ; it falls in with their daily habits, and the abundant breezes of the country, while they frequently cause a bell to be inaudible to windward, always blow out a flag only too well. t (52 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD, [OHAP. IV. of all who wanted him. This is no solitary case ; stronger can be put on record." On January 29 the bishop anived at S. John's to find an exceptionally severe winter and much suffering among the people. On landing he wrote to a friend- in England :— . ..." I will say nothing of the discomfort (I might add danger) of my voyage to Halifex, but joyfully and thankfully inform you that, what I dreaded the most (so faithless and faint-hearted am I), the passage from Halifax to S. John's in the sailing vessel was unusually quick and favourable. ... I was only an hour on shore at Halifax, but had the pleasure of seeing the Bishop of Nova Scotia and his amiable family. His lordship is in good health, and seems not much to regard the severe weather. The thermometer was considerably below zero on our arrival, and a sharp wind was blowing, which I found some difficultv in facing. Our steamer wos covered with ice, externally, and on the decks the weight of it must have been immense. We were in a similar condition on our arrival at S. John's, and as the wind was blowing out of harbour we were obliged to leave our vessel and enter by boats, which was a service of some difficulty in conse- quence of the floating ice driving out before the wind. Before we landed our pilots had told of past trials and disasters in the tempestuous weather of last week. Three vessels hod actually been driven from their anchors in harbour (one of them with a cargo of coal on board) and lost at sea — a circumstance not remembered by the oldest inhabitant — and the winter had set in with unusual severity. During the heavy gales of last week people were afraid to put their faces out of their dwellings — and the Newfoundland ' barber ' was never so severe. Several persons have told me they never remember a season so cold, or at least in which the cold was so piercingly bitter. In my own drawing-room during the night the thermometer i li ! 1847- 1848.] EXTKEMK COLD. 08 i.J fell to 8° below zero, and the water has frozen on the table wliilc wo were dining. The ])0()r people sufTor much from tli»! absence of snow, of which there has been almost none till within the last two days, i.e. since my arrival. The aksenco of snow both makes their dwellin^^s colder — or leaves them nn])rotected — and prevents their going into the woods with their ' cats ' ^ and dogs to procure fuel. The sufferings of the peo])lo in the uut-harbours are, I fear, even greater than at S. John's, in consequence partly of the failure of the fishery and partly of the great destruction of life and property in that fearful hurricane. Forty-five fish(irmen lost their lives at one harbour (IJurin) in Placentia IW, and you know there is no clergyman in the whole of that r)ay. Well, these were sad reports on my arrival ; but I was comforted by finding most of my friends and all the clergy in S. John's in good health ; and we had chanted the Psalms together at night, and had thanked God for permitting us to meet once more ; and I had laid me down to rest and was soon wrapped in profound repose (though getting into bed is something like plunging into a cold bath) when I was roused up by the discharge of two guns from the Fort — announcing a fire. To my dismay I beheld from my windows the house of an excellent friend and near neighbour c i^'^eloped in fiames. It was Captain S])earman's, the Collector of- Customs. In two hours it was utterly destroyed, with all the furniture ; scarcely an article was saved — so rapidly and fiercely do these wooden houses consume and perish, and (if I might say it without appearing to quote Holy Scripture lightly I would add) come to a fearful end. The Collegiate School and the house I have taken for the students were in great peril — being very close — and the wind was blowing in that direction. For two hours the burning flakes and embers fell in showers on the latter ^ Catamarans or sledges. 61 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. and on the stable of the Collegiate School ; but through God's goodness in answer to our prayers they were saved. The chief protection arose from the water poured on the roof instantly becoming ice ; so that the burning flakes not only met with a cold reception, but could not, in fact, reach the wooden shingles. It is very sad to see a void smoking space where a few hours before one of the best houses of the colony stood, and stood always ready to receive and welcome me ; and, close by, the ruins of a large brick dwelling thrown down by the hurricane — sad mementoes of fire and tempest which have been such scourges. " In the midst of such general and public calamities and trials I ought not to think or say much of my own difficulties and disappointments. I have already mentioned that the clergy of S. John's, and as far as I know of the out-harbours, are generally in good health, and proceeding with their duties diligently. God be praised ! " To another friend, to whom he gave a description of the cold, he wrote with his usual indifference to hardship : — " For a fortnight and upwards the thermometer was every morning at half-past seven o'clock 4° below zero at least ; twice I saw it 8°, once 12°, and one evening 14° below the cypher, but this degree of cold is not much regarded when the winds are hushed, and it sounds worse than it really is ; for during this extreme cold we have been twice every day to church (I speak of myself, clergy, students, and some boys of my Collegiate School) without any fire except on Sundays, and I have no fire in my bedroom. I have been once frost-burnt on the cheek, but by rubbing in snow in time the plague-spot soon disappears; colds and coughs disappear in the severe frost to return with the thaw and milder weather. Thank God, my household and clergy are well in health, and only cast down in spirits by the feebleness and inefficiency of our services through want of an adequate supply of labourers. Thousands and ^ I c I 1847-1848.] LABOURS OF THE CLERGY. 66 % thouf^ands of our communion have not seen the shape or heard the voice of a clergyman of their Church for the last twelve months. Mr. Bridge, the rector of S. John's, performs four services every Sunday : the first at a hamlet two miles off, where he commences at eight o'clock ; then three full services in his schoolroom — full, in every sense, for there is not room enough for the people, who are driven to the meeting-houses in consequence. Mr. Tuckwell has five churches or parishes under his charge, assisted by a deacon — the nearest is eight miles off. He is also Master of the Collegiate School, in which there are seven- teen boys, and six of them boarders; he has the whole care and chief instruction, assisted by myself, of the theological students. He is a great Pluralist and a great Hero ! Last Sunday morning Mr. Bridge was driving in his sleigh along a frozen lake at half-past seven o'clock to his first service and communion. Mr. Tuckwell, about the same time, was starting over the snow to a service in a private house eleven miles off, the church not being finished. Mr. Tremlett, the deacon, was off even earlier on foot to his duty ten miles off, and returned the same evening, drawn about half way by two dogs on a slide or cata- maran. Such is a specimen of our Sunday labours. We should be content if even thus, or any way, we could reach the hearts and ears of half our people." The bishop now had his hands unusually full ; he was expecting the Church ship, with her passengers, and was preparing for the erection of at least the nave of a Cathedral Church : in finances too he was endeavouring to make sweeping reforms : he desired that the grants of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to tho clergy might be reduced one-half, his own income not to be excepted from this treatment : he saw in this the only way of making the Church support herself, and of making the rule of the Church Society to be observed, by which every M LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap, TV. .> ember of the Church was pledged to contribute towards the maintenance of church and clergy, as has been already mentioudd. Money had been raised in England by the authority of a •Queen's Letter for the relief of the sufferers by the fire in the previous year, and it had been announced at the time that a portion of whatever sums might be contributed would be spent on rebuilding the destroyed church. As usually happens where money is to be dispensed, the competitors v/ere many; and in a place where religious divisions were strongly marked there was naturally some warmth of feeling displayed. The money contributed in England was given by English Churchmen : but the ma- jority of the sufferers were Eomanists. The Koman Catholic Bishop took, as was natural, an active part against the Anglican one, but no opposition could blunt Bishop Feild's sense of justice : and he wrote of his opponent : — " He is to my mind cast in the very type of a primitive bishop., and mark you ! he will return with men ; the Protestant Bishop comes back with money ! His priests are indefatigable, postponing everything to making converts ; mine have to make provision for wives and children." What provision it was that the poor clergy could make it seems hai*d to say, for to the same letter he added a postscript : — " Our poor in the out-harbours are in a wretched state for want of food. I dined yesterday (Sundpy) with a clergyman who had nothing to give me or himself but bread and rice : even the fish is exhausted." It was the apathy of the laity — the apathy which is begotten by having everything provided by endowments at home, and which is fatal in the colonies where endowments are not — that the bishop was determined to conquer ; and this he thought could only be done by the clergy voluntarily reducing the portion of their incomes which they derived trom England and throwing themselves for their mainte- 1847-1848.] SELF-SUPPORT. «7 nance on their flocks. The problem of combining with Voluntaryism an absence of the evils of Congregationalism has in later times been solved in many a colonial diocese from which in time to come perhaps the Mother Church will have to take a lesson. Bishop Feild wrote : — " Why should a Protestant Bishop who is mocked by some 25,000^ pretended Church-people be indulged with a larger income than the lioman Bishop who reigns over the hearts and wills of 50,000 devoted adherents ? Wliy should a Protestant Missionary require double what is sufficient for a Eoman Catholic Priest ? Above all, why should my people be pampered and petted till in spiritual things they wax fat and kick, while the poorer Romanists pay, and pay cheerfully, for . many hard blows, spend and are spent for the Church and clergy ? . . If you knew half the grief and anxiety I suffer about it, — but I forbear." In tlie midst of writing this letter he changes his tone for one of ulvtmdanf thankfulness. He had been anxious for days and even weeks about the Hawk with her freight of missionaries. There had been a terrific hurricane, many ships were overdue, an 1 not a few were never seen again. " ]\Iy hand shakes and my heart quakes.." wrote the bishop, all the tendernesses of his warm heart breaking through their accustomed baniers : " Could I remain here, if she should be lost with all her precious cargo ? " And then on May 25th he wrote : — " Oh joy ! I must leave all other subjects to tell you of my, of our, joy and thankful- ness on the arrival of the dear Church ship, with all her precious cargo, safe and sound — I mean her cargo safe and sound, for the little bird herself has been sadly beaten and battered. I went on board, and welcomed my friends and co-mates with my episcopal blessing. I brought them ^ The Church population now (1876) is about 60,000, and the income of the Koman Catholic Bishop of S. John's is probably many times as large as that of the Bishop of Newfoundland. F 2 i 68 LIFE OF EDWAllD FEILD. [chap. IV. ill ashore, and it being Wliitsun -Tuesday we attended at the Central School theproper service, and I celebrated the Holy Communion and administered to them all. Another auspicious event marked the day : we Degan to-day to di<,' out the foundations of the cathedral, and I had as mnny as fifty men giving voluntary labour, and, I trust, shall have nearly as many men every day this week. The church would 1)0 very beautiful, but I really do not see the use of talking about the choir and sacrarium, as if I should ever have anything to do with thom. Mr. H says the nave alone would cost 15,000/. in England, and that would be 25,000/. in Newfoundland. This appears to me Mid- summer madness. Even if we had the money, would it be right to spend such an enormous sum on the material temple, while bodies and souls are starving for lack oi' necessary food ? S. Wulstan is said to have wept when he saw the great pile of his cathedral going up, because, he said, they had left building temples of men to build one of stones. But surely there is more occasion to weep when we build of stone before we have built of men." Tiie work of the builders of the new cathedral was pressed on until the frost and snow compelled them to desist : the walls were carefully sheltered from the weather until the next brief summer should make it possible to resume operations. The edifying of the spiritual building was never neglected : the busy bishop was now contemplating the establishment of a girls' school, and inviting teachers from England ; but the most urgent work was the establishment of the Tlieo- logical College and School, to be called Queen's College, with Episcopal Residence and all necessarv siiriOuudmgR. The scheme was an ambitious one, and lv:.s only been realized so far as the excellent Theological College nif y be said to have been the outcome of the effort. The terms in which the bishop propounded his '.clieme are worthy of being recorded : — ; it ■^"P" 18t7-1848.] PLANS FOR EDUCATION. 69 Queen's College in Newfoundland. " Ad laudem, gloriam, d honorem Nominis CRUCIFIXI, ad siistentationem et exaltationcm Fidel Christiance, et ad Ecdesice Sanctce 'profedumy Edward, Bishop of Newfoundland, To his Brethren and ' Friends of dear Mother Church in England, sends health and greeting in the Lord. " In furtherance of the erection of a College in my diocese, recommended and promoted by many kind and judicious friends, for the training and instruction particularly of theological students and candidates for Holy Orders, and, with them, of any young men desirous of a liberal and enlarged education, I have purchased a very eligible piece of ground as a site for the necessary buildings. The situa- tion is healthy and convenient ; removed from the business and bustle of the town, and yet within a stone's cast of the Church of S. Thomas, and of the land granted for an episcopal residence. There is space enough for a college and collegiate school, with a useful garden. Now, then, dear friends and brethren, we have the much desired opportunity of giving to the College and its schools in Newfoundland a local habitation and a name. A Theological Institution and Collegiate School, it should be observed, have been for some time in operation, and are a source of much present satisfaction, and full promise of further usefulness and success, but both are much hindered and degraded by being carried on in small hired houses, not contiguous, and very deficient in accommodation. Both these liouses are hired at my own cost and charge. The school does not pay its expenses, giving a small salary to only one master. For the theological institution there .s ■ MMIati r Smmmmmm OHMiMHHi 70 JJFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [OHAP IV. is no payment or provision, beyond the exhibition to each student from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Tlie theological students pass to the school-house, where the master resides, for their lectures and meals ; which, though the distance is not great, is often painful, and sometimes almost hazardous in the snows and frosts of this severe and changeable climate. Moreover, the students have but one small sitting-room in common for study, and no clergyman or tutor can reside with them. My wish is, therefore, to erect on the ground now pur- chased plain but characteristic buildings, (of wood or stone, according to our means,) sufficient for a small college and collegiate school, with a chapel, hall, library, and lodgings for tutors, &c. The episcopal residence, if ever erected, on the site granted for that purpose, will be so near, that the bishop and clergy living with him might easily take part in the oversight and instruction of the students. (Tliey even now come to me every morning, at nine o'clock, for a lecture in Divinity.) I would submit to my friends the propriety of naming the new establishment Queen's College, (if such a title can be permitted and sanctioned,) for the following reasons : — (1) In duty and devotion to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, whom God preserve ; and for perpetual testimony of the loyalty and attachment to the sacred and paternal form of monarchical government ever to be inculcated in both college and school. (2) In respectful recognition of benefits conferred on the Church in Newfoundland by Her Maje.sty the Queen Dowager. (3) In testimony of my reverent and grateful esteem of the Queen's College in Oxford, at which I was educated, and at and from wh' jh I have received so many undeserved kindnesses and benefits, from the day of my entrance there I } ,i~....^„-.,. I S'. .^7! r 1847-1848.] PROPOSED QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 71 ■^■■^ d to this very time : and to bespeak, if it may be, the favour and lo\'e of that society, with its fellows and scholars of both foundations, towards its name-sake; as a parent towards its child. (4) In humble imitation of the college at Windsor, in the diocese of Nova Scotia, which sought and obtained the honour, under a Royal Charter, of being called * King's CoUege.' If this name should be approved and allowed, I should wish the chief officer, who would always be a clergyman in priest's orders, to be called the Provost. He would be constantly resident, and with two Fellows, also resident, might conduct all the business of the collegf and school, in regard both of instruction and discipline. The Provost might be married, but the two fellows must be unmarried. One at least of the resident fellows should always be in holy orders, and have the title and authority of Vice- provost. Tliere should be three Honorary Fellows, who, together with the Provost and resident Fellows, should form a Council, to advise the bishop in framing and altering rules, &c., and in the absence of the bishop carry on all the concerns of the college and school. The bishop should be the Visitor, and have power to appoint, and remove, all the officers of the establishment, and to make, alter, and rescind the rules, &c. Rooms should be provided for twelve resident students in the college. Six of these would be exhibitioners of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, preparing for holy orders. One, or more of these, would be required to assist in the instruction of the boys in the school ; and all would work in the garden, both for recreation, and for training in an occupation which may be useful to themselves and others in new settlements. In the school also there should be accommodation for .zyL~- 71 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [oh A p. IV, Hi \i n twelve boarders. Any number of day-scholars may attend to receive instruction with them. The students of the college and boys of the school would be together at chapel and hall : but at other times would be quite separate, and live and be instructed apart. To carry this most desirable plan into successful opera- tion, it is obvious that the first and most essential requisite ib an endowment : even more essential than the collegiate buildings. With funds, a hired house, though inconve- nient and inappropriate, might be made sufficient, but without them the best buildings would be rather a burden than a benefit. It might be possible to commence with the Provost and one resident Fellow. An endowment for these, with funds to sustain the buildings themselves, pay insurance, &c., would fill us with joy and hope, and, with God's blessing, would soon render the whole establishment useful and acceptable. It must be remembered that in the college there would not be, for some years, more than two or three independent students, and the charge for their education must be very low. In an entirely commercial community a prolonged and enlarged education is seldom required or desired. It is especially intended that the sons of the clergy should profit by the school and college. The school also should be understood to lead on to the college ; so that in filling up the vacant exhibitions, the deserving scholars would always have a preference. Now, Hhould there be such prospect of a permanent endowment as to justify the undertaking, it would be very expedient to lay the foundations, and make other prepara- tions for the buildings this year, in order that next yeiir they may be completed; to whatever extent it may bo prudent at that time to go. Simple plans and drawings for the buildings in wood, stone, or brick, with estimates, &o., would be very acceptable. d )1 J847-1848.] LAWUDOR. 73 It seems right and necessary to put the friends and promoters of this great work in possession of as many particulars as possible ; and, with that purpose, this long detail will not, I trust, be considered tedious or superfluous. I would now humbly commend the good and great work, and all who befriend it, to the favour and blessing of Almighty God. May the Queen's College in Newfound- land be the honoured, though humble, instrument of promoting learning and loyalty, charity and piety, duty to God and man. * And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us : and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish' Thou it." A long winter over, and the Hawk was put in commis- sion for a four months' cruise, in which the bishop hoped at last to reach tlie remote settlements on the Labrador, concerning his responsibility for which he had inquired in 1845, and now accepted for himself, on the ground of their being within the civil Government of Newfoundland. The Government of Canada, and consequently the diocese of Quebec, ends at Blanc Sablon, and from this point to Baffin's Bay, or without limit northwards, if any bishop was to care for the people, it must have been the Bishop of Newfound- land. On July 6 the Haivk then set forth on her unknown course : the bishop making the following entry in his log : — " July 6. — I was attended by the clergy to the place of embarkation; and on the wharf I found several friends waiting to take leave, and to wish me good luck in the name of the Lord ; whose greetings and good wishes were much ajjpreoiated, being, as I have reason to believe, for Jiis sake, and in His name, Whose I am and Whom I serve. Several of my friends accompanied me on board, who de- parted on the ship getting under way, not without a blessing. " My companions and co-mates on this occasion are the Hev. J. (Jiiuninghiun, witli his wife and their baby {to 74 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. If i i whom I have given up my cabin), destined for the Mission of Burgeo; the Rev. Mr. Addington, going to serve as deacon and curate in Fortune Bay; the Kev. Messrs. Hoyles and Harvey, who will attend nie through my voyage, partly as my cliaplains, and partly for the benefit of their health ; and Mr. Brown, one of the students of the Theological Institution, also an invalid ; in all, with myself, eight souls. Mr. Cunningham's furniture and supplies are stowed in loth cabins and on the deck. My friends in England, could they peep within, would see that the schooner Hawk is not regarded or used as (by some persons unjustly called) the bishop's yacht, but serves the purpose, and deserves, as she glories in, the name of the Newfound- land Church ship. While the primary object of visitation is kept in view and fully attained, the benefit of the Church and clergy, as much as possible, through her instrumentality, is on this occasion, as in many former instances, gladly promoted." Head-winds prevailing, they determined to put into Harbour Briton and spend a Sunday ashore. Here the meeting, so full of joy to all, took place, which the bishop thus describes : — " Suddenly is seen, pacing to and fro on the wharf, with downcast look, a cassocked figure, and by his side one of equally contemplative manner and mien, both airpoc^iovvaot, harmonising ill with the surrounding scenery, whether I looked to the loffcy uncultivated hills, or the fish flakes, or the great stores. I soon recognised the 'Mountain' priest— the faithful priest — who quitted the pleasures and refinements of a happy home to minister to these poor fishermen and watch for their souls, and his chosen Silas (Mr. CoUey), no less devoted to his Master's service, though in a humbler office and sphere, and making, it may be, as great a sacrifice, according to his circum- stances and condition in life. I was presently saluted and welcomed by both on the deck of the Church ship, ■. jTN *.^ ,>— * 1847 1818.] 8. GEOROK'S BAY. n in which they liad come together from England in the spring of lust your." The wind continued contrary, and so the bishop visited hy boat the neighbouring harbours. "Wliat nmnner of Jife the people led may be inferred from the description of the constant occupation of a resident at Jersey Harbour : — " We found the worthy agent engaged as usual, and, as always, in drying and curing his fisli. Some thirty- Hve years he lias been employed in 'this place and service, with no other pursuit, purpose, or prospect, but tish — fish — fish ; and yet he appears contented and happy, and is by no means cold as a fish, or hard as a rock." With a change of weather, Mr. Mountain was taken on board, in order that he might visit a part of his parish ninety miles distant. Burgeo was reached in time, and the ship entered the harbour " under a splendid rainbow as a grand triumphal .arch of God's promised and cove- nanted mercy." It was dark and the entrance is narrow ; nobody, therefore, went on shore, hut the bishop wrote " many boats came off with the old, * ancient ' inquiry, ** Tls ; iridfp th di/Spuv ; iroBi Toi.vd\ts '," Oi>. K. 32.5. Mr. Cunningham, with wife and child and furniture, were left here, and were cordially welcomed. The church ^ u,d been closed for three months, and many of the people had had sorrow and suffering and no spiritual consolations to alleviate their Jiard lot. After 500 miles 1. d been traversed, through fog and foam, S. George's Bay wao reached — and here a bitter disappointment met the bishop. The clergy- man had not received in the previous autumn the notice of his bishop's intention to visit him ; he had not left his mission for four years; the vessel, which was bringing him his winter supplies, and which carried also the bishop's letter, had been wrecked, and for food and raiment he was * ^. V] IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I H lis 1^ Hi IM 1 2.2 s to, 110 I 1.8 11-25 i 1.4 :^l^ 6" HiotDgraphic Sdeiices Corporation 23 WfST MAIN STREET WfBSTER,N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 A f/. % '^ \ «■ % 76 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. ' much straitened. An opportunity of going to S. John's and of returning had been offered and accepted a month before, and he had actually passed the bishop on the water. Three years had elapsed since the last episcopal visit. There could now be no Confirmation, as none were prepared ; and as the missionary was a deacon, there had been no celebration of the Holy Communion for those three years. " Such is Newfoundland, and such a Bishop's Visitation," was the mournful comment made in the log. From Cape Kay, the south-west corner of Newfoundland, round by the north to Cape S. John, on the east coast near to Twillingate, the Government does not recognise settlers : this is the result of a treaty made with Fiance : there are, therefore, no magistrates, excise, laws nor con- stables. Along this shore the Hawk made her way until she leached Forteau on the Labrador, the first place which the bishop desired to visit, and which no bishop had ever visited before. To a friend in England he wrote: — "You know no- thing of the excitement of entering a strange harbour in a stiff breeze without pilot or directions ; but you can imagine something of the feelings of a bishop lighting upon a portion of his diocese, which neither he nor any of his clergy hy.vQ visited before, and which he has reason to believe has never been visited by any Christian bishop. The coast of Labrador, too, is generally supposed so bleak and desolate, either wholly unoccupied, or traversed ordy by a few Indians, that it has an interest of its own ; how particularly to me, who came to inquire, not about the climate and natural productions, but whether any, and what Christian men had settled, in whatever state of ignorance and unhappiness, on its shores ! " Service was held in a store, pains being taken to make all arrangements as decent and church-like as possible. There was a large congregation, but, sad result of an s i Zi^tu%^\m^m«r;^<^r■^ i 1847-1848.] A LABRADOR HOME. 77 s imshepherded flock, not one was found prepared to communicate. Many persons were baptized, and several couples, who had been married by " public attestation," now received the Church's blessing on their union. At (/ape Charles a couple were married who had years before been united by a lloman Catholic servant, who read tlu^ service out of the Prayer-book. At S. Francis Harbour the bishop was entertained by the agent, Mr. Saunders, who had spent twenty-one years in the harbour, but in the past winter liad visited England and brought out his bride, " the first lady who ever visited the coast, and the only woman who has come from England to dwell in the Labrador." This worthy couple were most anxious for church, and pastor, and school. Tlie bishop writes: — '' ThcT-e is a garden at the estab- lishment, of greens, turnips, radishes, and voild tout. Mrs. Saunders has brought a piano, as great a novelty as herself on the Labrador, and she kindly played for us some Church music. She has in her possession the first volume of that useful publication, The Parish Choir. I took a walk with Mr. and Mrs. Saunders to see their winter house, as tlieir present residence is only suited for the summer months. I admired the resignation and cheerfulness with which she appeared to contemplate the prospect of a winter of six or seven months in a room ten feet by twelve, where are two large reels fastened to the beams at which her husband and his clerk are to mend their nets. Her husband also will be absent for some weeks at the sealing time, and she, tenderly brought up and cared for, well educated, and with a mind of much natural refine- ment, must thus pass the first winter on the Labrador. Surel}' there are ladies who might take a lesson and encou- ragement from such an example." It being impossible to get forward with the wind in an adverse quarter, the bishop left the Hawlc, and determined 78 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. to push his way to the northward, at least as far as Veni- son Islands, in a small craft which was lent to him. The craft was generally employed to carry fish from harbour to harbour : its accommodation was limited to a small cuddy, fore and aft. " I slipped," wrote the bishop, " into the after cuddy, and made myself contented, if not com- fortable; though the ribs of the boat, on which I lay down, and which were not boarded over, being harder tluin mine, made their impression accordingly." Another harbour, or tickle, was made, and the agent welcomed the bishop to his humble dwelling, giving up his room and crib : " The bed is on a wooden crib," says the bishop, " and without any sheets : but the blankets appeared clean, and I turned in without any misgivings and with much thankfulness." Neither was it the hard fare and coarse lodging which made up the chief hardships of these voyages : the dense ignorance of the poor people, so soon to be left again to themselves, weighed down the spirits of the clergy : the children confessed that they " learned the Lord's Prayer in the winter, and forgot it in the summer" ; yet in the midst of this desolate prospect a communication from the outer world served to show them that there were worse lots than those of the cettlers on the Labrador. On August 10, a schooner came in with English papers giving a full account of the Revolution in Paris and the murder of the Archbishop ; and the little party could not but contrast with wonder and thankfulness their peaceful, holy, and rational employments beyond the limits of civilization, and the murders and madness in the heart and centre of civilized Europe — the snows and solitude of Labrador with streets streaming with blood, and houses full of deceit. It being impossible now to make further progress the ship retraced her course to Forteau. At one time she was f 1847-1848.] PERILS BY SEA. 79 in considerable peril, being near to a rocky shore, and with no available wind. The bishop describes the scene : — " No sound was heard but the puffing of a sea-pig, who occa- sionally put up his back alongside, and the flapping of our lazy sails, with the creaking of the rudder-chains and rigging, as the good Church ship rolled and tumbled about upon the rude relentless swell. I remained up, and occasionally on deck, till past three o'clock, when, by God's mercy, a breeze sprang up from the northward, and the Haivk spread her wings joyfully to it, and the captain went below, and the mate was meiTy ; and I — I hope I did in part what I ought to have done, and what I ought to do all my life through — acknowledged humbly and thankfully the un- deserved mercies vouchsafed to me and mine. At four o'clock I retired to rest." Verily here was the outpouring of a thankful heart ! On leaving Forteau it was found to be almost impossible to make the Bay of Islands which the bishop was most anxious to visit. " After reflecting on the matter all day, and consulting with my friends and asking guidance of Him in whom are all our ways, I reluctantly abandoned my cherished wish." It was the bishop's custom to leave the determination of each case to the captain, " not without prayer for his instruction and guidance ! " It was bitter grief to pass by this neglected region, and the sensitive conscience of the bishop gave him little rest for the remainder of the voyage, as he was haunted by doubt whether he had done rightly ; but he was already a week behind his time, and the clergy on the southern shore were expecting him, and autumn was coming on apace. Again and again his journal reverts to it as " a sore trial " and ail the more when he learned that the Eoman Catholic Bishop was visiting the parts which he had passed by " in ill- advised haste." At many places he was cheered by re- verent congregations — or would have been cheered " but for 80 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IV. the retrospect and prospect." Places which on his previous voyage had been whjlly destitute now had cliurch and regular visits from a clergyman; and on Oct. 17 the Hawl' was safely anchored in S. John's harbour. On the follow- ing day, the Festival of S. Lul5 delay to the matter wliich is the immediate cause of my now addressing you. My last short visit to Eton is very strongly impressed on my memory and heart. I recall all the words and deeds of kindness and comfort with un- diminished interest and gratitude. One boon has been fully realized in the person and presence of my dear brother and fellow-labourer Mountain. His friends will be glad to hear that his bodily health has greatly improved since he came to Newfoundland; he seems capable of immense exertions, and as those exertions all are made, and cheerfully made, for the glory of God and the good of souls, we may hope and believe that his spiritual health and strength have not deteriorated, but, on the contrary, have received an advancement and increase. He is, as you said, * a real treasure,' and my journey, not only to Eton from London, but to London from Newfoundland,, would have been worth the time and expense if I had gained nothing else. Our hope and expectation is, if it please God still to prosper the work, to consecrate and forthwith to use the portion of the church now nearly finished, in the month of September next. Oh that some, that all of my kind friends at Eton, could be present in person as well as in spirit, to assist as well as to advise — to rejoice with and for me. But what right have I to think or to expect that you will be present with me, in this poor despised mart of fish and oil, even in spirit ? Do I not see too plainly that the thoughts and afiections as well as the i^ersons of missionaries and the friends of missionaries are all directed to that Mutton- California, where the good bishop is able to say * there are really no privations ? ' Well for ine and for my poor diocese that no newspapers get into our out-harbours for six months in the year, or how could T expect that my brethren, famishing on fish and biscuit, could resist stalactites of ham and the poultry running about with knives and forks on their backs, to say nothing iiKymii|iii.j|i "mi^VW 96 LIFE OF EDWAUD FETLD. [chai-. v. of the ever-flowing rivers aud ever-green meadows and fields : — ' Rcddit iibi Cercrem teilus inarata,' &c. &o. If I should live to see my church consecrated, my next care and desire will be to put my collegiate and scholastic establishments on a better and sounder plan. I have already applied 3,000/. to the purchase of premises for my College and Collegiate School for I>oys, but the build- inffs are insufficient and there is no endowment. I have further opened a School for Girls, which gives satisfaction and nearly pays its own expenses, but I rent for them a miser;. bly cold and comfortless house at 100/. per annum — liable continually to be swept away by fire, for it is entirely of wood. I should be thankful indeed to provide for them a stone or brick house, which might afford accommodation also (if that be not too bold a thought for a Bishop of Newfoundland) for some Sisters, servants of the Church, whose hearts would not be chilled by tluj mercury below zero, and who, as to fish instead of meat, would not be frightened at a Lent which extended nearly tliroughout the year. . . . We are fighting the battle of Education in our small but not insignificant way in this colony, and the Cliurch (as betw^een Eomanists and Dissenters is usually the case) Js jostled out of her rights. We are also additionally hampered by a Society in England which chooses to call itself 'The Church of England School Society for New- foundland and the Colonies,' and is under the patronage or advocacy of the Record. Verlum sat." The agents of the Society here mentioned, and it may be added, still more their employers and Committee in London, gave the Bishop much annoyance, and continually thwarted his action and his wishes. There is a certain ' ' ! 184i)-1850.] THK CATHEDRAL CONSECHATKI). j^rimness of Immour in tiio appeal for instruction whicli lie made to a friend in England, and the passage shows how injurions to the proper and natural development of the oolonial Clmrch may he tlie Jiciion of an irresponsihle Connnittee of almost nnknown persons in London. ''Feb. 15, ISfiO. " Unhappily I cannot act with the Newfoundh'ind School Society, for they will tolerate only ' Evangelical ' men, and tliey have decided, I know not by wliat marks, that T am not one. What is the meaning, or their mean- ing, of tlie word ? I liave asked them, and they would not t(;li me ; so how can I tell whether I am now, or, if not, liow I sliould become. Evangelical ? " In June of this year tlie Rev. H. 1*. Disney volunteered to give up his living in Ireland and to plant the Church jit y. Francis Harbour on the Labrador, lie spent only a week in S. John's after his arrival, and, a favourable opportunity offering, he started at once for his station. The bishop was delighted at receiving such a man into his diocese, and thus reported his departure : — "/?/HC 4, 1850. " Mr. Disney lei't us in good spirits, and surely we ought to rejoice with and for him, that he is in the sure road to preferment if there be any truth in the promise that they who leave father or mother or brethren or sisters, for Christ's sake and the Gospel's, shall receive a hundred- fold." There was no sort of hyperbole or exaggeration in these words : the feeling was that with which the bishop always regarded his own position, which he was wont to speak of as " my opportunities of service." On Sept. 21 of this year (the Festival of S. Matthew) the cathedral was consecrated ; but this event and all connected with the diocese in the autumn of 1850, are H JT i)s MIi; III KDWAlll) FKIM). f< II.M'. V. (It'scribcd l)y tlie liisliop's own ])tMi in tlic InllowiiiL!: IctttM* to tho liov. Yj. CoKiiitl^u: — " 'Till. J\Ii:i!i,iN,' (),'f. 1(1, l.sr.o. "My (loiir Kricnd— I nni tiikiii;^' iidviintii^M' (us iisinil) of tlio cessation of cxtiirniil intcrniption (wliicli I liiivc f)nly on board sin"))) toiipjdy niyscif lo<'|>i8tolnrv dues and duties, and to dischnr'jo an instahniMit oi' , y laryc debts to yourself and many other kind friends. I'nfortiniately a screw steamer witli a rollinro])ri!itiou to the wealthy citizuus (who would ^liidly Imvf |)iiid for pews, or uppropriatcid seats), tliouijh we can ill spare a nuans of raising' an income where tluu'e is no enray for me, to accept my thanks and my blessing ; and believe me, on land or at sea, Your faithful and affectionate brother and grateful friend, EDWARD NEWFOUNDLAND. I had almost forgotten to say, that I am on my way to Bermuda, where I expect to remain till January, and then i 1849 1850.] MISS ION AUY MOXOUkS. 101 "turn hi lilt' ico and aiiow, tlio 'Vost und cold, of New- i>>uii(llaiid. r.S. — Yciii gladdi-n my licurt bv tlu; nu'iition of a candi- date for missionary liononr.s on tlu? coast of Labrador. It was my wisli and intention to cstablisli tbrcc Missions, and place, tlinn' Missionaries on tliat desolate coast. Twn Missions arc already tilled, and I lioix* and believe wcill tilled, by men wbo take j^ncat interest in their work. One s])ent last winter in bis mission, and would be there a{,'ain next winter if it W(fre possible; the other eomnuuiced his labours in dune, and be also fully purposed und desired to have ])assed the ensuing' winter amon^ his scattered sheep ; but havin;^' come to S. John's to attend the Visitati- i CHAPTEE VT. [1851-1858.] •' Lord, Thy Church, in latter (lays, Wiinteth much those holy ways ; Wanteth much that gain, which lies Ever in self-sacrifice." Spiritual Songs by tin; late Rev. Dr. Monsell. As mentioned at the close of the last chapter, a portion of the winter 1850-51 was spent in Bermuda : the See of Nova Scotia had become vacant in the autumn of 1850 by the death of Bishop Inglis, and a proposal was made in some quarters to attach Bermuda once more to that diocese from which it had been separated twelve years before: another proposal to found what is now the See of Nassau and to attach the Bermudas to the Bahamas seemed more promising; the bishop offered to give up 200/. per annum, and regretted that with the increased expenses of tlie Cathedral, the College, the Church ship, and the many other schemes, which were dependent largely on his munificence, he could not offer a larger portion of his own income. In the end nothing was done ; and Bermuda still forms part of the diocese of Newfoundland, and for the future it will be intimately connected with the history of the See, as it gave to the great bishop wlio for thirty-two years laboured so abundantly for every portion of the diocese an honoured tomb. ■P ] 851-1858.] CHURCH SHIP. I(t3 ; -{ if. -?! On liis return to S. Jolin's, tlie bishop made a Visitation of Harbour Briton, holding an Ordination in the Church on Trinity Sunday ; from this place lie continued his Noyage along the southern and western coasts, being afloat more than tliree months. The condition of the Chnrch ship added to his anxieties: in 1849 large repairs were declared to be necessary, but the shorter voyages of tlie following year had been made with the ship in an unsafe state. It was plain that the Hawk must eitlier be repaired or sold, and tlu3 bi.'shop, after the year's cruise was ended, gave the following account of what he called his "steward- ship or apprenticeship " : — "As I was to be afloat several months, it was quite requisite, both for safety and comfort, to lay down a new deck before going to sea. From June 6, wiien I went on board, I did not sleep one night on shore till I reached Halifax en route for Canada in the month of September. 1 dined on shore very seldom. I had always three, and frequently four, companions on board, so that the necessity of making the decks strong and tight, for safety and comfort, will be sufficiently apparent. Some other lepairs of gear and furniture were also required, and attended to as usual ; but I have not yet ventured, on account of the expense, to move the copper. The necessity, however, of doing this has become unavoidable, and will not admit of longer delay in consequence of our having run upon a reef of rocks in my last voyage (on which we remained fixed, though happily not transfixed, for nearly two hours), and on another occasion having grounded in going into a harbour. It seemed quite wonderful (as it was most merciful) that no (apparent) serious damage was done to the good Church ship on eitlier of these occasions. All, I believe, on board expected when we ran upon the reef, as we were going fast before the wind, and were brought up (as the sea phrase is) v 104 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [cii.vi'. vr. . all standing, that the vessel must have stoved, or sprung a leak; but beyond scraping and bruising no injury api)eared to be done. The tide providentially was down when she struck, and after lightening the vessel, by taking out the anchors and two brass guns, and letting off all the water, we rose with the returning flow, and continued our journey with glad and grateful hearts. When, after- wards, we grounded in entering a harbour, we again remained two hours upon the rocks, but we did not strike with the same violence as in the former instance. These circumstances made an examination of the keel and bottom of the vessel indispensable ; but on proceeding to heave her down for that purpose, on my return to S. John's, it was found that the seams were so much open and the sides so much ' cayed, that she could not safely be laid down without previous extensive repairs to the hull. This state of things will not appear extraordinary when it is remembered that the good Church ship was over twelve years old when she came out here, and that she has now been seven years and upwards in this trying climate, exposed to frost and snow in winter (for we have no means of putting her under shelter) and to fogs and rain in summer. These repairs, therefore, preliminary to laying the vessel down, were attended to, and occupied the remainder of the summer or autumn. There remains now that last and greatest trouble and expense of laying down and coppering, with some renovation of rigging and other gear. Instead of copper we intend to use the Muntz metal, which is nmch less expensive, and ought to last five or six years ; and it will be a miracle if the good ship's term of days extends to such a period. That she has escaped so long and with so little injury is a matter tt) me of continual wonder and thankfulness. Now these various repairs cannot be completed for less than 220/. in addition to the ordinary yearly expenses of fitting out. .L 1851-1858.] VISITATION. 105 .<«? Hitherto I have been enabled to meet the yearly expenses Qt" repairs and voyage (not less on an average than 300/.) partly from my ordinary income, and partly from the Special donations. The Newfoundland Church Society has contributed 501. currency towards each of the last three voyages ; and I have thought it right to appropriate from the I-abrador Fund, one year 40/. and the other 30/., for, or towards, the charge incurred on that coast. By these means I have been enabled to keep the good ship in sufficient repair, and to perform my Visitation, not only with as much comfort to myself as such a service is capable of, but, I trust, with considerable satisfaction and benefit to the clergy and others concerned : having afforded a lodging and entertainment to the missionaries in their respective districts, when visiting them ; and celebrated service on board in many settlements which have no church, or other convenient room, for the purpose. In truth, in this respect I imagine I may be an object of envy to many of my brethren even in England ; that my palace and cathedral have accompanied me through all my Visita- tion, and I have had no occasion to disturb any clergy- man's domestic or parochial arrangements. I cannot look forward to the discontinuance, or interruption, of these Visits, su full of holy interest and usefulness, without much concern and anxiety ; but, while my other expenses (chiefly in the Cathedral and College) are increasing, the Newfoundland Special Fund, so liberally supplied hitherto (and I hope I may add faithfully and carefully applied) is at length exhausted ; and I must depend, as in good reason I ought to do, upon my ordinary income and the contributions in Newfoundland. When I say the fund is exhausted, I ought in justice to myself, and for the satisfaction of numerous kind friends and contributors, to remark that I have expended fully 3,000/. in valuable property in S. John's for the purposes of the College and ' 106 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CIIAI'. VI. Collegiate School. One house (used for the Collegiate School) is (luite sufficient, and very suitable, for a bishop's residence, if it should be required for that purpose. The college buildings in which I now reside (in the absence of the vice-principal, who was obliged to return to England before Christmas on account of impaired eyesight; afford accommoilation I'or six students and a vice-president, if UL..narried; and the site is admirably adapted for the larger establishment which we require and desire. I have also purcliased an excellent site for the Ladies' School ; but alas ! it lies unoccupied and unprofitable for want of funds. In the meanwhile, my Ladies' School flourishes in a hired house, and is of great benefit, as lately has been testified in a memorial, signed by the most respectable inhabitants of S. John's, praying the Governor to receive and reconmiend my application for a grant of money to enable me to build a house of brick or stone for that purpose. At present the School is kept in a wooden hous?,, and the danger of fire is very great and very terrible. 1 hope I may be allowed to leave to my successors, and the successors of my present flock, at least the sites and rudiments of educational establishments capable of use and in^'rease according to the growing requirements of the Church in this colony. If, however, circumstances should render such an application of the property not necessary or not expedient, it will be something to have provided a decent and sufficient residence for the bishop of the diocese ; and if the worst comes to the worst, I have little doubt that the property might be disposed of for 3,000/., or an income realized equal to the interest at 5 per cent, on that sum. I am at present in need of, and desirous to obtain, the services of a vice-principal or tutor , but of course have to contend with the mal difficulty of nulla hona or no funds. k ,1 1851-1858.] THE COLLKGIATE SCHOOL. 10/ Let me then mention, what I should require, or at least desire, in, and of, my vice-principal or tutor. In Mm, a cler<,'ynian, unmarried ; a fair scholar, apt to teach, and not unwilhn^ to be taught; able and disposed to take part in Sunday duty either in S. John's or tlie neighbouring out- ports, and to walk occasionally for that purpose eight or nine miles. Need I sa} that all external gifts, powers, and acconi])lishments woidd be of little value without a sound understanding, a right mind, and an honest and good heart, — a heart zealous in the cause, pro ecclcsia Dei. Of him I should expect or desire that he would instruct the students (chiefly in the classics) under the principal's direction or mine ; live with the students (that is, in the same house, and taking meals at the same table, bat of course with separate rooms for study, &c.) ; take the entire domestic management, under my direction — say the service morning and evening, and assist in the Sunday duty at church, either, as I said before, in S. John's or the neigh- bouring cut-ports. Av:d all this for 100/. a year ? No, my good brother. That sum will provide things necessary and convenient for the present life, but the recompense must be looked for elsewhere, and will not be withheld ; ' he shall in no wise lose his reward.' Why should not one of the Jesus College Missionary Fellows undertake such an office ? Is the thought too presumptuous ? But the most pressing of all my requirements, which it was my-chief desire and design therefore to press upon the attention and^mpathy of the Societies and other friends of th^ Colonial\Cliurch in England, is that of inore, cUnjy. But what is to be done for these poor scattered sheep ? and for their scattered shepherds, overborne with toiling and watching and running from fold to fold ? Suppose I could raise 200/. or 300/. a year ; surely two or three might be found who, being so far provided against want and distress, would be ready to endure hardness for these poor ■MM^ 108 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VI. fishermen and for Christ's sake. This is, and I fear always will be, my greatest need ; greatest in importance, greatest in the difficulty of meeting and supplying it. I tremble whenever I think or hear of a probable vacancy." On Christmas Day, 1851, the vessels, books, and pastoral statf presented by anonymous friends in England to the cathedral were bolemnly consecrated by the bishop, the form of prayer and dedication used on the occasion being taken from one which was used by Archbishop Bancroft in the consecration of the plate given l)y Lord Digby for the use of the church of (>olesliill, in the county of Warwick, in 1685. The bishop was careful to instruct the people as to the propriety of the service and the great authorities for its use, viz. Bishop Andrewes, Bishop Patrick, and others. He showed that the same reasons held good for the consecration of vessels and books as for the consecration of a new church ; that the consecration of a church did indeed formally include all vessels and furniture presented at the time, and that for this reason the llubric specifies that " the vessels for the Holy Com- munion are to be placed on the holy table," and that when, as in the case of the cathedral, vessels have been subsequently presented but the bishop's presence has not been possible, the use has consecrated such gifts : never- theless, the bishop being at hand, it seemed that " unless wise and pious men have gi'eatly mistaken the teaching of God's Spirit and of holy writ, we may humbly hope that God, for His dear Son's sake, will allow and accept this service." The services were simple, but full of interest and instruction, and all who were present seemed to have been much impressed by their solemnity and fitness. The greater part of 1852 was spent in S. John's, where the bishop lived in the college, acting as vice-principal ; " and very pleasant the lile is to me," he wrote. He zfj^-zat^: "tja y^y r- 1S:)1-1858.] FIIOM KX(}I,ANL TO BERMUDA. 109 succeeded partially in his endeavours to obtain from the Government an adequate sliare of tlie j^'rant made for educational purposes ; the Romanists obtained their share, as was ri<,dit and just ; but the balance was voted for Pro- testant education generally : the bishop declined to allow the Church, of which he was the ruler, to bo I'anked as one of the Protestant sects, and to assert the proper position of the Church cost hun much labour and exposed him to some obloquy. In -lanuary, 185o, the bishop was in England after an absence of six years, but his stay was a brief one. In the first week of March he set forth again from Liverpool, where again lie had the comfort of the Holy Eucliarist with his friends in the church of the Pev. Cecil Wray. Truly he needed all support and comfort: he was sick in mind and body, and the discomforts that were awaiting him were many. When his double voyage was ended and he was landed at Bermuda, he wrote the following letter to a friend in England who was his frequent correspondent and ever-ready comforter: — "Bermuda, yre needed, more desired,' I found none. My 'companions, or fellow-passengers, were no LIFE OF KDWAKD FKII.D. [(MIAP. VT. tlie most unsatisfactory set of people I ever encountered. Of seventeen or eighteen for Newfoundland three or four only, besides myself, were mend)ers of our Church, and of those in the saloon (nine in number) five were Ivoman Catholics, three Presbyterians, and onv only of our comnni- nion ! These were they which were not a comfort to uie. Had I not reason to cry, ' Woe is me, that I am constrfiined,' &c. ? and fourteen long days this trial enduied, with bad weather, and in an overloaded vessel. Thank- God we arrived safe at Halifax on the Friday (IMarch 1 S). The Bishop of Nova Scotia met me and took me to his house. The next morning I started in a wretched little screw- steamer, which had twice broken her shaft, for Bermuda. I believe it was expected some .accident would happen. The bishop said he should keep a room ready for me. It is impossible to describe the misery of the noises, thumps, and jerks occasioned by the screw, with the rolling and pitching of the little vessel going before a gale of wind, and taking in quantities of water. However, we were not destined to endure all this misery very long, for before ten hours had passed the shaft again snapped, or as the black waiter said, ' went smash.' What a prospectus ! We had no choice but to proceed, as it was blowing a gale, and we continued to scud before it all the foUowinsr night and day. In the middle of the second night a great sea washed our binnacle and lamps overboard, and the man at the wheel nearly shared the same fate. The propeller, or fan, after the shaft is broken, hangs astern, and probably greatly, hinders the vessel's way, but renders it almost impossible to steer her, and to tack. The first three days we had a gale from the north-west, and then another from the south-west, and in consequence we were carried so much to the eastward of our course that the captain doubted whether he should fetch Bermuda at all, and talked of running for the West Indies. I was obliged the 1851 1859.] TilK niHlIOP'.S CHAUGK, 18.M. Ill RciGond iiiglit to abandon my bertli (in coiisoquoncn of tlx' wet, which came in throunh tlio si(lo-li<,'lit), and rollmysolt iimonL,' tlic mail-haf,'s. Ten chiys wo woro in tliis i)li<,dit — and wliat days ! — the '(hiy of days' and all thci lon,i,' week ; and with what companions — three Presbyterians ^the captain and two passengers), iind the fourth of no ])articular Church or denomination, as he himself told me, hut his father was a Methodist, and he is married to a Presbyterian ; sonxitimes he attends the service of the Church of England, sometimes of the Presbyterians, but most com- UKt'dy none. With these, in very close and uncomfortable ])ro\iniity, I spent all the Holy Week and Easter Sunday and Monday, without any other soul to speak to. On the juorning of Easter Tuesday we most happily and providen- tially came right down upon Piermuda, having passed the previous night in some anxiety from not having seen the ' light' We did not make out the place till within about ten miles, quite near enough to put us into some difficulty if the wind had not been quite fair. Try to think of a bishop in such a wretched little vessel, with such company, and in such dreadful weather, all Passion and Eastertide ; remembering also what he had left behind in dear old England. However, on Easter Tuesday we did arrive without harm or accident ; and I hope there was one, at least, who did obey the Psalmist's injunction to praise the Lord for His goodness, &c. 1 hope to be at S. John's by Pentecost." The Charge delivered to the clergy in Bermudp oii S. Mark's Day, 1853, la especially of interest, inasmuch tts it contains the impressions which had been made on the bishop's mind during his brief stay in England. During the years that he had been absent from his native land the Church had made substantial progress, which struck a visitor from afar more than it impressed those who were w* Wff^»^»^PWWI^iP»»" 112 LIFK OF EDWAKI) FEILD. [CIIAI' VI. daily engaged in Church work. Specially ho noticetl the tokens of increased life in the multiplication of churches and schools, in the restoration of dilapidated fabrics everywliere, and in the restoration of the naves of certain cathedrals to their ])roper us( ; he observed too with satis- faction, that the funds for these holy works were not " ]>rovi(led, as too fiequently in former dnys, by questionable bequests of questionably acquired wealth, but by gifts avA offerings which involve in each case large sacrifice of ]»re8(!nt means and emoluments, and have no other object in view than the glory of God and the gooil of His peoi)le." The Church Pciuitentiary Association, witii the houses of mercy connected with it and dotted about the Itind, was a novelty full of interest to the bishop ; the foundation of theological colleges, the discussions of Convocation, and the establish- ment of S. Augustine's College at Canterbury, were cheering i;igns of spiritual vigour which drew forth expr(?ssions of joyful thankfulness from his very heart of hearts. The tilings which he had seen in England led him to urge the Island clergy to many reforms, and especially he recom- mended them to meet periodically under the ]>residency of their Rural Dean for the consideration of things pertaining to their ministry and its efficiency. S. John's was reached before Pentecost, as had been intended, and on Trinity Sunday an Ordination was held. The bishop, it may here be stated, rarely, under any pressure of apparent necessity, ordained except at the appointed seasons ; it seemed to him to be cruel to candi- dates and unjust to the Church to deprive them of the benefit of the prayers of the faithful everywhere offered at the Ember seasons. On June 15 the Hawk, having been repaired and refitted, was ready for sea. The bishop wrote : — " I celebrated as usual the Lord's Supper in the cathe- dral, as the surest and nieetest method of strengthening 1861-1858.] LAIUIADOR. 113 iny friends and brethren, and being myself strengthened for our separation, and of comforting and being comforted in my long absence. Many of my friends accompanied me to the wliarf, and I embarked with the companions of my voyage between three and four o'clock p.m., but finding that matters on board were still in much confusion, we returned to the Evening Prayers in the cathedral at five o'clock. Soon after six we re-embarked, and at seven o'clock were sailing out of the harbour, our friends still attending on the shore, and saluting us with hands and handkerchiefs, which we knew were tokens of praying and well-wishing hearts. These were to be seen, and were seen till we reached the mouth of the Narrows, when just on losing sight of these we passed a large vessel at anchor, the name of which painted both on the sides and stern was ' Blessing.' The word caught every eye, and I believe spoke to every heart. We seemed to depart with a ' blessing ' from the shore and on the sea, and if ao, surely we might fondly hope also from heaven above — ' Blessed ' we surely were in our going out ! " The cruise was intended to include a thorough visitation of the Labrador, where the Rev. G, Hutchinson,^ who had left his pleasant parsonage at West Malvern, was to be stationed. The course shaped was along the eastern shore of Newfoundland, where the mission of Greenspond was visited, and the clergyman, the Rev. Julian Moreton, was cheered by the sight of his bishop and friends after au absence for six months of all such intercourse. Fair winds brought the ship rapidly to Forteau, where ihe Rev. A. Gifford, whose first settlement at this remote spot in 1849 has been already mentioned, greeted the party with a joy which none can realise who have not known what he had experienced. His worldly lot had been much improved. ' Mr. Hutchinson died in his Mission of Topsail on October 5, 1876, 114 LIFE OP EDWAHU FEIM). [»>«Pi« | fc l> ^ ^ .mnmmmWS: 118 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VI. sacrifice or expenditure perhaps for hira, as the whole cost of a cathedral would be to some of those * that have riches.' He was very desirous to have the building con- secrated, and with it the land adjacent, which he and his neighbours had marked out for a grave-yard. I felt little or no difficulty about the church, but could not consent to consecrate the grave-yard while it had no fence. He met that difficulty by engaging to put up a temporary fence of stakes and nets to-morrow, and a more substantial one of rails and pickets before the winter. Feeling sure that his promise, God willing, would be performed, I did not hesitate to grant all his request. He spoke to me with much deep and right feeling of a neighbour who had been his chief associate and assistant in planning and building their church, and whom, after watching over and tending in a long illness, as the physician of both body and soul, he had lately consigned to his last resting-place, in tlie grave-yard of their own choice. ' He had been wild,' he said, ' in his younger days, but for three years he had been an altered character, and before his death he told me all he had done wrong.' The poor man, it seems, had recognised the duty, if not the privilege, of the Apostle's injunction * Confess your faults one to another ; ' and that other duty and privilege had not been forgotten by his friend, 'to pray one for another.* " In the newly-dedicated church many were confirmed, three generations of the same family kneeling together. The people everywhere in these harbours greatly cheered the bishop's spirit. " When will the gold-fields produce such characters ? " he Avrote, " and many such I have found, formed and fashioned in this life of toil, and privation, and separation from the jealousies and suspicions of marts and markets, and of strivings about the truth." At CataUna, after Confirmation had been adminis^'^red, i 1851-1858.] A NEWFOUNDLAND PARSONAGE. 119 i t and the Holy Communion celebrated, another function remained to be performed, and the sketch which the bishop gives of a Newfoundland parsonage, and the difficulties of erecting it, is too good to be omitted : — "At the evening service, Mr. Walsh preached. We then proceeded to inaugurate the new parsonage, taking tea in it, and concluding the evening with prayer, hymns, and Holy Scripture. It was the first time of using it, but within a month or six weeks, it is hoped, the good missionary may be rewarded for his patient occupation for five years of a very cabin (affording but one room as 'parlour, kitchen, and all.' for himself and family), by removing to this, in comparison, comfortable and com- modious, though really small and modest parsonage. It consists of one sitting-room and one kitchen on the ground-floor; and, over these, two good bedrooms, witli two good-sized closets. In the roof is space for two sleeping apartments, but the cold would be too great to allow of their use in winter. It has cost about 229/., besides the sticlcs for the frame, and some gratuitous labour. The offices, however, remain to be provided, which should cost from 201. to 30/. more. Such is a Newfoundland parsonage, five years in construction, but which might have been completed in as many months, with command of sufficient means." In the mission of Trinity, "the most polished and picturesque of all Newfoundland settlements," a more lengthened stay was made ; on the festival of S. Matthew, the anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral, a little church was consecrated in Trouty Cove. Although only thirty feet by fifteen, it had taken thrice as long to complete as the cathedral ; the whole cost was only 60/., but a considerable part of the material had been provided, and much of the work done by the fishermen's own hands. A worthy planter, who had been active in promoting the .fc«. ■MM BSRS jsm ^ 120 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CHAP. VI. building, was present, and, the bishop said, " appeared as pleased with and proud of his little wooden house of prayer, and as thankful for the day of its completion and consecration as many are with the churches which have exhausted the skill of a Scott or Butterfielc^, and been beautified with all the ornaments and enrichments that wealth can supply. He entertained his bishop and clergy with an excellent Newfoundland dinner, viz. tea, hard and soft bread, with butter, eggs, and roasted caplin in abundance." Before this mission was left, an ordination was held in its church on Sunday, September 25, when two were added as deacons to the ministry of the Church, and two deacons were ordained priests. The seventh voyage of the bishop was now drawing tr a close. " At 1 a.m., on Michaelmas Day," the bishop writes, " the anchor went down, and on going on deck I found that we were once more at our first atarting-place, all returned safe and sound. My com- panions, indeed, were safe and sound in their berths ; and after congratulpting and commending the 'skipper' and crew, I had but one other duty to perform before I ' turned in,* and was at rest. I did not go on shore till the hour of divine service (11 o'clock). I then went up with my friends to the cathedral, and publicly returned thanks, fully prepared to join in the beautiful Collect for the festival, and to thank that everlasting God by whose appointment His holy angels had succoured and defended us by land and by sea. The whole service seemed most appropriate to our condition and circumstances, and I never entered so fully and gratefully into it. It was a good day, holy and happy, as Wordsworth sings — *One of those happy days that never die.' " While the good bishop was thus actively engaged in labours that were truly apostolic, for the benefit of this 1851-1868.] OPPOSITION. 121 1 ! scattered people, unscrupulous attempts were made to upset the financial system which he had long before instituted with the approval of the leading laity of the diocese, and by which alone either the Church could be maintained, or the people taught to value their religious privileges. As may be expected the bishop was unmoved, although the governor of the colony took an active part against him, which seems to be inconsistent with the position which he occupied. There were found also persons in England who did not scruple to take up the cry, and one newspaper, that never lias failed in hostility to the bishop or any other consistent Churchman, was true to its antecedents on this occasion. It is unnecessary to lUude at greater length to this miserable affair. The bishop could point to the increasing funds of the Church Society, against which this opposition was directed, and to the readiness with which each household, capable of doing so, contributed their yearly quintal of fish, valued at ten shillings, and his criticism on the condition of things was worthy of himself. " The Church is gaining strength," said he, "and strength of the right sort, strength to suffer as God sees fit." The year 1854 was full of trials and anxiety; the Home Government determined to extend to Newfoundland the questionable blessing of responsible government, tlie immediate result of which was to place all matters in the hands of the majority, which in this case consisted of Roman Catholics ; at the same time some of the leading merchants were quitting the island, and finding other fields in which to invest their capital. Then popular feeling, encouraged by persons who were offended at the bishop's action with regard to the Church Society, ran very high, and seriously impeded him in his labours. Although the question at issue was purely a financial one, the odium theologicum was dragged into the controversy, which it ■P "li ■ •*>»■ 122 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VI. ox t*k'^iv ii.il ^ inflamed and protracted. The cry of Puseyisra and Trac- I tarianism was freely raised. It would fall very fiat now, because we have all, consciously or otherwise, imbibed the teaching which those reproachful terms were supposed to cover; just as the cry of Kitualism will fall flat in ten years' time, when we shall all have become, consciously or other- \ wise, Eitualists : but in 1854 it answered the purpose for ■ which it was raised. In the summer S. John's was visited 'by cholera. The bishop made to the Board of Health an offer of the college to be used as a cholera hospital, and when the plague was stayed he suggested that the most fitting form in which the gratitude of the preserved could be exhibited would be the erection of an asylum for the widows and destitute ; for this he offered a site close to the rectory and cathedral, and assistance towards the build- ing, adding that he "should esteem it an honour and privilege to build and maintain it at his own cost, but he neither had the means, nor if he had should he think it right to deprive others of a share in such a work." Early in 1855 the bishop was again in Bermuda, and on Ascension Day he consecrated a new church, which was to be a quasi-cathedral. After only five days spent on his return in S. John's, he started on a three months' visitation of the southern and western coasts, and to his great thank- fulness was enabled to accomplish one very important work, which is described in the following letter : — *'The Church Ship, Burin, Sept. 26, 1855. " Se' 3ral years ago (nine or ten, I believe) the inhabi- tants of Channel (all fishermen) built for themselves a place of worship, to be used, as they said, ' by any good man who came along' — clergyman, Methodist preacher. Baptist, or any other professed Protestant. The majority, however, after my visit to the place in 1849, were desirous of making over the building to the bishop to be VI. 1851-1858.] CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH. 123 consecrated, and of procuring a resident missionary ; but a few of the more wealthy planters, who had contributed most largely to the building, were strict Methodists, and refused to consent to the consecration, and relinquish their rights, without being paid the value of their contri- butions in work and material. In the hope of obtaining a settlement, I sent Mr. Boland to the place, and all parties willingly consented to his occupying and using the building, and some progress was made towards satisfying some of the recusants. But there was really no residence to be had in the place for love or money, and after remaining for some months (I believe nearly twelve months), in part of a fisherman's house with Mrs. Boland and his son, to the great discomfort of all parties, he was obliged to quit, and removed to Sandy-point, S. George's Bay, then just deserted by Mr. Meek. No sooner had he gone than the Methodists again made a descent upon the place. On my arrival at Channel in July, I found that Mr Du Val had so far succeeded with the people that all hut two were willing to give up the building and consent to the consecration, without payment, and that these two would also give up and consent upon being paid, and, moreover, that his congregation undertook to subscribe to purchase a residence to the amount of 100/. — a very handsome sum for these tishermen. Under these circumstances, I did willingly, and I may say joyfully, give, on behalf of our Church Society, fifty pounds to secure the church, and another fifty towards the parsonage ; and I had the great satisfaction of consecrating the building on S. James's Day, by the name of ' The Church of S. James the Apostle,' and on the same day of holding a Confirma- tion in it (the first ever celebrated in the district) ; and finally of taking possession of the modest wooden mission- house, which Mr. Du Val is to occupy, after some repairs, on Michaelmas Day. .--' ■■«.- ■»■• 138 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [ CilAl'. VI. " Of Mr. Mountain I would say, if he was less generally known, that must be put to his praise ; for it was by his own choice, and in sincere self-denial and deep humility, that he laboured for seven years in an obscure and remote mission in this island ; when he might have obtained and would have adorned a high position in the Church at home, amid numerous fond and admiring friends. But he was prejmred, in the true spirit of a disciple and minister of Christ — he was prepared and enabled by God's grace, to leave all for Christ's and the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. It is not, I trust, improper to mention that, conscious of a high and fiery temperament by nature, he conti- nually sought by prayer and fasting, in denial cf self and labours of love for others, that this and every other kind of evil spirit might be cast out. His labours, and I might truly add, his sufferings as a missionary were, in some respects, peculiarly great and exemplary, inasmuch as, always afflicted more or less by sea-aick- noss, he continued to visit the numerous settlements of his extensive district in the boats and vessels of the fishermen, as well as in one built for himself: and, though by nature and education of highly refined taste, never drew back from the meanest lodging or coarsest fare. Often in the fisherman's cottage he would sleep, or pass the night, on a bench or settle, to be ready with or before the dawn to meet the men going forth to their work, that they might not go without prayers and a blessing. His boat was built chiefly that he might have opportunities of private conference with those who sought, or who, without seeking, might be induced to receive his counsels and instructions. His own residence was always open as a place of lodging and refreshment to the poorest of his flock ; and on some occasions the sick and diseased were received only to die there in comparative comfort, having things necessary for their bodily and spiritual \' ' 1801-1808.] A NOBLE MINISTRY. 139 I 1 wants. I cannot forbear the expression of my special admiration of, and gratitude for, the manner in whicli he fulfilled all the duties required of him in the new and arduous office of Eural Dean ; visiting frequently all the clergy of hio district, corresponding witli them, receiving and entertaining them at his own hovise, and in all ways and occasions instructing, counselling, and encouraging them not by word only, but by example. In his church the order of Morning and Evening Prayer daily throughout the year was never intermitted for any cause but his own illness or absence from home. His collections for the Church Society increased to a large amount, and were duly transmitted from a poor district, though we may be sure he felt all an English gentleman's repugnance to require or receive contributions, which were supposed, or repre- sented, to be for his own support or benefit. He was persuaded that such acknowledgments are due to the Church always and in all places, and in this country necessary for the spiritual maintenance and growth as well of the individual members as of the Church at large. Even the poor, he thought, might thus prove, and im- prove, their devotion to their church and minister ; and, by acknowledging this among their first debts, might find the sure and full reward of their honesty and industry. I have dwelt longer upon these parts of his life and ministry, both because in these the exceeding grace of God in him was specially manifested, and because to the majority of you they may be specially instructive and encouraging. And, for the same reasons, I must not omit to menlion, that, in the midst of these manifold labours and services, he ever remembered and kept his promise to * be diligent in Prayers, and in reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same,' by which studies he arrived at those sound and enlarged views of divine truth which our Church has instructed us to preach ii ihiMi w 240 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CHAl'. VI. as gatliered out of tho old Fathers. To these, witli a view to tlie knowledge of Holy Scripture, he gave much time and attention ; and the result and reward were, as I believe generally to be the case, that deeper insight into and appreciation of tlie Catholic faith, and of the necessity of keeping it whole and undefiled." The spiritual condition of the diocese was such as gave the bishop much satisfaction : ho urged the clergy to continue in that fearless reproof of evil doing " the blessings of which were already in some cases seen and felt, not, it may be, in revivals or any outward demonstrations, but in the very fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long-sulfering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." The controversies which had raged and culminated at the previous Visitation had now subsided : the newspapers had ceased to revile the bishop, and now with much dignity and gentleness he ended his Charge with the following comment on the storms which had passed away : — " Having sustained the trial, 1 may, now without incon- sistency, congratulate you and myself, and humbly thank God for the absence at this time of all such causes of irritation and distress. I think it right now to inform you, in explanation of a remark in my last Charge (that I was then probably addressing you for the last time), that in consequence of the complaints and accusations circulated against me, and the manner in which they appeared to be entertained in England, I felt it my duty to submit to the Bishop of London, at whose instance I was promoted to this office, and to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by whose liberality I am so largely supported, that I was more than ready, more than willing to resign, if in their judgment the work of the Church or the interests o4" the Society were hindered or prejudiced by the course I had adopted, and which I felt bound in honour and con- science to pursue. My presence here at this time and on w 1851-186^1 CONTROVEUSY ENDED. in this occasion is a sufficient intimation of tlio answers I received, sul)stantially the same from both parties ; snlh- cient to show that such a change was not then thouglit necessary or expedient. And where are now the attackers and their attacks ? Lot us humbly hope that God has graciously heard and answered that prayer which our Cliurch has instructed us to use, and whicli I trust we did, and do, and shall use in every such case, that it may please Him to forgive our enemies, persecutors, nnd slan- derers, and to turn their hearts. God forgive them and us — God make them and us more sensible of our faults and offences, our infirmities, and our sins — fJod enable us to know — for how otherwise can we know ? — that which is deceitful above all things and dosperately wicked — our own heart. When that and all its hidden evils are known, and by God's abundant grace for His dear Son's sake corrected, it will be time to take up the weapons of Controversy. Till then, prayers and tears are the weapons of the Church." • . The bishop spent the rest of the year in S. John's. The archdeacon had gone to Canada for a few weeks, the bishop taking charge of the cathedral and other services and duties. " I have the diocese and the cathedral on my hands just now," he wrote ; " they are always on n.y heart!"' Thus ended 1858. * CHAPTER VII. I [1859-1863. J " LulT.iinf, Earth, be M'an* ■ 1 : "tcrneat climo And nulodt ago are Hiihjpct to '"he thrill Of heaven-descended Piety.' Wordsworth. Early in the year 1859 the bishop paid a brief visit to England to give an account of wliat he called "my stewardship or apprenticeship." Below is the statement which he published, as satisfactory a rhum6 of nearly fifteen years' labours as any could desire, especially whf :i two facts are taken into account — (1) the exceptional character and conditions of Newfoundland and its T^eo^-uc; (2) that all the progress here recorded was made without the slightest sacrifice of principle by a bisho]> who des^-I cJ popularity, and not only never aimed at obtaining it, but J:d very many things from a sense of duty wliich rendered it impossible that he should be what is understood by the word " popular." The bishop wrote: — "When I first went to Newfound- land (1844) almost all the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel were receiving 20(U. a year from the Society; a few, some three or four (deacons, I believe), only 150^. The late bishop (Spencer) had insisted w 1859-1863.] RESULT OF FIFTEEN YEARS' WORK. 143 upon this (the larger amount) as necessary ; and T am iu»t prepared to say he was wrong. But tlie sums contributed by the congregations were wretchedly small. Since 184G no fresh missionary lias received from the Society more tlian 100/. a year ; and the general contributions of the people have risen from between 400/. and 500/. a year, to uj)warils of 2,000/. This reduction was made by the Society, and these contributions required of the people, on the under- standing that the sums saved by the reduction should be applied to the creation and support of new missions ; the contributions of the people going to make up the mis- sionary's income. And this has been faithfully acted upon. New missions have been formed, and missionaries placed and supported (without, I think, any additional drain upon the Society's funds) at Channel, La Poele, Hermitage Cove, Harbour-Briton, Burin, Portugal Cove, and Herring Neck in Newfoundland, and at Forteau and Battle Island on the Labrador. New cliurches have been built and consecrated at all those places, and many (sixteen or seventeen) others. Parsonage-houses have been built, or purchased, at Channel, Hermitage Cove, Burin, Portugal Cove, Port de Grave, Bay Roberts, Bay de Verd, Heart's Content, Catalina, Herring Neck, Moreton's Harbour, Forteau and Battle Island. A new church is just com- pleted and ready for consecration (at a cost of 3,000/.) in S. John's, and a house for the clergyman, with some tenements towards an endowment, at a cost of about 1,080/. All these works and others of a like kind, done and doing without any assistance from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, almost entirely by the ^jcqp/r, with assistance from my own funds. Thus then we have : — Since 1846, nine new missions ; four once served by school-masters, now served by missionary priests ; twenty-five or twenty-six churches finished and conse- crated ; thirteen parsonages built or purchased ; new IMIPiaap^ii^PP^fVfr- Ui LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VII. stone church built in S. John's, with parsonage and partly endowed ; College built and partly endowed." In May the bishop was once more in S. John's and planning a summer cruise in the Hawk. In spite of all his labours there was one part of the diocese which he had never visited, viz., White Bay, a remote district on what is called the French shore. This French shore, wiiich is nearly one-half of the whole coast-line of Newfoundland, extends, as has been mentioned before, from Cape S. John on the north-east to Cape Eay on the south- west : within these limits the French Government has so protected and systematized their fishing as to defy competition, and therefore British subjects were wont neither to fish nor to settle there. In 1857, however, a census had been taken which revealed the hitherto unsuspected fact that there was a large population in White Bay professing to belong to the Church- of England, and the bishop accordingly resolved that his next voyage should be made in their interests. On 3. Peter's Day the Hawk weighed anchor, the bishop and his party ha^'ing, as on former occasions, joined with the clergy and friends who were to remain behind, in receiving the Holy Eucharist before embarking. A week was spent at the important Mission of Twillingate, and then the Visitation proper of White Bay was commenced. • This was as much a voyage of discovery as when years before the Hawk first sailed round the western shores and oil to the Labrador. At Little Harbour deep, the first anchorage, no sign of "livers" appeared, except a man and woman returning in their boat from their salmon nets, which they overhaul twice a day. The log states : — " \»/e took them on board, and having no pilot, were glad lo avail ourselves of the man's knowledge of the place in beating in, which occupied two hours, as the wind was blowing strongly and directly out. Theirs was 1859-1863.] WHITE BAY. y 1 ,; ' the only family living in the harbour. "We informed them of the object of our visit, which appeared to please them gieatly, and they promised to send to their neighbours in (irandfather's Cove, very early to-morrow morning, and acquaint them with our presence, and our intention to have services on board the Church ship. The appearance of these people was not so wild as might be expected from their wild and lonely life. In the summer they occupy, by themselves^ this large harbour, shut in by immense cliffs, which no person ever ascends or descends. In the winter they occupy and possess the Horse Islands, lying several miles from the shore, sur- rounded for months by ice. Seldom in either place do they see any human being, }^ except the members of their own family, and not one of the family can read. In summer they catch salmon and codfish ; and- in the winter kill seals. And yet they are not heathens or savages. The woman, though rowing, was very neatly dressed, with a necklace, but no other super- fluous finery; the man was tidy : both were civil. They presented us with two salmon, all they had in their boat, and promised us finer ones to-morrow. They expressed much pleasure at the prospect of attending the services." The ignorance of these poor people was as dense as can Avell be imagined : they attended the service on board the Church ship and the little ones were baptized, but their elders indeed occupied the room of the unlearned. " There is something (wrote the bishop) of both pleasure and pain in these quiet services ; pleasure, in hoping that God, in His mercy, may bless some word of exhortation, or some prayer, to the edification of these forsaken ones ; pain, in observing how by the people themselves the prayers and lessons seem to be wholly not appreciated, or not understood. Not one could read, several of them had never heard the service before, so they rose up and L 146 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [ruAV. vii. knelt down as automatons ; and would, I doubt not, liave been just as ready to kneel at the Psalms as at the Confession, and to sit at either, or both, as when hearing the lessons or sermon. After the service, one man bought a Prayer-book for his daughter, and we gave them several children's books and tracts. I examined the bigger children after the service ; one girl, probably ten or twelve years of age, could not repeat the Lord's Prayer or the Creed ; a second imperfectly ; a third tolerably well. It was, indeed, pitiful ; and enough to fill the heart of any pastor, and specially their chief pastor, with sorrow and shame." At Bear Cove the deplorable ignorance of the poor people most anxious to be taught is almost incredible, and must have depressed the spirits of all who witnessed it. The journal records as follows : — " We said the Evening Prayers, which I fear must have been parables to these poor people, several of whom had lived here and in the neighbouring coves all their life, and had never belbre seen a clergyman, or heard the service. After the second lesson, the baptisms had to be performed, and sad and strange were the discoveries made by the question, whether the child or person (for some were fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen years of age) had been baptized or not ? Of all it was answered they had been baptized ; but some, it appeared, could not tell by whom ; some by fishermen, several by a woman — the only person in the settlement (and she a native) who could read correctly. One woman (married) was baptized, hypothetically, with her infant. Twenty-one in all were admitted, the majority with hypothetical baptism. Both of the women who came to be married had infants in their arms; one of them had three children. Not one person in the whole settlement could read correctly, except the woman before mentioned; her husband (a 1859-1863.] DESTITUTION IN WHITE BAY. 147 - native of B: 3f Islands) a little. He had, however, been emplo_; ,d to marry one of our present couples, which he confessed to me with some shame and con- fusion of face, saying, 'he had picked the words out of the book as well as he could make them out,' but he did not baptize, because ' that reading was too hard ; ' in fact, he could scarcely read at all, he left the baptisms therefore to his wife. I addressed the people after the baptisms, trying to make them understand the meaning and purpose of that Sacrament, and again after the prayers, on their obligations as baptized. After this service, Mr. Johnson married the two couples, and I examined the children in their prayers and belief, which I found most of them could repeat more or less correctly, but not one knew a letter of the alphabet. It was con- siderably after nine o'clock before we could dismiss our visitors, and sorry they seemed to be dismissed as I was to dismiss them. Poor people! the fair faces of the children wouM have moved the admiration of a Gregory ; and the destitute, fors;iken condition of all would move the compassion of any one who believes they have souls to be saved ; how much more if those souls in any sense were committed to his charge. But what can I do more for« them, and, alas ! for many others almost equally destitute and forsaken ? It is but too probable that never again, either myself, or by others, shall I be able to minister to their wants. To-morrow with the first dawn, the men and boys will be all out on their fishing-grounds, the women busy in their houses, the elder girls nursing the younger children ; and I must be on the move to perform a like perfunctory service to others in the same state of ignorance, of whom I believe there are more than two hundred in this bay." In Seal Cove, the bishop, who was followed by people from other harbours anxious to make the most of his visit and to enjoy his ministrations while they could, met with L 2 148 LIFE OF EDWARD FEUD. [til A I* VII. a poor and pious fisherman who had lost his wife in giving birth to her twelfth child. le pointed out the spot where he had himself committed her body to the ground (the first and only one buried In the place), which he had carefully fenced and desired to have consecrated. Nine of his twelve children he had carried to Twillin- gate to be christened {i.e. received into the Church after private baptism), but three remained whom he desired now to be received. All of these had been baptized by lay hands; two of them, he said, ''had been very well baptized,'' i.e. by a man who could read well; tlie third case did not satisfy him. This was told the bishop before the service, and when, in the service, he was asked, as the Prayer-book directs, " By whom was this child baptized ? " he answered, " By one Joseph Bird, and a fine reader he was." This Bird, who on account of his fine readin*' had been employed to baptize many children in the bay, was a servant in a fisherman's family. Corroborative testimony is always interesting, and on this ground a letter of the Rev. G. M. Johnson, one of the bishop's companions in this voyage, is added : — " It has been my privilege this year to attend the bisho]) in a Visitation voyage of fifteen weeks' continuance. The bishop visited first White Bay, which had never seen a clergyman, and where no services of the Church had ever before been performed. Here were found many harbours, containing each on the average about six families of simple and hardy fishermen, but witliout instructors or instruction of any kind. They seemed very glad of the bishop's visit, and very eager in their attendance upon the services on board. It fell to my lot to baptize and receive into the Church 140 souls. This number included persons of all ages, from nearly seventy, the age of the oldest man baptized by me, to an infant not quite a month old. Twelve couples were married by me, many of them 1859-1863.] DESTITUTION IN WHITE BAY. 149 ■i having lived for years as man and wife, under only such sanctions as a fellow-fisherman's services — unable him- self, perhaps, to read well — could give, and having large families. In proof of the sad destitution of these people, I may mention that scarce one in the whole circuit of the Bay could read, and that one man — he a kind of prophet among them — gave, as a reason why he did not take upon himself to baptize as well as to marry, that the baptismal- service was too hard for him. And in testimony of their appreciation of one who could read a little better than his fellows, I may mention that a man told me of one of his children, that it was much better baptized than the others ; and another, in answer to my public question in the service, 'By whom was this child baptized?' added aloud, after giving the person's name, ' and a fine reader he was too.' One family, all the children of which, eight in number, I received into the Church, was the family of a man who had himself baptized and married others. The services performed for this man's family, whose eldest daughter was eighteen years of age, were completed by the marriage of the parents. In another harbour I baptized and received into the Church a mother and her half-grown daughter and sister. One only of these liad ever even seen a clergyman, and when the elder woman saw her younger sister baptized, she was fairly moved to tears. It was grievous to find these poor people so sadly destitute in all these things, and almost more grievous still to leave them in their destitution. How- ever, the bishop's visit, in itself a blessing, will I hope lead to better things for White Bay." Perhaps to some persons it seems very much like chopping a block with a razor to have sent such a man as Bishop Feild to minister to these poor dull souls : " a waste of power " is the frequent verdict of superior cynicism, when a man, fitted to take his place among ^*»*. r^-mJt •»"* " -«.■,•.*».».. ? 160 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CHAI'. vir. tlie foremost, for the love of God and of souls devotes himself to the lowliest : if amid these depressing scenes the thought of the Common Room at Oxford with its congenial society, or of the beautiful country parish on the Wye with his round of placid but duly performed services, came before the mind of the bishop, it is no more than we should from our knowledge of human nature expect to find : but no record of any such wistful look- ings-back finds place in his journals. The only passage which, however remotely, alludes to such a feeling is the following: — " The Gospel for the Sunday gave me occasion to preach to them and myself on the ' Parable of the Lost Sheep ; ' to myself, to make me ashamed of thinking much of serving or ministering to these two or three in the wilder- ness ; and to them, to make them, and each of them, I trust, more grateful to the good Shepherd who came Him- self on the same errand on which He sends His ministers to seek for every one that is lost and gone astray, and Who assures us there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. The day was as bright and the scene as lovely as could be desired for any Sabbath on earth, and I greatly enjoyed the rest and peace." On this voyage the bishop completed the fifteenth year of his residence in Newfoundland, and his meditations on the circumstance show how little the thought of self ever entered into his mind. " Fifth Simday after Trinity, July 24. At Enol^e. "The fifteenth anniversary of my first Sunday in Newfoundland. Shame that this should be my first, in these fifteen years, which I have given to Englee. And what a contrast ! Then I went from Government House in the Governor's carriage, with His Excellency and Lady Harvey, to preach my first sermon, and administer for the first time the Holy Communion (it was the first ki. ■^- ■■ ir. es ts ■)n 1859-1863.] FIFTEENTH ANNIVEItSAllY. 151 i Sunday in July) in my cathedral church. The occasion, with a fine day, brought a crowded congregation. Here, on this fifteenth anniversary, I am at Englee in Canada Bay, on the French shore, a place inhabited by four families of fishermen, several of whom never saw a clergyman or church, very few of whom can read, not one able to follow the Order of Prayer intelligently, not one confirmed, not one prepared to receive the Holy Comnmnion, nearly half only yesterday received into the Church. To make the contrast greater and more dreary, the day is miserably wet and cold, so that several of the few who otherwise could have attended were unable to come on board the Church ship, on which the service was held, there being no convenient place on shore. I celebrated the Holy Communion (as on every Sunday), but no person partook of it except my own com- panions in the ship. The only novel, or additional service, to mark more strongly the contrast of time and place, was the conditional baptism of the poor idiot boy on shore, between the Morning and Evening Prayers. He behaved very well, knelt down and was quiet, and seemed to be quite aware that something of solemn importance was being done. At the Evening Service (the rain having abated) nearly all the inhabitants came on board. I preached, as usual, morning and evening. After the Evening Service, children's books and tracts were distri- bute^^ and some Prayer-books sold. !"lany inquiries were made about persons and subjects connected with the Church in S. John's. Such is the fifteenth anniversarv of my first Sunday, and first service in my diocese : and if the day of small things has come at the end rather than the beginning, who can tell which shall be blessed, whether this or that, or whether both shall be alike good ? " The Hawk went on her way, and tlie bishop visited a portion of the Labrador coast, depositing a missionary at ■ 152 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [('II AT. VII. Forteau in the room of the Rev. A. Giffonl, whose t^^n years' residence had made him a victim to rheumatism, and driven him to seek a sphere of work in a mihler region. [He is nuv/, it may be stated, in the diocese of Dunedin, New Zealand.] As the voyage progressed the winds seem to have become increasingly adverse, and on the western coast fog was added to the other discomforts. It was when thus helplessly at the mercy of the elements, that the following letter was written to the Eev. Canon Seymour : — " The Church Ship, off the Bay of Islands, Aug. 6, 1859. " My dear Friend,- -Need I assure you, that you and your family and pleasant parsonage (to say nothing of the schoolroom) are often in my thoughts, as I drive about through fog and foam on these desolate shores. Only think of my having been now more than five weeks without having heard anything from or of, not only my friends in England, but those in S. John's or any part of Newfound- land, save only those whom I have myself visited. Have I not opportunity and occasion to direct my thoughts to the pleasant places and kind friends, with and from whom I took counsel and other comfort in dear old England ? But you have been specially ca^^.ed and recalled to my mind to-day by the perusal of a sermon of Kingsley's, in which he speaks in strong terms of reprobation of a clergyman administering the Lord's Supper to himself in private, which was one of the subjects on which we conversed in our pleasant drive from Kinwarton to Snitterfield. I do not suppose Mr. Kingsley is a person of much authority in such matters, and he has made, I think, two or three mistakes in this very sermon ; but he is a man of strong mind and strong feelings, and on these accounts, his opinion may be deserving of notice. The sermon I allude to is one for Whitsunday, in the volume i,^ k.-„. IJJSO 1863.] DIFFICULT SAILING. 153 , of 'Sermons on National Sul»jocts,' a somewhat stranj^e title in reference to at least half the sermons. I have in this voyage for the first time found leisure to make myst4f acquainted with some of his writings, which I have so often heard spoken of with admiration. This comparative leisure for reading is the compensation for the absence of all social intercourse with relations and friends, whetlier by letters or word of mouth. If your large chart still hangs in your dining-room, you may perhaps think it worth while to look for the Gulf of S. Lawrence, and imagine nie in the Church ship for five days fighting against a head-wind with fog in reaching from Forteau on the Labrador in the Strait of Belle Isle to this place, which is no place, for I am bound to S. George's Bay in Newfoundland, where I had hoped to spend a quiet Sunday (to-morrow) and to hold a Confirmation, and where I have been expected the last fortnight ; and if this wind continues (directly ahead) I may be another week in reaching so far; and after my work is done there I have to visit, please God, all the missions and churches on the south shore from Cape Ray to S. John's, in the worst season, or most stormy in tha year ; so that the delay is very trying, — but such is a Visitation by sea in a sailing- vessel. You may perhaps remember that, when I 'bestowed all my tediousness ' upon you in your sclioolroom, I spoke of my desire and intention, please God, (1) of visiting in the first place the various harbours in White Bay on the N.E. coast of Newfoundland, never before visited by me or any clergyman of our Church ; (2) of conveying a missionary to Forteau in the Labrador, to relieve Mr. Gifford, who has lived and laboured on that desolate shore ten years ; and (3) of calling and confirming in all the missions on the southern shores. The two former objects I have, thank God, happily accomplished without any accident or unexpected trial. The third, which will " 164 LIFE OF b:dwakd FKILD. [CUAI'. VII occupy more than two-thirds of my tiino and hibour in this Visitation, will commence in S. George's Bay, if 1 am permitted to reach so far, but the delay since leaving Forteau has been and is very great and very trying. In twenty-one days uid nights, we have not made in a direct course more than 120 miles, having sailed, I suppose, three times that distance, in fighting against the head- wind, and in the same time have not once seen till to-day, the shores of Newfoundland, along wL i we are coasting, in consequence of the fog. No^r we are off tl»e Bay of Islands, into which I would gladly enter, as there is no hope of reaching S. George's Bay to-day, to spend the Sunday. But while I am writing the fog has again come on, and there seems little hope of obtaining tlie rest and respite, and of affording to the poor people in that Bay the sight of a clergyman, which they have not had for four years, i.e. since I last visited them. You may ask, how could 1 think of passing them by? Alas! if you knew to how many destitute sheep and flocks this question would apply, 50 in one harbour, 100 or 150 in another, who never see a clergy- man or minister except when I can visit them once in four or six years, you would know some of the grief and shame I feel in passing by — will you say, like the priest or Levite, on the oth'^r side ? Within the last twenty-four hours I have prssed three such settlements, I mean without priest jr raster (1) with forty-eight, (2) with seventy. seven, and the third (3) with thirteen, all professed members of our Church, who have never seen a clergyman in their settlements except when I have visited them. And I had not intended to call at the Bay of Islands, where reside 118 of my flock, if I had not been overtaken by this head-wind, which leaves me no hope of reaching my next proposed place of call by Sunday. I feel, I confess, very thankful (though the delay is and will be a sad hindrance and disappointment to others rather than lHr.0-18fl3.J DIFFICUIT SAIUNO.' IfiB myself), tlmt my way lias been so ordered for me, and with kind ri'^^'ards iiiid n blessing to all your household, 1 remain, my dear Sir, Yours sincerely, KHWAKD NEWFOUNDLAND. " Bay 1 Gkorok, Aug. 15, 1859> " P.S. — When I finished my letter on Saturday, T mentioned that we were tryinjjf to get into the Bay of Islands. We did not succeed, the head- wind was too strong, and we had tlie mortification of l)eing obliged to stand out to sea fur the night, and a very dirty, disngree- able night it was. However, the Church sliip did her duty, and in the morning we were just to the windward of the entrance and ptood in for our Sabbath at Lr.rk ]Iarbour in the 15ay of Islands. Just compare my Siaiday morning with yours, after considering the antecedents. Disappointed in our expectation of making the harbour, we were beating all night against a very heavy heud-wind, with two reefs in our main-sail, and a reef in each of the other principal sails. The rolling of the vessel and the dashing of the water against the sides prevented sleep and rest. At two o'clock, hearing the rudder, which was making a great noise, I went on deck, and found the helmsman had been obliged i< leave the wheel to assist in tacking ; and in nothing but a nightsliii ^ and nightcap, without shoes or slippers, I supplied iiis place till the vessel had come round. I felt, however, more than recom- pensed when, at six o'clock, I found there was a good prospect of getting into harbour, and ministering to a congregation who had not seen a clergyman for four years. It was still, however, blowing half a gale, and it took us till ten o'clock to beat to the anchorage, or, if you please, to get to church. On our way, we saw our congregation scattered here and there ; mostly at work as on other days, 1S6 l.irE OF EDWARD FEILD. [('II A I' VI t. except thftt they do not fisli : somo wen; tiirniii<,' tlieir fish, soiiH^ conveying ])iirrels on board an Aniericim scliooner lying in the harl)oui', some just returning from tlieir fiHliing-grounds, where they hiid spent tin; niglit. My two chaplains rowed on shore, to invite tlie several ">artie8 to attend the service on board llie Clinrcli sliii>, — nn invitation which most of them accepted gladly ami thankfully. It was, however, nearer one o'clock tin n twelve before they could all be assembled for the Morning Service. We had the Evening Service at five o'clock. Three children were brought to lu; received into the Church who had been baptized by some fisherman ; and three couples came to be married who had respec- tively been living together as man and wife, one couple for twelve or thirteen years, another thr(>c years, the third a few months. The first couple (the father) had brought two children to be baptized at my visit ten years ago, but could not be married, as I was just then sailing out of the bay. I addressed the congregation at each service, examined some, and gave little books to those who could read." The voyage was ended on October 13 ; forty-eight places had been visited, one church and thirteen cemeteries had been consecrated, and Confirmation administered in twonty- eight places. S. Mary's Church on the south side of the harbour of S. John's was consecrated in the autumn, and thus another centre of religious life and parochial organization was added to the capital. In Jaimary, 1860, Bermuda was again visited, but the stay now made was shorter than in former years ; there were many reasons for the bishop desiring to be at S. John's. The increasing poverty of the colony gave him much anxiety, because such a state of things meant increasing poverty of the clergy, possibly a .i..»r-^^SB«I', ^rmtiums':, ■ «*«*^ f ' ■*• -«4.'i • '*' * V • I8r)9-18fla.l DEPRESSION OF NEWFOUNDLAND TUADK. 157 reduction of their aliciuly iiisuniclcut mniil)orH. In Juno ho wrote — "Thi! business and trade of tliis country are passing into the hiinda of Scotcinnon uiid IMoHbytoriuns ; add to this jJrogrosHivo and, I fear, permanent deterioration of our worldly eondition, two eonsc^cutive years of hud fishery, both of seal and cod. I reully (h)n't know what will become of my brethren antl their tk)ckH. I help ilicm what I can. 1 pay nearly 200/., j)er annum to dill'erent missionaries, to one lii.s wiiole stipend, 100^. j)er annum. lUit I could not have done this if my late visit to Kngland had not produced me nearly 500/., tiiough I made no direct jippetd or ap])lication anywhere or to anyone ; but it would bo a most miserable business to leave my work and diocese every third year and go begging in luigland." The visit of the I'rince of Wales was paid in July of this year, and the bishop was loyally anxious to bo in his place on so important an occasion. It may bo said too that he was e(iual nnd more than equal to the occasion. His was a loyal soul, and the presence of the heir-apparent in the insignificant colony called out his enthusiasm to the full. The Address which he ])resented isa model of its kind, and th" visit of the Prince to the cathedral, to which he presenteu a Bible in memory of the occasion, seems to have given the bishop all but the most unmixed satisfaction ; there was just the " amari aliquld " which the good bisho]) did not conceal ; the visit was paid on S. James's Day after the usual service, and in the account which the bishop gave of the day's iloings, was written with perfect simplicity : " I took the liberty of saying that only one circumstance would have been more gratifying to myself, my clergy, and the con- gregation, viz. that of His Eoyal Highness attending the service and joining in our worship, and he was pleased to reply that he would gladly have done so had his other engagements permitted. Ou leaving by the north porch, 158 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. vii. to my great surprise and greater gratification, he offered to walk across the road to my residence, and, followed by his suite, he entered, I presume for the first time in his life, a wooden-house. He went into both my sitting-rooms aud into my little private chapel, taking such notice and making such remarks as he knew would be gratifying to me." These pleasant doings over, the bishop had to go to the V'jant mission of Burin, where many difficult matters required his presence. How he got there, and in what fashion he lived while there, the following letter shows ; — T " BuRiN, Oct. 5, 1860. " I came to this place a week ago. It will give you some idea of the difficulty and delay attending travelling in this country if I inform you of the route by which I intended to come, and by which I must have come, but for the great kindness and generosity of a merchant, not a member of our communion, who sent me in his tug steamer without any expense. I left S. John's on Friday morning at ten o'clock, and arrived here the following morning at 7.30. The distance is 150 miles. The mail by which I must otherwise have come left S. John's on the previous Tuesday morning and arrived here on the following Monday in the afternoon, taking a week to perform the journey, partly by land and partly by sea, which had occupied the steamer twenty-one hours and a half; and the gain to me was not merely in time, but I was enabled to bring with me one of my students and a little serving-boy and provisions, clothes, and some furniture, at no expense, or at least without any charge, most of which it would have been impossible to have brought overland. The steamer having landed me and my goods, returned immediately. Let it not diminish your gratitude for, or at any rate your admiration of, the 1859-1863.] DIFFICULTY OF COMMUNICATION. l.*)!) i' ' liberality of the good Presbyterian merchant, if I mention that he has more than once performed the same kind service for the Roman Catholic Bishop. Another illustration of the difficulty of communication in this country (in connection with my present business) may not be uninteresting. I am nov/ within forty miles of Lamaline and Mr. R , and I am most anxious to bring Mr. R here. I have written to him three times by three different routes to that effect, twice before I left S. John's and once since my arrival, but I do not suppose that either of my letters has yet reached him, and if I were to offer 10/. I could not get a direct messenger. There is no road between the places, and travelling by sea is so uncertain that it might occupy two men a week to go down and return, and interrupt their own fishing, and that perhaps of a whole crew. And I am sorry to say that the fishing hitherto has been in this year in this bay the worst ever remembered. " Well ; thanks to Mr. G I am safe at Burin and am occupying with my student and the little waiting-boy (whom I took out of school for that purpooe) the mission- house, which I found empty. I have no chaplain or clergyman with me or near me. There had been no service in either of the churches (three) in the mission till I came since th^ beginning of May, nearly five months. We are living in missionary style ; no servant except our little boy (for servants in out-harbours are almost as hard to find as clergymen) ; we each make our own beds and keep in order our separate rooms, and all take a share in the cooking department ; and our united endeavours sometimes fail in making the kettle boil for breakfast. Also fresh meat is not to be had, so we console ourselves by thinking that if we had a joint we should not know how to cook it. Would that these were the worst of our, or of my difficulties ! " 160 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CIIAI'. \1I. On Ijxjj x^'lurn to S. John's, liis active mind was already contemplating the voyage of the next summer. It was not a cheerful prospect when he could write : — " Alas ! my poor Church ship ! She, like her skipper, is in a very broken-down condition through age and use. Sixteen years' knocking about together on this coast, which nobody before the Prince of Wales ever approached, I suppose, who could avoid it — sixteen years of such work have considerably impaired both the bishop and his Church ship. The latter, however, is not past repair ; but, alas ! the expenses will be very heavy, 200/. at the least. I hope she will be ready in June. How far the skipper will be re- paired and prepared is a different matter, person and purse." In 1861 the bishop had the satisfaction of consecrating a new church at Topsail, to which one lady,^ whose bounty to Newfoundland will never cease to be felt, had largely contributed : this was an event of special interest, inasmuch as it was the first instance in which an old Mission had been divided; the same liberal donor who did so much for the Church added the gift of a modest jiarsonage. The bishop was now anxious to start on his Visitation, but no one from England had responded to his challenge, and of his own clergy none could well be spared to accompany him because " none were sufficiently sick to need the restorative influences of sea-sickness." Of one clergyman whom he invited to join him iie wrote — " He can manage a boat, and is not squeamish about cold and dirt, both excellent qualifications." The difficulties were at last surmour- led, however; but "head and hands were anxiously employed " until S. John's was left behind and the Labrador was reached; then in the intervals of visiting the various settlements some time was found 1 Mrs. 0, E. Johnson, of whom the bishop often wrote, "She liatli been a succoiirer of many, and of myself also." She gave her life as well as her means to the work of the ( liurch in Newfoundland. 1859-63.] INFORMATION FOR INTENDING MISSIONARIES. 161 for correspondence, and the following letter was sent to one who was much interested in Newfoundland, and anxious above all things to strengthen the bishop by sending more clergy, but who shrank from the peril of persuading men to volunteer without accurate kuow- ledge of the conditions of their work : — " Square Islands, Battle Harbouu Mission, Labrador, July 4, 1861. " My hands and head were as usual so fully and anxiously employed on leaving S. Jolin's for my voyage of Visitation, (specially this time in finding a chaplain and companion,) that I was unable to give the information you require for persons wishing, or willing, to offer them- selves for missionary service in this diocese. . . . However, 1 will gladly give such information, so far as I am able, as I suppose you require. (1) Stipend. — In addition to what the S.P.G. may give, llio collections of tlisf clergv from the people vary, in (lifl'erent places, from 20/. to 60/. currency; and their fees fVoni 5/. to 30/. annually. But the collections vary in the mjne place, according to the succe s or failure of the fishery. (2) Parsonage and Glebe. — Nearly all the missions have now a parsonage, more or less convenient ; and to those which have not, our Church Society will grant from 12/. to 15/. for lodgings. Only a few (five or six) have glebes of any value or use ; such as may enable the missionary to keep a cow, or a few sheep. Perhaps some fifteen or sixteen have gardens of small produce. (3) Food. — Fish in summer (three or four months), and pork and salted fish the remainder of the year, are the standing dishes in most out-harbours. In S. John's and itj neighbourhood, and two or three missions on Conception Bay, fresh meat can generally be obtained ; in the others occasionally. In most out-harbours game — especially M -»tj LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [(MIAP. VII. birds — may bo procured in winter; but tlio inliabitunts prefer the pork and salt-fish. Berries of various sorts abound, and are very usel'ul for puddings and preserves. Vegetables late in tlie year. (4) IVork — Abundant, cliiefly in visiting from liarbour to harbour, and from settlement to settlement. Fcr this ])urpose a knowledge of rowing and sailing will be useful; but there are several missions (one-third at least) where all the work is on terra firma ; and where good legs and good boots only are required. (5) Climate. — I believe there is no climate in the world generally more favourable to health than that of New- foundland and Labrador. I have an instance and proof now on board my Church shi]) intheKev. Mr. Hutchinson, who after being exposed to great labour and many hard- ships and privations summer and winter, for eight years, on the bleak shores of Labrador, is now with me visitinj^ the difTerent harbours and settlements in his mission, in better health and spirits than I ever before saw him ; and is quite willing, more than willing, to remain here another winter. If missionaries of delicate constitutions have suffered in health, it has been irom want of proper (bod, or froni much (too often imprudent) exposure in travelling. There is no occasion to be very particular about clothing ; except (in winter) for the extremities — head, hands, and feet. A fuv cap for the head, to cover the earr., warm gloves or mittens for the hands (no gloves are M'arm enough for Labrador in the wintei"), and good boots and stock- ings for the feet (mocassins and vamps on T«>>.v,qf|ov). V\'aterproof boots, worn over the trousers, and a watcc- ])roof overcoat, are very necessary. x\. warm nve('cr>nt is useful for nine months in the year. Keddinr >>'u> ild be brought from England, but no great quantity is reqin'^^d, not much more, I think, than at home. I have now supplied all the information I can suppose i "isn9-1863.] THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC. k necessary. I have also, more tliau once, observed that I cannot determine beforeliaml to wliat mission or place each cler<,7niaii will be sent, without the risk of doing injustice both to the clergyman and the flock committed to Ids charge. For Missionaries to Newfoundland you might take some questions from the Vicar of Wakrji/!d, as ' Can you sleep three in a bed ? Can you cut your own hair ? How many shirts have you ? ' and the like. I need not, I suppose, observe that 1 expect all candi- dates for Ordination to be well acquainted with the Scriptures and the Articles of our Church ; and to be able to yield an account of their faith in T.atin; and to bring ' letters-testimoniid,' and a certificate of baptism ; and stdl less that they must read well and have no bodily defect or deformity; least of all they should be modest and sul (missive, patient and contented, earnest and faithful ; seeking the glory of God in the edilicatiou of His people." From anotlier spot on the Labrador the bishop wrote, in high spirits at the tidings which lie had to comnmnicate, the following letter : — " " TiiK CiiUKcii Suir, Bellk Isle Strait, July SO, 18G1. " An event has occurred in the history of the Church ship which has aiforded me much gratificiition. I have had the honour of receiving and entertaining on board the good Bishop of Quebec and his son the Eev. A. Mountain, very near the spot wiiere our respective dioceses meet on the coast of Labrador. The bishop has long contemplated a visit to his scattered sheep on tliis coast, with a view, I believe, of stationing a missionary among them. This year he has accomplished his object ; but not being provided wqth a. Church ship, or any vessel of his own, he came from Quebec in the steamer which visits the lighthouses on this coast, and was landed near the extremity of his d M 2 }M LIFK OF EDWARD FKILD. [CIFAP. VII. some twenty or thirty miles from Forteaii. From the i)lace where they landed, the bishop and Mr. Mountain journeyed up and down the sliore, in such boats and vessels as they could meet with and procure, subject, I fear, to very great hardships and privations. Sometimes they liad to pass the night in a boat, and on one occasion lay upon the salt in the hold of a fishing- vessel, covered only with a sail. At other times they slept, or passed the niglit, in the houses of tlie planters or agents ; partaking of their coarse fare in dirt and disorder not to be described. Having completed their journey and investigation as far as was possible, they proceeded to the Forteau lighthouse, about the 10th or 11th of July, hoping from thence either to get on board one of the Canadian liners, passing tlirough the Straits to Quebec, or shortly to embark in the sleiimer by which they arrived, which was only waiting for some work at the lighthouse to be completed. Here they were doomed to disnp])ointment ; no liner came witliin call, and there was much work to be done at the lighthouse. They remained there in anxious ex])ectatiou a full week. On Sunday, July 14, they had divine service iu the liglitliouse, which is in the colony and diocese of Newfoundland. Mr. Botwood, the missionary at Forteau, visited them several times, and they kindly paid him a visit and inspected his church, with which they were very well pleased. Tired of waiting and watching at the lighthouse, on Saturday the 20th of July they borrowed Mr. Botwood's boat and removed to the Isle au liois, twelve miles distant (whicli is tlie first settlement in tlie diocese of Quebec, and where tliere is a merchant's estab- lishment), to hold service on Sunday. On JMonday, the 23rd, I arrived at Forteau from lied Bay, and was, equally surprised and delighted at tlie prospect of meeting my venerable elder brother on the Lal)rador, on the confines of our respective dioceses, the only place indeed where my ite m^ lS->!)-l8C3.] TWO BISIT0P3 AT FOUTEAIT. 165 diocese joins or meets any other. On Tuesday, by the kind assistance of Captain Hamilton of H.M.S. Hydra, who, having liimself to visit Isle an Bois that day in pursuit of some trespassing French fisherman, took tlie Churcli ship in tow (there being no wind), I went in search of n»y brother bishop, and was fortunate enough to meet liim returning in Mr. Eotwood's boat towards Forteau, accom- panied of course by Mr. Mountain. They immediately came alongside, and I had the honour and pleasure of receiving them on board. We were towed back the same evening to Forteau, and behind us three Freiich shallops caught on the English fishing-ground. Never perhaps did two bishops of our Church meet before under such circumstances ; and never, I think, were any more gratified at meeting so strangely and unexpectedly. My visitors remained on board the Church ship that and the two following days and nights, and on the last day, being S. James's J3ay, we had full service in the church at Forteau, and received together tlie Holy Communion. Tlie liisliop of Quebec kindly preached on the occasion. On the following day (Friday July 26) the bishop desired to join liis steamer, now lyipg at Lanse h Loup, about eight miles from Forteau, to be ready for the departure, and yet ho{)ing to catch a passing liner. We all accompanied them in a boat to Lanse a Loup and took our last dinner together, pic-nic fashion, on the sea-shore. The following day was tlie good bishop's 72nd birthday, on which, and indeed long before it, he had fully reckoned on being at home. The disappointment must have been very great, and particularly as they had not been able to make known to their friends the cause of the delay. In the afternoon, I went again to Lanse a Loup with Mr. Botwood, to offer our respectful good wishes, and to make arrangements for Divine service there on the morrow, in a store, which the Bishop of Quebec and Mr. Mountain lmermuda, where there is legislative provision) upwards of 2,000/. for Church ])urposes. The Church Society expects every clergyman to .send to tiie treasurer one-fourth of the amount collected in his mission, as the condition of ohiaining assistance from the Socu'/// ; but if any choose, as many do, to be independent of the Society, I cannot demand either return or report. But what are 2,000/. or 3,000/. for all Church purjioses in a colony and country like Newfoundland, where there are no rates, no endowments, no glebes, no kindly fruits of the earth ; nothing but seals and fish, and of these an uncertain precarious supply ? If a clergyman, v/ith 100/. a year from England, could raise another 100/. in his mission, a portion would be required for his church, a portion for his parson- age, a portion probably to help a school ; and perhaps not more than half would remain for his personal use. But 100/. is considerably above the average raised by 3ach clergyman. r I 1859-1863.] CKiraua. 1 (V.) (2) Thern is no Synod * in this dioopao. Tlio (litTiculty of cornmuniciition wiili tlio oftpitui, occasione*! by tli(3 wsiiit of roiuls and want of niciins, and tlio paucity of perse )n^^ ablo and willing' to assist, luivo provoiitod any att(!in|)t to form and constitute a Synod. The acts of the Cluiicli Society consist of grants niadr at my recomnutiiddiioti. Wo have lately formed a fimd for the relief of the widows and orphans of the cler<,'y, in connection with tlie (Jhurch Society. (3) There are four clergymen (olliciating) entircdy sup- ported by local contributions (there are no endowments), two wholly en<^a<,fed in and supported by tuition, and oiui who requires no assistance. When I came to the colony, there was not one supported witiiout aid from S.P.G. (4) In Newfoundland and Labrador there arc eighty-two churches, forty-seven of which have been consccrat(Ml by myself; about twenty are additional, the others new in the place of old ones. There are five on the Labrador shore, and two parsonages, where sixteen years ago no clergyman's voice had ever been heard. (5) The last census was taken in IS;")? : — Church of England, 44,285 ; Koman Catholics, riG,895 ; Wesleyans, 20,229 ; Kirk of Scotland, 302 ; Free Kirk of Scotknd, 536; Congregationalists, 347— Total, 122,594. (6) The increase per cent, has been, in twelve years — 1845-1857— Church of England, 29^ ; Roman Catholic, 21^; Wesleyan, 40. (7) No immigrants, except youngsters ei.^aged in the lisherv — some few of whom remain and settle, or rather remain without settling. (8) There is a great and crying need of more clergymen. I promise to find 100/. a year for four clergymen, by dividing some of the present enormous unmanageable missions. Eight clergymen are much needed. There is no ^ A Synod lias now been established. V IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 lauj. |25 Ufa. |U 111.6 I Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M5S0 (716) •72-4503 "Sfc ^ ^v ^v i V w 170 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CHAK VII. other metliod of preventing tlie inroads of men * speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.' A Baptist minister has now for the first time come amongst us. (9) There are openings for new missions in White Bay and on the French shore in Newfoundland, and in Sandwich and Esquimaux Bays in the Labrador : and at least six missions require to be subdivided immediately. It is soul-rending to hear the petitions for more ministers and means of grace, and to be obliged to reply, ' There is none to help you.' " 13ut while results thus substantial could be honestly chronicled, the pressure of some particular mission in a state of exceptional necessity was always making itself felt, even in times of general prosperity ; at one time it was the French coast, at another it was one of the struggling stations in the Labrador ; just now it was the IMission of Moreton's Harbour, of which he wrote, " This is one of the most extensive and troublesome, and at the same time one of the poorest in Newfoundland. It extends along eighty miles of coast from Twillingate to Cape S. John ; there are in it already five churches, and two others in slow progress ; one of them has taken at least ten years to gain an outside shell. There are ten or twelve stations, in which the missionary is expected to hold service, to be reached only by water ; and, consequently, several of them to be reached not at all during the winter. The Methodists, who by their class-leaders and prophetesses are busy everywhere, have made much havoc c^ the flock in this mission, driving some out of their senses and many out of the Church. The mission ought to be divided into three, and would be divided immediately if I could find the men and the means. There is a parsonage house, or shed, and a small glebe sufficient for a few sheep during the summer ; the scenery is very picturesque, and the climate highly favourable to >:,.:-.», nrial of the Dead be used for those wlio have laid violent hands on themselves, or were, or woidd have been, could tlie Church exercise her discipline, excommunicated, you must not be surprised if some men step into the place of the judjre and deny the hope or refuse the thanks for the de- parted soul ; if the thanks^nvin^ of women after childbirth be abruptly addressed, as it were, to a whole ccngrcffation, its unsuitableness, to say the least, may occasion pain and offence. And let me warn you tliat the persons who are ready to justify you in suppressing or altering the formu- laries which they dislike, would be the first to condemn you in using that libeity against their will and judgment." It is unfortunate that a Charge so full of wisdom and learning, and, which is less common, of bold consistent adherence to the teaching of the Church, should have been printed and published in Newfoundland, and its circulation limited for the most part to that island. This is not, however, a solitary instance in which the call to con- sistency and courage has come to us from a Colonial Church, feeble in all material resources ; and it mav be that thus shall the insignificant debt of the Daughter Churches, in either, hemisphere, be more than repaid to their common Mother. The first half of 1863 was spent in S. John's, where the bishop was almost alone — all his inquiries having failed to bring him the assistance which he desired. To more than one friend in England he wrote in this fashion: — " If I could find a chaplain to live and work with me, he would have plenty to eat as well as plenty to do. Can you send me a man with an honest heart, a loud and clear voice, feet to walk and hands to work for the poor and the bishop ? " At length the time came when the Visitation of the west shore and the Bay of Islands must be made ; and while the bishop was thus engaged on the French shore the following letter, dealing with many questions of 1850-1863.] CATHEDRAL SERVICE?. ]7j interest, was written almost from the same spot as the letter of four years previously, to Canon Seymour: — "Thk CiiiTRcn Siirp, off Port atx Hahques, nkar Cape Ka/, Auff. 31, 1863. " :My dear Sir,— If you believe what I have more than once told you, that your letters are a great treat and comfort to me, you will believe also that I would not delay to acknowledge them (in the hope to obtain what I so much value more frequently), if I were not prevented by other more pressing duties. When I am in S. John's I am constantly at work, and the little relaxation I can allow myself is either for health (and I cannot command enough for that), or else to oblige and gratify some friend or friends. For the twelve months immediately before I began this voyage of Visitation (in June) the archdeacon, who is also incumbent of the cathedral rnd chief minister in the parish, was invalided and absent (he has now retired altogether), and in consequence I was kept closely at home and closely at work during all that time. For twelve months and upwards I said Morning Prayer in the cathedral at eight o'clock every week-day, without a single exception, and attended service twice every day. I preached in the cathedral at least once every Sunday, and generally said the Morning or Evening Prayer. Except on the first Sunday in every month, we have four services in the cathedral every Sunday, and w^ith not more than two or three exceptions (when T officiated at other churches) I attended them all. I administered the Holy Communion every Sunday, and baptized or received into the Church, after the Second Lesson, every child brought to be baptized or received. We never baptize or receive, except on some Sunday or Holy day, after the Second Lesson. I catechized publicly in the cathedral on the first Sunday in every month ; and attended the Sunday School every Sunday without missing 170 LIFE OF KUWAIID FEILD. [chap. vn. one. There is nothing hiborious or disagreeable in any of these duties ; indeed, I felt much pleasure in resuming 80 far the work of a parish priest ; but you will, I think, ])erceive that, together with my own proper work, they must have fully occupied my time and thoughts. Indeed, it was often with difficulty that I found time to prepare a sermon for every Sunday, and a lecture for every alternate Friday evening. During Lent I read a short le(;ture every morning at the eight o'clock service. Alas ! how many kind letters remained unanswered, how many kind presents unacknowledged, those twelve months ; for 1 have not forgotten that, in addition to an interesting letter not yet answered, I have received from you your instruc- tive pamphlet on * Woman's Work in the Church,' and not yet, I fear, acknowledged it. Let me now thank you sincerely for both. I read your speech with very great gratification, and the little History of the Kaiserwerth Deaconesses, to which you refer ; and I believe it would be of great advantage if such institutions were recognised by find affiliated to the Church. I can, however, forgive your bishops for declining to unite in instituting and carrying out the great work in and for the Church, when I think (and tremble as I think) of the immense amount of labour, anxiety, and responsibility which must fall on each of them severally, in and for his own diocese. And I presume that, severally and collectively, they have all of late been sufficiently occupied by the Colenso folly. I trust the evil of that ill-advised work will be overruled by God's mercy, and good, mucli good, will spring from it. Surely the many excellent and learned answers, which have been written and published, will reassure the minds which have been disturbed and distressed by the hasty, self-confident and specious objections of the arith- metical divine. I am now engaged in my usual biennial Visitation (1 cannot afford to make a voyage more , 1859-180.1.1 NEW MISSION IN WIIITF BAY, 177 frequently than every second year) of the missions and settlements, not included in any mission on the southern and western coasts of Newfoundlanr', the western heinj; the (so-called) French shore. My next Visitation, please God, two years hence, will be of the northern and north- eastern coasts and the Labrador. On this western coast the poor scattered sheep, nearly 500 in number, have not seen any shepherd of their souls since I visited them four years ago. I have now again visited nearly all to the distance of 550 miles from S. John's, and am returning to the capital. I have determined and promised, with God's help and blessing, to send them a missionary. But where is the man ? Who will say, ' Here am I, send me ' ? " Tn the autumn of this year the bishop was cheered by tlie oiler of a zealous clergyman, who had given many proofs of his i)ower in the mission of Ferryland, where he had built two churches and been the means of reviving mucli Churcli life, to undertake a mission along the shores of AVhite Bay, which, it will be remembered, the bishop had visited for the first, and only, time in 1859. The venture was an especially cliivalrous one, as the clergyman in ((uestion received no support from any external source, but threw himself on the fishermen, claiming from them to be supported at least as they supported themselves, and desiring no more comforts than tiiey procured for themselves. Such an offer caused great satisfaction to the bishop, who, hovvever, seemed not to detect in it but the following of an example which he had been setting for twenty years. At this time the cathedral, and the pastoral charge of the district attached, again overwhelmed the bishop with work : his presence was greatly wanted in Bermuda, but it was impossible that he should leave, and indeed he did not succeed in his efforts to reach that distant part of his diocese, " another world, ecclesiastically N 178 LIFK OF FDWAHl) KKII.R IciiAi'. vir. as well as physically," until March iS(i4. The account of his suuuncr's sailings ho gave at tlic close of llui year iu the following letter to a friend in Knglaiul : — "I visited all the settlements on the west or so-called French coast in the Cliurch ship last sunnner, the fourth time only in my episcopate of nineteen years ; and in all that time, and for many years oelore, they have not been visited by any clergyman or any minister of any Protestant denomination, except, occasionally, by the chaplain of sonui man-of-war in passing, and once by the Kev. A. (lilford on his way from Jersey to his mission in the Straits of Belle Isle. His stay could not have exceeded three or four days. Such is the amount of pastoral visitation and religious instruction (if either of these expressions can be rightly used) which those poor benighted souls have received. T hope and think I may aflirm that I have done what I could for them, little as it may seem, and little as indeed it is. The Bay of Islands is nearly 500 miles from S. John's, and can be reached only iu the Church ship or other such vessel. There is no intercourse between that shore and the capital. The inhabitants receive tlieir supplies in exchange for their fish from traders from Nova Scotia or the United States. I have not visited them more frequently in the Church ship for the want of two great necessaries — money and time ; in other words, on account of the great expense of voyages and the many demands upon my services in other directions. I have not sent any clergyman, partly because I have not found any one willing to undertake the work, and partly because, if I had found one, I have had no means of paying his expenses ; and partly, I may add, on account of the scattered and wretched condition of the dwellings of the inhabitants, until lately few in number. My last visit, before the summer just past, was a very short and hurried one in 1859. The weather then, in addition 1 •'f is.'iy- 18(53.] BAY OK ISLANDS. 1T» I to iin unusual nmount of foj,', was very tcnipestuou.s, and tlio wind couHtantly alicad for weeks to;,fetlier, and my ])lan.s were del'euted or delayed accord in«;ly. Last summer t M'as, in respect of weather, lii^ddy favouri^d, and the presenca and assistance of IvTr. Le Gallais, wlioin I took on board in ]tassing Channel, were of very j,'reat service, as li« is j)ersonally acquainted with, and hij^dily esteemed by, many of the late settlers, who have recently mi^^'nited from various parts of his extensive mission. And these mi- grations have not been confined to the inhabitants of Newfoundland, but several families have, within the same period, settled on the coast, and cliiefly in the liay of Islands, from Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. These are almost wholly Presbyterians of the Free Kirk per- suasion, but they all, without exception — and I personally visited them — expressed themselves willing and desirous to have a clergyman of the Church of England and to assist in supporting him. All who were able attended divine service on board the Church ship ; and though our form and mode of worship were evidently new and strange to them, they readily and cheerfully conformed. I fully believe if the right man could be found, a man of faith, courage, prudence, and experience, he might obtain at least a maintenance. But where is such a man to be found ? Where is the man willing to make the venture ? and who, being willing, has the necessary qualifications ? or who, being willing, and having those high qualifications, will be content with a bare maintenance ? I have already received with great satisfaction the offer of the Kev. K. Temple to undertake a very similar and equally arduous work on the eastern coast, and I have great hopes that Mr. U. Eule, who, though now only a student, has, I hope and believe, all necessary qualifications except experience, may be induced to attempt the proposed mission on the western coast. This young man is now gaining experience N 2 180 MFK OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VII. of the best kind under Mr. Hutchinson on the Labrador, which is attended only witli this difficulty, tltat we are not likely to meet before September, when it will be too late to roach the liny of Islands. In the meanwhile tlic*. necessity is ur^'ent. I propose, therefore, to request Mr. Le Gallais (who is the nearest clerBSi3 1864-18G0.] PLEA FOR COLONIAL DIOCESES. 18 hoiiesfy to give up all assistance from other sources, might legitimately be carried out to a conclusion hardly foreseen hy those who advanced it. " When such dioceses are asked to relinquish their claims on the Society, and when it is urged, ad vcrcmndiam, that the colonists have so long enjoyed this extraneous aid, does it never occur to the members of the Church in I'^ngland that the same argument might be addressed with greater force, in both its aspects, to tliem ? It will not be denied, I presume, that tlie men-i1)ers of our Church in England are well able to maintain their clergy — are they tlien prepared to say to the English clergy, 'You have long received and lived upon the tithes given and granted l)y kings and other benefactors ; now let them go for the conversion of the heathen, and depend upon us for your maintenance ' ? Yet this is in etl'ect what the colonists are asked to do, in relinquishing their claims upon the Society, and taking upon themselves the support of their Church and clergy. I do not, of course, suppose that any such transfer is possible, or that, if possible, it would be just or expedient. Neither have I forgotten that it is due to the endowment of the Church in England that the (Miurch in the colonies receives such liberal support, through the Society. I only intend to answer, on behalf of the poor colonists, this appeal ad verccundiam. Should the justice of this parallel be denied, I may refer to the means commonly adopted in tin; new districts and poor populous parishes in England for the support of their clergy; which, I think it will be admitted, in great measure explains our condition and justifies our plea. What is the practice in those cases ? Is the incumbent, or additional curate, told to rely upon the contributions of the people, who are seldom so poor but that their com- bined payments, if they could he procured, would furnish a colonial clergyman's stipend ? Not so — they are referred. mss^ ■W I [ 184 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [CICAP. VIH. and refer, to the Pastoral Aid, or the Additional Curates' Society ; and I never heard that sliame or blame attached to any clergyman for procuring aid from those quarters ; though, if the people could and would (as in most cases assuredly they could) provide his small salary by tlieir contributions, it is obvious that the funds of those Societies might, to that extent, be applied to the conversion of the heathen." The bishop was not dealing with a subject with which he was unacquainted : in his own diocese he liad experience of two systems. He wrote : — " lu the southern colony of -ny diocese (the Bermudas), the clergy are provided for by the legislature, with many happy and beneficial results. The clergy there receive quarterly stipends partly from the colonial treasury and partly from the vestries of their parishes — a fixed sum in either case. The other officers of the churches are paid, and the buildings themselves, with their furniture, &c., maintained, by pew-rents and assessments. Thus the clergy are assured of their stipends regularly, a circum- stance which compensates, to a great extent, for the small amount of them. They and their families are at least secured from want ; they are spared the pain and shame of parading their difficulties and distresses ; they are not responsible for their churches falling into decay ; they hear no complaints about tithes or rates. Still they are not independent, as the legislative grants may be, at least after a certain term of years, reduced, or withdrawn.'^ He foresaw that Government subsidies of this kind could not last, and therefore he did not stay to discuss the many other disadvantpges which attend on such grants : he acknowledged that, where no endowments had been ac- quired, as in the case of Toronto by the sale of the clergy reserves, the voluntary system was the only resource. J The evils and temptations of that system he knew pp 1864-1866.] THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 185 tlioroughly, but his experience had taught him how to anticipate them and to make tliem harmless. " The only right and righteous system, under our circum- stances, — to make a contribution, or promise of (iontribution, obligatory, where the means of payment exist, and, until such promise is given, to withhold every occasional or special service ; — this system — tlie only right and righteous one, as regards the individuals themselves and the Church com- munity at large — appears to English churchmen, who can claim these services as their birthright (because they have been already purchased and paid for), both unjust and in- jurious. I have incurred no small obloquy for pressing this system, but it is clearly recognised and allowed, if I may not say insisted on, both by the Law and Gospel, and cannot therefore be unjust or injurious. But I return — there is no remedy — to the Voluntary system. And here it is asked, Why should not the Church of England in the colonies attain to that standing which, it is said, Roman Catholics and other religious denominations have attained to, — of being independent of external aid for the maintenance of their clergy? But it will not, I trust, be thought impertinent to remind our English friends, that the lioman Catholics and other denominations at home do, in like manner, support their clergy and ministers without tithes or endowments ; and that it may be asked (I believe is sometimes asked), Why do you not also support your churches and clergy without the aid of rates and tithes and endowments, so long enjoyed, and allow these emolu- ments to be transferred to the Church Missionary, or Gospel Propagation Society, for the conversion of the heathen ? I have no intention of insisting upon this parallel (which, no doubt, in its practical application, would be pronounced unjust and suicidal) except to show that this argument, ad hominem, ought not to be addressed only to poor colonists. I am more concerned to prove that •iMm^mmip' ^^ 186 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VIII. |r i the supposed self-supporting systems of Iioman Catholics and Methodists will not apply in our case. I say sujij^osed, because I believe few persons out of their communion, and not all within, know to what extent their clergy and ministers are supported without external aid. I am quite ready, however, to admit that they are so to a great extent, Jar more so than our clergy. The Presbyterians and Congregationalists, I believe, — all honour to them — gua- rantee their ministers a certain fixed salary, and do not suifer personal feelings to interfere with the just fulfilment of their compact. The comparison therefore is between ourselves with the Roman Catholics and Methodists. Xow, without intending to speak disrespectfully or disparagingly (if their clergy or ministers, I may be permitted to remark that their manner of life respectively, which tends to keep up their influence over, or with, their people, is not such, in either case, as could, or I might say should, be adopted by the clergy of the Church of England. The i)riests of the Eoman Catholic Church are unmarried — they mix little with their people — never, I believe, visiting minis- terially, except in cases of extreme sickness, when, by the Sacraments of the Church, the poor sinner is prepared for death, and dies in peace. This notion of the priest's power, and of their duty to him and the Church, in which all lioman Catholics are educated, inspires such reverence and fear, that the demand for Church dues is very rarely disobeyed. It is not, I presume, expected that we should copy the Eoman Catholic priests either in their manner of * life or ministry, in order to obtain their standing. The Wesleyans adopt a directly opposite method ; and their ministers, by frequent and familiar interconrse with their people, and by occasionally indulging them with the intoxicating excitement of a Eevival (in which the younger ministers appear particularly expert), work upon their feelings in a manner and degree which the clergy of the ! . w 1864-1866.] CHURCH FINANCE. 187 Church of Eiighmd are not likely, I trust, to emulate. It is certain, however, that many of their ministers are not, and cannot be, supported l)y their conoregations, and, unless assisted by some extraneous fund, must be in a very uncomfortable state of dependence. I suspect aiso, tl^at there is something in the public worsliip of both Roman Catiiolics and Methodists (though as widely different as their private and personal ministrations), presenting attrac- tions of a certain sort, wliich the more sober, intelligent, and devotional worship of the Church of England (the mean in this, as in most other points, between the two extremes) never did, and it may be hoped never will, l)iesent. For what man, knowing what is in man (i.e. in the large majority), supposes that a mean presents such attractions as one or other of the extremes ; or that the more excellent way will ever obtain the largest number of followers ? These are some of the reasons why the Church of England cannot, or does not, attain the standing which the Itoman Catholics and other religious bodies have, it is said, attained in the colonies, and at home'' Being challenged to justify his position and that of his diocese, uhe bishop was compelled to show what had been the result of the assistance which he had received : this involved in fact his giving an account of those many schemes which but for his own self-denial must have fallen to the ground, and which owed their very existence to his wisdom and statesmanlike prudence ; but even here, where the record may have justified some measure of satisfaction, he wrote in terms, the sincerity of which no one who knew the man could for a moment doubt, deprecating the idea that he was in any way magnifying or displaying his own labours or services. Indeed he added, " Looking at the progress of the Church in New Zealand, or South Africa, or Canada, I can well believe that the zeal and piety of a Selwyn, a Gray, or a Mountain, would have ■' 'W 188 Lll E OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VI I r. secured better provision, and, it may be, supervision, for the many still desolate places and scattered sheep of this poor diocese." He insisted further, that in all that lie had done he was but building on the foundations laid ])y his predecessor : still, there was the diocese, the abidi ig witness of his patient efforts for twenty years, and he was bound in self-defence, when thus challenged, to give the following resume of his episcopate : — " When I arrived in Newfoundland (July 4th, 1844) there were in all that part of the diocese twenty-four clergymen (including the chaplain who accompanied me), all stipendiaries of the Society for the Propagation of the (jospel; thirteen receiving 200/. sterling per annum; five, in subordinate stations, receiving 150/. or 100/. ; and six deacon schoolmasters, partly paid by S.P.G. (50/. sterling; and partly by the Newfoundland School Society. The stipends of these twenty-four, from the Society, amounted to 3,550/. In Bermuda three or four clergymen were receiving together from the Society, 230/. Bishop Spencer had not been able to extend his visits farther to the north than Twillingate, in Notre Dame Bay, about 200 miles from S. John's, the capital, or than Harbour Buffet, in Placentia Bay, nearly the same distance to the south. In these visits he consecrated nine or ten new churches, but several of them in an unfinished and unfurnished state ; a circumstance which need not be regretted, as the preference for pews, and galleries, and pulpits in the centre of the building, was then very strong. In many of the churches the pulpit was against the east wall, the prayer-desk and the clerk's-desk on either side, a small table under the pulpit in front, with a semi- circular enclosure, just allowing room for one clergyman within the rail. The parish or Mother Church of the capital, taken and used as the cathedral, was an old "gayjj... 1864-1866.] NUMBER OF CHLIICIIES IN 1844. 180 wooden building, of tlie early Newfoundland style. Con- siderable subscriptions had however been raised, ])revious to my arrival, to replace it with a more comely structure of stone, but the drawings furnished did not give nmch promise of improvement in design or ai rangemeat. There was no font of stone in the whole island, and, I believe, in only three churches vessels of silver for the Holy Communion. 1 A second wooden church had been built in S. John's a short time before Bishop Spencer arrived, and was consecrated by him, but the arrangements were similar to those ah'eady described. There was in S. John's one cemetery or grave-yard common to all denomi- nations, in which Roman Catholic priests had leave to officiate; but other persons, of whatever denomination, were buried, if any funeral service was used, by the Rector of S. John's, in several districts there were buildings for public worship (not consecrated) used by tlie clergy of the Church and other Protestauu ministers; or, as the people expressed it, ' by any good man that came along ; ' his goodness and other qualifications being, I believe, determined by his own representations, and his ability to ' hold prayers.' The whole number of consecrated churches in Newfoundland on my arrival was forty-three ; all, with the exception of eleven or twelve before mentioned, consecrated by Bishop Inglis, in one or other of his two Visitations of this portion of his enormous diocese. A Church Society had been established three or four years previously, but the income, after the first year, appears not to have exceeded 212/, No part of the collections had been appropriated to the extension of the church, and, except in S. John's, very little, if any, aid ' One set of the three Wcas presented by his latu Majesty (when sevxing in the fleet), to a dmroh in Phicentia, where his ship had been stationed during the war with France. „ , 190 LIFE OF KDWARD FEILD. [ciivr. VIM. Wits given to the clergy by their coiigrrgations. An idea was very commonly entertained, nnd sometimes, I fear, by those who might, if they had pleased, have known other- wise, tliat the clergy in Nevvfonndland were maintained by the Government in England. The Theological College, or Institution as it was then designated, had its origin in the provision obtained by Bishop Spencer from the Society, for the education and maintenance of a few candidates for the ministry. Tlie Society allowed the bishop to draw 50/. per annum for each of six students, and made a grant for the erection of a lecture-room. But this allowance was the whole endow- ment and income of the Institution, part of which (nearly one-third) was paid to the clergyman of the new church for meeting and instrivting the students in the lecture- room, the remainder to a widow lady, a dissenter, in whose house they lodged and boarded, who presided at their meals and had the oversight of their behaviour. There was no Depository for the sale of Bibles and Prayer-books, and other publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge — no fund for the widows and orphans of the clergy — no Asylum for the widows and orphans of the Church's poor — no School for the education of the boys or girls of the upper classes, under the direction or supervision of the bishop and clergy, for vnembers exclusively of the Church of England. It cannot be necessary, I conceive, to insist upon the importance of every one of these institutions in connection with the Church, in a colonial diocese. I have shown how this diocese was piDvided or circumstanced in respect of them twenty years ago ; and will now proceed to describe our present condition, taking them in the reverse order. One of my first objects, after my appointment, before I left England, was to procure an efficient master for 1861-1800.] rUESKNT CONDITION. 191 1 a superior boys' school, luiviiif; been iiiformod of tlio want of such a school iu the colony. I was fortunate enou^'h to secure the services of a j^'raduate of Oxford. I hired .i, house for him in S. John's, and opened the Collegiate School. This was done entirely at n»y own risk and expense. It appeared to me of great importanc** t(» establish such a school, and I had reason to be thankful that I nndertook it, for I know that besides sup[)lying a sound and useful education, it was the means of attaching several young men, now rising in life, to myself and thi; Church. After some two or three years, the legislature of the colony established a General Academy, of which the master of my Collegiate School was appointed the first and head master. Not approving of the mixed education given in this new Academy, I continued my school under a clergyman, with increased usefulness in some respects, though, of course, not without difficulty by the side of a well-endowed Institution, to which boys were admitted at a trifling charge; until, through the zealous and dis- interested efforts of the head master, the General Academy was divided into three different branches, or separate schools, one of which was, and is, the * Church of England Academy,' under the direction of the bishop and four lay members of the Church. We have erected excellent buildings of brick, with accommodation for fifteen or sixteen boarders. We have two masters, one an A.M. of Trinity College, Cambridge, the other of S. Mark's Training College, both clergymen ; and between thirty and forty scholars. I found a like want of, and like desire for, a superior school for young ladies, and that also, in like manner, I provided and established, giving up for it my own resi- dence, until the legislature made me a grant towards the erection, or purchase, of a brick or stone house — my own residence being of wood. I am thankful to say that this 1 !>2 MFK OK KDWAUD FKM-D. [( IUI>. VIM. ostaMiahnicnt luis b(!on from its coimnonccmonf, nnd still continues to 1)0, very ixtpuiiir, and of <;reiit benefit to those for whom it was specially (lesi<,Mie(l. And havin«.5 i)urchase(l for it a substantial and convenient house of Itrick, I um now relieved of all ex[)(nse adrndiiit,' it, beyond that '4' keeping the house in repair, for which I intend to leave to my ^ '^ceasor a small endowment. These .schools are oj»en to children from the out-harbours as boarders, and I hoped mi^ht be of H|)('(!ial benefit to the clergy for the education of their chiltlren ; but 1 regret to say that, although the terms arc lovvered in their case, scarcely any lip-ve been able to profit by them on account of the expense. The 'Church of England Asylum for Widows and Orphans' was established by suliscri]tti(in, after an appeal 1 addressed to the parishioners on the cessation of the cholera, and has been liberally supported, and efliciently managed, from the iime the jn-esont buildings, which are of brick and stone, were erected. The first house, which ] procured for temi)nrary use, was burned down in one of the many fires, which formerly were so frequent and so destructive in 8. John's. The Asylum is near to my residence, and to the cathedral, and all the children who are old enough, attend Divir.a Service every morning at eight o'clock. The whole management of, and provision for, the inmates of the Asylum are superintended by a lady, who, with that object in view, lias built her house close to the Asylum, intending to leave it, to be always so occupied and used (by some person v.dio will in like manner charitably superintend the institution), and to endow it with a sufficient sum to pay the ground-rent and repairs in perpetuity. The ' Fund for the relief of the Widows and Orphans of the Clergy ' was commenced in 1857, three clergymen in the previous year (185C) having been cut oJBf in the 18flM866.] WOKK A("("()MIM.ISI1KI). IM pviiiio of life; two of tliom by typhus fovor, tho third l)("i8hi!(l ill n siiow-drift, Tlio first doimtioii (TT)/.) was by the widow of one of these cUir<,'ynien, luiotlier friend «,'iivo lOOA. the Chureli Society contriljiitcd 500/. ; and, by meiins of other donations, and the annual subscriptions and c(»IIections, the fund now amounts to upwards of 2,000/. and may, with the payments of the clergy, be considered safe. At present, by the good providence of God, there is only one pensioner. A 'Depository for the sale of Bibles and Prayer-books, and other i)ublications of tho Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,' I established soon after my arrival, and maintained for several years ; but, withi.i the last three years, the Church Society, by a grant of 300/., purchased and enlarged the stock, and entrusted the management to a sub-committee. It is in a flourishing condition. To make the operations of our ' Church Society ' under- stood and appreciated, it vould be necessary almost to transcribe the hist annual rejiort, presented at the anni- versary meeting in June. It may sufiice, however, to mention, that while half the clergy (twenty-three out of forty-six) made no return, and while all who did make a return retained three-fourths of the amount collected in their respective missions, the actual net income of the Society for last year exceeded 1,000/. Taking the average of the amounts returned, omitting S. John's, the largest, and Quidi Vidi, the smallest (both exceptional cases), it appears that, if all the clergy had made returns, the sum placed at the disposal of the committee would have been (besides, and in addition to, the collections in S. John's and Quidi Vidi) 455/. ; representing, with the three-fourths retained by the clergy, the sum of 1,820/. ; or, with the collections in S. John's, about 2,530/. ; an amount fully 194 LIKK OF KDWAKD FKIM). [CIIAI*. VIII. 2,000/. in exce8s of nil colluctud by and tor tho dov^y twtMity yours a -;r 1864-1860.] VISITATION. 206 oftentimes want of proper nourishment, tell on us. Early the next morning my slumber was disturbed by the an- nouncement ' Crew ready, Sir.' A row of twelve miles is again before me, but it is soon accomplished, and I am once more safely landed at Exploit's Burnt Island. 1 held ser- vice in the church at 6 p.m., and on the following day at 11 A.M., when I had two baptisms, and at 6 p.m. called at Black Island, held service and baptized one infant. A crew put me on to Moreton's Harbour, and after an absence of more than three weeks I was restored in safety to my own home. A recruit of three weeks was all tliat I took, and seizing the opportunity afforded me by a schooner in the bay, I determined to visit my Hock without any delay. I was eight weeks accomplishing this second Visitation. This arose from the fact that I was not, as before, set down at the extreme point of my mission, but had to get there as best I could, and partly because my visit in each place was longer, and because I found out several places where I ought to have called before ; and lastly, because the weather was more boisterous (for the season was somewhat advanced when I returned). At present the prospect appears miserable. The whole of Notre Dame Bay at this moment presents the most gloomy scene. Miles and miles of ice — nowhere a drop of watt^r to be seen — and a fleet of a hundred and fifty vessels — some burning — others thrown out c^n the ice — many more disabled — is all that meets the eye. Crew after crew are constantly arriving, having abandoned their vessels, seeking an asylum ashore. From what I am told, I fear this spring is likely to be the most disastrous ever known. No seals have been caught! The number of wrecks far exceeds that of 1862." The mention in the last paragraph of this report of the utter failure of the fisheries is confirmed by the bishop, who wrote in much grief, at this time, of the misery and amm •iOtf LIFK OF EDWARD FKILD. [OIIAI'. VIM. I II I - \\ li privation entailed on the people, especially in the out-har- bours. The stejiniers which had recently taken the i)laco of sailing vessels in the seal-fishery came in very late, hut without any seals : they had been blocked in the ice until tlio crews were nearly starved, and their wives and families on shore were in a corresponding condition. The manner of life which prevails amon^ the fishermen is fatal to tlirift and prudence. The prevalence of what is known in England as the " truck system," must keep the people always in debt. The system, however, has been de- scribed by a M'riterwho has been quoted more than once in these pages, and this is what Colonel Macrae says of it : ^ — " The merchant is really no merchant here ; that is, no fair speculator ; he is simply a great commercial gambler. The planter or middleman imitates his superior on a smaller scale, and the ignorant fisherman follows suit as a matter of course. This system of trade, between the supplier and supplied, began in the first days of the settlement as a fishing colony, when goods, only to be procured from a few rich merchants at the summer stations, were necessarily taken in advance by the fishermen ; and unhappily, the same plan of barter still exists, to the detriment of the morality and prosperity of the community. In short, the workman eats his bread before it is earned by the sweat of liis brow, and it is not difficult to arrive at the result of such a plan. ... In the spring, before the seal-fishery conmiences — in May, when the cod are coming in — in November, no matter wdiether the season has been favour- able or not — the fisherman must have supplies for his family : his children must be fed. The merchant once embarked in such a business, has no choice but to continue, or to lose all. He must therefore charge awful profits to remunerate himself against such an awful risk." A clergyman in the diocese writes : — " The risk of not * Lost Amid tlic FogSf •^. 94. 18U4-1800.] ICE-nOUNI). 207 bein{,'paid is so great, that tho merchant charges enormous rates tor his articles ; if he collects two-thirils, or oven half, he does remarkably well. Thus one man pays up his jiccount full rates, and another man pays nothing; one man pays two-thirds, another one-third ; so that, to use a familiiir Newfoundland expression, * The honest man piys for the rogue. Those of the steamers which escaped came into harl)our in June, but the bishop wrote: — "One had been lying on a pan of ice for weeks, the crew in her, or rather with her, as for a considerable part of the time she was lying on her side, and when they got her off she was 100 miles from shore. Of the vessels destroyed, some were crushed, it is said, under the men's feet, others were ral'ted over by the ice and submerged bodily. The men in some cases had to walk several miles across the ice to join other vessels." How distressing these events were to the bishop and clergy who desired to make their own the calamities which befell their flocks, may well be imagined : and at the close of the year the Governor appointed a day of fasting and humilia- tion, in which to implore the Almighty to relieve the famine (for it amounted to famine) which afflicted the land. It serves to show the succession of calamities under which the land lay if it is mentioned that this vvas the second occasion in two years on which such a day had been observed by the joint authority of the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities. As early in 18G5 as it was possible to attempt naviga- tion another clergyman was sent to tlie mission at Forteau on the Labrador which for a long winter had been vacant; and at his wonted time the bishop himself set sail, this year intending to visit the north-east coast, specially the newly founded mission of White Bay and the Labrador. His ex- periences afloat and ashore are given with much more sim- plicity in his own language, than could be attained by a 208 LIFK OF KDWAUI) KKILD. [chap, viii, flummary tiukIo hy nnoMiorlmnd. Tho following Icttor was written whun tho Hawk wuh lioniowurd-bound : — '• TiiK CiiuucM Hiiir, WiiiTK Hay, 1865. "Mr. Toniplo'H peoplo tiro all fishornicn, and most of them of the very i)oori.nt class, very much owin^' to their ignorance tnid want of forethouglit. They are scattered in different and distant harbours, two, tlireo, or four families in each, along one hundnul and twenty miles of coast. Nearly all are professed members of our Church. (Jenerally for four months, and frequently for five or six months, tlie bays are full of ice. Mr. Temple visits, as he can, each harbour in succession, and remains a week or ten days in each, content with such lodging and fare as the fisherman's hut can 8up])ly, and during his stay instructing both old and young in ' the first principles of the doctrine of Christ.' I joined Mr. Temple the first week in July, and with him on board my Church ship visited every harbour in his mission, and had the pleasure of finding four graveyards .M different parts of the mission decently fenced and pre- jjared for consecration, and in two harbours well-ordered candidates for Confirmation (eight in one and eighteen in the other). Mr. Temple is now thinking of extending his visit to Quirpon (the extreme northern point of New- foundland), about sixty or seventy miles more of coast, containing many inhabited harbours, equally destitute of spiritual supervision and supply. His chief aim and object are to make these poor neglected people in some degree acquainted with the truths of the Gospel, and the things which every Christian ought to know and believe for his soul's health, until some better, i.e. more constant, provision can be made, which is much to be desired. ... . Mr. Rule has only this year gone to his mission. He v;iil have in some respects a more difficult work than Mr. Temple's, as many of his flock are Presbyterians (Free i 1^ isrtj-isrtn.j VOYAOF-: to LAnuADon. 209 Kirk), and tliero aro also in tlio Hay of l.slands many Koman Catliolics. A kind huly in Jcrsoy, wlio Ija • l;tr»oly assisted the c\(iv<*y and tiicir Hocks on the Labrador, has put into my liands money lor the erection of u ehurcli in the Bay of Islands. Since visiting; White Vmy, T have been alr)ng the whole coast of Labrador in the Huttle Harbour and Fortcau Missions, and celebrated divine service in sixteen different harbours. Tn Hattle Harbour I consecrated a new church and held C'onlirniation." [•ee '^, k Tlio voya)];o ended October IHth, having extended to the Labrador and north-cast coast of Newloundland. Six churches and eleven {jravc^yards were consecrated, and Continiiation was adminl-ittu'ed in thirty-two settlements. With the winter of 18G5-(), the bishop was a^ain due at Bermuda, and the present visit was one of unusual ifti- portarice. The following letter to the Ilev, Canon Seymour will show how keen was the interest which he took in the affairs of tlie Church at home, and how intelligent his criticisms on the literature and doings of the period : — " nKHMUDA, Feb. 7, 1866. " My dear Friend, — In the remote Bermudas (which Her Majesty's mails reach only once a month) I generally find, or make leisure, for discharging some arrears of corre- spondence. Not that 1 have nothing or little to do, in this smallest and most quiet of colonies (in which there are only nine parishes and ten churches, five rectors, and in all eight clergymen), but the work is not so pressing or the inter- ruptions so frequent, as in the larger and more unsettled part of the diocese ; and the longer interval between the arrival of the foreign niail lessens another occasion of anxious and laborious employment. It is now just a year since I received the last of your kind and acceptable ' 210 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap, VII r. communications, which I can assure you (however appearances may be against me) I always hail with pleasure and thankfulness on many accounts, not the least important of which is the additional interest they give to your addresses and speeches in Convocation, as reported in the Guardian. I feel that it is very specially kind in you, while you have so many important subjects and objects which you are so zealously and usefully discussing and promoting in and for the Church at home, to bestow any thought, and much more any time and labour, on me and my small work. And I am always thankful for the in- formation and instruction I derive from your reports and remarks. Among the last of your })ublic speeches, which I have seen., was that on utilizing the cathedrals, which entirely, I think, agrees witli my views of what sliould be done, where the cathedrtd staff is capable and the bishop has the necessary means and powers. But a still greater desideratum, as it appears to me (though perhaps I shall be accused of thinking too much of my own order) is an increase of the episcopate. If I, in my small (though in one respect very wide) sphere, find it impossible to give that attention to the clergy and their congregations (for the people are my chief care and concern) which they desire and deserve, how can bishops with 800 or 1,0.00 clergy, and nearly twice as many congregations, not sink under the care and responsibility ; or how can they but expect that false apostles, deceitful workers, will arise to draw away disciples after them, even though they might give such an account of their labours and sufferings, as we read in the Epistle of last Sunday morning ? for even the holy Apostle's ' more abundant labours' with prayers and fastings could not prevent the interference and intrusion, and the consequent separation and opposition. I do not know what the case is in England (I should very much like to know) ; but I believe in all the colonies, certainly in the North 186408C6.] "COMMON SENSE." 211 American, the Methodists increase more rapidly than the Church people. The Congregationalists decline and diminish. The Presbyterians do not proselytize (though I believe the Free Kirk prey upon the Established Church much as the Methodists do on us, with the same profession of no difference). The liomanists gain only by marriage, and the influence of wives upon their husbands, orhuubands upon their wives ; but what they gain they keep, and generally the children go with the Roman Catholic parent, whether father or mother, merely, 1 believe, because the zeal m spirit is on that side. The Baptists in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are very powerful, but happily there are none, or at least no congregation of them, in my diocese — a wonderful circumstance, and no less wonderful comfort. I read with anxiety and alarm the proceedings (as reported or exhibited in the Guardian) of the ritualist and anti-ritualist parties ; and my friend Chancellor IVIassiugberd gives me in a letter a description pf what he saw in a church in London, at which I hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. Yet nmch more do I deplore — because the error (as it seems to me) is in itself so much greater, though perha^^i in its effects not so injurious — the teaching of the J'rofessor of Ecclesiastical History and those who sympathize with him, who tells us (or, wliat is worse, his disciples) tliat * the fact that tlie whole Christian world has altered the creed of Nicsea and broken the decree of Ephesus ' (both which assertions are incorrect) is a decisive proof that common sense after all is the supreme arbiter and corrective, even of Ecumenical Councils. Here again if the matter were not so grave and sacred, one would be inclined to laugh at the combi- nation of ignorance and conceit. There can, of course, be no question but the Professor, ' after all ' considers his own common sense the supreme arbiter and corrective of Qllcumenical Councils ! Quorsum hcec tamimtida tendmit I P 2 mmi 212 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [UHAI*. VIII. How long will it be before common sense is made the arbiter and corrective of Holy Scripture — if it be not so reputed already ? Can Colenso's discoveries be more sad or strange ? I must confess that I have not read a line of his now (I believe) voluminous works, having neither time nor inclination to examine them carefully; and thinking it worse than useless to fill my mind with doubts and difficulties, which it might require more time and learning than I command to remove or resolve, though it is very easy to discover or ^reate them. I must believe that they have been sufficiently answered, as far as necessary, or practicable, considering the antiquity of the record, and the impossibility of comparing it with any contemporary testimony or composition. These circumstances — I mean the strange novelties in practice, and the bold innovations in doctrine — make mo shrink from a much desired visit to my Fatherland and Mother Church, even more than the repulsive reflections upon colonial bishops, who, for the sake of their flocks, far more than for their own pleasure, s^ek comfort and counsel of or among their kinsmen nil .] the flecih and bretliren in the faith." On Easter Tuesday the bishop delivered his Charu^e to the Bermuda clergy, not concealing his opinion that the condition of the Church was neither gratifying nor encouraging. The possible action of the Legislature on whom the continuance of the clerical incomes depended, the temptation of the clergy to falter in their testimony and to emasculate their teaching — the growth of Wesley- anisra, in no degree lightening the burden of the clergy, while its very increase testified to the insufficiency of their numbers — the position of the coloured population, the state of the Sunday Schools — the lax customs prevailing in regard to the celebration of marriages — which were celebrated in private houses, at uncanonicdl hours and by tUhi 1S64-1866.] ci{p:eds, decrees, and canons. 218 the licence of the Governor, weighed heavily on the bishop's heart and led him to ask, " Is all Church feeling to die out in Bermuda ? " Leaving matters of strictly local interest, tlie bishop olluded to tlie recently condemned works of Dr. Colenso, and "the Idndred production" known as Essays and Reviews ; but while warning the clergy against the denial, he bade them still more to guard themselves against the neglect, of the Revelation of God. " I should hardly know how to congratulate you on the absence of doubt and denial, if they are prevented only by neglect and indifference." Scarcely less than the sin of creating doubts and diffi- culties in respect of the authenticity and authority of Holy Scripture seemed to the bishop the sin of " depre- ciating the decrees of Councils and Synods by which the Catholic Faith has been cleared and maintained." He then alludes to what had formed part of the letter given above, and writes: — " With sorrow and shame I confess it, this error prevails in the writings and teachings of some, I cannot say learned, but, much admired professors of my own Uni- versity. Thus writes Professor Stanley in his Lectures on the Eastern Church, ' the fact (?) that the whole Christian world has altered the creed of Nica3a and broken the decree of Ephesus, without ceasing to be Catholic or Christian, is a decisive proof that common sense is, after all, the supreme arbiter and corrector even of General Councils.' Common sense, it is sometimes said, is the most uncommon sense : but inasmuch as every man, or surely every professor, is supposed to possess it, it is easy to see what would become of our creeds and canons, if the decrees of Councils and Synods were subject to such correctives. To the same Professor we are indebted for the information that the 'Savoy was the cradle of the English Liturgy.' Those who remember the declaration i f 814 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VI I r. of the Divines assembled at the Savoy, on their separating, re infectd, will acknowledge that a cradle rocked by such nurses would have been a very uneasy one, and that our Book of Common Prayer would have had small chance of coming out of it ! I am persuaded that this laxity and latitudinarianism, grounded, as they commonly are, upon ignorance, are offences but one degree less injurious, while they are far more likely to be entertained, than the depre- ciation or disbelief of Holy Scripture, and it behoves us to be on our guard accordingly." Returning tc local matters, the bishop reprehended the diverse and irregular ways and hours in which baptism was administered — the neglect of pas^^oral visitation " from house to house and from cabin to cabin" — the lack of Church accommodation in consequence of seats being frequently sold — the absence of decorum in the conduct of divine service, the condition of the office-books in some of the churches, and other shortcomings. " I do not profess," he said, " to sympathize with tliat fear of giving offence, specially in those whose duty it is to reprove and rebuke, which passes by faults and failings, or extenuates them with an affectation of charity, where charity has no place. I venture to think, and to say, that this fear of giving offence, or, as I would call it, want of moral courage, is one of the evils of this colony, wliich it is your duty both by precept and example to correct." Truly on this, as on all other occasions, the courageous prelate was consistent with himself: for having thus spoken plainly unpleasant truths, he concludes his Charge in the following words : — " I end as I began : I am not sanguine : I entertain but little hope that all, or anything that I have said, will be of use. I wish I could have spoken better, and to better purpose. Perhaps it would have been better if 1 had spoken less, or less plainly ; but when the heart is full 18(J4-1866.] ENDOWMENT OF THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE. 215 n ■ the mouth will opeak — and mine, at least, will speak out. I have not refrained, and never will lafrain, frcm telling you your duties and dangers, your failings and short- comings, openly or privately, as the occasion may require and justify ; and if in return I receive no thanks, but, as it may be, the reverse, I have the testimony of my con- science that, next to my care and concern for your people, and, let me add, not the least for the poor men of colour, 1 have no greater desire than to be useful and acceptable to you. In a few days (if it so please God) I shall have left you ; and I never left you with greater pain and reluc- tance ; not for any comfort or gratification I have had, or should expect to have, more thpii usual (God knoweth), but because I perceive and feel, more than ever before, your need of succour and sympathy, of help, direction, and superintendence." These were friendly smitings indeed, but the known consistencj' of the speaker gained for them an acceptance wliicli a bishop less courageous, less outspoken, whose ideal ■was lower, and whose practice was in keeping with such ideal, would have looked for in vain. In this year (1866), spite of the depressed condition of the colony and diocese, the bishop commenced an Endow- ment Fund for the Theological College, which from his first arrival in S. John's had been a favourite project. On it he had spent much of his own means, and still more of his time and labours ; for many months at a time he had acted as vice-j)rincipal when the office was vacant or the holder of it absent in England. The Society for the Pro- pagation of the Gospel had annually given the bishop 300/. for the maintenance of this institution, and with this sum he had -wholly maintained six students, giving them food, lodging, and tuition, but always, it may be supposed, contributing something considerable from his own means ; the college had now earned for itself the respect and dynfl 21f} LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. VMl. esteem of the diocese ; each student as he went forth from its walls well trained under the bishop's eye for the work of the ministry, was an additional testimony to its value ; and of the present clergy of the island, no small proportion had been educated in tliis modest college. In spite then of the inauspicious circumstances under which the appeal was made, the answer that was given by the laity was unmistakeable and hearty ; the start having been made in Newfoundland, tlie bishop came in the autumn to England to interest the friends who, after an absence of seven years, still remained to him. In time a total of 7,500/. was raised, which has placed the institution on a basis as firm as an endowment can afford ; as long as it iionestly does its work, there is no reason to doubt the permanence of its revenue from this source ; and when an institution fails by its use of its funds to justify its possession of them, it is well and righteous that the power vested in all civil governments should relieve it of resources which are not producing their legitimate results. In this year too lie delivered his most famous Charge at S. John's. Although written so soon after the delivery of his Charge at Bernmda, and dealing, as was natural, with the same events of interest to the whole Church, there is only one instance of repetition, and that evidently by design; and in this later utterance, the commanding ability, the practical wisdom, and tolerant spirit with which he dealt with questions that at home almost rent the Church in twain, must lead all to regret that the document was not more widely known in England. The whole address is so very characteristic of the bishop's character and genius that any memoir of his episcopate would be very incomplete which did not notice it at some length. He began by expressing regret, that while the subjects which should engage the attention of such an assembly as a bishop and clergy in Visitation were now more t 18641866.] CHARGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND CLERGY. 217 >: > numerous and of greater interest than formerly, his own opportunities of studying and stating them had been fewer, while the nuinifold engagements of the clergy in their secluded but extensive missions had given them little leisure for mastering the various questions of the day. Describing the details of his labours on the Visitation of the previous year, the bishop alluded with satisfaction to the number of graveyards which he had consecrated, no fewer than four in one mission ; he regarded " the desire to set apart a place for Christian burial as an approacii to reverence for holy things, and to an appreciation, or at least apprehension, of the great doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come; it is perhaps the first step to he tahcn in outward things in every new mission." The incursions of Wesleyans, who, ashamed of the position of a sect, affected, as other sects have done within the last few years, the title of " Church," was alluded to with regret, but not without an exposure of the worth- lessness and presumption of the claims of this body to divinely-appointed orders and ordinances. For the avowal of separation now made, but for long desired, the bishop was thankful, " both on account of their congregations and our own ; — on account of theirs, because there is more hope that the difference, being perceived and understood, may convince some of their error and danger ; and of oui's, because none can any longer doubt of the character and pretensions of modern Wesleynnism, or fail to perceive how unreal revivals are but efforts to recruit or sustain an unreal Church ; and our duty in regard of both Wesleyans and our own con- gregations now is not to prove that there is a difference — for that is admitted or cannot be denied — but to show wiiat the difference is, and wherein consists the error and danger of the separation." On this ground he bids the clergy study the principles and teaching of John Wesley, and acquaint themselves with the several degrees of departure I '* 218 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD [chap. VII t; from his injunctions, by which his nominal followers have grown into " The Wesleyan Church ! " For the support of the majority of the clergy in his diocese the bisiiop mentioned (and the painful fact sup- pressed in his mind any feelings of congratulation at their numerical increase) that they were dependent "upon the shillings and prsnce of artizans and labourers in England, collected by persons on whom we have no claim, and whose work and labour of love is performed in our behalf on the supposition that our congregations cannot in truth provide for us — that is, for themselves. How far that supposition is correct is a question which ought to be asked and answered, if we are to maintain our standing and prosper in our work." In regard to schools the bishop said, that with the exception of Sunday schools, as members of the Church of England they had none. Large legislative grants were made to the Colonial and Continental Church Society year after year for the support of their schools, " on the supposi- tion that they are ordered and directed according to the rules and principles of the Church of England." How far that supposition was justified the bishop showed by his own experience. " I visited, as permitted by the rules of the Society, a school of girls ; was kindly and respectfully received by the mistress, and was invited by her to examine a class ; but when I would have gone forward for that purpose (and there are few duties in which I take greater pleasure), the mistress informed me, very properly, tliat the teacher of that class belonged to the Wesleyan Church ! What could I do or say ? Should I offend her feelings and convictions, or forget my own character and office ? I thought it kinder to her and to her pupils, and better and safer for myself, to retire. I might, indeed, have asked some questions in grammar or arithmetic, or have pro- pounded some general Bible truths; but how could I or ■::zz:^-:^-::sr'- ^^mm 1864-1866.] POSITION OF THE CELEBRANT. SIO any clergyman, in such circumstances, liave sustained the character or dipcharged tlie obligations of a minister of the Church of England?" On the question, so much debated since the bishop's Charge was delivered, of tlie position of the celebrant at the time of consecration of the Holy Eucharist, the bishop's views were singular. He had no sort of doubt that what is known as the " eastward position " was the proper one, but he laid great stress on the people being able to see the manual acts of the priest. He said : " The action prescribed is one of sacred significance, and the people may desire and, I think, require to see it done." His custom from the commencement of his ministerial life was to stand facing east, but to turn towards the people during the actions of breaking the bread, coram 2>opulo, and of taking tlie cup into his hands.^ The judgments given in England in the Colenso case, which declared the Letters Patent creating dioceses, or appointing bishops with ecclesiastical jurisdiction in colonies possessing independent legislatures, to be nllra '^ The bishop maintained liis views with much ability in a corre«ponil- ence in the Guardian. Probably his jn-actice was in this respect singular, And it seems strange that one who was in all things so full of reverence should have thought it well to allow, and even to encourage, people togazo «.u the manual acts of the priest at this most solemn function. It is interesting to compare wi^^^h this the opinion of the late Bishop of Bombay, . who dealt some years later (1874) with the same question : — "I believe that the 'eastward position,' like the use of a specinl vestment, is at once in accordance with the Rubric and the most suitable expression of the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, the priest, who thus stands representing the relations which he holds as the leader and repre- sentative of the people, going on as if in front of them into God's presence, and carrying them, in union with Christ, the sole High Priest, up to the very throne of God. And as for the common objection involved in the phrase * turning his back upon the people,' it is enough to remind objectors, that colonels at the head of their regiments cast no insult on their soldiers when they go before them, nor those who head a charge, when they show the way to those who follow after." i't- -0i* i 220 LIFE OF HOWARD FKIIJ). [chat. VIII. rirefi, ciiused luiicli conatorniition both at homo and altroiid. To the JJisliop of Nuwrouiidland thoy gave no ahirin nor disquiotude. The loss a man undnrstands or rcalizo.s the divino character of the opiHcopato and tlie priesthood, the more [)r()ne lie id to seek for the su])port and the bondage of civil legislation ; happily the abolition of letters paU.nt, now accomplished, ^vill tend to leatl such persons to higher studios. How vain is all secular logishition when it enters into the province of ecclesiasticid matteis, tlie contra- dictions and absurdities, and even the scandals of so-caUed judgments, contradictory to each other and in defiance of the plain meaning of words, abundantly prove ; only in what is known as consensual jurisdiction can we hope to find tlie discipline and subordination necessary for the well- being of the Church. Bishop Feild was quite content with this, and conceived that he had it. " On arriving in New- foundland," he s[iid, " I was owned and accepted by the clergy as their bishop ; they submitting to me their Liccjncea and Letters of Orders, and renewing the promise of canonical obedience ; this, of itself, was and is sufficient ; 1 wanted, and want, no other authoiity. As for the title, the coercive jurisdiction, as it is called, and other matters of that nature, said to be improperly gianted by the letters patent, I requiie them not, being well persuaded that considerations of this kind did not enter your mind in making before God and the congregation that solemn declaratior and promise, the Lord being your Helper, reverently to obey your Ordinary," But after an episcopate of twenty-two years, the bishop looked to other bonds which in his case bound the clergy to himself, and with true feeling he added, " If I might venture in this much lower sense and application to adopt the words of an Apostle, I would say, ' If I be not a bishop unto others, yet doubtless I am to you.' To the large majority of you the oflBce and work of a priest in ,■• / lSrtM«6(J.] FAST DAYS AND FKSTIVALS. m tlip Church of God were committed by my hands. From mo you received aiitliority to preach the Word of God, and to minister the Holy Sacraments in the conj^regation ; and you cannot, I concoivo, chiim and nuiintain your authority, or exercise your office, without a duo ac- knowledgment of the source fromwliich they were derived, l)oth y«mr of!ice and autliority — or without a like ac- knowledgment of your obligations, I mean, of canonical obedience and submission. It would be very grievous to ine to think that I am now addressing you as any officer of state ; or that you receive my admonitions and advice only in that light and on that ground, or that we require or desire any '^♦^her bond of union than that of our spiritual relationship." Descending to lesser matters, the bishop enjoined the clcray to notify, as directed by the llubric, the Fasting days as well as the Festivals to be observed in the week following, and expressed a hope, that, as a few years pre- viously Holy-days, now so generally observed, were un- noticed, so in time Fast-days would be as diligently kept ; for "surely none can suppose that any branches or members of Christ's Church on earth are entitled, and in a condition to keep Iloly-days with feast and festival, without some corresponding seasons of fast and humiliation." On the subject of Confession, the bishop's words were very plain and definite. He reminded the clergy of the invitation which they were instructed to make when giving warning of the celebration of the Holy Communion, and " T need scarcely add," he said, " we are equally bound to hear and consider the grief of all who come in answer to that invitation. It is not with you a question of opinion, or of choice, but of duty; and shame to that minister who through ignorance or indifference shrinks from or neglects it. Does anyone who has received the authority 222 LIFE OF EUWAKD FEILD. [OIIAP. VIM. I > ' A-f« vin v> nnd commissiou liesitiito in iiiiHCofictMved liimiility — thinking rather of hinisolf than his Master, or of his own ability or inability rather tium of the gift ami grace of ((0(1, — (iocs any minister of Jesus Christ hesitate, in his ^Inatcr'a name, to absolve the penitent \ — and does he think nothing of lu'onouucing over the child conceived and born in sin, '1 hiii)tize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy (Jliost ' ? Is it so much more presutnptuous, wlien the same Lord has given us the com- mission to say, ' I absolve tl 'e* ? Did not the same Lord , 2n\\o said to liis Apostles, ye and make disciples of all nation^ bai)tizing them, say also to them, the same Ai)ostles, ' Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitteil unto them ' ? " With regard to the " Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof," the bishop was clearly of o}>inion that it was" the intention, or rather perhaps the wish, of '. those who undertook the last revision of the Prayer-book to restore the symbolical ornaments of the church, and appropriate habits ot the clergy, specially in the chancel - and ministration of the Holy Comnuinion." On this ,lV vexed question, to wh'ch he ascribed much less imi)ortance than has been assigned to it in this country, the bishop commended the counsels of him " whose white stole now hangs — shall I say mourns ? — over his vacant stall in the ''church which he built by the proceeds of that book, rom which thousands have learnt, and thousands in gene- rations to come shall learn, to value and honour more and more all our Services for the Christian year. Hear his words, among the last which he wrote and published, — ' On these and all like matters we shall perhaps do well to accept the counsel of our Church in her first reformed Liturgy concerning another main point of Christian disci- pline : Such as are satisfied with the more modern ami plainer ritual not to be ofiended with them that adopt the V 18A4-18C6.] RETURN TO ENGLAND. 223 y more orimte and symbolical requirernenta of the Rubric ; they, on tho otiier hand, who tind comfort nnd udificntion in the ceremoniea, to bcur with their brethren, who, for various reasons, think best to dispense with them for the present.' " As has been already mentioned, late in the year 1800 the bishop came to Kn<,'land. He was a passenger on board tlie Great Eastern steamer, which had laid the Telej»raphio Cable of 18GG, and recovered and completed the ruble of ISlif). He preached a serinonon board, which lu; dedicated to Sir Daniel Gooch and the other directors of the Tele^'rn])h Company, the subject being The daiujcra of man'ff vmdorii and knowledge. His days in this country were incessantly occupied with travelling and correspond- ence; for although it was hateful to him to stand on a platform, and he much jireferred preaching in a villiig(! church, or talking to a few people in u schoolrodii, yet in this instance tho interests of his diocese were concerne«wvaiiili |. »Ji >l wt" 230 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IX. seals ; the accustomed " Ice-hunting Sermons " were preached ; and Avhen the first of the ships returned v;ith their unsavoury cargoes the hungry poor struggled eagerly for the edible part of the seals, which, spite of its repulsive appearance, was very acceptable when in every house there was a cry for bread. The bishop's stay in Bermuda was protracted to an unusually late period in this year, and on Ascension Day he held a Visitation of the clergy of the island, the first time that he had kept that festival in the island for thir- teen years. According to the precedent of former years, a Charge would not have been expected from the bishop until 1870, but he gave several reasons for deviating from the practice of the past : — '' (1) That having now entered upon the twenty-fifth year of his episcopate, he felt constrained to avail himself of each passing opportunity, (knowing that many more could not be granted him,) of speaking a word of brotherly counsel or admonition. (2) That this being the first anni- versary of the consecration of Trinity Churcli, he had been privileged to be present at, after a lapse of thirteen years, and also, and especially, as being the great festival of our Lord's Ascension to Heaven, he was anxious to do all honour to the Holy Day, and make profit of the occasion, by par- taking with them of the great feast of joy and fellowship, the Holy Connnunion of Christ's Body and Blood. (3) That having since his last visit to Bermuda enjoyed the benefit and blessing of witnessing the wonderful improve- ments going on in the churches at home, he hoped to make a brief account of what he had seen and heard both inter- esting and instructive. (4) And especially, that the doubts and difficulties of late raised about episcopal rights and powers in the colonies seemed to make it necessary, or expedient, that he should stata and explain to them the grounds on which, (while willing to renounce all civil or y 51 ? 1867-1871.] DEATH OF CANON HAWKINS. 281 secular jurisdiction and authority, till recognised by the colony,) lie still expected, as their chief pastor, their promised ' due and canonical obedience.' " He congratulated the island on the prospect of the early completion of a new church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, ini])ressed on the consciences l2 Ch; :ch people the necessity of providing for religious education, and askf.d for assist- ance towards the endowment of the Theo^ .gical College at S. John's, in which one of the most hir' xy esteemed of the Bermuda clergy had been edncp^od, p .d other natives of tlie island now labouring in Lr jrador ^nd Newfoundland had received their training. lae summer was one of unusual activity with both bishops, and from this time the Visitations have been made annually instead of every alternate year. The coadjutor-bishop set out, as soon as lUshop Feild re- turned from Eermuda, on a voyage round the island and along the Labrador coast, while the bishop, after presiding at the annual meeting of the Church Society, made a Visita- tion of Harbour Briton and Fortune Bay. From August 19 to September 7 the bishop was engaged in holding Con- firmations ; the weather was very rough, and against several lists of catechumens the missionary had been compelled to write, " too much wind," in explanation of their absence. On September 20, the bishop returned to S. John's, and on S. jMattliew's Day held an Ordiiuition in the cathedral. In the following )uonth he heard of the decease of the Eev. Canon Ha^vkins, who has fitly been called " The Founder of the Colonial Episcopate." The following letter shows forth the tender side of the bishop's character, and displays the intensity of friendship and sympathy of which he was capable : — JL "S. Simon and S, Juue, 1868. " How can I express the grief and dismay with which I read in the papers the announcement of the death of my dear, kind friend — the friend of all colonial bishops and ^aSMmmm aassBifis sass^ wmm 232 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. IX. clergy — Canon Hawkins, to whom not I only, but all tlio Churches in the colonies, owe more than can he told or known till his labours and prayers, with their effects and results, are published before angels and n n, in the great day of recompense. For myself, as T believe and willingly confess that I owe my honourable station and opjiortunities of usefulness to his partiality, and he has, ever since my ap- pointment, counselled and assisted me in every doid)t and difficulty, both in his responsible and laborious office of secretary, and, to his power, subsequently, I seem to have lost more than a faithful friend and dear brother ; for from neither of these would I expect the help, counsel, and en- couragement I have for a quarter of a century invariably received at his hands. Fdiv opportunitate mortis — taken away from evil which is come, rather than from evil to come ; for how must his meek and righteous soul have been grieved and vexed by the divisions and discord which* have arisen in some of the churches over which he watched and prayed with most earnest, and increasing, and affectionate solicitude ! Surely, if ever the words from Heaven might be safely applied to any mortal's departure from this naughty world, they might and should be to our dear brother's — ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their lal)ours and their works do follow them.' I trust that some appropriate memorial may be thought of, to testify our grateful regard and esteem, to which I should consider it a privilege to be allowed to contribute. Though, as I observed this morning in my sermon on S. Simon and S. Jude, if the effects of holy labours and services remain, we may be content that the deeds, as those of the apostles of this day, be all forgotten. Somewhere on the walls of S. Paul's Cathedral it is written in honour of the builder, ' Si monumentum rcquiras circumspice,' and a wide and wonderful sight it is ; but to those who require or desire a monument to the builder of the Colonial Church it may be 1867-1871.] VOYAGE TO THE NORTH. 233 said, * Look round tlio ^vhole earth ;' for I believe in every land and country under British rule you may see the blessed effects of his work and labour of love." In the autumn of this year the See of ^Montreal became vacant hy the death of Bishop Fulford. The Pjishop of Montreal is, by virtue of his position. Metropolitan of Canada, and the prelates of that province endeavoured to persuade IMshop Feild to leave his poor diocese for the less laborious and more important position which was vacant. The offer was creditable to those who made, as to him who received it, but it was never seriously entertained. To live and to die Bishop of Newfoundland was all that he desired. Even at this late season of the year tliere was no rest allowed to the bishop. Having made one autumnal voyage to t\\% westward, he was now to make another to the northward : to the enforced leisure of his sojourn at Twillingate his friends w^ere indebted for several letters, two of which are here printed. The first, to the Ilev. Canon Seymour, describes one of the older missions of tlie diocese, and, still more, the activity of the now no longer middle-aged bishop ; the second, by its playful tone, shows how the bishop's spirits rose and his heart opened when he could write freely to one who was \vorthy of his full confidence: — To the Rev, Canon Seymour. " Twillingate, Nov. 14, 1868. " My dear Friend, — As you received my communication from Great S. Lawrence so kindly, I hope you will not be displeased at being addressed from another out-harbour, somewhat further from S. John's, and in a very different as well as more distant locality. I must premise, however, that there is nothing of special interest in Twillingate, the 234 LIFE OF EDWAKD FEILU. [iIIAl*, IX. .i j)liico in wliicli I am now staying, nnd from wliich I liopo very shortly to esca])i!. Tvvillingatu is ono of tliu oldest settlumt'nts in Nuwfountlland on tho N.E. coast, about 200 miles north of S, John's. Two hundred miles seem notliin<^' in England, where you ean go that distance from almost any vilhige to any otlier in less than a day; but it is dilVerent in a country where there are no roads, and where tlie journeys must be performed by sea, when time and weather will serve, and sometimes when neither will serve. I am now in great doubt how and whi'ii I shall get back to S. John's, having no vessel at my command, and atj people here say it is terrible late; for his lordship to be knocking about on the coast, (a woman in the neigh- bourhood once told me that her daughter was a terrible girl to say her Catechism), the jjcople marvel to see me here, and it is an event which requires some explana- tion. A coi)per mine was discovered a few years ago, and is now being successfully worked in this (Notre ])am(.!) Bay, and having received some encouragement from the proprietors, I took the lirst opportunity to make it the centre of a new mission, thus dividing a mission which extended ninety miles along the coast, and contained six settlements with churches, and as many more without churches, all to be visited, and ministered to, or in, by one clergyman. As T could only spare a young luiwly ordained deacon, I thought it might be of some who. and a comfort to him, if T were to accom]>any and settle him. This I did last week, conveying or accompanying him from S. John's in a little dirty tug steamer, hired by the proi)rietor for the purpose of bringing away one of the partners, he paying for it 20/. a day for six days (120/.), a missionary's year's income ! Said partner might have come away in one of his own vessels for nothing. Having accomplished ray object, I asked to be landed at this place (about fifty miles from the mission) which is the 1807-1871.] VOYAOK TO THE NOUTH. jt ro.sulunc(3of tlio liural Pean, wlio M'as not a little surprised, and not less I believe, gratified, wlien I walked np to his door, and proposed to remain with him a few days. Tic luid not the least idea of my being in the nelghboin-liood, or indeed of my being absent from S. Jolin's. You can hardly understand the condition and feelings of a clergy- man, who does not sec or expect to see, a brother clergyman for perliaps six months, or it may })e much longer, or to hold other intercours(^ with his brethren, and consetjuently you do not think much of the bishop coming unexpected and unattended, to be his guest and assistant. 1 arrived here on a Saturday, and on the following day T celebrated and, assisted by the Kural Dean, administenul to sixty-eiglit communicants the Holy Sacrament, and preached for him at his service. The church here is the first I ever con- secrated. It was built, unfortunately, a few years before I came to Newfoundland, on the then most appiov^d plan, galleries on three sides, no chancel, the pulpit and prayer- desk in front of the altar; but its conntruction, still more its situation in the churchyard, will I fear for ever prevent improvement, and the means of the jieople are so much reduced that, if alteration were ever so easy, they would not attempt it. Also here, as else^\]lcre, of their own- selves, men arise, speaking perverse thing ; to draw disciples after them. Twillingate was fii-st peopled, and has been always cliietly occupied by emigrants, or rather adventurers, from Dorsetshire, and two mercliants from I'oole made considerable fortunes, by soiling goods dear, and purchasing fish and furs cheap. But all this is gone by. Their monopoly has been interfered with by traders and others, furs have become scarce, fish and oil are no longer plentiful or cheap as formerly. The old establishments are almost closed, their owners have given up the business, and let their houses to young adventurei -, who generally are dissenters, whereas the former merchants, and nearly, all MIliM il lHliUIMH i »JU I H.I I - MiiBaii'liiiiffl'n— ill iiiij<»ni 986 LIFK OF EDWARD FKILD. [ruAP. IX. tht'ir clcika and iij^onts, were old-fasliioiuid clnin;lniu'u. This is one of the ways in whicli our Cliurcli is now divided and desolated. From its connection Twill inflate has i)een called the next parish to Poole. It is a beauti- fully romantic place. The missionary's house is sulliciently comfortable, and he has a j^arden and {.debe, and if he liad a better arrani^ed church, and means of liviu;,' in- dependently of y.r.(i., he might bo very happy as Avell as very useful. I hnve now been here six days, and know not when or how I shall be able to return to my home and my wife, who had no idea of my remaining absv;nt so long, .1^ neither had I when I left S. John's. 1 shall probably return in sonu; vessel laden with lish. Winter has o^vady .set in, or at least come in, for it has been snowing, more or less, every day this week. ]Uit my visi< hu3 li;en very gratifying to nu;, and among other reasons, becau.sc it has enabled me in some sort to discharge my obligations to you for your instructive and interesting letters, or at least to acknowledge them, {ind to ask and hope for another when you are charitably disposed. I should very much like to know, whether the Confercinces, estab- lished or set on foot by the liishop of Lichfield, came up to your view!=', and wishes in retVirence to Diocesan Synods. Are these Conferences ipen to the public, and are ladies permitted to attend ? If so, I confess I have little hope of any good piuctical vesults " To the Rev. Julian Morcton. " TWILLINGATE, Nov. 23, 18C8. "My dear Julian,--! 'ejoiced greatly to hear of your * The Rev. Julian Jloreton, having for many years held the extciisivo mission of Greenspoii''. on the east coast of Newfomulhiud, was obliged to seek a warmer clinjate, and accepted first the consular chaplaincy at Labuan, and subsequently a similar appointment at I'enang. iir> — ;is as usual, in Tassion Week I preached ten tiuiea in eiylit dilierent churches, addre8,sf>d candidates and confirmed tliem in six. churchc'^ instructed my own candidates, coniirmed them, and Ita^.tized one infant and buiied another, both of the negro tribe. On Kaster Sunday I took chief part in an early celebration, assisted by one clergyman ; took the whole service with second celebration at 11 o'clock, and the whole evening serviro in my other church, in each unassisted. After long disuse I find it dillicult to admi- nister both the bread and cup to many communicants, and 1 do not wonder at lionian (Jatholics, who get or give themselves easy dispcnsi'^ion, choosing to abridge the service ; but I am none the le,'^^^ opposed to such abridg- ment — such, I mean, as three or four only out of a cou- gregation receiving the blessed Sacrament. Enough of self and l]ernmda ! — enough, more than enough, of what will, I fear, appear boastful, or boasting, to which 710 2)crson lias compelled me ; but 1 feel pretty sure you will rejoice with me, and for me, that strength has been givc.i me at my threescore years and ten, to under- take, and, however imperfectly, to perform these additional duties. I dare not enter on the various matters which are agitating, distracting, and I fear dividing the Church in England. They make me miserable. I hardly know whether to be glad or sorry, that I cannot take part in the discussions, though I must feel that the Church" in the colonies is most unjustly treated in being excluded, I! 250 1,1 FR OP EDWARD FKTLD. [cnw. X. wlion nltomtiona of the rmyer-book and ( /'reeds, to say notliiii",^ of tlio voisioH of tlic Holy Scriptures, are under consideration." To another friend a few days later (April 27, 1872), the bishop wrote : — " To-morrow is the day of my consecration tvventy-ci^dit yenrs ngo; this year 1 reach my tlireeacoro years and ten." In June of the same year he wrote : — " My stay is pro- lon;^'e(l in I'erniuda in consecpience of our being still unable to obtiiin a successor to Mr. Lightbournc. 1 am still in sole chaige of his two parishes, and perform tlu? duties of rector, or rather of curate, in both. I cannot feel satisfied to leave these parishes without some clorgynian to carry on the work ; better to have a bishop than nobody. If I do not quite melt away, I shall hope to move what n^mains of me to S. John's on June oD." Aa it turned out the bisho]) could not leave until the end of August. To yet another correspondent he wrote on the same subject, on May 28: — "I have to perform two full services every Sunday, to baptize, bury, and visit the sick, as I did at Kidlington, just forty-five years ago. Thank God, I am enabled, by His grace and mercy, to get through the routine duties without much difilculty, though you will easily believe the addition of fori y-live years and the, dreadful heat of the Bermuda summer, and the mixture of coloured and white, the former preponderating, do not help me in the work. I confess to some repugnance at first to baptizing black babies, but that was soon conquered. What pains me far more is the loss of many of my coloured flock through tlu; introduction of a black preacher of the so-called Methodist Episcopal Church, a very large and powerful body in the United States ; and as surely as ' birds of a feather flock togetlier,' so will my poor coloured peoph; follow one of their own colour and race. I shall be triad and thankful if the II VI'. x. o siiy i), tlje 1872-1870.] UIFT OF A NKW cnilllCU SHIP. 2M yonii^' man you spoko of in at last persuaded to join us in NewtoundUind. " On i\sc,('n.sion Day T eoiisecrat(Ml tins nave of a very beautiful cliureli, the oliatKHil and transe^tts of whicli I consecrated on tlio .same lioly-day seventeen years ago." Whil(! tlie l)islu)]» was tluis enga«,'ed in one part of liis diocese, a numificent j^ift was beinj^ i)rei)ar((d for tlie benelit of another pv/.tion. An ollicer (jf tlie Koyal Kngineers, Lieutenant (■urling, who had served in lier- muda, and there iiad learned to admire tlie life and labours of the apostolic l)isliop, determined to replace the lost Star by his own yacht, the lAivrock. . . . Everything that ex[)i'rience or forethought could suggest was provided, and in the spring of 1872 the kind donor navigated the yacht across the Atlantic and consecrated her to the service of God. The bishop wrote in July, concerning tlie oflering that had been made to the Church: — " What a noble gift that was ! A yacht, with every item and article required for a Church ship, even to surplices for the chaplain, communion table and plate, &c. And given all so modestly -'^nd cheerfully ! I believe I told you tluit he has given a beautiful organ, jind five win- dows by Clayton and ]>ell, a corona lnci% standa.rds foi' lights, candlesticks and vases, to our Trinity Church iv. Lermuda." The new Church ship was utilized without delay, the coadjutor-bishop going in her on Visitation to the north- ward to Labrador, to White Bay, Fogo, and Twill ingate, after which he left for England, with a view of obtaining help for the endowment of the See. The " old Bishop," as Bishop Eoild had by this time come to be called, stayed in Newfoundland. His sympathies were ever fresh, and his recollections of England, and the happy scenes in which 252 LIFE OF EDWAKD FEILD. [chap, X. his lot had been cast, were always green, although not onco did he look hack, either with regret at having left then], or with a desire to return to them, A correspondent wlm had visited his old parish of English Bicknor, and seen some of the aged parishioners with whom " Mr. Feild " was still a 'precious tradition, had written to him a full account of what had been seen and heard, and the following reply was the result : — "Halifax, K S. Sept. 6, 1872. " Your letter received just before I left Bermuda was a rich treat, and I wish I could worthily acknowledge it. I was carried back by it to places and people Avhich and whom I dearly love ; and to ramble with you in the woods, and to talk with my good neighbours, even in thought, was very pleasant, and I thank you for giving me that pleasuie. I must confess, however, it made me long and sigh for the reality ; that I should have been with you in pers(jn would have been a gratification of a higher degree. I was so glad to hear that you found our old friends so kind and as ready to welcome you as in former days. I lament the intrusion of the railroad on the sylvan banks of the winding river. It will strangely and sadly intermix and interfere with the natural beauty and repose of the scene. An old lady at New Weir used to say, that ' a sight of quality came across Symond's Hock, and she coul I not think what they came for.' And another, hearing of the speed of the travelling on the railroad, asked me seriously if I did not think it ' wicked ' to travel so fast. They are gone to their rest, and I presume their children will have different, and what people call 'enlarged,' views; but I doubt whether they will be better or happier than their simple-minded fathers and mothers. Certainly some of the best of my flock were among those nestled under Symond's Hock and some of the worst! I thank you for the piece of scented geranium, which nTS ' ■ri'iil-«r-|«g!isli papers, in one of which the bishop read thai Mr Heymoru' had been ajipointcd to a Canonry at Tvorcester. Vie v. rote (August 18) offer- incT cordial congratulations (,.t ' rliis most just and justh' deserved recognition of labo'ivs and services in and for 'O our dear IMother Church — the Church of our second birtli ^-•^ '- ill msam 'V 1'. X. 1872-1876.] DEATH OF BISHOP WILBERFORCE. 257 The bishop's thoughts, not unnaturally, carried him to scenes which he liad known from his earliest days ; and he continued, " A canonry in the cathedral church of my native city, among the few surviving friends left, would be like, too much like, sinking into a bed of roses after lying on a cargo of fish. But I am content; ought to be, and I trust am, more than content to abide by and with my fish, my only grief being that so many turn out unsavoury, notwithstanding the salt they have received, and are receiving daily. But I have not forgotten — I have too much reason to know and remember — that the salt may lose its saltness, and that the results I lament may be due to my own faults and failings. But who and what am I, that I should be permitted still to speak and preach in our Master's name and holy cause, when the eloquent, gifted, and ever ready tongue of the great and good Bishop of Winchester has been so sadly, suddenly silenced ? ^ I do not know why I may not mention to you that I have been always, but lately more especially, vexed and distressed by my slowness of speech, my inability to address a congregation of even poor fishermen, with readiness and effect, but the stammering tongue may speak when the dead is silenced for ever. The sad news reached me on the 12th of this month. On the following Friday, the Second Lesson at Evensong was taken from the twenty- fourth chapter of S. Matthew, 29th to 61st verses. I preached, as I generally do on Friday evenings, and the 40th verse, ' Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left," seemed to be impressively illustrated by the awful removal of the good bishop, and furnished accordingly the text of my discourse ; and T related the event to my simple congregation as plainly as I could, for their instruction." On his return from this voyage, a carbuncle at the "■ Bishop Wilberforce's death occurred on July 19, 1873. maamM 258 LTFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [fHAP. X. back of the neck, whose existence, he said, " I can only believe in, for I cannot see it," confined him to his room for some time, and delayed his departure for Bermuda. Mr. Curling was ordained deacon on All Saints' Day, and started immediately for the Bay of Islands, and early in December the bishop reached Bermuda. In May, 1874, he paid his last visit to this country : there were many details connected with the endowment of his see which required his presence, and he was anxious to try to persuade some young clergymen to accept work in his diocese. On June 1, the coadjutor-bishop started for an unusually long and arduous Visitation, in which he hoped not only to visit the whole of the Newfoundland coasts, but also the Labrador and, by the desire of the Bishop of Quebec, some portion of that diocese on the Gulf of S. Lawrence. He had visited Bay de Verds, the Bay of Islands, and Bonne Bay, and had reached the Lfibrador, when he was taken seriously ill from exposure during a stormy night on a dangerous part of the coast, and was compelled to return without delay to S. John's. The telegraph brouglit tlu^ news to England, and the bishop, with the aliicrity, but alas ! no longer with the strength, of a young man, hastened back by the lirst steamer, and without any delay embarked immediately on his arrival in the Lavrock and completed the projected Visitation; another Visitation of Conception Bay was made in November. It is generally felt that from these tremendous exertions, suflicient to tax the strength of a man in full vigour, the bishop never entirely rallied, but certainly to those who only read the record of his labours there appears no sign or semblance of abated powers. In January, 1875, it became necessary that a clergy- man, the Kev. J. C. Harvey, of Port-de- Grave, should visit England, for the purpose of promptly obtaining medical advice. There was no one to be found who could be placed in charge of the mission, and Mr. Harvey ! •: 1872-1876.] AT BRIGUS. 2ny had made arrangements with the nearest clergy to give one Sunday a month to his flock, and had apjjointed two schoohnasters to act as lay-readers during his absence. Mr. Harvey writes — " When I arrived at S. John's on my way to England the bisliop said he had no one to put in my place, and he did not like to leave so large a parish without a clergyman ; and then he asked if Mrs. Harvey could receive him at the parsonage, as if so he would go himself ; so before I sailed it was decided that the bishop and Mrs. Feild should live with my family, and in the following week, F'riday, February 5, they started round the bay in two sleighs, reaching i'rigus the same night ; the weather was very inclement and it was no slight under- taking to travel sixty miles in snow and wind for ten hours or more." Thus writes Mr. Harvey, and he is probably unconscious to this day that the bishop was most anxious that he should go to England, and that the necessary expenses of his journey should be lessened as nmch as possible ; that lie paid for telegraphic messages to and from England on the subject, and wrote to friends at home bespeaking " a fitting welcome for this missionary of tliirty-three years' standing," — but it was so. The journey was broken at Brigus, about fifty miles from tlie capital, and the excellent clergyman of that station, tlie Rev. Pi. H. Taylor, who was his bishop's host that night, lias kindly sent me the following striking account of the bishop's doings : — " February is commonly the coldest month in the New- foundland year, and Friday, 5th February, was one of the coldest of days in this coldest of months. A heavy breeze of northerly wind had succeeded a sudden thaw, and travelling was disagreeable in the extreme, even for the young and vigorous. The writer well remembers walking over the hills to morning service at an out-station called Burnt Head, and the unpleasant walk back in the teeth of half a .s2 i b 860 LIFE OF KDWAIII) FKILD. [(•It A p. X. I gale of wind which seemed to cut like a razor. At one portion of the journey, where an overflowing stream was now converted into a broad expanse of glassy ice, it was impossil)lc to stand, and I was blown off my feet repeatedly, and had extreme difficulty in gaining the solid earth on the opposite side. Yet on this day, through wind and snow-drift, the bishop and Mrs. Feild were journeying from S. John's to Brigua en route for Port-de-Grave. Judging from the character of the day T deemed it an utter impossibility for anyone to achieve the journey ; and had it been any other person than the bishop I should never have exi)ected him on so cold, wild, and stormy a day as this. The thick shades of a February evening closed in early upon us, and at seven o'clock the church-bell began to chime for P>ensong, and I was setting out for prayers, leaving directions with the servant for the bishop's comfort, should he arrive in my enforced absence. All at once sleigh-bells were heard, and the bishop and Mrs. Feild drove up to the door. Tliey were soon in my sitting-room, where tea was all ready, and I ventured to suggest that they should gradually thaw and then take tea, intimating at the same time that I hoped his lordship would kindly excuse me while I went to church. To my utter astonishment the bishop at once expressed his intention of attending service, and without waiting to warm himself, or even to take off his overcoat or wrappers, and re- fusing Mrs. Feild's and my earnest entreaties to take some refreshment before going out again, he insisted on accom- panying me, and preceded by my good parishioner Mr. John Bartlett, who piloted us with a lahteiU anij s|iowed the dangerous icy places, the saintly TUshop of NewiounJ- land paid his last visit to H. George's Church, Urigus. The congregation was, alas ! very scanty, for my pftlishioners thought it too disagrceal)le a night to risk themselves oven the short distance from their fireside to the chunih ; hut the ii M'. X. one was was odly, the 1S72-1870.] INTENSE COLD. 2;i noble bishop in his seventy-fourth year, at the ttamina- tion of that fciarful journey of iifty miles, wended his way to the House of God, even before partaking of bodily refreshment, to join in the holy service in the pour little wooden church of Brigus. The storm of wind and drift continued all through the next day, but, after an early dinner, the bishop pushed on for Port-de-tirave, in order that he might be in time for Sunday duty." The bishop's own version of his journey was much simpler, and only mentioned the discomfort which such travelling necessarily caused to a lady. He wrote : — " On February 5, 1 came with Mrs. Feild to Port-dc-Grave, no small undertaking for a lady at this season, upwards ol fifty miles in an open sleigh, and as it happens the bitterest cold I ever remember. Yesterday was my first Sunday, and I had j\[orning Prayer and Holy Communion with forty-two communicants, in Port-de-Grave church, and Morning and Evening Prayer in Bare Need church. In Port-de-Grave church a fire was lighted, but allowed to go out, as it was feared the piping of the stove would be blown down ; in Bare Need church there was no fire, — and oh ! the cold ! " To a friend at Oxford he wrote : — " We are enduring the longest, coldest winter, ever known to any living person in Newfoundland. Since Christmas the frost has been almost continuous, and the quantity of snow which has accumulated is wonderful. I am now living with Mrs. Feild on the shores of a large bay, and for weeks we have not seen either land or water — the former being covered and hidden by snow, the latter by ice. As far as the eye can see and farther, there is nothing but snow and ice — and people walk Of' d^jye Qver the sea chained down, and smooth and still, " Peaceful as some immeasurable plain," m safely and securely as, and much more easily than, the guuwclf|,c| jiHid. 202 LIl-i: OF EDWAllI) FKILD. [(HAT. X. We are come to tliis |»liicu (rort-dc-Ciravc) nn out-liui- l)()ur iniHsion, al)out sixty miles (hy luiul) from S. John's, and have boon h(\\v. now about six woek.s, in ordin* that 1 may su])ply the phice a. id pciloiin the work of tlie mis- sionary, wlio is ^'one to England to consult an ooulist. It is a very largo and important mission, with two churches (and a Methodist chapel and resident pn^acher), and in our dearth of clergy, would have been left without any clerical superintendent or service if T, being the only idle clergy- man, had not come to the rescue. Although the churches are little more than a mile and a quarter apart, I have been twice prevented going from the one near which I reside to the other, l)y the violent snow-storms. We ex])ect to remain here till May, when 1 hope the missionary (Mr. Harvey) will have returned." Mr. Harvey has kindly informed mo that during the fourteen weeks which the bishop spent in his parish he preached sixty-seven times, celebrated the Holy Communion twenty-one times, and in addition to the numerous func- tions which a parish priest has to perform, was visiting tlui sick and the whole in all weathers and at all hours. In the rough notes of his doings, which he left behind him, there are only two days with the entry Bicn Non. After the Lenten Ordination a nev/ly-ordained deacon, the Eev. A. C. Waghorne, who had just arrived from l^ngland, was sent to assist the bishop at Bare Need. ]Mr. Waghorne has given his impressions in a very appreciative spirit, as though conscious of the privilege of commencinp; his ministry as he did, and his testimony as a novice has its value by the side of those of the older missionaries who have been quoted. He writes : — " On arriving at S. John's I/ound that Bishop Feild was taking tempo^-ary charge of the ^nission of Port-de-Grave, in Conception Bay — some sixty miles from S. John's, during the absence in England of the pastor, Mr. Harvey. w X I''i,7- 1872.187t{.J I'oirr-DK-aHAVK. 2((3 After 801110 littlo delay it was at leii<,'tli decided tliiit I Hhould join the bi.sliop, iiiid relieve liim of pint of the work, esjjeeiull}', as I understood, by takiii;^; charge of one of the .settlenieiitM, and thus oliviate the necofisity for the Itishop'.s ex}»0Hin}^' hiniHelf t»i the .severity of the weather and the possible dangcfrs in going fnun one jtlace to another. From the beginning \ experienced nothing but tiiegniatest kindness and eonsid(nati(»n from the bishop, for which I cannot be sullicieutly thankful. lies[»ect and reverence, of course, 1 felt towards him Ibr his work's sake, but it was not long before those feelings deepened into an almost lilial love. The mission of Port-de-Cirave consists of several settlements, lying along a reach of land some six or eight miles in extent, which chiefly forms the nortlann shore of one of the many bays or harbours which are so abundant in Conception J>ay ; indeed, it may be said, along the whole of the coast. The two largest and most important places, Port-de-Grave and Pare Need, have each both a church and school, while at Northern Gut, live miles from Pare Need, was a school which was used weekly for service. The day after my arrival the bishop took me to Ikre Need for service, and to introduce me to his people. The church I found to be a good sized building, and of its sort a fine specimen. It will seat, 1 suppose, 500 or 600 people. It was now the middle of winter, and that the most severe, so peojdo say, for many a year past, — and in such a large church ..nd no stove in it, no wonder the bishop was almost frozen. Though nominally helping the bishop, I could never really see how I did so to any material extent, as he st'll continued to come to Pare Need for service, and visited the sick peojjle in my district, quite as much as before, and strangely enough, as it appeared to me, he would not allov/ ■•5*>~t--.^Ei-«T::ri';rr:s^tT.-a:-;— T" r* r- ' " " IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ■-1^ |2.5 " u% 1110 L25 1.4 ^ .4 6" - ► HiotDgrafte Sckaices Corporalion 33 WIST MAIN 5TMET WnSTIR.N.Y. 14580 (716)«72.45n3 '^ ^ i 204 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap. X. me to help him in the Port-de-Grave end of the mission, either with the services or by visiting. Regularly every Sunday, and twice or thrice in the week besides, would the bishop come to Bare Need, often going to the dock, a mile further, in all weather, coming on foot along the rough and exposed road. On Good Friday, when the winter was beginning to break up, it blew a perfect gale of wind, and rained in torrents ; we at Bare Need of course did not for a moment look for the bishop, for Lad I not been sent there especially to obviate the necessity for the bishop's exposing himself so much to the inclemency of the weather? Punctually, however, he came, and wet through. So stormy was the weather, that the bishop only saved himself from being carried off his feet by the constant firm pressure of his stout walking-stick to the ground; his thumb was in consequence very badly swollen, and continued so for some time afterwards. The gale moderated about noon; but still he would not, in spite of his good example, allow me to go to my service at Northern Gut, five miles off; and on venturing to remonstrate at the apparent inconsistency between his own conduct and his rule for us, he replied, with that beautiful, placid smile of his, that it didn't matter about himself, as he was old and useless (!), but I was young, and therefore must take care of myself ! " A winter of such severity was not likely to pass away without leaving some legacy in the shape of vacant missions and sorrowing households : while the bisliop was at Port-de-Grave a young schoolmaster perished in a snow- drift at the western point of the dioceoC, and of two young men sent out from England with a view to their entering the Theological College, one, the son of a London clergy- man, had died at Halifax of fever. The bishop poured out his sorrows to his Commissary in England in the following letter: — p. X. 1872-1876.] "WAVE UPON WAVE." 265 lou. 1' I To the Kev. E. Josselyn Beck. '• PoRT-DE-QuAVE, March 17, 1875. " My dear kind Friend, — ' Wave upon wave ! ' you have, I believe, been informed of a severe trial we have lately experienced in the loss of a promising young schoolmaster in a snowstorm which he encountered in returning to his place of residence from a neighbouring settlement about five or six miles distant. He was an Englishman, L Dught out about a year ago by the Eev. Mr. Goode, who hoped that he might shortly be admitted to Deacon's Orders. In ignorance of the danger, he ventured to walk alone (for allowing him to do so the people are much to be blamed), and, being overtaken, by a heavy drift, was, no doubt, bewildered, lost his way, and perished ; and, sad to say ! when Mr. Goode wrote, more than a week after the sad event, his body had not been found, and I have not heard that it has up to the present time. I was recovering from this grief, and was greatly cheered, by the announcement that two young men were on their way to enter as students our little college. I wrote to S.P.G. to express my joy and thankfulness, and while I was writing one of them, the son of a clergyman in London, was lying dead at Halifax. This was commu- nicated to us by telegram, and we know no further particulars, only that lie died of typhoid fever, whether contracted on board steamer between England and Halifax (as seems probable) or after landing, we cannot tell. Neither do v/e know whether his companion re- mained with him, or is on board the steamer which left Halifax for S. John's more than a week ago, and would have, in due course, arrived, but cannot encounter the vast barrier of ice, which has surrounded us for nearly a month, farther than our eyes can see. Is not this very 266 UFE OF EDWAKD FEILD. [CIIAV. X. sad ? Pray remember our need of a good man as the vice-principal of our little college." !i i ri ! There is no doubt that the good bishop gave his life for the people at Port-de-Grave. He had barely returned to S. John's when he became seriously iil ; a letter lies before ine now, dated May 18, 187''j, to which a postscrii)t was written subsequently in another hand, the bishop adding only the significant signature, 'Edward Newfoundland, a Colonial Bishop used up.' He had not been confined to Ids bed for a week at a time for more tlian thirty-one years ; he was now plainly told that he must never again be beyond tiie reach of medical advice ; but lie would not allow tliat his sickness was caused by working too hard in the Port-de-Grave mission. To Mr. Taylor, his host at Brigus, he wrote, June 18, lS7o: — " Many thanks for your kind congratulation on my improved and improving health. I have to-day, for the first time since the attack began, been out for a drive in a close carriage ; a very different condition and state of things from what I was and had in my w^alks from Bare Need and Port-de-Grave, &c. I do not believe the little voyage across the bay in any degree accelerated or aggravated the attack. I may ascribe my late attack far more to the effects of my journey to Brigus in the winter than to my pleasant passage across the bay. Then were the seeds sown or developed which were growing, and not insensibly, during my stay at Port-de-Grave, but happily, by God's mercy, did not come to maturity till my work in Mr. Harvey's mission was finished and I had returned to my own home in S. John's, where relief much needed could be obtained. I thank God for the chastisement and for the relief. Bishop Kelly's visits and prayers were of great comfort and help." ^ X. lie . I 1S72-1876.] ILLNESS. 26; But he fully knew what his condition was. To a friend in England, to wliom he sent on business connected with the Endowment of the See, he wrote in the same month of June : — " I have had a very plain warning that no time must be lost. It has been said to me very plainly, ' Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live ; ' and thougli I have no*-, neglected this important duty, I find there are many secular matters, as well as others of higher obligation, which require to be settled." The bishop had more than once expressed his wish to end his days at S. A.igustine's College if the time should come when he would be past work : it may be supposed to be natural for people who are exiled from their father- land not only to dream of, but also to express a wish for a calm ending of their days in their native land, but probably such expressions are rarely more than day- dreams. Mr. Waghorne, in his reminiscences of the bishop, mentions that on showing him some photo^^raplis of S. Augustine's College, he told him that lie should like to end his days there : it will be remembered that he once expressed a similar desire to occupy one of the alms-houses which had taken the place of the " Old Bear " at Bicknor. During his stay in England in 1874 one who loved him well suggested to him, that " a quiet retirement with 200/. a year " would be gladly provided for him if he should at any time find himself in a position to accejot it ; the idea seemed to be agreeable to the bishop, and now that he appeared to be indeed past his work, the same friend wrote and asked if the idea might assume a definite form. The suggestion drew forth the following letter, which is remarkable on many grounds, but specially as showing how far removed from the bishop's mind was any idea of returning to England, and how, while laying down (and 268 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap X. i acting ^r\) the highest principles, he could write with humour that was wholly free fiom levity : — "S. John's, Newfoundland, July 14, 1875. " My dear Friend, — It is very good and kind of you to remember, with a view to my benefit, words which I had entirely forgotten ; indeed, strange as it may appear, I had, or rather have (for I cannot recall them) entirely forgotten having entertained, when last in England, the desire or though^ of returning to England if I could find ' a quiet place and 200/. a year.' I remember a good many years ago writing to the Warden of Canterbury that I should much enjoy spending my last days, when my work was done, under the shadow of the great cathedral, perhaps within the walls of his college. But that idea toolc no permanent hold of my mind, and, as far as I can remember, the wish was never repeated. Wlien last in England my chief desire was to get away as fast as possible, and return to my diocese and work, as, thank God, I did, and made a ten weeks' voyage of Visitation, and after that confirmed and consecrated churches in Conception Bay district. Let me say then, that I have no intention or desire to retire to England, and that if circum- stances should seem to make it expedient, I should not think of asking for any pension or retiring allowance. If I should resign my office and remain in my diocese, I should not be ashamed to receive money which I should spend in the diocese and, I trust, for the benefit of the diocese. The great heathen moralist could say * Kef as est iiijussu Dei e statione vitce decedere;' and I have always felt th"!. the sentiment is still more true and touching in the case of Christian men, and specially of Christian clergy, and most specially of bishops. And I long ago made up my mind, God helping me, to act upon it. But our great moralist. Lord Bacon, says, When a man cannot perform his mtmm X. Ith 1872-1876.] QUESTION OF RESIGNATION. 2G9 to lad len or liet work and duty, he is no longer a man but a statue ; and as I should make but a poor statue in any sense or shape, it certainly docs seem to me that God, by taking from me my power of working, does permit me, if not conmiand me, to resign or retire. But as I said before, I have no desire or intention to leave the diocese. Perhaps, unattached I might render some service. I certainly hope to pay Bermuda another visit as bishop, and, if spared so long, to return to Newfoundland — and then — how presumptuous to speak or think of things to be done a year hence ! especially after three weeks of sickness and suffering ; but if spared so long I may engage to reiaain, as I am, Your faithful brother and friend, EDWARD NEWFOUNDLAND." The bishop, as soon as he rallied from his attack, removed to Topsail for rest and change; and here he wrote on July 25, apparently in high spirits : — "TOPSAILIA Femx. " I am now staying in my country ' box ' (literally, for it is all of wood, and has neither paint nor paper), for rest." His letters were always models of their kind ; few knew better how to offer words of consolation and sympathy with the sorrowing, for with him no words were common- place : he was so intensely, sternly, truthful in word and act and thought, that nothing save what was sterling and real ever came from his lips, or his pen, or found place in his thoughts. To a friend, a clergymam who was in sorrow, he wrote the following letter of sympathy — " By a letter v/hich I received yesterday I learnt that your dear sister has been released from her suffering and sorrow, and sleeps in Jesus. It would be idle, if not 270 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [on A I'. X. presumptuous, in me to suggest topics of consolation. It must 1)6 quite unnecessary to remind you that as a heathen poet lias said : — ' Sunt verba et voces quibus hiinc lenire dolorem Possis,' or to point out where and what are those words of far deeper and truer comfort than heathen poet or philosophei' over uttered or conceived ; your joy and thankfulness, on your departed sister's account now beyond the reach of evil without or within, would suffice to prevent the indulgence of selfish sorrow ; and the hope and prospect of a happy reunion will mitigate the pain which must he felt at the present separation. !My object, I say, is not to remind you of wliat you know and feel, but to assure you that I sincerely sympathize with you ; and while I rejoice in the departed soul's rest and peace, can grieve for you, at the loss of one so justly valued and beloved." To another he wrote : — " I have wished that I could have found time to refer to the very solemn subject on which you touched in one of your letters, viz., whether, or how far, the happiness of the saints and glorified spirits in heaven may be affected by the absence of any whom we have loved on earth, and who will have gone into ' that place of torment.' Not that T pretend to throw any light upon the subject other than we gather from holy scripture ; but I presume the solution is to be found (if any person can find it) in our Lord's declaration, that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. They who have loved each other with a holy love, that is, Christ's image in each other, on earth, will surely see and know and love the same image, then per- fected, in each other, in heaven. I have been much pleased with the following epitaph, for which you perhaps may find an application : — .\. 1872-1876.] ADDRESS FROM HIS DIOCESE. '27\ ' Ron(l(!r, hove lies under this stone The dust of two that were but ono : Long Imd thoy livod and loved : she (led the way To heaven first ; lie could no longer stay, But straight pursued her to that throne above, Which saints surround, crownctd with eternal love.' On the otlier side of the picture, who can look 7ioiv without trembling ? but how do the angels regard it ? " With the approach of autumn the bishop prepared to fulfil his intention of visiting Bermuda once more officially, and on Octol)er 27 the clergy and ciiurchwardens, on behalf of the several congregations in S. John's, presented to him an address, which is so full and un- varnished a resume of the work of his glorious episco- pate, that it fitly finds a place here. This was the last public appearance of the bishop in S. John's. \ " To the Right Reverend Father in GOD, Edward Lmd Bishop of Newfoundland. t " We, the undersigned — as well on behalf of ourselves as of the respective congregations in S, John's, of the Cathe- dral, of S. Thomas' Church and of S. Mary's Church — desire to convey to your lordship on the eve of your departure for the southern portion of your diocese, our affectionate wishes for your safe arrival at Bermuda, and your speedy restoration to health. Thirt} one years have passed since you assumed the spiritual supervision of this diocese, and none of us can be unmindful of the vast benefits you have been instru- mental in conferring upon our Church during that long period ; your own consistent life of self-denial and sympathy has done much to support and cheer your clergy amidst their many toils and privations. When you entered upon your episcopate our eccle- ]I78 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [•'IIAl'. eiastical system was unorganized and feeble. Now, synodioal order and unity prevail. Then, we had only about twelve cler<];ymen in the colony, now upwards of fifty are labouring tlierein, whilst churches and parsonages have been multiplied in a like proportion. A College for the education of candidates for the ministry has, by your exertions, been adequately and permanently endowed. Separate Seminaries for boys and girls have been established, and are in successful operation. Distinct Orphanages for destitute children of both sexes have been founded under your auspices, and are effectively conducted. Our beautiful Cathedral was designed and partially built under your care, and the necessary funds for its completion are in process of collection. A Coadjutor Bishopric has been created solely through your disinterested assistance, and the services of a divine — eminent for his piety and conspicuous for his abilities — have been happily secured for that important office. For the future support of the episcopate, an Endowment has been provided, and many a desolate settlement on our rugged shores has, year after year, been solely indebted for the ministrations of religion to the Visitations made by you and your coadjutor in the Church ship. That the Almighty has permitted you to be His instru- ment in effecting so much good and for so long a time, that He has preserved you through so many labours and dangers, and (until recently) has upheld you in health and strength, has been a cause to us of wonder, and of gratitude to God. We sincerely hope that a temporary sojourn in a more genial climate than that of a Newfoundland winter may prove beneficial to your impaired health, and we pray that 1872-1876.] REPLY. 273 3'ou may be permitted to return from Bermuda in renewed vigour, and long be spared to your grateful flock. S. John's, Oct. 27, n7 5." Tlie reply "which the bishop f»avc was very affecting in itself, but doubly so when it is r igarded as the farewell words of one who had for more than thirty-one years laboured unceasingly for the highest good of those whom he addressed. It was in the following terms : — " To the Clergy and Church-wardens, and the respective Congregations of the Cathedral, S. Thomas' CJiurch and S. Mary's Church, in S. John's. " Dearly Beloved in the Lord, — If, in the share which T have taken in initiating or forwarding the various objects you have mentioned in your address, (as likely to promote the spiritual interests, present or future, of the diocese,) I have merited your grateful approval — having but one higher object in view, — I am more than repaid for all I have spent or spared, borne or forborne (and there have been trials and difficulties), in all the long thirty-one years of my episcopate ; nor can I forget how much I owe to your unvarying sympathy and encouragement in every work, or undertaking, which has been brought to a happy completion, or forwarded "with good hope of future success and benefit ; not to mention the kind allowance made for many failures, and imperfect, unfinished attempts. I cannot now (having, as you are av/are, been inter- rupted in the midst of my \)reparations for a distant journey and long absence, by the unexpectedly early arrival of the steamer), allude to all the objects you have kindly referred to as having engaged my care and atten- tion for the welfare of the diocese, — and I will therefore only mention the one which, I believe, you, with me, consider of chief and special importance, as likely, with LIFE OF EDWAlil) FKILD. [OHAP. \- I i 1 (iod's blessinj^, to be of cliicf niul special ))ene(it to yom- st'lves and the diocese at lar<^e ; I maan, tlio appointment of Bishop Kelly as my coadjutor. That appointment having, as you are aware, been, by the gracious and wise act of the Synod, confirmed, with the right of succession, he may immediately enter upon all the duties and all the privileges of the bishop's office, whenever it shall please (iod that my connection with the diocese shall cease. Thus you will both bo spared the troubles and "nxieties of an election, and the man whom you have learnt to know and admire in the discharge of the episcopal oflice, and who has himself learnt and felt its duties and obli- gations, will be secured to you and your children, as your and their spiritual chief ruler and Father in God. For tlu' manner in which my views and wishes in that matter were seconded, 1 am deeply grateful, — and why? but because I am sat^ jiiea I:hat the object of my vicvs and wislios, r'vhich was nothing less than your edification, and the glory jf God therein and thereby,) will be attained to an exten' I could never have otherwise hoped for. 1 will not er ter more fully upon a subject which affords ample mater als for enlargement and illustration, because you have ill enjoyed sufficient opportunities of verifying the high esteem I have always had and expressed of Bishoj) Kelly's various and manifold qualifications for the high and important office to which he has been appointed. May your mutual wishes, endeavours and prayers, be abundantly blessed to your mutual edification, your peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. A few words, and they must be few (for even if I had the necessary time I could hardly entrust myself to enlarge on the subject) ; a few words on an act this day con- summated ; — my resignation of that charge of the cathedral and parish church and rectory of S. John's, which for nearly twenty years has been the enjoyment and pride of my life. l«72-]87a,] FA ILL' UK OF IlKALTH. Vou will easily bclicvu tliut in rcsi^Miinf:^ such 'i clmrgo iiiul (li vesting iny.sclf of. sii(;h trciisurcH, I liiulaiid could have hut one object iu view, — the honour of the(Miurch and parish, and the benefit of tlie congregation and iJarishioners at large. And again I thank Clod, wh(» inclined the hearts of those chiefly concerned, wisely and generously to second my wishes in accepting as my successor in that oflice also, my faithful, able and experienced coadjutor. I pray God to bless, guide, and strengthen him in and for the duties and services in which, I am sure, ho will tsike delight, and all for your edification and growth in grace. Among other endeavours for your benefit and the honour of the Church, I trust he will be well supported in his desire to complete the not yet lialf-finislud cathedral; provision being first made for the repairs, as they will be needed, of the present fabric (may I not say the present holy and beautiful House ?) which, I trust, has been to many, besides myself, a comfort and a joy. As I can in all sincerity, however humbly jind at a distance, adopt the Apostle's words, and say 'I seek not yours but you,' it is hard indeed to take leave of you. But God our heavenly Father is, and will be, with you, and to His holy keeping I commend you, for Jesus Christ's His Son's sake, now and for evermore. EDWAliD NEWFOUNDLAND. S. John's, Oct. 27, IS7 5." But the " more genial climate " of Bermuda did not produce the effect which was hoped for; it was clear, increasingly clear day by day, that the saintly prelate's rest was well-nigh won. In the month of January, 1876, he wrote : — "My doctors tell me they shall be able to build me up, but it is not easy (perhaps hardly worth while) to build up decayed materials. However, I am in His T 2 276 LIFE OF EDWARD FEILD. [chap, X. I f t hands "Who made me and fashioned me, and in and to them I cheerfully lesign myself and wait, not impatiently, the result." He was able to attend to business, to write letters, and to see people : very often he saw people, when he ought to have remained quiet, lest they should feel hurt at bein<; refused. The coadjutor-bishop came to Bermuda to hohl Confirmations and to perform the duties to which the eider bishop was now unequal. In the month of March it was clear that, however his days might be prolonged on earth, he would never again be competent to discharge the duties of l^is office ; accordingly he gave notice of his intention to resign his See to the authorities of the Colonial Office in the following letter : — " Bishop's Lodgi?,, Bermuda, March 5, 187(5. "My Lord, — I have the honour to inform your lordsiii]) that it is my wish and intention (D.V.) to resign my Bishopric — the See of Newfoundland, with the Bermudas or Somers Islands, and part of the Labrador Coast ; the resignation to take effect (if my life is spared so long) on and after the 31st of July next. My reasons for wishing and intending to resign are, tliat I shall then have entered upon the seventy-sixth year of my life, the fiftieth of my ministry, and the thirty-third of my episcopate. I may add, that for several months 1 have been, and still continue very unwell. Your lordship is probably aware that for the last nine years I have been assisted by a coadjutor, to whom 1 have transferred wholly the stipend allowed me by the Government. If, in consideration of these circumstances, your lord- ship should consider that I am entitled to expect a pension for the probably few, if any, remaining years of my life, it will be thankfully accepted. A p. X. ul to 3iit]y, 1872-187G.1 RKSIGXATION. 277 It was rny earnest hope and desire to spend and be spent wholly in and for Newfoundland, but my present illness convinces me that I cannot expect to endure the severity of another Newfoundland winter. I have, &c., EDWARD NEWFOUNDLAND. The night Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, H.M.'s Secretary of Slate for the Coloni s, tkc , ttc." The expression " if my life is spared so long " showed tlint he had a presentiment that his days were well-nigh spent. On June 8 he closed his eyes (and this he did with his own hands) on his earthly labours. All who ]