rsity of California ithern Regional BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODK AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON LIFE AND LETTERS OF EDWARD BICKERSTETH BISHOP OF SOUTH TOKYO BY SAMUEL BICKERSTETH, M.A. VIOAR OF LEWISHAM, S.E. LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY (LIMITED) St. IDunstan's fsousc FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, B.C. 1899 TO THE BELOVED FATHER TO WHOSE PRAYERS, EXAMPLE, AND TRAINING ALL HIS CHILDREN OWE MORE THAN WORDS CAN EXPRESS AND WITH THE EARNEST DESIRE THAT THE EXTENSION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM SO DEAR TO HIM AND TO HIS FIRST-BORN SON MAY BE ADVANCED BY THIS RECORD OF A MISSIONARY'S LIFE AND WORK 2O662O2 PREFACE To write a biography is an attempt to prolong and extend a personal influence. After my brother's death in August 1897, a desire was expressed not only in England, but also in Delhi and in Japan, that some authentic account should be written of the work which he was called of God to do, first in the East and afterwards in the Far East. At the request of Mrs. Edward Bickersteth, my sister- in-law, I undertook to write this biography. I had hoped to complete the work within a year, but I could not fore- see that the increase of population in the parish of Lewis- ham, rapid for many years past, would have developed during the last two years at a pace in excess of the growth of any other part of the metropolitan area. This has made it almost impossible to give continuous thought or study to the Life, except during absence from home. While it may be granted that the choice of a near relative as a biographer has some advantages, there are obvious dangers involved in such a selection. I cannot say how far I have avoided them ; at least, I have tried to do so. As a Commissary in England to my brother during almost all his episcopate, I was necessarily familiar with Vlii BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH his Japanese work, but I have special reason to thank those who by the loan of letters and documents have enabled me to deal, as fully as space allowed, with the years during which my brother was head of the Cambridge Mission. I am thus indebted to the present Bishop of Durham, the Bishop Designate of Lahore (Dr. Lefroy), the Master of Pembroke College, the Rev. S. S. Allnutt (now head of the Cambridge Mission), the Rev. Dr. Weitbrecht, and especi- ally to Canon Stanton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, who has been intimately connected with the Mission from its start and kindly allowed me to read over to him the Chapters II. to V. As a graduate of the University of Oxford, I have felt it a special privilege to be allowed to write the story of this well-known Cambridge Mission. In the early part of Chapter VI. will be found, in a letter addressed by the Bishop to the Master of Pembroke, a terse and vivid account of the state of Japan in 1886. But I have purposely avoided overloading the book with facts and figures connected with the marvellous story of Japanese enterprise since 1868, as travellers, artists, and journalists have already made the world familiar with this romance of modern history, its contrast with the preceding centuries of apathy, its encouragement to believe that what the Japanese have already done is but the preface to the volume of their future achievements, if once the gold of Christianity mingles with the quicksilver of their national temperament. To them imitation does not appear to mean limitation, as it so often does, because they are careful also to adapt, as well as to adopt, western ideas, reforming PREFACE IX them where necessary to suit their own habits of thought and life. The late Sir Rutherford Alcock once pointed out to me, in the course of conversation, that more than once in their history the Japanese had shown great ability in seizing upon new ideas, but for his part he was doubtful as to their power ' to keep on developing ' unless Chris- tianity added stability to the national character. I have intentionally put together into separate chapters information about the organisation of the Cambridge Mis- sion, the Nippon Sei Kokwai, and Community Missions, because happily in these days not only several English Bishops expect their Ordination candidates to take up a missionary subject, but also young Church people all over the country voluntarily submit themselves to examination in missionary knowledge. It will be convenient, I hope, to such students to have ready to hand, and disentangled from biographical details, information upon such missionary methods, while for those who have time for fuller study the intervening chapters will illustrate the way in which the Bishop applied his principles. I desire to take this opportunity of thanking those, and they are many, who have sent me personal recollections of my brother's work, which every reader will feel to be a great addition to the value of the volume, especially the well-known traveller, Mrs. Bishop, Colonel Gordon Young, the Rev. F. Armine King, Warden of St. Andrew's Mis- sion, Tokyo, the Rev. John Imai, and others, as well as Mr. A. C. Benson for leave to reproduce some of his father's letters. X BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Chiefly I have to thank my sister-in-law, not only for putting unreservedly at my disposal all my brother's papers and .letters, but also for helping me in every way in her power, especially where her residence in Japan, which I have never visited, enabled her to supply my lack of knowledge. Some words of my predecessor in this parish, the present Bishop of Lichfield, to whom I had written acquainting him with my purpose of writing my brother's life, have often come to my mind, and supplied me with an inspiring motive : ' Your brother's memoir will be much more than a valuable contribution to missionary literature. It will be an incentive to missionary zeal, and to self- sacrificing love for the Master and for the souls He loves.' If it should please God to fulfil this hopeful forecast, it will be an answer to many prayers, and a rich reward for any labour involved in the task. THE VICARAGE, LEWISHAM, S.E. Festival of S. Michael and AH Angels, 1899 CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY PAGE Birth at Banningham Parentage, Edward Bickersteth of Watton, ' Ed war Henry,' of Exeter Baptism Childhood at Hampstead Schooldays at Highgate Foreign travel Scholarship at Pembroke College, Cambridge Degree Death of his mother and of two sisters Selection of assistant curacy Ordination Work at West End, Hampstead Fellowship Personal appearance Characteristics Relationship to Church parties . . . . . . I CHAPTER II RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI Return to Cambridge Recollections by Rev. C. W. E. Body Desires for missionary work, to what due ? First idea of the Cambridge University Mission Influence of Dr. Westcott and Dr. French Bickersteth's offer to go out to India Testimony of Professor Stanton and Rev. S. S. Allnutt to his influence His paper on Cambridge Mission before Cambridge Church Society The four-fold object of the C. M. His paper in ' Mission Field ' Why Delhi was selected Community Missions then a novelty Affiliation of Cambridge Mission with S. P.O. Statistics of S.P.G. at Delhi Letter of Rev. R. R. Winter Consecration of Dr. French as first Bishop of Lahore Formation of Cambridge Committee Departure of the first two missionaries, Edward Bickersteth and J. D. M. Murray, for Delhi . 2O CHAPTER III CAMBRIDGE MISSION, DELHI (THE WORK) Arrival in Delhi Visit of Bishop (Johnson) of Calcutta First impres- sions Teaching in St. Stephen's High School Training of Catechists Christian hostel for boys Furlough of the Rev. R. R. Winter- Serious illness of the Rev. J. D. M. Murray Bickersteth left alone in charge of the mission Recollections by Mrs. Parsons His efforts to teach the teachers Necessity for Christian masters in secular schools Arrival of the Rev. H. C. Carlyon and Rev. J. D. Blackett Bickersteth's views on bazaar preaching His evangelistic labours among Kolis and Chamars His views on relative merits of Hinduism Xli BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH and Muhammadanism and their mutual influence on India and on each other Arrival of Rev. S. S. Allnutt and Rev. G. A. Lefroy Deci- sion of the C.M. to prepare candidates for the Calcutta (B.A.) degree Appeal of Bishop French and Bishop Lightfoot to Cambridge Meeting in College Hall, Westminster Speech by Dr. Westcott The beginning of the Higher Education Visit of Rev. E. H. Bickersteth to Delhi Bickersteth's illness and enforced furlough Personal Recollections by Dr. Weitbrecht ....... 47 CHAPTER IV CAMBRIDGE MISSION, DELHI (THE LIFE) Spiritual power dependent on devotional life Bickersteth's appreciation of Retreats and Quiet Days His advocacy of intercessory prayer Other plans for deepening spiritual life His vindication of ' rule ' in prayer, and conviction that missionaries, above all men, need a regulated devotional life Effects of the spiritual fervour of the Cambridge mis- sion in (a) stricter discipline, (b) more definite teaching, and (c ) the spirit of brotherliness among the members of the mission Recollections by Rev. G. A. Lefroy By Bishop (Matthew) of Lahore By Col. Gordon Young Address of native Christians to Bishop of Exeter on hearing of Bickersteth's death 79 CHAPTER V FURLOUGH FRAMLINGHAM CALL TO JAPAN Continued ill-health Letters to Rev. G. A. Lefroy, S. S. Allnutt, H. C. Carlyon Forced to take another year of furlough (1883-4) Depar- ture of Rev. J. W. T. Wright and Rev. Arthur Haig for C.M., Delhi Permanent Relations of C.M. with S.P.G. Endeavours to organise Zenana work into a Community Mission for women At Cannes for the winter Letter on the unseen world Correspondence with Allnutt and Lefroy Summer in England Again forbidden to return to India (1884) Acceptance of. Rectory of Framlingham Bishop'French's offer of Archdeaconry of Simla and Indian Chaplaincy Correspondence re Headship of C.M. Refusal of Archdeaconry and decision to return to Delhi Again forbidden to rejoin mission (March 1885) At last allowed to return (Sept. 1895) Called to Japan as Bishop (October) His training for that post Grief at giving up the C.M., Delhi Letters to Lefroy Consecration Departure for the Far East . . . . . . ..... . . 109 CHAPTER VI A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE (l886-l888) Outward bound Journal Visit to Jesuit Missions at Shanghai ' Open : letter to Dr. Searle on the State of Japan Landing at Nagasaki CONTENTS Xlii PAGE Holy week at Osaka Important conference there Arrival at Tokyo Meeting with Bishop Williams (American) and Bishop Nicolai (Russian) First idea of Nippon Sei K5kwai (N.S.K.) Second ' open ' letter to Dr. Searle on St. Andrew's Mission, to be established at Tokyo First missionary tour (Northwards) to Yezo and the Ainus, (Westwards) to Kiushiu First- proposal for Ladies' Institute (Educa- tional) at Tokyo Letters to his fourth brother on his beginning the clerical life Three conferences at Osaka His first ordination in Japan To Nagasaki again and back by Shikoku Easter (1887) in Tokyo First local council of N.S.K. Visit to Korea with Bishop (Scott) of North China (Sept. 29-Oct. 6) Beginning of St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's Missions Holy Week (1888) in Tokyo and ordination of John Imai Bishop's First Pastoral Return (May 1888) to Lambeth Conference Five months in England Speech in St. James's Hall His part in the Lambeth Conference Summer holidays with the Bishop of Exeter Return with recruits to Japan (October 1888) . 149 CHAPTER VII S.P.G. and C.M.S. Missions Bishop Bickersteth's paper on 'Variety of Methods' (1893) Letter from Canon Tristram The Ladies' Institute (Education) Community Missions St. Andrew's for men The Bishop's idea in starting it Its first members Its rule of life Vows Miss Tsuda's paper on the position of Japanese women St. Hilda's Mission for women Exterior rule of the community The Bishop's letters on the necessary qualifications of its members Its special work Consecration of the chapel, with the Bishop's address Its medical work Orphanage Recollections by Miss Thornton and by Miss Bullock . . . . . . . '.'V "' . . 206 CHAPTER VIII A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE (1888-93) Landing at Tokyo (St. Andrew's Day) 1888 Statistics as to the strength of the missions of the Church of England in Japan Christmas at Tokyo Letters from the Inland Sea Visit to Kagoshima, his most southernly station Travelling hard and fast, late and early Second Lenten Pastoral (March 1889) on (i) Reunion, (2) Standards of faith, (3) Ritual controversies at home, (4) Ecclesiastical courts in their effect on missionary enterprise His first (English) ordination to priesthood, Easter 1889 St. Hilda's Hospital Second Biennial Synod Scheme for Pastor Funds Journey to Yezo (2,000 miles in 17 days) Tour in Southern Japan Ordination of Rev. John Imai to priesthood XIV BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH FACE First thought of bishopric of South Japan (January 1890) Pastoral letter to university students Third Lenten Pastoral Visit of Duke and Duchess of Connaught And of Bishop Corfe (of Korea) -First extempore address in Japanese Autumn journey to Western Japan Fourth Lenten Pastoral (1891) At work on Commentaries Canon Barnett's visit and reminiscences Third Biennial Synod and visit of Bishop Hare (American) Letter on Prayer Book Revision Visit of the Bishop of Exeter and party Terrific earthquake A year of journeying (1892) Visit to Luchoo Islands First baptism of Ainus Return to England (December 27, 1892) -via Delhi Conference with Archbishop on Episcopal Subdivision In England February to October 1893, with incessant travelling His marriage (September) and return to Japan via Canada . . . . . . .254 CHAPTER IX NIPPON SEI KOKWAI (Holy Catholic Church of Japan) Its intention Two defective views of a missionary's duty Archbishop Benson on the opportunity thus offered The Bishop's sermon before the First Synod (1887) The resolution adopted at Osaka The rela- tion of the N.S.K. to other bodies of Christians A conference with Protestant Nonconformists The constitution and Canons of the N.S.K. Was its formation premature? Letter from the Bishop on ritual points Revision of Japanese Prayer Book The principles which underlay it Pastoral letter from the Bishops of the Anglican communions in Japan The decision as to the Thirty-nine Articles The marriage laws Letter of Archbishop Benson, and joint Pastoral letter on this subject Successive synods and their work Home and foreign missions of the N.S.K. Extension of the Episcopate Recollections by Bishop Fyson and Bishop Evington. . . . ... . . 301 CHAPTER X A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE (1893-97) Success of his efforts for the increase of the episcopate in Japan Con- secration of the Bishops of Kiushiu and of Yezo His visit and appeal to the Church in Canada His impression of the missionary oppor- tunities of that Church Fourth General Synod Welcome to the newly consecrated American Bishop (McKim) Special General Synod on Episcopal Jurisdiction His proposal to the Archbishop of Canter- bury to form a bishopric of Osaka (June 1894) His appeal to Canada to send a Bishop to the West Coast The war with China and its effect on missionary inquiry His special collects for use of soldiers Revision of Japanese Book of Common Prayer Conduct of CONTENTS XV PACK the Japanese during the war The Bonin Islands Visitation of the West Coast Eighth Lenten Pastoral (1895) First meeting of Bishops of the Anglican Communion in Japan (June 1895) Summer holidays in Karuizawa Summoned to England to confer about Osaka Bishopric Return with Bishop (Awdry) of Southampton appointed as First Bishop of Osaka A bright Easter (1896) General Synod at Osaka Letters written while on a ' pioneer ' tour Recollections by Miss Rankin Disastrous floods in Gifu Serious illness and final return to England Recollections by Mrs. Bishop . . '' . . 360 CHAPTER XI INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT His natural love of reading Criticism on books in his letters home r Value of early Greek Fathers to the modern missionary References to books which attack the faith To biographies, Manning, Pusey, &c. His views on the Atonement On Sacrifice On the ' Lux Mundi ' school of thought On Old Testament criticism On Keswick teach- ing On Reunion with Nonconformists On the Pope's Encyclical On the Imperial position of the Church of England On Church Re- form the true cure for lawlessness His defence of the Miracle of the Resurrection in the 'Japan Mail' His teaching on private con- fession Non-communicating attendance Fasting Communion Some letters of spiritual counsel His ideal of the Episcopate and efforts to reach the ideal Appreciation of his character by the Rev. F. Armine King By Rev. John Imai By the Bishop of St. Andrews ........... 397 CHAPTER XII THE CALL HOME The Bishop's death at an early age not premature Months of illness Lambeth Conference Last earthly days The funeral at Chisledon Reception of the news in Japan Address from Kobe Christians Extract from the ' Japan Daily Mail ' Memorial services, with address by Archdeacon Shaw Resolution of the Diocesan General Synod Permanent memorials Personal letters ...... 454 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . 475 INDEX . . . . . . . . . 493 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAIT ..... Frontispiece PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE . . - . . To face p. 20 CAMBRIDGE MISSION AT DELHI . -. . . 49 BlCKERSTETH HALL, DELHI ..... 6l GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE MISSIONARIES AT DELHI . 79 FRAMLINGHAM RECTORY t 130 ST. ANDREW'S HOUSE, TOKYO . . . ' -. - ' 224 GROUP OF CLERGY AND DIVINITY STUDENTS . 290 VIGNETTE PORTRAIT . . ... L v 300 GROUP OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SYNOD OF 1893 351 BISHOPSTOWE, TOKYO ( i 365 ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, TOKYO v .1 w . . 368 THE BISHOP'S GRAVE AT CHISLEDON ... . ' , '. 474 MEMORIAL BRASS IN EXETER CATHEDRAL . . page 474 MAP OF JAPAN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY EDWARD BICKERSTETH, the third in direct succession who has borne the name during this century, was the eldest son of Edward Henry, Bishop of Exeter. He was born June 26, 1850, 'at Banningham Rectory, Norfolk. He sprang, however, from a family which had originally come from the North. Nowhere do the waters gleam and curve with greater beauty than along the winding banks of the Inline, as it nears the little country town of Kirkby Lonsdale in Westmoreland. The old pastoral republics which peopled the valleys and hills in the good old days of the Cumberland and Westmoreland estatesmen produced many gentle in heart and soul, and wise and shrewd above their class. Of these the Broughams, the Sedgwicks, and the Bickersteths are examples. The Bickersteths, or Bicker- staffes for down to the last century the name was spelt in- differently in either way were lords of the manor of Bickerstaffe, near Ormskirk, in Lancashire, from a period anterior to the reign of King John, and played a not in- considerable part in local history during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, two members of the family represent- ing the county in Parliament, Sir Ralph (who was several times High Sheriff of Lancashire during the reign of Edward II.) in 1313, and Henry de Bickersteth in 1339. In 1376 the manor passed by the marriage of an heiress to an ancestor of the present Earl of Derby, but more than B 2 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH one branch of the family continued to reside in the neigh- bourhood, and a second Henry de Bickersteth acquired through his marriage with Malma, daughter and co-heir of Gilbert de Ince (circa 1420), an estate in Aughton, the adjoining parish to Ormskirk, which remained in the pos- session of the family down to 1736. From this Henry was lineally descended Thomas Bickersteth of Aughton, whose third son James, after studying medicine under Dr. Longworth of Ormskirk, settled as a surgeon at Burton-in- Kendal. He was the father of Henry Bickersteth of Kirkby Lonsdale, who as a surgeon was well known in the town, and honoured far and near. Henry Bickersteth married a lady named Elizabeth Batty, of Deansbiggin, a remarkable woman, shrewd, strict, and stately, called the Queen of Kirkby Lonsdale. They had five sons, the eldest of whom, James, was lost at sea ; the second, John, was a learned divine and hymn- writer, and was the father of Robert (Bishop of Ripon, 1857-1884) and Edward (Dean of Lichfield) ; the third, Henry, became Senior Wrangler (1808), subsequently Master of the Rolls (1836-1851), and was called to the Upper House as Baron Langdale. 1 The fourth was Edward, and the fifth Robert, who having settled at Liverpool, became one of the first medical men in the north of England. This fourth son, Edward Bickersteth, the father of the present Bishop of Exeter, was the grandfather of the subject of this memoir. He came to London on January I, 1 80 1, when only fourteen years of age, to take a clerkship at the General Post Office. He was a youth of eager tempera- ment, possessed of great energy of character, and had a 1 He married Lady Jane Harley, daughter of Edward, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, but had only one daughter, who pre-deceased him. He was offered, but declined on the score of health, the great seal of England. ' INTRODUCTORY 3 passion for reading. His duties at the Post Office occupied him daily from 10 to 3, but within four years we find him offering his services to a lawyer for eight hours a day in addition to this. These hours had to be fitted in between 6 to 10 A.M. and 3 to 1 1 P.M. In his new work he employed himself with such success that in due time he himself became a solicitor, a profession which he only relinquished, together with an annual income of 8oo/., in 1815, on taking Holy Orders. He undoubtedly bequeathed to his grandson his love of learning, while his character and career probably shaped the thoughts of the younger man in more ways than can be definitely traced. For Edward Bickersteth, in exchanging the legal profession for the ministry of God's Word and Sacraments, had not only given up excellent worldly prospects for the kingdom of God's sake, but knew that he would be at once sent out on a special mission of inquiry to Africa, the western shores of which were then invested with peculiar terror owing to the grievous mortality among the missionaries. He had, however, for years been a missionary at heart, and was ordained Deacon (being then twenty-nine years of age) on December 10, 1815, by the Bishop of Norwich, and Priest on December 21, within eleven days, by the Bishop of Gloucester (on Letters Dimissory). This enabled him to proceed in full orders to Sierra Leone, where he himself prepared the first six native converts for the Lord's Supper, and admitted them to those Holy Mysteries. Subsequently, he was resident for many years at the C.M.S. House in Salisbury Square, E.G., as one of the secretaries of that society, and as Rector of Watton, Herts (1830-1850), he was ' in labours abundant, in journeyings oft' on behalf of the foreign missions of the Church. He was called to his rest on February 28, 1850. His only son Edward Henry (through his marriage 4 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH with Sarah, eldest daughter of Thomas Bignold, Esq., of Norwich) was born on St. Paul's day 1825. He had five sisters, two of whom became widely known through the book called ' Doing and Suffering.' l After taking classical and mathematical honours at Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and obtaining for the first time then on record the Chancellor's medal for English verse three years in suc- cession, he was ordained in Norwich Cathedral in 1848 (where his father had been ordained twenty-three years before), and appointed at once as curate-in-charge of the small country parish of Banningham in Norfolk. He had married the same year his cousin Rosa, daughter of Sir Samuel Bignold, M.P. for Norwich. Their first-born child was a daughter, the eldest of ten sisters, and the next a son, Edward, the eldest of six brothers. He was born at the Rectory on Wednesday, June 26, 1850. Against this event the following extract stands in the Bishop of Exeter's diary : ' The mercy of its being a boy, whose birth my father anticipated with joy, and whose blessed standard of the Gospel may God grant him one day to uphold.' It will be seen, therefore, that from the first day of his earthly life the child thus welcomed was dedicated by the piety and prayers of his own father to the work of uphold- ing, if not of carrying into distant lands, the Cross of Christ. For indeed the father himself had fully inherited the ardour of the missionary spirit, and although in God's never-failing Providence not allowed to offer himself for 1 This book recorded the correspondence between the elder sister Eliza- beth (wife of the Rev. T. R. Birks, Professor in Moral Philosophy in the University of Cambridge), and Fanny her younger sister, a great invalid, and was written by their sister Mrs. Ward, afterwards the devoted godmother of .Edward Bickersteth. Of the other sisters, one, Mrs. Durrant, is now a. missionary ut her own charges in connection with the C.M.S. in North- West India, and another, Mrs. Cook, is the mother of two medical mission- aries in Uganda. INTRODUCTORY 5 the mission field (an honour which he had in early life once coveted), yet he became the spiritual father and supporter of many who gladly sacrificed all for Christ's sake and the Gospel's, and lived to send his eldest son as his representative. Edward was baptised by his father on Sunday, July 28, -1850, his godfathers being one of his uncles, the Rev. T. R. Govett, M.A., and John McGregor, Esq., better known as ' Rob Roy,' who had been a bosom friend of his father's at Trinity College, Cambridge. 1 At the baptism the father preached from the words, ' Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named ' thinking of his own father, then in Paradise, and of the little boy added that day to the Church below. In 1851 Edward Henry Bickersteth was appointed by the philanthropist Earl of Shaftesbury, his own and his father's friend, to the Rectory of Hinton Martell in Dorsetshire, and while there Bishop Denison of Salisbury visited the parish and gave his blessing to the future missionary. In 1855, however, Mr. Bickersteth was chosen by trustees for the Vicarage of Christ Church, Hampstead, where he continued to reside for thirty years, until he was selected on the nomination of Mr. Gladstone first for the Deanery of Gloucester, and shortly after for the Bishopric of Exeter, over which see he now presides. The change of the parental home to the pleasant vicinity of London (Hampstead is only four miles from Charing Cross, and was then much less built over) solved the educa- tional problem, as there were exceptionally good schools in the neighbourhood. The vicarage, built in the time of Queen Anne, was 1 It is interesting to note that another Cambridge friend and cotemporary of his father's, also of Trinity College, the Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott, had visited the rectory shortly before. 6 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH a roomy house, secured for Christ Church during the vicariate of my father's predecessor, Thomas Pelham (subsequently Bishop of Norwich), and commanded splendid views across London from Primrose Hill to the Crystal Palace, and on a clear day as far as to Knockholt Beeches, near Sevenoaks ; while it had a garden which recalled Tennyson's lines: Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love. News from the humming city comes to it In sound of funeral or of marriage bells ; And, sitting muffled in dark leaves, you hear The windy clanging of the minster clock. There many happy hours were spent, and a healthier place in the neighbourhood of London could hardly have been found. In the autumn of 1859 Edward went to a dame's school (Mrs. Smallwood's), situated in North End, on the farther side of the Heath, and stayed there for two years and more. Each morning he shared his father's early cup of coffee, and was then accompanied by him across the Heath, which was at that time infested by very rough characters. 1 Father and son, however, went both of them together, and reached the school daily in summer and winter by 7 A.M., at which hour the boy's work began. In 1862 he was sent on to Highgate School, which was founded in 1565 by Sir Roger Cholmeley, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and was then under the Rev. John Bradley Dyne, D.D. This entailed a daily walk of four miles to and from school, in winter across the Heath and along the high road which led through Caen woods, the 1 On three occasions the boy when returning home from Highgate School was stopped in the fields, and once robbed of watch and chain, and another time of money. INTRODUCTORY 7 property of the Earl of Mansfield ; in summer by a slightly shorter route across the fields which lay to the north side of Traitor's Hill. The father still accompanied the son daily, unless hindered by private or pastoral duties, de- lighting in making him familiar with the Latin names of birds, trees, &c., and in following all his classical studies. Within a term or two a cousin, Edward Bickersteth Birks, came to reside at Christ Church vicarage for several years, 1 and the two cousins, thus thrown together, became almost like brothers. Edward's seven years at Highgate School were in every sense happy, and while proving him to be keen in the acquisition of Greek and Latin, and unusually fond of reading, also showed tha^: he was not devoid of a healthy interest in games. Football he never cared for, but excelled so far in cricket as to play in the First Eleven during his last term, obtaining that year the highest score in the Old Cholmeleian match. 2 He was also fond o{ entomology, and collected many good specimens on the Heath and in the Highgate woods. He was taught swim- ming and riding, the latter accomplishment giving him a firm seat and confidence on horseback, and being of special use to him in after years, when he had to scour the plains round Delhi in visiting different mission stations, or make his way along untrodden paths in Japan. At school he showed no aptitude for modern languages, though as a missionary he mastered six eastern languages. Edward Bickersteth continued at Highgate till 1869, in which year he obtained the school exhibition and also 1 Edward B. Birks obtained the School Exhibition in 1867, also an open scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the same year, and a Fellow- ship in 1871. He is now Vicar of Kellington, Whitley Bridge, Yorks. 2 He never lost his interest in this game, and in his many voyages was always 'ready to join in a deck game ; and the cry of 'Well bowled, Bishop,' was not infrequently heard. 8 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH an open classical scholarship at Pembroke College, Cam- bridge, thus half supporting himself while he was an undergraduate at the University. His father wrote in his diary : ' His scholarship crowned his patient diligence at Highgate ; his school course has never caused an hour's anxiety, but has called for continual praise.' Dr. Dyne, 1 his head master at Highgate, writes thus : Rogate, Petersfield : September 24, 1897. ( Dear S. Bickersteth, You ask me to send you any reminiscences I can of your brother Edward's schooldays, or of the influence he exerted in the school. I gladly do so as far as I can, for the whole of his school life was most gratifying to me ; although from his living with his parents at Hampstead, not under my roof, or in a boarding house at Highgate, but merely coming over to school daily, I had not the opportunity of knowing his inner life which I had in the case of boys living under me out of school. He was of a retiring character, loved his home, whither he generally went when work was over ; so that, always without reproach and happy with his school-mates, 2 and sociable, whilst with them he did not attain that command- ing influence amongst them which a senior eminent in. school sports does. He entered the school in January 1862, after the Christmas holidays, at the bottom of the third form. We generally printed our school list in October : and in the list of that year I find his name at the top of his form. This was an augury of future industry and love of study, and I may add of doing his duty to his parents, always a ruling principle with him. From the third form he gradually rose through the fourth and fifth,, always taking a high place amongst several clever con- temporaries (E. B. Birks being one), to the foremost place in the sixth form in 1869, when he was senior prefect,, and left the school carrying off not only the Governors' 1 Died January 1899, when nearly ninety years of age. - The boys of Highgate in after years collected an annual sum of money for the Delhi Missions while Bickersteth was connected with the Cambridge Mission. On his consecration as Bishop his old school-fellows at Highgate presented him with a pastoral staff, still in use in the diocese. INTRODUCTORY 9 gold medal for Latin verse, but the first exhibition to the university, the Burdett Coutts prize for mathematics, the first prize for Divinity, and several others. At one time several boys walked over from Hamp- stead with him to school, and I always spoke with praise of the punctuality of my Hampstead contingent led by him . . . Pray excuse this rambling letter from one many years past the allotted life of man but thankful to have been so long spared. Yours sincerely, J. B. DYNE. Edward's summer holidays were spent as a rule under the roof of his grandfather, Sir Samuel Bignold, who resided at Norwich, but who had also a seaside home at Lowestoft. Twice the Lake district was visited while staying at the house of his aunt (Mrs. Robert Bickersteth) at Casterton Hall near the old home at Kirkby Lonsdale, and once in 1867 he had a delightful tour in Norway and Sweden with his father, during which they took an extended tour up the Fiords, journeying over 2,000 miles. On that occasion he became familiar with the great Uni- versity at Christiania, where they were the guests of Pro- fessor Voss, and with which in after years (1886) he compared the modern University of Tokyo. It will thus be seen that his boyhood and early youth offered no striking features worthy of notice, but were essentially ' home-spun,' to use a favourite expression of his father's, and redolent of the simple joys so beauti- fully described by John Keble, himself brought up in a clerical home. Sweet is the smile of home, the mutual look Where hearts are of each other sure, Sweet all the joys that crown the household nook, The haunt of all affections pure. At the same time proximity to London, with occasional visits to St. Paul's, to Westminster Abbey, to the Royal 10 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Academy, and to the House of Commons l (in the pro- ceedings of which throughout his life Edward Bickersteth took an unflagging interest), prevented any stagnation of mind. His father's varied circle of interests parochial, ecclesiastical, literary widened his horizon. These early years make a reposeful background on which the eye lingers fondly, when it is contrasted with the far distant scenes in which the boy, thus trained, was to spend his strenuous life. Spiritually, he was from his earliest years devout. It seems in keeping with his subsequent well-balanced judg- ment and sagacity that he never passed through any violent epoch of conversion, but ' grew on before the Lord.' As early as December 1856, among his father's memo- randa occurs this note, ' I trust prayer is a real tJiing with our boy.' He was then six and a half years old. In his fifteenth year (March 1865) he was confirmed at Hamp- stead Parish Church by the Bishop (Tait) of London. His father, who himself prepared him for confirmation, was engaged at that time with his poem ' Yesterday, To- day, and For Ever,' in which the son took intelligent interest and delight. Then, as throughout life, he seemed to have a shrinking from coarse expressions and evil ways, and was never entangled in those moral difficulties which threaten the soul with shipwreck. In 1857 and again in 1863, God gathered from the home two little ones, Constance and Eva Mabel, but no desolating bereavements swept over it till Edward's Cambridge career was nearly over. Among the younger members of the family the ' Brother,' as he was often called, being at one time the only son among five daughters, won himself an unques- 1 He was present at the great debate in the House of Lords on the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. INTRODUCTORY 1 1 tioned place in their estimation, while in after years the youngest ones looked up to him not without awe, though with much affection. He stood godfather to his sister Effie on her baptism in 1867, and greatly valued that relation- ship. In the summer of 1869 he spent six weeks travelling through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France, in company with his father and mother and three of the elder sisters, and in the autumn of that year he went into residence at Pembroke College, Cambridge, as a scholar. It was then a small college, but had already begun to expand under the inspiring organisation of the Rev. C. E. Searle. During his time as tutor, and since 1 880 as Master, it has been partially rebuilt and has doubled its size. Between the scholar and the tutor a friendship of no ordinary tenderness and tenacity sprang up, and through- out his life Edward Bickersteth could always rely on the confidence of Dr. Searle in his different missionary under- takings. In the autumn of 1870 he accompanied his father for a tour of some weeks in America. The father will never forget his son's ' exquisite delight ' on first hearing of the plan. He was always an excellent traveller. Among his contemporaries and friends at Cambridge may be mentioned C. W. E. Body, W. Lawson, Heriz Smith, A. F. Kirkpatrick, V. H. Stanton, C. H. Prior, A. J. Mason, A. W. Verrall, G. H. Rendall, with some of whom he went upon a reading party in the Isle of Wight (1871) under the guidance of his cousin, Professor Joseph Mayor. Edward Bickersteth went up to the university set on obtaining a good degree, and determined to take advantage to the fullest extent of the intellectual oppor- tunities there abundantly opened to him. From the 12 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH first he and two friends read with a view to obtaining Fellowships, and consequently his failure to obtain a first- class in the Classical Tripos (February 1873) was at the time a bitter disappointment to him, probably one of the keenest trials of his life. 1 In April of that year he visited Rome with his cousin Edward Birks and an old school friend Dorsay Cremer 2 and made a tour in Italy, which in after years he was able twice to revisit. Few travellers were more untiring than he in absorbing all that the magnetic influence of historical sights and scenes is able to impart. On his return he was anxious to take Holy Orders at once, saying that enough money had been spent on him, but yielded without delay to the earnestly expressed wishes of his parents that he should continue at Cam- bridge and read for the Theological Tripos. The college offered to extend his scholarship for another year, and the following spring he was rewarded by being placed with two others in the first class, obtaining also the Scholefield and Evans prizes, so that in the spring of 1875 he was elected to a fellowship at Pembroke College. But his mother was not spared on earth to share in the joy of these successes. On August 2, 1.873, while staying at Cromer in Norfolk, she had been suddenly called to enter nto her rest. It would not be easy to reproduce in words the perfect sympathy which had always bound together the mother and son, or to bring out how great a depriva- tion to him was the loss of her discriminating judg- ment and devoted love, for which he had never looked in vain. The death of the mother had followed upon the ' home call ' 3 of his sister Alice Frances, eleven months 1 He was bracketed seventh in the second class. 2 Now Vicar of Eccles. 3 She was aged 19, and inherited her father's gift of song ; see ' The Master's Home Call,' by the Bishop of Exeter (Sampson Low & Co.). INTRODUCTORY 13 previously (September 16, 1872), and of the youngest sister Irene (November 12, 1872). There had always been the strongest affection between Edward and Alice, and it is also remembered with what poignant sorrow Edward grieved over the sudden death of Irene. Thus death had entered into the vicarage three times in twelve months, and although by the clear insight of my father's strong faith we had been taught that those in Paradise were the living ones, those on earth the dying ones, yet the earthly home could never be the same again. Edward never destroyed one of his mother's letters, which unfailingly reached him two or three times a week during his undergraduate life ; but they do not offer material for quotation, being full of the home interests of a large family, in which then, as afterwards in India and Japan, he never failed to keep up an unbroken interest, and in which he expected to be most fully posted up. An exception may be made in the following three letters, considering the intimate influence which the two men therein mentioned were to have on his life. On November 12, 1871, his mother wrote : 'How kind Mr. Westcott seems to be to you and your companions. I am sure his teaching must be very valuable.' Or again : < It is interesting to us that you should be enjoying Pro- fessor Westcott's lectures, when twenty-five years ago he and your father were together.' Such allusions are fre- quent, while on November 28, 1871, she wrote :' Father and I, with Lily, went to St. Pancras yesterday and heard a most wonderful preacher of the same class as Mr. Body. It was Mr. Wilkinson, 1 and he certainly gave a wonderful sermon. I never saw anyone, perhaps, who seemed so vividly to realize eternal things while speaking. It was a very great help.' While with regard to his first curacy, ' Now Bishop of St. Andrews. 14 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH which had been already under discussion, she wrote (May 17, 1872): 'Did father tell you that he lunched with Mr. Thorold one day this week to give him American information, as he is hoping to go there this summer, and Mr. Thorold still so wishes to have you for his curate ? I do feel it would be a great privilege to you to work under such a man, and your position in every way would be a good one. It makes my heart so happy to think of you in the ministry, telling of the Saviour's love to perishing souls, and I often and often commit it in prayer to our gracious Father, my dear boy. Father has said sometimes that he thought if he could see you preaching the gospel he could say from his heart, " Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace ;" but if He spares us to see you established in the ministry, and your work blessed of God, it would be indeed a blessing.' These words were written within three months of her death. Mr. Thorold ' was an old friend of Edward Bicker- steth's father, and godfather to his son Hugh. He had been persuaded by him to leave Westmoreland for work in London, and a curacy under him would have been congenial work and valuable experience. But his mother's death made Edward wish to reside as near as possible to the old home, so that eventually he accepted the offer of a title from a neighbour of his father's, whose parish all but adjoined that of Christ Church, Hampstead. He was ordained deacon at St. Paul's Cathedral by Bishop Jackson of London, being first among the candi- dates, on the fourth Sunday in Advent, 1873. The recently formed parish of Holy Trinity to which he was licensed was administered by the Vicar (the Rev. Henry Sharpe) on more extreme Evangelical lines than his new curate felt in sympathy with, so it turned out 1 Afterwards Bishop of Rochester, and then of Winchester. INTRODUCTORY 15 happily that the little hamlet of West End (now a large suburb) was intrusted to his care. There within two years he succeeded, with the help of many of his father's friends, in building an excellent mission church of brick, which has now become a centre for a new ecclesiastical district. This his first scene of ministerial labours never ceased to be regularly remembered by him in intercession up to the end of his episcopate. On December 20, 1874, m tne same place, and by the same Bishop of London who had set him apart for the diaconate, Edward Bickersteth was advanced to the priesthood. His father wrote in his journal : ' This day my beloved Edward was ordained Priest. His diaconate has been full of promise, and full of realised blessing, a wise tact in dealing with many minds, and a constraining desire to preach Christ, a full Christ, to his flock. And this while pressed with many literary works the Theo- logical Tripos examination, in which he came out first writing for the Hulsean, trying for the Carus, and prepar- ing for the examination of priest. But now his preparation work is over, and he is fully on his ministerial way. The Lord grant that, abiding in Jesus Christ, he may bring forth much fruit, and win many jewels for the crown he will cast at the feet of his Lord. His dear mother's image has seemed so present the last two days. Surely through Jesus she knows all.' It was during these years (1873-5) that Bickersteth greatly enjoyed the friendship of Mrs. Charles, one of his father's oldest friends resident at Hampstead. The gifted authoress of 'The chronicles of the Schonberg Cotta Family' was, as all who knew her will admit, most stimulating as a conversationalist, and very sympathetic in her power of appreciating the intellectual workings and spiritual aspira- tions of younger minds. He also regularly attended the 1 6 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH conference of the London Junior Clerical Society, of which he was one of the first members. This society used to meet at a Lecture Room in King's College, London, and among its members at that time were the Rev. H. J. Mathew (late Bishop of Lahore), the Rev. John Oakley (late Dean of Manchester), the Rev. Brook Deedes (now Rector of Hawkhurst and sometime Archdeacon of Lahore), the Rev. A. J. Worlledge (now Chancellor of Truro), the Rev. J. W. Horsley (Vicar of St. Peter's, Walworth), and others. The Rev. Charles Kingsley, the Rev. Alfred Barry (afterwards Bishop of Sydney), and the Rev. W. D. Maclagan (now Archbishop of York), used to attend the meetings from time to time and address the members. In all such intel- lectual discussions Edward Bickersteth took a thoughtful part. In appearance he was tall, being just over six feet in height, always very thin, with grey eyes and some- what marked features, his chin being unusually long. His voice, though not powerful nor remarkable for its musical cadences, carried well, and seldom if ever failed him. His forehead was of noble proportions and marked him out as a man of thought. His eyes shone with keen intelligence, and a smile of singular sweetness lit up his whole face, and revealed as in a moment the man himself. All his movements were quick, and he walked always at a great pace. Although a poet's son, Edward Bickersteth was never himself a poet, nor was his expression of ' thought much tinged by emotion.' In writing he aimed rather at lucidity of style than at rhetorical effect, and he set more store on introducing an historical precedent than a glowing simile. From his father he inherited his strong will and great tenacity of purpose, coupled with a gentleness of bear- ing and a singular gift of patient waiting upon God; INTRODUCTORY \J while from his mother he derived a marked tenderness, a cautious sagacity in judgment, the reticence of reserve, as well as a disinclination to self-advertisement. Like all highly strung natures, he could be deeply stirred, but by God's grace he learnt to curb his impatience, so that the peacefulness, seldom broken in upon in later life, carried with it a note of victory. These characteristics, disciplined and matured by experience, developed in him not only a vocation of leadership, but also made that leadership eagerly looked for by friends and acquiesced in even by those who differed from him. To the fact that he was born and bred among the Evangelicals may be attributed his early sense of the seriousness of life, of the necessity for personal religion, of the reality of divine mercy and judgment, and of the con- straining force latent in the words ' For Christ's sake.' This spiritual birthright he never lightly esteemed, and never forfeited by a rash exchange into a wholly opposite school of thought ; but his natural disposition, his love of learning and of precision of thought, his appreciation of first principles and of historical precedents, and his balanced judgment made it certain that fuller sacramental teach- ing when presented to him would find a ready response and satisfy the deeper instincts of his nature. Moreover in God's providence he went up to the University two years before the Cambridge School of Divinity received its most powerful recruit in the person of Dr. Westcott (called in 1871 to be Regius Professor of Divinity), and the influence of his Alma Mater, interpreted for him by Lightfoot, Westcott, and others, completed his mental and spiritual evolution, more especially after his return to the University to reside as a Fellow. But there is no doubt that his early training enabled him to see from the inside the aspirations and methods c 1 8 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH of truly spiritually minded men, both clergy and laity, belonging to the Evangelical school of thought. The re- membrance of this experience was of special use to him when called upon to supervise the work of strongly Evangelical missionaries in Japan. Many years later writing in Japan from a mission station where he was stay- ing, he expressed himself thus in a letter to his wife : These are people from whom I feel one may learn much. Their hearts are really in their work, and they pursue it simply and loyally for Christ's sake. Of course I do feel a great lack of church privileges and of the sense of need of them. They would be stronger and better if they would only superadd them to what they have. But their lives seem otherwise set. Their very reading is in the main of a dissenting order, and their thoughts get that tinge. Still, with it all there is a personal love of our Lord and a loyalty to Him which makes their work not what it might be, but still very valuable and with a beauty of its own. God give us increasingly what they have, as well as all the truths of the other order which complement it. Again : These dear people live as if no great movement had ever passed over the English Church with all its teachings fifty years ago, (indeed, almost as if the Church were not, in many of its aspects and directions), though un- consciously they are much the better for its influence. But I had even to remind them it was Lady Day. Would that they could learn to add the idea of the sv arwp.a and all it means to that of the iz> 1 In 1892 Archbishop Benson, speaking at a meeting in St. James's Hall on behalf of the Society for Promoting 1 Speaking at the I95th Anniversary of that Society, Archbishop Benson said : ' We talk familiarly about people being ' ' High Church " people, or " Low Church " people, or " Broad Church" people ; but there is an un- occupied word which I want to come, if not into our lips, at least into our minds, and hearts, and lives. It is the word " Deep." What I want is " Deep Church " for all ; Deep Church that can be produced only by Christian knowledge and by the " principles" of Christian knowledge.' INTRODUCTORY ip Christian Knowledge, pointed out that in the nomenclature of Church parties one word had been left unemployed, and pleaded in favour of 'Deep Churchmen,' as distinct from High, Low, or Broad, while embracing many character- istics of all the three. It would be presumptuous to imply that Edward Bickersteth realised that description, it is quite certain that it expressed his ideal. c 2 20 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH CHAPTER II RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI ' The very fact of their having received the training and education of one University will be a bond of sympathy between the missionaries of no ordinary strength. Our English Universities have a character and tradition of their own, which are impressed by a thousand subtle and indefinable influences on those who pass through them, and will naturally engender unity of feeling and similarity in modes of thought. We refuse to regard the consideration of such influences and associations as merely sentimental rather we believe that they should be carefully taken account of, and consecrated by combined action in the service of Christ.' Rev. EDWARD BICKERSTETH, t'u the ' Mission Field? March 1877. IN May 1875 Edward Bickersteth returned to Cambridge, having been elected to a Fellowship at Pembroke College, on which foundation he had already held a scholarship. Those were the days before the last University Commis- sion had reorganised the conditions on which Fellowships are held, and there was no rule of compulsory residence at the University, nor indeed any rule attached to the tenure except that a Fellow could not be married. As a matter of fact, Bickersteth retained his Fellow- ship for eighteen years, the larger part of which time he was absent from England either in India or Japan, and only for the first two years took his full share in lecturing and other collegiate duties. He always held that if Fellowships were ever to be allotted to specific objects, it was not unreasonable that one should be held by a missionary. He maintained that the Christian sons of an ancient University were responsible not only for the RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 21 confirmation of the faith, but also for its propagation. He had reason to believe that his brother Fellows, or many of them, the tutor especially, took his view, and approved of one of the governing body being thus employed on foreign service ; and there can be no doubt that the news from the front which Bickersteth from time to time sent home, and his letters from Japan addressed to the Master of Pembroke on some important new departure in his -work, not only excited interest in the college itself, but were widely read in other colleges as well. He did not retain rooms in college after he left Delhi, but his sermons .in chapel and occasional lectures during his enforced and prolonged absence from India, or on his brief visits from Japan, brought home to many younger men their own share of responsibility for imparting as well as for retain- ing the faith. Certain it is that Pembroke College never failed to have a place in his intercessions, and if the mission to Delhi gained greatly in prestige through its first leader being on the governing body of a college, the college itself lost nothing by sharing some of its material resources with the East, and by giving one of its sons for this work of the Lord. The following recollections, contributed by the Rev. C. W. E. Body, D.D., Professor at the Theological College, New York, and formerly Provost of Trinity College, Toronto, give a contemporary picture of Edward Bicker- .steth's college life. Amongst my most valued recollections of happy Cam- bridge days are those of a little group of younger Fellows and graduates who were accustomed to meet two or three times a week at the lectures of Dr. Westcott, then Regius Professor of Divinity, or at the meetings of the University Church Society, a society founded largely at Dr. West- cott's suggestion. Under the influence of the deeply spiritual teaching with which we were thus constantly 22 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH surrounded we were drawn together in bonds of mutual sympathy and affection of a somewhat unusual kind. Coming from various colleges, with every variety of temperament and standpoint, we felt ourselves united in a living harmony of developing faith. Such intercourse and fellowship I shall always look upon as among the most precious formative influences of my life. Among these friends Edward Bickersteth occupied a foremost place. He possessed a remarkable combination of qualities not often given to any one man ; on the one side one was instinctively drawn to him by his affectionate nature, with all its delicacy of consideration and sympathy, whilst very soon one felt oneself to be in the presence of a singularly resolute will informed by a well balanced conscience, and even masterful in its grip and influence. Strength and tenderness were blended in him in singular beauty, and to the last the attractiveness of the combination was felt by all who knew him well. A slight lisp in speech, and that half-suppressed laugh which seemed to flow instinctively from his buoyant nature, might have seemed in others a defect or an affectation ; to Bickersteth's transparently genuine nature these were soon felt to give an additional charm. The Monday evening class on the Epistle of St. John, as well as the more formal professorial lectures on the Introduction to Christian Doctrine in the quaint old Divinity Schools, in which from many sides we were led up to the fulness of the Christian faith, were to him an unfailing source of ever fresh delight. I can still re- member the joyous enthusiasm with which in our afternoon walks he would discuss some wider thought thus opened up to him. His buoyancy and depth of faith gave a special kind of inspiration to his society, marking him out as a future leader in the world of men. Hence when his name was announced as the head of the new University Mission to North India his friends recognised a special appropriateness in the selection. How memorable was that service on Sunday evening in St. Giles's Church, at which Dr. Lightfoot, with even more than his usual forcefulness and sympathy, gave the farewell address, 1 and the Bishop of Ely (Dr. Woodford) 1 As a matter of fact, this sermon was preached a year before the Cam- bridge Missionaries started, and was entitled, 'The Father of Missionaries.' For some quotations from it see p. 42. RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 23 sent forth the first two University missionaries (Bickersteth and a dear personal friend, the Rev. J. D. Murray, Scholar of St. John's College) to North India. We felt that it was a representative offering which was then made. We were sending out in faith and hope that which seemed most distinctly characteristic of the best Cambridge life of our day. This conviction was only deepened by subsequent events. Through all the neces- sary difficulties of the inception of such a work, in the delicate task of remodelling an established S.P.G. Mission to adapt it to the special type of university brotherhood and educational work we had set before ourselves, Bicker- steth's affectionate tact and unswerving loyalty to his own ideals were alike everywhere felt ; of all this, however, others will speak with far more intimate knowledge than I possess. Two or three years after Bickersteth's departure to Delhi I was called to work at Trinity College, Toronto. When we were again brought into close contact Bickersteth was Bishop in Japan, and we were endeavouring to send out from Trinity a Canadian mission on something like the old Cambridge lines. As he spoke in our Convo- cation Hall for this mission the same spiritual attractive- ness and impelling force of statesmanlike conviction were as strongly marked as ever. There was nothing limited or negative about his nature all was positive to the highest degree, positive to the point of a bold insistence as he depicted our opportunity and responsibilities. To his encouragement and zeal whatever success has attended the mission is largely due. The same qualities were conspicuous in his earnest desire that the Church of Canada should send out a Bishop of its own to assume in its name chief oversight over a large district in Japan in which the Canadian missions were situated. He had little sympathy with that point of view which, contrary to all apostolic precedent, assumed that a young National Church should first prove itself perfectly able to bear alone all its own internal burdens before it ventures forth, in obedience to our Lord's com- mand, to plant the faith in the regions beyond. Although at the last meeting of the Canadian General Synod the proposal of the Japanese Bishops was felt to be at that time impracticable, one may confidently hope that the day is not far distant when those greatly to be 24 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH regretted obstacles will be removed, and Bishop Bicker- steth's desire is, by God's mercy, carried to a successful realisation. In what so unexpectedly proved to be his last illness I was privileged to be with him once in New York on his way to England, and subsequently in London. The same heroic discontent with present results and glad pressing forward to new activities remained with him to the last ; that in some sense almost unique combination of faith and hope and love which it was permitted him to embody and to leave as an abiding legacy to the Church he so dearly loved. But when Bickersteth returned to Cambridge, had he then definitely before his mind the idea of offering himself for mission work abroad ? There had been various pre- disposing influences at work for many years, leading him to ' look at the fields ' white for the harvest. At Christ Church Vicarage, Hampstead, he met many missionaries, and his father remembers in particular the deep impres- sion left on his son's mind after a missionary meeting addressed by the Rev. Robert Clark (of the Punjab) and the Rev. J. Welland, two missionaries of the Church Mis- sionary Society. He had never thought of offering himself either to the S.P.G. or C.M.S., so far as is known at the time he returned to Cambridge. His election, however, to a Fellowship after he had experienced two years and more of pastoral work in England placed him in a position in which he was bound to look at his life from a new standpoint. What was to be his future ? At home or abroad ? And if the latter, how could he work in and bring to bear most fruit- fully the academic resources and advantages now open to him ? I remember well his expressions of surprise and regret when it was pointed out (I think in some periodical) how few University graduates, and how much fewer honours men, had followed the lead which Henry Martyn had RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 25 given to his University. 1 Whatever occupied Edward Bickersteth's mind he was sure to pray about. It is not, therefore, strange that he who had already listened to two out of the three most memorable commands ever uttered by our Lord ' Look at the fields ' and ' Pray the Lord of the harvest ' soon heard with increasing clearness the complementary words, ' Go and make disciples of the nations.' He had taken stock of the facts, descried the paucity of the labourers, and in his perplexity had turned to pray ; so in due order he was led to obey the third command, not by securing a deputy in lieu of per- sonal service, but by offering himself. This seems to be a sufficient explanation of his desire for missionary work, and of his decision to go. What led to the realisation of his hope, and to the formation of the Cambridge Mission must now be told. The entry occurs in his father's diary, July 25, 1875 : My beloved son's election to a Fellowship in May was indeed a signal mercy as crowning his long work of patient study, and now he has opened up to me a thought which has long been in his mind of trying to organise a band of missionary labourers in Cambridge, and himself going forth with them to India after a while. I feel that it is the greatest gift I could give to the missionary cause, for I had often counted on Edward being the stay of my declining years, and the stay of his brothers and sisters ; and if once he is called to missionary work, though he may come home from time to time, he will not look back, having put his hand to the plough. The father's insight into the tenacity of his son's purpose proved true, but his foresight could not tell that the work begun in India and then checked through disease would be 1 See Mr. Eugene Stock's ' History of the Church Missionary Society ' vol. ii. ch. 36, for an interesting account of ' Some recruits from the Uni- versities.' 26 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH continued in Japan, and ended so far as earth's activities are concerned at the comparatively early age of 47. There can be no doubt that the Cambridge Mission, the first Community Mission sent out by any University in modern times, is greatly indebted in its inception to the influence of two distinguished men the Rev. T. V. French, sometime Fellow of University College, Oxford, and the Rev. Professor B. F. Westcott, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who were each in the Provi- dence of God recalled to reside at their respective Universities early in the seventies. Mr. French, as Rector of St. Ebbe's in Oxford, and Dr. Westcott, as Regius Professor at Cambridge, were both deeply impressed with the needs of India and with the special aptitude of the Universities, ' by the happy discipline through which they combine reverence with freedom and enthusiasm with patience,' to meet those needs. The one had formed his opinions through his own prolonged experience as a missionary in Northern India, especially as Principal of the Lahore Divinity School ; the other had arrived at the same conclusions by independent thought and study, but both alike felt that ' the Universities are providentially fitted to train men who shall interpret the faith of the West to the East, and bring back to us new illustrations of the one infinite and eternal Gospel.' They inculcated their views on all who came under their influence, and Edward Bicker- steth, as it so happened, was naturally brought into touch with both. Mr. French had served with his father (the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth) at Christ Church, Hampstead, during a few months in 1863, and their common love for missionary enterprise had cemented so fast a friendship between the two men that Mr. French always revisited Hampstead when he returned to England. Professor Westcott, born in the same year and the same month as RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 2/ Mr. Bickersteth of Hampstead, had first met him when they were both undergraduates at Trinity College, Cambridge, from which time dated a friendship destined to be lifelong. Edward, who had been himself accustomed to hear fre- quently from his father's lips the wise counsel, ' Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not,' cannot have been uninfluenced by Mr. French's missionary ardour during his visits to Hampstead, and when in due course he himself had gone up to Cambridge he was not slow to claim an introduction to Professor Westcott on the score of being his father's son. In this way it may safely be asserted that the younger man was gradually put on terms of easy friendship with these two master minds, and was therefore the more ready to receive the contagious influence of their teaching and their ideals. But we are not left to weave together conjectures on this point. Professor V. H. Stanton, his contemporary and close friend, writing in the ' Cambridge Review ' (October 14, 1897), has recorded that Edward Bickersteth had himself stated that a letter of Mr. French's to him in 1875 suggested the first idea of a Cambridge Brotherhood to his mind. The paper read by Mr. French on the in- vitation of Edward Bickersteth before the Cambridge Missionary Aid Society, February 16, 1876, on the pro- posed Cambridge University Mission in North India is unquestionably the result of much previous correspondence between the two men. It may be here noted that Bickersteth himself had read a paper on February 9, 1876 (the week previous to Mr. French's visit), before the Cam- bridge Church Society on the same subject. While, therefore, fully acknowledging all the indebted- ness of the Cambridge Mission to these two leaders for their large share in the first suggestion and direction of the move- ment, there can be no doubt that the Rev. S. S. Allnutt 28 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH (the present head of the Cambridge Mission) was justified in writing, in the 'Delhi Mission News' (October 1897) : ' It is certain that to the energy, enterprise, and devotion of Edward Bickersteth it was due that the idea of a Uni- versity Mission did not remain a splendid dream, but was so speedily translated into actual concrete form and em- bodiment. How well I remember the walks during which he unfolded to me the main principles on which it was proposed to start a missionary Brotherhood, and the role it was to seek to accomplish. The subject had taken entire possession of him, and to his contagious enthusiasm was due the fact that with only one exception the band of men who with himself composed the original staff of the Brotherhood were won by his own personal influence. This alone testifies to the force of character as well as the consuming zeal that marked the man then as afterwards throughout his career.' Professor Stanton, in the paper already quoted, writes to the same effect, ' that Edward Bickersteth made the general idea which he derived from his teachers thoroughly his own, conceived with the definiteness and force that were necessary in order that the project should succeed, how the life and work of such a body of missionaries should be organised, saw from his own study of foreign missions what the defects of ordinary methods were which needed to be remedied, and was the first to point out fully what the secrets of strength of missionary work conducted by a community would be. He stated with perfect clearness the advantages of the proposed plan precisely as they are to this day insisted on by those who have had experience of their working. And it should be remem- bered that there was not then any mission, even belonging to a religious order, which could serve as an example, certainly none which would naturally occur to the mind.' RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 29 But this point can be best cleared up by the words of the present Bishop of Durham (Dr. Westcott). Writing to me on October 8, 1897, from Auckland Castle he says : ' No- thing, as you know, gave me greater joy in my 'Cambridge work than the foundation of the Delhi Mission, and your brother was made to embody the ideas which it represents.' What, then, were the advantages which Edward Bickersteth hoped for from the establishment of a University Mission ? In his paper read before the Cam- bridge Church Society he sums them up under four heads : I. Concentration of effort on a particular city or small district. II. Continuity in work done, involving the possibility of subdivision of labour in (a) controversial, (^) literary undertakings. III. (And on this he desired to lay special stress). Opportunity afforded for united religious exercises and services, and IV. The connection of the mission with Cambridge, securing a supply of men, as well as substantial aid by research carried on at home in libraries and colleges, and thus enabling the University to perform one of her most sacred duties. It is suggestive that in this his first statement he fore- casts the time when ' the whole would be handed over to Indian teachers and the Indian Church,' thus incidentally showing how early rooted in his mind was the value of the principle of autonomy which in after years, by the Provi- dence of God, he was to be the main instrument for securing to Japan, by the organisation of the Nippon Sei Kokwai (the Holy Catholic Church of Japan). He impressed the spirit of brotherhood on the whole scheme by the choice of the three words which he placed at the head of his paper : crvvspyoi, <7Vfnro\irai, fellow soldiers fellow workers fellow citizens 30 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH In drawing up the memorandum circulated in Cambridge in June 1876, Bickersteth elaborated with greater detail the aims with which the Cambridge Mission was begun. He wrote that ' the many resident members of the University who felt that Cambridge ought to be connected with a characteristic missionary work believed that the present needs of India pointed towards fresh efforts in the direction of education, especially the education of native Christians, a work which would naturally belong to the province of an English University. This belief had taken shape in the original resolution that The special object of the mission be, in addition to evangelistic labour, to afford means for the higher educa- tion of young native Christians, to offer the advantages of a Christian home to students sent from mission schools to the Government College, and through literary and other labours to reach the more thoughtful heathen. In further explanation of this resolution he wrote in the ' Mission Field,' 1 March 1877 : The direct work of preaching and evangelisation needs no comment. . . . All recognise the importance of training a native pastorate. Such a work could only be under- taken by the Cambridge Mission in years to come. It demands a full mastery of the language, and an ac- quaintance with the customs and habits of the people and their characteristic modes of thought. The value of controversial literature as a means of reaching the more thoughtful has long been appreciated. A more pressing need is the supply of doctrinal and devotional books for the native Church. A University mission will naturally attempt something in this direction. An over- burdened missionary, who bears alone the manifold cares of a whole station, has but little time for such labours. 1 It is a strange coincidence that the very next article in this issue of the Mission Field deals with the progress of missions in Japan, and also that Mr. Bickersteth, in the opening sentence of his own article, cited India and Japan as two countries which illustrated the greatly changed character of missionary work since Gregory sent Augustine to Kent. RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 31 The education of young native Christians is an important part of the machinery of the native Church, which has as yet received comparatively little attention in India. . . . The only other object specified is a Home of Christian Students at the Government College. At Delhi there is no Christian College, as at Calcutta, Madras, and Agra, and Government education is purely secular. Now, by way of comparison, imagine the general moral effect on an average English youth who had been brought up at a Christian school of spending two or three years at Oxford or Cambridge, and finding that the curriculum of study and discipline of his college rigidly excluded from first to last all provision for religious instruction or services. But this is no imaginary case in India, and how much worse is such an ordeal for those who have only recently abandoned heathen practices, and are perhaps as yet only partially instructed in Christian truth. How likely that philosophy divorced from religion, science without God, history apart from its moral teaching, should lead them, not to their old superstitions those they have abandoned for ever but to the negation of the atheist, the doubting of the sceptic, or it may be to the cheerless creed of the Positivist or Secularist. The perusal of the article from which the above extracts have been taken makes plain (i) that Delhi had been decided upon as the city which was to be occupied with all the strength that the University of Cambridge could put forth, and (2) that the Cambridge Mission was to be in affiliation with the S.P.G. Some explanation is necessary in order to show by what considerations and negotiations these two important matters had been settled. From the first it had been understood that India should be the chosen country, but at one time Amritsar and some unevangelised country district within reach of that city had been thought of as the best field for a University mission. Characteristically, Bickersteth had written in February 1876: All such questions may be safely and gladly left to 32 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH those whom years of experience have taught the most urgent wants of India, and the most fruitful method of em- ploying whatever resources England, and especially our Universities, may supply. Certainly no efforts were spared to find out what city or province was pointed out by God's Providence as being most urgently in want The influence of Mr. French was naturally cast in favour of the Punjab, the scene of his own missionary labours. He pleaded for a district to be occupied accessible both by rail and steamer to the Indus and beyond the Indus to the great mountain barrier such as Multan, which is by rail only a night's journey from Lahore and Amritsar, or Alwar in Rajpootana, from which Jaipur with its large and thriving market-place and famous for its massive temples and gorgeous palaces, could be visited, and from which Ajmeer and Mount Aboo were an easy distance. He enforced his appeal by recalling the opinion of Sir H. Lawrence, who had urged him to get a mission planted or to go himself among the original Bheels and Minas singularly unprepossessed and likely to be readily impressed with the Gospel. He cited the words of the Rev. Robert Clark, 1 a veteran missionary of the C.M.S., who had lately written : I do not know a more hopeful field than we have in the Punjab, a people for centuries accustomed to conquest and government, and who have in them the spirit to con- quer and govern for Christ, when once God's Holy Spirit of Life has been imparted to them. Then as regards affiliation with any existing Missionary Society, many considerations suggested an appeal to the Church Missionary Society. It was known that the C.M.S. Punjab Conference had urged on that society the establish- 1 The Rev. Robert Clark, of Trinity College, Cambridge, was 28th Wrangler, and is still, after nearly fifty years' service engaged in active missionary work in the Punjab. RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 33 ment of a Christian college, and that one of their mis- sionaries, Mr. Baring, had had the importance of such work in his mind for many months, and had had much corre- spondence with the secretaries in Salisbury Square about it. It was pointed out that for a number of young men to go out without any connection with any society, and with- out any of the experience gained during a whole century, would endanger greatly the success they so desired. They must have some head, or the body would suffer greatly. They must not be independent of existing missions, or there would be a collision. They must rather work in with existing societies than independently of them. Mr. French himself in his visit to Cambridge (February 1 876) had felt at liberty to plead for the C.M.S. ' as the society to which the proposed mission should be affiliated, on the score of the prolonged, patient, diversified, and costly efforts made by that society in North India, which gave them a sort of claim not to be set aside in any decision arrived at regarding the Missionary Order to which the Cambridge men should ally themselves, he would not say identify themselves.' It is certain that there was no wish on the part of Edward Bickersteth to set aside the C.M.S. On the contrary, his grandfather's connection with that Society as one of its secretaries (1815-30) and his father's devoted support of it as a prominent member of committee, made it natural for him to desire that the Church Missionary Society should be approached in the first instance. Besides, one of the men who had offered to join the Cambridge Mission was the son of a strong C.M.S. supporter, and his father would have been glad if the proposed connection with that Society had been found feasible, though when that arrangement fell through, his hesitation was in the end removed by the assurance he received from Professor D 34 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Westcott that the lines on which the mission was founded and would be worked were distinctly those of moderate churchmanship. In a letter to me from Pontresina (September 12, 1875) my brother wrote : I am very glad you like my plan. It will have to be steered, I expect, between many rocks and quicksands, and maybe will never reach harbour, but I am hopeful. Its three masts are : 1. A close connection with Cambridge and Oxford. 2. An affiliation to one of the societies. 3. A connection with one of the missionary bishops who are shortly to be appointed. As regards the C.M.S., I should not myself much mind being under it, only I think, and indeed know, that this has been a difficulty to some men, and I should be glad to lift it out of the way. Still, independent work would look like opposition, so something must be excogitated if possible between dependence and independence. Mr. French had indeed foreseen the possibility of ' an a priori dim apprehension of not being able to work in harmony with C.M.S. principles and methods of action,' and had asked that if the way was not clear at once to join themselves with the C.M.S. that they would hold their judg- ment in suspense for two or three years, and make them- selves practically acquainted with the working and workers of both C.M.S. and S.P.G., relying meantime on their own resources or funds guaranteed them by friends. Clearly there was no lack of deliberation. Writing later to me in June 1876 from Pembroke College, Cambridge, my brother speaks of a missionary conference to be held at Christ Church Vicarage, Hampstead, on the I4th, which French came from Oxford to attend, and when the Rev. H. Wright (Chief Secretary of the C.M.S.), the Rev. R. Clark (of the Punjab), the Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht l (a C.M.S. 1 Of Simla, formerly of the Divinity School at Lahore, and now at Battala. RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 35 missionary himself and the son of a C.M.S. missionary), and General Maclagan all met under the roof of the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth to discuss the affiliation of the Cambridge Mission with the C.M.S. But discussion only served to bring out the difficulties which at all events seemed to be insuperable at that time. There was no lack of sympathy with the missionary ardour of the Cambridge graduates on the part of the C.M.S. Committee, but the idea of a Community Mission called a ' Brotherhood ' was then too novel to be acceptable, and too strange a method of working to be easily understood. Although no vows were taken by the members, yet it was understood that they could not marry and remain connected with the mission, a condition of membership open to much criticism in the judgment of some C.M.S. supporters. This is perhaps worth noting, as it is a proof that during the last quarter of a century the organisation of the Cambridge Mission and its success has done much to educate the opinion of Church people, and to familiarise their minds with the idea of Brotherhoods, now well known and adopted in England as well as in the mission field. 1 The Rev. A. Clifford, C.M.S. Secretary at Calcutta (now Bishop of Lucknow), in a paper read before the Calcutta Diocesan Conference (February 9, 1889), noticed this change of sentiment in the following words : Next let me state briefly why I think that the Com- munity system represents a method which God's Provi- dence is calling us to use. Twenty years ago if it had been proposed to either of the two great missionary 1 At the end of the Second Report of the Cambridge Mission, published at the University, the Cambridge Committee ' hail with deep thankfulness and satisfaction the prospect of the mission to Calcutta which is now being undertaken by the sister University of Oxford, and they rejoice to believe that the two missions will support one another in advancing towards one common end.' D 2 36 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH societies of our Church to recognise the Community life as a practicable missionary method, the proposer would, I think, have been told in very emphatic terms that his suggestion was entirely visionary. He would have been told that he lived 500 years too late, that the Community system belonged to mediaeval times and was contrary to the spirit of the nineteenth century. Ten years ago the reply to such a proposal would have been more hesitating, but it would still almost certainly have been voted unor- thodox. To-day it is plain that a very great change must have come over the mind of the Church, when not only can we be calmly discussing the question here, but when it is a fact that within a month we may expect to see a Community actually started in this Province by the most evangelical if the least conservative of the two great mis- sionary societies. In answering the question, What has brought about this change ? Mr. Clifford gave as his first reason the effect of the example set by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, as well as by the Cowley and Oxford brethren. The selection of the missionaries, again, was a point which involved some difficulties. It was felt that Cam- bridge graduates who would be willing enough to be nominated by a sub-committee consisting of three Uni- versity professors (such as was afterwards appointed) would not submit to a further examination by the com- mittee of the C.M.S. Also, it was felt on the side of the Cambridge men to be essential in order to keep up the interest of the University in the proposed mission that reports should be made direct to the committee in Cam- bridge, and this was contrary to one of the rules of the C.M.S., by which all workers for whom they are in any way financially responsible must make their reports direct to Salisbury Square. These considerations, apart from any possible doctrinal differences, were in themselves sufficient to make co-operation unworkable. The result of the failure to come to terms with the RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 37 CM.S. was that application was made to the S.P.G., whose rules of procedure enabled them to dispense with some of the conditions which the C.M.S. had laid down. 1 But it is time to explain how it was that Delhi was chosen in preference to any other city in North India, such as Amritsar, Alwar, or Multan. The opinion may be hazarded that from time to time God wills that certain cities should be strongly occupied, so as to make them centres from which the gospel of His grace should sound out throughout a large region. It was so in the Church of the first days, as we may see from the forces brought to bear upon Ephesus (Acts xviii. 24-28, xix.). He guided first Aquila and his wife Priscilla, then Apollos, and then St. Paul to come to that city and there reside. The consequences were felt throughout all the province of Asia. The Church grew and mul- tiplied, and a fierce opposition, helping the cause which it attacked, sprang up. So it has been again and again in the Church's story. So it has been, as it is reasonable to believe, in the case of Delhi. Missionary work was commenced there on behalf of the Church of England by the S.P.G. in i854, 2 and continued with great promise till the Indian Mutiny, when four missionaries and two native Christians were amongst its first victims. 1 It was settled that if Cambridge raised 5oo/. a year towards the continuous maintenance of the mission, the Standing Committee of the S.P.G. were willing to supplement such contributions, and generally to afford every assistance to the mission, while leaving the nomination of the missionaries to the sub-committee of Cambridge professors. Eventually it was determined that the S.P.G. subsidy should take the form of personal grants to the missionaries, each of whom were to receive 7$ a year besides a grant for their outfit. 2 The Rev. J. S. Jackson and the Rev. A. R. Hubbard, both of Caius College, Cambridge, the former being a Fellow, commenced work there on February II. Mr. Hubbard was killed in the Mutiny. The Rev. T. Skelton, Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, offered in 1858, and recommenced the work in 1859. See S.P.G. Digest, p. 615. 38 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH The mission was re-formed in 1859 and made steady pro- gress. Canon Crowfoot (now of Lincoln) had resided there for three years, and had kept up a remarkable influence by lectures and private intercourse over the boys, who, having been educated in St. Stephen's High School at Delhi, were afterwards drafted into the Government College. There also a devoted man of great powers of organisation, of restless energies, of impulsive enthusiasm, the Rev. R. R. Winter, with his wife, had been labouring for eleven years without furlough. Both were filled with missionary ardour, and had taxed and even over-taxed their strength, but they could not be persuaded to take any rest until it was possible to supply their place, and so had stayed on year after year. In the year 1875 there had been ninety baptisms, chiefly from the Chamars. The agencies con- nected with the mission were very numerous, and of a more representative and diversified character than was then customary, as may be judged from the following sta- tistics, which are copied from a statement drawn up by Mr. Winter himself. 'The district entrusted to the mission contains over 3,000,000 people. Work is carried on, not only in Delhi and its suburbs, but in fifty towns and villages, by three English clergy, two native clergy, two laymen (voluntary Europeans), forty-nine catechists, readers, and school- masters, thirty-eight non-Christian masters, fourteen European zenana missionaries, ten native Christian mis- tresses, four parochial mission women, twenty-six Hindu and Muhammadan female teachers, and one medical mis- sionary with three assistants. ' Eight hundred and fifty-seven boys were taught in the higher class of schools, 777 boys and young men in schools and evening classes for the lower orders, 443 pupils in zenanas, and 396 in schools for women and girls, showing a total of 2,473 under instruction. ' The statistics of the Medical Mission for the previous year showed 9,058 separate cases treated, with an aggre- RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 39 gate of 29,798 attendances and a daily average of 101 sick attended. ' The total number of Christians was 650, and frequent applications for Christian teaching were being received from the villages round.' All this organisation had been worked by mis- sionaries connected with the S.P.G. and maintained by its financial support, and Delhi was the city above all others in the north of India on which they had been led to con- centrate their forces. When, therefore, the application was received from the Cambridge graduates, who were prepared to go out to India and had been advised to think of Northern India as the scene of their future labours, what more natural than that the Standing Committee of the S.P.G. should welcome their aid and direct their atten- tion to so hopeful an opening as Delhi undoubtedly was ? It so happened also that a letter written by Sir Bartle Frere early in the year 1876' had been received in Cambridge and had excited much interest there. Sir Bartle Frere had visited Delhi in the suite of the Prince of Wales, and had thus written : I have been to call on Mr. and Mrs. Winter at Delhi, and find them both much overtaxed. I am much mis- taken if you have not a larger Tinnevelly at Delhi in the course of a few years, but they need more money and more men, especially a man to take charge of educational work and a medical man to supervise and direct the Medical Female Mission, which really seems doing wonder- ful work. Delhi seems quite one of the most hopeful openings I have seen. Yet another circumstance was overruled of God to the selection of Delhi. Edward Bickersteth's article in the ' Mission Field ' (March 1 877) already quoted fell under the eye of Mr. Winter himself at Delhi, and led him at once to 1 January 16. 40 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH write off to the Bishop (Johnson) of Calcutta, recently con- secrated as successor to Bishop Milman : Your Lordship will have thought me long in writing on the subject of forming classes for the B.A. degree in connection with this mission, but it seemed better to put off doing so till the fate of the Government College was decided. It has now been closed on financial grounds. Will the Cambridge Mission fill the gap left vacant? Our plan has hitherto been to educate only up to the Matricula- tion examination in our High School, and then to draft the boys into the Government College. / see by an article in the ' Mission Field ' for March that this formed part of the plan of the Cambridge men, as well as a home for Christian students in the Government College. . . . When the college is thoroughly efficient we might hope to attract students from other mission schools in the Punjab, for no mission whatever in this province has B.A. classes. In that case it would be most useful for them to open a boarding-house, or extend an existing one, not only for Christians but for non-Christian students. If the Cambridge Mission will undertake this, most of the educated young men of the city will pass under its influence, The Bishop of Calcutta's comment on this letter will be readily endorsed. ' My own mind [he writes in reply to Mr. Winter] is that this seems to be quite providential in that an opportunity offers for securing the Christian educa- tion of young men up to the taking of the degree.' Yet one more unforeseen coincidence may be regarded as a providential sanction, vouchsafed by the Divine guid- ance. In the autumn of 1877 the Rev. T. V. French was appointed to be the first Bishop of Lahore, and Delhi was transferred from the see of Calcutta to the newly created diocese. Episcopal control more sympathetic, more painstaking, more inspiring, could not have been found anywhere by the Cambridge Brotherhood than was assured to them by the fact that they would have as their father in God the very man who had come over from RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 41 Oxford to Cambridge on purpose to advocate the selection of some city in Northern India as the most suitable place for this new departure in missionary methods. How little could it have been foreseen early in 1876, when the first proposals for the establishment of the Cambridge Mission were being publicly discussed, that before the end of the year following the principal speaker at the meeting would have been consecrated the Bishop of the first two men who had come forward to join the mission. All the pourparlers were so far settled that on November 29, 1876, the Rev. R. Bullock, the Secretary of the S.P.G., was invited to Cambridge and attended the first meeting of the Cambridge Committee, which consisted of thirty-four well-known resident members of the University. Among them were the Rev. the Masters of Clare, Pem- broke, and Magdalen Colleges ; Professors Westcott, Light- foot, Cowell, and Paget, M.D. ; the Rev. F. J. Hort, D.D. ; the Rev. C. W. E. Body, now Theological Professor at New York ; the Rev. J. W. Hicks (Sidney), now Bishop of Bloemfontein ; the Rev. A. F. Kirkpatrick (Trinity), now Master of Selwyn ; the Rev. E. T. Leeke, now Sub- Dean of Lincoln ; the Rev. A. J. Mason (Trinity), now Lady Margaret's Reader in Divinity ; the Rev. C. E. Searle, now Master of Pembroke ; the Rev. V. H. Stanton (Trinity), now Ely Professor of Divinity. The Rev. Edward Bickersteth was appointed secretary, and in a private note- book, where he entered the briefest possible memoranda, are the following entries : November 5. Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. Pembroke College Chapel. Subject for praise and prayer at the Holy Eucharist, that ' the S.P.G. have accepted our scheme.' Gratias Deo. This week I am to speak on the subject before the Church Society. Our prayer must be constantly for His direction. November 29. First committee meeting of Delhi 42 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Mission. Mr. Bullock attended from London. So far, gratias Deo, all gone well. May He give us the means we need. November 30. St. Andrew's Day. Was engaged in drawing up circular. Searle sent ioo/. In the evening Bishop Lightfoot's sermon. I made use of the Cuddesdon manual of devotion for foreign missions. It may be of interest here to note that on December 4 and again on December 5 occurs the entry, ' Had walk with G. A. Lefroy, who thinks of missionary work.' The following quotation from Bishop Lightfoot's well- known sermon (alluded to above) on ' Abraham, the Father of Missionaries,' will show how vigorous an appeal was made to Cambridge to support the new mission. Taking as his text Hebrews xi. 8, the preacher pleaded : God grant that this noble army of missionaries may never want recruits ! God grant that, as from time to time its ranks are thinned by death, or as new levies are raised for some fresh campaign in the service of our great Captain, men may press forward from this our own dear Cambridge to fill the vacant places, and do battle for the truth ! I need hardly say why I have put these thoughts before you this evening. You yourselves will have anticipated the moral. These annual days of intercession have not been without their fruit. Some among ourselves have heard the call and are ready to obey. Steps have been taken for the formation of a Cambridge Mission to North India. Two volunteers have already come forward. The headquarters of the mission are to be fixed at Delhi. Delhi ! What associations do not gather about the name ? Delhi, the immemorial centre of Hindu tradition, the chief stronghold of Muhammadan power, the capital of the descendants of Timur, the seat of the most splendid, if not the most powerful, of Oriental monarchies, the city of many sieges, Tartar, Persian, Mahratta, English Delhi the beautiful, the cruel, the magnificent, the profligate. And a name, too, of not less absorbing interest to the RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 43. Christian than to the Englishman. The Delhi Mission was still in its infancy when the Mutiny broke out. The Delhi Mission was baptised in blood. It was literally murdered. But here, as elsewhere, the blood of the martyrs was the seed-plot of the Church. The work of evangelisation has revived. A memorial church, bearing the name of the first martyr, St. Stephen, commemorates, the death of these, his latest successors. No missionary field in India, we are told, is more promising than this. Only men are wanted to aid in the work. And to Cambridge more especially the call comes. It is the blood of Cambridge martyrs which cries out of the ground for revenge, the noble revenge of bringing the gospel of love and peace home to the hearts of that people by whose hands they were slain. The Delhi Mission was in its origin essentially a Cambridge Mission. Its martyrs were Cambridge men. Its first founder, the chaplain, had been a Fellow of Christ's College. Its acting head at the, time when the Mutiny broke out was a member of Caius College. Another student attached to the mission was a near relative of one who now holds an honourable office in our University. All these were among the first fruits of the slain. Shall their blood cry to us in vain ? It is therefore in some sense in fulfilment of a pledge which Cambridge has given to Delhi that our two volunteers have devoted themselves to this work. Before we meet together on St. Andrew's Day next year they will already, if it please God, have left our shores. On Sunday, October 21,1 877, Dr. Vaughan preached the University sermon, and the Bishop of Ely (Dr. Woodford) preached at Pembroke College Chapel, and on the follow- ing day he ordained Mr. Murray to the Diaconate in Great St. Mary's Church. 1 The ordination sermon was preached by Dr. Westcott, and Dr. Lightfoot gave a luncheon party in his rooms, at which, among others, the Bishop of Ely, and the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth (now 1 Mr. Murray was ordained priest at Lahore by Bishop French, Arch- deacon Matthews preaching the sermon, on December 21, St. Thomas' Day, 1878, being the first anniversary of the Bishop of Lahore's consecration. Mr. Bickersteth, as examining chaplain, went up from Delhi to be present. 44 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Bishop of Exeter) were present, as were the first two members of the mission. In the afternoon a committee meeting was held in Dr. Westcott's rooms, and in the evening a farewell service was held at St. Michael's Church, when the Bishop of Lichfield (Dr. Selwyn) preached, taking for his text Psalm cxxi. 8. Writing a year later to the Rev. R. Bullock (October 16, 1878) from Faredabad, sixteen miles south of Delhi, Bickersteth said : I cannot close this letter without a reference to the loss which we feel the Cambridge Mission has sus- tained in the death of Bishop Selwyn. 1 To have been allowed to listen to his strong and loving words of counsel in leaving Cambridge was a singular privilege. I have very often thought of his parting good-bye, ' The Lord preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore.' That same evening after the service, Dr. Lightfoot gave a soiree in his rooms, when the Bishop of Lichfield was present, and also three former workers in the Delhi Mis- sion, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Skelton, and Canon Crowfoot. The next morning there was a farewell breakfast at Pembroke College, and later in the day Bickersteth left Cambridge and returned to Hampstead. The day after he went down with one of his sisters to spend a quiet day at Watton, the scene of his grandfather's pastorate (1830-50), and where his own mother and his sister Alice, with three other sisters, had been laid to rest. His father had married the previous year as his second wife, Ellen Susanna, daughter of the late Robert Bicker- steth, Esq., of Liverpool. Between her and her stepson there grew up a true affection, and twice over, once in Delhi (1881) and again in Japan (1891), he was able to welcome her, when, accompanying his father, she visited the scene of his missionary labours. 1 The news of his death reached Delhi, May 4, 1878. RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE AND CALL TO DELHI 45 Writing to me at St. John's College, Oxford, on the night before he left the old home, he said : Christ Church Vicarage, Hampstead, N.W. October 29, 1877. I have your letter, a thousand thanks for it, and for the very dear little Bible. Fancy me translating out of it to a Hindu two years hence. All has now been nicely arranged ; everything, even to the cake for Rosie, 1 packed. Dearest boy, I know your thoughts will be with me to- morrow, and very often all the time we are parted one from the other. Thank God, those who have the same Christ are not really altogether parted. ' Peace I leave with you,' pray it may be true of me and pray it still more for father. It is his grief at losing me that grieves me most, and will for long. But I feel sure he will be comforted, some special gift of peaceful comfort will be given him of God. And may He comfort you I know He will and guide you in every difficulty, and strengthen you for all the strong work you have before you, and give you the happiest Oxford life, shall ever pray, Your affectionate Brother, EDWARD BICKERSTETH. Next day, Tuesday, October 30, he left England, accompanied by his father as far as Dover, and by Murray. In the train between London and Dover the father engaged in prayer with his son and his companion, and it was then that in answer to a request from the former he chose the words evsica e/uov ical rov svayys\iov to be their guide and inspiration. These words were chosen as expressing the only but sufficient consolation which the father felt in giving up his firstborn son to the mission field. Ever since these words have been preserved as the motto of the Cambridge Mission, and have been printed on the first page of all its reports, and they are now cut into the coping stone of the grave of its first head. 1 His eldest sister, Mrs. Rundall, then living at Kharwarra in Rajputana. 46 EISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH By these providential leadings the steps of the Cam- bridge Brotherhood were thus ordered by God to the ancient city of Delhi, where the two first members arrived early in December 1877. In order to sustain the full efficiency of the work, it was felt to be most desirable that the mission should consist of not less than five men, and if possible of six. The first members left England knowing that the Rev. H. F. Blackett, Scholar of St. John's College, purposed joining them the following year, and they soon received the gratifying news that the Rev. H. C. Carlyon, M.A. (formerly Scholar of Sidney Sussex College), had offered to come out with him, and that his offer had been accepted by the Cambridge sub-commitee. Both these missionaries started on November n, 1878, by which time the committee were able to announce in their ' First Report of the Cambridge Mission to North India (Delhi),' that 'they had reason to believe that before the close of 1879 two others will be ready to follow.' These two latter were the Rev. Samuel Scott Allnutt, M.A. (late Scholar of St. John's College), and the Rev. G. A. Lefroy, B.A. (Trinity College), who went out in 1879, thus bringing the mission up to the number originally contemplated. Thus had the great Head of the Church heard the prayers offered up with fervent faith, and been pleased to send out in three successive years these men, ' two and two before His face,' into the city, whither He Himself would come. 47 CHAPTER III THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI I. THE WORK ' Certainly I feel, if possible more vividly here than in England, that the Church will never regret any single labourer sent to North India.' Letter of the Rev. Edward Bicker steth to the Rev. R. Bullock at the end of his first year. ' WE offer, then, in the name of our friends at Delhi to those who are able to join them the life and the work. We want the best men that Cambridge can give, and we have nothing to offer them but the life and the work.' In these words, on May 24, 1882, speaking at a meeting held by the London Committee in the College Hall, Westminster, Professor Westcott summed up the situation some five years after the Cambridge Mission at Delhi had been in full activity. There is no doubt whatever that Edward Bicker- steth would have cordially accepted the dichotomy thus characteristically drawn between the inner and the outer aspects of the mission which had been undertaken by his University. Indeed, it may weir be that the teacher was quoting from his own pupil's words, for writing to Dr. Westcott on September i, 1881, he had closed his appeal : ' Very gladly shall we welcome to a share in our life and work any who, otherwise fitted, will join us in the spirit of our motto " For My sake and the Gospel's." ' The phrase 'the life and the work' was so constantly on Bickersteth's lips, and his own example showed how 48 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH important he felt it to maintain the life as well as the work, that the principle involved in the distinction may be said to give the key to his character. He would often point out how choked with care and jejune, work must become unless it is continually fed by the forces which alone refresh the inner life and keep it calm and vigorous. The spirit of the work was more to him than the work itself. In describing Edward Bickersteth's share in the inception and organisation of the Cambridge Mission, I purpose, therefore, to devote this chapter to a statement of the work undertaken by that mission, so long as he was officially connected with it (1877-84), and to attempt in a subsequent chapter to discover the springs and secret sources of the life which took shape in the work now to be recorded. I say so long as he was officially connected with it, for it will be easy to show that the Cambridge Mission never ceased to hold its place in his affections and in his daily intercessions. The voyage out was in no way eventful, Bombay being reached on November 21, 1877. During his two days in this city, Bickersteth saw the Robert Money schools, and made a memorandum that there had been no conversion in those schools for twelve years, though much moral influence had been exercised. On the 23rd he left for Kharwarra, where his eldest sister and her husband Lieutenant F. M. Rundall x were staying among the aboriginal Bheels. 2 Mr. Murray had arrived in Delhi on December 12, 1 Now Colonel Rundall, D.S.O. 2 It will be remembered that Mr. French had quoted Sir Henry Lawrence's opinion that missionary work among the Bheels would be a promising opening. It is pleasant to know that although Edward Bickersteth was led further afield to Delhi, his sister collected funds to build a church at Kharwarra, while his father supplied the Church Missionary Society with the stipend of a missionary. 49 having spent several days in seeing the principal towns on the route from Bombay. Of his own arrival Edward Bickersteth writes in his Journal : It was still dark when I reached Delhi from Kharwarra on the morning of December 13, so that I had no oppor- tunity of seeing the city as I entered. I succeeded, however, without difficulty in rinding the mission compound, which is near the station, and in arousing Murray, whose room opened on the garden. I need hardly say that I had a very warm welcome from Mr. Winter, when at daybreak he came to see if I had arrived. As the Bishop (Johnson) of Calcutta was to arrive the next afternoon, all that day was engaged in getting the necessary furniture for our house, which is on the other side of the compound to Mr. Winter. The Bishop, who was then engaged in making the acquaintance of his huge diocese, came to Delhi to visit the work before ceding it to the newly constituted diocese of Lahore, and stayed there from Friday, December 14, for a fortnight. Bickersteth described this visit with all the enthusiasm of a new-comer. Our first work was to arrange a whole scheme of engagements with the Bishop. Nearly every day was occupied, and sometimes the Bishop gave three or four addresses on the same day to different audiences, hold- ing a confirmation on Christmas Eve, and first baptising 59, of whom all but 10 were adults. This is considerably the largest baptism that has ever taken place in this part of India. Nearly 200 were confirmed. Bishop Milman was about to hold a confirmation here at the time of his lamented death, so that there has been considerable delay and the number has accumulated. This and the celebration of Holy Communion on Christmas Day, at which 150 communicated, were perhaps the two most intensely interesting services I have ever attended. The Cambridge Mission, therefore, were clearly happy in the hour of their arrival, so far as the Bishop's visitation E 5O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH led to a review of all the forces that made for Christianity in and about Delhi, and enabled them to take in at a glance the varied work that had been started by Mr. and Mrs. Winter, and in which they were henceforth to take so important a part. From what was said on page 38, it will be remembered that Delhi and its districts were so organised by Mr. Winter as to be able to satisfy all the forecasted requirements of the Cambridge missionaries. The city itself, divided into nine separate divisions or parishes, each with its catechists and readers, seemed to Bickersteth's sanguine anticipations 'to fall in with the future organisation of the Cambridge Mission, and to make it quite easy to arrange to give each English missionary, when he has obtained a sufficient knowledge of the language, a practi- cally independent sphere of work, in which he will be able to work out, with the assistance of his own catechists, and, when the time comes, of native pastors, his own plans, educational or otherwise, while he himself will live at our central Mission House.' ('Journal,' January 1878.) St. Stephen's High School and many vernacular schools which were carried on among the very numerous class of Chamars (workers in leather, a staple trade of Delhi), made educational work possible from the first. Bickersteth wrote in his first letter to Mr. Bullock : A low caste vernacular school in Delhi differs almost as much from St. Stephen's High School as at home a ragged school from a public school. And again, Jan. 3, 1878 : We are to have some personal experience of St. Stephen's High School, the highest educational institution of the mission, almost at once, as Murray and I have agreed directly the school re-opens to give an hour and a half each of us three times a week to taking a class. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 51 The school had been worked on the principle of enforced Christian instruction, on the wisdom of which Bickersteth desired further light, and with his characteristic preference for wide research before forming an opinion on a debatable point, he wrote home : It would, I think, help to the solution of this difficulty if someone were willing to devote time to collecting accounts of the various methods of instruction that have been in favour in the mission schools of past ages, and accompany them with such opinions and judgments on the one side and the other as are given in the Allahabad Conference Report. I have not seen any such compre- hensive articles, though General Tremenhere's pamphlet and the late Bishop Douglas's letters are heavy blows aimed against the present system, or, as its advocates say, against its abuses. With regard to catechists, he wrote that Bishop John- son's suggestion of assembling them for some regular system of instruction, each catechist spending at least two months in the year under instruction at Delhi, ' seems to open out a prospect in the direction of what should be the most characteristic work in days to come of the Cambridge Mission, as some of these men if further instructed would (Mr. Winter thinks) make excellent native ministers.' But it should be stated that although the catechists benefited greatly as preachers by the instructions they received, the expectations that several might advance to the ministry has not been fulfilled. The advantages of a Christian Home or ( Hostel ' for students sent from mission schools to the Government College had been one of the plans also mentioned in the original circular, and it became possible at once to take up that kind of work, inasmuch as there was already the be- ginning of a Christian Boys' Boarding School. Bickersteth expressed his hope that they might become an important E2 52 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH agency in training the members of the native Church, and in supplying suitable men as native catechists and pastors. Already keen to promote any work which would indirectly build up the native Church, he agreed to take over the school, the headmaster of which, Janki Nath by name, was a graduate of the University of Calcutta. He had formerly been a Brahmin. 1 The boys were thirteen in number. But one entry in the Journal already quoted needs some notice. ' I must hasten to mention that at a meeting of the Delhi Mission Committee held on Saturday, De- cember 21, the care of the mission during Mr. Winter's absence was formally handed over to us.' This entry is explained by the 'memorandum on the Cambridge Mission to North India (Delhi) ' published in Cambridge by the Uni- versity Committee, March 29, 1 878. We read : ' After Delhi was chosen as the first seat of the mission, the Cambridge Committee heard that it would be necessary for the Rev. R. R. Winter, who, with the help of the Rev. Tara Chand, had been in charge of the S.P.G. Mission there, to return to England for two years in the early part of the present year. Under these circumstances, by agreement with the Com- mittee of the S.P.G. they authorised Mr. Bickersteth and Mr. Murray to take charge of the work during his absence.' Accordingly on April 2 Mr. and Mrs. Winter left for their much needed furlough in England, and did not return to Delhi till December n, 1879, on which day Mr. Winter came back to India in company with Mr. Allnutt and Mr. Lefroy, Mrs. Winter returning a year later. It is plain that although the Cambridge Committee added that ' the letters which they had received satisfied them that this arrangement will be of the greatest service 1 The Rev. S. S. Allnutt writes : ' Janki Nath is a man of very high principle universally respected by all, Christians ancl non-Christians alike.' THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 53 in supplying under favourable conditions the objects of the Cambridge Mission,' yet the whole burden of responsibility must have weighed very heavily on the shoulders of a young Cambridge graduate, not yet twenty-eight years of age, unacquainted with the languages in daily use and unversed in oriental methods and manners, who had only been resident four months in the land of his adoption. He was left practically alone, for a great misfortune had befallen the mission, of which the Cambridge Committee knew nothing when they passed their memorandum just quoted. On March 1 1 Mr. Murray fell ill with a slight attack of haemorrhage, and the entry in Bickersteth's Journal is : March 12-20. During this time Murray had one or two very slight returns of haemorrhage. He was unable to move himself, and this has been his worst day. Very weak and depressed. March 21. Murray decidedly better, and has been out in the garden. Gratias Deo. March 22. A return of haemorrhage the worst he has had. April 7. Murray has been going on well since March 22. To-day he has been walking in the compound ; but on the nth he was taken ill again, and on the 22nd he left for Meerut en route for Simla. Thus Bickersteth was brought perilously near to the situation which he had described only to deprecate, and which it had been hoped the Cambridge Mission would render next to impossible : ' An over-burdened missionary, who bears alone the manifold cares of a whole station.' * It must not be supposed that he so much as hinted that he felt oppressed. In fact, with his usual reticence, he said very little, if anything, about it, not only nursing his brother missionary with unremitting care till he left 1 See chapter ii. 30. 54 I5ISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH for Simla, but in the midst of that anxiety saying farewell to Mr. Winter, and with a stout heart setting to work at once to keep pace with all the multifarious calls upon his time. In writing at the end of his first year to Mr. Bullock to excuse himself for not having written reports of their proceedings at certain stated intervals, he says : My excuse must be the ready but true one, that when I agreed to the rule as proposed I had no idea of the inces- sant demands which a mission like that of Delhi would daily make on time and strength. Life in Delhi itself, if any progress at all is to be made in the essential work of learning the language, leaves no leisure for writing reports. I take the opportunity of being out for a fortnight among our distant country stations with the Bishop of Lahore to send a letter. Since the beginning of April, when Mr. and Mrs. Winter left for England, the mission has been in my charge. I had thought that this great responsibility would have been shared by the daily co-operation and counsel of my friend and colleague Mr. Murray, but God's will was otherwise, and owing to the illness which prostrated him in March, he has been condemned to very unwilling exile in the Himalayas for the past six months, and is forbidden to return to Delhi till this time next year. A short three months in Delhi had already given him great influence in the schools which were under his charge. His time at Simla will not be wasted, as he is at work on the language. Of course Edward Bickersteth could not be left only with the assistance of his native colleague, the Rev. Tara Chand, and there is a note of relief in the brief entry on April 24 : ' Telegram saying that Hunter is coming.' Mr. Hunter was assistant to Mr. Bray, the S.P.G. Secretary at Calcutta, who, at the cost of greatly adding to his own labours, spared him to come and work at Delhi. Two young laymen also gave their help one Mr. Bridge, whom the Bishop of Calcutta had brought with him from Assam, and the other Mr. Maitland, of Trinity College, Cambridge. The latter had been visiting the THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 55 celebrated cities of the world, and felt an especial attraction to Delhi and its mission. He daily taught English to the boys in the Upper School, and passed six of them into the Punjab University largely by his exertions. He also helped to nurse Mr. Murray. Mr. Bridge lived in the Mission House for nearly a year, ' making the longest stay hitherto of any of my companions ' Bickersteth writes in a letter dated April 29, 1879, a fact which shows how fragmentary was the help on which he could rely. The recollections sent to me by Mrs. Parsons, Zenana (S.P.G.) Missionary at Delhi, prove how others appreciated his efforts at that time of stress. In February 1878 I had the privilege of being engaged in the S.P.G. Zenana. Mission, and placed at the Ladies' Home. The Winters were going on furlough, and the mission, including the many branches of women's work, was to be left in sole charge of Mr. Bickersteth. The Home at that time consisted of six Zenana teachers and a training class of five pupils, all quite young. In allotting my work to me Mrs. Winter said : ' Refer every matter of difficulty to Mr. Bickersteth. He is young, but very wise and good.' In a very little time Mr. Bickersteth began to acquaint himself with each of the different institutions, 2nd got to know all about everything. Of his large minded sympathy and tact, which seemed to extend to every case, one could never say too much. . . . Soon we learnt we could always go to him in every case of difficulty, great or small. . . . One great feature of his character was his treatment of the erring. His rebukes were given with the gentleness of a loving woman and the firmness of the Master. His presence among us seemed to bring with it a desire for higher aims for ourselves, and a feeling of affectionate reverence for him. We went once to bring some orphans from the Poor House. (1877 had been a year of famine, and there were many destitute ones left in 1878.) We found them all looking miserable, like bundles of dirt and rags, some very famished. After Mr. Bickersteth had selected as many as 56 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH he thought fit, as we were going away he saw two girls, one rather big who was crippled after rheumatic fever, and one little one quite blind. He looked at them and said, 4 We must take these two also, and see what we can do for them.' So he lifted each one, and, carrying them himself, put both into his tonga, to the surprise of the natives standing by, not one of whom would have liked to touch them. For the cripple girl he got the best treatment to be had, and after some time she could walk : she never forgot the Padre Sahib's kindness. Sometimes if a matter taken to him were rather serious he would say : ' Come to-morrow, and I will tell you what to do or say.' Then we knew that our Head was going to pray over it before deciding what was to be done about it. Once a girl in the Orphanage was bad with cholera, and he went twice every day to see her, and would sit a long time beside her. One would have thought the girl might have been his own kith and kin. In no case was his sympathy and help given in a half-hearted way. He was so much reverenced in Delhi that a letter addressed ' To the Chief Christian in Delhi ' puzzled the Post Office until the postman insisted it must be for Mr. Bickersteth, and so indeed it proved. In the Zenana Mission we all felt that Mr. Bickersteth was indeed our guide and friend. But h^ could write at the end of the first year, ' AIL the old machinery has been kept in operation,' and this included the Sunday and daily services in St. Stephen's Church, the evening services for Christians in different parts of the city, the high and low caste schools, preach- ing in the bazars, the Zenana work, the hospital and dispensary, the two boarding schools, and the refuge. The lamented death of the excellent Dr. Bose, who had been suddenly called to his rest shortly before Mr. Winter left, called out in a home letter the expression of the hope that ' Cambridge may speedily send us a duly qualified doctor ; ' but no man offered, nor has any medical graduate of Cambridge yet joined the mission. In the autumn of THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 57 1878 he writes that 'the medical lady in charge of the mission hospital and dispensary broke down after eleven years of Indian work under the great pressure of a fever epidemic caused by the subsidence of an unusual overflow of the Jumna in last October and November. She has since been ordered to spend two summers at home, and has left for England.' The principal new efforts of the year were a class for the lower grade of catechists or readers, and a monthly devotional service for the English-speaking mission workers. Of the service something will be said in the next chapter, but he wrote of the class : < 4 r It represents at present a very rude endeavour to improve the attainments of our native teachers. The idea of the plan we pursue was given to me by Pastor Luther, 1 of Ranchi, who visited us last winter to place his son in our Boarding School. The village readers, who are employed during the week in teaching in their schools, come into Delhi on Friday evening and stay till after morning service on Sunday. In company with teachers of the same grade who are employed in Delhi itself they receive during the time lessons in the Bible and Prayer-book, dictation and read- ing, besides listening to parts of the ' Pilgrim's Progress ' read aloud to them. Periodical examinations were held and an order of merit published, and it was decided that the amount of the stipend they received should be partly dependent, as in the case of the Bengal Missions, on their place in the list. In one most important branch of the work, St. Stephen's High School, the lack of any visible results caused the young missionary much thought and some misgivings. Commenting on the results of the last year he writes home : 1 An S.P.G. Pastor of the Kol Mission. 58 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH No boy from the High School has this year become a Christian. There seems no other means for reaching the upper classes in India which covers the same ground ; at the same time, no doubt, knowledge of Christianity is imparted under extreme difficulties in our high schools. The boys cannot be regarded in any sort as religious inquirers. They are sent by their parents to the mission school because the fees are somewhat less than the Government School, and during the latter part of the course, when their minds would naturally be more open to new truth, they are engrossed in the one object of acquiring sufficient know- ledge to pass the University Entrance Examination as a preliminary to obtaining a Government post. Under these circumstances, it seems to be the opinion of the most experienced teachers that little immediate result can be expected, but that success is rather to be looked for in a higher moral standard in after years, induced by contact with the moral beauty of the New Testament teaching and a certain familiarity with the example of our Lord's life. Something more might perhaps be hoped for from the personal influence of Christian masters who would be willing to lay themselves out to obtain influence over the scholars out of school as well as in, as was so remarkably and successfully done by Mr. Noble at Masulipatam. From this point of view the increase in the number of Christian masters is very greatly to be desired, and also the addition of a higher college class, as at present the boys are often removed under alien influences before their education is completed. Mr. Winter had always taken a somewhat different view, holding that 'for secular teaching non-Christian masters are not only indispensable, but that they form a link between the missionaries and the boys with their parents,' bringing ' an efficient and thoughtful body of men into contact with the missionaries, and whose habits of loyalty to their employers kept them from acting against Christianity.' Bickersteth, while admitting that there were collateral advantages in a mission possessing a large institution like St. Stephen's School and its THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 59 branches in a place like Delhi inasmuch as it added greatly to the general reputation of the mission, bringing the missionaries into contact from time to time, in a way that would not otherwise be possible, with the native gentlemen of the city yet was thankful when he could write to Dr. Westcott to the effect that ' we have been able slightly to increase the number of Christian masters in the High School and its branches, sufficiently to give us one Christian master to each branch ; ' and he added, ' We are still very far short of the standard which I see the well-known native Madras clergyman, Padre Sattianadan, considers essential to the profitableness of the school from a missionary point of view that one half at least of the masters should be Christian.' He was deeply thankful, also, when the arrival of Mr. Carlyon, just before Christmas Day 1878, enabled him to put him in charge of the High School and its branches, and to entrust the keeping of the Christian Boys' School to Mr. Blackett Mr. Carlyon also started a Bible class on Sunday afternoons for young men able to speak English who had already embraced Christianity. It was the same feeling which led Bickersteth four years later to begin what Mr. Allnutt described as a most useful course of lectures to masters, on the Characteristics of the Old and New Testaments, a course which was only interrupted by the illness which obliged him to return to England. Delhi itself, of course, offered scope for bazar preaching, and the Cambridge missionaries were able to increase somewhat the frequency and regularity of this branch of work in different parts of the city and suburbs. Bickersteth wrote : So far as I have hitherto observed, the only opponents to our preachers are Muhammadan moulvies. One of 6O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH these is a Wahabi preacher also on his own account. He generally takes St. John's Gospel as his text-book, and though his aim certainly is far more to invalidate the Gospel than to use it for the instruction of his hearers, yet I have sometimes thought that he is not altogether uninfluenced by what he has read. In argument it must be admitted that it sometimes so happens that the Muhammadans have the best of it. A moulvie one day in my hearing stoutly maintained that Our Lord's words, ' There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God,' involved a plain historical inaccuracy, and the catechist, though not an illiterate man, had no answer to give. This led Bickersteth to draw the conclusion that ' knowledge of the Bible more than controversial books was the main need of their teachers and preachers ' a need which he at once set to work to try to supply, not only by the weekly Bible-readings for those in Delhi (as mentioned above), but by encouraging the Reverend Tara Chand to hold a class on the first Sunday in each month, when all the catechists came in from the districts. Between the monthly meetings each catechist was expected to prepare so many chapters of one of the Gospels, the commentary in use being that of the Rev. Robert Clark (C.M.S.) and of Moulvie Imad-ud-din. A few sentences from a letter to Dr. Westcott, written much later on September I, 1 88 1, give his more matured opinion. He writes : Our first circular also referred to evangelistic labours. All work in a heathen land is this more or less, for even a sermon in church may be listened to by a crowd of Muhammadans and Hindus in the church porch. But perhaps bazar preaching has the best claim to that title. Its value is universally recognised when the speakers are intellectually and spiritually qualified for the work, but the criticism to which all missionary operations are now B1CKERSTETH HALL, DELHI. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 6 1 subjected has condemned many efforts in that line which once would have passed muster. Two improvements may, I hope, be shortly possible in our present practice. The one is a preachers' class, where subjects may be carefully prepared and digested beforehand .... the other a preaching-room. The difficulty is that the bazar is after all common property, and the Christian preacher has no real authority to regulate the crowd who listen to him. 1 The case would be quite different in a preaching-room, or, still better, a chapel by the side of the way. It would, I think, be specially useful among a Muhammadan popu- lation. The adherents of a religious system to which love is almost unknown enjoy heated controversy, but get no good from it. We are at present looking out for a suitable site. If we obtain one, and can erect a building 2 on a sufficiently large scale, we hope that some of the most able and thoughtful of the native clergy and others in North India will be willing to deliver lectures in Delhi. Outside Delhi many thousand representatives of the Koli or weaver class, and of the caste of Ckamars, or shoe- makers, were gathered in small village communities. It was among the latter that so many had been baptised 1 ' The preaching in the bazar (at Biwari) was not very satisfactory ; very large crowds gathered, but they were disorderly, and no inquiries followed as to our lodging-place.' Again at Kalanam : 'We went to their little bazar, and for some time sat and talked, but the place was too noisy to be satisfactory, and the cattle being driven home at night continually broke up the audience. ' Again : ' A little friendly conversation resulted, as it was meant to do, in a request to sit down in the place for conversation attached to their mosque, and a little crowd soon collected. Such an opportunity is much to be preferred to preaching in the open bazar, when the audience consists of Muhammadans. The Christian is on their ground, so to speak, and if he came unasked still they have requested him to remain. We talked for awhile of sin, and of escape from it, not without some attempt being made to get the conver- sation away to those metaphysical points which the Muhammadan always prefers to moral teaching. The one flatters his real or supposed intellectual acuteness, the other condemns his daily life ; the one fortifies him in the sup- posed sufficiency of his creed, the other suggests doubts which he would fain banish as to whether it answers his real needs.' (Mission Field, June 1882.) 2 Such a building was erected in Delhi soon after Bickersteth had been obliged to leave India, and[received the name of the Bickersteth Hall. 62 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH by Mr. Winter in recent years. Of these Edward Bicker- steth writes : There is a little Christian colony of the Koli caste, some fifty miles to the south of Delhi, at Biwari. They consider themselves somewhat higher in social rank than the Chamars, but both are very low in the social scale. It seems likely that of God's mercy Christianity will have a rapid and wide extension among these classes. More than once during the last few months we have had requests for instruction from distant villages. The Chamars live, alike in the city and in the villages, apart by themselves in small mud huts, which are often neatly arranged in squares and alleys. Each hut as a rule contains one or two rooms, and possibly a very small verandah to keep off the hottest of the sun's rays. The furniture consists of one or two charpoys (bedsteads), some cook- ing utensils, and possibly a piece of carpet and a stool for a visitor. . . . The master of the establishment may generally be discovered sitting on the ground in front of his house at work on his shoes (an active worker can make a good pair in about two days) ; his wife, her dark-skinned children hanging about her the while, is commonly engaged in some culinary occupation not far off, which frequently involves the whole prospect in a cloud of smoke. In the evening, should a pair of shoes have been completed, it is usual for the head of the establishment to make a visit to the bazar in hope of a purchaser. . . . One excellent native custom, by which the chief men of a particular district form a kind of court of arbitrament among their fellows, Mr. Winter has perpetuated among our native Christians. . . . The people of one entire square of houses of this kind in Delhi are now all but entirely Christian. This square or 'basti,' as it is called, lies just within the city walls, not far from our mission house, at the north-east corner of the city, close under the battered and shapeless mass of the Mori bastion, a name very familiar to those who, twenty years ago, followed in breathless anxiety the fortunes of the siege of Delhi. ... I believe that many will be found to pray that these poor Christians may live worthily of their profession, and as I was trying to teach them last night (the strangeness and picturesqueness of the THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 63 phrase seemed to strike them at once), be ' fishers of men ' among their heathen brethren around. Rohtak (forty-four miles west of Delhi), Kalanam (a village consisting mainly of Muhammadans), Biwari (a large commercial city), Dadri (the capital of a native State), and many others were places frequently visited by Bickersteth, accompanied by Mr. Carlyon or else by Mr. Lefroy as well as by a catechist. 1 Daryagunge, a district of Delhi itself, was always accessible and was visited bi- weekly (on Thursdays and Saturdays). Bickersteth had taken special charge of that district. On arrival the two missionaries and catechist used to pay several pastoral visits, and then the simple evening service was held, if possible in a chapel, which formed one side of the court. It consisted of a bhajan (or hymn), the Confession, Absolution and Lord's Prayer, Magnificat and Creed, then a chapter read and expounded, after which followed the sermon, another bhajan, and a few more prayers. The hymn was especially popular, and it would scarcely have been a service to these people without one or two bhajans, which conveyed in the roughest metre some simple Christian truth. The more distant stations, best visited in the cold season, such as Rohtak (with 1 5,000 inhabitants and twenty-four mosques), were reached by dakgari (post carriage), or, if the road was very bad, in ekkas or native pony-carts, ' a method of procedure which effectually prohibits any use of books by the way ' being Bickersteth's characteristic comment. 2 Here is a shortened account of one of these periodical visits. 1 Yakub Kishan Singh, who was his frequent companion, was ordained subsequently to Bickersteth's departure from Delhi, He died in October 1897 at Gurgaon, where he had retired with his son, and thus was called to his rest within two months of the death of his English friend. 2 '.Yakub found us an empty native house at Rohtak, with, of course, no 64 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH January 12, 1882, I left Delhi with Carlyon at IOP.M. ; owing to the dreadful state of the road after the winter rain we did not reach Rohtak till three in the afternoon. There one of our two native deacons is placed, an old gentleman with white beard and venerable l aspect, but with natural strength unabated. He owes his Christianity (it is thirty-one years since he was baptised) to the zeal of a Christian officer in the army. As a boy his father had given him a good education in ancient Hindu learning, and much he laments over its decay. He has known many missionaries, among others Dr. Pfander, who used to read with him at one time in Agra. Rising early, the missionaries went out and sat for some time talking, now with a little group of saltpetre manufacturers, now in the ' baithak,' or place of conversation attached to a mosque, later in the day spending the time in looking up the scattered Christians, mostly poor, and receiving little parties of native gentlemen, masters perhaps from a Government school, and in the evening preaching in the bazar. ' We also believe in the Trinity/ was the some- what abrupt announcement of one of the masters [he was the head master, and had been trained in the mission school at Delhi many years ago]. This led to a con- versation about mysteries and our duty to accept them on sufficient evidence, even when they are wholly beyond our power to comprehend. This is a point which the more educated Hindus are very slow to allow, though it is plain that all men do it in a multitude of instances. Sometimes much interest attached to the personal history of some of the scattered Christians. Thus Bicker- steth writes : Part of the object of our visit was to see Jumna Das. He was formerly a sadhu, 2 or holy man, a Hindu, furniture or carpets, but it is wonderful how soon, when one has disposed one's effects about one and got out one's books, ; &c. , one begins to get fond of one's abode and to regard it as a kind of quasi-home for the time being.' Letter, Jan. 12, 1882, Mission Field. 1 He was ordained by Bishop Milman. The other, Asad Ali, was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop French (1880). 'A special interest,' wrote E. B., ' attached to Ali's ordination by his former teacher at the Lahore Divinity ..School, where he|had been the senior student of his year.' 2 Sadhu or saint = holy man. Fakir = poor man. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 65 baptised three years ago by Yakub. A special interest about him is that he still retains much, perhaps too much, of his old manner of life. Certainly nothing has been done to alter or denationalise the outward man or old surroundings of this strange convert. Scanty dress, rough hair, vvcatherbeaten countenance, dwelling and occupation, are all just as they were before the Hindu sadhu took on him the yoke of Christ. He lives on a plot of land of which he is owner, and satisfies his wants, which are simple enough, by its cultivation. His house is little more than a hut of reeds, just sufficient to keep off nightdews quite insufficient, I should say, to shield him from heavy rain. His house is close to the road, and travellers often stay to get water from his well during the hot weather. To give water to passers-by is a recognised meritorious action of Hindus. It is pleasant to think that in one spot at least a good work, to the performance of which by Christians a special promise is attached, is not neglected. Who can tell the results of the quiet talks that doubtless go on sometimes between the Christian guru and the thirsty travellers who resort to him for water. Jumna Das soon caught sight of us as we made our way to his little hut. Apart from his own conversation, you would perhaps only find out his Christianity from his books, but you would probably not discover his library at once. It is contained in a large earthen pot, such as is commonly used for holding water in India. The possible dangers attached to this method of storing his treasures the old man recently dis- covered to his cost, as several were stolen from him. The accomplishment of reading is an immense gain in the case of a solitary Christian. For instance, he is shortly to be con- firmed, and I was able to give him an excellent little Hindu book on the subject (S.P.C.K.). He will study it word by word, but without this his preparation must have been con- fined to the very scanty instruction Yakub can give him on very occasional visits. We stayed with him some little time, and had reading and prayer. He is very honest and real. Again : The native Christian whose name is Hassu seems to be doing his work l fairly well. His early life was a strange 1 I.e. teaching a school of little urchins belonging to the Koli caste on the outskirts of the city of Bihwari. F 66 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH one. He belonged to a Muhammadan family, whose chief occupation is to take care of the ruinous tomb of an old Muhammadan ' pir ' or saint. He spent his young days in the service of this tomb, and participated in the alms of the faithful. He was baptised some years since, having heard the Gospel, I believe, first during street preaching. I went with him to see his relations, whose countenances, as is commonly the case with this class of people, had very little to recommend them. Degradation had too certainly followed on the idleness in which their ancestor's sanctity enabled them to live. A curious part of their story is that the people who now support them are Hindus, not Muhammadans. The 'pir' seems to have been reverenced alike by both classes of religions, but in the case of the Hindus, who should naturally have been hostile to him and his religion, reverence has survived to later generations, and some poor idolaters of a neighbouring village still hope to win merit hereafter by supporting his descendants on part of their produce. This is but one of the many curious instances in which Hinduism and Muhammadanism have managed to dissemble their differences in outlying places in India. Islam has, I think, in all cases been the loser, adopting the superstitions of its natural enemy without inclining in the least towards the truths which the super- stitions feel after. The followers of a system based on the sternest monotheism have been saint worshippers, but none, I think, till they accept the truth, regard incarnation as within the limits of revelation. It may safely be asserted that at no time was direct evangelistic work (whether public preaching, Bible classes, or the care of three of the Delhi districts and three out-stations in the surrounding district) neglected by the Cambridge Mission, nor did it cease to have a powerful attraction for Bickersteth. Preaching in bazars in a popular style was not his forte, and, to quote a Devonshire proverb, the fodder he provided was too high up for the cattle ; but he was at his very best when engaged in earnest conversation with some inquirers who remained behind after the audience had broken up, or who, Nicodemus-like, THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 67 sought further light in the seclusion of the house or tent after nightfall. These longer evangelistic tours, undertaken on the apos- tolic method of journeying two and two together, greatly enriched the experience of the Cambridge missionaries, and led Bickersteth to dwell much on the relative good and evil of Hinduism and Muhammadanism, and to think deeply about the best method of presenting Christianity to the adherents of both these religions. 1 In regard to their distinctive tenets, he saw how ' the impersonality of the Supreme Being is a fundamental doctrine of Hinduism, and affects their whole system.' ' This/ he writes, ' seems to be frequently forgotten by those who argue that, owing to its theory of incarnations, the system of Hinduism is far nearer to Christianity than that of Islam.' In a letter of an able Sanscritist he had read : ' In Hinduism the principle of Divine Incarnation abounds to utter extravagance. It is like a tree which needs nothing but the pruning knife vigorously applied.' Upon which he commented : ' If the incarnations of Hinduism were incarnations of a personal, self-conscious Being, it would be so, but they are not. They are rather means by which a being, impersonal and incapable by itself of attaining to conscious existence, is enabled through contact with matter to attain to person- ality.' In answer to the question, ' Has the presence of Islam in India been for good or evil ? ' he believed it to be ' impossible to give any simple and unqualified reply.' In a lecture which he delivered after his return to England (before the Cambridge Graduates Mission Aid Society, March 1883), he argued : 1 With regard to methods, he looked forward hopefully to the influence of the Christian 'guru' (Hindu religious teacher) and his disciples as ' potent auxiliaries, perhaps even chief agencies, in spreading the Gospel in India.' F 2 68 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH On behalf of Islam it may fairly be contended that the protest it has maintained for certain fundamental truths of religion has not been without influence for good, such as the personality of God, the essential brotherhood of man with the consequent duty of charity, and the sinfulness of idolatry and drunkenness. . . . But heavy counts may be brought to prove that this gain has been largely counterbalanced. If it asserts the person- ality and unity of God, it also, by the denial of the fact or possibility of incarnation, places an impassable barrier between Him and His creatures. If it rightly proclaims the essential brotherhood of all men, it finds a false basis for it in fact, in a common submission to the claims of Mahomed. Again, taking it as a whole, its moral code and its practice is lower than that of Aryan nations. A considerable school of living writers has so minimised these and other vices and deficiencies of the system as to justify a verdict almost wholly in its favour. This incon- siderate partisanship produces a result as far from the truth as the indiscriminate condemnation which it succeeds. Good and evil are so intermingled in the system as necessarily to produce results which cannot be tabulated under either head, and any estimate of Islam which neglects this is essentially defective. More quotations in the same vein might be given, but enough has been cited to prove the spirit in which Bickersteth approached some of the problems presented by comparative religious philosophy, and which he aimed at impressing on all who came to work with him. His was a mind from the first singularly free from pre- judice, and therefore especially fitted to draw up a fair statement of the strong and weak points of any faith which has claimed the moral allegiance of the human heart, and then strike a balance and justify the position which he himself held. Education, especially higher education, had been from the first the principal object in the eyes of those who started the Cambridge Mission. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 69 The arrival of the Rev. S. S. Allnutt and the Rev. G. A. Lefroy at the close of December 1 879 had greatly added to the strength of the mission, and justified the serious contemplation of a more elaborate educational programme. From the first Mr. Allnutt identified himself with the educational work of the mission, for which he had great ability. Between both these two valuable recruits to the mission and Edward Bickersteth there grew up the warmest brotherly affection. It will be remembered that the charge of St. Stephen's High School (with 150 boys), training up to the standard of the University Entrance Examination, was entrusted to the mission at the beginning of 1880, as was that of several branch schools in which from four to five hundred boys were under preparatory training. By the end of 1 880 the mission was able to undertake an important and characteristic edu- cational work. It was decided to form classes in order to supply the need felt since the Government College at Delhi had been closed, and so to prepare candidates for the B.A. Examination of the University of Calcutta. This privilege, indeed, had always been possessed by St. Stephen's High School as affiliated to that University, but it had long been held in abeyance. This decision was not arrived at without prolonged inquiry and prayerful thought. As long before as October 1878, the Bishop of Lahore had spent three weeks at Delhi with Bickersteth, and they had visited together for the first time, but by no means for the last, the most distant out-stations. 1 They frequently discussed the educational problem, especially an Arts College, the 1 Writing to Edward Bickersteth from Peshawar (March 16, 1885) the Bishop says : ' I had two days also with Winter also at Balandshar, and looked with happy recollections on the road which you and I traversed by Toglaka- bad to the villages beyond it ; journeys it may yet please God to permit us to repeat either in the neighbourhood of Delhi or on the frontier.' 70 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH proposal to establish which fell in with the views of the Bishop, who had himself spent the first years of his missionary life in a similar college at Agra. The Bishop had felt (and also had written home to the Cambridge Committee) the great and urgent importance of there being a college, as complete as possible in its proportions, religious, scientific, philosophic, at Delhi and in connection with the mission there. In his original paper before the Missionary Aid Society Dr. French had referred to the Alexandrian schools of thought and inquiry as supplying the exactest and most practical model of a Christian Educational Institute, which in its class-rooms and lectures should be exhaustive of all the great branches of science and problems of thought on which the human mind is exercised. He had pointed out that 'at Alexandria Christianity found ready to hand great schemes of education encyclopaedic in character, well compacted and organised in system, expansive and even tolerant in principle,' and that ' it needed only the mind of a philosopher and the heart and mind of a Christian to see how happily all this might be fertilised, fecundated, refined, and even glorified by being brought into combination with that seed of the Word God's divinely appointed instrument of growth into that Divine Image in which man was created : which, while raising him out of himself, makes him to be himself in the truest best sense, humanises most while it most divinises him, when he is most, as Hippolytus expressed it, Osoiroiovpisvos' He had further brought out that for the realisation of this ideal there must be an enquiring as well as a learned people as a condition of hopefully attempting to introduce the Alexandrian School system and programme, because unless there had been a stir and a ferment the scheme would fall to the ground flat and abortive. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 71 Now from investigation made on the spot in the daily companionship of the head of the Cambridge Mission, the Bishop's spirit was deeply stirred within him. As he mused the fire burned, and he wrote to Cambridge describing the opening and the need of a college ' which should (by God's help) rally round it the more highly educated natives, and Hindus trained at the primary and middle Government Schools, training them indeed for M.A. degrees, both at Lahore and Calcutta, but with the loftier and purer aim which Christian teaching imparts to other studies when that teaching is seen to be not merely a bye-end of an institution, but its quickening, informing, and binding principle.' He drove home the plea by illustrating ' the happy results ' which had followed the establishment of such colleges by Theodore and Hadrian in Canterbury, by Alcuin at York, at Alexandria in earlier times, and recently at Calcutta and Bombay by the Jesuits, and forcibly clinched his argument by the assertion : ' This is the very crisis, Delhi is the very place, the Cambridge Mission is in several respects, to say the least, the very instrument which seems to me needed.' Thus he reaffirmed the verdict passed by the Bishop of Calcutta in 1876, on the opportunity opened for Cambridge by the closing of the Government College, and at last his ideal based on the Alexandrian method of combining theo- logical and general learning took shape not only in his Theological School at Lahore, but also in the Arts College at Delhi. That Bickersteth himself had already made up his mind in the direction indicated by the Bishop can be gathered from his appeal to Cambridge, when he had pleaded for the establishment of a college where teaching would be given by Christian teachers and be permeated with Christian ideas, and added : ' Will two laymen of ?2 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH sufficient attainments and of high aims offer to undertake this work ' ? while in a later letter to Dr. Wcstcott (September I, 1881) he described the situation thus : As regards the college, I have mentioned that our original proposal extended only to establishing a hostel for Christian students attending the Delhi Government College. The Government Institution was, however, closed shortly before we arrived in Delhi ; and we found that a scheme had already been set on foot by some of the wealthier inhabitants of the city to establish a native college, to which it was expected Government would give the usual grants in aid. We were anxious that if possible nothing should be done by us which might prejudice an independent and public-spirited movement of this kind. At the same time we felt that far more beneficial results might reasonably be looked for from an education which was completed under Christian influences, than if boys who had been trained in our schools passed just at the period when their minds are naturally most susceptible of impressions into a college which at best held a neutral attitude towards religious truth. Under these circum- stances it was during last summer agreed that the mission should undertake to open college classes from January 1 88 1 for pupils from St. Stephen's and other mission schools. The limitation left a wide field for independent enterprise. The promoters, however, of a native college failed to collect sufficient funds to secure the support of the Punjab Government. Their scheme, therefore, has fallen into abeyance, and is not now likely to be revived, Since this happened we have received an intimation to the effect that a missionary college open to all students, whether of Government or mission schools, and conducted by our mission, would probably receive liberal support from the Government. Proposals made by us in reply,, having reference mainly to the amount of pecuniary assistance we should require, are at present under the consideration of the Punjab authorities. If these negotia- tions have a satisfactory termination, the higher education of so large a district as the South Punjab will for the first time have been placed in Christian hands. The news of this opening was received with enthusiasm THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 73 by the Cambridge Committee, and at their request the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Lightfoot) penned a vigorous and characteristic appeal to his old University to rise to this occasion. After reminding Cambridge that as himself responsible for the working of a large, populous, and undermanned diocese, and eager therefore to welcome zealous and earnest recruits for his own work, he yet gladly made himself the mouthpiece of the cry from Delhi, regarding the mission there as the first charge on the evangelistic zeal and devotion of Cambridge, he then proceeded to quote the passage from Bickersteth's letter given above as best describing ' a signal opportunity, unforeseen when the mis- sion was planned.' In conclusion he asked for five more men, two for the new University and three for the more general work of the mission. ' But what have the committee to offer in return ? Certainly not wealth or luxury or ease, but a modest stipend sufficient for maintenance, brotherly co- operation and sympathy, opportunities of common prayer and devotional exercises, and, above all, a great work to be done for Christ's sake. Are there not five true sons of Cambridge to whom such a prospect is far nobler and brighter and more alluring than the immediate comfort of a country curacy, or the ultimate prospect of a country rectory ? Are there not five men who are prepared to lose their souls that they may find them ? ' This appeal was circulated in November 1881, and in the following spring (May 20) a largely attended meeting l was organised by the London Committee at the College 1 At the meeting the Rt. Hon. G. Cubitt (now Lord Ashcombe) presided, and the speakers were Bishop (Lightfoot) of Durham, Bishop (Harvey Good- win) of Carlisle, Dr. Westcott (now Bishop of Durham), Bishop (Benson) of Truro, Rt. Hon. H. C. Raikes, M.P., Mr. Dalrymple, M.P., Canon Farrar (now Dean of Canterbury), Rev. E. H. Bickersteth (now Bishop of Exeter), Rev. Brownlow Maitland, and Mr. C. Raikes, C.S.I. 74 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Hall, Westminster, to make the opportunity more widely known. On that occasion Dr. Westcott reminded those present that : In the other Indian universities English had been the one medium of higher education. In that of the Punjab it was proposed that while the subject-matter remained unchanged, instruction might be given in the vernacular. 1 Everyone could see at once the vast difficulties and the corresponding advantages offered by that scheme. It involved nothing less than quickening into vigorous growth the language which answered to the characteristic modes of native thought. Let them consider for a moment what would have been the loss to England if all higher education had been given to them through the medium of Greek, what would have been the loss to the apprehension of Christian truth. No one could feel more intense gratitude than he for the lessons which Greek had taught them. But the Christian truths have passed into our common tongue and received large enrichments in the process. This represented to them, he believed, what we may look for in India. Let the treasures of western thought find expression it would be a long and hard work he knew in the vernacular, and there would be a double gain of incalculable value. India would be the richer, and they would be the richer. Not only would there be the power of conveying all that they had learnt of truth to every native in its most effective form, but they would learn in due time those aspects of the one Faith which in the order of Providence the Indian mind was fitted to present in virtue of its peculiar endowment. For they must be blind to the teaching of the past, if they did not believe that God would enable them to see hereafter more of His counsel through the races of the East. He con- cluded by describing the educational work at Delhi as an opportunity for sharing, however humbly, and it must be very humbly, in moulding the moral and spiritual bent of a great people, a sacred charge which had been undertaken, 1 It may be well to explain that all instruction in the arts course is given through the medium of English, though at the same time there are Arabic and Sanscrit classes connected with the University, which have been a step in the direction pointed out by Dr. Westcott as so full of promise. THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 75 or rather which had been given and not refused. It could not now be laid aside, and they wanted men, Cambridge men, to fulfil it. icaXov TO a6\ov KOI 17 gXvrts On the point of language, Edward Bickersteth himself used to point out that 'there is probably no Christian doctrine, however deep and intricate, which the copious and pliant language of India, with the aid on the one side of Sanscrit, on the other of Persian and Arabic, will not eventually be able to express in a suitable terminology.' He also felt that there was a profound truth and insight in the forecast of his old teacher Dr. Westcott, that ' the intellectual and spiritual sympathies of the leading peoples of India are with Syria and Greece rather than with Rome and Germany, that they will move with greater power along the lines traced out by Origen and Athanasius than along those of Augustine and Anselm which we have I followed.' Bickersteth held that this opinion would in time be confirmed by all experience in eastern lands. The St. Stephen's College at Delhi was eventually founded, and in October (1882) the Act was passed which constituted the Punjab University College at Lahore a college complete in all its functions, St. Stephen's College being at once affiliated to it. But by that time Edward Bickersteth had been invalided to England. He was forced by repeated attacks of fever to leave India in the August of 1882, confidently expecting to be back again before Christmas. As a matter of fact, he never saw again the scene of his first missionary labours until the early spring of 1893, by which time he had been seven years Bishop in Japan. Among the happiest experiences of his Delhi life was the winter visit paid to him in 1880-1 by his father and stepmother. After Mr. Bickersteth had been twenty-five 76 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH years vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead, his parishioners presented him with a cheque, requesting him to spend part of it in a visit to India to see his son, well knowing that no suggestion would be more agreeable to him. Accordingly my father, leaving England in October, was met by my brother at Calcutta, and travelled with him for several weeks, ten days being spent at Delhi, inspecting missions in North India. There are very few letters of this Delhi period of my brother's life preserved, and one note book in which he jotted down scant memoranda is missing. The absence of these must be a loss to the biographer, but enough has been said to show the part and lot in the founding of the Cambridge Mission which in the Providence of God Edward Bickersteth was allowed to fill ; and the harder task now remains of trying to draw back the veil from the inner life of the mission, rightly hidden from the world, but for all that ' the very pulse of the machine.' In conclusion, the following paper of personal recollec- tions, kindly contributed by the Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, D.D., C.M.S. Missionary at Batala, will be read with interest : My first introduction to Edward Bickersteth was in February 1 876, when he was residing at Pembroke College as a Fellow. Having resigned my curacy at Liverpool, I was on the way to London to offer my services to the C.M.S., and spent some days with the Rev. T. V. (after- wards Bishop) French, whose appeal on behalf of the Lahore Divinity School had drawn my attention. Mr. French's thoughts were naturally full of the plan then in hand for starting a Cambridge University Mission, and he offered to take me with him to a meeting which was to be held at Cambridge to discuss and set forward the project. I was only too pleased to go, and still more gratified on arriving at Cambridge to find that my host there was the man who was the moving spirit of the whole scheme. The THE CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI 77 days spent in Bickersteth's rooms at Cambridge saw the beginning of a lifelong friendship. In May 1876 I went to reside at Cambridge for three months for the purpose of reading Sanscrit, and during that time we had many opportunities of discussing the work of missions, past, present, and future, and especially the great questions of how to influence the philosophical and educated classes of India, and to train the clergy and preachers of her Church. So strong were our sympathies that Bickersteth proposed to me to join the new Brother- hood, but being already pledged to the C.M.S. this was impossible. It was, however, a delight and a privilege that I repeatedly enjoyed, to have the opportunity of intimate intercourse with Bickersteth in India, where he followed me a year later. Early in 1879 I saw him at Delhi, and wondered at the progress he had made in the language amid the enormous mass of work that had devolved upon him when left in full charge of the widely ramified mission in his first year. Two contrasting pictures of him come to my remembrance in that year. The first is that of a little service with a handful of Cliamar Christians in one of the bastis of Delhi. We sat on a charpoy (cot) ; a few prayers were read, a rude hymn sung to ruder instru- ments, and a simple address given by Bickersteth. The other scene was laid in Simla, where we met a few months later. Bickersteth had readily accepted an invitation to lecture in English to an audience of non-Christians, con- sisting chiefly of well educated and high-caste men con- nected with the Government offices in Simla, many of them adherents of the theistic Brahmo Samaj. The subject that he chose was the trial of Jesus Christ. In his keen and polished, yet earnest and sympathetic style, he drove home forcibly the argument for the divinity of the Saviour, from the fact that He staked life and reputation on the truth of His assertion that He was the Son of God. Not long after, when we were on a walking tour together, some remarks on the same subject in a Brahmo journal called forth a letter from Bickersteth, which he read to me before sending it. It was in the same style as his lecture that is to say, a specimen of what Christian controversy should be. One cannot be too thankful that the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, a result of the stimulus which Bickersteth gave 78 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH and which deals with the same class of people, fully main- tains the same tone. The walking tour that I referred to covered a happy ten days of that same summer holiday. We had for com- panions Murray and (I think) one other, and we walked fifty miles out toKotgur by the Simla-Tibet road, returning the same way. Delightful was the first nearer approach to the great snow range of the interior Himalayas, delightful the talks by the way and the Greek Testament readings in the forest or the hospitable mission house in the secluded station of Kotgur. Three years later came the sad news that Bickersteth was invalided home. The meetings at Diocesan Synods, ordinations, and like occasions were at an end, nor did I see him again till after he had been for some time as Bishop in Japan. In April 1891 I \vas passing with my wife, who was recovering from a long and weary illness, through Tokyo, and there we were warmly welcomed by our old friend, and spent some days in his house. Here it certainly seemed to me that his special gifts had found a fit field for their exercise. Faithful and strenuous in whatever task he was called to do, whether small or great, he was, I take it, more especially fitted to deal with the larger questions of policy and principle, and to teach, influence, and guide educated men and women. How effectually he did so his biography will sufficiently show. The last time we met was early in 1893, as Bickersteth was passing through India. Even t\vo years before he had seemed to be exhausted by work beyond his strength, and now his old Indian trouble had returned to some extent. But he was full of interest in all that he saw at Batala, where I was then stationed, and ready to hold a Bible reading for the missionaries, which brought to memory our Himalayan intercourse. I parted from him with apprehension ; yet God allowed him to work a while longer, and when the sad news of his departure came one could but feel that a full life-work had' been crowded into his comparatively few years, and thank God for that life with its deeds and memories. < Q d < 5 X 2 -s z H o JS ' as a ""^ O *s -* O S o *A * > O w Pi 79 CHAPTER IV THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE ' You have given much attention to the methods and helps which con- tribute to the cultivation of the spiritual life, and I am sure that this should be the distinguishing mark of a Brotherhood, and that on it eventually, all special success will depend. ' Letter from Rev. Edward Bickersteth to the Rev. G. A. Lefroy, November 20, 1884. ' THE picture I have always had of him is at the close of a day in Delhi. I stayed with them once in the hot weather, when we all slept on the roof. When we had all laid down, he walked up and down the parapet, as I thought praying over the city from a place where he could look down upon it. His tall figure against the dark sky made quite an impression on me, and I feel sure that the burden of the city's needs weighed on him nobly. ... It was he who placed the Delhi Mission on a very high level of continual consecration.' So writes (August 1897) the Rev. J. H. Lloyd, now Vicar of St. Giles', Norwich, formerly Principal of St. John's College (C.M.S.), Agra. ' His was indeed a consecrated life, and India can never forget him,' was the testimony of India's late Metropolitan Bishop, Dr. Johnson of Calcutta, in a letter of the same date. Now it will be conceded that spiritual consecration issues in devotional life and craves for expression in devotional habits, and it is the purpose of this chapter to draw aside the veil as far as may be, and show how ' frequent opportunities of united devotion ' was the rule SO BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH of the Delhi Brotherhood as conceived by Edward Bickersteth. In his first paper before the Cambridge Church Society (February 9, 1876) he summed up the advantages of a Community mission, looked at from this aspect, in these words : Then, and on this I lay especial stress, there is the opportunity which will be afforded for united religious exercises and services. Without wishing for one moment to impugn the belief in the special presence of God with the solitary labourer, yet to most men there is no greater help in a work of abounding difficulty than the opportunity and the obligation of common devotion. It is striking to notice that even a St. Francis Xavier, after one of his great missionary journeys, refused to set forth again until he had time to recruit his spiritual force by staying awhile in the retreat of his college. ' Frequent opportunity of united devotion ' was there- fore quite as much the aim of the Cambridge Mission as even concentration of effort, subdivision of labour, con- tinuity of teaching, and leisure for literary work. Edward Bickersteth, although brought up among Evangelicals, who twenty-five years ago had not yet made up their minds as to the spiritual results of such times of retirement, was indeed not unfamiliar with the blessing of retreats and quiet days, for his father, who had taken the lead in this as in other matters, had for some years planned and carried 'out an annual Retreat at Christ Church, Hamp- stead. Among the conductors appear such names as the Rev. Canon Thorold (afterwards Bishop successively ot Rochester and of Winchester), the Rev. Canon W. H. Fremantle of Claydon, Bucks (afterwards Dean of Ripon), the Rev. Canon Garbett, and the Rev. W. Boyd Carpenter (afterwards Bishop of Ripon). Another help to his devotional life came to him through his friendship with the Rev. Canon Wilkinson (then Vicar THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 8 I of St. Peter's, Eaton Square, and successively Bishop of Truro and of St. Andrews), with whom he stayed in the spring of 1877, and who became, in God's providence, one of the strongly formative influences of his spiritual life. Bickersteth therefore left England for his new work strongly imbued with the conviction that prayer is worth our best time, ' more things being wrought by prayer than man dreams of,' and also not without some experience as to the best way of organising concerted action in prayer. It was to him a matter of special thankfulness that the ten days' visit of the Bishop of Calcutta to Delhi (which, as already mentioned, followed close on his own arrival there) ended with a quiet day of devotion : A practice which will (he writes), I hope, at intervals be always continued in our mission. . . . We found the practice quite as helpful here in a heathen land as some of us in former days had done in London. There was a peculiar sense of calm and strength in the gathering of our little company to pray both for itself and for the great heathen city, whose cries we could so plainly hear as we knelt in our silent church. While, writing after a year in India, we find him ex- pressing the hope : That it may be possible to arrange for a longer period of withdrawal from direct work [than is afforded by a quiet day]. If this is necessary in England, it is still more so in India. Mission life is life at high pressure, and in itself seems to have but little leisure for cultivating recollected- ness and prayerfulness of spirit. For the sake of the mission itself it will be very desirable, I believe, from time to time to escape from missionary duties altogether. A paper on ' Missionary Training,' which he read in the G 82 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Selwyn Divinity School, Cambridge (April 9, 1884), sums up his experience gained at Delhi in these words : No men, I believe, as a class so need the help of a regulated devotional life as missionaries. Contact with heathenism and Islam tends more rapidly to exhaust spiritual energy than anything else. Happy, then, those whose spiritual training has led them to value regular reading of Holy Scripture, meditation, frequent com- munions, daily times of retirement, retreats, and the other different helps to spiritual progress for the voluntary use of which opportunity is now, as a rule, given in our theological colleges. The exigencies of foreign work may in after years cut them off for a time from some of these blessings as, for instance, from Holy Communion ; but if it be so, they will carry with them the desires and habits which the holy practice of their years of training will have implanted in them, and that sense of the Divine Presence which regulated practice so fosters that it abides, even when the practice itself must for a time be laid aside. Of a piece with this was the great value which Bicker- steth had learnt to set on intercessory prayer. He writes : The Book of Prayers published by the S.P.G. is in daily use at our Mission House at three o'clock in the afternoon, which, allowing for the difference of time between India and England, associates us with you in common supplication about the same hour. 1 This conviction of the duty and privilege of regular and detailed intercession only deepened as years went on, so that during his episcopate of Japan, and right on to the last week of his life, not a day passed without his bringing before God the needs of each mission station in 1 From a paper issued in Cambridge it appears that a short service had been started at 9.30 P.M. on the first Saturday in each month at the Mission House in Jesus Lane, Cambridge, ' as Mr. Bickersteth had asked that those interested in the mission would specially remember it in prayer that day,' bc>ing that on which the monthly service for English-speaking workers was held in Delhi. THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 83 his diocese and its workers. No matter where he was at the hour assigned to that duty (generally about 2 P.M.) in crowded railway train or busy steamer, or in the quiet of his study the closed eyes and recollectedness of bearing would tell those who knew him best that the Bishop had entered the presence of God bearing his people on his heart. The following letter touches on these points. Delhi : November 8, 1878. My dear Sam, You are the most excellent of fellows in writing me letters. I quite look forward to getting them, and I am the worst of replyers, if such a word there be. But I must send you a line to-day, even though Hunter is away at Kurnal, and I have both churches (station and mission) to preach in on Sunday, which meaneth three sermons. Before I forget it, about the Highgate boys. I'll try and send them a letter for their magazine in December. I have already sent to the printer a letter to Mr. Bullock of the S.P.G., of which I will send copies home as soon as it is ready, and you can send them I am afraid it is not much of an epistle to Wordsworth, Holland, Dalton, &c., with my love. An article I have written on ' retreats ' in the ' Indian Christian Intelligencer' is, I hope, better worth perusing. It ought to have been out now, but the MS. was mislaid, and it will appear in the December number. If I feel one thing more strongly than another about this missionary work, after a year's thought and work (more work than thought though), it is that the ' Wilkinson ' idea of missions is the right one. I call it the ' Wilkinson idea ' because I got it most, and realised it most, in talking to him. I mean that the results, as far as results are granted, will be in proportion, generally speaking, to the spirituality of the agents. Increase your central fire ; i.e. be more filled with the Spirit, have a stronger hold on verities, live more in the sense of the unseen, realise (like Brother Lawrence) the overshadowing Presence, let Christ dwell in our hearts Bia rrfs tria-rsajs (taking those words in their mystery and fulness and blessedness), crush down selfishness and sin, and then through perhaps only two or 84 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH three such agents more good might be done in a short while than by fifty ordinary Christians. Our present Bishop ' goes towards the ideal ; none, of course, attain it, as its measure is ' the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ' but he exemplifies to me to some extent the idea one can form and dimly strive after. Such men breathe a power around them ; they are not, like your Evangelistic preachers, always aiming at conversions in the narrower sense of the term ; but still their whole life tends to convert people, whether dead Christians or inquiring heathens. They are not always talking about the Cross, but yet they lead men to it and, too, induce them to take it up ; they deal with all truths as they come across their path, thankful to set men right on any point, or to plant any seed which may grow and fructify. What a wonderful thing is that peace which God can give to those who ' walk in the light.' Emphatically it is a gift : it is no use striving after it directly : aim more singly at God's glory, strive to be purer, holier, better, and God gives it as a reward which indeed passeth under- standing. There is evening church bell, so I must hasten on. Later, after church. Some business turned up just before church, so I had to stop ; but I have given up my ' basti ' service to-night to our schoolmaster, so that I may get through some letters. One of the trials of this life is the multiplicity of small things : so likely are they to disturb that peace I was speaking of if one lets them e.g. since I began to write, a letter from a young lady to say she would be glad if I would send her a cheque for travelling expenses (I have just engaged her as Zenana teacher) ; the names of my class to be called over ; some money to be sent to Hunter in the district ; a man to be talked to who wanted a tip and didn't get it ; a letter about a house which has just turned up and might suit our girls' school, and I dare say some other matters which I now forget. There is a fine passage in chap. iii. of the ' Imitation ' (wrongly translated in the English version, the ' ones ' should all have capital O's) about the unity of work. It isn't so easy to see that each of the manifold trifles tends towards the development of ' the kingdom of God,' but it is plain that none of them 'I.e. Bishop Thomas Valpy French, of Lahore. THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 85 could be omitted without detriment to that little part of the kingdom where each little trifle arises. Ever your most affectionate Brother, EDWARD BICKERSTETH. A new feature of the first year's work in Delhi was the establishment in St. Stephen's Church of a monthly devotional service for English-speaking workers, consist- ing of a lesson, two hymns, a missionary litany, and an address. Among the subjects which have occupied us hitherto, (he writes) have been ' Times of Retirement ' ' United Action,' ' Prayer,' ' Holy Communion,' &c. This and the daily use of a series of special collects have been found by all real helps towards realising the oneness of our work and its dependence on the one Source of life and strength. Out of this monthly service sprang daily morning prayer and a Thursday celebration of Holy Communion for English-speaking mission workers. Even in itself (Bickersteth writes in 1879) there is, I think, real use in the bell of a Christian church being heard twice a day in a city where the cry of the muezzin is never omitted from the platform of a hundred mosques. And in 1882 he writes: Hindus consider us a very irreligious people, and it has been thought that one reason of the fewness and the want of stedfastness in Muhammadan converts is to be found in the inadequacy of the provision for public devotion in the Church. Muhammad knew what he was about when he established the five obligatory hours of prayer, besides three others for the specially religious. A weekly devotional meeting for catechists and native Christian masters was started in October 1878, and the Bishop of Lahore (Dr. French), who was then on a visit to 86 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the mission, conducted the first of these. Bickersteth writes that 'it will be calculated to give a tone to the week's work,' and it was this higher and more spiritual tone on which he set an ever-increasing value as he saw more of missionary success and missionary failure. He also circulated a special subject for prayer every month in the mission, to secure that prayer should be offered with the understanding as well as with the spirit. The need of pastoral and devotional books, which hitherto had been infrequently used in Delhi, was much felt. Bickersteth often alludes to it, and regrets that the catechists had no such book to use on their way to their work and again on their return. It is characteristic of him that on his arrival in Delhi his first present to each of the native catechists had been a copy of St. Augustine's ' Confessions ' 'a book [he writes] which has been recently translated into Urdu, and which seems wonderfully to commend itself to the native mind.' l But ' a man's praying power is not a mere arbitrary possession.' He cannot command it when he will. It is the result of the growth, generally of the slow growth, of his spiritual character, the development of a faith that has long communed with God. No account of the inner life of the Cambridge Mission would be complete without some reference to the private habits and personal religion of the first head of the mission. In God's providence he was sent to Delhi not only to plant the Cambridge Mission but also to purge the mission in Delhi of many weak adherents to the Christian Church, and to raise the standard of personal holiness among the Christian converts as well 1 It may here be noted that a book of historical sketches, entitled The Women of Christendom (published by the S.P.C.K.), was written at his request by his friend, the late Mrs. Charles, author of The Chronicles of the Schonberg Cotta Family, for use in Zenana work. THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 87 as among the European workers. This result could never have been attained had it not been for his own strenuous strivings after holiness. He was not a man who kept a devotional diary in which he poured out his soul almost with the freedom and fulness with which a man talks to his friend. But he began a habit (February 1 876) a year before he left England, which he seems never to have intermitted during his sojourn at Delhi and for years afterwards, of noting down each occasion on which he received Holy Communion the place, date, and the special subject of prayer, thanksgiving, or intercession then uppermost in his mind. They are noted with the utmost brevity, but they supply a continuous comment on his life of spiritual endeavour, and few, if any, of the chief interests of his work fail to find a place in these entries as the years roll on. In giving a few examples as a key to some of the self- discipline and training of the future Missionary Bishop, it must be understood that he himself would have been the first to deprecate their being regarded as other than the ordinary practice in the life of a growing Christian. Often these eucharistic resolutions (whether made in Pembroke Chapel or in the cities and villages of Northern India) were of the simplest, as : To look day by day for a happy sense of the Presence of Christ ; Or, For an immediate reference and obedience to Him such as was that of the disciples to the Son of Man in the days of His ministry. Or, For early rising [which for long was a difficulty to him, but for which he continuously strove until he acquired the habit]. Lent was always observed with special attention, care being taken at Easter to note down with frank fidelity 88 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH success or failure, progress or defeat. Thus after his first Lent in India he notes on Easter Day (April 21, 1878): My Lenten Rule has been much broken, partly by my own want of zeal, partly by Murray's illness and the great rush of work which came in on me on Winter's departure. Then follows reference to the points of fasting and self-denial, which he had set himself to observe, with the characteristic touch of common-sense : ' Remember that any fasting which weakened would be wrong in this country,' and then follow these resolutions : A. During this hot weather it is essential for me to rise and go to bed at such hours as at all cost to obtain time for prayer. B. To daily pray amid the great responsibilities of my office for very special grace and power, and for C. Calmness and the sense of Christ's Presence amid a multitude of little things, and D. That my sense of responsibility as a minister of the Church may not be weakened by isolation or residence among heathen. At times he would take one main subject for a whole year, and e.g. try to practise humility in various ways throughout that time. So he would resolve : Not to read for the sake of having read. Not to speak for effect in the presence of superiors or inferiors. Not to love authority for its own sake. To care for truth, not supremacy in argument. To guard against over-sensitiveness, probably due to pride (think of Christ's humility). For guidance on the subject of confession. Or he would seek for a ' love of souls born of love to God,' and would pray that he might ' maintain an intense desire for the conversion and helping of souls,' and that he might ' let nothing interfere with the actual effort to draw THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 89 souls to God, or nearer to God.' At this time he had been much impressed with the burning love of the Rev. R. Bateman, C.M.S. missionary at Narowal, of whom in after years he loved to speak as 'the apostle of the Punjab.' At another time he took a year of ' seeking God's glory because I love Him, and progressively as I love Him more so overcoming (i) passion ; (2) self-seeking and selfish- ness, specially in unreadiness to give up plans ; (3) unreadi- ness to meet others.' Sometimes he would concentrate his thoughts on inter- cession, and the names of his fellow-workers (Carlyon, Murray, Lefroy, Allnutt, R. R. Winter) constantly recur in this way. Nor did he omit thanksgiving e.g. ' because his midday and pre-Communion meditation had been blessed,' ' because he had been able to control his thoughts at the time of consecration,' or ' for the experience of a deeper reverence at the time of reception of the Holy Eucharist,' or ' because of some glimpses of His Presence.' It will be understood that these resolutions, which I have here necessarily strung together, were used by him singly, and that this watchful soldier of the Cross let his whole soul go out, now to one point and now to another, in which he sought a closer likeness to his Lord. Though he framed for himself, and used at intervals, a carefully constructed scheme of self-examination based on his ordination vows, yet he never practised and never advised the indiscriminate use of a long list of questions which tend either to depress or to deceive the questioner. Those who, in India or elsewhere, have attended retreats and quiet days conducted by Edward Bickersteth have borne witness to the power of his addresses, not only as uplifting, but as most practical, and his spiritual counsels to others could 90 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH never have been so thorough, so searching, or so stimulat- ing had they not been the reflection of his own spiritual life. Further proof of Bickersteth's sense of the great impor- tance of an ordered devotional life is given in a paper on ' System in Private Prayer ' which he read on his return from India in the rooms of his friend, the Rev. Heriz Smith, Fellow of Pembroke College. After anticipating ' the objections often brought in perfect good faith against method in devotion, on the ground that though order and form were necessary for public worship, yet nowhere is a method less needed, or perhaps more out of place, than in the access of a soul to God, and in its personal and private approach to Him, he acknowledged that anything which could interfere with the sense of filial confidence towards God on the part of the suppliant must be opposed to the first principles of our Lord's teaching, and he wholly refused to admit as valid a priori objections to a systematised religion. Taking the seventeenth century as his example a century which has not yet been adequately appreciated, as it was the century of Bacon, Descartes, and Leibnitz in philosophy, of Harvey, Newton, and Halley in natural science, and in religion of the Oratorians, Port Royalists, and Quietists with Fenelon in France ; of Spener and the Pietists in Germany ; of Molinos in Italy ; and of the school of Bishop Andrewes, the Puritans, and the Cambridge Platonists in England he went on to cite the example of Bishop Andrewes (once Master of his own college) a man great alike as a scholar, a preacher, an administrator, and a linguist of Nicholas Ferrar, of George Herbert, of Bishop Cosin, as evidence of the very partial application of such objections. He then enumerated the positive advantages which had led men of great spiritual discernment to the adoption of system in prayer and the other parts of THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 91 devotion. Among these were : (i) the maintenance of due comprehensiveness and variety in prayer ; (2) the readiest help against wandering thoughts ; (3) security for terse and simple language, such as becomes creatures in the presence of a Creator, servants before a Lord, sinners before a Judge ; (4) the means of bringing into use the treasures of the past.' In conclusion he said : We have had a great deal of thinking done for us, and this is no less true of devotion than of philosophy. It is not possible to believe that God can have so endowed the Church of later days with the bequests of the past, and at the same time have meant them to lie idle and infructuous on the shelves of libraries, instead of being, in proportion to their power and excellence, still used as the vehicle of prayer and intercession. In accordance with this was Bickersteth's frequent advice to use at the time of private devotion, first, ' a book of prayers by some approved author or collector, reverent, sober, and full the gain being great if such a book was interleaved and secondly, a MS. book in which each missionary should arrange and collect for himself such prayers as he valued.' The testimony of Dr. Phillips Brooks (afterwards Bishop of Massachusetts) on this point is striking. Speaking in 1885 at the College Hall, Westminster, he thus referred to his visit nearly three years previously to the Cambridge Mission, Delhi : I was struck by the consecration of the missionaries to their work, and by their sincere piety. I shall never forget those simple noonday services in the little mission chapel, in which they consecrate themselves and their work to God. I have been present at no services which left upon my mind a more profound impression. Enough has been said to prove the spirit in which the first Head of the Cambridge Mission girded himself for 92 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the work, and it is time to try and trace the results of the devotional system thus definitely adopted and diligently maintained. To it may be attributed certain marked features of the mission : (a) its definite discipline, (b) its clear and dogmatic presentation of the Christian faith, and (c) the singular har- mony which knit together the brotherhood, and which has characterised the community from the first day until now. (a) Discipline. It will be remembered that Bickersteth was called upon within two or three months of his arrival to take over the supervision of the complex machinery of the whole mission at Delhi. While he found much to admire, he found also some things to criticise, and in his judgment there was need of greater firmness in the administration of discipline. During the few years preceding the establishment of the Cambridge Mission large numbers of the Chamars or shoe-makers had been baptised by Mr. Winter, sometimes, as Bickersteth was led to think, upon insufficient proof of faith and repentance. Shortly after his arrival he noted in his Diary (January 1878) : In the evening after service we were surprised by a party of 1 1 people (7 men and 4 boys) coming in from , all wishing for baptism. Mr. \Vinter explained to them the seriousness of the step. They are to stay the night. The next day he adds : The eleven Christians were baptised this evening. They just know the elements of Christianity, and had an earnest desire for baptism. Is this quicker than St. Paul and the jailer ? In his first formal letter to Mr. Bullock (October 1878) we find him uttering a warning note : Most of the Christians are as yet very poor and very ignorant, understanding but little of the step they have THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 93 taken, but they have at least been brought under the influ- ence of a new and higher life. It is true one sometimes reads almost in despair St. Paul's descriptions of his recent converts in such passages as I Thessalonians i. ; but never- theless it would be faithless not to thank God for what we have, and to pray, work, and look for both their social and spiritual advancement. In the following February (1879) Bickersteth took advantage of the annual church meeting, consisting of mission agents and members of the ' Panchyats,' or local councils, to bring up for discussion the desirability of a service of admission for catechumens. He writes : All agreed as to the desirability in many cases of admit- ting catechumens by a regular service in church ; with the less educated especially, who require a longer preparation, it would prove of very great service. . . . Special cases, of course, might occur in which baptism could not be delayed. The plan was tried, and proved so beneficial that in a letter to Dr. Westcott, written two and a-half years later, Bickersteth was able to say : Besides this, after full discussion with Mr. Winter and our native brethren in the missionary council, some rules of discipline have been laid down. These relate mainly to two points, the instruction of candidates for baptism and admission to the Holy Communion. With regard to the instruction of candidates we have adopted the plan of a catechumens' class, into which all candidates are admitted by a short service. As regards the difficult point of admis- sion to and exclusion from Holy Communion, the best criterion seemed to be attendance at the ordinary services. By the admirable arrangement of small school-houses and chapels which Mr. Winter has established in various parts of the city these services are brought close to their very doors. Great negligence in attending them is therefore particularly culpable, and seems to warrant exclusion from the higher ordinance. The number of baptisms and communicants on the system is at present very small. Perhaps this is for a while not greatly to be regretted. Among a class so 94 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH degraded and yet so comparatively unprejudiced rapid advance may I think be looked for, when once a few persons alike well instructed and devoted are leading the way. On Mr. Winter's return from his furlough in England (December 1879), he was at first inclined sharply to differ from the views taken on this matter of discipline by the younger man who had acted as his locum tenens, but eventually he himself came to the same conclusion. This change of mind resulted in a change of policy, which three years later bore fruit in a general gathering of the converts to Delhi, where steps were taken to test both their creed and conduct. A picturesque meeting, lighted by the fitful gleam of torches and prolonged far into the night, resulted in a diminution of the number of converts but in a strengthening of the morale of the mission. Although this event took place a few months after Bickersteth's return to England on sick leave, yet it was the result of the more searching standard by which he tested missionary work. (#) Purity of doctrine. The same spiritual insight led him from the first to see the inherent weakness of teaching Christianity through those whose grasp on its fundamental doctrines was feeble. A mind less trained to meditate on eternal truth might have lost sight of principles under the superincum- bent weight of daily details loudly calling for immediate attention ; but devotional feeling, by teaching the soul to linger in the presence of its Lord, teaches Christians ' not only to talk with Him face to face as a man speaketh with his friend, but also as brethren of the only Son to seek and embrace the faith in full liberty of the Spirit.' : This led Bickersteth from the first to be keenly sensitive to any dimness of apprehension in the con- ' II. T. Liddon, The Priest in his Inner Life, p. 38. THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 95 verts as to the Divine claims, and to set great store upon methods calculated to help them to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. He wrote home (1878) : A greater efficiency combined with a raised spiritual tone in our teachers, a truer and more vivid sense of the blessings of which they have been made heirs, and a stronger desire to make others partakers with themselves, are perhaps even more to be desired at present in our mission than an increase of converts. Again : An improvement may, I hope, shortly be possible to our present practice, that is a preachers' class, where subjects may be carefully prepared and digested before- hand. Our native brethren experience no such difficulty as Englishmen often would in filling half an hour with talk on a religious topic. But too often it happens that while each sentence of the sermon which is delivered is sufficiently excellent, the sermon as a whole is too discursive to leave any lasting impression. A class in which the subject will be talked out with such helps as books may supply may, I hope, partly correct this. Again, later (1881): Their danger is to be content with a minimum of reading, while constantly engaged in preaching and teaching. These extracts are sufficient to prove how keenly he was alive to the prime necessity of teaching the teachers, if they were to become weapons meet for the Master's use. He was well aware that the errors of teachers become the teachers of error, if we may revise Bishop Beveridge's aphorism. This view of Edward Bickersteth's spiritual influence on the mission is confirmed by the recollections of the Rev S. S. Allnutt, who writes to me (October 20, 1898) : p5 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH He was wholly right in his judgment as to the spiritual condition of the converts, and his spiritual instinct had discerned what was lacking, ' My people have perished from lack of knowledge.' It was to supply this that was the most crying need at first, and so he was led to set about introducing measures whereby the teachers should themselves be instructed and their standard of Christian life raised. What Pere Gratry calls in his life of Pere Perreyve, ' Organisation de la Vie,' was to all intents and purposes an unknown factor in the otherwise complete organisation of the mission. The book I mention was o a favourite one of E. B.'s, and he gave it me in 1875 on my ordination as Priest. The following letter and extract from a speech show how fully he believed the Church of England to be called of God to maintain and hand on this purity of doctrine. Cambridge Mission, Delhi : 3rd Sunday after Trinity, May 1881. My dear Sam, I have two letters of yours unan- swered. Thanks much for them. And, what is more, time is getting on, and your ordination by the time this reaches you will be hard at hand ; so, contrary to custom, I must send you a Sunday line. I have a good deal on hand just now : a lecture Wednesday week in Urdu on ' The Jewish Expectation of a Messiah at the Christian Era.' This is the main subject There will be some comparison, also, of the vaguer Gentile hope. This is to be given to a class of Hindu and Mahomedan masters. I rather think of writing a little set of lectures in this line : such as ' Heathenism at the Christian Era,' ' The Jewish Sects,' ' How Christ fulfilled the Expectation of the Jews,' &c. This indirect but, perhaps, not less forcible line of argu- ment stirs less opposition and has perhaps more weight. Then I have two sermons in thought : one on ' The Church' for native Christians, its gradual rise, and the folly of supposing they can commence building de novo, and the advantages they gain from being heirs of the struggles and victories of the past ; and then an ordination sermon for Trinity Sunday at Amballa. I am glad I shall be at an ordination service that day. You partly sug- THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 97 gested me a subject. I am going to take the combination of St. Paul's two great phrases, Xpio-Tos vjrsp and Xpicrroy h. What you wrote so truly about an historical creed seems to me to be summed up in these two phrases. Be- sides, it seems to me that their combination is really that which we are asked for 'a Gospel for the nineteenth century.' Speaking generally, Reformation theology and the modern Evangelical school have laid stress on the virep, and the Fathers and the modern High Churchmen on the sv, and just as Dorner has shown in another great subject that the Godhead of Christ was mainly insisted on till century XVI. and His manhood after that century, so, I should say, the work of the nineteenth is to combine the two teachings. A new Gospel cannot be anything srspos, or it will fail and come under St. Paul's malison (Gal. i.) ; but it may be a far more harmonious setting forth of the old truths in their connection, and not merely in their distinctness, and in proportion as it is so it will attract men and satisfy real soul needs. . . . . . . How thankful we ought to be for this dear old English Church, and to be allowed to work in her ! With faults patent enough (especially of organisation) I believe she goes nearer to the (unattained) ideal of a body which should teach revealed truth in its manifoldness and har- mony than any Christian society has done since the first age (and they probably taught without, not through, formularies). And I fancy one of the first delights you will find in ministerial work will be that of finding your daily occupa- tion to be the assimilation of revealed truth in order to the dispensing of it. ' Confirma et sanctifica me in veritate, Sermo tuus est veritas.' May this, dearest brother, indeed be true of you, and may you all through your life have the joy of seeing Christ's truth, ministered by you, the means of spreading the Christ life among your people. Every past struggle and victory will assuredly help towards this. I am sending you 5/. to buy books with. Get such as will be useful for your work ; especially commentaries, histories, and books on doctrine and sermons not that 5/. will go far in so many lines ! God bless and keep you, and make you a blessing prays ever Your affectionate Brother, BlCKERSTETH. H 98 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Speaking at the Church Congress at Portsmouth, 1885, he said : The second suggestion I have to make is in connection with what I may call the liberty which would be given to native Churches in India. No doubt our primary duty is to hand over to them the fulness of the Catholic faith, and of the Church's organisation. But it is not necessary to hand over to them anything that is distinctly western. At the last Pan-Anglican Conference (1878) a resolution, I think, was passed with reference to the translation of the Prayer Book into other languages. I venture with great humility to suggest to your lordships that you should consider at some future meeting what is the minimum of conformity which will be required in future between Oriental Churches and our own Church. I have noticed in an ecclesiastical paper a report (I do not know whether correct or not) that the Episcopal Church of America has announced that it is willing to take into communion with itself any body of Christians that retains the Episcopal form of Government, the Holy Scriptures, the Creeds, and duly consecrated and administered Sacraments. May I suggest that it may be possible that, in future, we may receive into communion with our own Church in England any bodies of Christians who in these four points are at one with ourselves ? As has been already mentioned, there are a large number of Christians not belonging to our communion scattered throughout the length and breadth of India, but they all look up with reverence to the English Church. If we of the English Church have those advantages together which other communities possess separately namely, an orthodox faith, an unbroken past, and individual liberty it is our duty to hand these advan- tages to others ; but as regards the form in which we our- selves have them, we need not go further than ask them to receive from us the Divine Word, and the Creeds and the Church's Ministry and Sacraments, as we have them our- selves. If the suggestions I make could be carried out, I think we should have done something towards the develop- ment of the Church in India. (c) Spirit of brotherliness. With regard to the harmony which knit together the Cambridge men into one brother- THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 99 hood, no testimony can be more valuable than that of the Rev. G. A. Lefroy. Mr. Lefroy was chosen after an interval to be second Head of the mission, a position which he has only resigned on his call to be the third Bishop of Lahore. In a letter to me (dated September 1898) which he sent with his recollections he wrote : I feel so utterly unable to reproduce on paper any sort of picture of what he really was to us. You know, I think, something of what he was to me more than any other individual, he has been the inspiring example of my life. Yet we were only together two and a-half years, and that was fifteen years ago. During that time I was the junior member of the mission, and was not nearly so much in his counsels as, e.g. Carlyon and Allnutt Frequent visitors to the mission at Delhi have recorded the impression, made upon all of them alike, that those living there in community were indeed living together as brothers. Thus the idea of fellowship, emphasised in the first syllable of the three Greek words placed by Bickersteth at the head of his paper before the Church Society, 1 proved to be no standard impossible of attainment, but the inspiration of their daily life. From the Rev. G. A. Lefroy My recollections of contact at Cambridge with Edward Bickersteth, before the mission started for Delhi, are very slight indeed. I remember a walk in the Botanical Gardens shortly after I had, in consequence of a sermon preached by Dr. Lightfoot in Great St. Mary's, asked to be accepted as a member of the Brotherhood. One or two more similar walks I know followed, and then I have a clear recollection of a characteristically University gathering at which, the full number of six who had been asked for to start the mission having been completed, we inaugurated our under- taking by a breakfast in Pembroke College in the rooms of 1 ffwarpaTiH-rai, ffvvfpyoi, ffv/jLiro\'trai. See Chapter II. p. 29. H 2 100 BISHOP EDWARD fclCKERSTETII our leader. And I have often thought that it was a marked sign of the hand of our God upon us for good from the first, that although of the six who so sat down to breakfast in the spring of 1 877 only two were able to go out that year, two more the next year, and the remaining two not till the autumn of 1879, yet eventually, without a single loss or withdrawal from any cause, the same six met in December 1879 for breakfast and a truly 'common' life in Delhi. Of the subjects of conversation in those first walks I remember nothing, but I do know that the sense of enthusiasm and of keen, though restrained, energy which so markedly characterised Bickersteth did not wholly fail of their due effect upon me. In Delhi, while as quite the youngest and most inexperienced member of the mission I was unable to enter so thoroughly into the plans and difficulties of our Head as the elder members, such as Murray, Carlyon, and Allnutt, yet, on the other hand, just because of my youth I was brought into specially close contact with him of another kind, acting as a kind of curate to him in several departments of our work, notably the ministerial charge of Daryaganj, one of the most important of the city districts, and also of Mehrowli, a principal out- station lying some eleven miles to the south of Delhi. After the lapse of more than fifteen years, handicapped as I am by an abnormally weak memory, I am quite unable to recall specific incidents illustrative of the relationship so established, and of what it became to me, yet I do know that in the quiet walks home, late on Sunday night, from Daryaganj to our own house, a distance of about two miles, along a road often bathed in the glorious Indian moonlight, and running between the old Mogul fort of Delhi on our right hand and the solemn and beautiful Jama Musjid on the left, while further on we passed through the historic Kashmir Gate, with its undying Mutiny associations, ideals were suggested to me, and a force of character and depth of piety brought home to me, which in those first days of my ministerial life were of simply priceless value, and to which I believe I owe more of inspiration and strength for that life than to any other individual influence outside the innermost circle of my own home. The drives out to Mehrowli, too, were full of interest and helpfulness, though that part of our work together is more saddened in recollection by its frequent connection THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE IOI with weakness or suffering on Bickersteth's part, for it was often resorted to when overstrain of work or fever in Delhi made some little change imperative. And how frequent such occasions were I have realised more than I ever did before by reading through, for the purpose of these notes, . a diary I used to keep at that time. It is of the very barest kind and scarcely suggestive of anything of interest for my present purpose, but it is remarkable that out of a large number of allusions to Bickersteth in it nearly half consist of such remarks as ' E. B. very seedy,' ' bad night,' ' high fever,' ' headache,' or the like. In point of fact, there is no doubt that almost from the first the intense summer heat told unduly on a mind and body which was always working at the highest possible point of energy and intensity. I know that often) as we lay out on the roof at night side by side, I would turn over in a sleep which, though somewhat disturbed by the heat, had yet plenty of restorative power in it, to find Bickersteth literally gasping alongside of me, and quite unable to get to sleep at all. Then two distinct experiences stand out in my mind with special clearness the one my ordination to the priesthood at Amballa, the other a walk deep into the Himalayas from Simla which Bickersteth and I took in the autumn of 1881. For the ordination, on Trinity Sunday, June 12, in the very greatest heat of a hot year, we stayed at the Chap- lain's house. There were together for about four days before the Sunday, Bishop French, that true father in God to so many of us in the Punjab, Bickersteth, as examining chaplain, another Englishman besides myself for Priest's orders, and a native, still working with an unblemished name and very high character in one of the C.M.S. stations of the Punjab, also for Priest's orders. As in other cases so here, in my inability to recall details I can only say that the whole time, the close contact with, and the addresses of, the saintly Bishop, the walks with Bickersteth, and his sermon at the ordination itself, formed one of the most impressive experiences of my life. In our Himalayan walk we were naturally brought into the closest and most continuous contact that I enjoyed during that two years and three-quarters of life together in India. Away from all the engrossing occupa- 102 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH tions and distractions of Delhi work, we were for nearly a month practically quite alone together, scarcely meeting another Englishman along the road, usually sleeping in the same room, walking, talking, playing chess together. Into this trip also, however, the experience of sickness entered, as both on our outward and homeward march we had to lie by for one or two days owing to slight attacks of, as I believe, the very same trouble which at last took him from us. And from all these diverse experiences, while the separate details which went to form them have passed from my mind, a figure stands out of the clearest, most impres- sive, most unforgettable personality possible. If I were to try and single out special features of it which is difficult to do I think I should give the first place to two piety and energy. All he did was, as we knew and recognised instinctively, based on prayer and communion with God. His devotional addresses were full of the deepest spiritual power. One ot the most distinct contributions of all that he made to the organisation of the work of the Delhi Mission was the deepening in the native agents the sense of the supreme need of earnest personal prayer and of systematic Bible study for the efficient discharge of the very difficult work to which they were called. Additional opportunities and services for this end were afforded, while he regularly every week had any catechist, or other agent with whom he was in direct contact, to his own room for conversation and prayer together. Far as we have fallen short of his standard in this respect, I do yet hope and believe that the principles which he instilled into us, and on which he based the early life of our Brotherhood, have not been lost. And then there was his incessant energy of body and mind. I always think of him as living at the highest possible strain of all his powers. If he walked it was, even in the middle of the hot weather, at a pace which few cared to keep up with, at any rate without protests, uttered or thought ; if he rode and this he frequently did, though it always seemed to me as though he was not a true horseman in the sense of enjoying the riding for its own sake, but that he simply viewed it as a convenient and rapid means of getting from place to place no grass grew under the THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE 103 pony's feet. So it was in his study of Urdu and Persian, so it was in every single thing he took in hand. That this intensity of disposition was, at any rate at that compara- tively early part of his life, accompanied by some of the defects which almost inevitably go with that type of character cannot, I think, be doubted. There was at times a tendency to impatience, and not infrequently the worries and difficulties inseparable from a work and life such as ours, and which on some occasions became very grave indeed in connection with our position and work in Delhi, told upon him in a way that he was, I am sure, himself the first to regret. But, on the other hand, the spirit of high enthusiasm, the thoroughness, the devotion to work as also to play, while he was at it the high aims, the wise, large-hearted plans for their attainment, and the depth of personal holi- ness and of striving after an ever closer and closer walk with God, which were embodied in him, were both to the mission as a whole and to each of us individually an inspiration such as we can never forget, and have, especially in conjunction with his peculiar position as the first Head and one of the first founders of the mission, secured a quite unique position in the annals of the Cambridge Mission to the name of Edward Bickersteth. G. A. LEFROY. Cambridge Mission, Delhi : September 29, 1898. St. Michael and All Angels. The late Bishop Matthew, in writing to me in the autumn of 1897, said that in Edward Bickersteth ' strength and sweetness were blended in quite an unusual degree.' A pathetic incident attaches to the following letter, as it was penned a year later within a few days of his own sudden death. From the Right Rev. H. J. Mattkeiu, late Bishop of Lahore Bishopsbourne, Lahore : October 22, 1898. Dear Mr. Bickersteth, I have once more to apologise for being behind time in sending this, but I have only just 104 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH returned from a visitation tour which has been more than usually fatiguing. But I am afraid that I have been dilatory on this account more than any other, that I have become more and more alive to the want of materials which would contribute anything of interest to your biography of your brother. A careful search through my correspondence failed to find any letters which would be of use. That is not surprising, as Edward Bickersteth never wrote for the sake of writing, and our work was not in any way connected, mine being at that time entirely English work, while he was studying and endeavouring to solve missionary problems. Hence our intercourse was limited to the few visits which he was enabled to pay to us at Simla, and which were generally at a time when either he came to Simla as examining chaplain to the Bishop (French) on duty, or when compelled to suspend work from ill-health. I should mention that your brother was very strict in his abstinence from discussing matters in which there might be a difference of opinion between himself and other members of the Delhi Mission. And although there were questions of some im- portance upon which there was not unanimity between the representative of the old S.P.G. Mission and its Head and the Cambridge men, yet in reference to these E. B. was always very reserved. So that it comes to pass that, greatly as I valued his friendship and enjoyed the oppor- tunities of having his society, there is left little beyond the recollection of his strong but gracious and gentle personality. I had first seen him as long ago as 1875, when he was assistant curate to the Rev. H. Sharpe at Hampstead and I was taking charge, during my furlough, of an adjoining parish. Since that time his ecclesiastical position had some- what changed, and he had arrived at that via media which is so admirably represented in his legacy to the ' Nippon Sei Kokwai.' { The perusal of that book has reminded me of many a conversation on the themes therein treated ; the place of the sacraments in the Christian system, the relation of confirmation to baptism, and the like. On these sub- jects we were very much of one accord. When I was obliged to leave India in 1885, after a long term of service at Simla, it was the great desire of Bishop French that 1 I.e. 'Our Heritage in the Church,' being papers written for Divinity Students, published by Sampson Low & Co. THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE IO5 your brother then holding the college living of Framling- ham, and unable from considerations of health to return to Delhi should come out, at least temporarily, as Chaplain of Simla. The offer of the Bishopric of Japan came and put an end to this scheme, but had not a higher call come, in Simla he would have had a field for which he was in many respects admirably suited. The congregation of Christ Church, Simla, contains the heads of the Govern- ment of India, both civil and military, and no single con- gregation, either at home or in the dependencies of the empire, represents such vast responsibilities of rule. In the early spring of 1886 Mrs. Matthew and I had the great pleasure of a visit from Edward Bickersteth at Bologna when he was on his way to Japan after his conse- cration. We had a day of sightseeing it was a Saturday and on the Sunday he was to leave at 9 A.M. for Brindisi to join the mail steamer. When he and I arrived at the railway station it was to learn that the train would be two hours late. During those two hours we paced the long platform and had a most interesting talk. The principal subject was the strength and weakness of the Evangelical party to which few dealt more equal justice. Once more I had a visit from him on his way from Japan to England in 1893. He spared me a couple of days of his short sojourn in India, and one of the chief recollections of that visit is that he was in buoyant spirits, and his looking into my library with a ' Come out for a walk ' was like the summons of an undergraduate for a 'constitutional.' In 1896 he wrote suggesting that in the following spring I should join him in Japan, and that we should voyage together to the Lambeth Conference. That delightful programme was not to be. He was driven home by illness earlier than he had proposed to go, and I was detained in my diocese by plague and scarcity. But among the companions I have known I recall none whose society was more stimulating or more edifying. Believe me, Yours sincerely, HENRY J. LAHORE. While at Delhi, as afterwards in Japan, Bickersteth always tried to cultivate cordial relations with those of his \ 106 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH countrymen who were employed in the civil and military, or in diplomatic and naval life. The following testimony of a layman will thus add completeness to what is already written. Recollections of Colonel Gordon Young Stockton House, Fleet, Hants. Sept. 9, 1898. Dear Mrs. Bickersteth, I am sorry to think that I have not complied with your brother-in-law's request that I should write a few recollections of Delhi days in connection with the life of your dear husband, late Bishop of South Tokyo. This has not been from any unwillingness, but positively from my sense of absolute inability from a literary point of view, and in the absence of memoranda of any sort, to write anything that should in the least help to convey to others an idea of how his life at Delhi impressed those who were outside the immediate sphere of his daily work. The beauty of his character is much better known to you and to those of his own circle than to any others, and the scope and earnestness of his work and his devotion to it can only be told by those with whom he was associated in it all. I do not know if you know Delhi at all ; if so, you may remember Ludlow Castle, which was my residence as Commissioner from 1879 to 1883, with a break of ten months' furlough. This house and the mission residence were almost contiguous. When I went to Delhi Mr. Bickersteth reigned as Head of the Cambridge Mission there and was almost my nearest neighbour. We soon became acquainted, and though he was absorbed in the labours of evangelisation, controversy with Muhammadan doctors of the law, supervision of schools, and general administrative work of the mission, we were sometimes able to persuade him to come to tea and a game of tennis with us, which little piece of relaxation he seemed greatly to enjoy. He seemed almost a shadow in those days, so thin was he ; but he had physical strength, upheld no doubt by his THE DELHI MISSION THE LIFE IO/ high spirit, which enabled him to do more in the way of walking and working than anyone would have given him credit for possessing. However hot and oppressive the night had been, the very earliest dawn saw him struggling along towards the city, white umbrella in hand, for several hours' work before breakfast with unfailing regularity and this was only the beginning of what went on till nightfall. The missionaries' residence being half or three-quarters of a mile outside the city of Delhi while their work was chiefly inside, although it was no doubt good as a matter of health, yet added materially to the exhaustion all felt by nightfall, owing to the constant running to and fro in the blazing heat. Of all this, however, others will have given you the fullest details. It was a special privilege and delight to us when from time to time he was prevailed on to preach to us at St. James's Church ; at such times his face, and especially his eyes, seemed literally illumined with a holy light, which made it quite beautiful to regard. I can recall the look at this moment. His nature invited confidence, and the kindest hearing and wisest counsel might always be relied on by those who sought his advice. He certainly had very great persuasive powers with his opponents in religion amongst the Muhammadans of Delhi, and had he stayed he would, I doubt not, have succeeded to a large extent in affecting the attitude of many of the moulvies towards Christianity. Lefroy, as you know, has worthily followed his steps in this direction, and, I believe, with marked results. When my wife was in England and I a temporary bachelor, I was a not infrequent guest at the Mission House at the evening meal on Sunday, when the burden and heat of the day were over. Very delightful were the conversations which then ensued between your husband and his friends Blackett, Lefroy, Allnutt, and others among them a Mr. Maconochie, of the Civil Service, who used to come in from a neighbouring district for the day ; and it was interesting to remark the gentle way in which Mr. Bickersteth's influence pervaded the whole and elevated it Though these few lines seem hardly worth sending you, so bald and trite are they, yet I would not have you 108 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH think me to fail in love and veneration for the late dear Bishop, and so they must go to you imperfect as they are. Believe me, Yours truly, G. GORDON YOUNG. In concluding this chapter on the life, as distinct from the work, the following touching letter from the native Christians at Delhi will show how the influence of the life outlasts the work, and in fact enables one who, as men say, is dead, yet to speak. From the Native Christians at Delhi Delhi : August 20, 1897. To the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Exeter. My Lord, I humbly beg to say that I write the following lines on behalf of the native Christians of Delhi : ' We, the members of St. Stephen's Mission Church, Delhi, were grieved to hear of the death of your dear son, the Right Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Bishop in Japan. He was at one time the life and soul of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, and we enjoyed the privilege of having him with us and among us for about five years. His zeal and earnestness in preaching Christ to our fellow country- men and his love and kindness had endeared him to us. Unfortunately, the climate of Delhi did not agree with him, and he was obliged to leave us ; when we consoled ourselves that, though he was taken away from us, yet he was called to a higher sphere of Christian work for the extension of the kingdom of Christ in Japan. Now that he has gone behind the veil our sorrow is revived ; still, faith and hope in Christ assure us that we shall meet him again, never, never to part. 1 We heartily sympathise with you in your present bereavement, believing firmly that God the Comforter will comfort you, as well as those who now mourn for our once beloved pastor, teacher, and friend.' I am, my Lord, Your most obedient servant, JANKI NATH. Head Master, St. Stephens High School, Delhi. [Here follow the signatures of thirteen of the leading Christians.] 109 CHAPTER V FURLOUGH FRAMLINGHAM CALL TO JAPAN ' It is a much harder task to wait than to work, I fear, but perhaps in God's eyes one may conduce as much as the other to the final end.' Letter of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth to S. P. G. in reporting Mr. j\ fun-ay's illness (1878). IN September 1882 Edward Bickersteth landed in England from his first missionary journey, and though he thrice essayed to return to Delhi, the Spirit suffered him not. When he again left England for the mission field, three and a half years later, it was as Missionary Bishop in Japan. His return from Delhi was dictated wholly by reasons of health, and, as has been said, he anticipated a very short furlough of not more than three or four months. But the disease of dysenteric fever, from which he eventually died, had laid a deeper hold upon him than he or others knew. His temperament led him never to spare himself, and we find Bishop French writing to him as early as July 1878 : ' I am sorry to gather you are not thinking of a breath of the hill air. If I have a house of sufficient size I must write and beg you to run up to Simla, if even for eight or ten days, to be revived and refreshed.' At this time Bickersteth was bearing alone the burden of all the work organised by Mr. and Mrs. Winter (S.P.G.), and which the Cambridge Mission had taken over during Mr. Winter's furlough. The strain of this single-handed work told upon 1 10 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH him, and it was then undoubtedly that the seeds of his illness were sown. Later on, also, when itinerating with Bishop French (a workman who was also wholly unable to spare himself), he had a severe attack of fever. He first tried the effect of residence at Simla, whence he wrote to Mr. Lefroy : The Priory, Simla : June 7, 1882. My dear Lefroy, I am bowing with the best grace I can muster to Ross's dictum, but I don't at all like it nor believe it to be altogether necessary. However, a doctor's order backed by all the injunctions of the people I know in Delhi and here, and the Bishop's expressed wish seem to leave no loophole, so I hope it is for the best. [After asking for several books he continues :] You asked for a prayer for Holy Communion. Here is one by Bishop Moberly wholly in the words of the English Office. It omits the ava/j,vr). That bond unites absolutely Your very affectionate brother in Christ, EDW. BICKERSTETH. FURLOUGH FRAMLINGHAM CALL TO JAPAN 145 It is plain that Edward Bickersteth's call to Japan came from that Spirit Who still, as in the Church of the first days, uses that word, ' Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work ' a word which now as then cuts to the dividing asunder of relationships most intimate and friend- ships most close. But although the young Bishop-designate he was then only thirty-five years of -age felt the conflict so counter and so keen, he at once threw himself with characteristic energy into all the preparations for his new work. The postponement of the time originally fixed for his consecration chafed him as he longed to start ; but he occupied the longer interval in trying to catch some fishers of men who would join the Community Mission of St Andrew, which he at once determined to found. There was now also no let to his taking preliminary steps for the formation of St. Hilda's Community Mission for Women on the lines which he had already thought out as suitable for Delhi. Another care was to find a congenial companion as chaplain. ' Pray for me that I may find a true a-vvspyos (he wrote to Lefroy). I know too well how often my own judgments would have been wrong unless they had been balanced and corrected by you and the others. I want a man on whom I can rely for the diocese's sake as well as for my own.' It was at this time also that he created the nucleus of St. Paul's Guild for Prayer, the first members consisting chiefly of his own brothers and sisters. We all met as a family at Exeter for that Christmas and New Year, and no one would have known that Edward had to bear up under the still recent disappointment of not returning to Delhi and the load of his new duties, dimly descried. He threw himself into all the home festivities, and we enjoyed L 146 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH one or two long walks on Dartmoor. On New Year's Day he wrote to Lefroy, whose father had recently died, and dwelt much on the permanence of the work done by the regenerate life. The Palace, Exeter: January i, 1886. My dear Lefroy, I only saw a notice in the paper of the great sorrow which has come to you and yours after the mail left last week. You will know how much you have been you are always, but beyond usual in my heart and prayers since. I know not if you will have heard by telegram of your father's call ; anyhow, I do not doubt that to you, who have served Him so stedfastly and lived with Christ these years so closely, there will be given now, when you so need it, not the removal of sorrow which none of us would have even if we could but the deep divine consolation which assuages it, and in time even illuminates it. I have been thinking a good deal about the real permanence of Christian work recently. All these changes which have come to myself, and perhaps unduly saddened me, have driven me that way for comfort. The changeless God ; the eternal fact of the God-man ; the communication of His life through the Spirit to all the sons of God and brethren of Christ ; these are the foundation truths, and from them results this, that all which they, God's sons and Christ's brethren, do has an eternal significance too. ' He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever.' ' He that believeth on Me shall never die.' and if so, no work which is done by the energies of the regenerate life dies either ; it may seem to, but it does not. It has gone to add something to the increase, perfection, or beauty of the ever rising temple of God. And so your father's long life of usefulness to Church and parish, every nearest affection, and even perhaps through God's mercy some fragments of such broken work as my own, live on. I have been thinking of you, too, as being called to give up for India's sake something more than any of us have been called to. Absence from home we voluntarily adopt and we need not deny it to be difficult and a self- denial but it becomes far more so, and therefore by a FURLOUGH FRAMLINGHAM CALL TO JAPAN 147 divine law which generally, I think, measures ultimate results to the suffering by which they are brought about, more fruitful, when it involves being away from those we love when we would most of all long to be with them. This great sorrow and its consolations, my dear brother, are given you not for your sake only, but for the sake of Hindus and Muhammadans yet outside, that they too may in years to come ' be comforted with the comfort wherewith you yourself are comforted of God.' Think of it this way when you can, sometimes. A Bishop's duties begin to press on me as in prospect and reality very onerous. Yours with abiding love and sympathy, EDWD. BICKERSTETH. The day of the consecration was then uncertain, but it was a few days later settled for the Feast of the Presenta- tion of Christ (February 2), to be in St. Paul's Cathedral on the same day as that of Lord Alwyne Compton, who had been called to fill the see of Ely. Edward Bickersteth's private note-book of spiritual resolutions bears ample evidence of the spirit in which he entered upon the episcopate. At the consecration the sermon was preached by Canon Paget, now Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the elected Missionary Bishop of Japan, vested with his rochet, was led up to the Arch- bishop by the former and present Bishops of Exeter that is, by Dr. Temple (now Archbishop of Canterbury, then Bishop of London) and by Dr. E. H. Bickersteth. Few who were present at the consecration could be un- moved spectators of this scene when the father led up his eldest son to the Archbishop of the province to present him for consecration. In the huge congregation there was a largely missionary element, and besides numerous relations there were present representatives of every period of Edward Bickersteth's life those who had known him at school, at college, or in 148 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH India while the Delhi Brotherhood telegraphed to him as the assurance of their prayers, Philippians iv. I/. 1 From henceforth the newly consecrated Bishop never failed to remember in his prayers the Bishop of Ely, in company with whom he had received the special spiritual grace which he firmly believed was granted in accordance with Divine promise to those who by apostolic succession had been brought, as Bishops, into a new relation with their ascended Lord. Within four weeks of his consecration Bishop Edward Bickersteth left for Japan. 1 He kept the copy of this telegram in his MS. book of private devotions to the 'end of his life. 149 CHAPTER VI A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1 886-1 888 ' I may add that no brighter prospect, I believe, has ever been set before the missionary than that in Japan.' Letter to Dr. Searle, August 14, 1886. THE Bishop left England on Saturday, March 6, 1886, for the Far East, and, travelling by way of Milan and Brindisi, reached Alexandria on Ash Wednesday, March 10. There he joined the Rev. H. Maundrell, who, with his wife and children, was returning after furlough to Nagasaki, 1 a C.M.S. station in Kiushiu, the great southern island of the Japanese Empire. Mr. Maundrell, who had more than once visited Hampstead, proved to be a most pleasant travelling companion, and it was God's good Providence which sent to the somewhat lonely Bishop so sympathetic a friend. Two years later he made him Archdeacon of Kiushiu, and placed much reliance on his good judgment. The following extracts are from letters written on the journey. To his Father Alexandria : Ash Wednesday, March 10, 1886. There could scarcely be a less pleasant way of spend- ing Sunday than in pouring rain running down the east coast of Italy for the most part alone in a railway carriage. 1 This well-known port derives a special interest from the fact of its having been the scene of a large number of the martyrdoms which give lustre to Japanese Church History in the seventeenth century, while the English Bishop's chapel now occupies the ground where once renegade Dutch merchants trampled on the cross as a condition of their trading with Japan. 150 BISHOP EDWARD BICKEKSTETH However, I read my services, and the earliest Christian sermon on record outside the Canon, the so-called Second Letter of St. Clement of Rome, really a homily by an un- known writer. I must make up my mind, I expect, to a good many lonely journeys, and seek to realise more fully the Presence of the Divine Guide. . . The man I have seen most of (on board) is one of Mr. Spurgeon's preachers ! . . . Still, much as I should value Lent in a Christian country, I am not altogether sorry to be journeying during it. It will be helpful, I trust, to trying to make the time a preparation for all the work before me. A strange eight years and a half indeed it has been since I was last draw- ing near to Alexandria with dear Murray : full of changes and surprises but I trust that God has been with me, and His guidance in the past should give me confidence for the future. ' Because Thou hast been my help, therefore' &c. Had I been going back to India the journey would have been comparatively natural. As it is, I am going again to the wholly unknown, and this is a great added trial to that of leaving you all. S.S. Bokhara, near Aden : March 16, 1886. A strange party we were on the little launch [at Suez] Indian officers, missionaries, ladies, Italian workmen hired for S. Indian gold mines, &c. I find Maundrell a very agreeable companion, and am getting from him a good deal of information about Japan. As yet I have learnt more about Japan than I have of Japanese. I brought with me so much to do of arrears of letters, accounts, &c., that my time has been well filled up. I do not spend more than about an hour and a half on deck, I think, usually. Almost the only book I have read at all has been the Report of the Osaka Conference of 1883, which contains a mass of missionary information on all topics connected with Japan. . . We have a short daily service every day in the saloon at 10.30 . . . and had two services on Sunday. None of these have been very well attended, except the morning service on Sunday. Indians and colonists, like English farmers, are far too often content to make their one weekly service do duty for their whole religion. How we do need a higher standard ! and abroad, where it should be highest, everything tends to depress it, and it is lower than at home. . . I am despatching a heavy A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1 886- 1 888 151 mail to London and Delhi, as well as Exeter so will not write more. My thoughts and prayers are ever with you. To Rev. S. S. Allnutt S.S. Bokhara, Red Sea : March 14, 1886. In a way there seems something wrong that I am at last, after so many attempts, coming East, and not coming to dear old Delhi ; and yet, as I look back upon it all now, in this the first period of quiet I have had for some time, I feel that God has been guiding me, though not in the path I had chosen. Well, if so, some day we shall be able to see that our plans were better broken and our efforts frustrated. ... In Japan it is at present plainly, from all I have gathered, the day as yet of small realisations but large hopes. In one matter, however, which has been a good deal on my mind, they are ahead of India that is, in their readiness to undertake, in part or even altogether, their church support. Of course, in Japan they have profited by Indian experience of the disastrous results of too much help from England and America, and lay the greatest stress on independence. It may be that we have not been bold enough in the matter as yet at Delhi. Winter, I know, lays stress on the united service on Sunday morning in St. Stephen's, &c., but I cannot help thinking more than I did that with so large a body of missionaries as Delhi possesses, and is likely to retain, there will be great danger of overshadowing the native Church, which it is our very object to establish, and weakening where we think to support. Were the man forth- coming it would really, I believe, be a healthier thing for St. Stephen's and its services to be in native hands. Ot course, I know he is not at present, and it is also much easier to write about than effect changes ; but I do feel increasingly alike what the danger is and, therefore, what our object should be. To his Father S.S. Bokhara : March 24, 1886. I am getting on a little with Japanese under my good tutor Maundrell's care. . . . To think that this is my sixth Eastern language (besides Hebrew ) ! I hope it is the last. . . . It seems so strange to be so near India, the land where 152 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII I had thought to spend my life, and to be going on so very far beyond ; but as I have been looking back these days on the last three years and a half, certainly the Providence has seemed very marked which has led me to Japan. The steamer touched at Colombo on Lady Day, and the Bishop was able to land and see Bishop Copleston, and go with him to a celebration of Holy Communion. By April 8 Hongkong was reached and a few days later Shanghai. From these two places he wrote : To his Father C.M.S. House, Hong Kong: April 8, 1886. I have a good deal of talk with some of my fellow passengers on religious subjects. Among men in the East infidelity is everywhere ; partly the misstatements of the . Creed that have been so rife, above all the crude doctrine of Atonement that has been taught as if it, and not the fact it misrepresents, were the centre of the Gospel ; partly the uncertainty occasioned by the great variety of Christian sects ; partly the supposed inroads of science, and an un- defined fear that more will yet have to be given up, seem to have shaken the faith of men generally in the Far East. Of course there are many exceptions, but from what I am told, and the little I have seen, the disease of unbelief is very widely spread. Still, I am inclined to believe, as notably the last few years at Oxford, there will be a re- action before long. Men have been reading Buckle and Renan as discoverers and innovators, but the novelty is wearing off, and the hollowness of what they had to say will surely then become more apparent. . . . I am longing for news of you all, and shall feel it a great comfort when the weekly letters begin to arrive. Shanghai : April 13, 1886. At Shanghai Maundrell and I drove out to Sikawei, a great Jesuit establishment about five miles from the city. Truly as far as buildings and institutions are concerned the Jesuits have done great things. Sikawei is an immense collection of large houses devoted to various missionary A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1 886- 1 888 153 objects. The largest is a college, to which pupils are sent from the interior, with a grand library, an observatory, museum, &c., and rooms for a considerable number of fathers. The rooms certainly were plain enough a bed, table, and chairs seemed the only furniture. Convents, girls' schools, orphanages, &c., are at a little distance. We were shown over the college by a lively French Jesuit in Chinese costume, pigtail and all complete. It looked laughable, but ' extremes meet.' Major Tucker and the Salvation Army are doing the same thing in India, and think it essential to large success. I wish at all events that there were in Japan some men like Bateman and Gordon of the Punjab, who identified themselves in a wonderful way with the people. It is extremely hard to find out the moral value of the results of Roman Catholic missions in these countries. A Nonconformist missionary after nearly forty years of experi- ence in the Canton province told me that he believed their work to be good, and that not a few of the country people whom he had come across were simple-minded Christians. On the other hand, Archdeacon Moule had come across some Mariolatry which seemed little better than a sort of z' MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 217 Cambridge, but to the sister University of Oxford, and it is curious to note that all the first members of this mission without exception were graduates of Oxford. Mr. Chol- mondelcy was followed in the autumn of 1888 by the Rev. F. Armine King (of Keble College, Oxford, formerly curate of Tottenham), and in the spring of 1889 by the Rev. F. E. Freese (Trinity College, Oxford, formerly curate of St. George's, Stonehouse). The Rev. C. G. Gardner (B.A. Oxford), who had gone out under S.P.G., joined St. Andrew's Mission for a time in 1890, and the Rev. Her- bert Moore (Keble College, Oxford, curate of St. Thomas's, Liverpool) came out from England in the same year. In 1891 the Rev. L. F. Ryde (St. John's College, Oxford, formerly curate of St. Andrew's, Great Yarmouth), and in 1894 the Rev. A. E. Webb (Brasenose College, Oxford, formerly curate of Stockport) were added to the number. The Bishop himself used often to tell the story that as the result of a miserably attended meeting at Oxford he received two or three offers of service, while enthusiastic receptions afforded him at his own University, which at the time seemed more encouraging, yet sent no members to the Community mission of St. Andrew's at Tokyo. 1 A perusal of the early correspondence connected with the foundation of these two organisations will give some idea of the exact niche which the Bishop designed these associated missions to occupy. They had to make, almost to fight, their way to recognition, or at least to apprecia- tion. In the second chapter, in describing the initiation of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, proof has been given of the shyness with which Community missions were regarded twenty years ago. A like spirit of caution is to 1 In the autumn of 1896 the Bishop had the pleasure of welcoming the first recruit from his own University in the person of Mr. Basil Woodd (Trinity College, Camb. ), who joined the mission as a layman. 2l8 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH be noticed in a speech delivered by Bishop Edward Bickersteth at the annual meeting of the S.P.G. at St. James's Hall in July 1888, when he was at home for the Lambeth Conference. The small independent mission to which I referred just now is to be a Community mission, and I venture to suggest that in the present circumstances of Church work in the East the society should put prominently forward as one of its main objects the formation of Community missions both of men and women. No one can value more highly than I do the exhibition before the heathen of the purity, the blessedness, the love of the English home. I should think it a loss if in any central station, or at the head of some large institutions, there were not a married missionary. But this being fully admitted, the reason of the case, together with the teachings of history and experience, prove that we cannot hope to do the work to which God has manifestly now led us in eastern lands if we continue to take the English parsonage as supplying the normal type of the life of the foreign missionary. The expense alone is prohibitory. On the other hand, there are very few and all honour to them who can bear the strain of solitary work in a heathen country. The Com- munity mission (I venture to mention that I speak from some experience in past years) supplies just what is needed. Sympathy is its guiding thought, and union in devotion and work its unfailing practice. Missions from Oxford and Cambridge in Calcutta and Delhi, and from St. John's, Cowley, in Bombay, have proved, if any doubted, that such associated life and work in the East is neither impossible nor unpractical. It will be noticed that the prudential reason of in- creased economy is given its full place in this apologia, and indeed the average cost of each member being only ioo/. a year justifies his argument; yet this financial consideration weighed far less with the Bishop than his belief that such a mission, consisting exclusively of gradu- ates of the English Universities, would command the respect of the educated classes, and especially of the University of MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 2 19 Tokyo, which sent its own sons all over the country. He also believed that in the early Church history of any coun- try it is most important to avoid defects which it might be difficult to make good, and that a body of men working under the immediate direction of the Bishop and on Apostolic lines would be very careful in this respect. In a word, he was convinced that from the singular opportu- nity offered by the receptivity of Japan a mission of that kind ought to have the greatest influence. In a city like Tokyo, where men followed with keenest interest the battle between Christianity and agnosticism, where arguments might be answered at any moment by quotations from Huxley or Herbert Spencer, it was surely wise to send those who, as the Bishop expressed it, ' cannot have gradu- ated too highly in the spiritual life ' and yet who have also learnt from England's wisest and best how and when to use the weapons of attack. But it will be asked : What was the rule of life which the members of the mission were expected to follow ? One point from the first was decided, as stated by the Bishop in a letter to Canon Stanton, dated from Okayama, November 18, 1886. After mentioning four or five men in England with whom he had been in correspondence, he adds : If you remember, the last day I was with you in Cam- bridge we agreed that the plan adopted at Zanzibar should be adopted by me too in the case of all men coming out to serve directly under me that is, not in connection with any Society. According to this plan, the Bishop is responsible for all expenses except such as are strictly personal. For these a small yearly sum is allowed to each missionary ; at Zanzibar 2O/. or 25/., but here probably 40!. or 5O/. would be necessary. But anyhow there could be nothing but a ' subsistence ' allowance not ' indigence ' in any sense, but no surplus. 220 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH This plan has been always followed, but with regard to a rule of life the Bishop desired to feel his way, not from hesitation or uncertainty, but deliberately adopting this policy as most likely to avoid the evils of a cut and dried system. Even three years after the foundation of the mission he wrote to his secretary sister : Tell Canon Crowfoot (with my affectionate regards) we have no formulated rules as yet at St. Andrew's. I prefer their growing as St. Vincent de Paul taught. All are, of course, under me. All attend Mattins, Sext, and Compline, and generally Evensong. Holy Communion on Sundays, Thursdays, and Saints' Days, &c. Each has his own work to do college or mission district or classes as the case may be. All live together. The idea (as at Delhi) is a common life, to strengthen and help forward individual work. With regard to length of service the Bishop expressed his views in a letter of November 17, 1887, m which he wrote : ' You will remember that I could not take on the staff of my special University Mission owing to his offer being limited to three years.' This was the principle which he wished to enforce, though at times the pressure of work forced him into a suspension of this rule. It was not till 1891 that the Rule of Life here given was formally drawn up and printed. The Rule of the Mission Brotherhood of St. A ndrew. 1. The name of the society shall be ' The Mission Brotherhood of St. Andrew.' 2. The object of the mission is to seek the glory of God in making known the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ among the people of Japan, especially in Tokyo and adjacent districts. 3. The members of the brotherhood shall be graduates of Oxford and Cambridge holding Deacon's or Priest's Orders in the Anglican communion. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 221 [It is understood that no one will be accepted as a member of the brotherhood who is engaged to be married, and that no member of the brotherhood will contract any such engagement without offering to resign his posi- tion.] 4. The central residence of the brotherhood is the house of the Bishop St. Andrew's House, Shiba, Tokyo. No member shall undertake any work which perma- nently separates him from sharing in the corporate life of the brotherhood. 5. Besides the members, clergy and laymen may be admitted either as Resident or Non-Resident Associates. 6. The Bishop is Visitor, and no fundamental rule of the brotherhood shall be changed without his consent. 7. One of the members shall be elected at a General Chapter on the eve or festival of St. Andrew to act as Head of the brotherhood for one year. He shall be admitted to his office by the Bishop. His duties shall include the general superintendence of the corporate life of the brotherhood and the distribution of work, subject to the approval of the Visitor. Every member shall be admitted at a service in chapel by the Bishop, or some one deputed by him. 8. Ordinary chapters, to which questions concerning the rule and work of the brotherhood may be submitted, may be held once a month, or more frequently at the dis- cretion of the Head, who shall preside in the absence of the Visitor. Resident Associates (of six months' standing) have the right to attend. 9. One of the members or associate members shall be appointed by the Head to act with him in the management of the .funds and domestic affairs. 10. After every seven years' work in Japan every member of the brotherhood shall be entitled, subject to the exigencies of the work then in hand, to a furlough of one year in England. 1 1. The ordinary week-day services will be as follows : (the times of the services being subject to alteration) Matins (Japanese), Holy Communion, Sext, Evensong, Compline (Japanese). [Each member shall have his own rule as to frequency of Communion.] a. All the brethren will endeavour to set apart some 222 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH time or times before Sext for daily meditation and inter- cession. b. A missionary Litany will be held on Friday. c. A time or times will be set apart every week for the united study of the Bible and of Christian doctrine. d. A Retreat will be held once a year, and Quiet Days observed in or about the Ember seasons. 1 2. Each member of the brotherhood is expected, (i) to pursue some branch of theological study, (ii) to prepare during his first three years of residency in Japan for two examinations in the language. Approved, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. November 27, 1891. Appendix to Rule explaining position of Associates. a. All clergy accepted for St. Andrew's Mission shall come out to Japan as members of the mission and associates of the brotherhood. b. An associate may, if he so desire, be admitted a member of the brotherhood after six months in Japan. c. Associates are expected to follow the Rule of the brotherhood so far as it regulates the common life of the House and the distribution of the work. d. Resident associates of six months' standing have the right to attend chapters, and to vote on all questions not immediately affecting the corporate life of the brotherhood. January 1892. It seems worth while to record thus fully the origin and rule of St. Andrew's House, inasmuch as experience gained in the Church's active warfare ought to be made available as a guide to those engaged in other parts of the mission field. Rightly as he believed wrongly as some thought the Bishop steadily refused on principle to be connected with or to found a brotherhood or sisterhood which would smother individuality and submit itself to the iron yoke sometimes assumed to be inseparable from such organisations. He saw, or thought he saw, his way to a revival of Community MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 223 missions, both for men and women, which would combine a sufficiently strong central rule with allowance for the claims of individuality. This point is illustrated by a few words in a letter written in Easter week 1889 : I do not much think I should get on with his sort of people. I like people with lots of naturalness, sympathy, and love, making use of all Church privileges as God's gifts to them, and I should fancy he is enamoured more of ecclesiastical stilts, laces, strait waistcoats, and other articles of that description. Whatever may be the future of the missions which the Bishop was allowed to found in Delhi and Tokyo, at least one thing has been strikingly proved in the experience vouchsafed to them, that men so associated can live together in brotherly love, and by love can serve one another and the Church of God. What the Rev. G. A. Lefroy 1 once said of Delhi is, I believe, equally true of St. Andrew's that its members have been singularly free from jars and misunderstandings. The Bishop dealt with the vexed question of vows in the same spirit. He did not hold them to be essential neither did he regard them as unwise or unlawful. His mind can be gathered from the following extracts from letters to his sister May : January 4, 1890. I fear I haven't time to write on vows. I feel gene- rally : A. That short dispensable vows should hardly be called vows. So great a term is not needed for the thing. B. That permanent, lifelong vows are right under circumstances and acceptable to God. Why not ? I have seen no reason. I should not be concerned to deny that they are in a sense a confession of weakness, but we are weak. Also I think they should be dispensable, either by those who take them proprio motu or by the Church. . . . 1 Bishop Designate of Lahore (1899). 224 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Again, a real vocation to win souls for God during such length of life as God shall give sealed not by a vow but by an inner intention ; to be set aside, if at all, not by some public dispensation, but by God's Providence altering circumstances and calling elsewhere is the true foundation of a worker at St. Andrew's or St. Hilda's. From the first he was anxious to preserve the due balance between the work and the life. In a letter to Canon Stanton (dated St. Andrew's House, February 21, 1888) he wrote : So our numbers are going up. May our increase be intensive as well as extensive, as dear old Dr. Kaye (of Lincoln) used to say. This was the impression made upon the more thought- ful Japanese, one of them using the following simile : ' I see that, like two wings of a bird, religion and intellectual study must be kept up together.' The members were from the first housed with the Bishop, who, when in Tokyo, always resided at St. Andrew's House until his marriage in 1893. It is not possible here, owing to want of space, to do more than refer very generally to their work, interesting and important as it has been and is. Three or four main objects have been kept in view from the first : 1. To train the native ministry, by whom ultimately Japan must be won for Christ. 2. To organise lectures and classes by means of which Christ and His claims may be brought before the people. 3. To itinerate in or near Tokyo. 4. To open up other strong centres, as opportunities offered and means allowed. Writing to the Guild of St. Paul from Tokyo, July 5, 1 889, the Bishop reports : i. A Divinity School is the first charge of St. Andrew's. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 22$ Of this school Mr. King is now principal. This position gives him the opportunity, which I have no doubt will be very well used, of influencing a large number of the future clergy of the Japanese Church. Of course lectures are frequent and on many subjects, but the aim of the school is not merely to carry on a course of instruction, but to create a tone and atmosphere, and maintain a life. To the fulness of this life daily matins in St. Andrew's Church, compline in my private chapel, walks with their teachers, Sunday afternoons in the drawing room of St. Andrew's House, private talks in this or that study, all alike contribute. 2. By the side of the Theological School there ought to be an institution for more general instruction. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has recently promised 25O/. to meet 4OO/., if this can be obtained from other sources. Meanwhile a night school, which owes its origination and its prosperity mainly to Mr. Cholmondeley, partially fills the gap. Mr. Freese is now in charge of the Church of the Holy Cross, Kyobashi. 3. Tokyo is the centre of a very populous country district. As you know, it is also itself one of the great cities of the world, whether estimated by population or area. Alike in the city and country, active evangelisation ought to be carried on from centres like St. Andrew's, the Church of the Ascension, the Church of the Holy Cross, &c., or villages like Shimo-fuku-da. Those who are to carry on this evangelisation must not be hampered by educational work. Kyobashi, Ushigome, and Mita, three districts of the great city of Tokyo, were placed under the care of St. Andrew's Mission. Each has a small church and native congregation supplemented by direct evangelistic work, and in each full parochial life is maintained, together with such agencies as dispensaries, preaching stations, and classes for inquirers and catechumens. It was not till the end of 1894 that the Bishop, writing to Mr. Lefroy at Delhi, could report : I have just established my first out-station of St. Andrew's Mission, but no further off from the centre than Q 226 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH one of the districts of Tokyo. A ' strong centre ' with several such offshoots is what I am aiming at. Writing the same year to the Guild of St. Paul the Bishop could report progress with thankfulness chastened by a sober realisation of the still inadequate forces at his disposal. With American Church Mission, S.P.G., C.M.S., St. Andrew's, St. Hilda's (both of which are now in full work), Mrs. Kirkes' house (itself a centre of manifold influence for highest good among the upper classes, which could be set moving by no other means, and no one else in like manner, so far as I am aware), the Ladies' Institute (where mistresses enter at Easter on the second period of their very important work), the Mission of the Ladies' Association of S.P.G., &c., Tokyo is now a centre where all forms and methods of missionary endeavour are represented. And yet how small a portion of its vast population even know that we are here ! How much some portions of the work which is going on need strengthening and developing. May God send us more workers ! May He give us who are here more self-denial, more faith, more real love of Christ and the people. You will ask this for us. Three years later (July 28, 1894), writing from Hakone, the Bishop described as ' a really important step in advance ' the arrangement by which the Rev. L. B. Cholmondeley and his colleague (the Rev. W. F. Madeley) went to reside in the district of Ushigome : It will bring the mission into closer contact with the people of an important district than has hitherto been possible, and I do not doubt that, with God's blessing, results will follow. Though work has been carried on in Ushigome for many years, the number of Christians is as yet very small, and for the most part they are, I fear, individually weak in faith and knowledge. Japanese clergy and catechists, without the support of European mission- aries close at hand, have failed to correct this state of affairs. It is one instance among many of the necessity of close co-operation between foreign and native workers, MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 227 upon which I very often insist, if the Church's work is to be well done during the present generation. Hereafter, as the Japanese character strengthens and its many good elements are developed under the influence of Christian grace and teaching, whole districts may be handed over entirely to native hands. But, unless in very rare cases, as yet this cannot safely be done. If the European is all but helpless without his Japanese colleague, on the other hand he supplies the experience and knowledge and faculty of perseverance, without which Japanese workers make but slow progress. But let us not mistake what this means. It means a far larger number of European workers than if it were wise to work on another principle. Out-stations must be manned and yet the central mission not be depleted. To confine our thoughts to our own missions. Four European clergy, with their Japanese colleagues, are the least that can carry on the work in Shiba. The present staff at St. Andrew's Mission, after Mr. King's return in the autumn, will exactly provide this minimum number. But other furloughs will be due before very long. If, then, Ushigome is to be maintained as well as .the central mission at Shiba, some increase is very desirable. May God send us the men of His choice ! But Ushigome is only one of half a dozen populous districts in South Tokyo, in several of which branch houses might well be at once established. With our present staff this is of course impossible. But what a vista is thus opened to us of possible extension as the years go on ! We need not, indeed, as a guild look forward to occupying the whole ground. Our two great societies will in time, I hope, both extend their operations. 1 But I am quite sure that a large part of the work must be done by us if it is to be done at all through English Christians. Let us be thankful that it is so. What more could we ask than to be allowed a share in bringing the light of Christ's Gospel and the fellowship of His Church to men and 1 The C.M.S. have responded to the Bishop's appeal, and have strengthened their staff in the capital ; but the S. P. G. Mission, on the other hand, has been gradually weakened in numbers until its sole ' foreign ' repre- sentative in the present diocese of South Tokyo is Archdeacon Shaw, although it is responsible for the income of the two Bishops of South Tokyo and Osaka. The C. M.S. is responsible for the income of the two Bishops of Kiushiu and Yezo. Q 2 228 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH \vomen who otherwise must live on in the darkness and isolation of heathenism ? Where could a nobler field be found on which to concentrate all the energies of the Church's service than such a centre of human activity and interest as is the capital of Japan ? l Before giving an account of the other Associated Mis- sion founded by the Bishop that of St. Hilda for women workers it will be well to give some description of the women of Japan and of the openings for work among them. On this point a paper 2 recently written in excellent English by Miss Tsuda, a Japanese lady professor in the Peeresses' and Normal Schools at Tokyo, gives us full and accurate information. She reminds us that ' it is no easy task to give a true estimate of the present condition of women in Japan, and of the place they occupy, since every year and month brings important changes.' But an abstract of her sketch of the past and hopes for the future will be read with interest. Miss Tsuda asserts that the women of old Japan always held a position unique in the East. History as far back as it goes has given an honourable place to women. Five Empresses have ruled in their own right. A woman was the first historian. Artists of rare skill and scholarship may be counted among the sex. The old ideas regarding women were enlightened ones, and it is outside influences which have tended to lower the old standard. The spread 1 It is sad to have to record that since the Bishop wrote these glowing words in the justifiable expectation that the Church at home would not fail to rise to so great an opportunity, only one graduate from England (a layman, Mr. C. H. Basil Woodd, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge) has joined St. Andrew's Mission, and the only other recruit has been the Rev. W. C. Gemmill, graduate of Trinity University, Toronto, who joined the mission as a layman and has since been ordained to the diaconate and priesthood. Published in the Japan Daily Mail (November 1898). I am indebted for this summary to Mrs. Edward Bickersteth, a personal friend of Miss Tsuda. This gifted Japanese Christian lady during the winter of 1898-9 visited England, where she made many friends. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 22Q of Buddhism, the introduction of Chinese literature, and, above all, the strong influence of the Confucian scholars have brought about this change, until in the sixteenth century the Japanese woman had sunk down from her former position of respect and equality. History has left us little account of women for the four hundred years that followed. The home was a sealed one hidden from outside gaze. Here, in quiet and seclusion, the young girl grew up under the strict doctrine of the Chinese sages. Implicitly obedient to her parents in childhood, when married she served her husband as her master, and in old age, leaning on sons who took their father's place, she taught the same doctrines to her daughters that she had held all her life, mpressing on them her standard of duty and right, of gentleness, sacrifice, and abnegation. Then the women of old Japan had few educational advantages. They were not, however, without some training, and, except in the lowest classes, received instruction in the written language. The daughters of the nobility were instructed in reading, writing, poetry, Japanese history, and in some cases Chinese. In addition, they learned music, the tea cere- mony, etiquette, flower arrangement, and incense burning. In the middle classes among the daughters of the retainers (samurai] very much the same course of study with the addition of more Chinese was pursued. A knowledge of sewing and household work was indispensable, and often composed the greater part of training. The daughters of the lower classes (merchants, farmers, artisans) were far less educated. In the cities they gained the bare rudi- ments of reading and writing, but sometimes spent much time on music and dancing. In the country the days were too much filled with labour in the field or at the loom to leave time for study of any sort. This limited education was in keeping with the narrow life of 230 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH those days. The special attention paid to etiquette and moral training, the keen sense of duty, loyalty, and honour early instilled into the mind, tended to produce women who, though not intellectually trained, were not without moral responsibility and dignity mingled with gentleness and sweetness of disposition. In the educational problems of the day for women none is more perplexing than the difficulty of keeping the beauty and refinement of the old system with the broader and new ideas and the freedom of thought and 'action which come from the culture of the intellectual powers. Changes have come quickly since the Revolution of 1 868. The first official step was the establish- ment of public primary schools for boys and girls all over Japan in 1869. In 1872 the Educational Department established the Tokyo Girls' School, the first Government school for girls. In 1874 it established the Higher Normal School for girls. In 1886 was established, by H.I.H. the Empress, the Peeresses' School for the daughters of the nobility, the first girls' school for the higher classes. As regards the social position of woman in Japan, it cannot be denied that for many years the laws and government of the day had little regard for her ; laws regarding her were very few, simply because she was a factor not worth con- sidering. Marriage and divorce have been left to custom in lack of civil codes on such matters. Still, here too there are signs of change in the right direction. In the two principal religions of Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism, women have had little part or influence, except as earnest believers and devotees. Buddhism has always looked down on woman. She has been regarded as full of sin and impurity, and not allowed to visit holy places, as she defiled' them. Shintoism gives a better position to woman, but Shintoism has only a shadowy influence over the people. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 231 Miss Tsuda, herself a Christian and Church-woman of many years' standing, concludes her article thus : Christianity has done, and is doing much, for the eleva- tion of woman. It will do more. It will raise the Japan- ese woman socially, will exalt her home, will purify the social and moral evils that work against her, will give her a higher code of morals, and an ideal of womanhood which in the present age is unknown. No wonder, then, that the Bishop was strongly con- vinced of the necessity for strengthening and extending the existing work among Japanese women, and to this end he established St. Hilda's Mission. The progress and development of this mission lay very near his heart. Within six months of his arrival in Japan he wrote to Canon Stanton from Kobe : November 27, 1886. One line by way of supplement to mine of last week. I referred only, I think, to the University Mission which I propose : but I hope also to have a new Ladies' Mission in Tokyo. This will in time, I hope, draw workers from the Bishop of Truro's very excellent sisterhood at Truro, 1 though as yet the number of sisters is too small for them to undertake foreign work. The Bishop (Dr. Wilkinson) has, however, suggested that any ladies coming for mission work to Tokyo might with advantage spend a few weeks or months at the Truro sisterhood before starting and this I should like them to do, if possible. The Bishop has also put me in communication with a very admirable worker in his diocese, who proposes to undertake mission work in Japan. On March 12, 1887, he wrote to his old Diocesan, Bishop French of Lahore : My dear Bishop, Many months have run by since I wrote to you. I meant to have been a better correspon- dent. Almost the whole time has been spent in moving from place to place and in short visitations. Japan is 1 Community of the Epiphany. 232 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH though it looks small in the map immense, double the length of England, and many places difficult of access for large parts of the year owing to snow in the passes, and always requiring much time to be spent en route. The faith is certainly making itself felt through God's good Spirit throughout the land. Little congregations are being gathered even in quite remote parts, and the people recog- nise, as in the early days, that Christianity raises the moral tone of its professors, and not seldom has turned them markedly from lives of notorious wickedness to lives which even heathen note to be holy and attractive. It is largely by means of such witnesses that the Gospel is being made known. I have also spent much time in all the correspondence and work that is necessary in the attempt to start several new missions one a brotherhood, one an associated Ladies' Mission which may develop into a sisterhood, and yet another the charge of a Japanese Ladies' High School, for which the University (of Tokyo) professors asked me to obtain teachers. I hope all three of them may be at work by the end of the year, or in a year's time but the Uni- versity Mission cannot hope for anything like the Delhi staff. The desire to establish a women's mission connected with the honoured name of St. Hilda had first come to him when at Delhi, for he felt strongly the truth of Bishop Lightfoot's strictures on the Church's folly in trying to do her work ' with only one arm,' as he phrased it. Writing to Canon Stanton on November 2, 1887, Bishop Bickersteth says : Japan is an instance of the folly of trying to establish large Anglican missions without a Bishop. It is quite inconceivable that had there been a Bishop here ten years ago they should have been allowed to go on without any adequate effort to develop ladies' work, and thus have been utterly distanced by the American Nonconformist bodies. However, 1 cannot be thankful enough for the re- sponse which has been made to my appeals in this respect. The first two members of the new Associated Mission arrived at Yokohama early on Sunday, December 4. 1887. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 233 The following day they were admitted by the Bishop to be members of St. Hilda's Associated Mission. The Bishop wrote : In the words of admission I have tried to bring out the idea of life. Buddhism is all about dying, and I have referred to their life in Christ's life, leading to the eternal life of those for whom they work. The form of admission is as follows : The Bishop shall give to the person to be admitted a cross, saying, ' Receive and wear this cross in token that thou wilt die daily to self and in newness of life serve the Risen Christ, who gave His Life for men, that He might bring many unto Life eternal.' Here far more than in the case of St. Andrew's Mission the Bishop had to buy his wisdom by experience. St. Andrew's was avowedly formed on the same lines as the Cambridge Mission at Delhi, but there was no precedent for a Women's Associated Mission founded and worked on the same lines. Simple rules were framed from the first, but it was not till March 1892 that the Bishop put his hand and seal to the Rule (exterior and interior) of St. Hilda's Mission. Of the Exterior Rule A it is sufficient to state that Clause 2 provided that 'those approved as candidates shall stay at the House of the Community of the Epiphany, Truro, for six weeks.' In Clause 3 the Bishop again tried to secure that ' deep should answer to deep,' as he had done years before in arranging that prayer should be offered at Cambridge and at Delhi as far as possible at the same time. It provides that ' the Community of the Epiphany shall be daily remembered in the prayers of the members of the mission, and they likewise shall be prayed for daily by the sisters.' Of Exterior Rule B Clause 2 provides that ' a Bishop 234 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH or priest shall be chosen as warden, subject to the sanction of the Bishop of the diocese and the patron of St. Paul's Guild.' Clause 4 that ' each new member shall be admitted by a service in chapel, which shall not be held (except under exceptional circumstances) until after a probation of one year.' Clause 5, that 'the members of the mission shall yearly on St. Hilda's Day (November 17) elect one of their number to be Member- in-Charge if approved for the office by the Warden.' Clause 7, that ' a chapter shall he held at least once in two months at which all important matters affecting the welfare and development of the mission shall be dis- cussed.' Clause 10, that 'services shall be held in the chapel of the Mission House three times a day ; in the morning a shortened form of Matins (in Japanese) shall be said ; at midday Sext (in English), with special collects and heads for intercession, with space for silent prayer ; in the evening Compline (in Japanese) ; and also that the members shall, as far as their work allows, attend the services in the Church of St. Andrew, Shiba.' Clause 11, that ' members shall not accept invitations into society, but that they may receive visits from and pay visits to their friends subject to the claims of the work.' Clause 14, that 'silence shall be kept as far as possible on the stairs and in the passages of the Mission House ; also throughout the house before Matins and after Compline.' Clause 17 that (a) 'each member shall consider it a point of duty to take sufficient exercise, relaxation, food, and rest, and to avoid overwork, remembering that bodily health is a gift of God, and essential to some forms of work for Him. (b) That ' each member is entitled, subject to the exigencies of the work, after six [now altered to five] years' work in the mission, to one year's furlough in England.' The object of the Interior Rule is stated to be 'to glorify God by obeying His call and doing His will MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 235 in all things.' Its closing words, which are highly charac- teristic of the founder, may be quoted : In a life of rule and ordered service, be careful to main- tain the freedom and gladness of the children of God, through habitual remembrance of His presence and the forgiveness of all your sins through the cross of Jesus Christ. It is plain that the mission thus organised was largely dependent for its success on the care with which can- didates were selected in England. The Bishop accordingly was constant in stating and re-stating his ideal and his suggestions for guidance in this selection. 1 I therefore have put together from his letters to me some of the points which he used to lay down. Four characteristics are essential in all candidates for St. Hilda's Mission. 1. Piety. 2. Sociability in the sense of being able to live happily in a community. 3. Strong Church principle. 4. Refinement. The absence of the first of these disqualifies for all missions, and any of the four for St. Hilda's and like similar Community missions. I have re-written the St. Hilda's Rule, and have tried to make it more comprehensive, so that anyone may understand by studying it what is our practice (on confession &c.), and what kind of life I set before them as an ideal. Would that I myself were nearer what I ask them to aim at. Again, ' One is almost tempted to say that without a really strong, loving, religious head or mother, Community missions cannot prosper.' Again, in regard to the social position of the candi- dates : 1 Candidates were interviewed by myself as Commissary, by Bishop Wilkinson (now Bishop of St. Andrews), and then by the Mother Superior of the Community of the Epiphany. 236 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH They should be taken from the gentle walks of life. One reason is that the candidates you select are sure to draw others from the same rank and avocations they have been in themselves. Another that manners are a real missionary poiver in Japan. A third is that we are aiming at (though owing to failures it is only beginning) a life as well as a mission in Japan, and for this people of different ranks do not permanently or for any length of time coalesce. It might be the higher thing if it were not so, and I can imagine an argument that spiritual sympathies should render it unnecessary, yet sisterhoods get out of the difficulty by their second orders, and all somehow or other recognise the principle, and, though I regret it in some ways, I fear we must too. For permanent life and work together people must, it seems, we being what we are, have something of like training and hold views which are not mutually exclusive. This holds good in a parish as regards a vicar and his curates, though not of course in the wider area of a Church. Again : The only hope of building up a Community mission of women is to get people well agreed already, and also well taught in the faith, and holding it on its Church as well as on its evangelical side with some firmness. Of course I do not mean that these conditions ensure peace and progress, but where they are absent the hope is very small indeed. Again, with regard to one who had been described as ' pious and energetic, and beginning to feel that there may be some solid truth in Church doctrine,' and who was wishful to go to St. Hilda's, if not as a member, at least as an associate, or even as a long-time visitor, he wrote : A person in her position is not in a fit frame of mind to work for God among the heathen. First of all, she must decide whether the new lights of truth which are beginning to break in upon her are ignes fatui or sun's rays. Till she has done this, she will necessarily be so unsettled in her own mind as to be wholly unfit to contribute to the life of a community and to co-operate in MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 237 its work. Her critical faculties will be sure to be dominant, when her sympathy should be the leading trait. For mission work we need persons whose mind is made up on the leading points alike for personal and corporate religion, and the place for their decision is not Japan but England. It is suggested that I might teach her Church doctrine, but even if I had a moment to spare for such work St. Hilda's would be the wrong place. Our workers ought to have behind them if possible an even tenor of life, certainly a matureness according to their years in their own principles. And this is above all the case at St. Hilda's, where we have no large body of workers into which to engulf a stray person of a different type, and are only beginning, owing to failures in the past, to generate a truly healthy spiritual atmosphere and to build up a life. More- over, a ' long-timed ' visitor or an associate should be more not less in touch with the others than a member, because she is less under rule, and therefore her words and ways are more free to do mischief if they do not do good. The ' associate ' plan is not in order to get persons into the community whose views would otherwise exclude them, but for those who cannot presumably give their lives to the work. I am revising the rule to make this more clear. The Bishop's general idea for a member of St. Hilda's may be well gathered from the following extract from a letter to his sister May, dated St. John's Day 1887 : The people we have [for St. Hilda's] should be spiritu- ally minded and prepared to take pains with their own spiritual life, regarding the work as the outcome of life (not vice -versa), formed in character or they cannot influence others and in all ways refined in thought and manner. If they are also able, and have some sparkle of originality about them, it will probably help them to strike out new paths for themselves. I do not mean the ' community idea' to crush out the individual. If it does, the highest work becomes impossible. Our duty here, utterly dis- tanced as far as numbers are concerned by American Nonconformity of all sorts and kinds, is to do what we can by God's grace of the highest and best. It will be gathered from these letters that offers for 238 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH St. Hilda's Mission were frequent, and so they were. Writing (again to his sister May) on January 18, 1891, the Bishop referred to this as follows : Remember that an offer is less and less a criterion that a person is fit. It is so easy now to get about the world ; except for the distance from England, it is not harder or less agreeable to live in Tokyo than in London. Work (it is true) is in parts here hard and repulsive, but so it is in ' Darkest England ' ; so that, taking all together, offers are likely to be frequent when maintenance is provided, and so can only be entertained if we have fullest proof of physical, mental, spiritual competence, besides the offer. The offer by itself goes for little, though it seems hard to say so. Also I feel more and more that the only persons who will really do for us are ladies from refined and religious homes. With regard to confession l with a view to receiving private absolution, the Bishop was often asked by candi- dates to declare his views, and they may be clearly gathered from the following extracts from his letters. The letters you have sent give me a fairly full view of the opinions of Miss - - (presumably those which she has been taught) on confession. I understand Miss to hold that, though not essential to salvation, confession is a means of grace, and that as such it should be pressed, though not enforced on all, as the ordinary channel among Catholic Christians of the forgiveness of sins. In this view there are several serious mistakes. Confession is not, except in the most indirect sense, a means of grace but a method of discipline, and therefore, like other methods of discipline, not useful for all. In this it differs from absolution, which is a covenanted means of grace and for all whether given, as commonly, in connection with the sacraments or apart from them, whether pronounced publicly or privately. It follows that the Christian who has received private abso- lution possesses no greater privilege, though possibly as an individual more comfort, than any other communicant. 1 For a fuller statement of his views on this subject see chapter xi. , pp. 430-433. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 239 And again, that whether a particular person should or should not practise private confession must depend on their own circumstances and needs. I will not go further into the general question except to add that were the view which Miss has been taught correct, not only would Scripture language about forgive- ness, the sacraments, &c., be beyond explanation, but the whole Church would have been in error on this matter, theoretically, till late in the middle ages, and practically until the rise of the Jesuits. I cannot, then, both for her own sake and that of the mission, accept Miss - - as a member of St. Hilda's if I rightly understand her view of confession and she continues to hold it. It is true that I should not feel her holding this view an obstacle to her working in this diocese or to my supporting her, as I do many others in Japan who are only partially in agreement with me. But at St. Hilda's I act as warden as well as Bishop, and am responsible for the teaching given in a special degree. I wish the members to be, broadly speaking, prepared to accept my teaching, and if I am right Miss - - would feel herself precluded from doing so by conscientious convictions. I shall greatly regret losing Miss - , as her letters show an earnest and straightforward soul. She is also most right in holding that in the mission field the whole truth should be taught without prejudice. But in this instance she has been led to add to the Catholic faith and practice points which they do not contain. I hope she may feel at liberty to reconsider the matter. After reading the correspondence about Miss twice over carefully, it did not seem to me that there was any real choice left to me in the matter. As I understand it, Miss - - still holds that confession is, not a practice useful for some persons or some states and circumstances of life, but the ordinary condition of attaining to full spiritual life, and that as such it ought to be pressed by the clergy on all persons alike who come under their charge. But at the same time, as a 'self-sacrifice,' she proposes to keep this view in the background if I accept her as a member of St. Hilda's. Now I must say that, however well meant, this arrangement would be wholly wanting in 240 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH moral honesty and is not one which I could possibly sanction or agree to. If confession is for all persons alike God's intended and prescribed way of obtaining forgiveness and peace, then those who are convinced of this cannot put such a truth on one side at pleasure. They are bound to teach it everywhere and by all means as they may have opportunity. Not to do so would be a sin against God and a grievous wrong to others. The view may be, as it is, neither Scriptural, primitive, nor catholic, but this would not alter their obligation as long as they held it. It will thus be seen that the mission was not on party lines, and the Bishop was well aware no one more so of the strength and weakness which such a fact implied. In a letter to Mr. Lefroy, dated Karuizawa, August 19, 1895, he wrote : I am grieved that Cambridge is not sending you more men to Delhi. You certainly ought by this time to be stronger in numbers. The actual work you have in hand plainly demands it. I suppose that work which is not laid down on clearly marked party lines suffers in com- parison with work which follows them, or rather seems to suffer, for with actual success or failure numbers certainly have no necessary connection. But for the ' seeming to suffer ' you will probably lay your count with Lightfoot's saying, ' You will have done more for the world when you leave it.' By degrees though, notwithstanding, I do hope and trust you will reach to a dozen men. St. Hilda's Mission slowly but surely strengthened itself in the Lord, eight or ten English ladies joining within the first few years. Isobe San l and Sakai San, two Japanese ladies who came to be trained in evangelistic work, were also admitted as members of the mission in March 1892. Of this admission the Bishop wrote to his father : On Thursday I admitted two Japanese ladies as members of St. Hilda's Mission. This is a new step out 1 Isobe San has since married the Rev. P. Yamada. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 241 here. They are not bound for life, but both hope to remain in the work. I used the same service (only in Japanese) as that with which the foreign members are admitted. The Bishop lost no time in providing for the proper housing of the mission. He secured a large site, and erected upon it a House for the workers and the High School (Ladies). This House 1 has twice been added to, and in the same compound stand the Training House for Mission Women, the Embroidery School, the Orphanage, and Orphanage School, while within a few minutes' walk is a dispensary which contains four beds for urgent cases. Some of these have been erected by the contributions of St. Paul's Guild (aided by grants from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), and some are private gifts, the present Mission Women's Home being a memorial of Canon Thornton of Truro and one of his daughters, and the Orphanage and Orphanage School having been erected by the well-known lady traveller, Mrs. J. F. Bishop, F.R.G.S., in memory of her husband, Dr. John Bishop, whose name they bear. In a letter to the Guild of St. Paul from Tokushima, July 5, 1889, after referring to the growth of St. Hilda's in detail, and specially to the projected Training Home for Mission Women, the Bishop wrote : Let me only say that the native mission woman seems to me as necessary to the effectiveness of the foreign missionary lady as the catechist to the work of the foreign clergyman. This principle has only recently been under- stood, or at least acted upon ; homes for the training of such workers, who might be drawn surely from the higher 1 One of the members, writing in August 1889, says : ' I wish you could see St. Hilda's House. It is beautifully situated and very spacious. I always say we ought to be specially good workers, for we certainly have a specially beauti- ful mission house, and special spiritual help in the care and prayers the mission receives at home and in Japan itself.' R 242 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH as well as or better than from the lower ranks of Eastern Society, are only just being established. 1 Our sister mission from the American Church has one such home at Osaka. The Church Missionary Society will establish one, I hope, shortly. The difficulty at first is to get persons to be trained, but this will be got over as congregations get more numerous and stronger. With this training will be linked direct evangelistic work, both in Tokyo and beyond. If you run through the work in hand you will feel, I think, two things : first, that we have much reason to be thankful for the result of two years' effort ; and, secondly, that we cannot be content with these beginnings. This is the only word we have the least right to use at present, but it suggests incompleteness, progress, advance ; new tiers and stones, fresh workers, and then, some day but not now, crownings and endings. . . . ... I have no desire to make little of the demands on your prayers and self-denial which all this suggests, but there is surely great encouragement in the thought of how these new claims have arisen. Two years ago I was asking your help because a large field was all but vacant. Now work done has itself created new wants. Then we had to originate, now we are called on to develop. I heard a native deacon last night talking about ' hot believers.' Such a development of St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's as I have suggested is a mere fragment of that which the English Church might do in the East if once her love was at a ' white heat.' May God give us His Holy Spirit, the spirit of liberality, self-sacrifice, love. The dedication of St. Hilda's Chapel on the eve of St. Michael and All Angels 1889 was a bright event, of which the following account is taken from the ' Japan Daily- Mail ' : The chapel is a large room constructed to hold almost a hundred worshippers, and, though the fittings are hardly completed, the lights, the tasteful decorations, especially at the east end, and the large congregation present on the occasion, combined to give it a very festal appearance. As 1 Miss Hoar, of the Ladies' Association S.P.G., had for many years past received Japanese girls and women into her own house, and carefully trained them as workers. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 243 the Bishop entered the chapel, the Venerable Archdeacon Shaw presented the petition from the members of the mission for the dedication ; after which the Bishop and a procession of eleven clergy walked up the chapel repeating the 24th Psalm. The Bishop then proceeded to dedicate the chapel, using the well known prayers by Bishop Andrewes with special collects, and Evensong followed. I append the Bishop's address verbatim as a good illustration of his happy instinct in blending together things new and old, and as exhibiting the characteristic ideal which he set before the workers. We have met to celebrate the dedication of this chapel, and the opening of a dispensary in this mission of St. Hilda. A great name cannot be selected from the records of the Church and used to designate some new venture of faith without incurring a responsibility. So soon as you have adopted it, it becomes more than a mere title. Men do not err if they institute some sort of comparison between the life and work of the past and of the present which the name links. Now St. Hilda was no ordinary character. Of the royal line of Northumbria, grand niece of Edwin, she was baptised with the king on Easter Eve in the year 627, the birthday, as it has been well called, of the Northumbrian Church. Twenty years later we find her the Superior of a small community on the banks of the Wear, herself the pupil at the same time of Aidan, the wisest perhaps, as the most lovable, of the founders of the English Church. Yet ten years later and she has established the great religious house, with which her fame is so closely connected, by the Bay of the Lighthouse, as it was then called, on the bold Yorkshire coast There it was, as Bede her biographer tells us, she taught her companions to practise thoroughly all virtues, but especially peace and love. There she bade them serve the Lord while they had health, and under adversity or bodily infirmity to render thanks to Him. On the altar of their chapel, covered with a fair white cloth, lay a costly copy of the Gospels with a sapphire set in the golden cover, and her constant instruction to them was to give much time to the study of Scripture as well as much to the practice of the works of light. So well were 244 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH her words obeyed that her conventual house became the chief centre of education and of charitable deeds in all that part of the land. There, in the words of a modern authoress, ' she diffused life and beautiful order around her.' There came the Greek Theodore, the Archbishop, pilgrims from Jerusalem and Rome, kings and great men to seek her counsel. And there, when she had completed nearly a quarter of a century of toil, after receiving with the handmaidens of Christ the viaticum of the most Holy Communion and giving them her last admonitions to live in evangelical peace with each other and all, she passed, as Bede tells us, from death unto life. Certainly, I repeat, St. Hilda was no ordinary character, and hers no common achievements. Have we done well to connect with so great a name a work and enterprise which is as yet but in its earliest days and has no triumphs to record ? I think so, for if a name is a responsibility, it is also both a lesson and an inspiration. It may be so emphatically with this name. We cannot use it without being reminded that we fall short of our privilege when we fail to claim as our own the great and good of the past Christian ages. We are linked with them by the unbroken continuity of our communion through unparalleled crises. They are one with us in the Body of Christ. We cannot use it without being reminded that we claim to be partakers of the same Spirit, Who made them wholly to be what they were. There is no eminence of past attainment which might not be reached to-day. We cannot use it without being led to study sympathetically their modes of life and their methods of work. True, it were idle to think of reproducing the past in the exactness of external circum- stances or manner of thought. Our lives and work will probably differ as much from theirs as the England or even the Japan of to-day from the England of the time of King Edwin. But we do believe that the Christ, Who called men and women to be the vessels and organs of His grace for the work of missions in our own land twelve centuries ago, calls and endows them still. We do believe that the Christ, Who made use of the manifold virtues of an Augustine, an Aidan, a Wilfred, a Hilda, their wisdom and love and skill, to bring England to the faith, will by the same Gospel which they preached, set let us pray in not unlike lives, bring to Himself the great nations of the East. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 245 We do believe that the history of their lives and work is written for our example, that, to take one instance out of many, as large room and place was found then for com- munities of men and women, wholly dedicated to the work of the Lord, so there is like place for them still in the multiform organisation of the modern Church. And such conclusions are rather emphasised than em- barrassed by the greater difficulty of the task committed to us. If storied systems of belief and ancient philo- sophies, as in India, and the modern spirit claiming, as in this country and our own, to banish God to the very con- fines of His universe, present a far vaster and more intri- cate problem to the Church to-day than the mere ignorant idolatries of the seventh century, the more need to fall back on our belief in the abiding Presence of the Christ, the more need to make use of every means which experi- ence has sanctioned. To you, my sisters, the members of this mission, is given a share in this work and in the inspiring hope of its accomplishment. You have been made partakers of His power Who animated those earlier workers. You use in part the very methods which they found effectual, See that in this chapel, now dedicated to the worship of God, you continually refresh your innermost being at the springs of grace. Let it be to you a sanctuary where you meet Him in Whom you live, for Whose glory you work. Count not the hours spent here to be other than the very condition of successful service. Nor let yours be mere selfish devotions. Remember one another at the throne of grace, and the wider interests of the Church. So shall evangelical peace be yours with each other and with all men. So shall you make large progress in the study of the Divine Wisdom. So shall you hold out to many the example of the works of light, and win many to the obedience of the faith. And let me remind you to-night that you are supported by the constant prayers of very many : the sisters who work around the latest built of our English cathedrals ; the deaconesses who toil amid the masses of our great metropolis ; the members of our Guild, some present with us here to-day, but to be counted now by many hundreds and in various lands. May your life and work be worthy of your special, your 246 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH unique vocation. Let the love of Christ constrain you See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Obey them that have the rule over you. Grow in grace and humility. Set before men the example of simplicity of life, nobility of thinking, strength of faith ; and your reward shall be the love of the souls whom you have won to God, the peace of God here, and at the last the Master's welcome. Among the works set on foot by the Bishop through St. Hilda's Mission may be mentioned : (a) the school for girls, (b} the Home for Training Mission Women, (c) the hospital and medical work, (d) the orphanage, (>) the Needlework and Embroidery School, (/) evangelistic visiting of particular districts. The educational work in the school for girls at Tokyo, as well as in Bishop Poole's Memorial School at Osaka, was directed towards meeting the need which Christian education alone can supply. In St. Hilda's School at first scarcely any of the pupils were Christian, so the baptism at rare intervals of those who wished to accept Christ and to confess Him as their Saviour made red-letter days in the history of the mission. The Bishop used to rejoice in such days, and entered with spirit into the social festivities by which they were marked. One of the workers writes : Christmas Day, 1889, will be long remembered in St. Hilda's Mission as a day of first-fruits in connection with the school. At the 9 A.M. Japanese matins, five out of our pupils were baptised, together with eleven other adults. On December 20 school closed, and by Christmas Eve the large schoolroom was in festive dress, bright red berries, evergreens and chrysanthemums ; in the centre, a large picture of the Nativity, with the Union Jack on one side and the Japanese flag on the other, meeting overhead (typical of the union of the two nations in the Christ), and surmounted by a cross of evergreens and red berries. MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 247 On Christmas Day, at 10 o'clock, a party of twenty- seven (twenty- two of whom were Japanese) sat down in St. Hilda's schoolroom to quite orthodox Christmas fare turkey, plum pudding, nuts, almonds and raisins, crackers, &c. A very happy party we were with our Bishop (St. Hilda's Warden) at the head of the long table. At 4 P.M. came Evensong, and the beautiful Christmas hymns in Japanese, in St. Andrew's Church ; then at 6 P.M. tea, cakes, and an entertainment in St. Andrew's schoolroom. Next day our guests, who had arrived Christmas Eve, left, to carry into their own homes, we hope, some of the true Christmas joy. On January 9 the whole school, St. Hilda's members and teachers (thirty-nine persons), mustered at the Bishop's house for a most enjoyable evening (6 to 9 o'clock). A bran pie, music, photographs, the giving of the presents, and the Swedish dance made the evening slip rapidly away. The days when confirmation was administered were also times of deep spiritual joy, and many outside St. Hilda's will feel indebted to one of the pupils of the school for the graceful eastern imagery in which she expressed her joy, ' My heart feels like a bird let loose in a field ' being the words in which she showed her appreciation of the freedom wherewith Christ had made her free. It was precisely this ordered sense of liberty which the Bishop was so anxious to secure. The ' foreign style ' extolled in novels and exhibited by some globe-trotters was threatening havoc, not only to the false and foolish elements of the national religions, which had been hitherto unassailed by western ideas, but also to the filial piety and dutiful obedience which were the salt of these religions. Secular education, in exposing the inherent weakness of the false faiths, tended to persuade their adherents that their strict ideas of parental authority were unneces- sary, so that the social independence of women, unbalanced 248 I5ISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH by the gradual training of centuries of Christian life and teaching, was a doctrine openly proclaimed. The efforts on the part of the missionaries to solve this problem by setting before the Japanese an ideal of Christian womanhood, with its restraints as well as its liberty, led the ' Hoshi Shimbun ' (a Japanese newspaper quoted in the 'Times' in 1890) to draw the attention of its readers to the progress of Christianity in Japan in the following words : There is nothing striking about the number of converts added each year to the roll of Japanese Christians, nor about the increase of propagandists and their ministra- tions. But, on the other hand, the foreign faith advances surely and steadily, planting its feet firmly as it goes, and never retrograding for an instant. To estimate its develop- ment, observation for a week or month is insufficient ; observation for half a year or more will discover that what it lacks in extent it gains in stability. Diligence in the cause of female education and untiring efforts to improve the status of Japanese women are already discernible effects of the progress it is making. Christianity will ultimately attain to power by gradual and steady accumula- tion of merits, and if it progresses at its present rate its future is secured. The sincerity of this article was attested by the fact that it concluded with ' a call to Buddhists to bestir them- selves in the cause of their faith/ and with the warning that ' they cannot meet the crisis by indulging in slanderous diatribes against Christianity at their anti-Christian meet- ings.' The medical side of the work of St. Hilda's Mission was started in 1888 and soon included a hospital with its twenty beds and two dispensaries which are centres for district nursing in different parts of the city. The impor- tance of this form of work as an evangelistic agency in Japan is very great, and testimony is borne to it by the MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 249 general secretary of St. Paul's Guild, 1 who when in Japan in 1891 describes it as follows : Passing under the red cross on the lantern, the sign that we had reached our destination, and, bowing low, we entered the house : no front door, no hall, but, taking off our shoes, we stepped straight from the street on the floor of the house raised a foot or two above the ground. . . . The patients, men, women, and children, sat on the floor of the outer room, the very poorest of the poor, but they never seemed to lose their quiet courtesy to each other or to us. I sat there for about an hour and a half, and I felt that here indeed the Guild was already being rewarded tenfold for anything it is doing to further such work in Japan. After the medicines had been dispensed, Miss Thornton sat among the patients and taught them very simply, and the look of interest deepened on their faces as she proceeded, and I think they would have listened for hours. The English nurse was able to write of her patients : There is scarcely a nation in the world who bear pain as well as the Japanese, so those whose privilege it is either to nurse or doctor them are struck with the calm patience with which they bear pain and discomfort, especially in poverty. But the Bishop never lost sight, nor would allow his workers to lose sight, of direct evangelistic work, and he endeavoured to further this in Tokyo, not only by the establishment of branch houses from St. Andrew's Mission, but also by diligent house-to-house visiting of certain districts through the ladies of St. Hilda's Mission. He felt that the work of teaching and helping those already Christians was of first importance, as when the Japanese became earnest and growing Christians they could do so much more than foreigners among their own people. Therefore the St. Hilda's ladies took Bible classes for Christian women and visited them diligently in their 1 Miss May Bickersteth. 250 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH homes, while efforts to reach the women still not converts were not neglected. The Guild of St. Paul was directly responsible for the financial support of these special missions, and the Bishop always maintained that it was possible to work such special funds in perfect loyalty to the older societies. He would not admit that money partly given out of local interest or on personal grounds deflected any stream of support which would have otherwise come to the S.P.G. or C.M.S. On the contrary he maintained that it unsealed fresh springs of support and enthusiasm, diffusing a wider and more detailed information of a particular mission, thus reacting in the long run on the general sense of responsibility for foreign missions, and enkindling in the whole Church a quickened enthusiasm for fulfilling her Lord's command. The Bishop felt the necessity of having some fund upon which he could draw for those works which in his judgment formed on the spot required immediate atten- tion. The income of St. Paul's Guild has been over 2,ooo/. annually for some years past, the minimum subscription of its members being 2s. 6d. Its accounts are strictly audited every year, and a balance sheet published. No one can estimate the support to the evangelisation of Japan which has come from the systematic prayers and interces- sions offered corporately and individually by the members of the Guild, nor tell how inspiriting has been the enthu- siasm of its large body of voluntary secretaries who work the different branches in England and beyond it. All these schemes were thought out and started on a ' plan ' in the spirit of the quotation placed at the head of this chapter, though according to shortsighted human wisdom they seemed to need for a few years longer Bishop Bickersteth's fostering and inspiring super- MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 25 1 intendence in order that they might develop strongly. The real answer to such fond regrets is perhaps best given in some words of his own, written on July I, 1889, on hearing in Japan of the death of one of the sisters of the Community of the Epiphany at Truro. He wrote : Tell the Mother Superior how much I sympathise not that they will really be the losers for being directly represented in that other world, which perhaps is nearer than we know. Moreover, the sagacity of his successor (Dr. Awdry), the present Bishop of South Tokyo, is another guarantee that the missions will not lack sympathy and discriminating direction. In concluding this chapter, the recollections kindly contributed by Miss Thornton and Miss Bullock may fitly find a place. The no less valuable appreciation sent by the Rev. F. Armine King, Head of St. Andrew's Mission, has been purposely placed at the close of chapter xi. Recollections by Miss Thornton, Member in charge of Evangelistic Work of St. Hilda's Mission Bishop Bickersteth had already planned the establish- ment of an ' associated mission of women workers ' before he left England to enter on his work in Japan. In 1886 I received a letter from him, written on his way out, telling me that he wished to start such a mission of ladies work- ing together under a common rule, and asking me if I would join it, which I did in the following year. Except for his few years in India the Bishop had, I believe, no practical experience in ' common ' life of any sort, and neither had we who came to the mission. It was an experiment, and very great were the difficulties, mistakes, and troubles of the first few years. But his great hopeful- ness and large faith in the power of goodness to conquer carried us through them all, till at last St. Hilda's Mission passed into quieter waters. Personally I never gained more from him than during 2 $2 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII those years of trouble. His endless patience and goodness to us when we were acting wrongly, together with his high standard of what we ought to be, did much to change my whole view of life. Nor did he only train us in the spiritual life, though that was ever first with him. He took care also to train our minds to right thinking on matters of theology. He spoke to us on these matters, not as he might have done as from above, but as mind meeting mind, expecting us to be interested in what was interesting him ; giving us great thoughts in their great- ness, and so leading some of us at least to desire to know more. One of the things which most impressed us in the Bishop was his chivalrous care and thought for the physical well being of all his women workers. Naturally, we of St. Hilda's Mission had most often reason to feel this, but throughout his diocese it was the same. If he came across ladies working in the country, he noticed at once if they were not comfortably housed, or if they were lonely or out of health, and he never forgot in the press ot other business to remedy what was wrong. Several times after a tour in his diocese he has said to me on his return : ' So-and-so wants a change ; will you write and ask her to come and stay with you ? ' Nor with all the claims of his large diocese did he ever fail to find time to minister to those who were sick, whether among his own body of workers or among the English residents in Japan. And most beautiful, strong, and tender were those ministrations. I like, perhaps, most to remember him as the master under whom I worked. Himself keen, full of enthusiasm, and with numberless plans of work in his head, he always had room for the thoughts and plans of his workers and met them with generosity and sympathy. But he de- manded one's best, and claimed that one's whole self should be given to the work. E. THORNTON. Recollections by Miss Bullock, the Member now in charge of St. Hilda's Mission When I came out to St. Hilda's in 1891 the mission was already four years old. I was quite unexpectedly put MISSIONARY METHODS AND COMMUNITY MISSIONS 253 in charge three months afterwards, and was therefore untrained and unprepared. But from the beginning our Bishop was to us all a true father in God, and I ever found him, in small things as well as in great, a most kind and sympathetic guide and friend. His high standard of what was right seemed to lift one up, and make one feel that it was possible only to aim at the highest. One thing that specially helped me in his quiet talks and kindly advice was his warning against being over anxious and busy ; he spoke so much of the need of recollectedness. When he was in Tokyo he used himself to take the weekly Evensong in our own chapel, when, as also on our Quiet Days, the addresses he gave us were full of value. Whether his subject was a character, or an epistle, or some passages in the life of our Lord, he made it live for those he was addressing, sometimes we have felt with an almost startling intuition of individual needs. This was also noticed with our Japanese heads of departments and other workers. For these he might con- ceivably have been a distant force, as it were, behind our- selves. Instead he was a very real friend to each, and they recognised his personality : how much this was so came out chiefly after he was taken from us. His great power of organisation penetrated even into the details of our various works. As, for instance, the little service used daily on opening the school was revised on lines laid down by him in such a way that to his initiative is due a marked raising of the religious tone amongst the pupils. This has recently shown itself in a number of definite requests for baptism. Again, his love for children was shown in his thought for our little orphans. On his visits to us he would often preferably pass through their playground ; and an invita- tion to play in the garden at Bishopstowe or a visit to the country were pleasures he often brought into the children's lives. E. BULLOCK. 254 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH CHAPTER VIII A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE 1888-1893 ' We are Christians of the nineteenth century, not of the first, and must not neglect our heritage. Join me in the prayer that God may enable our Church to guard the heritage which He has committed to us.' Letter from Bishop Edward Bickersteth to the Rev. B. Terasawa, December 31, 1887. IT was on St. Andrew's day 1888 that the Bishop again set foot in Japan, ready to obey the calling of Jesus Christ, and to follow Him without delay. He ' forthwith ' gave himself up to the engrossing interests of his work. The baptised Japanese Christians then under his epis- copal supervision were 1,989 in number, 831 of them being communicants. During 1888, 548 adults and 173 children had been baptised. There were twenty-six ordained missionaries and five Japanese deacons, also twenty-one English ladies and four laymen working in connection with the mission. Besides these there were twenty-four catechists, twenty-one native teachers, and six divinity students. The Bishop wrote at this time : The great disparity between the number of Christians and communicants may be partly, though I fear not wholly, explained by the large number who were awaiting con- firmation at the beginning of the year. The number of baptisms represents the addition through missions of the Church of England to the roll-call of the Nippon Sei Kdkwai. It is a source of constant gratification that in A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 255 labouring for the interests of this nascent communion we are associated closely with our American fellow-Church- men. Christmas brought its customary opportunities for realising Christian fellowship, and the Bishop wrote to his father : Tokyo : December 26, 1888. We had a bright Christmas, though at no time does one long more for England and home, and it is hard to believe that only two months have run by since I left you. On the morning of Christmas Day I attended a Japanese service at which there were some twenty baptisms, includ- ing that of my cook and his two children. His wife has been a Christian for some time. It would be better, I think, to have these baptisms on Christmas Eve ' after the old custom, but the habit has been otherwise here. Then I preached and celebrated at the English service, taking as my text Jude 20, 21, 'your most holy faith,' the Incarna- tion its centre, and the bearing of this on devotion, ' praying in the Holy Ghost.' Afterwards I ran round to the various mission houses. At 4 o'clock two St. Hilda's ladies and one or two others came to tea. At 5 I preached at Kyobashi, one of our city churches, at which the Institute ladies now help in the music. At 7 all the Shaw party, Mrs. Kirkes, Miss MacRae, and the other Institute mistresses, and Miss Braxton Hicks came to dinner. When this was over I left Cholmondeley and King to entertain them, and went to see Nurse Grace and have tea and a short Evensong at St. Hilda's, so I managed to see something of all my flock in this part of Tokyo during the day. On the advisability of one in his position entertaining socially some of the leading English residents from time to time, and thus bringing them and the missionaries together, the Bishop wrote to his father : 1 For some time past this custom which the Bishop advocates has been the practice in the mission at Tokyo. 256 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH I am in the midst of what I only half like a little series of dinner parties. They seem half incongruous with mission work, and yet I believe they do good. Chol- mondeley is an excellent seneschal and King a general favourite. He is a very strong man alike in faith and character, and withal well balanced. There can be no doubt that the Bishop's influence for good was thus extended in Tokyo, and he was an excellent host and keen conversationalist, never happier than when keeping open house. He was also able literally to fulfil the apostolic direction to entertain strangers. Many Englishmen travelling in the Far East came to Tokyo, and were always sure of a welcome and hospitality. On his return to Japan the Bishop found himself in the new year, like Janus of old, compelled to face both ways, south and north, as in both directions work was claiming his attention. ' I had planned to leave Tokyo at the beginning of the month' (he wrote January 25, 1889, to his ever faithful Guild of St. Paul), ' but I had miscalcu- lated the capacity of accumulation which work possesses during the absence of workers.' After conducting a Quiet Day for his clergy in Tokyo he determined first of all to visit the stations in Kiushiu. There was still no continuous railway communication from Tokyo southwards, so the 650 miles to his southernmost station of Kagoshima l was best covered by boat. Some selections from letters to the Bishop of Exeter will describe this journey. Nagoya [half-way between Tokyo and Osaka] : February I, 1889. I came here by sea, leaving Yokohama at four in the afternoon, and reaching this about the same time next day. The town lies at the head of Owari Bay, the upper waters 1 It was at this port (called by him Cangoxima) that Francis Xavier landed on August 15, 1549. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 257 of which are so shallow that the large steamers cannot navigate them, so for three hours one is confined to a launch. I made friends with the steersman, and sat in a corner of the wheelhouse studying Japanese and practising on my companion. The mission l here is only two months old. . . . This town is a stronghold of Buddhism. It and Kyoto are now its chief centres. This morning I called on a singularly able and attractive Buddhist priest, Nanju by name, who spent seven years in England, five of them at Oxford learning Sanscrit, and has since been in India, His influence is good as far as it goes. I should think on the whole he is against idolatry, and he teaches the older and generally speaking nobler ethics of his faith, but he holds no Christian doctrine. Sunday, February 3, was spent at Gifu, twenty miles further inland than Nagoya, the Bishop confirming a few candidates, and addressing a large audience in a hall usually devoted to professional story-telling (a recognised Eastern way of obtaining a livelihood) on the subject ' What is Religion ? ' Several Buddhist priests were present. Then, after a very rough journey occupying the whole day, Osaka was reached, and on Sunday, February 10, besides confirming in one of the churches, the Bishop held a confirmation in the house of an old lady eighty-eight years of age. He wrote : She was herself the candidate. It was touching to hear that when she was told she could gain eternal life in Christ, she had replied that that was the last thing she desired ; the life she had lived with its many troubles had been quite sufficiently long. Now she seemed to be singularly happy in her faith. When I gave her her confirmation card, and asked her to use the prayer printed 1 This mission, supported by the dioceses of Huron and Ontario, was sent out with the Bishop's consent. It first consisted of the Rev. J. Cooper Robinson and his wife, who were afterwards joined by fellow-labourers, and the whole mission in the provinces of Mino and Ovvari was eventually affiliated to the Canadian branch of the C.M.S. 258 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH on it, she read it off without difficulty. Her son, a grey- haired man, is also a Christian. After visiting Kobe, and presiding at a meeting where representatives for the Church council were chosen, the Bishop proceeded to Nagasaki, ' where ten Christian medical students who had recently come from Kumamoto to attend the Government Medical Training School promise to be a real support to the little congregation.' He writes to his father : February 18, 1889. I had a perfect voyage down here, full moon and waveless sea ; among my companions a Presbyterian minister going to recruit in China, and the Vicar Apostolic of a province in China on the borders of Tartary, an edu- cated and courteous Italian who spoke English very fairly. I had a good deal of talk with him, and was surprised to find that though not a Bishop he had leave from the Pope to confirm ; truly Popes take liberties ! Roman Catholics certainly can teach us by their readiness to bear hardships. This man and his priests are at times subject to most serious privations, I should fear. In Japan a Roman priest gets one-seventh of what C.M.S. and S.P.G. allow to an unmarried deacon. Of course, they can only live on the food of the country. Would that they had a less encum- .bered faith! ... I confirmed nineteen yesterday, making more than one hundred during the last five weeks. I expect to start for Kagoshima to-morrow. It is my most southernly station. Again : Nagasaki: February 24, 1889. Kagoshima, where I have been, is one of the places in Japan which is most difficult of access ; five days' journey from here by land, and only occasional steamers every ten days or so. I was therefore forced to go and come back by the same steamer, and expected to have only a few hours there. As it was, I had a day and a half. The little congregation has made some progress. I confirmed nine, and in the evening went out to a village in the suburbs A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 2 59 where several have recently been baptised, and where one of the Christians opened his house for a preaching. There may perhaps be a considerable ingathering there. One poor lonely American is living in the town, a Mr. S . He has been engaged to teach through the Japanese Legation in Washington. I called on him with Archdeacon Maundrell. He was very glad to have English-speaking visitors. I was pleased to find that he has a Bible class among his students. He is the only, or all but the only, man I know in Japan, apart from missionaries, who is doing this. We had fine weather both ways in a prover- bially stormy part of Japanese waters. Leaving Kumamoto on February 28 in jinrickshas, the little village of Koye was reached at 7.30, ' but as Mr. Brandram wished to see each candidate again separately, the confirmation did not take place till between 12 and I at night.' Notwithstanding this, the Bishop continues : Next morning we were early on our way, and journeyed the whole day in jinrickshas to the foot of a range of moun- tains which runs from the centre of the island to the east coast. At one place on our way we had the pleasure of calling on a Christian doctor. The next day, Saturday, March 2, should have seen us at Kami No Mura, a walk of twenty-five miles, but we were fairly defeated, after accomplishing ten miles, by rain and mud. New and excellent roads are rapidly being pushed throughout the length and breadth of Japan, but none yet towards the mountain ridges and valleys that lay in our route that day. It was the policy of the old rulers to keep the lines of communication between themselves and their neighbours in the condition which might be thought to oppose the greatest obstacles to invaders of their own territory. The storm cleared off in the night, and Sunday morning broke fair and sunny ; so I determined to keep my engagement that evening, but it took us till near night- fall to get through the river of mud into which the previous day's storm had transformed the greater part of our road. A band of young Christian men come out to greet us some two miles before we reached our destination. There seems 260 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH much vigour and life in the little congregation of this remote mountain village. I was guest of the village doctor, a most friendly host, but I fear not a genuine enquirer. Among those confirmed was a girl who had read the New Testa- ment through five times in a year ; also two brothers of the headman of the village. The headman himself also came to see me ; in figure and bearing he is one of the most striking Japanese that I have met. I quite trust that he will shortly follow his brothers' example. Our itinerary for the next four days stood thus : Monday, March 4. Walk twenty-two miles to a place called Shinmachi. Tuesday, March 5. Walk some four miles ; descend a rapid river by boat for six hours, which takes us to Nobeoka on the east coast formerly a daimio's city, and still a place of importance. Old traditions here prevail which are obsolete in other parts of Japan, for instance, that special reverence is due to the ' samurai ' class. Still there is a strong spirit of religious enquiry abroad among the people. The first conversions were due to the work of a young Christian schoolmaster, who was himself baptised by Mr. Lloyd several years since in Tokyo. The congrega- tion now contains several persons of importance in the town. Fourteen were confirmed, after which the Christians entertained me at tea. Wednesday, March 6. We left Nobeoka early ; a considerable body of the Christians accompanied us the first two miles. We had now turned northward, and our route was over a lofty mountain pass. We accomplished twenty-eight miles on foot by nightfall. Thursday, March 7. We walked the same distance as the day before, amid some finer scenery. In the evening, from 6 till II, we enjoyed being rowed some fifteen miles further down a river under a bright moonlit sky. We finished our journey shortly after midnight at Oita. The last stage was by jinrikshas. Friday, tJie St/i. We stayed at Oita. This is one of four stations recently established by the Native Missionary vSociety ; the other three are on the main island. The agent is one of our best workers, well known in the neighbour- hood as a scholar of the old school. The station was commenced last year. Eight were presented for confima- tion. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 26l From Fukuoka, a large town on the west coast of Kiushiu, the Bishop wrote to his father : March 12, 1889. I have been travelling hard and fast, early and late, to get round this rapidly growing mission. The number of places has doubled nearly where confirmations are required since I first came to Kiushiu two years ago, and the number of Christians is, I should think, threefold. If labourers can be found and sent forth speedily, there is, I believe, more likeli- hood here of a large ingathering than in any other part of the East that I have visited. . . . Nakatsu I left yesterday morning and travelled through here in jinrikshas eighty miles 5 A.M. to 12 midnight. It was too late when I arrived to knock up Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, so I went to an inn for the night, and came here to breakfast this morning. After leaving Fukuoka, the Bishop spent four days in visiting ten mountain villages. In one of these, Oyamada, 150 out of 200 inhabitants are Christian. It was a new and delightful experience which I may perhaps be allowed to enjoy more frequently in the future to find a whole village en fete, and to be welcomed as their Bishop by what seemed to be the whole population. On his return to Tokyo in March the Bishop set to work to issue his second Pastoral. In a letter to his father (March 30, 1889) he says : I have been very busy this week chiefly preparing my Lent Pastoral to the clergy, which, I suppose, will become an institution. I think that they are useful ... I have said something on the Lambeth Conference Pastoral from a missionary Bishop's point of view. You will not, I fear, wholly agree with me, and yet I do not know that you will very much disagree. My chief point is that all these disputes weaken energies which ought to be spent on missions, whether home or foreign. In the Pastoral (dated St. Andrew's House, Shiba, 262 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Tokyo, April 2, 1889), after alluding to matters of local interest, the Bishop thus referred to mutual relations between the various branches of the Anglican communion : A Conference constituted as was that at Lambeth is particularly fitted to consider questions which arise between the various branches and dioceses of the Anglican com- munion. It was not, however, found necessary to do more than repeat the recommendations of the Conference of 1878. These have formed the basis of our action in this country, and have been found to possess great practical convenience. He then passed to the question of Re-union : No one could have doubted that re-union with Christians who have separated from us, whether on grounds of doctrine or organisation, was the earnest and heartfelt desire of every member of the conference. The course which was taken in adopting, as a basis on which negotia- tions could be profitably carried on, the four points which had already been laid down by the Convention of the American Church namely, the Bible, the Creeds, the Sacraments, and Episcopacy may be found in God's Providence hereafter to have been a real step in advance towards the solution of a practical question of very great difficulty. It was felt that these points constitute on our part an irreducible minimum, beyond which concession would be unfaithfulness to inherited trust. I regret not to be able to think that the present moment is favourable for taking any further action on this matter in Japan. 1 There is no likelihood that the fourfold basis which the conference accepted would commend itself immediately to any of the numerous religious bodies which are represented in this country. We shall not allow delay to lessen desire. The Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to the Metro- politan of Kieff on the occasion of the nine hundredth anniversary of the conversion of Russia and the speech in reply of the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod led him 1 See chapter ix. p. 317. A MISSIONARY BISHOr'S LIFE. 1888-1893 263 to refer to ' the mission of the Russian Church in Japan presided over by a prelate of lofty Christian spirit and untiring energy,' and to continue : Negotiations with a view to organic union would at present be premature, and probably could not with advantage be in the first instance carried on in a country so distant from the chief centres of Church life in the two communions as is Japan. Nor would it seem to me wise to attempt to ignore the doctrinal differences which divide us. Still the missions of two Churches, whose representatives meet in the eastern mission field for the first time in this country, will have contributed something in furtherance of a sacred cause if they cultivate brotherly intercourse and continue to work side by side with the rivalry only of doing most in the service of their ' Lord and God.' The report of the committee (on which he had himself sat) on ' authoritative standards of doctrine and worship ' and the section of the Encyclical Letter founded on the report, together with the corresponding resolutions of the conference, he thus commended to their careful considera- tion : These have all an important bearing on our work here. It would not seem to me desirable at present to re-open the question of the position to be assigned to our Anglican Prayer Book and Articles by the Japanese Church. 1 It is a question of very great difficulty, and the compromise arrived at in the Synod of 1887 may well be for the present maintained. At the same time, not many years can elapse before it will again present itself for consideration. You will notice alike the cautious language of the conference and the real relaxation which it recommends of existing bonds. The Bishop then reminded his readers that the promul- gation of the Japanese Constitution in February would 1 See chapter ix. p. 339. 264 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH always mark the year (1889) as an important epoch in the national history . Not the least noticeable section is that which secures liberty of religious worship to all subjects of the empire. Christianity, which less than twenty years ago was a proscribed faith, thus attains to the position of a religio licita. For the moment the pre-occupation of the people, especially in the capital and great cities, with political questions militates against a spirit of earnest religious inquiry. This will cease to be the case as the possession of political privileges becomes familiar to the popular mind, while the public recognition of religious freedom will remain as a permanent acquisition. The words of De Tocqueville, ' Men never so much need to be theocratic as when they are most democratic,' suggest a warning and a hope. After noting 'two new claimants for the religious allegiance of Japan, Unitarian and Theosophist,' and giving reasons for the statement that ' both were strenuous opponents of the Catholic faith,' the Bishop concluded with a reference to the ritual controversies which then affected the Church in England : ! The fortunes of the Church in our own country affect us immediately. I earnestly hope that 2 the trial at law on ritual questions, now being carried on, will be the last of a series which have broken the peace and weakened the influence of the Church for nearly forty years. . . . The principle that omission is prohibition has only a limited applicability. Were it rigorously enforced, unless at the same time the rubrics were made far more elaborate and minute, after the manner of those in the Roman service books, it would be impossible to perform many of our offices. Under these circumstances, the questions which we should ask in regard to ritual matters seem to be three : (i) Is there a clear direction on the point in the Book of Common Prayer? If so, the matter is settled in the view 1 Compare chapter xi. pp. 419-421. * The Bishop of Lincoln's case. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 265 of the loyal Churchman. I may add, as the matter has been misunderstood, that no Bishop has authority to set aside the directions of the Prayer Book when they can be carried out. (2) If the Prayer Book is silent, is the pro- posed custom or rite in accordance with the tradition of the Church, not merely a modern Roman use, not over- minute and fidgetty, not obliquely indicative of doctrine which at best is only a ' private interpretation ; ' or if an innovation, is it strictly in accordance with the spirit of the Prayer Book ? The introduction of hymns, for which little if any provision is made in the rubrics, and the choice of particular hymns are instructive examples under this head. (3) If the question is still an open one, what is the desire of the best educated and most devout lay communicants ? Very little practical difficulty will occur when ritual questions by this method are approached in a tolerant spirit, such as on all external matters the very nature of the Gospel requires. If a reasonable doubt remains, recourse should be had, in accordance with the direction of the Preface in the Prayer Book, to the Diocesan, and if necessary through him to the Archbishop. The Bishop also has a claim to be consulted before practices are adopted for which, however desirable or even necessary under novel circumstances, the Prayer Book does not make provision. I am thankful that among ourselves there is, with considerable variety of practice, little disagreement and frequent co-operation. I add a few words in reference to the decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Whether or no these decisions could be enforced beyond the limits of British rule is a point on which I have not been able to obtain information. I am unable to agree with those who hold that the committee is an ecclesiastical court, or that its judgments represent the living voice of the Church. Were this the case, it would follow that the Church could no longer claim to be the interpreter of divine revelation to her children and to the nation. She would have abdicated this high function in favour of a body of lawyers, to whom indeed all respect is due for their office and talents, but who need not necessarily be, and some of whom are not, believers in the Christian faith. As a communion she would rapidly cease to command respect or elicit enthu- 266 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH siasm. Her foreign missions mould be among the first to wither and decay. Such a position has never been accepted by any branch of the Church, even in days when Em- perors presided in CEcumenical Councils. The true position and authority of the court can only be understood by a consideration of the successive statutes through which it has come to be constituted as at present. The general result of such an investigation is, I believe, to establish that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as well as the court established by the Public Worship Act, are civil tribunals, and that the ecclesiastical courts are mainly in abeyance. For such an investigation this letter does not afford space. As, however, they may not be known to you and are valuable by way of illustration, while we are engaged in framing the Canons of the Japanese Church, I have quoted in the Appendix * the exact words of one of the chief statutes bearing on the subject of the Reformation period. It is an important point gained that thoughtful Churchmen of all schools are agreed on the necessity of the reform of our own legal procedure. In regard to the whole matter, we are called upon to offer earnest prayer to Almighty God that the present ritual differences may be speedily adjusted. It is impos- sible to deny that there are in our communion a few clergy who desire to re-introduce Roman doctrines and practices. Their number I believe to be diminishing. The attempt is so plainly inconsistent with loyalty to the Prayer Book that I doubt not that if left to the steady discountenance of ecclesiastical authority, and met by sober argument, it will speedily die away. On the other hand, unusual opportunities of personal observation, continued now through many years, enable me to bear witness that in the mission field adherents of cither Church party work with equal loyalty, equal zeal, and equal love of our Master. To both He at times grants the seal of success. To narrow, in the way that is being attempted, the basis of the Anglican communion would bring immediate loss to her evangelistic enterprises. At the same time there can be no doubt that energies are being wasted and frittered on these controversies which if otherwise employed would suffice to give a new impulse alike to our home and missionary work. It is surely more than time that they 1 He quoted 24 Henry VIII. c. 19. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 267 were disengaged from the present disputes and directed to nobler and diviner ends. On Easter Eve of this year the Bishop ordained two candidates for the priesthood, and of this he writes : The rain came down in torrents, and thinned the con- gregation ; but the service my first ordination to the Priesthood was, I think, solemn and well and carefully conducted. About this time he was much cheered by a grant from the S.P.C.K. for the hospital he desired to start in connec- tion with St. Hilda's, and he wrote enthusiastically to his father : I am morally convinced that they could not employ their surplus funds better than in the ways I point out, and shall be only too glad to find that they see the same ! Seriously, they are an excellent society. I should not have known what to do without their help towards St. Hilda's Building Fund. In the same letter he wrote : I was drawing up Canons on Clergy Discipline last week with Bishop Williams, a most difficult business, but we had the help of the last and best productions of the American dioceses. The second Biennial Synod of the Nippon Sei Kokwai was held at Tokyo after Easter. The Bishop entertained Mr. (now Bishop) and Mrs. Evington, Archdeacon Maundrell, and Mr. Brandram as his guests, and one evening had a reception for all the Japanese and English missionaries, ' which Cholmondeley managed excellently,' and, as usual, he was delighted to fill his house with his fellow-missionaries. He wrote home, May 3, 1889 : The Synod has gone very well hitherto, I think ; plenty of talk but not without result, and gradually the Japanese are being educated to their responsibilities. 268 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH And again : Much time was occupied in debate on small points, but some things were of real importance, such as ' Rules for the trial of clergy ' and ' Pastor Funds.' At present the congregations pay directly to the clergy, which I think the worst plan of all. I hope that the new rules 1 which I suggested will gradually break up this plan. You would have been interested in seeing the body of Japanese dele- gates gathered from all parts of the country. I will send a photograph, but, alas, Bishop Williams, the chairman, is not in it. He has a horror of photographs, and made off when it was taken. Towards the end of April the Bishop was free to start with his domestic chaplain, the Rev. L. B. Cholmondeley, for the northern island of Yezo. Of this journey he writes to his father from Hakodate : May 21, 1889. We (Cholmondeley and I) left Tokyo last Thursday. W r e had a good ship the Yamashiro Maru by name her commander is Captain Young, with whom I have now made a good many voyages. During the summer months the wind blows mainly from the east, so that there is an almost incessant swell on the east coast of our main island. We reached here at five on Sunday morning. Some Japanese came off early to meet me. Mr. Andrews, the missionary here, brought us ashore at seven. We had Japanese service with Holy Communion at nine, English service, at which I preached, at ten, and a confirmation in the afternoon. There were eight candidates, several of them persons of position and intelligence. I have two other places to visit, one Horobetsu, where I went nearly three years ago among the Ainu ; the other, Kushiro, a place about 200 miles off to the north-east. By land it is a journey of at least ten days, but by water, if there is no fog, of only twenty-four hours. We feared there was no 1 The proposal was that a central fund of 2,ooo/. should be raised, the interest of which would be used to augment salaries of pastorates, and into which would be paid all salaries of churches wholly or partly self-supporting, and out of which would be paid all salaries of pastors or unordained agents. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 269 steamer going, but were much relieved last night to find that one starts to-morrow morning. Andrews and Cholmondeley will accompany me. I am afraid that unless something detains our ship we shall only get a few hours at the place. However, there will be time enough just to greet a brave lady, Miss Payne by name, who is our solitary representative there, and to have Holy Communion and a confirmation. Then, next week I hope to get to Horobetsu, and possibly back again to Tokyo for Whit Sunday. I have promised them a Quiet Day at St. Hilda's, if it can be managed, the Saturday before. And again, writing from Tokyo, June 5, 1889, he says : I got back (after travelling 2,000 miles in seventeen days) on Sunday night from the North, out of a land where fires are still necessary to hot summer weather. All the officers except the one on duty were present at a service I held in the saloon in the morning. I used the prayer for protection at sea, and an hour after we were near being in great danger. A strong wind and current had set the ship back much more than the captain had calculated, and in consequence he attempted in a fog to run round a cape too- soon. Providentially he discovered his mistake just in time. On June 24 the Bishop left Tokyo by the new railway, and was absent in Southern Japan till July /. That summer he spent the first week of his holidays at Miyano- shita, a beautiful spot 1,500 feet above the sea level. Writing to his father, August 2, 1889 (the sixteenth anni- versary of his mother's death), he said : I am thinking of this day sixteen years ago. With your present I have had set in gold a cross cut from a tree in Pembroke Gardens, 300 or 400 years old, which Prior gave me. My brother Pembroke Bishop (New Westminster) has done the same thing. He then went for a few days to Haruna, whence he wrote : 2/0 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH I am trying to write at a little table at a priest's house in the priestly village of Haruna, a mountain village in the province of Kotouke, still a great place of pilgrimage. The five mistresses of the institute are my hostesses, and most thoughtful and hospitable they are a pleasant combina- tion of learning and physical energy. This autumn was marked by the consecration of St. Hilda's Chapel and of the Church of Good Hope in the Mita district of Tokyo. Of the former some account has been given in the preceding chapter. Of the latter the Bishop wrote to his father : Yesterday I consecrated (or dedicated, as we more often call it here, where such acts have no legal force) the Church of the Good Hope which Lloyd had erected. The congregation is a remarkable one, gathered out of a great school, and in consequence of considerable intelligence. From October 21 to the end of November was occupied by a long journey west, and on his return to Tokyo on December 2 he wrote to his father : I dined at a dinner of the Tokyo Club on Tuesday. Sir Edwin Arnold made a speech. With some things that were very good and true he coupled most unfounded claims, as I thought, on behalf of Buddhism. Plainly he did not understand that the Japanese section of his audience (mostly University professors and newspaper editors) was utterly incredulous of any single Buddhistic tenet. I had a good deal of talk with him afterwards. He spoke very reverently of Our Lord, and told me how he had visited Palestine with the view of writing a poem on the Gospels, but that the subject had seemed to him too great and he had relinquished the idea. I got him to admit verbally that ethics without a creed are powerless. Yesterday a great church was consecrated which Bishop Williams has built. I took part in a Japanese service in the morning, and an English in the afternoon. It is far the most imposing building which we have out here, and will, I dare say, with a crush take in 600 A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 2/1 worshippers. It ought to be an addition to our strength and usefulness. The architecture is very simple and good I think. Alluding to his frequent journeys, many of which now began to be possible by rail, the Bishop wrote : I go first class for three reasons : (i) it is cheap here ; (2) I meet people whom I want to meet ; (3) I can sleep better, and so work when I get in. But I admit that the other practice is much more suitable for a missionary Bishop. The ordination to the priesthood at Tokyo on the Fourth Sunday in Advent of John Imai, his frequent interpreter and constant companion, for whom he had a great regard, was an event of deep interest to the Bishop. He wrote to his father : The ordination last Sunday was a singularly happy service, and very nicely conducted. The church was crowded. The singing of the ' Veni Creator ' in a Japanese version, while young Imai was kneeling in the midst, very helpful and uplifting. Besides Imai three deacons were ordained. Mr. Batchelor, the missionary to the Ainu, was ordained on Saturday, a less helpful service from lack of congregation. Writing on December 26, 1889, to his father he said : * Except that it was this side of the world and not that, we had a very happy Christmas ; ' while, on January 4, he gave the first hint of a castle in the air which he had begun sedulously to build. So we are in the nineties. 1880 saw you in India. Would that 1890 might see you in Japan, or, at least, in Canada, where I could meet you for a few weeks. He had need of some bright anticipation, for the new year brought a break-down of the health of Archdeacon 2/2 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Maundrell, who left on furlough, but was never allowed by the doctors to return to Japan. Also at this time some developments of teaching in one of the Divinity colleges involving uncertainty about the Godhead of Our Lord gave him acute and serious apprehension. The Bishop began the new year with a Quiet Day for his Tokyo clergy, taking as his subject ' Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest.' On St. Paul's Day (his father's birthday), mindful that Japan is the first land on which the sun rises, he wrote : I was the first to offer prayers for you on your birthday, between 12 and I in the small hours of the morning. A very happy day and year to you, dearest and best of fathers. The next day he heard of the death of Bishop J. B. Lightfoot, of Durham, his former tutor and constant friend, more especially during the Delhi days. Many letters of this time contain allusion to his great sense of personal bereavement through the Bishop's death. On January 27 he wrote to his father : Yesterday brought me the too sad news of the Bishop of Durham's death. I cannot think why it was not telegraphed. As it was, I heard of it through an American Church paper. What a mysterious Providence, which spared him a year ago and let him go back to that service of thanksgiving in his cathedral, and then took him from us. I do not know that there is anyone in whom judgment and learning and goodness have been more remarkably combined among the great men of the English Church. No one can take his place, and no one will be more missed alike in the struggles and the labours of the next twenty years. But even cut short as it has been, it was a beautiful life and a noble example, a great gift for awhile, and in a sense for always. But the world feels poorer, and the undoubted dangers ahead more dangerous now that his A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 273 counsel and wisdom in the earthly sense are no longer ours. Personally, like all his pupils, I owe him a debt quite beyond repayal. It is a pleasure to look back to frequent intercourse with him in Cambridge and London, and Bishop Auckland and Scotland. And to me he wrote : February 17, 1890. The world seems different to me with the Bishop of Durham no longer here. I feel his death to have left a greater blank than perhaps anyone's could outside our immediate circle. My debt to him, both for teaching and counsel, is beyond estimate. He combined in an extra- ordinary way qualifications which others are endowed with separately. Learning which was prodigious and yet in full and facile command, a sympathy which was ready and heartfelt, and at the same time a strong practical grasp of immediate circumstances. Well, if it is not wrong to sorrow it would be wrong not to thank God for so great a gift to the English Church, and to many outside its pale, as his life and work have been. A matter of great importance the extension of the Episcopate in Japan now began to occupy his thoughts. He wrote to his father : I am thinking over whether it would not be well to ask the Archbishop to promote a scheme (say next year) for the establishment of a South Japan bishopric. The more I see of this work the more I feel that it wants constant looking after of the kind that a Bishop only can give. Priests are so made that they resent superintendence from brother priests as interference. The work here is essentially different from England. There a village goes on quite well if the Bishop preaches in the church once in five years not so a mission station. For efficiency he should be seen once or twice every year. Now Japan is nigh 2,000 miles long, and my most northern station twelve days' journey from my most southern. Kiushiu, the southern island, by itself is as large as Ireland, and has double the population of Ireland. The number of clergy and Christians has more than doubled in these four years. 274 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Undoubtedly, if there were two Bishops the work would be better looked after and better done. Further, in the southern half of the country all the clergy but one are C.M.S. Therefore probably that society would promote such a scheme. Please tell me what you think. I shall ask one or two of the more experienced clergy here, and will let you know what they say. If they and finally the Archbishop agreed, I might conceivably take a month in England some time to get the many details settled. In February he attended a meeting of the Bible Society and got them to appoint a committee ' on the revision of the New Testament (Japanese), which badly needs it.' There was no part of his episcopal work for which Bishop Edward Bickersteth was more fitted by tempera- ment and training than the duty of ' showing faithfulness and diligence in driving away erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word,' especially those which, if unchecked, would tend, through being unbalanced state- ments, to destroy the proportion of faith. As used by him, the word ' Catholic ' chiefly meant ' proportionate.' A proof of this is the careful letter, formal and yet affectionate, which he wrote at this time to the students in the Divinity Colleges of the Holy Trinity, Osaka, and of St. Andrew, Tokyo. Addressing the students as his ' dear sons in Christ/ the Bishop, after referring to his direct responsibility in regard to those who were preparing to receive Holy Orders at his hands, proceeds : The re- But the Bishop is still ' as chief pastor ultimately bllityofa res P ons it>le for the care of souls within his diocese,' and Bishop is bound from time to time to exercise his office by letter or by word of mouth. As my office bids me, then, I propose in this letter to point out to you the reasons why you are bound to be loyal and dutiful members of our Nippon Sei K5kwai, and both to live and die within her pale. Circum- stances to which I need not refer make the subject one n man- A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 275 of special interest to you at the present time. In order to do so, I must go back to the very beginning of the Christian Church. The Catholic Church was, as you know, founded on The value the Day of Pentecost. The representatives of many nations of ' The assembled in Jerusalem for the feast and gathered by the Apostles' 6 one baptism into its fold were a symbol of its catholicity. The Acts of the Apostles, as the Greek title implies, is not a complete history, but a selection of typical acts of the Apostles and their companions, from which, in con- junction with the contemporary apostolic epistles, later ages may learn the true principles of spiritual life and work. Now what were the chief duties imposed by the ascended but ever present Christ on the apostolic Church ? They may be summed up as follows : i. To witness to, without subtraction or addition, and The to hand down to their successors the essential elements of the Lord's own teaching and a true account of His life on earth. You know how they carried out this great charge, taining They filled up at once the number of the apostolic com- Wltness pany (Acts i. 21, 22). The first disciples were placed under regular instruction. ' They continued in the Apostles' docrine ' (see Acts ii. 42 and compare St. Matt. xxviii. 20 and St. Luke. i. 4). They had no sacred books of their own, but they appealed to the conformity of what they taught with the Old Testament. (See Acts xxvi. 22, 23, and 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16.) The Apostles stayed together for at least twelve years in Jerusalem. During that time they determined what were the typical and representative parts of the manifold teaching of our Lord which it was especially important should be taught and handed down by the growing number of Christian evangelists, and also shaped the outlines of the creed (see Rom. vi. 17, R.V.). I notice in passing that it is very important for you, Attacks on who as teachers will be called upon to defend the Christian th Faith, faith, to meditate often and carefully on the early history of the faith and the Church. Many of the attacks on the them Christian faith in western lands, and particularly on the truth of our Lord's resurrection, are founded on supposed discrepancies in the written Gospels. The books contain- ing these attacks are imported in large numbers into this country. These points must be carefully considered, but 2/6 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH (2) In maintain- ing wor- ship (3) In maintain- ing the Ministry the truth of Christianity does not depend on the solution of such literary problems. It is often impossible, owing to our want of knowledge of all that took place, to answer such attacks completely. On the other hand, a true appreciation of the origin and growth of the Church is the best refutation of sceptical arguments. The Church of the first century is an inexplicable phenomenon apart from the truth of the Resurrection. 2. The second great duty of the early Church was to maintain in a way acceptable to Him the worship of Almighty God. Judaism had done this in its day. With Pentecost the Church succeeded to its office. Now, had the first duty that I mentioned not been performed, the second would have been impossible. If the knowledge of our Lord's teaching about God the Father had been lost or obscured, or if the facts of His incarnation, death, and resurrection had not been correctly handed down, the way of access to God which Christ had opened would, as far as individual believers were concerned, have been closed. The disciple who had been baptised into the Holy Name and received, we may gather, the laying on of hands (n.b. the future tense in Acts ii. 38) continued in the ap- pointed prayers (n.b. the article in the Greek of Acts ii. 42). The Holy Communion was constantly celebrated, not as a mere symbolic ceremony to be occasionally resorted to, but as a real means of grace ' by the which God doth work invisibly in us ' ; it was called the Communion of the Body and of the Blood of Christ (see i Cor. x. 16 and Article XXV.). Psalms and hymns were a constituent part of the service, and before the death of the last Apostle considerable progress had been made in the composition of a Christian liturgy. The object of the service was not only the edification of individuals but to pay homage to God. 3. Very soon after the Gospel spread beyond the limits of Palestine, a regular ministry was ordained (see Acts xiv. 23 &c.). This was necessary both for the sake of preserving the Gospel teaching inviolate and for the instruction of Church members and enquirers, and also to carry out ' decently and in order ' Christian worship and to maintain discipline. Many discussions have arisen in regard to the exact form of this ministry. Three points are clear and you should keep them well in memory; A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 (a) There is no evidence that anyone undertook the regu- lar public ministry of the Church unless he had received a commission to do so from those who had themselves received authority to give it to him. We never find that theordina- the body of believers conferred orders, (b} There is tion to evidence that before the death of St. John the Church ^ lc t h b possessed, both in places where the Jewish and in places received, where the Gentile element predominated, the three-fold not self- order of ministry. This ministry, as the most learned im P sed n~ i r i , 1 i nor reear- Bishop of modern times, who has just passed to his rest, ded'as a said, ' was the outcome of the ripened wisdom of the mere cere- apostolic age.' (c) Ordination was not regarded as a mony mere ceremony nor the offices of the Church as secular institutions. On the contrary, the laying on of hands was believed to be accompanied by gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who Himself conferred the several offices. St. Paul's words on this point are express (see Acts xx. 28, I Tim. iv. 14, 2 Tim. i, 16), Those who have denied this have too often denied also the authenticity of the canonical books from which we learn it. The work of the Church to-day is essentially the same To-day, as in the first age. There are no doubt some striking differ- ew errors, T - .... .... . but the ences. Instead of the living voice of Apostles and their church's immediate companions and successors we have the written duty the records and letters of the New Testament. Again, new forms same of error have arisen unknown to the first century of which the two chief are Romanism, which interferes with the one- ness of Christ's mediation, and Calvinism, sometimes called Puritanism, which narrows and obscures the love of God our Father. These systems are not less dangerous because good men have adopted both the one and the other. But these differences do not essentially alter the character of the Church's work. We, too, have to guard and hand down the whole faith all things, that is, which Christ imme- diately or through the Holy Spirit abiding in them com- manded the Apostles to do or teach. We, too, have to maintain the Christian rites and worship, baptism, con- firmation, prayer, absolution, and Holy Communion. We, too, have to cherish the true conception of, and to hand down through regular channels, the Orders of the Christian Ministry not allowing a mistaken charity to make us think that these matters are of no importance. Apply what I have been saying to the subject of 278 BISHOP EDWARD EICKERSTETH Seven questions for a well- instructed Japanese Christian allegiance to the Nippon Sei Kokwai. Every thoughtful and instructed Christian has a right to ask such questions as these : Does the communion into which I am baptised offer me all the advantages which are the lawful inheritance of Christian people ? Does it allow me free access to the Holy Scriptures ? Is its Ministry lawfully derived from the Apostles by a regular succession ? Are the Holy Sacra- ments and comfirmation duly administered? Are its forms of worship consonant with the evangelical and apostolic teaching, Christ alone being regarded as the one Mediator ? Does it, on the one hand, duly administer discipline and on the other maintain the lawful freedom of individuals ? Do its ministers rightly declare the absolu- tion of sins to penitent persons in Christ's name ? And if an affirmative answer can be given to such questions, then he is bound to abide in the communion into which he has been baptised, and to leave that communion for another not possessing these privileges would be for him a sin, because he would be neglecting the means which God had placed in his hands to prepare, him for the world to come. After pointing out that the Nippon Sei Kokwai possessed all these privileges, the Bishop concluded : It is for us the highest of all privileges to have had committed to us all that is needed to maintain and extend a living branch of the Church of God. In no case can the results be unimportant of the establishment in your land, at a time so eventful and critical in its national history, of a Church which maintains alike historical continuity with the Church of the Apostles and a full and unadulterated faith. May God give you His holy blessing, prays your father in God, EDW. BlCKERSTETH, Bishop. S. Andrew's House, hiba, Tokyo : February 1890. The extracts at such length from this Pastoral Letter to Divinity Students seem justified as it is one out of many instances of the sensitive and careful watchfulness A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 279 which the Bishop endeavoured to keep over his flock. Sometimes also discipline with regard to moral failure had to be exerted, and commenting about this time on the conduct of some students, he writes : King has shown great skill in his management of the whole affair. He is, like St. Stephen, ir^p^s TT/O-TSWS real In the Annual Lenten Pastoral he mentioned, as prin- cipal among the events of importance in the Church in Japan during the last twelve months, ' the resignation by Bishop Williams of the active duties of the episcopate after a period of labour in Japan considerably exceeding a quarter of a century.' None can grudge him the rest which has long been due. The most affectionate respect will follow him in his retire- ment. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Bishop was able to preside in April last over a fully constituted meeting of the synod which he had so large a share in organising. After another month's tour confirming and ordaining, In company, first, of the Rev. H. Evington (of the C.M.S., now Bishop of Kiushiu), and then of the Rev. H. J. Foss (of the S.P.G., now Bishop of Osaka), visiting the missions, the Bishop took part on March 10 at Osaka in the opening of the Girls' School, built as a memorial of his predecessor, Bishop Poole, whose brief episcopate had ended on July 14, 1885 an episcopate which he described as ' of briefest duration but fullest influence, and a death lamented alike within and beyond our own Church.' On April 17 the Bishop dined at the British Legation to meet the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. H.R.H. the Duchess consented with gracious readiness to the Bishop's request that she should lay the foundation stone of St. Hilda's Hospital. He wrote to his father : 280 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH I have seen a good deal of both. They say that they know you. Nothing could have been kinder than they were. They let me present to them anyone that I liked in the garden after the stone-laying, so that I had the opportunity of gratifying a good many people. It is a good thing that the Japanese should see our Prince and Princess publicly acknowledge and support a work con- nected with a mission. In the same letter he rejoices that ' Dr. Westcott goes to Durham. I have only half known Cambridge since 1879, and now shall scarcely seem to know it at all.' He then started west again for a five weeks' tour, often in out-of-the-way places. This spring he felt sure enough of his command of language to venture on extempore preaching in Japan, and writes to his Father : January 27, 1890. I gave an extempore address in Japanese for the first time in church a stumbling affair, I fear, but I hope not wholly unintelligible. In August he wrote of ' departures many and arrivals few.' He spent his holiday at Nikko with the Rev. and Mrs. J. M. Francis, of the American mission, and found much enjoyment in their companionship. Nikko is so beautiful in its situation among the mountains that a Japanese proverb says that he who has not been to Nikko must not say kekko (beautiful). In September the Bishop of Korea (Dr. Corfe) came to stay with him, and he writes : He has quite a large enough staff to make a good beginning ... It is a great mercy that our little journey ' has borne so much fruit. Though slowly, yet certainly, things do get done. Ten years ago we had no Bishop in North China, Korea, or Japan. On St. Michael's Day, the eve of his departure for another long journey in Kiushiu and the West, he wrote : 1 See chapter vi. p. 194. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 28 1 Yesterday I preached a semi-political sermon, which I seldom do. There is great excitement here about Treaty Revision, and much that I disapprove has been said by the English-speaking Yokohama merchants. I tried to give a Christian tone to things. Travelling was now much more expeditious on certain routes, as when the Bishop reached Kobe in twenty-eight hours by 'the luxurious new ship, the Saikyo Maru, of the great Japanese Steamship Co.' He wrote to his father from Kumamoto : October 1890. Among my fellow-travellers were two members of the Inland mission, with whom I got into conversation after one of them had sung your hymn, ' Peace, perfect peace.' [After leaving Kobe] the next day we were in the Inland Sea, which is specially lovely this time of year with the green rice harvest clothing all the lower parts of the hills. This is a route which I hope you will come next year. We reached Shimonoseki at midnight. I got with a number of Japanese into an open boat, and we were about an hour making the shore. The tide runs through the strait with such velocity that at times it will prevent the passage even of a steamer. ... I had meant to go on by land to Fukuoka, but on getting near the pier noticed in the moonlight a fairly large steamer all but ready to start, and on inquiry found she was going straight to Fukuoka. They told me the sea was very rough outside, but I balanced a whole day in jinrikshas with six hours on the ship, and decided on the latter. It certainly was rough, and of the smaller craft only the ship I was on ventured out ; but I was having breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson by ten o'clock. . . . The number of Christians at Fukuoka is now 100, a tenfold increase in four years. I laid the foundation stone for the church, which will be a conspicuous building close to the public offices. Again : October 9, 1890. On the Tuesday we left by the early train for Oyamada, our Christian village. Here I consecrated the church, 282 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH which has been some time building. Mr. Hutchinson preached. There were some eighty communicants. It was wonderful to think how recently these poor people had been idolaters and enslaved in various superstitions, and to notice their present orderly behaviour and reverence in the service, and apparently real appreciation of its meaning. That evening I parted from Mr. Hutchinson at a place called Kuruma. He went back to Fukuoka by the new Kiushiu railway, and by half past-ten I was some miles on my way to Kumamoto. The jinriksha men were willing to have run further, but it was time for bed, and I stopped them at a good inn which I had been told of at a place called Fukushima, or ' happy island.' Yesterday some eight more hours' jinriksha travelling brought me in here to Mr. and Mrs. Brandram's house. These good people, like the Hutchinsons, live in the middle of a great Japanese town in Japanese quarters, which they have to a certain extent Europeanised. No doubt when this is possible the gain is great to a missionary's work. The people have much less fear of approaching him than if he lives in a building erected after the manner of Europeans. Mr. Brandram has very kindly vacated his study for me. I feel the kindness the more as I fear it is an act which I never do for anyone. Again : October 15, 1890. My main business at Kumamoto was a meeting of the Kiushiu Local Council. To some extent I enjoy presiding at these meetings, but it is in them, too, that deficiency in the language must make itself felt. When each delegate if he knows an out-of-the-way Chinese word feels it his duty to use it, and the subject under discussion requires a know- ledge of some technical phraseology, the poor chairman is often at fault. Fortunately at Kumamoto Mr. Brandram has made great progress with the language, and is an excellent assistant. All through this year in letter after letter he continued to discuss the proposed visit of his father to Japan, devising and revising schemes, and overcoming every suggested A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 283 difficulty in his eager desire to secure the visit during 1891. Writing on November 3 he says : You can easily rest on your way through Canada. Banff, four days from Montreal, is a great Rocky Mountain resort, or at Winnipeg the Bishop would show you hos- pitality. I don't think you will have any difficulty, as the journey is perfectly ordered right through from Liverpool to Yokohama. He himself continued to give proof of his vigour in travelling, as will be seen from the following letter. Yonago, West Coast : November 7, 1890. My dearest Father, I got in here to-night after two long days in jinrikshas (118 miles), and find the mail going out and a confirmation arranged for me ; so this can only be a scrap indeed. On Sunday I preached to some 500 men on the Impfoieuse, our flagship in these seas. Sir Nowell and Lady Salmon were very pleasant. Monday night I attended a great reception given by Viscount Aoki, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, in honour of the Emperor's birthday. I came away as soon as propriety allowed, but was only then home by 10.30, and by 6 next morning was in the train. That night I reached Kyoto at 1 1.45. Next morning I went on to Kobe and lunched with the Fosses. At 5 I left by the new railway for a place on the Inland Sea named Tatsuno. The station is a mile from the town, and a river bank had given way, so I had to make a long detour. However, I found a fairly good inn and got a few hours' rest, and since I have been pushing on over the mountains to catch my engagements here. I don't often make quite such a four days of it, nor do I like long lonely jinriksha rides, but this time I had no choice. Here I found Chapman waiting for me a nice young C.M.S. missionary, who will travel with me down the coast for a fortnight. With fond love to all, Your very affectionate Son, ROW. BlCKERSTETH, Bishop. 284 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH He wrote on November 18 from Hiroshima, on the north coast of the Inland Sea, ' a great Japanese city (of 80,000 inhabitants) which I have never visited before,' and on November 24 from Osaka, which he reached from Hiro- shima after a journey ' in a small steamer crowded with Japanese.' The next year (1891) was to be to him one of gloom and gladness, for it was marked by a tedious illness which brought him near to the gates . of death ; but by God's Providence his illness (an attack of the same dysenteric fever which caused his death six years later) did not lay him aside until he had issued his annual Lenten Pastoral with its useful appendices and statistical information, and had presided at the Third Biennial Synod of the Nippon Sei Kokwai, assembled at Osaka in April. In the ' Pastoral ' (dated St. Matthias's Day), after referring to the growth of the mission, the Bishop dwelt at length on some aspects of the ' Judgment of the Archbishop of Canterbury on certain Points of Ritual ' commonly called the Lincoln Judgment in so far as they affected Japanese use, and passed on to deal with some of the problems suggested by Old Testament criticism, and to plead for the production of a commentary in Japanese on the text of the Holy Scriptures. A subsequent chapter l will give better opportunity for a statement of his views on these matters, but it was owing to a well thought out policy on his part that he encouraged all his missionaries, lay and clerical alike, to keep them- selves abreast of those questions which, under the guidance and governance of the Holy Spirit, the Church at home was being led to investigate. He felt that for men, often isolated and as a rule out-numbered, mental freshness was necessary to missionary ardour, and so of set purpose he 1 Chapter xi. pp. 413-415. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 285 gave them his own views of, and encouraged them to read and think upon, matters of wider interest than even the problems of their own work directly supplied. In the appendix to this ' Pastoral,' therefore, there are not only lists of clergy &c., and comparative statistics of the progress and retrogression of the mission in various branches of the work, but also a copy of Archbishop Benson's Pastoral on the Lincoln Judgment, of Bishop Westcott's Thesis on the Sacraments, a quotation from Professor Sayce's book on ' Recently Discovered Arabian Inscriptions,' and a list of religious and theological works in Japanese edited by English and American Church Missionaries. In particular he urged : It is felt that there is no more important means of strengthening our Japanese brethren in the Christian faith, and of leading them to accept it in its fulness as taught by the Church, than commentaries on Holy Scripture. With this view it is proposed to combine the efforts of a company of students in the production of a commentary on the New Testament. It is expected that each contributor will give, so far as he may be able, the result of his independent study, and indicate his own judgment on such questions as arise out of the sacred text. But with a view to giving some unity to the work, it is suggested that the commentaries of the following authors, where available, should be consulted, and such quotations made from them as may be thought advisable. i. The commentaries of the School of Antioch especially St. Chrysostom. 2. Bengel. 3. Meyer. Godet. 4. S.P.C.K., Alford, Lightfoot, Westcott, Wordsworth, Ellicott, Sadler. It is thought that it may be often desirable, as in the commentaries of Bishop Lightfoot, &c., to add detached notes on particular subjects at the end of chapters, especially such as bear on the circumstances of the Church in Japan. It is proposed that the commentaries be written in English on the basis of the present Japanese text (cor- rections being suggested in foot-notes), and submitted to a general editor, who, at his discretion, would circulate them 286 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH among other members of the company, and that if approved they be then translated into Japanese under the direction of Mr. Takahashi Goro. The promoters of the plan have asked the Bishop of the Church of England to act as editor, and the Rev. H. D. Page as secretary. It is thought that 6oo/. will be eventually needed to publish the work, and that its importance will justify an appeal for this sum being made to English and American Societies, &c. In concluding his ' Pastoral ' he pleaded : Might not more of us than at present profitably under- take some literary task ? Some of the best work yet done has come from hands that I know to be otherwise most largely occupied. He had set the example, as will be seen from the following extract from a letter written while on a brief holiday at Miyanoshita : January 9, 1891. I have begun a commentary on St. Paul's pastoral epistles. It seemed especially wanted here, and to offer an opportunity of teaching a great deal in an uncontro- versial way which the Japanese divinity students and others are ignorant or callous of. The work is laborious, as I have first to work up my notes, and then to translate it to my teacher in colloquial Japanese, who brings it back to me next day in the written language, when I copy it out. I find it, however, very interesting. Hitherto St. Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuetia have been my guides among the ancients. Dr. Westcott's ' Commentary on the Hebrews ' shows how much may be got out of the Greek fathers which is still fruitful. As it seems to me, the commentaries which we supply to the Japanese should give them some fair idea of what exposition has hitherto attained to in the West ; so that they may start making their own commentaries from that point. In March he was recalled suddenly to Tokyo from Kobe: A telegram reached me at Kobe to bring me back to the funeral of the American Minister, who died suddenly. I have been sitting with his widow, Mrs. Swift, for along time A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 287 this afternoon. The funeral was a grand state affair. He was an American Churchman, so buried with our rites. The scene, as we walked through Tokyo, and again at Yokohama, was very striking, the long line of clergy in surplices, and diplomats, and sailors, and the men-of-war saluting. Bishop Williams and I, of course, walked together. I trust I may be some comfort to the poor widow. Holy Week and Easter were spent by the Bishop at Tokyo. Writing later to his Guild, he says : The Easter services at St. Andrew's were bright and happy, my guest, Mr. Barnett, of Whitechapel, preaching a helpful sermon on serving others in the strength of Christ Risen. . . . Then came the three days' C.M.S. Conference at Osaka, and then the Synod. Canon Barnett has kindly supplied me with the follow- ing recollections. He writes : Warden's Lodge, Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, E. : February 10, 1899. Dear Mr. Bickersteth, Your brother left on my mind an impression of his greatness and goodness, but I cannot recall his definite words. He seems, as I think of him, to have been one pre-eminently fitted to commend our faith to the East, his strength of principle, his simplicity of thought and action, his devotion to duty, would all commend themselves to a side in human nature which is not often touched by the popular religions. He did much to help us to form our opinions. I have turned out my Diary, and copy two references just as they stand. I am yours ever truly, SAMUEL F. BARNETT. Good Friday, March 27, 1891. We went to church and had a most helpful sermon from the Bishop. His good- ness gave depth to his words as he showed the moral quality of the Atonement. Such a sermon every Sunday would make life easier, and such teaching must tell on Japan. As to the Greeks, the cross will be foolishness to the Japanese. They have resolutely shut sorrow out of their lives, they 288 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH have a laugh ready for every occasion, they wave off care with a branch of blossom. Easter Sunday. We arrived at church in time to see the Japanese congregation, which met at nine o'clock and quite rilled the place. It was touching to see them with their own neat an'd pretty ways singing our well-known Easter hymns. The English congregation, among whom were several Japanese gentlemen, also filled the church. I preached. Afterwards we lunched with the Bishop. Apart from his mannerisms, which suggest superiority, he is a fine fellow -thoughtful as well as earnest, liberal as well as strong. He ought to have a wife. It was at this time that there appeared the first symptoms of his Delhi illness, from which he had hitherto been free in Japan. Writing to his father on Good Friday, he says : I have been poorly. I think that some of our Lenten fish was not what it ought to have been ! and for the first time since I came to Japan have had to spend a day or two in bed. However, I am now better, though a bit weak. It has just come in Holy Week, and ami'd a crush of duties which has made it most untimely. Still, he persevered and presided at the Third General Synod, and his opening address on the principles of debate was probably the most terse and well-balanced statement which he was ever allowed to deliver. Its line of argument will be found in Chapter IX., 1 and the concluding paragraph only is here given -a paragraph which was reproduced in many English papers, and quoted by Earl Nelson at the Church House in the autumn of that year as an ideal .statement of a true missionary's ambition. For the Church of my baptism I could seek no greater grace, as individuals we could ask no higher privilege, than to have contributed, at a great crisis, to the establish- ment in this land of a branch of Christ's Holy Church, united by bonds of faith and affection only to its Western 1 See chapter ix. pp. 326-330. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 289 mother apostolic in order and creed a new home where souls may be re-created into the image of God. The Bishop of South Dakota (Dr. Hare) had been deputed by the American House of Bishops to superintend provisionally the work resigned by Bishop Williams, and he was present at the synod. Bishop Bickersteth wrote to his father : Osaka : April 9, 1891. Dearest Father, This can be only a line, as our synod is in session. We had a very good C.M.S. Conference last week. . . . Oh that men were wiser ! I have just been talking to a C.M.S. man (a very nice fellow !) who had never had Holy Week services because he did not care about them ! and this year had no Easter Communion in order to attend the conference. His excuse was that he did what he could as he sent his people a telegram ! ! . . . The synod, too, has gone well. The Bishop of South Dakota has been the greatest support and help to me. I am going to take two or three days', or perhaps a week's, rest from to-morrow, as presiding for days together in a synod and conference is very hard work, especially when one has been poorly. But really they have all looked after me like so many brothers and sisters so that it has been worth not being quite well to call out their kindness. I had a most successful ' At Home,' Japanese and Foreign, on Tuesday night nearly 200 people, I suppose. Your very loving Son, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. Pardon an arm-chair letter ! And again : Kobe : April 13, 1891. . . . Our conference and synod arc over, and for both, I think, there is much reason to be thankful. In the synod there was a good deal of expression of loose opinion, but the voting was always on the right side. An U 2QO BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII appalling number of committees have been appointed to report to the next synod on Prayer Book Revision, New Services, Vestments, and I know not what. But these things are at least a sign of interest and life. ... I am going for a few days to the hills with Mr. and Mrs. Foss, Dr. and Mrs. Weitbrecht (you remember them at Lahore, they are on their way home), and Mr. and Mrs. Swann. My old Indian complaint has been troubling me a little, and the doctor advises the change ; but I am already better. In writing to the Guild of St. Paul in England about this synod, the Bishop thus referred to the Committee on Prayer Book Revision : l It is not surprising that a volume which grew up wholly in the West should not meet all the requirements of a Far Eastern Church . . . Some day Japan may have liturgiologists of her own, who will compose liturgies more suited to the genius of her people and language than a translated volume can ever be. It is remarkable that liturgies of some literary merit were produced by Shinto priests a thousand years ago. After his brief rest with Mr. and Mrs. Foss at Arima he returned to entertain Dr. and Mrs. Weitbrecht and Canon Tristram of Durham, and then started off, broken in health as he was, to consecrate a church at Fukuoka, nearly 700 miles distant. But his anticipated return to health was not to be realised until after a sharp and serious illness which compelled him to give up all work in June and July, and wholly prevented a visit to the northern island for which arrangements had been made. Humanly speak- ing, he was only nursed back to life by the skill and kindness of Dr. Howard, a medical man who had been his guest the previous year and now came to stay in the Bishop's house to give him his undivided attention, and 1 Chapter ix. p. 332. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 29 1 by the unremitting care and brotherly devotion of the Rev. A. F. King, the Head of St. Andrew's Mission. The efforts of these two friends were so far successful under God's blessing that Dr. Howard allowed and, in fact, ordered his patient to take a sea voyage. By July 28 he had been able to resume his correspondence with his father, and wrote on that date : I am daily making excellent progress towards full health and strength, indeed, though needing care, I am practically well. Dr. Howard's wonderful skill and attention and King's unremitting care as a nurse have got me through an illness in a month which might have taken several, and the voyage to Vancouver will be just the bracing that I need. King will accompany me. After all the nursing he will need the holiday, and also for some weeks I am to be dieted, in which he is very skilled. Diet- ing and rest have been the two main elements in my cure. . . . Dr. Howard, with his experience, divined the cause directly, and in his great kindness gave himself up to me entirely. It was a most kind Providence which brought him here at the time. Te Deum Laudamus. He met his father and step-mother and his sister May (the Honorary Secretary of the Guild of St. Paul), who had left England on August 12 and travelled via Canada to Banff in the Rocky Mountains in August, and brought them back to Japan, in which islands they spent seven delightful weeks from September 23 to November 15. On that day they left Nagasaki, and, after a week at Hongkong, returned via Colombo and the Canal, and reached Exeter on December 29. Little need here be said, as my sister described their experiences in a volume entitled 'Japan as we Saw it.' 1 The visit was an unin- terrupted success, and full of absorbing interest to the elder Bishop as one who all his life had been an enthusiastic advocate of the Church's prime duty to evangelise the 1 Published by Sampson Low & Co. U 2 292 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH nations of the world. Much interest was excited by his journey, not only in Japan, where he was met everywhere with great kindness, but also in England. The present Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Temple), speaking as Bishop of London at the Church House, expressed this feeling when he said : He rejoiced that Bishop Edward Bickersteth should be in Japan, a man whom they knew well before he went and whom they were certain of as a true apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, overseeing the beginnings and the work of this entirely new Church set up so far away. And there was something peculiarly interesting just then in the fact that riot only was the Bishop there doing his work, but that his father, one of the episcopate of England presiding over the large diocese of Exeter, where he was beloved for his wonderful kindness, was there to help his son and assure the Japanese of deep sympathy felt for them by those from whom he had come in England. It was itself an omen of future success. The Bishop of Exeter sent a long letter to the ' Times,' dated November 2, 1891, giving some account of his impressions. Some extracts may here be given. It is impossible to help being attracted by the Japan- ese. Their quiet order and submission to authority, their instinctive courtesy, their bright smile and merry laughter ; their carefully tended homesteads and gardens, their agricultural industry, which verifies the saying, ' In Japan crops follow each other so quickly the soil has no time to grow weeds;' their wonderful imitative talent, which always attempts to improve on that it copies, and not seldom succeeds ; the tenderness of parents and the happi- ness of little children, their passion for education and their mental powers these things must strike every stranger. They are emphatically a people of bright hope, sveXTriSss as Thucydides says of the Athenians. While, at the same time, if anyone dreams that Shintoism or Buddhism can produce the same fruit as Christianity, it only needs to learn what lies beneath the surface of society here for the A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 293 illusion to pass away like a dream. Home is not to -them what home is to us. The boys, so happy in early child- hood, are too often petted and spoiled ; they are not taught to obey ; they bully each other and their parents. The women, graceful and gracious as they are in their youth, grow old prematurely. The men, who have only eight or, at most, ten festival days of rest in the year, show the need of that one-day-in-seven Sabbath which was made for man ; they are not a long-lived race. But there are worse evils : the grossest superstition or blind materialism, concubinage and impurity, fickleness and inconstancy, though with noble and notable exceptions, are widely prevalent. Christianity alone can cope with the vices and foster the virtues of this great nation of more than 40,000,000 souls. But no Christian man can note their many fascinating characteristics without exclaiming, Quoniam tails es, utinam noster esses. It is recorded of St. Bernard that his first question to his missioners, when they returned from their missions, always was, ' Could you love those to whom you were sent ? ' It is no hard task to love the Japanese. . . . . . . The Church founded by the episcopal Churches of England and America has increased fivefold during the last few years. There is that in their reverent ritual which seems especially to commend itself to the order-loving Japanese ; and their liturgies and creeds are simply price- less amid the shifting currents of religious thought which are swaying the mind of Japan at this crisis. . . . But let no one think that this vast empire is to be won without our taking up the cross and following the evangelists of former ages as they followed Christ. Of the forty millions in Japan not more than one in 400 has yet been baptised. A terrific earthquake, the most destructive experienced in Japan in modern times, occurred on October 28, the centre of the disturbance being in the plain between Gifu and Nagoya, places which the two Bishops and their party had only left the previous week. Even in Osaka they were in serious danger, the house of Archdeacon Warren, whose guests they were, being partly demolished but no harm befell any of the party. ' 294 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH The next letter was written after the Bishop of Exeter had come and gone, and is dated Nagasaki, November 16, 1891, My thoughts are with you continually. Parting is very hard, the trial of missionary work here : and the past ten weeks were so delightful in prospect and in their passage that I do not like to think of their being over ; but the recollection is very bright, and I do feel it is not merely a recollection, but that you have left us all better for your presence, and your words of love and counsel. Early in 1892 Bishop Edward Bickersteth issued a list of his engagements for the year, 1 acting on a suggestion that it would be more convenient if he intimated the order in which he proposed to visit the different stations under his jurisdiction. The area over which he travelled is now under the superintendence of four English Bishops (those of South Tokyo, Osaka, Kiushiu, and Yezo). There can be no doubt that the incessant travelling was a severe tax on his strength, which strength could not be 1 LIST OF ENGAGEMENTS, &c., 1892 January 7 . . . . S.P.G. Conference, Tokyo. January 17 . . . Confirmation, Kyobashi, Tokyo. January 19 .... Meeting of Tokyo Local Council. February 15 March 6 . . Confirmations Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto. March 13 .... Ordination, St. Andrew's Church, Tokyo. March 16 . . . . C.M.S. Conference, Osaka. March 21 April 5 . . ..... f .. . Confirmations, Bingo and Awa. Con- secration of Fukuyama Church. April 20 May 10 . , , . Confirmations, Izumo and Iwami. May 16 June 16 . . . Confirmations, Yezo. June 17 July 4 . .. . Confirmations, Tokyo and Yokohama, Izu and Sagami. September 20-27 Confirmations, Shimosa. October 3-31 . . . . Confirmations, Nagasaki, S. and E. Kiushu, Kiushiu Local Council. November 15 December 6 . Osaka Local Council. Confirmations, Osaka, Kobe, Gifu, Nagoya, and Inui (Totomi). December 18 . . . . Ordination, St. Andrew's Church, Tokyo. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 295 described as more than convalescence ; but with character- istic optimism where his own comfort was concerned the utmost he confessed was such phrases as now and again occur in his letters : ' I am all right, or all but all right, again in health.' In the autumn of this year, on the eve of his departure for England, the Bishop was able to write as follows to his clergy and fellow-workers : Since I wrote to you last Lent I have been almost entirely occupied with journeys and visits. Nemuro is the furthest point I have reached in the north, and Naha in Okinawa, the chief island of the Loochoo Group, in the south. On journeys of this kind some points are always brought home to the mind with special force and insis- tence. Chief among these I should place at the present time the particular value of a careful superintendence of our lay workers. He also wrote to the Guild of St. Paul : Nobeoka, Kiushiu : November 2, 1892. During September I completed my visitation of the Tokyo district, and the last day of the month saw me again in Yezo, where I reached two of the three places which I was obliged to omit in June. One other place, Abashiri, I have been obliged to give up the hope of visit- ing this year. It is on the north-east coast of the island, and communication is most uncertain, and in winter it is shut in for many months by ice floes from all communica- -tion by sea. I had hoped to have reached every station where there are members of the Nippon Sei Kokwai during the year, but owing to this failure I shall not quite have accomplished my wish. I am now on my way back from a short but most interesting trip to the Loochoo Islands. You will find them pardon my thinking you may need some guidance in placing your finger on them on the map ! stretching 296 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH in a long line over some 600 miles of sea, between the southernmost point of Japan proper and Formosa. I must try to write a full account of them before long and send it to you. There are some seventy islands, most of them inhabited, and the largest, Okinawa, which I visited, has a population of about 350,000. They form part of the Empire of Japan, and the reason of my recent visit was that several of our Church-people have migrated there whom I wished to form into a congregation, and also there were two candidates for confirmation. The Rev. A. R. Fuller, of the C.M.S. Mission at Nagasaki, accom- panied me. The only point I wish to mention now is the strong impression which my short journey left on my mind that here is a new great field of work, sufficient to task all the energies of a band of labourers for many years to come, and which cannot with due hope of efficiency be added to a diocese which is almost too widely spread for efficient superintendence. Will you ask God that in His time the way may be made clear for the work being ade- quately undertaken in these islands by a fully equipped mission of our Church ? It should be mentioned that this year he confirmed the first-fruits of the Ainu. He wrote : At Sapporo we were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Batchelor, and that afternoon I confirmed four Ainu, the first of their race to receive the laying on of hands. Mr. Batchelor is much to be congratulated on having been allowed to gather in the first-fruits of this interesting people. Have you seen his book ' The Ainu of Japan ' ? It is a thoroughly trustworthy account. In the evening I held a confirma- tion for Japanese. Both these confirmations were in Mr. Batchelor's drawing-room, as there is no church yet at Sapporo. The Bishop was now free to leave Japan on his return to England, where his main object was to confer with the Archbishop about some subdivision of his jurisdiction under one or more additional Bishops, and also to plead for recruits for all branches of the work. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 297 * I propose to sail from Kobe for England on December 27,' he wrote to his clergy, 'and on the way I have arranged to spend a few days at Delhi, my old mission station in the South Punjab.' These quiet words hardly reveal the depth of interest with which he revisited his first missionary home, where Mr. Lefroy, Mr. Allnutt, and Mr. Carlyon, his former fellow-labourers, were still striving with one mind and one spirit as witnesses of the living Lord. Their joy in welcoming him was great, and they were hardly prepared to find how many of the converts remembered him, and how tenacious a place he held in their affections. It will be remembered that when he left Delhi, in August 1 882, he hoped to have returned before Christmas of that year. And now ten years had elapsed, years which, however, had in no way lessened his interest in his old mission, an interest sustained and quickened by daily intercession on its behalf. On St. Paul's Day, 1893, he telegraphed his birthday congratulations to his father from Delhi. After a few very pleasant days in India he reached England on February 25, and I met him as he stepped from the train at Victoria Station late at night, but hardly jaded by his long journey, to the fatigue of which he was inured by his constant travelling. His stay in England lasted till October 21, and there were few parts of the country he did not visit, speaking and preaching everywhere. Just at that time, English interest in Japan was very keen, and one who, like himself, could be trusted to give a wise and wide view of the outlook, neither ignoring nor exaggerating the difficulties, was listened to with marked attention. I accompanied him on a tour in the Midlands and among some of the northern towns, and his power of interesting country squires as well as men of business, keen artisans as well as simple peasants, was 298 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH clearly proved, as was their readiness to take interest in one who came from the Land of the Rising Sun. Besides speaking in London at the annual S.P.G. meet- ing, and presiding at the evening meeting of the C.M.S. in Exeter Hall, the Bishop read a paper at the Birmingham Church Congress and addressed the students in theological colleges at Wells, Lincoln, and Leeds, and at St. Augustine's College, Canterbury. He also had to work through a formidable list of ser- mons and meetings arranged for him before his arrival in connection with the Guild of St. Paul. In consequence, although he did not become known by face to all the branches of the Guild, yet his visit left its mark on the whole watershed of their interest, from which flowed the streams of intercession and offers of personal service to fertilise the missions in the beloved land of his adoption. At the meeting held in the ancient chapter house of Exeter Cathedral on March 21 there was present the Rev. John Imai, then about to conclude a visit of some months' duration which the generosity of an English lady, Mrs. Kirkes, had enabled him to pay to this country. Thus one who had been admitted by the Bishop to the ministry, and had been profitable to him in it, stood by his side that day, and these two, Bishop and priest, representing respec- tively Churches of the West and East, pleaded for a deeper and more practical sense of responsibility towards the Mikado's Empire. The mention of Mrs. Kirkes recalls the sorrow which her death, on April 21 of that year, caused to the Bishop and to all who knew her in Japan. An elderly lady of ample private fortune, she devoted herself entirely to the work she had undertaken in Tokyo. There, in her charm- ing house in Nagato Cho, she had for five years been responding to her special vocation i.e. endeavouring to win A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1888-1893 299 the affection and confidence of women of the higher classes in Tokyo. She possessed patience, tact, and attractiveness of no common order, and some of those whose doors were closed to most missionaries opened them to her. In the houses of many Japanese of rank and influence she had told by life as well as by lip the story of the faith. When in 1892 she returned to England for a short visit, so many Japanese well known in society assembled at the station to bid her farewell, that people could only compare it to the departure of an ambassador rather than of a quiet English lady. Truly she was an ambassador of the King of Kings, and the hearts of her Japanese friends were touched at the unselfish love which led her to leave her comfortable English home for the far off capital of Japan. Not long after her return to Tokyo she succumbed quite suddenly to an attack of pneumonia. Bishop Edward Bickersteth greatly felt her loss, and never ceased to long that some other English lady of high station and independent means, as well as of deep spirituality, might be led to fill the post left vacant by her death. The Bishop spent part of August (1893) quietly with his family at Nevin in North Wales, where the Bishop of Exeter again, as in 1888, gathered together all his children and grandchildren, thirty-nine in all, for five happy and all too brief weeks. But before this month a great joy had come into the younger Bishop's life through his engage- ment in June to Miss Marion Forsyth, daughter of .Mr. William Forsyth, Q.C., formerly M.P. for Marylebone. The marriage took place on September 28, and after a brief wedding tour of five days at the English Lakes and farewell visits to relations and friends, Bishop and Mrs. Edward Bickersteth left England for Japan on October 21. They travelled by way of Canada, where the Bishop had promised to address a series of meetings on behalf of the 300 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII missions supported in Japan by the Canadian Church. To his sister May he wrote : Queenstown Harbour : October 27, 1893. All leavings and partings are very hard, but they do not lessen, perhaps only quicken, in the sense of helping us to realise, love ; and this time I have every right to feel rich. VIGNETTE PORTRAIT. (Taken May 1893.) 3oi CHAPTER IX NIPPON SEI KOKWAI (ffo/y Catholic Church oj Japan} ' To have wisely developed the organisation of a congregation or of a district or of a church, neither oppressing it by the multitude of its rules and societies, nor allowing its energies to run to waste for lack of them s to do a work without which the highest spirituality devoted solely to the ends of converting and edifying the souls of men will in part at least fail of its aim.' Pastoral Letter of Bishop Edward Bickersteth to his Clerg)>, Lent 1894. THE quotation at the head of this chapter shows that Bishop Bickersteth on principle avoided an unorganised propagation of the Gospel, just as he recoiled from an unhistorical method in preaching the faith. The present Bishop of Durham, in a preface to Bishop Bickersteth's book, ' Our Heritage in the Church ' (published for the first time in English after his death), wrote : A distinguished Japanese clergyman, the Rev. J. T. Imai, has told us that on the morning after his arrival in Tokyo the Bishop said to him : ' The Church of Japan must be the Church of Japan ; the Prayer Book of that Church must be really its own Prayer Book.' His life was spent sacrificed, as we speak in unwearied labour to establish this result. By his wise and patient energy he united the congregations of the American and English Missions in one body. He himself, in conjunction with Bishop Williams of the American Church, drafted its constitution and Canons, which were adopted in a full synod in 1 887. And he has left a Church in Japan in closest fellowship with our own, already fully constituted, and only waiting for native Bishops to be completely self-governing and independent. 302 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH It will be well, therefore, to consider more fully hovv the formation of the Nippon Sei Kokwai came about. The organisation of this body is of more than local interest, inasmuch as it is the first instance of the founda- tion of a fully organised and autonomous Church in the near or far East in modern times. 1 There are two views of the proper aim and method of missionary enterprise the triumph of either of which has been, and always will be, fatal to the establishing of a national Church, at once independent and also interdepen- dent, because in full communion with other branches of the Catholic Church. If it be supposed to be the missionary's prime duty to win believers, and to snatch them as brands from the burning only as individuals, he will not care much about incorporating them into a body. But, on the other hand, if it be supposed that loyalty to the com- munion which thrust him out (sK(Sd\r)} 2 as a labourer into the mission field compels him to impress, and even to impose as far as may be, an exact reproduction, say, of Western canons and articles upon Eastern minds, then he will stifle among the converts any signs of originality, which, if encouraged to grow under due limitations, would have given to the newly made Church a vigorous individu- ality of its own. It was these defective ideas of the missionary calling which Bishop Edward Bickersteth set himself to avoid, as he tried deftly to weave together the loose ends of such organisation as he found on his arrival. He felt it important to guard against these mistakes, from which in the past the Church of England herself had suffered. The Church of Rome, after her splendid effort to re- 1 For Resolution of C. M.S. Conference (Osaka) in May 1886 see chapter vi. pp. 163, 164. - Cp. St. Matthew, ix. 38. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 303 introduce Christianity into our own islands, eventually hampered the boon of evangelisation by striving to annex here a new spiritual province instead of to build up a national Church. England slowly learnt this to her cost. And as in the sixth century in these islands Augustine did nothing to develop a native ministry, so in the six- teenth century in Japan, Francis Xavier and his immediate successors did not ordain one single Japanese to the priest- hood, an error in policy which led to fatal results when under dire persecution all the foreign missionaries were killed or banished by edict. The Bishop wrote to the Archbishop (Benson) of Canterbury setting forth his proposals, and the Primate's reply will be read with interest : Lambeth Palace, S.E. : August 13, 1886. My dear Bishop, I have read with deepest interest your letter. . . . There can be no doubt that the moment is critical. Your own episcopate and that of Bishop Williams will see Japanese Christianity on the other side of a crisis. How it is landed there whether rich in hope for the future, or already infested with the divisions which have grown up historically elsewhere must depend on the work of the early Bishops. . . . This becomes, of course, much plainer and much easier of execution when we and our clergy remember that the great end of our planting a Church in Japan is that there may be a Japanese Church, not an English Church. Any forgetfulness of this, any aiming at a different end, will only reproduce in the next 200 years the miseries which have arisen from the Italian Church, in the days of her prosperity, having determined to be the Church of other lands. She has been justly disappointed, and all Christendom suffers both from the wounds she dealt in the struggle and from the indifference and infidelity which have followed the indigna- tion at her, wherever she had succeeded in getting accepted as the only possible Church. To make a living Christ known and loved, and seen to be Himself at work in man and for man, and to make 304 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH it recognised that Church doctrine is a true expression of Himself in His Oneness and manifoldness, is the only way in which the Church can be manifold and yet one. 'Hcray ofioQvfjia&bv sTrl TO avTo is the practical charter under which the Church of the Acts did its work. May I only hear the same of all Church people in Japan. After that we shall hear of grander unities still. Let me ask you to present my affectionate respects to Bishop Williams, and thanks for his strong and valued kindness to our dear Bishop Poole. Believe me, my dear Bishop, Your affectionate Brother in Christ, EDW. CANTUAR. The Right Rev. Edward Bickersteth, D.D., Bishop of the Church of England in Japan. When the Bishop returned to England in 1888 he was full some men thought too full of organisation. I remember well going with him to the C.M.S. House in Salisbury Squaie, where, as ever, he received a kindly welcome. But when he had explained in detail to a large gathering of the committee, lay and clerical, the growth of the Japanese Church, I recollect the warning words which his statement elicited, clearly showing that some of his hearers felt that evangelisation, not organisation, was the sole work of the missionary. But the Bishop was not abashed, and in his reply allowed a flash of humour to escape as he reminded his audience that after all theirs was the ritualistic view of the episcopal office, inasmuch as they valued it for its convenience in the matter of ordaining and confirming, two ritual acts, whereas his was the evan- gelical view of that office, because he looked on the Bishop as the pastor gregis and the pater cleri. Preaching at the United Conference of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America and of the Church of England on February 8, 1887, on the eve of the first synod, he thus referred to the period identified with the NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 305 work of St. Paul, 1 to prove that individualism might easily be carried too far : ' I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles ' was the word of the divine voice which called St. Paul to his life's task. ' He wrought for me unto the Gentiles ' are the strange expressive terms in which he defines his own position. The countries of the empire to the west of Palestine, and above all their great cities, with the exception of Alexandria, where the Jewish population was particu- larly numerous, were the sphere in which St. Paul's voice was heard ; nor does he appear to have visited any district or city without direct results of his labours being seen in the conversion of men to the faith of Christ. How did he regard these believers ? Only as individuals with separate souls to be saved or lost ? Or as this, and at the same time as members of a congregation in whose fellowship and communion they would find spiritual grace and consola- tion ? Or as this and more, as members of a spiritual society which exceeded in limit any one country or nation ; yea, which already had its representatives beyond the frontiers of the eternal world ? This last conception alone answers to his fullest teaching. In the earlier epistles we read of the Churches, ' the Churches which are in Judea,' ' the Churches of God,' ' the Churches of the Gentiles.' In the later epistles we read of the Church, of which Christ is 'the Head,' ' which Christ loved,' through which the angels learn ' the manifold wisdom,' ' which is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' As he travelled on his journey westward and came continually nearer to the city which was the centre of human authority, the idea formed itself with growing fulness in his mind of the great society which should cope with and supersede the last and mightiest of the heathen empires, until, as in the camp of the Guards, he takes up his pen to write to the distant Christians who were his unfailing care, the glowing terms which I have quoted alone express his vision and his thought. With regard to the second alternative he was equally ' This sermon, entitled, The Church in Japan, was preached on St. John xvi. 13, ' He shall guide you into all truth.' X 306 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH clear. Preaching l at the earlier conference of the same bodies of missionaries, within three months of his arrival in Japan, he had said : Now let us inquire what has been the custom of the Anglican communion in regard to the indigenous Churches which, through God's mercy, she has been allowed to establish in foreign lands. Practically it has been this. We have handed over to them our own system as a whole, with its standards of doctrine, forms of devotion and teaching, and methods of government, modifying them in theory not at all, and in "practice only as far as has been found essential by individual workers. Thus in Africa, India, and China branches have been founded of the Anglican communion which alike in doctrine and consti- tution are reproductions of the mother Churches of the West. And if I may be allowed to define just what it seems to me has been the motive of our gathering here to-day from various parts of Japan, it has been this, the consciousness that though this country is the last to which our missions have been sent, yet in it first our traditional method of working, if the end of all missions is to be attained, must be largely modified. Here, as I gather from those best qualified to judge, we require already to be allowed to take steps towards establishing a Christian community, which shall exercise the powers, educational, disciplinary, legislative, and judicial, which are inherent in the Church. Unlike the British colonies, wherein race and speech and customs the mother country is largely repro- duced ; unlike India, where the problem is complicated by the fact of British rule and the existence of a large body of European residents ; unlike Africa and China, where in the one case the low development of the native races, in the other the natural immobility of the people, prevent as yet such problems from coming with like prominence to the front, Japan is a country so I seem already to have learnt from you filled with a strong desire for a free development in accordance with her national type, and 1 The Prerogatives of the Church, a sermon preached at the opening of a Conference of Delegates of the Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and of the Church Missionary Society, on July 8, 1886. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 307 which admits the modes of thought and life of the foreigner only because of their manifest superiority to her own, and with the intention of adapting them to her own individual needs. ' We are glad of teachers,' it was said by one of her own sons ; ' we require no masters.' On a like principle it can scarcely be doubted that in accepting Christianity an acceptance which many believe to be in no very distant future Japan will adopt no mere Western type of the faith ; and though receiving, as is necessary, the framework of the Church from abroad, will complete her ecclesiastical organisation on her own lines. If this be so, our own aim is sufficiently clear. It is to form in this country during the brief period of transition a Christian society which shall itself be constituted in all necessary things on the lines of the historic Church, and retain every essential element of the faith, but shall not any longer than is needful be weighted by Western use or formulary, or trammelled by the predominance of a foreign clement in its councils. A clear conception as to what was and what was not possible was essential to success. Accordingly, in this same sermon the Bishop definitely laid down ' the lines of divergence,' as an engineer would say. In the first place, then, on the negative side we must not forget that our missions have been sent here by three different societies, from different countries, Churches, and schools of thought, and that any endeavour so to amalga- mate their missionary work as to obliterate the distinctions which with common loyalty to the Anglican communion they severally cherish must necessarily fail. But while a union of missionary societies is impossible and perhaps undesirable, there seems no reason why they should not co-operate far more closely than in the past, or why the congregations which God has granted as the fruit of their efforts should not be gradually welded into one Christian communion, exercising eventually the full powers of a Christian Church. In aiming at this, four things have seemed to me to be possible at the present time : i. That one name should be adopted to represent the 308 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH whole Japanese Church which is in communion with our- selves. A name is itself a powerful bond. 2. That a representative body, call it synod or conference or council, should be constituted, in. which all duly ordered congregations should be represented, and which should take counsel for the common interest of the whole. In such a body, on the principle which I have put before you, laity as well as clergy would find a place. 3. That a constitution and Canons should be formed dealing with the special need of the Church in Japan. In the minor matters with which Canons would deal, such as the employment, licensing, and salary of lay agents, the use of commendatory letters, and many others which will occur to you, unity of action might easily and most bene- ficially be attained. In others, such as regulations relating to ordination, it would mainly rest with the episcopate to settle one rule of practice. But so far as it might be pro- posed that the doctrinal standards of a Japanese Church should differ in extent or form from those of the Anglican communion, it is plain that such modification would for the present require the consent of our own ecclesiastical authorities. 4. There seems room for a considerable extension of united evangelistic work such as the three societies have already inaugurated in the capital, and upon which as it is developed here and in other places the future of the Church in Japan must so largely depend. Pastoral and building funds, on the same principle, would be of great value. Could these four points be attained, I conceive that we should have done something towards displaying before the heathen that oneness which is our Lord's own condition of missionary success, we should have obtained some of the benefits of co-operation, and our brethren would have been admitted to a larger share in the management of their own Church. Let me, then, attempt to define both what seem to me not to be and to be the objects of our present gathering. In the first place, then, negatively, we do not meet with any view of seeking a change in our own position as foreign missionaries sent to this land by two branches of the Anglican Church. All of us without exception are more than satisfied with we are thankful for the position we hold as members of the ancient and unique communion, NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 309 Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical, with its glorious though chequered story in the past, and its unexampled promise to-day, into which, by God's great mercy, we were baptised. Nor, again, do I understand that we are met to con- stitute a new Church for our native brethren in the faith. The very term is a misnomer. It is'not so that the Church of Christ is propagated. Rather, to~use again the familiar simile, when the faith is first preached and received in any country it is at the utmost a new branch of the Church, which, so to speak, has germinated, not a new tree with a separate root and stem and independent life of its own. More particularly, as soon as in any country believers are gathered into a society, they are put in possession of the Holy Scriptures and standards of faith as they are held and guarded by that branch of the Church through which they have been instructed, and in due time they receive the Sacred Orders with authority to minister the Word of God and the Sacraments for themselves. So has it already been in this land. Through you, in whose labours, though very late, I am allowed to share, there has been formed in this land a Christian Church, which is represented by con- gregations in many different parts. By virtue of common membership of the Body of Christ, through union in one faith, and participation of the same sacraments, this Church exists, and is in communion with Churches in other lands. Subordinate to these objects is the formation of a body of Canons having to do chiefly with points on which, if the English custom were followed, the episcopate would act independently, but in which it seems desirable, in accordance with more ancient precedent, that it should not act without your concurrence and that of our brethren. ' I have resolved,' wrote St. Cyprian to African clergy, ' from the beginning of my episcopate to do nothing of my own private opinion without your counsel and without the counsel of the lay people.' If here again, after thought- ful reconsideration by ourselves and our brethren, fair unanimity be attained, we shall have promoted, I believe, the best interests of our branch of the Church. It would then follow that, before finally taking action, we should again communicate with the authorities of our Church in England and America, and with the missionary societies, which, while rightly disclaiming ecclesiastical authority, 310 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH have so large an interest in our work and embody so rich a practical experience of the Church's needs. The question here suggests itself as to what relationship, if any, the Nippon Sei Kokwai desired to maintain towards other Christian bodies outside the limits of the Anglican communion. Did she assume the sole right to act and speak authoritatively for all those Japanese who had been also baptised into the Holy Name ? Did she shut her eyes to their existence, and to the fact that numerically they were far stronger than all her members twice told ? The answer which the Bishop would have made to these questions can be unmistakably inferred from his own words. He did plainly hold that : The result of evangelistic work here, which has been the formation of a large number of organised native Churches, not in communion, if the word be used in the accepted sense of an allowed interchange of ministries in the conse- cration of the Eucharist, is most wasteful of strength and means, and, consistently with the language and teaching of the New Testament, cannot be held to be in accordance with the mind of Christ. 1 At least it may be admitted that none have spent many years in missions without the desire growing deeper and stronger in their souls not to perpetuate in the land of their adoption the divisions of the land of their birth. Here, and in the East generally, gloss it over as you will by high sounding terms, mitigate it as you may and ought 1 In the same sermon, The Church in Japan, he quoted the following words from Mr. Eugene Stock (C.M.S.), in his book, Steps to Truth, p. 62 : ' It will not do to think and teach as if Catholicity consisted in a happy belief that our Lord meant Christendom to consist of some hundreds of distinct Churches, holding no communion one with another. No, the Church our Lord founded was a visible organised and undivided society, and ought to have remained so, and the fact that it has not so remained ... is to be ascribed not to divine grace, but to human imperfection. ' And he also quoted the striking passage of Professor Milligan in his book, The Resurrection of Our Lord (pp. 203-5), especially his words, 'The world will never be won by a disunited Church.' NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 3H by kindly feeling and social intercourse, yet the hindrances which impede the work of the Lord by the disunion of His followers are too plain and obtrusive to be put on one side. From much thinking over them, brethren, I know something of the greatness of the difficulties which beset this question. On the one hand, we are bound to do nothing which could compromise one word which goes toward expressing in human language the essential facts of the faith. We inherit, and may not surrender, the Orders which connect us with the Church of apostolic times, and with the great communion, now spread into every land, to which we belong. But we have other duties, too, than these. We must also keep steadily before our- selves and our people the divine ideal as at least a hope of the future ; we must not plead the faults of the past as a justification for easy acquiescence in the difficulties of the present. We must lay stress on our privileges, but in doing so we must endeavour to divide what is useful and salutary for ourselves from what is essential as a basis of corporate reunion. All, therefore, that the Bishop believed to be possible was : Deliberation not upon the creation but the fuller organ- isation of a Church, and our consultations will be carried on under the ennobling belief that they will contribute both to the closer union of our own people and the extension among us of the work of God, and also to the eventual regathering into one larger communion, in the confession of one creed and the participation of the same sacraments, of many from wJiom vve have been separated. All that he hoped was that the Constitution of a formal synod which can express the mind of the whole Church will be of the greatest service towards settling what is essential as the basis of corporate reunion. All that, moved by divine charity, he anticipated was the day When this people shall long have been numbered among the Christian nations, men shall look back not without 312 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII gratitude to you who in divine Providence have been among the first to teach them the truth of God, and still more often, as we pray, shall return with thanks and praise to Him, ' the Father of unchangeable Po\vcr and eternal Light, through Whom things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new l ; ' Whose revealed purpose it is in some second ' meeting point of the ages,' when again the times are full, to regather all things into Him from Whom at the first they took their origin, even into His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Within these limits, and by keeping in view this out- look, most men will be ready to agree that he was justified in excusing himself and the conference from the charge of presumption in organising the Nippon Sei Kokwai : It is not, I trust, presumptuous to believe that though as a company of missionaries we are not a full representa- tion even of a local Church, and can claim but little authority for our decisions beyond their intrinsic rightful- ness, yet that so far as we continue in holy counsel, with prayer and supplication in the Spirit, in implicit obedience with St. James to the divine will as revealed in the inspired writings, with St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Barnabas,, contributing each that which individual experience may have taught us for the gain of all, we too shall have that special guidance which is vouchsafed by God to the Church in the ' fellowship of sacred counsel.' But so far as Reunion with Methodist missionaries (American) was concerned, the year 1887 was not allowed to close without a definite endeavour being made to clear the ground of misunderstanding by conferring together on this subject. A conference of the representatives of the Methodist and Anglican missions in Japan was held during Advent (December 10, 1887), being the result of the following resolution passed at the conference of the missionaries of 1 See Canon Bright's Ancient Collects, p. 98. NIPPON SEI KUKWAI 313 the Anglican communion held at Osaka in the previous February : That this united conference of the missionaries of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America wishes to place on record its desire for the establishment in Japan of a Christian Church, which by imposing no non-essential conditions of communion, shall include as many as possible of the Christians of this country. At a preliminary meeting held in July, Bishop Bicker- steth was asked 'to put before the conference such definite suggestions as he might think would lead, if they were accepted, to practical action,' and at the first of a series of conferences, which were conducted in the spirit alike of candour and charity, he read a paper on ' The Basis of Christian Union.' His paper was printed in obedience to the request of those who heard it. After defending the resolution just mentioned from some criticisms directed against its indefiniteness, which was not the result of carelessness but of intention, on the part of those who drafted it, he showed that it rested on a belief, and at the same time abstained from any definition of method or means through which the belief might find embodiment. The belief was that the intention of our Lord in founding His Church was to establish a visible and organic society, which should maintain His faith and worship till He should come again. It therefore logically followed that all breaches of organic union in the Christian body, however far their existence might be over-ruled by His Providence, were not in accordance with His design, but the result of human perverseness. After emphasising two points : (i) that union, not unity, was their goal, for unity to a large extent might be believed already to exist, however hidden by diversities, among all followers of the One Lord, and (2) that union among the BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETK Japanese bretJiren was in the main their aim, he quoted words of Archbishop Benson 1 to the effect that union in the mission field, could it be attained, would react powerfully upon the Churches of western lands. He next urged that union, if it was to be more than a mere name, implied a fundamental agreement in regard to (i) creed, (2) rite, and (3) organisation. (i) With regard to creed, those whom the union com- prised must appeal to the same standards of doctrine and teaching, not implying a rigid identity of view or a verbal uniformity of statement on all doctrinal matters, but resting on a primary acceptance of those facts which constitute the faith. Admittedly, the Christian faith differed radically from all other systems of belief in that it not only appealed to but (so to speak) consisted of historical facts. Christians believe not in abstract pro- positions about God, but in God Himself, revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ their Lord. To Christians salvation depended not merely or chiefly on the acceptance of a doctrinal system, but on union with a Person. There could be no union which did not rest on a common acceptance of those primary facts which con- stitute the faith. Christians in past days have gone far beyond this in the endeavour after union in matters of belief. The two vast systems of belief, the theologies of Rome and Geneva, each with a lengthened history, each of great logical consistency on its own principles, each from points of view not without grandeur of conception and dignity of statement, have claimed exclusive control over the faith of believers. But although grateful to individuals on one side and the other, such as St. Philip Neri, the early Oratorians of Paris, the gifted recluses of Port Royal, the learned patristic scholars of St. Maur, Fenelon and Bossuet, Montalembert, Gratry, and the modern school of 1 ' It requires large wisdom abroad and great forbearance at home to work out an ideal of the Catholic Church, so various and yet one. If it be not too sanguine a view to take, one might almost think that while Christendom is seeming to be offending against such wisdom by raising up at present in every heathen land three or four different Churches, representing our home fashions, it will be impossible to maintain their variances where they have no historic foundation to rest on, and thus God may be preparing their extinction here through the unreasonableness of their separation there.' The Seven Gifts, p. 219. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 315 French Christian Socialists ; or such as Calvin, a prince among commentators, and Chalmers yet personally he felt that both these systems contained vast and ultimately fatal additions to the apostolic faith, and he could have no say to a Church which made the acceptance of any one characteristic article of the creed of Pius IV. or of the Westminster Confession a condition of communion. ^Thc positive and negative limitations, then, within which he felt bound to place himself as to belief were the obligatory acceptance of the facts of the creed, but no submission to any particular doctrine of the Roman or Genevan schools. Assuming that there would be no division of opinion as to the primary authority of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, he would be satisfied if the Nicene Creed (if necessary, with the Filioque clause bracketed) were made the sole other standard of belief. (2) Passing from creed to rites, of which the two principal were the two holy sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the question arose, ' Is it the duty of a Church to lay down a doctrine of sacramental belief? ' If it does not do so, is it so far neglecting that teaching office for which, among other things it is set, as to forfeit the divine blessing? Allowing due weight to the fact that the great majority of existing Churches defined sacramental doctrine and imposed their definition as a condition, if not of membership, at least of ministry, he thought that this fact might be paralleled by another not less weighty i.e. that the primitive Church maintained its unity, defended the faith, and extended its own borders with a success not wholly equalled since, without the aid of any dogmatic decisions on sacramental questions. Indeed, discussion on such questions in early days was almost unknown. The primitive faith in regard to them was to be gathered, not from the records of controversies, but from incidental notices. He asked, then, was it not conceivable that, without reflection on the action considered necessary in later centuries, it might be right for a Church in a heathen land to-day to fall back on yet older precedents ? Such a Church would insist on the unfailing performance at the administration of the sacraments in all particulars of the acts commanded, and on the exact repetition of the words prescribed by our Lord, but not lay down as of obligation any particular view of the nature of the spiritual benefit 316 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH conferred. He should feel able to agree to such a deci- sion, though he claimed the right of reconsideration, and though he himself held fullest views as to the spiritual benefits conferred on the faithful in the sacraments of adop- tion and love. As to confirmation, he must remind them that the Anglican communion, while fully expressing her belief in the spiritual gifts of which she held it to be a means, did not exact its acceptance as an absolute condition of admission to Holy Communion. As it was a rite of such large authority and precedent, he trusted that no difficulty would be felt in accepting the Anglican principle, that the rite is fully recognised but not imposed. (3) With regard to organisation, under which legis- lative, judicial, and ministerial action was comprised, he confined himself to the Christian ministry, asserting that if agreement as to its form could be attained, then the legislative and judicial procedure would not present insuperable difficulties. But he was bold to state that no scheme of union would in his judgment carry with it any reasonable hope of acceptance in the commu- nion to which he belonged which did not make provision for a definitely episcopal succession and a threefold ministry. He was not now raising the question of what forms of Holy Orders are, and what are not, valid in matters spiritual, but, mindful of the tenacity with which the Anglican Church, through the most terrible crises in her history, had maintained the same principles of succes- sion and order, he felt sure that in practice she would maintain them always. If, then, it was a priori impossible for the representatives of Methodist Churches in Japan to co-operate in the establishment of a Japanese Church with a threefold ministry obtained through an episcopal succes- sion, the discussion on ecclesiastical and organic union would be vain. But he had been encouraged to believe that, though probably not accepting the usual Anglican standpoint which would refer such a ministry to apostolic direction, yet that for the sake of the great and momentous issues in view, the ministry which the Anglicans held to be apostolic might in practice be accepted by all. In conclusion, he confessed that if this broad basis of agreement were arrived at, the way would not yet be plain for immediate action to bring about the establish- ment of a Church which accepted the Scriptures as its o NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 317 authority and the Nicene Creed as its standard, which rigidly adhered, without doctrinal explanation of the spiritual mystery, to the administration of the sacraments in the forms which the Lord appointed, and which main- tained the threefold ministry and the apostolic succession. Authoritative action must proceed from the Churches at home, but there the tide was setting more and more strongly year by year towards the adoption of some such principles as those which underlie the above proposals. While as to the Japanese Christians, he had not heard any expression of opinion in favour of the ultimate adoption as their own standard of faith and teaching of any doctrinal confession of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, nor had he seen any desire among them to entangle themselves in the long and mournful sacramental controversies of the Western Church. Union comprehensive, organic, practical might still be reserved for a far-ofT day, and be realised only in some distant generation. Let it be so. It was not till genera- tions and centuries had run their course that He came in whom all the separated nations of earth were blessed. Christians could afford to wait without loss of hope. In aiming at union, they were working on the line of a revealed purpose of God, and bringing nearer the fulfilment of the last prayer of the Master. Curiosity may be felt as to what practical result, if any, came from this conference. Immediate consequences were not looked for by its promoters, and the Bishop in a subsequent pastoral, while admitting that ' it had not been possible to take any immediate steps towards the solution of various practical difficulties which beset the whole ques- tion,' expressed his own belief that the conference with representatives of various Methodist missions had not been 4 without fruit.' ' 1 ' It is worthy of note, especially on an occasion like this, when so many of our brethren from other communions have met together in respect to the memory of him who was so lately among us, that one of his first acts on his arrival in Japan was to put forth terms of a basis for reunion or communion with ourselves of all or any of the bodies called Protestant which are working in Japan. The response his appeal met with was to a great extent disappointing. 318 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH It will, then, be admitted that the determination to organise the Nippon Sci Kokwai was not due to any over- looking of the work already undertaken by others, but that its organisation grew out of the hope that it might ultimately help to promote the union of Christians in Japan, and meanwhile preserve the fulness of the faith. The permanent results of these early labours were em- bodied in ' The Constitution and Canons l of the Nippon Sei Kokwai,' from which it will be seen that the legislative authority of the Nippon Sei Kokwai was the synod, that the executive authority rested in the main with those who were ordained to holy offices, and that the judicial authority remained still in large part to be settled, though some temporary rules were agreed upon. THE CONSTITUTION AND CANONS OF THE NIPPON SEI KOKWAI Article I. The Church shall be called the Nippon Sei Kokwai (Holy Catholic Church of Japan). Article II. This Church doth accept and believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as given by inspiration of God, and as containing all things necessary to salvation, and doth profess the faith as summed up in the Nicene Creed and that commonly called the Apostles' creed. The attempt was perhaps premature, and out of place in Japan, where the various missions are dependent on the home Churches. But no one can believe that such efforts, made by such men, are altogether in vain or without effect in hastening the coming of that day when " there shall be one fold," as there is " one Shepherd ; " and the evidence which he gave so early in his life here of his desire to break down the wall of separation which divides Christians from Christians was but one proof of the spirit which actuated him to the end, and to the existence of which many can here bear witness.' Address of Archdeacon Shaw at Karuizawa, August 1897, after hearing of Bishop Ediuard BickcrstetKs death. 1 For the Canons see Appendix B. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 319 Article III. This Church will minister the doctrine and sacraments and discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and will maintain inviolate the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in the sacred ministry. Article IV. There shall be a general synod of this Church at least every third year from the year of our Lord 1887, at such times and in such places as shall be determined by the Bishop or Bishops at the time being resident in Japan ; who also, after consultation with each Standing Committee, shall have the right to convene special meetings of the synod, if occasion should arise. Article V. The synod shall be composed of the Bishops and all clergymen canonically resident in their jurisdictions (not under discipline) and of lay delegates to be chosen by the local councils. Provided that so soon as an increase in the number of clergy shall render it necessary, they also shall be repre- sented by delegates. Article VI. The Bishops shall vote separately from the clergy and lay representatives, and no resolution shall be deemed to have been carried unless a majority of the Bishops and of the clerical and lay representatives, voting conjointly or by orders, vote in its favour ; provided that so long as there are only two Bishops, if one of them vote with the majority for the resolution it shall be deemed to have been carried. Article VII. The powers of the synod, when duly convened, shall extend to : (i) Deliberation on all questions relating to the welfare and progress of the Church. (2) The establishing and carrying on of home and foreign missionary societies. (3) The making, amending, and rescinding of canons. The synod shall also have power to amend the consti- 32O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH tution ; provided that, a notice of the proposed amend- ment having been given and accepted in a previous regular synod, a majority of two-thirds of the members vote in its favour. Article VIII. The President of the synod shall be a Bishop elected by the Bishops present thereat. 1 The Canons related to such points as : (i) Of the ad- mission of candidates for Holy Orders ; (2) of admitted candidates ; (3) of examination for ordination ; (4) of ordination ; (6) of (Japanese) Bishops ; (7) of unordained agents ; (8) of discipline ; (10) of Local Councils ; (n) of vestries; (12) of the Missionary Society; (13) of conse- crated buildings ; and (14) of marriage and divorce. Of these, the drafting of the Canon on marriage and divorce was at that time deferred, and the full considera- tion of the text of six others was not then entered upon ; but it was evident to the Japanese, as well as to the authorities, in England, that a real step forward had been taken. He wrote to me from Shiba, Tokyo : June 30, 1887. My dearest Sam, . . . The attempting something like synodical action so quickly was only justified by our exceptional circumstances, but had we not done so I doubt if we should have maintained our position at all. The Japanese are far too independent a people not to demand some share in self-government from the beginning. I see from the Archbishop's speech at St. James's Hall I have not yet heard from him that a long letter I wrote him convinced him of this. Your very affectionate Brother, EDWARD BICKERSTETH, Bishop. The Archbishop had written a few months before ~ : ' I think you really know how almost impatient I am for 1 In this reprint of the Constitution I have embodied some slight alterations made later. S. B. 2 Addington Park, December 31, 1886. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 321 native Churches, and will know how that I desire only to have such important work solid;' but, in criticising a draft 'copy of the constitutions and Canons sent to him for that purpose, he had deprecated ' such vast questions being hurried to a conclusion/ while admitting that 'Japan was evidently a country requiring its native Church, and able to receive it early.' The Archbishop had argued, ' I understand how Nonconformist bodies feel bound to pre- cipitate conclusions and make fully-expanded organisa- tions at once. But it does not become us to follow a method novel to us or to initiate temporary formations and formulations. No historical Church has legislated so rapidly as you propose. Things with us grow and ripen in their own time.' It will be seen that Bishop Bickersteth, notwithstand- ing, had kept to his own opinion and carried his point, and the Archbishop came to agree with him. If the political precocity of the Japanese is a fair analogy, it may be asserted that the younger man on the spot rightly saw that the proverbial danger would wait upon delay in ecclesiastical as in political affairs. The impression, however, must not be given that he acted from impatience or from impulse. On the contrary, in his own English copy of the constitution and Canons, besides numerous references to the early Fathers, to Archbishop Cranmer, and to others, I find, copied on the front page, these words of John Keble, which express the principle on which he desired to act : ' It can never be wise for the Church to do grave things in a hurry.' A perusal of the Bishop's sermons and correspondence at this time leave on the mind the impression that he did not act precipitately, but in keeping with this cautious quotation, and that he felt at every turn the necessity of anticipating and of meeting objections, of conciliating 322 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH prejudices, and of drawing together those who had pre- viously stood apart. The smooth working of the general synods (at first held biennially, and now made triennial) since that held in the first year of his episcopate justifies the belief that the work thus in God begun will continue to the building up of the Japanese Church. Writing to his clergy in Lent 1888, the Bishop was able to say : I look back with especial pleasure to our conference and synod at Osaka in February of last year. I believe that the steps which were then taken will, with God's blessing, have the most beneficial influence on the history of the Church. At the same time, it is inevitable that some special difficulties should attend an attempt to secure united action in a way and to a degree for which there is no exact precedent. Prayer, study, and consultation will enable us to overcame them as they arise. For the pre- sent I need only remind you that no clergyman, whether Japanese or English, is released from the obligation to obey in their entirety, so far as is possible in this country, the directions of the Prayer Book. Whether a more elastic system may hereafter be possible, and if possible desirable, is one of the many problems awaiting solution in the future. Although the constitution and Canons agreed upon by the synod, as the legislative authority, were in the main accepted by the Christian congregations as well as by those who represented them in the conference, there were not wanting those here and there who were tempted to take a line of their own. As usual in such differences of practice, the points in themselves were small, but not therefore necessarily insignificant. For example, the use of the surplice, a cross and flowers on the Holy Table, the position of the font, bowing at the human name of our Lord and at the doxology, standing at the entrance of the ministers and during the offertory, the omission of the NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 323 prayer for the church militant these were some of the matters in dispute. The duty of a missionary Bishop to govern can never for long be a sinecure when he has to deal with nascent congregations of newly converted Christians. This is especially the case when the converts are a people as independent and as ready to take a line of their own as the English race itself. It has been said that ' not only England, but every Englishman is an island.' The same remark, whether in censure or in commendation, may be made of the Japanese. The following extracts from a letter of Bishop Bickersteth's written on December 31, 1887, well illustrate the sympathy and judgment which he tried to blend in his treatment of even minor ritual difficulties. Recent experience in England has shown the danger of the casual policy of saying to clergy, ' Do it, but do not ask me.' Bishop Edward Bickersteth, without being fussy, was firm, and his temperament made him 1 unable to leave these things to take care of themselves. After explaining and enforcing the importance of the principles of (i) authority, (2) freedom, and (3) unity, the Bishop gave the following ruling : The use of the surplice. I gathered from you that the brethren would like a special garment to be used, but not of a white colour. I should not be opposed to this in itself, still I cannot but hope that it will become more and more natural to us to associate the white colour not with false worships, but with the holy worship of God in Heaven, in which hereafter we hope to join. (See Rev. iii. 45 ; iv. 4 ; vi. 1 1 ; xix. 8). Floivers and cross on the Holy Table. Flowers, God's most beautiful works, seem fully in place in God's house, the place where our Lord deigns especially to be, and as accompaniments of the services of our religion, of which, as resting on the resurrection, the very keynote is victory and praise. The cross is a symbol used by Christians 324 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH from very early times. I observe that on the outside of churches it is common among all Christians in Japan. I should be sorry to see either the flowers or the cross dis- carded. At the same time, if in any place there is a danger of giving offence, either to weaker brethren or unbelievers, by placing them on the Holy Table, I should feel that this was a case in which St. Paul's principle applied, as stated in i Cor. viii. 13, and that for the present it is better to avoid placing them in that position. The position of t lie font. In time to come I cannot but hope that some of our churches may be erected on the ancient plan, a plan which was also adopted at the church where I usually worshipped in India. According to it, Christians only are admitted into the main body of the church, unbelievers having a place assigned them in a large porch separated by a low wall or barrier from the nave itself. The font would then naturally be placed just within the nave. This plan allows unbelievers to listen to God's word preached, which by His grace may become the means of their conversion, but prevents them from seeming to belong to the congregation in which, not having been baptised, they have as yet no place. Catechumens should also have a special place assigned them. Experience has shown that such arrangements are a real help to the orderly and devout conduct of God's worship, and help the worshippers to realise more fully the privilege of belonging to the Church of Christ. Bowing at the human name of our Lord and at the do.vology. These are Christian customs, practised in some of our churches, not in others. They certainly should be by no means enforced, but neither should they be forbidden. To do so would cause great grief to some tender con- sciences. Bowing at the mention of our Lord's name in the creed is almost universal, but even here individual liberty should be respected. Further, it may be taken as a rule that simple forms of outward devotion are an assis- tance, elaborate forms a hindrance to that devotion of the heart which is the one thing needful. Standing at the entrance of the ministers. In some of our churches this is the practice, in some it is not. It seems to me just one of those points which should be left to be decided according to the wishes of individual clergy and congregations. Personally I prefer it. It is a mark NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 325 of respect for the ministers of Christ which accords well with the teaching of the New Testament (see, for instance, i Thess. v. 12, 13; Heb. xiii. 17, & c .). Besides it gives an opportunity for all to kneel with the minister in private prayer before the service commences. Thoughts which have wandered to earthly things are in this way collected for the solemn duty of worshipping Almighty God. Facing, as far as possible, the same way during prayer. Probably all would be agreed on this. It would, however, be best not to make a law on the subject, which might fret some of the brethren who had been accustomed to a different use. A good custom will gradually prevail through its own goodness. With regard to other resolutions which referred to singing the responses to the commandments, singing before the gospel, and prayer by the preacher before his sermon, such points might well be left to the decision of congrega- tions and individual preachers. Some preachers are very fond of saying a short extempore prayer before their sermon. I do not myself adopt the plan, but should be sorry to see others forbidden to adopt it by a law. In conclusion, the Bishop expressed his conviction that : The Prayer Book would require very large modification before it can be finally accepted as the service book of the Nippon Sei Kokwai. But successful alterations require much prayer, great caution, and, as I have said, long study. Without these loss would be certain and gain doubtful. Even at present no one who studies and uses the prayers can fail to have vividly impressed upon his mind and heart certain great principles and truths which are founded on the teaching of Holy Scripture and are needed for all times. They are such as these : the obligation of definite belief in revealed truth, the duty of worship as the highest act of redeemed men, the authority of the threefold ministry, the reality of sacramental grace, the duty of reverence, alike outward and inward, in God's house and service. These and other truths our Church has been in a special way entrusted with. We do not, then, want in any way to reduce our teaching and services to the level of what others may think right : but rather to point out, as occasion offers, that inasmuch as all our teaching and practice is founded 326 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH on God's revelation and in accordance therewith, it must have a real bearing on the spiritual life and progress of all the Christian people of the land. You will join me in the prayer that God may enable our Church to guard the heritage which He has committed to us, and while holding great truths and principles un- altered, wisely to adapt their external embodiment to the special circumstances of your favoured land a land which we who have come hither from far learn to love as truly as yourselves. These counsels of the Bishop to the Church at Osaka have been quoted at length, not because of anything exceptionally important in this particular case, but to show that he did not neglect the duty of minute super- vision imposed upon him by his office ; and that he kept jealously in view, as a trustee of the faith, the future interest of the Japanese Church, refusing to be tied and bound by party considerations. In opening the third biennial synod (April 4, 1891), the Bishop made a determined effort to bring home to the Nippon Sei Kokwai, especially to the more progressive and least-balanced members of the synod, the limitations under which all their discussions must be carried on, unless they were to snap their continuity with the best traditions handed on by the Catholic Church. He pointed out the essential difference between schools of thought and sects, the benefit of the one, the danger of the other, and urged that the Nippon Sei Kokwai ' must act within its terms, submit to temporary limitations, and not cramp a reasonable variety.' Are there any principles which it were well to bear in mind as fitted to limit and control our discussions ? There are three things which, as it seems to me, if duly con- sidered, will supply the needful limitations, as well as a main guidance of our action. Of these, the first is the fact to which I have already NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 327 alluded, that we are a branch of the Catholic Church. As such, we are the depositaries in our faith and orders of a great trust with which we have no right to meddle. To retain it, and to hand it on unimpaired to the generation which shall succeed us, is our highest privilege. It is the profession of the Christian faith, witnessed to by Holy Scripture and enshrined in the creed, which alone makes us to be Christians, while the organisation of the ministry, which is of God's ordering,"not of human contrivance, links us with the Church of the past and with contemporary Churches in other lands. These things are not brought into debate among us. They are, if I may borrow the language of geometry, the axioms and postulates which lie at the basis of our discussions. No small part of the progress to which I have referred is due to the steadfast- ness of our profession in these regards. The inquirer who joins us is left in no doubt as to the character of our belief, and the nature of our organisation and worship. Now this is a limitation which, as I have said, unless as a Church we would commit spiritual suicide, must always remain. Not so that which I have now to mention, which is in its own nature merely temporary. I mean the limita- tion which arises from our present connection with the Anglican communion, and especially with its three branches in England, America, and Canada. Let us look at this point without prejudice. Two things are to be remembered, (i) The great majority of our clergy are as yet foreigners, bound by the obligations of their ordination vows, supported entirely by foreign contributions, and dependent on foreign Churches for their maintenance in sickness or old age ; and though there would be no canonical hindrance that I am aware of the two ministries being on the spiritual side identical to Japanese clergy transferring themselves to the service of the Anglican communion, or of Anglican clergy resigning their position in their own Church and entering the ministry of the Sei Kokwai, yet, as you are aware, want of means in the Sei Kokwai, and perhaps some provisions of the civil law, render this for the present impossible. This is one side of the question. On the other hand, it is plain (2) that the laws of the Church as defined by the synod must be obeyed alike by all who minister, whether Japanese or foreign. Law would lose its fundamental character if it could be neglected We are a branch of the Catho- lic Church We arc connected with the Anglican Commu- nion 328 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH We must allow large differences of opinion Schools of thought v. sects by those who are especially charged with its administra- tion. Let me add one limitation more. Our action should be controlled by a frank recognition that the Church must allow large differences of opinion within her pale on minor points. Every great Church, as distinguished from the sects, developes within itself individualised schools of thought. A sect is a body of men which breaks off from the historic society which Christ founded with the view of emphasising some particular opinions, always more or less true, on which its members have come to lay special, if not exclusive, store. Owing to the presence of the truth in what it holds, the sect has a certain temporary vitality, until it be again absorbed into the catholic body. Now the emphasising of particular views by different sections of believers is inevitable. It is due, on the one hand, to the infinity of truth, and, on the other, to the narrow limitation of human faculties. Like other necessary phenomena, it must, then, be allowed for, as well as controlled, in the Church. Its true exhibition is in the formation of schools of thought, which, while all confessing the same, facts of the historic creed, contribute each their own quota towards its elucidation. Such schools are not antagonistic but com- plementary, not mutually destructive but ancillary the one to the other. Jew and Gentile in the first century, the Mystical School of Alexandria and the literal interpre- ters of Antioch in the third and fourth, the Scotist and Dominican Schoolmen in the thirteenth to avoid instances nearer to our own day each in their turn contributed something to the fuller apprehension of the faith. For the moment, they may have counted one another as foes. They were really fellow-labourers in the cause of Christ. Now it must be evident to you that schools of thought are being formed, too, among ourselves. It is natural that it should be so, for the reasons which I have assigned ; doubly natural because of the character of the communion to which we owe our Christianity. It is our business tc see that no attempt at exclusive or selfish legislation drives into extreme courses developments which are not in them- selves unhealthy. Schools may be vehicles both of the divine grace and truth. Schisms and partisanships are sin, and too easily forfeit the one and obscure the other. Let there be among us, then, liberty for such varieties of NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 329 teaching as are not inconsistent with a common faith, and for such developments of ritual as do not conflict with a common order. Here, if anywhere, the lessons of the past may come to our assistance. Who can read without deepening sadness the later religious history of the coun- tries of Central Europe which accepted the Reformation of the sixteenth century? The movement was in itself inevitable, and might have been fraught with unmingled blessings. But the sacrifice of common order and the unbalanced assertion of individual opinions have gone far to extinguish the faith itself in the countries which wit- nessed it. On the other hand, many of the Churches of the further East have, in past times, suffered from the im- position, alike in practice and doctrinal statement, of a rigid and unreasoning uniformity. Let us accept the warning for ourselves. They who know that their teaching and worship are built upon apostolic foundations need not aim at a featureless sameness, whether of doctrinal statement or ritual practice. Those with whom liberty at any time shows risk of developing into licence, will feel it needful to fall back on common order and principle. Two apostolic words from the same epistle, both addressed in the first instance to the assertors of unqualified liberty, may serve to clench the lesson both to them and equally to the maintainers of an unreasoning uniformity : ' Came the Word of God unto you alone?' (i Cor. xiv. 36); 'We have no such custom, neither the Churches of God ' (i Cor. xi. 1 6). Let me, then, earnestly recommend to you the recog- Three nition of these three points as fitted to regulate and control P s our discussions. The Church is not in search of a faith, . but founded on a revelation. It must act within its terms. For the time being we are in close relationship with one of the communions of the West. We will submit to the temporary limitation which this involves. // is neither possible nor desirable to mould all minds on one type nor to satisfy all desires by one form. We will not by minute regulations cramp a reasonable variety. Subject to these limitations and controlled by the sense of the Divine Presence, we may adopt, I believe, such measures as seem good to us in the fullest confidence of being guided by the Spirit of God. We are now in the second period of our history. In the first, in which I 330 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH personally had no share, the work, which was exclusively evangelistic, was mainly in foreign hands. That' period has gone by and has been succeeded by the present, of which the duties are both evangelistic and pastoral, and throughout which co-operation should be the word inscribed over either field of energy. As time again goes on, the sphere of evangelisation will grow smaller, and that of pastoral activity be continually enlarged, until, either in our own time or in that of our successors, the work which began in the hands of foreigners will pass wholly into the hands of Japanese. The influ- This, by Divine Providence, is the order of the Church's ence which progress in every land. It may be helpful to remember the Church j T-I . r i may have wnere we n w stand. The prospect is one of solemn on the responsibility and of inspiring hopefulness. It is opened State to us, too, at a time when, more than at any earlier period if a foreigner may rightly judge, through the progress of political organisation, the country stands in need of a solid core and centre of thoughtful men, who recognise the obligations of righteousness, unselfishness, and philan- thropy, because they are implicated in their creed. It is not too much to say that representative government, if it is to be permanent, demands a religious people. If so for other systems of belief are dying or dead the future rests with the Church. I can only allude to this here. The first great subject which came before the synod, and towards which it was necessary to exhibit the principles of caution mentioned above, was the Revision of the Japanese Prayer Book. This weighty matter of revision was wisely relegated by the synod to a committee, and occupied six years of anxious work. Year by year the Bishop, in writing ad clerum, referred to this question, and its gradual progress towards the form which it now has assumed can be traced by his references to it in successive Pastorals. Every year he brought forward this matter, but never from exactly the same point of view, dealing with the application of great principles either to the office of Holy Communion, or to special services, or to daily Prayers, or some kindred point. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 331 p ray e r Book In his Pastoral of 1890 he wrote : Some would also look with favour on an effort, not only Some re- to revise, but to remodel the Offices of the Church, so as to bring them, as they believe, more into harmony with eastern modes of thought and devotion. I am very far from thinking that a translation of our English Book of Common Prayer will be finally accepted as its service book by an Oriental Church. But for two reasons I trust that for some years to come no steps will be taken in the direc- tion indicated, (i) Our Japanese brethren have not as yet the knowledge of earlier liturgical forms, nor generally the intimate and accurate acquaintance with Christian doctrine which are indispensable to so refined and difficult a task as the formation of a new liturgy. (2) The foreign clergy, without whose assistance the services could not at present be carried on, are under canonical obligation to use their own Prayer Book in public worship. There is no reason for thinking that this obligation would be satisfied by the use of a different book, however excellent. I may add that there might be much less difficulty in the composition and authorisation of an appendix to the present Prayer Book, containing such prayers and services as the special circumstances of Japan seem to require, for example, a prayer for protection from fire and earthquake, a prayer for the consecration of a grave, a service for the admission of catechumens. To the synod of 1891 he said : Now, what is the practical outcome of a sober considera- tion of these two points ? I conceive it to be this that we should exercise great caution and deliberation before knowledge making important changes in our Service Book. At present the substantial identity of the Prayer Books of England, America, and Japan anticipates and prevents alike conscientious scruples and practical difficulties. I should be sorry by precipitate action to forfeit this advan- tage. I am not, indeed, opposed to all change, even immediately. The differences of East and West even where the Christians of the three continents are bound together by the sacred ties of a common faith and the same spiritual lineage, render some modifications inevitable. It is true that the English Prayer Book is not the outcome ' 332 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH In time the Japanese Church will enrich their devo- tions with a termino- logy' of their own of the religious thought of one nation only in any one age, but represents in an English dress the devotional treasures of many lands and centuries. Still, it cannot be made entirely available here, as it is, even for immediate use. But if some changes are inevitable and desirable, let them be confined for the present to necessary curtailments and additions, and to points of order and detail, and leave the substance and fabric of the book intact. It is too soon as yet to think of writing a new Confession of Faith outside the catholic creeds, even if, unlike myself, you should eventually think such to be requisite. It is too soon we have not as yet the liturgical knowledge and skill to recast the Prayer Book, though it may be, as has been suggested, that the substance of Greek Liturgies and the form of Shinto norito will prove more consonant to the genius of your language than the brief collects and suffrages of western growth. If we were to attempt such enter- prises as yet, it is more likely that we should lose what we have than gain what we have not Meanwhile the exercise of restraint in this regard will not be without its advan- tages. It will give opportunity for prayer and study on subjects where, if either be omitted, no good result can be expected. Speaking at the synod of 1893 the Bishop said : I cannot regret the concentration of our attention at this early period of our history on the subject of the offices of divine worship. To offer the service of reasonable and acceptable worship to God through Christ is the most exalted duty of the Church. And the dignity of the end in view lends something of its own importance to the media, whether ritual or verbal, which we employ in its attainment. And here if we ask whether in forming or developing our own service book any guidance is afforded us by the universal practice of the Church, the answer is not doubtful. Take the most august of Christian rites, founded in the institution of our Lord himself, the liturgy, or service of Holy Communion. Observe and compare the services which have been used by various Churches in different eras and in different lands. Note how certain features characterise all alike the reading of Holy Scrip- NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 333 turc, the offering of definite and orderly intercession, adoration and praise in union with the company of heaven, the commemoration of the institution of Christ and the communion of the faithful. Yet, on the other hand, mark how rich is the variety of prayers and praises which the great liturgies contain, as men of God in different ages and lands sometimes great doctors and fathers, a Basil or a Chrysostom, a Leo or a Gregory, more often unnamed students and saints have elaborated them for His glory. We cannot fail to see the bearing of this twofold fact this unanimity and this variety upon ourselves. We too, I trust, shall always gladly maintain the great outlines of the sacramental offices which unite us with the Churches of other lands. Yet as time goes on, Japanese Christianity, like Palestinian and Alexandrian, Italian and Gallican Christianity in the early days, will enrich its own service with devotions of which the language will betray no hand except that of its own writers, and will pass what it borrows from foreign services through the alembic of the mind and heart of Japanese theologians and liturgists. For the present, indeed, we are in no way ready for so great a work. The formation of a suitable theological terminology, the preparation of minor offices, with the consideration of certain subordinate details of service arising from the difference of the two eucharistic offices from which our own is drawn, will sufficiently occupy our attention. Yet even in these lesser matters you will, I hope, feel how serious the duty is with which as a synod we are entrusted, and how necessary it is to be guided by right principles. In the Pastoral of 1894 he wrote : No doubt the day is as yet far distant when a Japanese synod will be able profitably to undertake the discussion of serious ritual and liturgical questions. It was, so to say, the chance of two Prayer Books being employed by the Anglican missions in this country which gave occasion for any such discussions at the present stage of develop- ment. It is to be hoped that many years will be allowed to pass by before they are renewed as regards the substance of our Service Book. The incorporation into the office of Holy Communion of the American Prayer of Consecration as an alternative form, the restoration of an absolution he stances which Book K - vision ne- 334 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Two re- grettable < Jimssions to the Visitation of the Sick, and the addition of some excellent occasional prayers, chiefly from the revised American Prayer Book, are among the more important improvements. The additional services should form a useful appendix to the Book of Common Prayer. Two omissions are to be regretted and might well be repaired. / a \ jj^ j a p anese Church has as yet no adequate know- the Re- ledge to enable its representatives to form an independent vised Book judgment on the use of the Apocrypha. The custom of the three Western Churches, to which she owes her existence, ought to have been followed. () If in these days a direction is felt to be galling, at least some recom- mendation of the use of the daily office by the clergy should be prefixed to the Prayer Book. Such a use is not indeed a specific for the maintenance of a high standard of spiritual life among the Church's ministers, but it is an important guarantee that that end will be kept in view and a great help towards its attainment. The standard of religion would never have been depressed as it was in England in the last half of the eighteenth century if the Church's rule in the matter had not been so widely neglected. The recovery of the practice has accompanied and largely contributed to the present happier state of things. The six short Prayers, a Psalm Lesson, Creed, and Canticle with certain suffrages, which are all that are now enjoined, link the clergyman who uses them day by day with a great body of worshippers and of students of Holy Writ. If he is alone, they form a framework of devotion into which he may well fit his own special needs, and the more often he can draw his people to use them with him the greater their gain and his. The Church, in a phrase of language familiar to antiquity, was the Altar and Altar- court l of God. The new version be' g ac- Again, in his Pastoral of 1895 the Bishop wrote : The New Japanese version of the Prayer Book has been finished after probably a greater expenditure of toil in translation and minute revision, extended over some six some years vers j O ns of the Prayer Book in our day. It is impossible to come 1 See the collection of references in the Bishop of Durham's Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, pp. 455-457. NIPPON SET KOKWAI 335 that all should be entirely satisfied with the result. The differences between the English and American Books involved numerous decisions in which strong predilections, happily by no means always running parallel with nation- ality, were engaged on one side or the other. The selec- tion of a theological terminology in an eastern language adequate to render the venerable forms into which the Christian thought of the West has cast its beliefs and prayers is, as you are aware, a task of extreme difficulty. This difficulty has now been in large part overcome, and the thanks of the whole Church are due to those who, under whatever inevitable imperfections, have given us a service book which in completeness and literary style is much in advance of its predecessor. I may express the hope that now that the version is complete, it may be allowed to remain as it is, at least for some years. No doubt a later generation will improve upon the work of our own. But stability is a note of the Church with which frequent changes of liturgical forms, or even of translation, are more or less inconsistent. As it now stands, it is, I believe, fairly adequate to the needs of the little Japanese Church, and like the Japanese Church itself it bears witness to the unity of the American and English Churches, and to the good results of the co-operation of their clergy in a heathen land. In the September of that year the following Joint Pastoral from the Bishops in Japan accompanied the actual issue of the Revised Prayer Book. THE REVISED PRAYER BOOK [It is requested that this letter !>e read during divine service in Church on a Sunday shortly before the day on which the new Version is first made use of.] Tokyo : September 1895. To the Reverend the Clergy and the Members of the Nippon Sei K5kwai Dear Brethren, The revised translation of the Prayer Book (with the exception of the Epistles, Gospels, and Psalms) is now complete. A longer time has been spent on the last stage of the revision than was anticipated at the 336 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH synod of 1893. ^ n consequence its publication has been delayed beyond the date (January i, 1895) then fixed for its compulsory use in public service. It is, therefore, desirable that it should now be adopted with as little delay as possible, and we request that all necessary steps be at once taken for providing each congregation with a suffi- cient supply of the revised edition. Much labour has been ungrudgingly given through a series of years to the work of revision ; and if the ends in view have been attained, the use of the new book in divine service cannot fail to contribute to that intelligent and truthful worship of Almighty God which Christians are bidden to offer. (St. John iv. 24, I Cor. xiv. 15.) Various new prayers and additional rubrics will be found in the body of the book. The Lectionary has been carefully revised. The appendix contains a series of new services, of which experience has shown the need. We cannot but hope that the publication of this revised version will lead to a fuller study and wider use of all parts of the book. The clergy are bound by their ordination vows to follow the order of the Church's services in their ministra- tions, and if they are fully to discharge this part of their duty they must make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the meaning of each rubric and prayer. In congrega- tions where there is a minister in constant residence, it is not lawful to omit any part of the prescribed services. Thus, for instance, there is no justification for the prevalent neglect of the Saints' Day services, nor for the omission of an Evening Service on Sunday. Again, it is impossible for teachers to fulfil the responsible duty of instructing the young in the Catechism (see rubric after the Church Catechism and Canon V. 5) unless they have themselves dwelt upon the meaning of the great moral and spiritual truths which it inculcates, in meditation and prayer (i Tim. iv. 15). Or, to take one other instance, the principles of such a service as that of the Visitation of the Sick must be carefully considered and apprehended before it can be profitably employed. But the obligation of carefully studying and taking regular and intelligent part in the Church's services is not confined to the clergy. To all of us the words are addressed, ' Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 337 house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacri- fices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ' (i St. Peter ii. 5). We would therefore take this opportunity of earnestly pressing upon the faithful laity of the Church, that they never allow worldly occupations to interfere with the discharge of this primary duty of all Christian people. We rejoice to know that already many of the laity make use of the Prayer Book in family and private devo- tions, and read Holy Scripture according to the Lectionary of the Church. A form of Family Prayer is included in the present volume, which may be easily varied by the selection of prayers from other services, appropriate to the special circumstances of each family or to the season of the Church's year. The publication of a revised Psalter will lead, we hope, to its becoming in the Japanese Church, as it is in other branches of the Catholic Church, a book valued alike in the congregation and in the home, as con- taining inspired forms of devotion, suited to the experi- ence of the many needs of our human lives. We pray for you, dear brethren, that studying Holy Scripture under the guidance of the ' form of sound words ' (2 Tim. i. 13) which this book contains, you 'may be built up on your most Holy Faith ' (St. Jude 20), and, con- tinually taking part in the Church's sacrifice of prayer and praise and sacramental worship, may be filled with heavenly grace, and do that which is well pleasing in the sight of God our Father, to whom we have access in one Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are, dear Brethren, Your faithful and affectionate Brethren and Servants in Christ, EDW.' BlCKERSTETH, Bishop. JOHN McKiM, Bishop. HENRY EVINGTON, Bishop. Some rumours reached England that serious omis- sions were being sanctioned in this Revised Japanese Prayer Book, and called forth from the Bishop the follow- ing letter of refutation and explanation, which he addressed to his sister May, as Secretary of the Guild of St. Paul. Z 338 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Karuizawa : August 19, 1896. Canon 's opinion is of importance, but he is not sufficiently acquainted with the facts. We have not been engaged at all in striking out, as he deems, parts of the Prayer Book, but in the better work of insertion. The Prayer Book we inherited in Japanese (I need not recount how this came about, an oversight probably of Archbishop Tait's) was the American Book minus its best element, the Prayer of Consecration. Practically the result of the last ten years has been to insert all important omis- sions (including a rubric on Private Confession and the American Consecration Prayer), except the rubric on daily service. For some reason or other the C.M.S., which had given way on other points, set themselves against this ; but the use of daily service is extending, and with patience the rubric, I hope, will find a place in the Japanese book. Taking the Japanese Prayer Book as a whole, it is, I believe, the best yet issued in Churches connected with the Anglican communion. The additional special prayers, and an appendix of services, specially required in missions, or of importance in this country (e.g. for the Emperor's birthday), are a great gain. Of course the Prayer Book has never been thrown before a General Synod, nor is there any intention of so dealing with the Articles. The points in the Prayer Book were considered by a special committee, and if the Articles are revised, the same course will be taken. All that the synod does is to give or refuse its sanction to the decisions of the committee. Had it not been for the differences of the English and American Prayer Books no liturgical subjects would have been considered at all. As there were these differences, discussion was inevitable, and on the whole we have much reason to be thankful for the result. The reason why the marriage law question has arisen is the same. The American book omitted the Table of Degrees, just as it omitted the rubric on daily service. We have to take things as we find them, and ' restore the breaches ' if we are able. I think it most likely we shall succeed. On the difficult and important question of a Confession of Faith to take the place of the Thirty-nine Articles NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 339 (which had been provisionally accepted by the Nippon Thcque Sei Kokwai) many discussions arose, and the Bishop Sa^o wrote : l of the Thirty- nine In this connection let me remind you that it will not Articles be possible indefinitely to delay the preparation of a Confession of Faith which may take the place of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion in the Japanese Church, and be used, like our Articles, as an authorised standard of teaching for clergy. For the laity probably no one would propose to exceed the requirements of the Cate- chism. On this subject there are two points which it is important to bear in mind. I. That by a resolution of the Lambeth Conference of 1888 the episcopal succession cannot be conferred on a newly constituted Church, unless there be satisfactory evidence that it holds substantially the same doctrine as the Anglican communion and that its clergy subscribe Articles in accordance with the express statements of our own standards of doctrine and worship, though not necessarily bound to accept in their entirety the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. This gives us a large but limited freedom. If the substance of Anglican teaching is retained, the form may differ, and matters of some importance perhaps still in the West, but of historical interest only here, may be omitted. 2. That a Japanese confession must be largely the work of Japanese Christians, and if matters of controversy are referred to, they must be those of which the vital impor- tance is felt and acknowledged in Japan. And again : * The Thirty-nine Articles have no oecumenical authority. They are 'English of the English,' an outcome of the special circumstances of the Church of England in the sixteenth century. In the matters with which they deal, as compared with the contemporary confessions of Ger- many and Switzerland, they bear striking testimony to the wisdom and moderation of the English Reformers ; but they are not, and do not profess to be, a complete statement of Christian doctrine, and were certainly never 1 Lent Pastoral 1892. * Lent Pastoral 1896. Z2 340 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH intended by their compilers to be imposed as a standard of orthodoxy outside the British Isles. Further, speaking generally, the imposition of elabo- rate doctrinal standards, as distinguished from the brief devotional enumeration in a creed of the facts of belief, is an evidence of weakness. Lengthy statements of this kind would not be required under the best and most healthy conditions of the Church's life. And if it be concluded at any time that the adoption of some such statement is inevitable, the greatest care should be taken that it is germane to the particular circumstances of the local Church and does not contain unnecessary or irrelevant definitions. Now, do the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England so fulfil these conditions as to render it desirable to insert them in the Prayer Book of the Japanese Church ? I cannot think so. For instance, when it is remembered how clear are the statements of the creeds on the great doctrines of the Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation, are Articles I. to V. necessary in this country as a formulary of general instruction ? Again, is not the Article on original sin read, as it must be in Japan, altogether apart from the controversy which gave it special point and meaning in England three centuries ago, very liable to misinterpretation by most Eastern Christians? Again, the Article on Justification, taken in relation to the doctrinal controversies of the Reformation, is ex- cellent alike in its reticence and in its affirmations. But would any careful student of Holy Scripture maintain that it is so adequate and balanced a statement of the whole complex doctrine to which it refers as to render it desirable for an Oriental Church, under totally different circumstances and surroundings, to insert it as it stands into its Office Book ? Again, is it necessary at present in the East to have any authoritative decision at all on the problems of elec- tion and free will ? Might not the whole subject be left to the consideration of a native schola t/ieologorum, when such arises ? And if so, is there need to ask each member of the Japanese Church who uses the Prayer Book to consider and interpret our Article XVII. ? NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 341 Again, do not our special circumstances here render it most undesirable that we should insert in our Book of Common Prayer the first clause in the second paragraph of Article XIX. ? What should we think of our brethren of the Orthodox Church of Russia were they to append to their Japanese Liturgy some similar statement in refe- rence to ourselves ? Here again the circumstances of the sixteenth century in England offer no parallel to our own in Japan. Further, though the East is but little concerned in Western controversies, it has and always will have its own modes of thought, its own problems, its own difficulties ; and this being so, it would seem that the doctrinal con- fession of an Eastern Church, if its formulation be deemed requisite, should be the work of Oriental theologians, be ' racy of the soil,' spring out of a surrounding of Eastern circumstances, and carry to those who study it the obvious meaning of its own allusions and references. It could not be maintained that this would be true of the Thirty-nine Articles. For these reasons I have no doubt that the Bishops at the recent synod were right in their decision not to allow the Articles to be appended to our Service Book. By a resolution of the first synod of the Nippon Sei Kokwai in 1887 the Articles were temporarily accepted. The result of this action is that their definitions may not be contravened by the authoritative teachers of the Church. So long as Anglican missions are working in Japan, they may, if it be thought well, without difficulty be retained in this position ; but I am unable to think that it would be desirable to accord them any more definite recognition. With regard to the Marriage laws, 1 it will be remem- Marriage , . . f I>aw and bered that at the first synod the matter was deferred lor TaWe O f further discussion, being of such vital importance, and it ] has been debated at each successive synod. Before leaving Japan in 1892 the Bishop had written to his clergy : A number of careful reports are being prepared for 1 See Canon XV. 342 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the next meeting of the synod. Among them will be one on marriage law. The marriage law of the Church vitally affects its well-being as well as tests its obedience to divine command and restriction. I hope that the difficulties which have been raised in reference to it will have your careful attention. Some papers issued by the S.P.C.K. will be forwarded to you shortly. For myself, I cannot doubt that the two principles embodied by Arch- bishop Parker in the marriage law of the English Church, and from which as English clergymen we are not person- ally at liberty to recede namely, that marriage is unlawful within the third degree, and that relationship by affinity is to be treated as equivalent to relationship by consanguinity are in accordance with Scriptural guidance and catholic precedent. At the synod of 1 893 he spoke as follows : A report will be presented on the marriage law of the Church. No subject is of larger practical importance. Laxity in regard to it is the sure precursor of decline in a Christian communion. Vagueness and uncertainty involve injustice to individuals who transgress through ignorance. On the other hand, definite law and practice, based on right principles, do much to maintain a high moral tone in the Christian society, and even more, as time goes on, may be trusted to influence the laws of the State in cases where, as is probable when the State is not Christian, the civil law is at first laxer than that of the Church. Now here again let me point out that while on some points there has been divergence of opinion and practice and when this is the case we are at liberty to decide the questions which may arise as seems best under local circumstances yet certain principles have been maintained from the beginning. Among these I should notice (a) the indissolubility (unless with the one exception which our Lord allowed) of the marriage tie, (<) the prohibitions of marriage within the third degree a stricter rule than this has been maintained at times, never a less strict (c] the identity of the relation- ship arising through consanguinity and affinity. I will only add that while in regard to this subject especially I recognise the consideration which Christianity always gives to national or local customs, I should indeed fear for NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 343 the future of the Nippon Sei Kokwai if our marriage law embodied any other than the principles of the Universal Church. In this view he was upheld by the unhesitating support of Archbishop Benson, who wrote : Addington Park, Croydon : September 20, 1892. My dear Bishop Bickersteth, I do not think you can possibly undertake to alter the Table of Kindred and Affinity, which gives the mind of the Church of England with perfect definiteness upon that important subject ; nor have I any power whatever to make or recommend a change. Apart from the question of such power, I believe our law to be Scriptural and Christian. If the Church of America has a fixed law of its own, we cannot interfere with that ; and persons whom the American Church present to us as communicants according to the law of their Church must needs be received as communicants by us, not on the ground that their law is correct, but on the ground that they make themselves responsible as a Church for the competency of communicants, and on that responsi- bility we accept them. With earnest good wishes and prayers, Your sincere friend and affectionate Brother in Christ, EDWARD CANTUAR. Subsequently the Bishop wrote to his father as follows : Bishopstowe : 13 Igura, Azaba, Tokyo : June 17, 1895. Dearest Father, I must prepare for our | Bishops' Meeting ' to-morrow, so you will pardon a short line. What an utter scandal that service was at St. Mark's, North Audley St. ... Surely, if it were made plain that clergymen taking these marriages would be looked upon as under ecclesiastical censure and in disgrace, they would not be taken. And then if a Bill were brought into the House of Lords every year to repeal the clause which opens our churches for such profane services, even though it took a long time to educate the people's conscience to 344 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the point of demanding its passing, not only would the Church be able to say Liberavi aniinain meant, but an indirect gain the people would be brought to recognise the value of a sacred society in the midst of them which had a mind and practice of her own on all matters which so nearly touch as this does the nation's morals and life. As it is, the laisser faire policy must, I think, actually weaken the national conscience, which it is our business to strengthen. Your very affectionate Son, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. This was a subject on which the Bishop felt very keenly, and though no Canon was passed by the synod, yet a joint Pastoral on the Christian marriage law was issued by Bishops Bickersteth and McKim early in 1894. There- was eager discussion on the point in the synod of 1 896, when much pain was caused to Bishop Bickersteth as chairman by some expressions of laxity of opinion on the part of a few of the Japanese delegates. Thereupon he declared in full synod that he would resign his position rather than preside over a Church which tampered with the Christian marriage law. His action made a deep im- pression on the Japanese who were present, and had great effect at the time. He emphasised this in his Pastoral to his clergy when he wrote : The debate on the laws of marriage showed that it is not yet sufficiently felt that in this and other like matters we are not at liberty, if we would be true to ourselves, to enact any law which would conflict with the mind and practice of the Catholic Church. Had this been more fully grasped, it would not have been proposed to admit the use of the service of the Church in the case of marriage with a deceased wife's sister and a deceased brother's widow. There is little if any doubt that the Mosaic Law is based on the principle that affinity is to be regarded as equivalent in point of relationship to consanguinity. The practice of the NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 345 Christian Church from the beginning, in days anterior to the definite enactments of Canon law, was in accordance with this view. The Canon law only defined what had long been accepted. If, then, in a matter of much conse- quence we, the youngest of the organised Churches of Christendom, were to strike out a new path for ourselves, we should imperil to this extent our right of communion with the whole Body of Christ, and be setting a precedent which, if followed in other matters, might lead to most serious and perilous results. It is, I believe, our duty at the present time to make opportunities of inculcating this view of the question on our Japanese brethren, in order that, if possible, practical unanimity on this matter may be attained by the next meeting of the synod. The following joint Pastoral on this question was issued after the synod by the four Bishops of the Nippon Sei Kokwai. To the Reverend the Clergy of the Nippon Sei Kokwai June 1896. Reverend and dear Brethren, After the synod of 1893 we addressed a letter to you on the subject of the Christian marriage law, in which we recorded the main principles which should guide our action as ministers of the Church in this most important matter. It was our hope that the synod of this year would have embodied these principles in a formal Canon, but as this has not proved practicable, we think it our duty to re-affirm the points which were laid down in our former letter. The main substance of our former letter is contained in the following paragraphs : The three fundamental principles which it is important carefully to consider and bear in mind are (1) The indissolubility and exdusiveness of Christian marriage that is, Christian marriage does not admit either of divorce or polygamy. This principle is involved in the law of the original institution (Genesis ii. 24), which was for a time relaxed ' because of the hardness of men's hearts,' but reimposcd in all its strictness on His disciples by our Lord (St. Matt. xix. 3-9). (2) The illegality of marriage within the third degree 346 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH of relationship. This principle is clearly recognised in the Levitical code (Leviticus xviii.) and was usually embodied in the customs even of the heathen nations of antiquity. The one exception for which the Mosaic Law made pro- vision, that of the Levirate (Deut. xxv. 5), emphasised the general obligation. In the mediaeval era certain Christian codes extended the prohibition beyond the third degree, but without Scriptural warrant. (3) The identity of the relationships which arise from affinity, in the case of a party contracting \a marriage, with the natural relationships of consanguinity. This principle again rests on the primaeval law, ' They twain shall be one flesh ' (St. Matt. xix. 5). A Table of Kindred and Affinity based on these prin- ciples is enclosed with this letter. No marriage should be solemnised by us which contravenes its regulations. The method of granting dispensations for monetary pay- ment is of recent origin, established only under the vicious system of the Papal Curia, and can have no place among ourselves. The rule that divorce is not permitted between Christians who have entered into the marriage covenant is not affected by the omission, lamentable though it be, to seek God's blessing in the Church's marriage rite. The only exception is that stated in our Lord's words (St. Matt. xix. 9). Under no circumstances can the guilty party in a divorce be re- married with the Church's service, or be re-admitted to communion, if he or she have contracted a civil marriage during the lifetime of their legitimate partner. Much discussion has taken place as to the legitimacy of the remarriage of the innocent party in a divorce. On the whole we are of opinion that such marriages should be discouraged. Certainly, no clergyman can at any time be compelled to officiate at such a marriage if he feel scruple in regard to it. On the other hand, we think that a priest should not be forbidden to conduct such a marriage who can do so conscientiously. The marriage law of the Church is not in its entirety applicable to unions contracted before baptism. In Japan it may be thankfully admitted that custom and civil law in many important particulars coincide with the law of the Church. Each case in which the Christian law has been contravened unwittingly must be judged on its own NIPPON SET KOKWAI 347 merits. Ecclesiastical regulations and penalties cannot as such be made retrospective. It is clear from St. Paul's words (i Cor. vii. 15) that marriages between other than Christians are not, like those between Christians, in their own nature indissoluble ; nevertheless the Apostle's judgment is that, on one of the parties becoming Christian, they should not be dissolved, if the other partner is willing to maintain the union (r Cor. vii. 12-14) It is, of course, understood that in such a case the non-believing partner will abstain from attempting to enforce any conditions inconsistent with the Christian faith and morals. The Christian who after baptism has continued in the estate of marriage with the unbeliever, with whom he or she was united before baptism, must not capriciously attempt to escape from the obligation at a later period. To him or her the connection has become of the same character as Christian marriage. The Church has always regarded with the gravest dis- approval the contraction of marriages between a Christian and an unbeliever. St. Paul's words (i Cor. vii. 39; 2 Cor. vi. I4~vii. i) are most probably to be understood as forbidding such unions. We are not at liberty to solemnise such marriages with the Church's rite. When, however, such marriages took place, the ancient practice was not to require a separation as the condition of com- munion on the part of the Christian partner. ' Fieri non debuit, factum valet.' A more or less lengthy suspension from communion was considered sufficient penalty. A marriage with a catechumen who is about to be baptised is a somewhat different case. It should, however, be avoided as far as possible, and we request that no such marriage be solemnised without special reference to the Bishop. In conducting Christian marriages it is in all cases the duty of the clergyman to assure himself, either by personal inquiry or by letter from another clergyman, that the Christian marriage law will not be infringed by the solemnisation of the rite. No marriage should be solemn- ised except in the presence of at least two witnesses. An official register should be kept (see Canon V. 3) in which at the time of the marriage the names, birthplace, age, residence, and condition of each party should be recorded. This register should be signed by both parties, 348 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH by at least two witnesses, and by the minister. Copies of this register should be given to the parties on their application and be forwarded to the Bishop. It is our earnest desire that no marriage be solemnised in Lent and other appointed seasons of abstinence. These principles and directions we desire now to re-affirm, and besides we would take the opportunity of asking your attention to three additional points. (1) The civil law of Japan has hitherto permitted marriage with a deceased wife's sister, though it was stated at the recent synod that public opinion holds such alliances to be undesirable. As they conflict with the third of the three principles which we have enumerated above, not only ought they to be most gravely discouraged by us, but all requests that we will solemnise in such cases the Church's office of Holy Matrimony should be refused. The further question, however, arises whether under Canon VIII. the priest who is in pastoral charge of persons who contract such marriages is under obligation to present them to the Bishop with a view to their ex- communication. This question has been before the Bishops elsewhere, as well as in Japan, and we concur in the general opinion that the condemnation expressed in the refusal to allow in such cases the use of the Church's service is sufficient, and that it is not necessarily your duty to take the further step of presenting the parties to the Bishop. (2) In the case of the apostasy from the faith of a husband or wife, we are of opinion that the Christian partner cannot seek for a divorce in the civil court, nor remarry (if a civil divorce is obtained by the person who has apostatised) so long as that person is alive and contracts no other union. To act otherwise would be voluntarily to forfeit the hope of reconciliation. (3) Experience has shown that it is most desirable that, unless under very exceptional circumstances, the service of the Church should not be solemnised until all the necessary steps have been taken to legalise the marriage according to the civil law. On the other hand, there should be no unnecessary delay in conducting the religious service after the requirements of the civil law have been complied with. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 349 We cannot, Reverend Brethren, exaggerate our sense of the grave importance of the clergy in these matters acting on the principles which have guided the mind and practice of the Church from the beginning, and at the same time of there being exhibited by us all the utmost consideration and gentleness in dealing with the various and often difficult cases which must necessarily arise until Christian principles have wholly permeated the laws and customs of the land. Asking for you in all these matters the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, We are, Reverend and dear Brethren, Your faithful and affectionate Brethren and Servants in Christ, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. JOHN McKiM, Bishop. HENRY EVINGTON, Bishop. WM. AWDRY, Bishop. The election of delegates to the synod, the right of women to vote in vestries, and the management of pastor funds, were among the matters dealt with in the synod of 1889, over which Bishop Williams had presided. On these questions Bishop Bickersteth wrote as follows : l a. The Election of Representatives to the Synod. The plan now adopted can only be temporary. It assigns the same number of representatives to each of the four local districts, and takes no account of the number of communi- cants in each. Further, no provision is made to ensure a representation of foreign clergy. This must cause serious difficulty as the number of Japanese clergy increases. b. The Right of Women to vote in Vestries &c. A long discussion took place on this subject in the synod, and the decision of the question was adjourned. I have not met with, nor had brought to my notice, any precedent in favour of such a right in any earlier age of the Church. It would be a grave step for a Church so young and without experience as the Nippon Sei Kokwai to permit an innovation in such a matter. I hope that the history of 1 Pastoral 1890. 350 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the question may be fully investigated between now and the next synod, and that if the past gives no authority for the proposal its adoption may have your steady discountenance. c. Pastor Fund Societies. A series of resolutions on the formation of such societies was commended by the synod to the local councils. I am thankful that, in all the districts, societies are now in operation or steps being taken to establish them. The beginning in each case may be very small, but the principle involved is of the largest importance and widest application. It is not too much to say that the future wellbeing of the Church and the main- tenance of its standards of doctrinal and moral teaching depend on the adoption of such financial organisation as will secure the due independence of the clergy. The policy is disastrous which makes the priest immediately dependent for daily bread on those to whom he ministers. This is fully recognised in the wise regulations under which the Church Missionary Society grants assistance to associ- ated groups of congregations. At present the existence of congregations assisted by different foreign societies in the same local area unduly multiplies machinery and limits co-operation. It is much to be desired that some plan may be arrived at by which, as in the case of the Japanese Missionary Society, the funds collected in one district may be administered by a single organisation. On the subject of Church Discipline the Bishop wrote : l It seems that a uniform practice is not followed by all clergy alike in regard to the retention of names on con- gregational registers, and that this has introduced some uncertainty into the returns. The only three causes for which names of living members should be removed from a register are : (i) transference to another congregation ; (2) excommunication ; (3) schism. Mere carelessness in attending services, however regrettable, if not such as to bring the offender within the Canon, does not justify the removal of his name from the register. Nor does it seem desirable to extend the causes for which the extreme penalty of excommunication can canonically be inflicted. The very patience of the Church in awaiting the return of 1 Pastoral 1892. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 351 her careless children, who do not openly and avowedly renounce their allegiance or forfeit their privileges by flagrant offences, is not seldom rewarded by their ' coming to themselves.' The names of Christians in towns or villages where congregations have not yet been formed should be placed on the list of the nearest congregation. Synods of the Nippon Sei Kokwai were held in 1889 1891, 1893, 1894, 1896, that of 1894 being specially summoned (in accordance with Article III.) to consider matters connected with episcopal jurisdiction in Hondo. A picture of the synod of 1893 is given in the following extract from Mrs. Edward Bickersteth's ' Journal ' : Wednesday, November 29. This morning we started at 8.30 for the American cathedral, where the opening service of the synod was to be held. There were present the fifty delegates, of whom 'about fifteen are ' foreigners,' and also some English and American ladies. The processional hymn was ' Holy, Holy, Holy,' in Japanese, sung to the old tune, while in filed eight Japanese and four or five foreign clergy, Bishop M'Kim and my Bishop, the latter being celebrant The service lasted about one and three-quarter hours, for it included a sermon and several hymns. Of course I understood not a word, though I was able to follow the prayers, but I think for the first time I realised E. as a missionary Bishop, and felt something of the greatness of the work and the power of the Nippon Sei Kokwai. . . . Thursday, November 30. . . . . Mrs. F. and I went across to the Synod House about n,and I stayed for quite an hour in the gallery. I could not understand a word, of course, but Mr. F.'s interpreter kept up a running commen- tary, which enabled me to follow pretty well, and I was immensely interested. . . . It was wonderful to think of all those men not as individuals, but as representatives of large bodies of Christians, and so as a real evidence of the nationality and life of the Sei Kokwai. Early in its existence the Nippon Sei Kokwai took steps to organise both (i) home and (2) foreign missions 352 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII Canon XII. (see Appendix B) was re-drafted in 1894, so that there might be elected in each chiho (or diocese) a Home Missions Committee. With regard to home missions, if there is force in the cry 'Japan for the Japanese,' there is no less truth and inspiration in the words, ' The Japanese for Japan,' and when the Nippon Sei Kdkvvai is really strong enough to use her own sons and daughters to win souls for Christ the day of Japan's conversion will be at hand. With regard to foreign missions, we are familiar in England with Diocesan Boards for promoting church building and education at home, and for opening up home missions, and we entrust to those boards the practical duties connected with the selection of suitable agents, as well as collecting and disbursing funds. But hitherto our Diocesan Boards of Foreign Missions, where they exist, play only a humble part, although they have done something to secure that the maintenance of foreign missions shall be regarded as an integral part of the Church's duty. It is far otherwise in Japan. The Nippon Sei K5kwai has been able to arrange for the formation of a Board of Foreign Missions which can really act, as the following Canon C. will show. Canon C. Of Foreign Missions 1. There shall be one board representing the whole of the Nippon Sei Kokwai, called the Board of Foreign Missions, consisting of all the Bishops of the Nippon Sei K5kwai having jurisdiction in Japan, and of two treasurers and one secretary, to be elected at each regular meeting of the synod. 2. The chairman of the board shall be one of the Bishops, who shall be elected at the first meeting of the board after the synod. 3. The duties of the board shall be : (a) To make inquiries and to receive applications con- cerning openings for missionary work in any foreign NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 353 country (or portion thereof) not yet evangelised, or among Japanese resident in foreign countries. (b} To appeal for and receive subscriptions from members of the Church for foreign missions, and with that end in view to appoint agents in various parts of Japan for making known the needs of any foreign missions supported wholly or in part by the Nippon Sei Kokwai. (c) To appeal for and appoint clergy and other workers for the foreign mission field, in accordance with the state of the funds at their disposal. (d} Under special circumstances to make grants to foreign missions of other Churches in full communion with the Nippon Sei Kokwai. (e] To publish from time to time for general distribu- tion a report of work and statement of accounts ; and always to present to each regular synod of the Church a report of work and statement of accounts for the period subsequent to the preceding regular synod. 4. No clergy or other workers shall be sent forth as foreign missionaries representing the Nippon Sei Kokwai who have not letters of commission for such work duly signed by the chairman of the board acting on behalf of the whole or a majority of the board. Work in Formosa has been already undertaken by this Nippon Sei Kdkwai Board of Foreign Missions. Bishop Bickersteth also visited the interesting group of Luchoo Islands, and always hoped to see further steps taken to evangelise these islanders, of whom there are probably not less than 200,000 in the largest island. 1 The Bishop of Kiushiu is now maintaining work there. This was the principle which in the Bishop's judgment really made all efforts to extend the episcopate in Japan of such vital importance. He wrote : 2 The justification of a multiplied episcopate is the development of direct evangelisation which, alike in ancient and modern times, it has brought in its train, and 1 Okinawa. 2 Lent Pastoral 1895. A A 354 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH which in all probability is necessary as a preparation before any general desire will be manifested to embrace the Christian faith. The question has been raised whether new Bishops should be Japanese or foreigners. I notice that a popular Church magazine in England has recently advocated the immediate consecration of Japanese clergy. I am unable to agree in this suggestion. No one can be more anxious than I am to adopt the counsel of the late Bishop of Lahore and ' to stand behind our native brethren ' in the East. No one desires less than I to perpetuate Anglican dioceses in Japan. But an episcopate which was wholly supported by foreign subscriptions, and the nomination to which consequently remained in foreign hands, could not be counted really indigenous because the see was held for the time being by a Japanese. Some portion at least of the required funds should be supplied from Japanese sources, and this is at present impossible. While, then, I hope that the time may not be very far distant when it may be right to consecrate a Japanese Bishop in this country, I do not think it has yet come. Kindly English opinion has credited us with more rapid advance than has actually been made. Our immediate aim should be to make each principal division of a vast urban area like that of South Tokyo, and each chief provincial city, a distinct mission centre, complete in all its parts. An addition of some thirty clergy to our present staff, with a proportionate increase of other workers, would enable us to reach this standard in both jurisdictions. For the present, in most, though not in all cases, we must look to England and Canada for the men and women who can act as responsible heads of new work. God grant that the practical out- come of the intense interest which western lands have taken in the fortunes of this country during the past year may be the offer of personal service on the part of men and women who are fitted physically and spiritually for such high tasks. In reply to the question whether it would not be well to raise a capital sum to endow a new Bishopric in Japan he wrote to the Archbishop : NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 355 Azabu, Japan : January 16, 1895. My dear Lord Archbishop,. . . I think this would be unnecessary, as we do not propose to found permanent Anglican dioceses here, but only to tide over the time till it may be right to consecrate Japanese to independent sees. It is impossible to say how soon this may be, but it is not likely to be more than a generation and may be much sooner. No Japanese Bishop, I think, should be consecrated till the native Church is able mainly to undertake the expenses of his salary. About #200 a month, at the present rate of exchange 2$ol. a year, is what I find the Japanese think should be the salary of one of their Bishops. This would place him financially in the same position as a judge of one of their higher courts. But it will be some time yet before they can think of raising, whether by en- dowments or annually, so large an amount as this. I am, my dear Lord Archbishop, yours affectionately and obediently, EDWARD BICKERSTETH, Bishop. The following recollections of Bishop Bickersteth from two of his missionaries, both clergymen connected with the Church Missionary Society, the present Bishops of the Hokkaido and of Kiushiu, whose call to the episcopate is mentioned in the next chapter, will be read with interest. Hakodate : November 7, 1898. Dear Mr. Bickersteth, I do not know that I can furnish you with anything worth inserting in your ' Life of Bishop Bickersteth.' As you know, he was residing in Tokyo and I in Osaka, and I did not therefore see so much of him as I should have liked. Others will, I am sure, have referred to his statesman- ship in Church matters in this empire, to the large share- larger than that of any other man he had in organising the Sei Kokwai (the Church of Japan) and in the creation of the new dioceses of Kiushiu and Hokkaido ; there is no need for me to dwell on this point in his character and work. If I were asked what it was in him that struck me particularly, I should reply for one thing his great intel- lectual ability, enabling him to wield so much influence 356 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH over both foreigners and Japanese. I often felt that he was superior in scholarship, in wide reading, in readiness of speech to any of his clergy ; he therefore always com- manded their respect. He was a great reader, and there- fore always had something fresh to put before his hearers in his sermons and addresses, and this made him an ever welcome preacher and speaker. Travelling with him on two occasions I remember that about half the baggage he carried consisted of new books, and whenever there was a few minutes' wait at an inn he would have oae of these out. His sermons and addresses from the chair were always looked forward to as one of the special treats at our C.M.S. Conference, and he was a welcome guest in any house ; it was a pleasure and a privilege to entertain him. I often wondered, too, that he was able to preside so efficiently at the meetings of the Japan synod and local councils. As Bishop he was of course too busy from the time of his landing in the country to be able to give as much time to the study of the language as an ordinary missionary, and yet he was able to grasp the purport of a Japanese speech and the drift of a discussion, a by no means easy thing to do even for those who have the repu- tation of being specially good Japanese scholars, and often with a few clear words of his own sometimes speaking in English for the sake of greater accuracy and being inter- preted would show the way out of the difficulty, and enable the point to be settled satisfactorily to all. The Bishop was not always worldly wise ; he made mistakes sometimes, as all men do. But they are really not worth mentioning in comparison with the success he achieved, the great work he accomplished for the Church in Japan, recognised, and thankfully recognised, by foreign mission- aries and Japanese alike. One more point I may mention. He had naturally more sympathy with the S.P.G. than the C.M.S., but he strove to be fair also to his C.M.S. clergy and worked hard for C.M.S. interests, and all C.M.S. missionaries will acknowledge that he did a great deal towards developing the C.M.S Mission in this country. Yours sincerely, P. K. FYSON, Bishop. NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 357 Bishop's Lodge, 9 Deshima, Nagasaki, Japan : September 8, 1898. My dear Mr. Bickersteth, I must apologise very humbly for my delay in writing to you, as I had promised, a few lines in reference to my connection with the late Bishop of South Tokyo. At the time of Bishop Bickersteth's arrival in this country I was Acting Secretary of the Church Missionary Society and resident in Osaka; the Bishop arrived in Nagasaki with Archdeacon Maundrell, but came on by the same ship to Kobe, and on the following day reached Osaka. Mrs. Evington and I had the pleasure of enter- taining him for the first six weeks of his sojourn in this new country and new diocese. He was really a stranger to both of us, though I was always under the impression that we had met at the house of one of the curates of West- minster about the time he took his degree ; we were not long strangers, his genial and courteous manner, his readi- ness to fall in with the ways of the home, his kind and sympathetic manner, soon won our affection, and we felt the influence of his truly holy life. In the autumn of the same year, as on many occasions afterwards, we had a long journey together lasting six or seven weeks, during which we visited the C.M.S. out- stations of the city of Osaka, and the country stations of the S.P.G. mission in Kobe. This naturally brought me into very close contact with the Bishop, in seeing candi- dates for confirmation, in interpreting addresses, in con- versation on various subjects, missionary and theological, as well as being forced to see him at his devotions, because we were often obliged, on account of the smallness of the inns, to occupy the same room ; here it was that I felt the power of his spiritual life, his holiness of character, his devotion to his work. In all these journeys it was his custom to carry a bag full of books. On one occasion I remember his telling me that he had just completed the three volumes of Bishop Lightfoot's ' Ignatian Epistles.' A great deal of his study of the language was done on these journeys whilst riding in jinrikshas, steamers, and railways ; for though he did, of course, spend time when in Tokyo, he often complained that there were many hindrances ; only the other day I turned up a letter in which he wrote, ' There has been little time for the language this week.' Nevertheless, whilst he 358 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH never acquired great fluency in the use of it, his ability to understand and follow the speeches in the synod was remarkable. We always felt that his mind took greater delight in the mystical side of things, and in his sermons he was often more inclined to follow the abstract style of Bishop West- cott than the clear statements of Dr. Lightfoot, much as he loved and honoured the latter prelate. At the time of Bishop Lightfoot's death he wrote to me ' individually I feel orphaned.' I quite well remember, on one of our journeys together, he was reading the morning lessons, and he said to me, ' I feel each year as I read the Minor Prophets that I understand them better ; ' and I said ' I think a great deal is read into the words of the Prophets that they never intended.' He replied, ' That is just like you and Fyson, you do not appreciate anything that is mystical.' The great work of his life in Japan was, without doubt, the very important share he took in the organisation of the Church in Japan. The time was, no doubt, ripe for some action to be taken ; the Congregational and Presbyterian Christians had just completed their organisation, and Bishop Williams had been pressed to do something for the missions of the Church. To throw himself into this Bishop Bickersteth was quite prepared, for before seeing Bishop Williams at the C.M.S. Conference, held in Osaka during his first six weeks' stay there, he had proposed a meeting of members of the Church missions for the drawing up of some plan by which the different missions might work under some kind of mutual arrangement, and so make it manifest that we are really one body. The particular details of how this finally resulted in the first synod of the Japan Church you are doubtless in possession of, so that I need not repeat them here. Whilst the constitutions of the Churches of Ireland and the United States were used as models, the successful carrying through of the whole matter was immensely due to the patience and learning of his masterly mind. In conclusion, I would say that in all times of difficulty we always found a ready sympathy and help ; he was ever ready to advise, to strengthen our hands, and to make us feel that no part of the field was forgotten ; no individual, no part of the work left out of his thoughts. He never tried to force his own views on those who differed from NIPPON SEI KOKWAI 359 him, but was liberal to all so long as they kept within the bounds that he felt the Church would allow. I have written but a short letter, but you have, no doubt, abundant materials for the details of the Bishop's work. I shall be glad to try and answer questions, if I am able, on any particular point for which you may wish for information. Again asking your pardon for my long delay, and with kindest regards, Believe me to remain, Very sincerely yours, HENRY EVINGTON. Bishop of Kyushyu, S. /of an. The Reverend S. Bickersteth, Lewisham. 360 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH CHAPTER X A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE 1893-1897 ' It is, then, on these few thousand scattered converts in Japan, on this Church, organised but not yet financially independent, socially influential, or numerically strong, that our hopes for the future are fixed. In it we ask your interest and your prayers, and for it we plead for far more adequate support in time to come.' Closing words of paper read 1 at the S.P. G. Annual Meeting in St. James's Hall on June 23, 1897, held to welcome the Bishops attending the Lambeth Conference. THE main purpose of the Bishop's return to England in the early spring of 1893 was accomplished, inasmuch as Archbishop Benson, whom he visited at Addington shortly after his arrival, concurred in his view of the need of increased episcopal supervision for the English missions in Japan. Bishop Bickersteth always pointed to Japan as an instance of the trouble and weakness which ensues when missions are planted without a Bishop and left to grow up for some years as best they may, with only occasional visits from a father in God. The Korean Mission, which was led into the field from the first by a Bishop, was the plan which his missionary ex- perience, as well as his study of primitive methods, alike told him to be the ideal. However, it was no hard case which he had to argue in order to persuade Church authorities at home that the work in those parts of the empire of Japan under his 1 Owing to my brother's illness I was allowed to read his paper for him. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 361 jurisdiction was such as to call for ' partners to come over and help ' him, or else for one or more of his fellow labourers on the spot to be raised to the episcopate. The islands of Yezo in the north and of Kiushiu in the south of the Japanese group were naturally selected for the formation of separate dioceses. The English mission- aries in both these islands were entirely supported by the Church Missionary Society, and that society now generously made itself responsible for the necessary episcopal incomes. Bishop Bickersteth wrote to his clergy l : Almost immediately after my return to England I was permitted to confer with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Committee of the Church Missionary Society in reference to the establishment of Anglican bishoprics in Kiushiu and Yezo. The Archbishop readily accepted this proposal, and the liberality of the Church Missionary Society, which is the only society of the Anglican com- munion working in those islands, made it possible that steps should at once be taken for filling the new sees. I need not tell you how heartily I rejoice in the nomination to one of these sees of the Reverend H. Evington, whose work as a missionary of long standing in this country is well known to us all, and with whom I have been repeatedly brought into special association at the Ember seasons, when he has most efficiently fulfilled the duties of my examining chaplain. I heartily commend him to your prayers at this time. He had much hoped that one or both of the new Bishops might have been consecrated in Japan ; but legal difficulties intervened, and the Rev. Henry Evington was consecrated in Lambeth Chapel on Sunday, March 4, 1894. There was considerable delay in the appointment to Yezo, much to Bishop Bickersteth's regret, and it was only in the spring of 1896 news came of the selection of the 1 Pastoral 1894 362 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Rev. P. K. Fyson, another of the missionaries in Japan whom he had long known and valued. Bishop Fyson was consecrated Bishop of the Hokkaido at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, on June 29, 1896, and resides at Hako- date. Bishop Bickersteth also cherished the hope that another missionary jurisdiction might in time be formed in the main island which should comprise the missions planted and supported by the Canadian Church, the result of his earnest appeal to Canada in 1888, and which should be presided over by a Canadian Bishop. In December 1892 he had written : Let me mention that I am assigning the district of Nagano in Shinshu to the mission sent to this country by the Board of Missions of the Canadian Church, of which the Rev. J. G. Waller is the first representative. It is a subject of thankfulness that in this mission, and in that of which Nagoya is the centre, where there are three clergy at work from Wyclif College, Toronto, and in the newly established Nurses' Training School in Kobe, the growing interest in missions of the Canadian Church is beginning to afford us very valuable aid. The towns in Shinshu are numerous and of considerable importance. It is my earnest hope that the Canadian Board may be able to send out and support a fully equipped mission to that province, consisting of not less than four clergy, besides lady workers. But the Bishop knew well that interest once roused needs sustaining, and therefore in returning to Japan with his wife in the autumn of 1893 he set aside eight days in order to visit different centres in Canada and to plead the cause of Japan. The following extracts from letters to his father tell their own story : Bishopsleigh, Kingston : All Saints' Day, 1893. After landing in New York on Sunday morning and attending morning and evening service in two of the A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 363 churches, we were obliged to go on that night to Montreal, where engagements had been made for me to speak on Monday and Tuesday. Both were well attended. On Tuesday we lunched with the Bishop, a fine old man of 79, in much vigour, and in the afternoon were present at the opening of a new University Library by Lord Aberdeen. This morning, after a celebration at St. John's, Montreal, we came on here. Train, Mid-prairie : November 10, 1893. We had a fairly good meeting at Kingston, and the Archbishop and Mrs. Lewis were very kind and hospitable. On the Thursday some five hours took us to Toronto, where we were guests of the Bishop and Mrs. Sweatman. Again a big meeting at night. Friday we went to Hamilton. We quite lost our hearts to the Bishop of Niagara and Mrs. Hamilton, with whom we stayed till Monday. Saturday we considered to belong to our honey- moon and spent it at Niagara. We could not have had a better day, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The falls must ever be one of the greatest sights of nature, even though much has been done since you and I were there in 1870 to vulgarise the surroundings. On the Friday I had again addressed a meeting, and on Sunday I preached in the cathedral in the morning and in a parish church in the evening. On Monday we returned to Toronto and spent the afternoon with my old friend Provost Body. He is among the men to whom the Church in Canada is most specially indebted, as it is really mainly through him that Trinity College has attained its present flourishing condi- tion. In the evening I addressed a meeting of students and others in the College Hall. Body accompanied us to the train at 10.15 P.M., and we have been travelling ever since .... A pleasant Chinese missionary and his wife are ' on board,' as they say, 1 Stewart by name ; also Kakuzen San, one of my deacons, who has been studying in Toronto and was ordained for me by the Bishop of Toronto .... I must write a letter to the Canadian Mission supporters which they have asked for, so will leave M. to tell you all else. 1 The Rev. Robert and Mrs. Stewart, known and honoured in missionary annals as having been called to lay down their lives in the massacre of Kucheng. 364 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH s.s. Empress of Japan : November 13, 1893. We had no difficulties of any kind on our journey. The Selkirks especially were really a splendid sight in their dress of winter snow. It had fallen about three days before we passed, and will not leave them for months. The Chaplain of Donald, an excellent Keble man, Irwine by name, a friend of King's, joined us at Field and travelled with us a hundred miles through the Selkirks, pointing out the special views and places of interest. The Bishop of New Westminster was poorly, so we only spent the evening at his house, instead of staying the night. The lasting impressions of this journey the Bishop thus summed up in a letter to the Guild of St. Paul in England : Even so brief a stay in Eastern Canada as ours certainly strengthened in my mind the opinion which intercourse with Canadian Churchmen had led me to hold for some time past namely, that the day of the Church in the dependency is only yet dawning. And if it is so, and her strength and influence prove far greater in time to come than they have ever been yet, is it not of real importance that her missionary work in the East has been begun, if only as yet on a very small scale, and may we not believe that it will grow with her growth, and strengthen with the increase of her zeal, and be fraught with manifold results of blessing to this, and perhaps also other, Eastern lands ? Canada has not yet responded to his earnest invitation to be represented in Japan by a Bishop of her own, but there seems no reason to think that his forecast of her future was too sanguine. His successor in the diocese of South Tokyo, Bishop Awdry, in his first Pastoral Letter to his clergy (August 1 898), wrote : In November I returned to Japan through Canada, where the Bishops and other fellow-Churchmen, especially in the dioceses of Quebec, Toronto, and Columbia, show a lively interest in our work, and gave me some substantial help. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 365 The first work which awaited Bishop Bickersteth after his arrival in Japan on November 27 was the fourth 1 general synod of the Nippon Sei Kokwai, which opened on the 29th. He presided as senior Bishop, but was delighted to welcome as his assessor the Right Rev. Bishop McKim, a personal friend and a missionary in Japan of long standing, who in the previous June had been consecrated to take charge of the American missions in Japan. In his opening address Bishop Bickersteth ex- pressed the feeling of all present when he said : After longer delay than we then anticipated, the vacancy in the American episcopate caused by the retire- ment of the Right Rev. Bishop Williams 2 (whose continued presence in our midst is a subject of congratulation to us all) has been filled by the appointment and consecration in June last in New York of the Right Rev. J. McKim. Very few words are needed on my part to express the respectful gladness with which the synod greets, on his en- trance upon the great responsibilities of the episcopal office, one whom all its members have known for so long a time. After spending two months at the Bishop's old quarters at St. Andrew's House, Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth took possession in February 1894 of a house which belonged to Archdeacon Shaw and was left vacant just at this time by his return to England on a well-earned furlough. Under the new name of Bishopstowe it remained their home for the three happy years they were allowed to spend together in Japan, and there all the workers, English and Japanese, from all parts of the diocese, and many others, found a warm welcome and ready hospitality at all times. The house was admirably suited for its new purpose. Quite simply built in wood, it contained a large number of 1 The synods, at first biennial, are now triennial, and are referred to as The General Synods of the N. S. K. * Bishop Williams, though having laid down the active duties of the episcopate, continues to reside in Japan and to labour as a missionary. 366 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH rooms, one of which was immediately set apart as a chapeL while the situation was ideal for a Bishop's house. It stood within five minutes' walk of St. Andrew's Church, and, though in the heart of the city, was surrounded by a garden which gave the Bishop a privacy which he much valued and was also most useful for diocesan gatherings. But while rejoicing in their pleasant home and its sur- roundings, the Bishop and his wife often talked of building on ground hard by, acquired at the end of 1893 as Church property, a Bishop's house which with some adaptation would be available in the future for the Japanese successors to whom the Bishop always looked forward a plan which has been actually carried out by his immediate successor, Bishop Awdry. In May of this year it was found necessary to summon a special meeting of the general synod in consequence of some discussions which had taken place as to episcopal jurisdiction in the main island. The Bishop was able to write to his father : All went off most excellently. Our discussions lasted two days. An excellent report of a committee went through without difficulty on the second day. It practically esta- blishes four dioceses on the lines (any minor modifica- tions being left to Bishop McKim and myself) of Bishop Hare's and my agreement. In the two cities of Tokyo and Osaka we have not laid down any definite lines, but empowered the Bishops to arrange division by parishes. Further slight modifications of the scheme (as it affected local synods &c.) have been made since, but in all important respects it remained unaltered through future negotiations, and was formally recognised by the general synod of 1896, which gave to the local synods of the six ' jurisdictions in Japan the status of diocesan synods. 1 These six missionary dioceses are those of Yezo, North Tokyo, South Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kiushiu. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 367 To Bishop Bickersteth it was always, as he himself wrote, a cause of joy that We [the English and the American missions] have been allowed to organise together the Nippon Sei Kokwai, which_includes all the congregations of both missions, and of which the successive synods have given proof of real and growing efficiency, ft is well that it is so. We are only spjourners in a land where independence is a passion. Our aim, though years may elapse before its attainment, is to wholly hand over our common work to Japanese Bishops and clergy. In June of this year there occurred the death of the British Minister, Mr. Fraser, who was much respected for his high character and Christian profession, and the Bishop wrote to his father : Tokyo : June 14, 1894. Our thoughts have been full of our late minister, Mr. Fraser. You will have seen his death in the papers. We shall greatly feel the loss of so truly Christian a man. The funeral was a most remarkable sight, the procession of clergy and carriages a mile long. I hope that as a Christian ceremony it may not have been without its effect. A severe earthquake visited Tokyo and Yokohama on June 20 of this year, and the Bishop writes : We were at the Freeses in Yokohama, and were just finishing luncheon. The shock came on more suddenly than the one at Osaka (1891), but was not so long or so violent ; still, it was more severe than any that has been for many years except the one you were in. Several persons were killed by falling chimneys. Bishop McKim had a narrow escape. The Church of St. Andrew's, Shiba, Tokyo, was so shattered that it had to be taken down, and a temporary church of wood, larger than, but not nearly so sightly as its predecessor, was put up in its place. St. Andrew's serves as the Japanese mother church for the diocese of South 368 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Tokyo, and also as the chapel of the British Legation and other English residents in that part of the city. The action of the special synod in May in dividing the main island of Hondo into four missionary jurisdictions caused the Bishop to realise forcibly the need of yet another episcopal colleague to relieve him of the newly formed 'jurisdiction ' of Osaka, not that he himself desired less work, but only that his sphere should be so far limited as to allow of more possibility of effective superintendence. He first mentions the plan in a letter to his father of June 29, 1 894 : I have written a long letter to the Archbishop this mail urging the appointment of a Bishop for Osaka and its district. (Bishop McKim hopes to get a Bishop appointed to Kyoto.) This would leave me in charge of the jurisdiction of South Tokyo, with over eight millions people, seventeen English and eight Japanese clergy ; while the Osaka Bishop would have about nine millions, fourteen English and seven Japanese clergy to begin with. I feel sure, if the plan can be carried out, it will greatly strengthen the missions here. Osaka itself is 350 miles from here, and the furthest stations in its district are 600. Such long distances prevent the sense of touch and special interest which there ought to be between the Bishops and clergy in Japan as the Church grows. . . . I have also been writing to Canada about their mission, and a possible Canadian bishopric on the west coast so each week gets full. I often wish (for my own sake) that there was more directly spiritual work. The clouds of war in the Far East now gathered densely about Japan, and although the Bishop wrote, 'You in London know more about the war than we do here, as the Government allows very scant news to get into the papers,' yet no other topic in men's minds in Japan could vie in importance with the great war with China. O v i e I .r 8 X v A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 369 Again, Hakone : August 13, 1894. It is certainly a very anxious time for this country. A bad defeat would throw it back a generation. A great victory would enable it to extend the rudiments of civilisation to Korea, but it would not be morally good for the people, who are already much too inclined to boast On the whole, I wish for peace and divided honours as soon as possible, and that Korea should be placed under some form of international tutelage. Russia, I suppose, would not allow either England or Japan to absorb it. Besides we only want a port, and not the land ; Russia herself would like the land, but her railway is not complete, so she wishes for delay. On Saturday we heard that 1 a new treaty is agreed upon between England and Japan. I suppose that there will be some delay before it comes into force, but it will free us from the trouble of passports, and, what is better, it will, I hope, diminish considerably the irritation in the Japanese mind against foreigners. It is largely good Mr. Eraser's work. At the request of one of his clergy (the Rev. A. F. King), the Bishop drew up the following collects for use during the war. They are given not only for their intrinsic interest, but also because they afford proof of his real power in the difficult matter of writing prayers suitable for general use : For t/te Christians who at the call of duty are serving in tJie armies of Japan or China. O Lord God Almighty, look down on Thy servants the members of Thy Church who are employed in the present war. Be present with them in each hour of danger and of temptation. Grant that they may remember their high calling and, resisting all evil by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, may glorify Thee among their fellow-soldiers, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For the sick and wounded. Have mercy, O Lord, upon the wounded and suffering, whether in our own armies or among the enemy. In the 1 This treaty came into operation on July 17, 1899. B B 3/0 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH hour of their trial may they look unto Thee, and though they know Thee not by the hearing of the ear, listen Thou unto their cry, assuage their suffering, and deal mercifully with them, for the sake of Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For the doctors and nurses. O Lord God, the Physician of souls, look in mercy on those who minister to the wounded and suffering during the present war. Give effect to their skill, and healing to the means which they employ. And though they know Thee not in Thy Christ, grant them pure intention and readiness of self-denial, and accept their service as done unto Thee, through the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. A men. During that summer the Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth spent six weeks in a Japanese house on the shores of the beautiful Hakone lake, but the 'holiday' was largely absorbed by continuous and laborious work on a com- mittee for the revision of the Japanese Prayer Book. Of this committee, Bishop Bickersteth was chairman, but he had as coadjutors Bishop McKim (who occupied a neigh- bouring house) and the Rev. P. K. Fyson and H. J. Foss (now Bishops of the Hokkaido and Osaka respectively, who for that whole summer were guests of Bishop Bicker- steth), as well as a member of the American Mission and some of the ablest Japanese clergy and catechists. The committee often sat for five or six hours daily, and it was usually not till the evening that the busy workers could be induced to join expeditions on the lake or on the hills. The whole matter was of keen and absorbing in- terest to the chairman, and on September 6 he wrote to his father : Our Prayer Book Committee, on which I have been at work continuously for five weeks, ended this morning. It has been a difficult work, English and American and Japanese, high and low, C.M.S. and S.P.G., all having their fancies ; but I think the result is satisfactory. ' The A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 371 Record ' (I think it was) told me of dear Maitland's ' death at Delhi I feel to have lost a true and affectionate friend, though of recent years I had seen him so little. He was indeed nobly devoted to India, and is one of the growing number of men of high qualifications who have given their lives for its regeneration. I am glad that I saw him last year at Delhi. He was then so much stronger than when I was living in India that I anticipated many years of life and work for him. They will feel his loss greatly at the Cambridge Mission. Again : Bishopstowe : September 5, 1894. We came down from Hakone to a series of visitors, the Baring Goulds (one of the clerical secretaries of the C.M.S. and his daughter), the Rev. G. H. Pole of Osaka, Bishop Evington and his little daughter, and next week we expect the Freeses. S. Jerome says : ' Domus episcopi omnium debit commune hospitium ; ' I think our domus does in part fulfil this, at least during times of the year. The Church Congress met that year at Exeter, and the Bishop's unfailing interest in Church matters at home was quickened by the fact of his father's presidency. He wrote at the time : ' We are thinking of you day by day this week.' Meantime the Japanese successes went on without drawback, and the Bishop was proud of the land of his adoption. He wrote October 18, 1894: I suppose you heard of our great naval victory. Did you notice the doings of the Kobe Maru ? I forget whether it was the Kobe or the Saikyo Maru in which we went down the Inland Sea together three years ago. Certainly Japan has raised her name and fame in the world by her conduct of the war. 2 Except the sad Kowshing business, it has been conducted both on civilised modes and with 1 Son of the Rev. Brownlow Maitland and an Honorary Missionary at Delhi. 2 This was of course written before the excesses at Port Arthur (the one real blot on the wonderful record of humanity and order) had been committed. R B 2 372 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH wonderful precision and bravery. It is amusing to read some of the English papers, and to see their astonishment at the Japanese actually having a commissariat ! Again, in reply to an attack in an English paper on his beloved Japanese, he wrote : November 8, 1894. ' Barbarian ' is the last word that can be applied to the Japanese. It has not been applicable to them for some centuries now. Nor is theirs a ' thin veneer of civilisation ' merely. The old civilisation and the new have both alike penetrated deeply into the life of the people, and will as time goes on be amalgamated into a form of civilised and cultivated life suitable to themselves. The adoption of our mode of education is in itself a guarantee against mere superficiality. Nor are their faults those of barbarism, but of civilisation. Secularism is the chief, contented- ness with this life and mere material progress, besides the bad inheritance from past days of a low standard of morality. As regards the present war, I have come to think that they had more right to force it on than I thought at first. That they did so may not be wholly justifiable. But there is no doubt that they feel that the state of Korea for the last ten years has been a real source of danger to them- selves, and that they have the same right to interfere as we had in Upper Burmah, &c. Their desire to do so was certainly quickened by the manifest risk of allowing the country to remain under so weak a government till Russia had completed her Siberian railway. The state of things would have invited Russian interference, and Russia in Korea would have been a standing menace to Japan. Also, I think that they have felt (with whatever mixture of base motives) that they are really able to do a great and good work in the Far East at the present time a work which no other eastern country can do as the pioneer of civilisa- tion, and that they have welcomed this war as an opportunity of putting their hand to the work. The Kowshing business is still sub judice, but apart from it it seems that they have conducted the war on far humaner principles than any war has ever yet been con- ducted in eastern lands, and more humanely than Europe conducted her wars till quite recent times. A member of A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 373 Bishop Corfe's Mission, now in Japan, tells me that a Japanese regiment which was quartered near him in Chemulpo behaved admirably. Certainly Counts Oyama, Yamagata, and Inouye, who are the three men in charge, the first two of the armies in Manchuria and at Port Arthur, and the third in Seoul as ambassador with practically supreme authority, are men who as generals and statesmen would do credit to any western land. The Bishop was laid aside by illness in the November and December of this year, but within a month he was able to work again, and was specially glad to welcome the Rev. Armine King on his return from a short furlough. He also much enjoyed the visit of his wife's youngest sister, who spent five months at Bishopstowe and who entered keenly into all the varied interests of the life there. The Bishop took great interest in a visit paid by his chaplain, the Rev. L. B. Cholmondeley, to the Bonin Islands, 1 where were a few English-speaking residents and several Japanese Christians, and in consequence of Mr. Cholmondeley's report he licensed a lay reader to work among both the Europeans and Japanese there. In March 1895 the Bishop went on a visitation tour on the west coast, and some extracts may be given from letters to his wife. Matsue : March 23, 1895. This is only a little sheet, but I have been at work no! engaged all day, and it is now just tea time. This morning I prepared a sermon which I hope to give to-night to the confirmation candidates preparatory to to-morrow. This afternoon I have had the clergy and church com- mittee for a long talk over the visitation papers. This is a useful plan, I think. It shows one's own interest in the details of their work, and it gives one an opportunity of making suggestions in a natural way. 1 The present Bishop (Awdry) of South Tokyo has visited these islands (1899), an d is anxious to see the opening there followed up. 374 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH t Hotel, Yonago : March 27, 1895. I reached here all right yesterday afternoon. Yonago is on a salt water lake, to the shore of which I trudged (about seven and a half miles) with Arato San, our deacon, Buxton leading the way on a bicycle. Then we got on to one of the minute lake steamers which brought us here. Last night I confirmed fourteen a nice service. I took the names of the Holy Spirit Spirit of holiness, Spirit of truth, Spirit of power in connection severally with the three bap- tismal vows as a subject. I am now off to inspect a school. Matsue : March 28, 1895. I scribbled you a pencil line yesterday from Yonago. Afterwards I had a meeting of the catechists and committee. They were a little touchy upon financial matters and their contributions to the N.S.K. societies, but I hope will do rightly. Then I went to inspect a school about a mile in the country which Mr. Buxton has established for beggar children. The village is a beggar village, and its teacher is a youth who seems as proud of his twenty-five beggar children as if he were headmaster of Harrow. I examined them, and left some money for kwashi (cakes) after my departure. Two of the beggars had been confirmed the night before. Then back to Yonago to confirm a lady, the wife of a judge, who had been unable to get out the evening before. Then to lunch with the two missionary ladies. Then ten miles to the port of Sakai half jinriksha, half walk- ing a little seaside hotel hanging over the water of the harbour. I had not been there since 1 889. There is now a good preaching room in a suburb called Naborimichi, where at night I confirmed four young men, and after- wards had the catechists and committee in for a talk. This morning there was no steamer, so we came by jinriksha and native boat. It rained the whole way, and we were five to six hours doing the fifteen miles. I managed, however, to keep fairly dry. It was delightful getting your letters on arrival. ... I am so glad our two servants were received as catechumens. May they indeed persevere ! Yamaoka Hotel, Hamada : Sunday, March 31, 1895. We left Matsue on Friday. It was pouring with rain till about eleven o'clock, but in the little steamer we did A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 375 not mind this ; and after about an hour in the jinrikshas it cleared, and we have had very little since, though it has been very cold. We lunched at Imaichi with Nurse Evans, and got to the pretty little village of Omori a little after dusk. Alas ! the hotel and its shiten [i.e. annexe] were both full, so we had to make shift with a very poor little inn. I should think we were among their first visitors, but they were very obliging, and did all for us they could. All yesterday till six in the evening we were on the road. Here Makioka San [a Japanese priest] met us. This morning I celebrated in the preaching room, some thirteen or fourteen communicants, and confirmed four. This evening I am preaching on ' not receiving the grace of God in vain.' Then to-morrow, at 5 A.M. (if I can get the men here), I start for Hiroshima. I may get through by the evening, but more likely shall have to spend the night at Kobe and get in early Tuesday morning. Then I have a confirmation, and probably go on to Fukuyama. Thursday I leave for Tokyo, and should be with you between 5 and 6 P.M. on Friday. . . . . . . There are some few Romanisms but a great deal that is most excellent and helpful in the ' Spirit of St. Francis de Sales' which I have been reading this Lent. How humbling it is to see the heights and depths to which those men attained ! The Bishop was now feeling the relief of the curtail- ment of his sphere of labour (the new Bishop of Kiushiu most kindly relieving him of the charge of Yezo until the appointment to that northern bishopric should be made), and the Lenten Pastoral of 1895 was for the first time addressed ' to the clergy of the Church of England in the South Tokyo and Osaka missionary jurisdictions.' In it he drew special attention to some of the great lessons of the war. The unbroken success which has attended the Japanese armies in the invasion of Korea and China involves consequences alike to victors and vanquished of which it is impossible to over-estimate the importance. For 376 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the next generation at all events Japan will hold the prerogative position among the nations of the Further East for good or for evil. The result must ultimately depend upon whether or no her rulers and statesmen act upon principles of which religion is the sanction, and of which Christianity alone has as yet proved the adequate inspiration. The Church has been at work far too short a time in Japan for us reasonably to expect the open acceptance of the obligations of Christian teaching. But the influence of the Church and of the faith of Christ has at all times been felt over a far wider area than that in which their authority is directly recog- nised. And we may hope that the influence not only of Christian missions but of intercourse with Christian nations has so far prevailed that the principle of unselfish regard for the interests of others, even of foes, will be allowed some real weight in the new settlement of eastern affairs which is imminent. In May, writing from Gifu, the Bishop records with pleasure the appointment of Sir Ernest Satow, K.C.M.G., as British Minister in Japan. He is, I suppose, the ablest man Japan has yet had sent her, except perhaps Sir Harry Parkes. He was Sir Harry's lieutenant for many years, and left him to become mini- ster in Siam and afterwards in Morocco. In June Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth had the pleasure of welcoming as their guest Mrs. J. F. Bishop, F.R.G.S. The Bishop writes of her to his father as ' a really wonder- ful person, always in pain, but full of interest and vigour and ready at any time to be drawn into conversation on her travels.' This was the first of many visits during which this ever welcome guest became an intimate and valued friend. Mrs. Bishop has kindly contributed some ' reminiscences,' which will be found at the end of this chapter. In June also was held the first Bishops' meeting (in connection with the Anglican communion) in Japan, A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 377 when, on June 18, Bishops Bickersteth, McKim, and Evington met for an early celebration of Holy Communion in the House Chapel at Bishopstowe, and remained the whole day in conference. That evening a ' representative ' dinner-party was given in honour of the event, when Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth had the pleasure of welcoming as their guest the venerable Bishop Nicolai of the Russian Church, as well as representatives of the American, Canadian, and Japanese Churches, and missionaries sent out by the S.P.G., C.M.S., and Guild of St. Paul. In July the Bishop again visited Osaka and its neigh- bourhood, and wrote to his wife : Osaka : July 2, 1895. I got in just at n A.M. From Nagoya we crawled. There were soldiers' trains on the line. Some of the men whom I saw were bronzed and their uniforms worn, as if they had seen much hard work .... To-night we start for Sakai at 5 o'clock. 1 There will be a little party of ' foreigners ' there, and I suppose some fifty to sixty catechists and Japanese clergy, all, I understand, in the same house, a large sort of summer tea-house by the sea shore. I hope some good may be done both here and in the Tokyo ' School.' As the Japanese like it, it is best certainly that we should fall in with the plan. Otherwise I should have thought something more in the nature of a retreat, followed by more regular classes in the Divinity School Buildings, would have been more useful. Hamadera, Sakai : July 3, 1895. We came down here about 6.30 last night, and after tea had a ' welcome ' meeting, as they call it. Then this morning before breakfast we had morning prayer, and afterwards my paper on the Incarnation. Koba San read it for me. This afternoon I have been having a walk with C. Warren along the shore, hoping to win some sleep to- night. 1 N.B. This was for a gathering of the clergy and catechists connected with the C.M.S. Mission for the purpose of devotion, instruction, and discussion. Similar gatherings were held from time to time in different parts of the diocese. 378 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH I have been having also several talks with the Japanese catechists, so I hope the time is not lost ; at least, my having come serves to show interest, which is so far good. Osaka : Saturday night, July 6, 1895. I have been sermonising all day, and have got my two discourses just ready. I read through the Bishop of Durham's noble missionary sermon to C.M.S., only I fear that the a^vrfroi (is that a right word ? ) would not have caught the points in the hearing. For Monday morning I have taken the epistle (Romans viii. 18). It is a great passage, on which I do not think I ever ventured to preach before. The thought I have tried to insist on is sympathy with the wide human family emphasised, not interfered with, by the greatest of the Christian privilege. The brief summer holiday was spent at Karuizawa, a mountain village where the Bishop hired a small chalet whence he wrote to his sister : We came up here on Saturday, and are greatly enjoying the quiet, and being to ourselves most of all. This house is on a little hill by itself, and we have done nothing to encourage visitors, meaning to have a fortnight to ourselves. In Tokyo this is quite impossible, so I think we are justified in taking this spell of isolation. We are reading Dante (Dean Church's Essay and Gary), Hook's Archbishops, Westcott's Hebrews, and a little Japanese, all together ! It has rained pretty well since we arrived, but we have not minded much : My sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Bickersteth, writes to me of that visit : It was noticed by many that at no time during his episcopate was E. so full of physical vigour and buoy- ancy of spirits as during this holiday and the months that immediately followed. Though much quiet work was got through at Karuizawa, both in study of the language and in attempts to bring missionary effort to bear on the inhabitants of the village, as well as the erection and dedi- A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 379 cation of a small wooden church for the English and American visitors, yet he was also more ready than usual to throw himself with almost boyish eagerness into holi- day pursuits. Long walks were taken daily on the hills, and we had one expedition of several days' duration in company with Miss Bullock of St. Hilda's Mission and some delightful English friends, Mr. and Mrs. T. H. James, and their young daughter, which remains as a specially bright spot in the memory of that happy summer. Not long after the autumn work had begun a telegram most unexpectedly summoned the Bishop to England to confer with the authorities at home as to the proposed Osaka bishopric. There had been much delay in the matter, owing to protracted negotiations between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the missionary societies. The ultimate decision of the C.M.S. that they could not help at all unless they were allowed to nominate the Bishop to be appointed led the Archbishop to apply to the S.P.G. That society at once responded by promising to be responsible for the salary, leaving the nomination to the Archbishop, and a ready response was made to their special appeal for an Osaka Bishopric Fund. Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth reached England on December n, 1895, an< 3 within a few weeks the Bishop had the joy of knowing that his desire was accomplished. Seldom, perhaps, was he more pleased and satisfied than at the fulfilment of this scheme which he had long felt so needful to the missions in Central Japan, especially on learning that the Right Rev. William Awdry, Bishop- Suffragan of Southampton, had accepted the Archbishop's invitation to become the first Bishop of Osaka. Bishop Awdry was prepared to give up his parish and leave England with his wife within the short space of six weeks, so as to be able to attend the General Synod of the Japanese Church in April. The interval before 380 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH starting was well employed by Bishop Bickersteth. Never was he more vigorous, nor pleaded with more ability and persuasion for the Far Eastern Church which he loved so well. He thus happened to be in England on February 2, the anniversary of his consecration, and he wrote to his wife from Cambridge : Pembroke College, Cambridge : Feast of the Purification, 1896. To think that I have held the holy office of a Bishop now for ten years the average time, I believe. It is very humbling in the thought of how much more might have been done, and how much better done what has been taken in hand ; and at the same time to have been allowed to work at all during so long a period is reason enough for thanksgiving. The two Bishops left England on February 21, and Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth reached Tokyo on the eve of Palm Sunday (March 28) after an absence of exactly five months, and great was their joy to be ' at home ' again. They received a warm welcome, and the Bishop was able to write to his mother-in-law : ' I never returned to find work going on more harmoniously and hopefully.' This Easter, too, was one of the happiest times of the Bishop's life. Some idea of it is given in the following letter, written by his wife on Easter Day to her mother in England : I would not have changed our Easter for any in the world : it has been so perfect. . . . This morning dawned more brightly than we had dared to hope after last night's clouds, and the whole day has been one of unclouded love- liness with a real foretaste of summer. We went to the 7 o'clock celebration (Japanese), and E. celebrated. The church [St. Andrew's, Shiba] looked beautifully festal, and we were very thankful for the fifty-five communicants (quite forty-five of them Japanese). At the 9 o'clock Japanese service the church was quite A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 381 full (165 for Mattins and sermon, and some 30 communi- cants), and the service was so bright and hearty. Arch- deacon Shaw preached, and it was very nice to see him among the people he loves so much. He is exceedingly happy to be back. I stayed on for English Mattins. E. preached on ' Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,' &c. You know that the Resurrection is the very centre and mainspring of his life, and he always glows with joy on Easter Day. We had a delightful party to luncheon, as our guests were Imai San and Yoshizawa San [two Japanese priests] and Isobe San and Sakai San [two Japanese lady-workers]. They were al! so happy and Easter-like. This afternoon E. and I walked to see the Shaws. Mr. Batchelor (of Ainu fame) has been to tea with us, and we have been to the five o'clock English evensong. That Easter evening all the members of St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's Missions came to supper at Bishopstowe, and the day closed with English compline in the House chapel. On Easter Tuesday the Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth went to Osaka, where they were the guests of Archdeacon and Mrs. Warren for the General Japanese Synod and the C.M.S. conference which followed it. The fatigue of pre- siding at a synod of such importance, with the delibera- tions conducted of course entirely in Japanese, immediately after a five months' absence from the country, told severely upon the Bishop's health (though many of those present remarked at the time on the ability of his chairmanship), and, in fact, he never wholly recovered from the strain. He was, however, full of hopefulness, and he thoroughly enjoyed receiving Bishop and Mrs. Awdry in May as guests at Bishopstowe and introducing to them as many as possible of his friends and fellow-workers, little dream- ing that in God's providence he was preparing a welcome for his successor. In June he travelled with the Rev. A. F. King through a hitherto un visited portion of his diocese, 382 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH purposely choosing a new route to Matsumoto in order to ' survey' the land and to decide on possible new openings for work. He had joyfully planned many such ' pioneer ' journeys owing to the now more compassable size of his diocese. The following extracts may be given from letters to his wife before she joined him in Nagano, where, as always in that busy centre of work (the house of the Rev. J. G. and Mrs. Waller), they spent a few happy days. Kofu : June 4, 1896. I hope that my Saru Hashi postcard will have reached you a day before this letter, and my telegram a day before the postcard. Both yesterday and to-day we have been in a basha. 1 The Hachioji Kurumaya asked most extrava- gant prices, so we had a basha to go half a day's journey to a place called Yoshino, but then we were forced to do the same thing again as there were no kurumas to be had. Our second basha would only take us one short stage and landed us in a place called Ueno Machi, still twelve miles from our destination. Fortunately a more venturesome driver, who knew the road well and had an excellent horse, undertook to take us on, and did so safely and easily. At Saruhashi we got rooms all right, and were not sorry to turn in. It had been pouring from, I suppose, about three o'clock. When we woke this morning the prospect was most dreary. However, we felt that there was nothing for it but to go on, so we again got a basha (shaking notwithstanding it is better as taking our luggage and as being much cheaper), and were rewarded by the weather clearing when we were about half-way here. We had no view from the pass, though the flowers were lovely, but before we got in Fuji San had put its top out of the clouds, and the whole Koshu range (the same that you and I saw last year from the other side) was clearing. We got some tea, and then went and called on the Methodist mission here, whom we found to consist of three ladies. They were quite delighted to see us, saying that to have foreign visi- tors was such a pleasure and insisting on our staying for a kind of tea-supper. Then we walked up to the old 1 A rough, springless vehicle dignified by the name of a carriage. A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 383 castle. I do wish you could have been there, such views of mountains in the direction we are to go to-morrow. I have scarcely been able to open a book, though I have made some attempts. In a kuruma it is difficult, in a basha it is hopeless, even when the road is good, which is very seldom. Matsumoto : 5 P.M. June 6, 1896. We got in an hour ago, and Kakuzen San [a Japanese deacon] has sent off a Japanese telegram to you. Yesterday we were again in basha or walking all day. The first part of the road was good, but the last ten to fifteen miles of the forty all stones and furrows and ditches. We walked a good part of it. Mr. Kennedy and Kakuzen San were waiting for us at Kami no Suwa. They had been out paying some visits in the district, and went on with us to Shimo no Suwa, where we got in just at dark. It was lovely all day, very little dust and not too hot. The views from the higher points are very beautiful. The lake is not so beautiful as Hakone, and they are gradually encroaching on it by redeeming lands for rice fields. Kami no Suwa is the bigger place. We ought to have a mission there. Our only accident was the horse coming down once and breaking a shaft, but the man tied it up as if it were quite a matter of course. I did not sleep at Kofu, so went to bed early at Shimo no Suwa and slept for hours, but the result was that I did not see the chief of police last night. However, good man ! he called again this morning and I had a talk with him. He seems a genuine man and I hope will prove a believer. Your two letters were waiting me here. I think there will not be water enough in the river to bring us down, so we shall come over Hofukuji, and perhaps catch your train at Ueda. Look out for us, but of course it is uncertain, with so long a tramp and kurumas, &c., if we shall get in. August was again spent at Karuizawa, where the Bishop had now built a wooden chalet, and some account of the happy weeks there, as well as some reminiscences of Bishopstowe, will be found in the following recollections kindly furnished by Miss Ranken, daughter of the late Dean of Aberdeen, a frequent guest and valued friend. 384 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH When I came to Japan in the early spring of 1 892 the Bishop was absent in another part of the diocese. I had taken in hand some work in Tokyo under certain restric- tions of a non-missionary character, which gave rise to more or less adverse criticism on the part of some of those who had at heart the Christianising oif Japan. I knew that there was ground for disappointment on the Bishop's part, because the hopes which had been enter- tained, hopes in which I knew he had shared, of being able to carry out the work referred to on proselytising lines had, for the present at any rate, to be set aside. This being the case, I looked forward to his return with a certain amount of anxiety, for it would not have been possible for me to go on with work under conditions of which he disapproved. The open mind which he brought to the judgment of the case, the clear manner in which he stated it these were my first experiences of the Bishop, and they gave me encouragement amid the difficulties of unaccustomed work. His interest never tired, nor did his support in the conten- tion that there might be other ways besides those most obvious of doing work for the cause of missions. It was not, however, till after his return from England with Mrs. Bickersteth in the end of 1893 tnat I had any opportunity for intimate personal intercourse with him. I think there were few of us who did not hail with delight that new home at Bishopstowe, or who did not soon dis- cover that we could go there with the certainty of finding ourselves, in a special sense, at home, in touch with all that is best and highest in English home life, while none the less fully in touch with the mission work to which the lives of the Bishop and his wife (I knew them together, and cannot separate them) were dedicated. The characteristic which first impressed me with a sense of enjoyment is still, to my mind, that which distinguished the Bishop, the clear expression of a clear knowledge. I do not mean to separate this from the deeply devotional and reverent side of his character, for, indeed, the two seemed to be very closely knit together. But there is surely no one who has realised in Japan the pity of the confusion of half-informed, or more than half ;/.$- in formed, missionary effort, clashing aimlessly against the confused creeds of the country who will not acknowledge that a first requisite was the trained theological mind, able to give A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 385 utterance to the truths of the creed in unfaltering words, the exact, and not only the approximate, expression of that which he desired to set forth. I was much struck also by his manner with children, and by the ease with which simplicity of expression came to him in addressing them. He seemed to have found out that a child can follow reasoning if it is presented in simple and intelligible language. I have heard a child reproduce his train of thought in the same ordered sequence in which it had been delivered, and with a pleasure in having understood such as no talking down to a supposed child- level could have given. In conversation it did not often seem possible for him to skim lightly over the surface of things, implying a knowledge which he did not possess, and consequently one found oneself brought to book, as it were, by questions put simply with the desire to know all that could be known on the subject, but having naturally the effect now and then of bringing to light a general ignorance where those around him had been dogmatising with all the lightness of society talk. His talk on historical or political subjects, or on social questions, was always full of interest, informed and informing. His sense of humour and power of enjoying a joke did not strike one immediately, but they were great neverthe- less, and as valuable as, when wisely directed, they always are in bringing minds into touch and smoothing away difficulties. I have often heard it remarked : ' The Bishop has plenty of fun in him when you get to know him,' which might, perhaps, have been put equally well in a reverse form. There were people who, beginning to know him on some such common ground, were the more readily to be brought under his influence. However busy his life might be, there was always time for the ready courtesy of an unselfish nature to show itself, and nothing seemed to come in the way of the restful, helpful prayer-time in the chapel. Whether the prayers were in the old familiar language, consecrated by all our dearest memories, or in the unfamiliar words of the Japanese, telling of great hopes for a future so full of promise, and with its soft Italian vowels seeming peculiarly fitted for the expression of devotion, these services seemed C C 386 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH expressly meant for the setting forth of the doctrine of the communion of saints. I spent some weeks of the summer of 1896 partly in, and partly quite near, the cottage which the Bishop had just built at Karuizawa. From the city of Tokyo the road across the island to the western sea, following the line of least width, crosses a mountain chain by the Usui Togi, a pass 4050 feet above the sea. By means of a wonderful chain of tunnels the railway from Tokyo to Navetzu, on the Sea of Japan, opened within the last six or seven years, avoids the crown of the pass or Togi, and comes out nearly eight hundred feet lower on a wide grassy plain, once evidently the bed of a great mountain tarn, dominated by the peak of Asama Yama, the highest active volcano in Japan, over the top of which rises always a grey pillar of smoke, glowing red after nightfall. At the upper end of the plain, below the abrupt ascent to the Usui Togi, lies the village of Karuizawa. Half way up the track leading from the village to the top of the pass, where a level space overhangs a clear mountain stream, stands the Bishop's cottage, looking across the plain, and seen to great advantage from the lower level. It was not begun, however, till after the opening of the little wooden church which stands among the pine trees at the foot of the ascent. Here by the beginning of August 1896 the cottage was ready for its first guests. In building this summer home, as in the life at Bishopstowe, the main idea and motive was to make a centre for rest and home life for as many as possible of the mission workers and others, like myself, for whom the ever ready kindness of the Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth saw an opportunity for exercising itself. The dainty simplicity of the cottage at Karuizawa must have had its own value. There were books and flowers, the latter most easy of attainment, for we lived in a limit- less garden. We were amused to find that three sets of our party, of whom the Bishop and Mrs. Bickersteth made one, had fixed on Dante as a good staying study for leisure moments. As usual, the Bishop must have found that he had but little time for that sort of thing, for much work went on. All through the morning the thin wooden parti- tions allowed one to hear the subdued murmur of voices, to which sounds was attached an interest coming from the A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 387 knowledge that they were the echoes of discussions vital to the establishing of the Church in Japan. The morning prayer in the upper chamber, which was his study, wide open to the air from those grand mountains, with their sug- gestion of ' Even so standeth the Lord round about His people ; from this time forth for ever more,' the solemn inflections of the Bishop's voice intoning the Japanese prayers, the reverent responses of the worshippers all was full of ' the beauty of holiness. On a Sunday evening, just at the end of the holiday, tidings reached Karuizawa of great and disastrous floods in a remote corner of the diocese, on the Gifu plain, and, in spite of recent ill-health, the Bishop at once felt that his place was with his people in their trouble. So he started off at daybreak next morning, and the following letters to his wife tell of his experiences : St. Andrew's House, Tokyo : September 14, 1896. Just one line I must leave to tell you of my journey. Except an hour's stop at Takasaki, the journey was quite easy and comfortable, by no means very hot. I read the ' Expositor ' and a good deal of my Latin book, which I am taking on with me. Mr. Webb met me here. My letter and telegram had both arrived, and Mr. King was seeking information as to routes. I had some tea, and then went up to St. Hilda's, where I saw the new buildings (very nice) and settled about your going there to-morrow. On my return Mr. King had come in with the unexpected news that the line is open, so I start to-night. I shall be rather tired, but I think it is best to go on at once. Probably I shall not be away more than two or three days ; but I'll telegraph again to-morrow. God bless you, my dear one, and bring you safely here to-morrow would have been such a nice three days with you ; but still, it is all right, and I am sure I do right to go. Nagoya : September 15, 1896. Just a line to tell you that I had a good sleep in the train last night, and reached here (Mr. Robinson s house) at noon. I have now had a talk. The accounts about loss of life, &c., in this part of the country are exaggerated. C C 2 388 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH In the Gifu ken [district] things are worse, and I am going on there to-night, and to-morrow shall get out, if possible, to Takasu and Imau. If I can, I shall get back on Thurs- day by the express. I must start, so only this. Gifu: Thursday. We were all yesterday going and coming from Ogaki. The rain prevented us reaching Imau, but we are just starting there, and do not expect to be back till late to- night There were four breaks in embankments, besides the two rivers, between here and Ogaki, and the damage done most saddening. The Bishop returned to Tokyo, and at once plunged into full work, though increasingly unfit for the strain. At the end of September he took part in a gathering by the seaside for devotion and mutual counsel of Japanese clergy and catechists, and from this he returned full of thankful- ness and hope. Then, early in October, he conducted a Retreat at St. Hilda's Mission House, the depth and beauty of his addresses on ' The Life of Perfection ' being remarked by many present. Within a few days came the attack of illness which, though none suspected it, was the beginning of the end, and the Bishop was compelled to take to his bed in the midst of a C.M.S. Conference through which he was painfully struggling. On the second day of his illness came the news of the sudden call to rest of his beloved friend and revered leader, Archbishop Benson. The shock of the tidings was severe, and for long he could think or speak of little else. As soon as he could stand, and long before he was fit for it, the Bishop was back at his desk and his work. On November 8 he cele- brated in his own chapel, and on November 14 confirmed two Japanese boys there, while on Sunday, November 15, he preached at the English service at St. Andrew's, Tokyo, and in the afternoon baptised a little English baby, the son A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 389 of one of the Legation Secretaries. But the following day there came another severe relapse, and the doctors ordered an immediate return to England. It was a sore trial to the Bishop to leave undone the winter's work which had been so joyfully planned, and several questions unsettled which seemed to demand his presence. But the call of God was plain, and obedience was instant and unquestioning. In spite of his hurried departure, he found time to leave a few lines for his valued worker and friend, the Rev. A. F. King, who, with the Rev. John Imai, was expected shortly to return from a visit of inquiry to Formosa, to which they had been commissioned by the Bishops in Japan : You will be surprised to find me gone on your return. It is a great grief to me from all points of view, but it seemed right to obey the doctors' very clear orders. Some of those who saw the Bishop leave Japan recalled afterwards their fears that he could never so recover as to resume his work there. But no such thought was present to his own mind. Indeed, through all the long weary months of illness that followed, one great characteristic was his buoyant hopefulness and eager anti- cipation of return to work. The words of his farewell to his clergy given below are rather a proof of his constant and habitual realisation of the continuity of life and of the nearness of the unseen world than a sign that he felt his days on earth were numbered. To the Reverend the Clergy and the Laity of the South Tokyo Chiho Bishopstowe, ligura, Azabu, Tokyo : The Vigil of St. Andrew, 1896. My dear Brethren, It is a great grief to me to be leaving Japan just at the present time. Now, however, that many weeks have passed by since I was first laid aside by illness, and I am, though better, unable to undertake my 39O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH ordinary duties, there seems to be no doubt that it is my duty to accept the medical decision, and seek a full restora- tion of my health and strength by a change of climate. I know that you will give me the help of your special prayers that if it is God's will I may before long resume my work among you. Let me only add, dear brethren, that it is perhaps well for us to be reminded in this way how little the work of any one person is necessary to the certain final triumph of the Kingdom of Christ ; and, on the other hand, how important it is that each of us should ' redeem the oppor- tunity ' which each day offers as it passes, remembering the great teaching of our Advent season that 'the time is short ' and ' the Master near.' Asking for you the peace and blessing of Gpd, I am, Yours faithfully and affectionately in Christ, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. But there can be no doubt that the strenuous labour of the past three years, together with the strain and worry of special anxieties in his work, had wearied him and taken more out of him than he or others knew. A vivid picture of the life at Bishopstowe, and of the impression made by the Bishop on those who came into touch with him, is given in the following recollections most kindly furnished by Mrs. J. F. Bishop, the well-known lady traveller and now equally well-known advocate of the missionary cause : 20 Earl's Terrace, London, W. : October 6, 1898. Dear Mr. Bickersteth, The first time that I met the late Bishop Edward Bickersteth was in 1888 at dinner at the house of the late Bishop and Mrs. Perry. He was the only guest besides myself. The prospect of his presence had been held out to me as a great treat, and so truly I found it. His portraits are very like him, but they do not repre- sent his great height, the rapidity and energy of his movements, or the vitality and earnestness of his expres- sion, all the more noticeable because he had then only recently recovered from the breakdown of his health at A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 391 Delhi, from which, indeed, he never did fully recover. Mental vigour, physical energy, and broad and large in- tellectual vitality were my first impressions of him. During dinner Bishop Perry, with a graceful courtesy peculiarly his own, declared that he should ' retire from the conversation,' upon which I took upon myself to elicit Bishop Bickersteth's opinions upon several Japanese sub- jects, on all of which he had evidently thought carefully, and finally, after we had left the dinner-table, on the position of Christianity in Japan and its probable future. This was a congenial subject, and the evening passed swiftly by in listening to Bishop Bickersteth's broad and luminous views. The graphic account he gave of the dis- cussions in the synod of the Japanese Church then recently held, on doctrine, constitution, the Prayer Book, the proposed National Episcopal Church, and the adoption or non-adoption of the Thirty-nine Articles was so lucid and brilliant, and so lightened by touches of humour and picturesqueness, that I have never forgotten it, and it prepared me for taking something of an intelligent interest in the Japanese Church when I revisited Japan six years later. When I was at Osaka in Japan, in 1894, I received a message from Mrs. Bickersteth offering me hospitality whenever 1 should go to Tokyo, and the following year I visited them for the first time. Their house, Bishopstowe, in the green and hilly suburb of Azabu, stands back from a pretty Japanese lane, among Japanese houses and shady gardens. It, like its neighbours, is built of wood. The back has a very pretty view, and there is a very large lawn bordered by maples and other Japanese trees, pro- fusely blossoming gardenias, and sunflowers. The front and porch are hidden by a clematis. It is not a pretty house, but it had the quiet comfortable look of home. The house is roomy, and answered admirably for the ' Hostel ' which they made it. The clergy, the missionaries, strangers, were all welcome, and both in Tokyo and at a house which the Bishop built in the Karuizawa hills, they received and nursed and fed into health invalids and people recovering from illness, not only of the mission but out- siders. During one of my visits diphtheria attacked the youngest of a large family, and as soon as the malady was heard of, the other children were immediately sent for to 392 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Bishopstowe, where they remained for a considerable time ; the risk of receiving them being cheerfully run by both host and hostess. The Bishop's study was a bright room upstairs, nobly lined with a very fine library, to which the best books as they came out were constantly added, producing an over- flow on tables and even chairs. It was the library of a man of severe yet eclectic literary tastes, as well as of a student. The servants were Japanese. The head man, having lived nine years with the Bishop, was absolutely devoted to him. No English was spoken. The domestic arrangements were as harmonious as all else. I have dwelt thus long on the house, because such were the surroundings among which Bishop Bickersteth's brief and blessed married life was spent an ideal married life, beautiful in mutual love and reverence, and in the strength of twain for all good and loving works. I was with them immediately on their return from Eng- land (in June 1896), and was grieved to see that the Bishop had not benefited by the voyage. He seemed languid and weak, and found his head less able than usual for continu- ous work. For the summer they went to Karuizawa, but it failed to restore him, and when I returned to what had by this time become my home, Bishopstowe, I was shocked at the manifest change. His movements were languid, he no longer leapt energetically and eagerly to his work, but goaded himself to it ; his head not only ached with a weary ache, but, as he said, ' felt vacant,' and his digestive powers had failed so much that he was living on a very light diet. Weak and ill as he was, he made the effort to preach. He looked very ill and found a difficulty in standing ; but there was no failure in vigour of thought and expression, or in that deep spirituality of tone which was one of his marked characteristics. The same evening, I think, the illness began which ended fatally ten months later. I cannot venture to give any sketch of his character, but I must mention some of the points which came out very prominently during my acquaintance with him. Every part of his nature seemed under strict discipline, and yet there was a great spontaneity about him, nothing rigid or strait-laced, and he threw himself very sympathetically into the intellectual and other interests of other people, and children, when he played with them, recognised him as a A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 393 playmate. He was very bright in conversation, and saw the humorous aspects of events and characters very keenly. His domestic life was harmonious and beautiful. His courtesy to the Japanese servants was unfailing. His time was always at the disposal of anyone who sought him, and the seekers were many, and might often have been regarded in the light of interruptions solely. But that was not his view. He used hospitality without grudging, and indeed when yesterday, in Westminster Abbey, at the consecra- tion of two prelates, I heard the passage read on the qualifications essential for a Bishop, I thought how your lamented brother possessed them all. Naturally I saw much of his relations with his ' fellow workers,' both English and Japanese, and they were of a very happy nature. The workers all had the certainty of the personal interest of the Bishop in themselves, their work, and their difficulties, and they consulted him regard- ing everything, well assured of the soundness of his judgment and the thorough disinterestedness of his advice. The wholesome ascendancy which his strong character and personal devoutness gave him, though possibly unsuspected by himself, and used only in the exercise of his mission as the ' chief pastor of the flock,' together with extreme tact, as well as high intellectual ability, enabled him, by simply- being what he was, to prevent friction arising among the workers, and helped him to help them to rise above the littlenesses and undue absorption with the pettinesses of detail which infest mission work, and ofttimes render it unfruitful. I have never seen a mission in which a brighter spirit and greater harmony prevailed. Also I noticed, and with very great pleasure, that no difference was made by the Bishop between the English priests and deacons and the Japanese. It seems almost natural for the European to treat the Oriental as his inferior, an assumption of superiority greatly resented by the high-spirited Japanese, as well as the attempt made in some quarters to treat them like children. Bishop Bickersteth, on the contrary, helped the native clergy and other workers to occupy a position of equality. He treated them with the utmost courtesy, received them socially and frequently, and encouraged them to a free expression of opinion regarding controverted points and methods of work. I feel sure that the result was that they 394 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH were very much more disposed to consult him on all points and to accept his guidance than if there had been anything tutorial in his manner of dealing with them. Then he never spared himself. In bad health he travelled through his diocese, including the remote parts of the Hokkaido, when the facilities for travel were fewer than they are now ; never shrinking from fatigue, exposure to deleterious weather, unsuitable and insufficient food, ofttimes wretched accommodation, and hosts of vermin. His being at once a scholar, a student, and a man of the world, also helped him with the Japanese. His scholarly acquisition of their language enabled him to converse readily on the topics of the day with educated men, and his knowledge of the world saved him from falling into the mistakes so naturally made in coming to reside in a country with a very elaborate civilisation. He had adopted Japan as his country, purposing to live and die there, and none of its interests were foreign to him. He had grasped the political situation, recognised the relative values of the factors in it, and the dangers which are arising on the hitherto triumphal march of progress. The singular grasp and breadth of his mind gave him a power of taking in the situation and future of the Church in Japan in all its bearings, and all detail in his view was to be regarded as the laying the foundation of an ecclesi- astical edifice, which was to be a Japanese Holy Catholic Society, with its own constitution, Canons, and peculiarities, not an exotic offshoot of a foreign Church. It was obvious that in his ideas and hopes the work to which he daily attended carefully and laboriously was but in the direction of preparation for this great end. He often said that he regarded his work as one of foundation laying, preparation, and instruction, and that he hoped to see the day when a Japanese Bishop would occupy his place. This breadth of outlook, to which details were subordinate, gave him such a peculiar fitness for guiding the infancy of the Church to what he regarded as its adult destinies that the Providence which to our thinking removed him prema- turely must always remain a mystery. When I recall the earnestness of the daily intercessory service in the quiet chapel at Bishopstowe, I am reminded that, dear as Church ordinances and methods were to him, they were but the means to the great end of the creation A MISSIONARY BISHOP'S LIFE. 1893-1897 395 of a body of faithful men and women who should adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Before I saw Bishop Bickersteth in Japan a missionary, now himself a Bishop, who was very far from sympathising with some of your brother's Church views, remarked to me : ' It is a great privilege to receive him as a guest ; he does us good, he is such a very holy man.' In his own perfectly ordered home I felt the truth of this verdict. He obviously lived under 'the powers of the world to come,' in the vision of that unseen on which he was so soon to enter. The deep spirituality of his nature which impressed those who knew him at Delhi was not the less remarkable in Japan. He turned from conversation on things so-called secular to things spiritual so easily and naturally as to deprive his auditor of all sense of abrupt- ness or dislocation in the transition. Trained under Bishop Lightfoot and Bishop Westcott, I was not surprised at his scholarship, at once profound and graceful, his erudition, his remarkable knowledge of the history of Churches and of dogma, and the intellectual equipment which fitted him, as few are fitted, to face the elaboration and fine spun metaphysics of the faiths of the East. But it was a matter for daily astonishment how he found leisure in his laborious life to keep in touch with political and social movements, and to be well acquainted with Church affairs and home politics. My letter is exceeding all reasonable limits, and yet fails to include much of what I should like to say of his great conversational powers, his keen acumen and insight, the breadth of his views, his very strong Churchmanship, combined with his full and hearty recognition of the spiritual attainments and work of members of other com- munions, his intense earnestness, his broad views as to the future of the Japanese Church, and his recognition of the adaptations of Western to Eastern methods which would be an essential element of its growth ; his self-sacrificing and single minded effort, his devotion to mission work, which compelled him to plead for it at the Lambeth Conference even with the hand of death upon him, his self-denial in daily life, his love of children, his playfulness, his thought- fulness for others, his intellectual honesty, which compelled him to state the views of opponents as fully and clearly as his own, and the purity and sincerity of his life. 396 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Of his thoughtful kindness to myself I cannot speak too gratefully. In the peaceful atmosphere of Bishopstowc and in that busy life of work which never degenerated into hurry, no one was overlooked or forgotten ; kindness in word and act was both rule and habit. I felt more and more, as I knew the Bishop better, that the beauty of his life and character came from his lifelong habit of living in the realisation of the Divine Presence, and under ' the powers of the world to come.' When I left Tokyo for Yumoto in June 1896 he asked if I had with rne a copy of ' The Imitation of Christ/ and on finding that I had not he gave me a copy which he had used himself. It is very touching to find that all the passages on selfish- ness, worldliness, and humility are marked. His power of organisation appeared to me great, but he recognised the need of something more. Miss Thornton mentioned that in speaking to her with reference to her co-workers, he said, ' You must do more than organise you* must inspire.' So his own words and the breadth of his outlook on the future of mission work in Japan ofttimes came to his own fellow-workers with the stimulating and sustaining power of an inspiration, making them feel ' like doing double the work they had been doing, or doing it doubly as well.' Recalling what he was in himself, what he was to his fellow- workers, and what he was to the present and future of the Church in Japan, his own daily life appears to me the fulfilment of the striking sentence in his last words written in Japan : ' How important it is that each one of us should redeem the opportunity which each day offers as it passes, remembering the great teaching of our Advent season, that ' the time is short and the Master near.' In view of the loss he is to his own family, who leant upon him and looked up to him, to the councils of the Church at large, and very specially to missions in Japan, it is less easy to sympathise fully with his words in the earlier part of the same sentence : ' It is perhaps well for us to be reminded how little the work of any one person is essential to the certain final triumph of the Kingdom of Christ.' Yours sincerely, ISABELLA L. BISHOP. .397 CHAPTER XI INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT ' A few have fallen away from us, whom may God restore ! but on the other hand many who had before accepted their religious opinions on the authority of their teachers have been led to apprehend with more explicit an certain conviction how entirely the Catholic Creed rests on the Incarnation of the Son of God, and how all religious systems alike, which deny this verity, are antitheses of the Gospel as understood and taught by the Church since apostolic days. They have learnt too and the lesson is worth laying to heart that the Gospel of the Incarnation and the Cross is not to be defended as an abstract system of doctrine but in vital connection with the Sacraments and means of grace through which its blessings are brought home to believing souls ; in other words, that the Person and acts of the Lord, not primarily His words, are the substance of the Gospel, and that in consequence to be a Christian is not merely to believe in His teaching, but to believe in Himself and to be united with Him in the sacred society of which He is the Life and Head. Those who have been able to occupy this standpoint are on a vantage ground for the defence of their faith.' Address of Bishop EDWARD BiCKERSTETH to Fourth Biennial Synod of the Nippon Sei Kokwai, Novem- ber 29, 1893. THE early love of reading which marked Edward Bicker- steth's boyhood grew with his growth and ensured that he would become richer in knowledge and riper in judgment as the years ran on. The theological bent of his mind made it no hard thing for him, even before his ordi- nation, ' to apply himself wholly to this one thing, and to draw all his cares and studies this way.' The veriest fragments of time he would turn to account, not only while waiting for a train, but even while being whisked along in a jinriksha, he would dive into some of the volumes, a bag of which invariably accompanied him on all his journeys whether short or long. He was seldom 398 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH without a book in his hand. In this way he got through an enormous quantity of reading, not only of patristic theology and of standard works, but also of more ephemeral literature, though he never greatly cared for novels. Passages like the following abound in his home letters : To his Father August 2, 1889. I have nearly got through one or two books which have been some time on hand one a book by Gratry on the Creed. He was a Gallican of remarkable parts and powers. I fear Ultramontanism is crushing out such men. Then I have all but completed Origen's ' De principiis.' Truly he was an inquisitive soul. It is tire- some to have so little of the original Greek. Also, I have reached the I5th chapter of Evans's 'Commentary on i Corinthians.' I see that the author, whom I met at Bishop Auckland last October, died a few weeks ago. He was a remarkable Greek scholar shortly before you at Cambridge, who failed to pass the mathematical, and so could not enter for the classical, tripos. To his Sister May August 2, 1889. I have nearly finished Gratry. It is interesting to see how an able and devout Gallican slips over and round the difficulties of the Roman system indulgences, for instance. It is impossible that what he says about the Blessed Virgin should be true, and so vast a system not have left a trace in the apostolic writings or primitive documents. To his Father Haruna : August 31, 1889. It is a big party here, 1 a thing most inimical to reading, and I have read nothing during the week but part of Mozley on ' Predestination ' a stiff subject and volume, but one which I have long wished to study. Also I got through in French part of De Sacy's ' Commentary on i and 2 Timothy.' De Sacy and Quesnel (to judge from 1 He was then the guest of the Ladies' Institute at their holiday home. INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 399 the extracts from the latter in Sadler), the two Port Royalist commentators, are both still worth study. The criticism of the day was, of course, defective, but the substantial truth is often excellently illustrated. Matthew Henry is said to have been much indebted to Quesnel, and to have made scant, if any, acknowledgment. To Miss M. Forsyth Nevin, North Wales : July 29, 1893. Yesterday I began reading a French theological book with May, which seems interesting. The subject is early Christian worship, and the author Duchesne. He is the only really learned person (of the type of Lightfoot, who had a great respect for him, among Anglicans) whom the Galilean Church has produced for many years. I suppose that the hope of an ultimately reunited Christendom lies very largely in the results of Christian scholarship and study, especially antiquarian and historical study. At least it is bound up with this, as bringing out what primitive conceptions of the Church and her worship and work were ; where there have been legitimate develop- ments, and where mere incongruous and harmful additions to the original idea and methods. To his Father Kobe: May I, 1890 I am thinking of Dr. Westcott as probably to-day being consecrated to Durham. It is pleasant to think how the traditions of the See will be maintained. I suppose he will continue the clergy school plan in part of Auckland Castle. How your friends have mostly reached the episcopate! I travelled down last night from Tokyo. I brought with me several books : Bishop Eraser's ' Man- chester Life,' which seems interesting but rather spun out His was not the kind of mind which attracts me, though I admire him. ' Lux Mundi,' which I am curious to read the book seems to mark a cleft between the old and new High Churchmen and the Bishop of Durham's 'Hebrews,' which is sure to be crammed with thought. I have written to him saying that though we cannot expect many com- mentaries, he ought to publish his lectures on doctrine, which I know he has ready or nearly so. 400 BISHOP EDWARD I3ICKERSTETH To his Sister May May 14, 1890. I have finished Bishop Eraser's ' Manchester Life.' He certainly was a noble example of a man who brought the faith to bear on social problems, but he does not interest me like the men who study the problems of the faith itself (the Bishop of Durham, Dean Church, &c.). All these he put on one side with the remark that nothing could be known. To his Father Kobe : March 20, 1890. I have been reading the second volume of Burgon's ' Twelve Good Men.' It is a very entertaining book. I doubt if quite a like book could be compiled of Cambridge life, and certainly there is no second Burgon. Bishop Westcott's ' Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,' alluded to above, became one of his most favourite books, as will be gathered from the following extracts : To Miss M. Forsyth Exeter : July 18, 1893. I was enjoying half-an-hour this morning over the Bishop of Durham's ' Hebrews.' He always seems to me to penetrate right to the heart of things, even if in doing so he touches ' great deeps,' where his paths become in- distinct and hard for his pupils to follow him in. But with all his minute learning he never becomes small or narrow, and so his teaching is always inspiring and uplifting. I was reading him on our Lord's Priesthood ' His ability to help,' which it shall be ours, I trust, always to know and prove. To his Wife Kobe : March 1 8, 1895. Bishop Westcott's ' Commentary on the Hebrews ' is quite one of my favourites, though I do not think it is generally appreciated. The stress the Bishop has laid on those two doctrines you mention ' the absolute motive,' as he calls it, of the Incarnation (do you know his essay on INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 401 this at the end of his ' Commentary on the ist Epistle of St. John ' ?), and the true meaning of TO alpa rov Xpia-rov is one of his greatest services to theology. Not that in the latter of these two the old meaning is wrong only insufficient though, of course, the old was often wrongly stated. To his Father Tokyo: January 12, 1894. Have you seen Dr. Hort's ' The Way, the Truth, and the Life ' ? It seems to me very helpful. Even the Bishop of Durham's preface scarcely explains the long delay in bringing out the lectures. The Cambridge love of perfec- tion is sometimes an enemy of ' the good,' if it occasionally produces ' the best.' I am glad to have known what I did of Professor Hort, and should have valued further acquain- tance. One wonders what Cambridge theology will become without its leaders, in what direction it will tend ? I also occasionally get a short time over St. Athanasius. Especially on Sunday afternoon I have, if I am at home, a short read of him. Certainly the old Greek Fathers had a very strong hold of the Creed in a way to which later times have scarcely attained, and so their writings seem especially useful for modern missions in the East. This belief in the value of the early Fathers to a modern missionary was the fruit of an earlier conviction, he having written to me some years previously (November 2, 1887) : Whatever else evolution teaches, it reveals a great unity of nature such as we did not before conceive of ; but from the Christian point of view this unity leads up to and is summed up in the Person of Christ. If, then, the fourth century Fathers (Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa) can tell us something more about the meaning and the bearing of the truth of Christ's Person, then what they knew and taught will have a direct relation to meeting the difficulties and assimilating the teachings of modern discovery. I doubt -if we have got beyond what their keen Greek intellects saw and the Greek language expressed ; intellect and language being both instruments of a fervid piety. I express badly what I only see imperfectly, but I think this is true as far as it goes. D D 402 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH To his Father Tokyo: July 27, 1890. I am reading in my patristic studies some treatises on the Lord's Prayer. I have read Cyprian and Tertullian. I mean to read Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine. The series is remarkable. I know no very good book of modern times, do you ? I have not seen the late Bishop of Salisbury's. Tertullian is certainly a master of phrases for instance, when he calls the Prayer ' Evangelii Breviarium.' Being a missionary to such nimble-witted people as the Japanese, he also, as in duty bound, read largely books of criticism, whether they took the form of direct or indirect attacks on the faith, though he wrote (August 23, 1893) : ' I have never been able to take so much interest in mere critical studies as in those which are more positive and constructive.' To his Sister May 1889. I am reading Laing's ' Modern Science and Modern Thought,' l a heavy attack on the faith, or rather, so far as as I have yet seen, on the faith misapprehended. This is the usual case. Well, we Christians have largely ourselves to blame when it is so, and should be thankful for being made to state our creed more carefully. In this 'respect such books as ' The Historic Faith ' and ' The Faith of the Gospel ' are an immense advance. Only may we live by what we learn more and more. Again : Haruna : Ninth Sunday after Trinity, 1889. I have had a week here and have enjoyed it. During it I have read through ' Robert Elsmere.' It might do 1 In his Lenten Pastoral (1890), Note I, he wrote : 'This book collects in a convenient form a series of the latest objections to Christianity, scientific and critical. Its summary of the results of modern scientific discovery is brilliant and interesting, though, I am told, inaccurate. This fault is certainly very apparent in its attempted estimate of the Christian argument.' INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 403 some good, perhaps, to unbelievers of the Huxley type, or a Broad Churchman who was untrue to the Church and her teaching. To the ordinary Churchman I fear it would often do harm, but much less harm than the excellent telling of the story, the description of the characters, and knowledge of various spiritual states on the part of the authoress might in themselves have produced, because nothing could be thinner or less satisfying than the proposed substitute for the faith (inferior to Hinduism). Also the historical argu- ment is mis-stated twenty times e.g. the proposed com- parison of the Gospel miracles with others, real or alleged, in the first century only leads to the conviction of the solitary supremacy of those of our Lord. But it is part of the cruelty of the book that it hints at difficulties in general terms which would have been seen to be unreal and baseless had the particulars been filled in. Part of the line taken by Mrs. H. Ward has, I think, been given occasion to by false methods of evidence on the part of Christian apologists e.g. the right order of things is this : (a) The general historic truth of the Bible, leading to a belief in (#) revelation, justifying, and making possible a consideration of (c} inspiration. Mrs. Ward assumes throughout that the true order is inspiration, truth, revelation ; and much Christian writing does the same, but most mistakenly. Again, like Paley, the squire claims to appeal to reason only, all else is condemned as mysticism ; but in truth the faith appeals to man's whole complex being, including feeling and heart, with the senses of reverence, fear, love, dissatisfaction, &c. Lastly, I conceive that the God on whom Elsmere ultimately falls back is the Christian God, and that the love which is predicated of Him essentially demands some such doctrine as the Incarnation as its complement. The book is therefore illogical, except in the character of the squire, which is the last thing Mrs. H. W. would like to admit. N biography of any eminent man made a stir in England, but we could count on his criticism as soon as the mails had given him time to read it and write about it. I may give as instances the following : 404 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH To his Mother -in- Law Tokyo : January 3, 1895. It is the day of the S.P.G. Annual Conference here, but Imust not let the mail go out without just a few lines to thank you for the volume of Dr. Pusey's Life which you so lovingly sent me. I am reading it with great interest. It is quite a history of the Church of England during the long years of his life, as there were very few events of any importance in which he had not some share, if only by way of expression of opinion. One feels on reading the book with what a very holy soul one is brought into touch ; as a teacher he was in no way original, and varied tiresomely at different stages of his career, but as a saint he was always an example which one is thankful to have set before one. To his Sister May Karuizawa : September 9, 1896. I have read Manning with deepest interest. I feel (1) That the book does nothing towards bridging the gulf from the true position ' God wills to lead us through His Church ' to the assumed position ' God wills to lead us through the Pope of Rome.' Manning leapt the chasm, but I cannot see that he did anything to bridge it. (2) That which was best in him as a Roman (e.g. his insistence on the great truths of the creed) he learnt as an Anglican. Even to the end, he was not a mere Roman Catholic. The last chapter is, I think, the most instructive. His tribute to the Church of England in his last paper is remarkable. But if the Church of England wishes to retain men of that stamp it really must be freer to do its work than it is now, and I think that in time she will be. Already there is a great difference between our condition now and in 1830. To his Sister May Karuizawa : September 21, 1896. Best thanks for yours on Manning. How extraordinary it is that he did not see that when an CEcumenical Council INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 405 became for the time impossible, God could still guide His Church to real decisions, and did do so. Thus, for instance, the Anselmic doctrine of satisfaction, the Lutheran doctrine of the imputation of Christ's active obedience, the Calvinistic doctrine of election, are all quite as dead as if an (Ecumenical Council had decided against them. It looks so like mere impatience to jump without proof to an infallible City or Pope, because one mode of decision is, owing to our sins, for the time being debarred us. The above extracts, a few out of many, are a sample of his habit and tone of mind, and justify the assertion that in books he found unfailing companionship. The Japanese seldom failed to remark on this love of reading evinced by their Bishop, and there is no doubt that his reputation for a wide knowledge made them the more ready to accept his leadership in crucial times and in, critical cases. If reading makes a full man, we know on high authority that writing makes an exact one ; and the Bishop, although not fond of writing and finding it a real labour, since he was never satisfied without much revision and re- revision, yet would never grudge the time to set down his views in black and white, especially when asked to do so by younger men or by those who had a right to look to him for guidance. When I was at St. John's College, Oxford, and, after taking my degree, was preparing for Holy Orders, I remember well the help and comfort it was to me to receive from him the following carefully thought out statement on the doctrine of the Atonement, a subject about which I had written to ask him for guidance. Cambridge Mission, Delhi : March 28, 1881. My dearest Sam, This paper has been due to you a long time. I have written it out in haste, but hope you 406 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH will be able to read it. Whether it will convey to you what it does to me, I do not know. When one has thought long over a subject, scraps may be useful which are almost useless to another. Only may we not, in thinking of what the Atonement was, cool in any way through a mere intellectualism in love towards the Atoner. I feel myself the great danger of this. If there is anything you care for in this paper, copy it out and then please return it to me again. Remember it is speculation, not Gospel Gospel being fact, not explana- tion of fact. St. Francis of Assisi preached the Cross through Italy and to the Moslem, I doubt if he ever thought of the ' why ' thereof. Still, to do so is a duty to our day, as Origen thought it to his. . . . Tell me the day of your ordination. I suppose Trinity Sunday. That day I shall be preaching an ordination sermon at Amballa, D.V., at Lefroy's ordination. Be assured of my prayers. Your very affectionate Brother, EDW. BICKERSTETH. The Atonement All theories of Atonement seem to be reducible ulti- mately to two, which may be called (I.) the logical or legal, and (II.) the moral theories. I. The logical theory, or the theory of substituted punishment (whether quantitative or infinite), is commonly founded on certain texts in Isa. liii., Rom. Hi., and the use of the preposition av-ri Difficulties in the way of its acceptance are: (a) That it does not seem clear that justice is thereby satisfied, or that the means whereby it is proposed to satisfy divine justice is otherwise than itself unjust. () That it is very difficult to apprehend what the character of the punishment supposed to have been borne by our Lord was; if (i) temporal death plainly Christ did not bear this by way of substitution ; if (2) eternal death our Lord did not bear this at all ; if (3) the temporary wrath of God a division of will between the Father and the Son is implied which is inconsistent with the unity of the Godhead ; if (4) the sense of having sinned (which is itself to the truest minds the chief part of all INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 407 punishment), the idea is inconsistent with our Lord's sinlessness. (V) The theory takes no account of the constant expressions of Scripture, (i) 'dying with Christ,' 'being buried with Him,' and their equivalents ; indeed, it seems almost to exclude the possibility of their rightful use ; also (2) ' the Son of Man,' ' the second Adam,' which imply the unity of Christ with humanity and its summing-up (avaKs$a\aiio irpwroroKos rfjs KTUTSWS, o trpmros avupcorros Aoa^t, o scr^aroy 'ASa/ct, i\acrr^piov, airo\VTpa)(ris ', (d (a) Propitiation, Rom. iii. 25. Negatively, cessation of wrath or the essential alienation between God and sinners ; positively, recovery of access through Christ ('Himself man ') having exhibited in life and death the ' mind ' (Phil. ii. 6) which God required. This Propitiation is said 1 See also Appendix C, p. 490, for another paper on ' Sacrifice.' 4IO BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH to be sv T&> aifjiaTt avrov that is, in His life laid down and taken again. St John x. 28. () Reconciliation, Rom. v. n. The spiritual relation having been restored between God and man which man had broken. (c) Redemption. Man's salvation having been accom- plished not by a fiat of omnipotence, but at the cost of Christ's sufferings and death. (d} Forgiveness. Release from the consequences of sin ; immediately as regards acceptance, adoption, and union with God in Christ (Eph. i. 5) ; progressively, as regards the attainment of holiness (2 Peter iii. 18) ; finally, as regards the redemption of the body (Rom. viii. 23). [N.B. The phrase alpsiv ri]v afMtprlav rov (St. John i. 29) involves a mystery insoluble to us, as being correlative with the mystery of the assumption of humanity by the Word. The Atonement not a bearing of the wrath of the Father by the Son, nor of an equivalent punishment for sin, for there is no such phrase in the New Testament as these theories would demand (e.g. Kara^dcrasiv roi' 0s6i') i\aa6ai TOV #eoz>). The ^inpov is not said to be paid to the Father (Calvin) or to Satan (Origen) ; &ia\\ayij (&ta- involves equivalence) is not used.] D. The Extent of tlie Efficacy of Sacrifice so considered. Potentially, by virtue of the unique personality of Christ, Son of God and son of Man, the Word. Actually, ol TTUTTOI i.e. those who, having been baptised into the Divine Nature (St. Matt, xxviii. 19), die to sin (fAerdvoia, Rom. vi. 2^!), and live in Christ Risen. Cf. Clement R. vii. : -rravrl TOJ Koauup psravoias yapiv E. The Perpetuation of the Sacrifice. (i) h Tols Trovpavioi.s. The Presence of Christ in heaven, perfected through suffering and resurrection ceaselessly (sis TO Sirjvstces, Heb. x. 12 ; KU^ rjufyav, Heb. vii. 26) pleads on man's behalf (Heb. vii. 25), and is ' the constant display before the Father, and inner repetition, of the one sacrifice ' of the Cross. INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 411 Cf. ispevs els TOV alwva. Heb. v. 6. dvayicalov e%civ Tticai TOVTOV o TrpotreveyKr). Heb. viii. 3. s^o/jisv Bvaiaartjpiov. Heb. xiii. 10. apviov &>y eaffra'y /JLSVOV. Rev. v. 6. (ii) The Church on earth in and through her Head pleads the sacrifice of Calvary, and offers herself to God. Rom. xii. i, 2 ; cf. Eph. V. 27 ; Heb. xiii. 12, 13. .Of this sacrificial worship the Eucharist is the chief act and collective expression. I Cor. xi. 25, 26. Other acts are efficacious only so far as they partake in the same principle e.g. praises (Heb xiii. 15); good deeds and alms (Heb. xiii. 1 6 ; cf. Acts x. 4). (The unconsecrated bread and wine are not the characteristic sacrifice of the New Cove- nant. This would be a reversion to Judaism.) Christians are severally consecrated to take part as priests in the sacrificial acts of the Church by the laying on of hands following on baptism (Acts ii. 38 ; viii. 17 ; cf. I Peter ii. 9). The official ministry of the Church, in succession from the Apostles, is set apart by a second use of the same sign (Acts vi. 6 ; 2 Tim. i. 6). The Eucharist feast follows (as in the typical system) on the sacrificial oblation. This sacrifice is in principle identical throughout, from its earliest anticipation to its fullest and latest accomplish- ment. Bishop Bickersteth was intensely interested in such efforts as were made in ' Lux Mundi ' to interpret the faith, so it might be better understood ' in an age of profound transformation ' He followed the criticisms and rejoinders to the criticisms with unfailing attention, jotting down his own impressions from a country inn or wayside station. With regard to Canon Gore's contributions to the controversy in ' Lux Mundi ' and in the Bampton Lectures of 1891 as to the Holy Spirit and Inspiration, he wrote : To his Father Tokyo : June 10, 1890. In itself I feel it is just one of those questions on which it is wisdom to allow large liberty. The penalty of over- statement on either side is to be upset by some more scholarly 412 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH mind and more balanced judgment. It is not a matter for ecclesiastical censure. Do you agree with me ? Again : Gore is perfectly clear on the infallibility of our Lord, but thinks He did not authorise any view of the authority of Old Testament books. I disagree with him, but still the two main questions involved seem to me very difficult. 1. The effect, if any, of the assumption of humanity on our Lord's Divine Nature. 2. The communication, if any or more or less, of divine knowledge to His human mind directly, or whether His superhuman knowledge was rather Sia TOV TrvsvfjLaTos. On the first there seems but little light of any kind. On the second a full study of the Gospels ought to throw some, but I have seen nothing satisfactory. Please tell me if you have any thoughts on these deep matters. I thought of writing a pastoral in the autumn. The Bishop enjoyed and valued some personal friend- ship with Canon Gore, of whom he wrote : To his Fattier June 1892. I have got as far as Gore's sixth Lecture. If Arch- deacon Hare was right that a poet is the greatest gift God gives to a nation, I suppose a theologian is among the greatest gifts to a Church ; and though I fancy he has got off the lines on a point or two, yet I cannot but think that Gore may really be counted among the few masters in theology. On the difficult question of Old Testament criticism his natural disinclination to write or speak strongly where he had not deeply studied for himself the authorities on either side led him always to qualify his judgment and to take a place among the Ephectici, the men who in every age have been ready to suspend their judgment. But as a missionary Bishop he was well aware of the duty inseparable from his office to act as watchman as well as steward of INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 413 the Divine deposit of truth, and with this view he carried out his intention mentioned above of referring in a Pastoral to the higher criticism, regarding it solely from the mis- sionary's standpoint. A passage from a letter to his sister May, as well as some extracts from the Pastoral, are here given : Inland Sea, October 15, 1890. I agree with what you say on the Inspiration question. I do not believe that we shall lose any of the Old Testament though parts may be symbolical or dramatic which had been taken to be purely historical. What I would wish people to see more and more, and to get a continually stronger hold on, is that the development of the Kingdom of God and the revelation of the catholic faith in their majesty and beauty are so surprising, marvellous, and lovable, if once they are seen and recognised in their true character, as to dwarf all questions about the literary medium through which the knowledge of them has come down to us. I do not say that such questions have not their own great importance, but it is the greatness of hills compared to great mountain ranges. Also in his Advent Pastoral 1890 he thus wrote : On one subject I had hoped to write something at The length, but must not now attempt it in the short time that e^'^f remains to me before leaving Japan. I refer to the higher the new criticism of the Old Testament, and may I say that I am criticism a little disappointed that there are not as yet, as far as I ? n ^ / i_ , i Japanese am aware, any among ourselves who are giving sustained church and serious study to the Old Testament with the view of eventually forming opinions as to the new questions raised. Mere study of the negative criticism by itself would indeed be of little value ; but it might be a serious danger to us in time to come if some of us were not prepared by positive knowledge to act as guides in fields which till recently have only been very partially open to investigation. No doubt the mature judgment of the Church may ultimately re j ec t_as I myself anticipate many of the theories which are now somewhat confidently declared to be proven. At the same time, we cannot afford to neglect or ignore views 414 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH ' of Holy Scripture which come to us accredited by the names of men who are not only eminent linguists and critics, but hold the Nicene faith with unwavering loyalty. We are bound to take count of them, if only for the sake of those committed to our charge. That the new criticism must have an important bearing on the work of the Church in Japan seems to me certain. Among Japanese Christians are an exceptional number of inquiring men, widely rather than deeply read, of the class to whom critical uncertainty is especially likely to suggest spiritual doubt. In a young Church, too, very serious might be the shock to the faith of the uninquiring majority, if theories of the Old Testa- ment were accepted which are radically different to the traditional view in regard to its historical truthfulness. For the most part their faith has been cast into the form, ' The Bible is God's Word. This is what the Bible says,' and they have not as a rule gone behind the former of the two statements. For the sake, then, alike of both divisions of our flock, the subject demands our diligent and careful attention. Men have From one point of view, whatever be the result of the thaTthe 11 controversy, I can see valuable compensation to ourselves ; question namely, if it lead us to a reconsideration of the best mode of inspira- o f presenting Christian truth to heathen minds. Plainly, low's after ^ e moc ^ e now chiefly in vogue was inapplicable in the that of earliest days. Belief could not then have been held to be revelation normally the outcome of either a predetermination on, or a literary investigation into, the claims of the Church's Sacred Writings. Conviction was due to the character and sub- stance of what was presented to the acceptance of faith, not to an opinion about the manner or vehicle in which it was conveyed. This was matter for later consideration. The question of inspiration was subsequent to that of revelation. We, perhaps, on the other hand, while rightly valuing the Sacred Record, have too much forgotten that ' the faith claims to be a Gospel, a message of glad tidings addressed directly to the toiling, the sorrowing, the sinning ; that it claims to speak to the soul with a voice immediately intelligible, and fitted to call out an answer of joyful allegiance, that it claims to open springs of power, which are able to quicken and purify, in the daily conduct of life, every energy of our being.' In the words of another, ' the central object of the faith is not the Bible, but our INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 415 Lord.' If the present distress and uncertainty in the minds of some leads us back to a more confident use of this earlier and better method of presenting our message, the trial will not have been borne in vain. The far-reaching importance to the future of Japanese Christianity of teaching all the articles of the Apostles' Creed in their simplicity and in their fulness, without addition and without subtraction, was always present to him, and made him shy of all forms of Christian teaching which were not re-statements of the facts of the creed or legitimate developments of the doctrines which elucidated the meaning of the facts. Within a few months of his landing in Japan he came across proofs of how the American Nonconformists needed the steadying influence of the creed, and he wrote to his father from Nagasaki, December 28, 1886 : On the way the catechist told me of some Christian preachers (not Church-people) who have recently been preaching a spiritual resurrection of Christ as a substitute for the old doctrine of the creed. This is the result of the weak doctrinal teaching of the Nonconformist sects, and will be a fruitful cause of trouble in the future, I fear. But truly our own missionaries need more doctrinal accuracy. The part which the two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel were meant to play as safeguards of the creed, made him critical of the books which issued from another school of Cambridge thought, much as he revered the character of its exponents, because in his judgment they failed to give their proper place to those sacraments. To this he refers in another passage of the letter quoted above : I read Moule's little book on ' Union with Christ '- very devotional and fervent in tone, as all his papers 416 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH are but his doctrine, both of atonement and sacraments, seems to me erroneous. The latter he only makes signs of a pre-existing covenant, which, as he admits, puts them on a level with the ' signs ' of the Old Testament ; but if so they would plainly have no place in the religion of ' grace and truth,' ' old things were done away.' As they were instituted, they must have the characteristics of the ' new.' He also felt the danger of diluting the truth in the so- called ' Keswick teaching,' to which he alludes as follows : To his Father Kobe : March 5, 1890. is a little influenced with the so-called Keswick teaching, which runs perhaps near a heresy, and yet has sufficient in it to quicken some lives. The truth of it seems to be St. Paul's Xpia-ros ev vplv, as distinguished from a semi-Pelagian notion of the believer merely assisted by Christ, and the heresy a sort of quietism. Moreover, all big meetings, as distinguished from quiet gatherings in churches and oratories, seem to me to have a tendency to degenerate. The Langham Street Conference on ' Reunion ' held in 1889, which was presided over by Lord Nelson, and attended by such Churchmen as B. F. Westcott, John Gott, Charles Gore, and by such Nonconformists as Henry Allen, H. R. Reynolds, J. B. Paton, was concerned with the Christian Faith, Christian Morality, Christian Dis- cipline, Christian Worship, Christian Sacraments, and Christian Ministry, on all of which points theses were agreed upon and published. While the Bishop was greatly in- terested in its conclusions and printed and circulated them among his clergy, he found fault with them on the ground that in their opening words (' We agree in accepting the general teaching of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed ') they failed to do justice to the inflexible character INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 417 of a creed. He wrote : ' The phrase " acceptance of the general teaching of the creed " is unfortunate. A creed, from the nature of the case, is either accepted or denied. Such a term would be applicable rather to a sermon.' With regard to the possibility of reunion with the great see of the West, he indulged in no delusions, though he was free from Protestant prejudice. The following letter written within a year of his death to his friend and chaplain, the Rev. L. B. Cholmondeley, who had written to him while on a holiday to ask his opinion on the Pope's Encyclical, shows his attitude : Karuizawa : August 31, 1896. My dear Cholmondeley, I need not say that I read the Pope's Encyclical with greatest interest. It is really a blessed thing to have a Pope who can write in so dignified a tone and so wholly Christian a spirit, so very different from the rhapsodical style of his predecessor. All the earlier part of the document expresses what all Anglicans believe ; with the latter part, of course, we disagree. Its weak part certainly is the quotations. Even those from Holy Scripture are in some cases misunderstood. Not only is the ' Tu es Petrus* taken in the sense which the majority of the Fathers deny without any mention of the disagreement, but other texts are strangely misinterpreted. Thus, 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' does not refer to the authority of the Church, as the Pope supposes, but to its success in aggressive action on hostile powers (gates = fortresses). Again, the words '/ have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ' certainly did not insure the infallibility of St. Peter. As a matter of fact, St. Peter's faith did fail. But the word is JaXtV^ = fail not utterly. But the quotations from the Fathers are even more open to criticism than those from Holy Scripture. The only second century quotation is from St. Irenaeus. Un- fortunately the passage only exists in the Latin trans- lation. But it is practically certain that it has no such meaning as the Pope assigns to it. It has been discussed times without number by Lightfoot (if I remember right in his ' Ignatius '), Puller, &c. E E 41 8 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH Again, the Roman references in St. Cyprian are particu- larly doubtful. The letters were so constantly interpolated. But if the one which the Pope quotes stands, it cannot mean what he makes of it ; for nothing is more certain than that St. Cyprian admonished a Pope of his day (Stephen), and declared his judgment null and void again and again. The fact is that while the Fathers, especially after the middle of the fourth century, often used extravagant lan- guage in making appeals for the support of the Roman see, their real opinions can only be ascertained by taking into account their whole attitude and action, as well as their words under special circumstances. And when this is done it becomes plain that the conception of the Roman Pontiff as a divinely appointed universal umpire had no place among them. In the Gnostic and Arian contro- versies, if ever, the appeal would have been made, but it was not. This absence of practical action when it would have been most in place is fatal, I believe, to the theory of the Vatican Council. To take only one other point, the Pope's statements in reference to his predecessors' action in relation to Councils. He says : ' Leo the Gftat rescinded the acts of the Concilia- bulum of Ephesus? Well ! He refused to accept them, as did other Bishops. The Council was the Latrocinium. ' Damascus rejected the Acts of Rimini! So (and far more important) did St. Athanasius. The Fathers of that Council had been beguiled into semi-Arianism. ' The 28//z Canon of the Council of Chalcedon, by the very fact that it lacks the assent and approval of the apostolic see, is admitted by all to be worthless' On the contrary, the greatest stress has been laid upon it by the Eastern Church ever since. The Papal legate's protest at the Council was disallowed. Moreover, it was the Council at Chalcedon which only accepted the doctrinal accuracy of the Pope's letters (the ' Tome ') after examination, thus placing itself above the Pope. When Leo XIII. refers to the words which the Council used, 'Peter has spoken through Leo' he seems to have forgotten this. But I must not go on. The latter part of the Ency- clical you will gather I feel to be on a sandy basis. Still, it is something yes, a great deal that the appeal is made to history : and that without any such boastings as INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 419 other Pontiffs have indulged in. Such an appeal cannot be without result, even on the Roman Church. Not that I expect any great change at once ; but I do think that the new tone and method augur happily for the future. Affectionately yours, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. The Bishop never lost sight of the fact that the way in which the Church of England settled her own problems at home must react on their solution by the Missionary Church abroad. This tax of responsibility, the inevitable result of a mother Church being a trustee for her children's interest, was due, as he clearly saw, to ' the imperial posi- tion of the Church of England and of England herself,' to quote his own phrase at the Birmingham Church Con- gress. Speaking there (October 5, 1893) he threw out a spirited challenge to the home Church to rise to the responsibility of her position, which made imitation of her methods either a strength or a weakness to her daughter Churches : In conclusion, I should like to add one thing only. I have said that the Japanese will never join the Church of England ; but still, may I ask, have you in England realised how immense is your responsibility in being a mother Church? Churches which will never dream of amalgamation with you will be influenced during the next hundred years by what you are and do beyond estimate of words. ' How do they manage this or that in England ? ' is a question I am constantly asked on matters of Church organisation ; and if to mention only two or three points which are, or will be directly, as much to the front with us in Japan as ever they can be in England (will you pardon my straight speech) I have to reply that your system of patronage is disgraceful, your synodical organi- sation antiquated, your Church courts only the bad legacy of a bygone age, your Canons utterly inapplicable to the circumstances of the day, your discipline in abeyance, your clergy badly paid, your Churchmanship sometimes grievously at fault, coquetting now with Rome and now E E2 420 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH with Dissent, and by the mere fact that you do so inde- finitely delaying all hope of future reunion, the result in the East is very bad. I implore you to realise the im- perial position and influence of the Church of England and of England herself to-day. The day of insular isola- tion is gone by. And while you do all you can to extend direct evangelistic agencies, remember also that it is quite as important that you should offer in the English Church to India and China and Japan in the nearest future an example which they may rightly follow, as it was important a generation or two since to gather the first converts into the fold of Christ. Long residence in the East had slowly matured this conviction in his mind. Three years before he had written to his father (September 9, 1890) : What we want, I think, is limited (legalised) noncon- formity all liberty within wide limits, and no transgres- sion. At the same time, I feel that all else is a palliative until the Church makes up her mind to demand new courts and the power of revising her ojd laws. To suppose that sixteenth century rules, many of which are uncertain in language and meaning, can be suitable or enforced in the nineteenth century seems in itself un- reasonable, almost like a forgetfulness of the abiding Spirit. Again, December 26, 1890: I cannot but think that the surest foundation for ritual peace would be laid (i) by the admission that the interpre- tation of the Ornaments Rubric which permits the old vest- ments is correct. The opposite interpretation has fallen with the practical demolition of the authority of the Elizabethan Advertisements ; (2) by claiming that even legal revivals ought not to be made wholly motu suo by individual clergy without their Bishop's cognisance ; (3) by the Bishops pledging themselves to aim steadily at new law courts. This seems essential, yet years pass without any step being taken. Accordingly, the need of ChurcJi Reform was strongly felt by him. In October 1894 my father presided at the INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 421 Church Congress at Exeter, and in the previous April my brother wrote : I think your address should be on one subject, 'The Reform of Church Organisation as distinguished from Church Doctrine the work of the next decade, as that of Church Doctrine was the work of a period in the six- teenth century.' This is the thought which is always uppermost in my mind when I think of the Church of England. To begin with, it is immensely needed, and then it is the true Church Defence. A real enthusiasm for reform would sweep Liberationism out of the country. Our danger still seems to be contentedness with evil. But I dare say I am all wrong in this. One's vision gets dis- turbed at the distance of half the world, and what looks possible here may really be out of place and range. Still, I cannot help feeling that if ' Reform, Reform, Reform ' were the united cry of the Church it could be done. This incidental proof of the Bishop's keen interest in the fortunes of his mother Church is such as is not always shown by those living at so great a distance from the scene of her activities, and it witnesses to the discriminat- ing loyalty of his affection for her. Certainly events in the past five years have proved that the Bishop's perspec- tive was not much out, and show that each year the Church has refused to face the thorny question of reform, she has only increased her own difficulty in handling it. There may prove to be something prophetic in his fore- cast of the danger of still further delays : To his Father Tokyo : Easter Eve 1894. I am very glad you are going only to act in your own court in the ritual matters. The source of the difficulties seems to me to lie in the practical disuse of the Church's synodical and legal system. Convocations only imper- fectly represent the Church, and their power is too re- stricted. The existing courts were condemned with practical unanimity by the Ecclesiastical Courts Commis- 422 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH sion. The result is that law is set at naught partly because it is antiquated and the machinery which should renew it cannot, partly because its natural vindicators, the courts, if they are put in action, at once supply the culprit, however guilty, with a case and a good one. He may have broken the Church's law a thousand times, but that does not make it right or wise that he should be tried in a bad or defective court. I think and have long thought that the right thing to do is to bend all energies to strengthening convocation and reforming the courts. If the Supreme Court is such a difficulty, still I think that that might well be left on one side, while thoroughly good diocesan and provincial courts were established. I doubt if the decision of a really good provincial court would be challenged ; if it were, the result would almost certainly be the same as in the Lincoln case. If Lord Salisbury gets in for another term of office, and some reforms are not carried through, it will seem to many, I fear, that disestablishment is the lesser of two ills, and that the Church will deserve her loss of temporal goods for her supineness in matters of greater importance. Anyhow, I feel sure that the present state of things cannot go on for long without disaster ; while action on the part of a body like the Church Association, of which the members err as much by deficiency as the right wing of the Ritualists by excess, only makes the matter much worse. The Bishops are the right people to move, and the Government would support them if they were agreed, do you not think ? I did not mean to write this long scrawl ; only you asked my opinion. Don't trouble to decipher it ! And in a postscript : Is there any harm in ' Stations of the Cross ' if the legendary ones (Veronica &c.) are omitted ? No one would object to them in windows, perhaps two feet higher on the wall. I rather should accept them, as part of what Ruskin calls ' the People's Bible.' Shrines of the Blessed Virgin cannot claim an inch of Catholic standing for themselves. It really is disgraceful that they should be put up in our churches, and, as you say, without leave. But if there was one article of the Creed more than INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 433 another which was the inspiration of his own joy, and in the defence of which he found an unfailing spring of glad- ness, it was that which affirms the Resurrection of our Lord. ' If the Resurrection was accepted, the believer would not care to dispute the other miracles of Christ ; if it was denied, there was nothing to be gained by maintaining them ' that was the way in which he was wont to state the argument. On the eve of his return home to the Lambeth Conference of 1888, the English paper most widely circulated among the official classes in Japan con- tained a series of articles against miracles and the creed under the title, ' The Japanese in Search of a Basis of Morals.' They were founded on an article which Pro- fessor Huxley had contributed the previous autumn to the ' Contemporary Review,' in which he had maintained that the moral teaching of Christianity can only be main- tained by the sacrifice of its doctrines. The Bishop felt the need of combating such views, and he wrote the following letter, which was courteously inserted by the editor of the 'Japan Mail.' The allusion 'to the member of the collegiate body (Pembroke College, Cambridge) to which he had the honour to belong,' was to Professor Sir George Stokes, F.R.S. : CHRISTIANITY ITSELF A MIRACLE To the Editor of the 'JAPAN MAIL' Sir, The leading articles in your issues of March I to 5 have contained extracts and summaries of the opinions of various writers in Europe and the East on the subject of miracles. All the writers whom you quote or refer to are adverse to the reality of miraculous occurrences. It would be easy to make a catena of quotations on the other side. If Professor Huxley denies the miraculous, a member of the collegiate body to which 424 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH I have the honour to belong, his no less illustrious suc- cessor in the Presidency of the Royal Society, is a devout believer in it. But I will not attempt to pursue this mode of reply. I, too, entirely agree with your remark what Christian would do otherwise who had regard to the early history of his faith ? that ' the method of deciding a controversy by numbers has been shown to be untrust- worthy over and over again.' Still less do I propose to make any reply to Professor Huxley's accusation against Christians of intellectual inveracity. Intellectual and moral inveracity are in- separable, and as we do not charge them against our opponents, so we know that when they are charged against us the accusation is best refuted by the strength of its own recoil. I would rather, if you can afford me the space, venture to state in my own words what I conceive to be the fundamental Christian position on this question. (i) Christianity, then, as I understand it, like the natural and mental sciences, rests on an assumption. The assumption of natural science is the existence of the external universe ; of mental science, the trustworthiness of the mental processes ; and of theology, the being of God. Each assumption in turn has been denied ; but each has maintained its place in human belief, as requisite to any complete view of the life of man, as essential to the co-ordination of all the facts at our disposal ; as, if I may so term it, part of an original Credo on which argu- ment is only admitted by courtesy. With this assump- tion, Professor Huxley, following Mr. Mill, admits that all a priori objection to miracle falls to the ground. As Mr. Sugiura and those for whom he speaks are in search of a religion, it is possible that they may be prepared to accompany me so far. If not, it may be at least worth their while to consider that the repudiation of atheism by the East has been as emphatic as by the West. On this point the rejection in India of the original atheistic system of Gautama the Buddha and the acceptance by the later Buddhism of a belief in the supernatural, before it became a power in Central Asia or in this country, are irreproachable evidence. If the history of thought in the past is any guide, the present tendency to give exclusive regard to the investigations and results of the natural INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 425 sciences can only in an eastern land be due to temporary causes. (2) But, further, starting from a belief in God, Chris- tianity proposes itself as the final solution of what Professor Huxley justly calls 'the terrible problems of existence.' It would not be difficult to enumerate these, but let me be content to point out that the greatest of them all, the answer to which if given will illuminate the rest, is a problem not of life's course but of its ending. What is the right view to hold and the meaning which we are to attach to the fact of death ? If death is the end of conscious existence, then not the noble guesses of the Phaedrus, but the philosophy of the later Epicureans and the pessimism of Schopenhauer have a great deal to say for themselves. If, on the other hand, there is reason to think that it is not so, then Hedonism and pessimism have but little standing ground. And Christianity dares to base its whole claim for acceptance on having answered this question in one way. It asserts that One who acted entirely during His life on earth under the conditions of our humanity, carried His human nature in its complete- ness through the shock of death into another and loftier sphere of being. It maintains that this fact is unique, and differs entirely from Jewish and Greek speculations on the immortality of the soul. If it be accepted, it involves the consequence that life here has an eternal not a transitory significance, and there is nothing unreasonable in holding it to be an education for another. Moreover, where it is fully held it will commonly carry with it the acceptance of the whole Catholic Creed. Accordingly around the fact, as they held it to be, of the Resurrection of Christ, the first Christian teachers grouped an abundance of contemporary testimony which would be more than sufficient to establish the occurrence of any event not claiming a miraculous character. And against the undoubted a priori improbability of miracle must in this case be set two considerations: (i) the time in the world's history at which, according to Christian belief, the Resurrection occurred. It was the moment ' of fulness alike of despair and hope ' in the old world. At the Christian era Greek thought had ended in universal scepticism, and in Rome the worship of the Emperor was about to supersede all other devotions. On the other hand 426 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETII a section of the Jewish nation had been prepared by every form of discipline to be the messenger of a new hope to the nations. It was a moment when the direct interference of God in man's affairs was rather to be expected than other- wise. And (2) the evidential value of the one admittedly perfect Life, the Life which all men alike turn to as the one point of shadeless light and perfect beauty in the chequered moral history of their race. The Christian finds it no strain to believe that a life which itself has no parallel, ended unlike other lives, especially when the alternative is to hold that the moral teachings of Christianity are inextri- cably mingled with fraud. It was as supported by this evidence, and set in this environment, that Christianity first presented itself to the world. It was capable of dogmatic statement, but it claimed to be essentially not a system of doctrine sup- ported by miracle, but itself a new and supernatural life, life in union with Him who had won the one victory ; life which already \n part reflected His, and of necessity like His had only its beginning here ; life which united all who shared it into a new and regenerate society, capable of taking the place of those which were just passing away. As regards the miracles which accompanied the appearance of its Founder and the teaching of His first disciples, it laid but little evidential stress on them, except as facts which harmonised with their whole entourage. They were for the most part the natural ' works ' of one like Christ when in touch with sorrow or suffering. If the Resurrection was accepted, the believer would not desire to dispute them ; if it was denied, there was nothing to be gained by main- taining them. But at all times and everywhere the first faith was content, in the words of its greatest teacher, to ' commend itself to men's consciences in the sight of God.' It claimed to be self-evidencing, like light in the natural universe. At the same time, from the nature of the case it did not expect to be universally accepted. As was made an objection to it as early as the days of Celsus, it appealed to one class only of the community, to men who were in search not for a moral basis, but for a moral ideal, who lamented their own failures, and, in the more ancient phrase of the Jewish Psalmist, were ' athirst for God.' It took comparatively little account of mere conformity to an external rule of ethics. It conceived a larger hope for passionate sin than for Pharisaic integrity. INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 427 On the results which followed its first proclamation I must not ask to be allowed to dwell. But I may venture to point out that my view of the essential meaning of Christianity is so different from that of the authors whom you quote as to render comparison impossible. They hold it to be mainly a system of doctrine, I a new life in a divine society. They rest their denial of it on the want of external evidence for such miracles as that of the withering of the fig tree; I for other reasons believe in the miracle, but hold that if the required evidence were forthcoming, it would have little or nothing to do with the real point at issue. They demand a quasi mathematical proof of its veracity ; I hold that if this were possible, the loss would be far greater than the gain. They desire to conserve the ethical system of Christianity ; I fail to find any such system in the New Testament apart from the life and Resurrection of Christ, and if it were there, should not set great store by it if dissevered from some motive power which might secure its practice. But I will not do more than ask of your courtesy to let my conception stand over against theirs. I am, Sir, your faithful and obliged Servant, EDW. BlCKERSTETH, Bishop. St. Andrew's House, Shiba : March 6, 1888. Two years later he preached 1 to the English congre- gation of St. Andrew's Church, Shiba, Tokyo, on 'The Witness of the Church to the Resurrection,' from Acts x. 40, 41. After enumerating three things which were quite certain, on the testimony alike of friend and foe : (i) that the Jewish nation really went through a unique training, and exhibited an exceptional type of national life, and so was the organ of the divine ; (2) that the character of Jesus Christ is a great fact, quite impossible of delineation unless it had been exhibited ; and (3) that the Christian societies undoubtedly arose in the first century, and that the basis of their common belief was that Christ had risen from the dead he passed on to ask his hearers ' to put back the fact of the Resurrection among these clustered 1 A sermon which was printed at the request of those who heard it. 428 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH certainties,' and, thus thinking of it, to see that the evidence for the Resurrection was something very much more than the page of a book ; that if it was said by some, ' We should like another form of evidence/ then let them note that one form of evidence did not cease to be good and cogent because another form might have been granted them. They had the evidence of the Church : the Resur- rection was not less true because they had not the evidence of the world. In conclusion, the Bishop said : But brethren, this Easter morning let us answer our critics no longer. To us the Resurrection is as sure a fact as those others on the ground of which we ask them to believe it. We add ourselves in faithful confidence to-day to the long unfaltering line of the faithful who have preceded us. t And what follows? We have seen that it is the Church, not the world, which is the witness of the Lord's Resurrection ; but none the less it is to the world that its witness is borne. Are we in such a sense that the world can understand it bearing our witness to His Resur- rection to-day ? If so, all experience tells that it is by life and deed more than by mere argument that we are bringing home to others what we believe ourselves. From the nature of the case there is no statement of the Christian creed at the end of which you can write the words which close a theorem of Euclid, but equally certainly men are so made as not seldom to yield to the force of an unwaver- ing conviction when exemplified in a life of love. Christ manifested in the life of the Church is both the primary evidence of the Resurrection of Christ and the means of the Church's extension. It was so in earlier days. It was impossible for men to deny that a great change had come over the first disciples, over their thought, motives, principles, conduct. They had to win their daily bread as other men, but their treasure was in another world than this. They owed obedience to Emperor and magistrates, as did others, and, as they confi- dently affirmed, they were the best subjects in the State ; but, all the same, their ' citizenship was in heaven.' They were tempted as others, but on the whole they overcame INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 429 as others did not. They suffered as much or more than other men, but they took their sufferings gladly. They sorrowed as did others at human griefs, but the grace of resignation grew up amid their tears. ' Once I was not ; now I am not ; I know nothing about it ; it does not con- cern me/ ran an inscription on the tomb of a heathen. ' Here lieth Maria, summoned by the angels,' ' Eternal Peace be to thee, Timothea, in Christ,' ' are the quiet, restful words which tell of the faith inspired by the Resur- rection. As one of themselves put it, they were ' pressed on every side yet not straitened, perplexed yet not unto despair, pursued yet not forsaken, smitten down yet not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus ' the life which He re- sumed at Easter ' might be manifested in their body.' It was only natural that one who thus strove vividly to grasp the reality of the Resurrection, and the present activity of the Risen Lord, should regard the Holy Com- munion not as a service held in memory of an absent Lord, but as a means of grace wherein a present and risen Lord imparted to His Church more of the fulness of His life. The Bishop was therefore keenly aware of the great influence for good or evil which certain habits of the religious life, each closely connected with the Holy Communion, must have on Christian worship and Christian workers, such as (i) private confession prior to the reception of the Holy Communion, (2) non-communicating attendance at the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, and (3) fasting Com- munion. His personal standpoint with regard to the historic schools of thought in the Church of England could hardly be better illustrated than by his treatment of these matters, which have been so prominently thrust forward of late years, and towards which, as will be seen, he took up a position founded on primitive custom but safeguarded^ 1 For the first and third of these inscriptions I am indebted to Canon Farrar's Lives of the Fatlwrs, i. 17-18. The second I observed some years since in the collection of copies in the Lateran Museum. 43O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH by common sense from those encroachments on Christian liberty to which piety in every age has been prone. Here are passages from two letters, one written in 1889 and the other in 1 896, which, together with a paper drawn up and sent to England for one who had sought his guidance (1891), clearly show what he believed and taught on the subject of Confession : St. Andrew's House, Tokyo : September 27, 1889. Nothing much more strikes me to say about confes- sion. It should only be adopted from the deliberate Con- viction that it is good for oneself, not because others urge it as a duty. Such arguments as that there is no true self- abasement in confession to GOD are not worthy a reply. It would mean that David was not truly humble when he wrote the 5ist Psalm, only when he was in the presence of Nathan ! More or less of direction is a matter of spiritual ex- pediency. 'To direct others is no doubt consonant with the office of a pastor of souls, but that is all that can be said. Is there not a bit of danger in being misled by words ? Suppose that for ' confession ' was read ' acknow- ledgment of sins,' and for ' direction ' ' counselling,' would not tlie case sometimes be clearer ? Exeter : Quinquagesima, 1896. Is not the absolution, whether public or private, what it is answerably to the spiritual state of those who receive it ? That is not very clear I mean that to the forgiven it is a seal of forgiveness, to the penitent a channel of forgiveness, so that it is never inoperative, but brings with it what each needs. Notes on Confession, 1891 These points about Confession may be useful : 1. It should not be confounded in thought with Abso- lution. 2. To absolve in some way or other is the very duty and work of the Church, for which in large part she exists. This duty she must perform, as she does others, ordinarily through her ordained ministers (cf. the body and the hands), though there may be exceptions. (St. Louis and INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 431 his armour-bearer absolving one another is the classical instance.) 3. The method of absolution varies. Its greatest exer- cise is in Holy Baptism. Holy Communion, again, has attached to it promises of forgiveness. So, again, there are public and private absolutions provided in the service- books of all orthodox Churches. 4. The result of absolution must vary in relation to the spiritual state of the recipient. To the unrepentent it brings added condemnation ; to the penitent, forgiveness ; to the forgiven, assurance. On the divine side i.e. as regards the grace conferred there is absolutely no difference between absolution said publicly to a congregation or privately to an individual. 5. Confession, on the other hand, does not demand the aid of the Church's priesthood as a matter of ordinary necessity. The child may and ought to confess to its parent when it has done wrong. The only case in which the Church can demand confession is after excommunica- tion. At the same time, the pastoral relationship of the clergy to their people renders them the natural recipients of their confidence. It is, then, on the one hand, a most unwarrantable infringement of the liberty of the children of God secured to them in their baptism to make Confession a necessary condition for Holy Communion, i.e., as all Christians are presumably communicants, compulsory. This the Church of Rome does in all cases, with the exception of persons of spiritual attainment so rare as not to be worth taking into account. On the other hand, it is a mistake either to forbid Confession or to confine the permission for it to certain persons of presumably the very weakest character. Experi- ence shows that this is not the case. Very strong and noble natures have found the greatest help in it. From the above it is plain that the responsibility of confessing sins to another or not rests with the penitent ; also, that when confession is made to a priest he has no right to demand the divulging of all secrets. The Prayer Book compilers seem to have been provi- dentially guided in this, as in so much else, to conclusions which fit the Church of England for her mission to the nineteenth century. 432 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH In answer to further question he wrote : January 30, 1892. Confession is both allowed and practised at St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's. But while it is allowed, it is not enforced either by rule or precept. I heartily approve of it for many persons, but I am equally sure it is not, like the two great sacraments, incumbent on all or good for all. Its use or non-use should, I hold, depend on character, circum- stances, training, &c. It would be hopeless to reconcile either antiquity or the English Church with the view that it is compulsory in the sense of the two sacraments ; and, on the other hand, its practical disuse has greatly weakened the Church's efficiency and lowered, in many cases, the standard of spiritual life. I do not think that I shall change or even modify my opinion in the matter. I hold it to be the duty of Anglican Bishops just now to guard the liberty of those who do and alike of those who do not use this special discipline. t The ' deliberate conviction ' mentioned above as being a distinct factor in determining its use or non-use led him personally to avail himself of its occasional use, as will be seen by the following letter written to one with whom he was very intimate : Tokyo : April 4, 1892. You have written to me so much on the subject that I wish to tell you that I made use for myself of Confession for the first time this Lent. Several reasons weighed with me. Among them was not that I had changed my views materially on the subject at all, nor any doubt of the entire validity of public absolutions in the Eucharistic service, nor any belief that confession to a priest ought to be imposed on all alike, but partly the increasing number of those who seek my help in this way ; partly, and far more, the sense that it would be good for myself, specially as a Bishop with the temptations of a Bishop's office ; partly the opportunity offered. . . . None of these reasons need apply, you see, to you or many others, but I shall, I have no doubt, continue it for myself from time to time, as I feel that the definiteness which it gives to self-examination and effort is valuable to myself. This does not alter INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 433 my opinion that the immense growth of the practice requires careful guarding in the Church of England. I put ' Private ' above, but do not mind reasonable people knowing what I think in these matters. They are best avoided with the unreasonable, and those who would be only grieved at hearing opinions other than their own. Notwithstanding all the reckless writing on either side, the Bishop never swerved from his position of condemning the compulsory use of Confession, while sure of its help- fulness and allowableness for himself and many others. When told shortly before his death how a young priest at a retreat had differentiated between the gift of public and private absolution, he looked up quickly and said, ' How these young men do talk. It is inconceivable that the Church should have gone unabsolved for just 1,300 years.' On the subject of ' Non-communicating Attendance,' he acutely pointed out in a note in his addresses to Japanese Divinity students now reprinted in English, and published under the title ' of ' Our Heritage in the Church ' that ' It was not customary in the early Church to have more than one celebration in one church on the same day. There is no analogy, therefore, to be found in antiquity to the modern practice of attending more than one Eucharist on the same day.' On this subject he wrote : . April u, 1890. In my judgment non-communicating attendance is not to be forbidden to devout persons on occasions. No sacra- mental grace is to be obtained through it, still less a parti- cipation in the sacramental commemoration of Christ's sacrifice before God. This last is participated in by feeding on Christ's Body and Blood and not elsewise cf. through- out the Levitical sacrifices, in which feeding was the means of participation to the offerer. All that can be said is that it is a favourable time of devotion in concert with others. 1 See Note 74 on p. 173 of Our Heritage in the Church. F F 434 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH The idea of some Anglican people that they go to Communion at 8 and to the Sacrifice at 11.45 is a travesty of the Primitive and Catholic Eucharist, never heard of till (not mediaeval times, but) yesterday. And against 'the fierce insistence ' upon l Fasting Com- munion advocated sometimes, he wrote : The suggestion that a person who takes a cup of tea should be required to ' notably diminish ' the number of his Communions requires no comment except that our Jerusalem is not Mount Sinai in Arabia. With regard to Fasting Communion, the following paper will not entirely please either those who insist on or those who protest against this custom, but none the less it is expressive of his way of looking out for historical pre- cedent, and of allowing for the consequences of the im- partial application of a great principle : Fasting Communion 1. There is evidence that the earliest custom of the Church was to celebrate after a meal, as at the Institution. Therefore there is no essential irreverence in prior taking of food : or ipso facto spiritual gain in not doing so. 2. There is evidence that the Eucharist was celebrated early in Asia Minor at the end of the second century, and also at Rome a generation later, on the Lord's Day. Pre- sumably these celebrations were before a regular meal. There is no contrary evidence. It is probable that a custom thus widely spread, and the complete disappearance of an earlier custom, were due to Apostolic suggestion or command. But to think that the Apostles enacted a law of perpetual obligation for the whole Church in the matter is to misconceive the spirit of the Apostolic Age (cf. Col. ii., and notice that St. Paul set aside at Corinth even the decree of Jerusalem). The new custom (i Cor. x., xi.) rested on the moral obligation of ' disengagedness ' (Archbishop Benson) at the charac- teristic Christian worship. 1 Cf. Archbishop Benson's Seven Gifts, p. 97 : ' Let us not corrupt Reverence into Superstition by a fierce insistence upon Fasting Communion.' INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 435 3. There is evidence that celebrations, whether early or late, were fasting in the time of Tertullian (A.D. 200), Augustine, and Chrysostom (A.D. 400), and probably in the whole Church (though see Scudamore on this point suggesting exceptions), and this rule obtained till the sixteenth century. There is no evidence whatever that the Apostles established the distinction between festal and ferial cele- brations. On the whole, Early Communions may be called a counsel which has in its favour ancient prescription and practical spiritual gain, and which (apart from argument) commends itself now, as in earlier days, to the Catholic mind. A rule of fasting (where it does not engender a dulness of spiritual faculties or bodily illness) is a safe- guard in the maintenance of the right spiritual disposition. But no authority of absolute law can be pleaded : nor are formal dispensations requisite as conditions of relief, though they may be granted when desired. To sum up. It will be seen that he felt the duty of Anglican Bishops was clearly defined by the fact that they ought to act as moderators in times of controversy, and also as trustees of the faith, so to prevent times of contro- versy becoming times of loss. When called upon himself to act as a spiritual guide he was found by those who sought his aid to be searching, inspiring, and, above all, determined not to allow the wasteful luxury of depression. A few extracts are given from his letters of counsel : I preached yesterday on ' Knowing God.' People make Lent too much, too exclusively a season of trying to know themselves, and so defeat their own end. . . . Either plan which you mention would be satisfactory. Interruptions are fewest before breakfast. The main point is regularity. Insensibly spiritual strength grows with continual exercise of spiritual faculties. If you have not been accustomed to try, you will find it hard to attain to great precision in devotional practices ; but it is well worth 436 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH the effort. One thing which you will prove is that other duties must be attended to quite punctually too, or they will crowd out devotion. The day only goes well when it is all kept to time. I am sure that you will aim at this, because it has an immediate bearing on your highest life. Of course no rules are of cast iron. Interruptions will come, and when they are unavoidable, to go from prayer to another duty is to go ' from God to God.' But they should be kept well in check. Yours in our Lord, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. Thursday before Easter. Dear , I send you a book of devotion, which you will find it, I think, a help to use regularly. I should use it just as it is for awhile, except that you might add certain petitions and intercessions, but of the subjects of these I should make a list. Begin by a real effort to realise the Presence of God, and a petition just one sentence against wandering thoughts. It will, perhaps, not be long before you will be able to give yourself greater freedom ; but even if it is, be not discouraged. Remember that, if it may be said with reverence, our Lord takes special interest in lives which have in them conflict and difficulties. May you have much comfort and help this week and a bright Easter. Yours in our Lord, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. Easter Eve. Dear , I have a few minutes to spare so must just write you a few lines. I hope that you will have a really happy Easter I hope that you will try, as I said to you, partly for your own comfort's sake, to look more at the bright side of your own spiritual life, the times God helps you, the victories, the happy days and hours, and to give thanks for them and, again, to meet all troubles and battle all temptations in the strength of Christ Risen not by your- self. May God be with you, and give you much to do for Him in this country. Yours in Christ, EDW. BICKERSTETH, Bishop. INTELLECTUAL STANDPOINT 437 My favourite text in times of depression is ' I will lift \ip mine eyes to the hills, whence cometh my help ? My help cometh even from the Lord.' It was only when the Psalmist looked away from himself to the great mountain tops that he knew whence strength came. His own foot- prints would never have taught it him. Of this the New Testament version is ' I apprehend, yea rather I was apprehended by (or Church. To Mrs. Bickersteth. The news of the Bishop's death reached Japan on August 9, and next day 1 the ' Japan Daily Mail, 1 the leading journal of Tokyo, said : Bishop Bickersteth was a man of deep erudition, wide sympathies, and profound religious convictions. Ill-health never succeeded in impairing the even geniality of his temper or narrowing the range of his interests. His in- fluence for good owed little to his personality, but he pre- sented to all that knew him a fine symmetry of mind and character, strong without exaggeration, steadfast without intolerance ; and the simple, unostentatious, and unselfish zeal that he brought to the discharge of every duty as a priest and every obligation as a friend, hallowed the sphere in which he moved, and elevated and purified those with whom he came in contact. We deeply mourn his loss, and sympathise keenly with the sorrow of his young widow. Memorial services were held on the I3th at the health resort of Karuizawa, where many of the missionaries were assembled, and on the I4th at St. Andrew's, Tokyo, where 1 See also Appendix A., p. 475. THE CALL HOME the Rev. John Imai was the preacher, and among those present were the Yen. Archdeacon Shaw, Rev. A. F. King, L. F. Ryde, A. E. Webb, W. F. Madeley, W. C. Gemmill,' C. N. Yoshizawa, P. S. Yamada, A. G. Shimada, S. M.' Tomita, and Mr. C. H. B. Woodd,of the English Mission ; Bishop Williams, Rev. C. H. Evans, Dr. Motoda, M. Tai,' G. Sugiura, K. Seito, and S. H. Kobayashi, of the American Mission. 1 At Karuizawa, in a little church, which owed its existence largely to the Bishop's liberality, the Venerable Archdeacon Shaw delivered an address, from which the following are extracts : It has pleased God to take from amongst us, in the fulness of his power and in the midst of his work, one whose death no one who had been brought into contact with him while here can help acknowledging to be a great and, to human discerning, a well-nigh irreparable loss to the work of God's Church in this land. His great intel- lectual powers, his wide knowledge of the history of re- ligion, his strong hold and deep insight into the founda- tion doctrine of Christianity the Incarnation of the Son of God with all its far-reaching and glorious consequences for man, made him a fit leader in bearing forward the Standard of the Cross, and a well-equipped champion in the face of this heathen world in repelling infidel attacks upon the faith. Trained under, and an earnest follower of, the theo- logical methods of the late and present Bishops of Durham, Bishop Lightfoot and Bishop Westcott, he possessed in no slight degree the painstaking and polished scholarship, the keen critical acumen, and the unswerving devotion to truth, the intellectual honesty, which distinguished both 1 From a Canadian priest in Japan.' Since that dreadful tele- gram came, and specially since our Christians have asked me to write you a letter in their name, I have thought and thought what I can say. Al- though our Memorial Service was at ^ A.M. because of the great heat, it was attended by more Christians than any service this year except the confirmation in April. The catechists at the out-stations each had his own service, but from other places where there is no catechist they came some of them over ten miles on foot, leaving home at 2. 30 and 3 in the morning. H H 2 468 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH his masters. These are matters which lay upon the surface, open to all who cared to see them. To those whose privilege it was to know him with personal intimacy (as it was mine), there was revealed in his character an affectionate tenderness, a helpfulness, a playful humour, which endeared him to all around, and at the same time a depth of devotional feeling, of humble piety, of transparent sincerity in all his life, which could not but have a strengthening and purifying influence on all with whom he was brought in contact. . . . During the eleven years of his life and work in Japan, amidst the constant interruptions of ill-health, he gave himself with single-hearted and unceasing devotion to his Master's work. He never spared himself, but worked in every cause he took in hand to the limit of his powers, and beyond his powers, in a manner which should, now more than ever, in these sad days which have come upon us, be an inspiration and example to those he has left behind. It fell to his lot to be instrumental in consolidating the work of the Church in this country, and it is largely due to him, to his wisdom and his energy, that the scattered congregations of the various missions of the English and American Episcopal Churches are now organised into one body, and that the number of the Bishops has increased from two to five. These are the outward and visible manifested results of his unceasing toil and care. Of the inward spiritual results of his life and work, of the example of his personal character and piety, and of his direct teach- ing, no one can speak they are known to God alone. They have passed into the lives of so many who came under his influence. They are the immortal fruit formed in the souls of men by contact with him who was himself in contact with ' the Head, even Christ,' and who himself drank deeply day by day from the Fountain of living waters. Nor was his love and sympathy confined to his own communion. To no one whom I have known was the idea and hope of union among all who name the Name of Christ dearer than to him. It was a subject of his daily prayers and often of his active effort. . . . He was then such a one a leader in Israel, pure in heart, strong in intellect, earnest and self-sacrificing in effort. And we are called upon to-day to face the in- scrutable mystery of his early death to face the fact THE CALL HOME that when to human eyes his life was so greatly needed, he has been taken from among us-to face the fact that we who were about him shall no longer have the stay of his strong intellect, the sympathy of his loving heart the example of his pure and blameless life. Thank God that though we have not the key to these mysteries of life and death and earthly sorrow, and though now in this time of our sojourn here, we see but as in a glass darkly, we know with a certainty that passes knowledge that in Christ all is well well with him and well with us. He is the faithful soldier who has accomplished his warfare and has entered into his rest. He has finished the work in the vineyard of God which it was given him to do, and if we seem to be left the weaker and the poorer for his absence, we know that it really is not and cannot be so. God has other work in his heavenly kingdom larger, freer, fuller for him whom in his passage through this world He had trained and disciplined and made fit to receive the vision of His eternal glory. And we may be assured that in the nearer approach to his divine Master which has been granted to him, and in that fuller knowledge in the ways and purposes of God's Providence which he possesses, he remembers, and will remember with unceasing love and prayer, us his fellow-workers in our weakness, our failure, our dis- appointment, until the time of God's waiting be fulfilled and the number of His elect accomplished. On September 15 a special Chihokwai (Diocesan Synod) was held, thirteen priests, eight deacons, and sixteen catechists and lay delegates being present, with the Rev. J. T. Imai as chairman, when a resolution of sympathy with the family of Bishop Edward Bickersteth was passed, in which was 'placed on record the synod's sense of the eminent services rendered by the Bishop to the Church of Japan during the eleven years of his episcopate, by the single-minded devotion to her service of his great intellec- tual gifts and powers of organisation, and by the high and noble example of piety, holiness, and zeal which he had left to her as a precious memorial and inheritance.' On the evening of the same day as the synod, the 47O BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH 1 5th, a kinenkwai (memorial meeting) was held in the St. Andrew's Divinity School, of which Archdeacon Shaw wrote to me : Tokyo, Japan : September 22, 1897 My dear Mr. Bickersteth, We have now received full details of our dear Bishop's death and of the funeral. I cannot realise that I shall see his face no more here. At the synod, which as Chairman of the Standing Committee I called last Wednesday, the I5th inst., resolutions of sympathy were passed, copies of which are being sent to Mrs. Bickersteth and the Bishop of Exeter. In the evening of the same day as the synod we held a memorial meeting attended by numbers of Japanese Christians from the churches of our communion in Tokyo. Addresses were given by several Japanese and myself on the subject so near our hearts, and I had taken the liberty of having your beautiful and pathetic letter written from our dear Bishop's dying room translated into Japanese. It was read by Yoshizawa San, one of our priests, and made a very deep impression. One told me that listening to sermons all his life would not have the same effect as the story so told of the death-bed of our blessed saint. The Japanese purpose to raise some memorial here according to their means. I should like, however, to make an appeal at home for funds to maintain two scholarships or exhibitions in the Divinity School here to be called the Bishop Bickersteth Scholarships or Exhibitions. From 35?S ^CO'T^TOS). As such it includes : 1. Koivowa (cf. St. Austin : Sacrificium id opus est quo agitur ut quasi divina societate inhsereamus in Deo). 2. npocropa. But the two are ultimately identical. 2. economically. (a) Sacrifice was foreshadowed in the Law under three forms : 1. Burnt offering consecration. 2. Sin offering reconciliation. 3. Peace offering communion. (b) The life and death of the Incarnate was the absolute and ideal embodiment and exhibition of Sacrifice under this threefold form. N.B. In Him the distinction of form can only be maintained in thought, not in fact. (c) The sacrificial life is continued under new conditions in the unseen order by 'the High Priest for ever.' His 1 For another paper on this subject see chapter xi. p. 409. APPENDICES 491 Divine Humanity is still the one burnt offering, the sin offering (now by way of representation and remembrance), and the peace offering. Cf. tloyXOev tydirag c/x^avwr^mt, Heb. ix. 12, 24. (d) The Church is the extension to the elect, and ideally to humanity, of the Incarnation. Cf. ts Iva KOIVOV avOpwirov, Eph. ii. 15. This prerogative position involves her in like sacrificial offices with her Head. Cf. i Peter ii. 5. 1. In Him she offers herself (prayers, praises, suffer- ings, alms) to the Father. Burnt offering. 2. In Him she pleads the sacrifice of His death. Sin offering, so far as now possible or needed. Cf. Mozley on sacrifice in subordinate sense. 3. In Him she holds communion with God. Peace offering. [N.B. Sacrifice as burnt offering and peace offering in accord- ance with the eternal purpose of God and dependent on the Incarnation. Sacrifice as sin offering due to the fall, con- summated on the cross, represented in Heaven.] (f) The Eucharist gathers up in one outward act of the Christian society all her characteristic functions. Its sacrificial aspect is not to be found merely or chiefly in the words of Institution (nWw ' and dveyin/o-is), 2 though these may be significant ; but in its whole nature. In it the Church is united with her Head (in fact, not in symbol) around the heavenly altar, and joins in His actions. This of necessity gives a sacrificial character to the service, the idea of sacrifice being inseparable from the presence of the Divine Humanity, which is specially guaranteed in the Eucharist. [N.B. The controversy as to the mode of Christ's Presence is unreal. We have no faculties for the apprehension of a ' supra- local ' presence, such as Christ's has become since the Ascension. 4 Christ so came to earth that He did not leave His Father's throne. Christ so returned to His Father that He did not leave His Church on earth.' St. Austin.] 1 Cp. with iroifi-rf, St. Matt, xxvii. 18 and Exodus xxix. 26, 39. 2 Cp. however, the following reff. on a-vinmiaa, ftMyuprfoWi Levit. xxiv. 7, Numbers v. 15, x. 9, IO, Psalm xxxvii. I, Ixix. I, and cp. 492 BISHOP EDWARD BICKERSTETH We have an Altar Essentially, Christ ; Historically, the Cross ; Instrumentally, the Eucharist ; [the Lord's Table only conventionally]. Limitations of the truth of the real, substantial, supra-local Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. 1. Permanence of elements. ct. Transubstantiation. 2. Absence of local limitation supra-local. ct. Consubstantiation. 3. No new humiliation (cv TOIS cTrovpavtois). The mystery is in the unseen order. 4. In usum Sacramenti. No sacramental blessing to non-communicants. The Presence is Objective ; For salvation of body and soul ; Real. \ University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. JANE 5 A 000039687 9 University of < Southern Re Library Fai