7
 
 LIFE OF 
 WILLIAM EDWARD COLLINS 
 
 4 fc.
 
 l-'roiti a photograph by J. Russell & Sons, London
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 WILLIAM EDWARD COLLINS 
 
 BISHOP OF GIBRALTAR 
 
 ARTHUR JAMES MASON, D.D. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 
 1912 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IN these days, when so many biographies are written, it 
 seemed wrong not to leave to posterity some record of a 
 man who was not only in himself a remarkable personality, 
 but who also had more share in guiding the contemporary 
 history of the Church than most people were aware of. 
 Perhaps it was the more necessary in the case of Bishop 
 Collins, because an account of him had obtained a wide 
 currency, which might, if not supplemented, have given an 
 untrue impression of his character. The little book alluded 
 to is indeed most tenderly and delicately true. From a 
 single and limited point of observation it portrays the 
 Bishop not only with deep and reverent devotion, but with 
 extraordinary insight and fidelity. But it was not, and 
 was never meant to be, a complete presentation of the 
 Bishop ; it was only intended to show him as he was in one 
 beautiful and sacred relationship, during his last pathetic 
 years. There are other things which it was important to 
 tell about him. 
 
 Bishop Collins was indeed a man of many sides. He 
 might, from one point of view, be considered as almost 
 a chronic invalid, with occasional accesses of illness which 
 cut him off for longer or shorter periods from public work. 
 He made no concealment of his illnesses, though he made 
 no parade of them. The sympathy which they drew out 
 from others he received with unaffected gratitude, and re- 
 paid with an unmeasured outflow of affection. He came to 
 be on terms of great intimacy with many different sets of 
 people. But these intimacies were marked not only by an 
 unreserved disclosure of his own heart ; they were marked 
 
 2067482
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 by two other things. One was an entire reticence about 
 his relations with other people. He never gave away the 
 confidence reposed in him, and some of his closest friends 
 never knew of similar friendships which he had formed else- 
 where. He was reserved even to secretiveness with regard 
 to them. The second thing which marked these relationships 
 was that with all their tenderness there lay at the bottom of 
 them that element of severity, that constant demand of moral 
 effort, which cannot be absent from Christian sanctity. 
 
 I have greatly failed in the task which I set myself, if 
 the reader of these pages fails to see in Bishop Collins, 
 alongside of an almost woman-like power of attachment, 
 the character of a strong man. His intellect was a strong 
 man's intellect. He had a vigorous grasp of principles, and 
 at the same time a most remarkable faculty for amassing 
 and mastering detailed information. He saw the meaning 
 of a problem swiftly, and he was not contented until he 
 had strenuously examined and co-ordinated the facts which 
 gave the clue to the solution. His was no second-hand 
 learning, no unverified acceptance of other men's opinions. 
 Yet the student's passion was never allowed to become 
 predominant in him. These pages mention a warning sent 
 to him in early life not to let his " absorbing intellectual 
 interests encroach " upon his " spiritual and pastoral life." 
 If the warning was needed, it was heeded. One who knew 
 him well wrote, after his death, to draw this as the main 
 lesson from his life " the grace by which he made the 
 intellect subserve the spirit, counting as nought the things 
 of the former, where they failed to make clearer and more 
 attainable the things of the latter." " In that missionary 
 life," this writer says, " the old pursuits of reading and 
 research, writing and quiet deep thinking, were renounced, 
 cheerfully sacrificed to the routine and demands of his 
 enormous diocese ; but when he became persuaded that 
 such was the will of God, he turned his back on the life which 
 offered these dear delights with the cheeriness and whole- 
 heartedness which he himself would have called in another 
 ' playing the game.' " l We have often heard of a sacrifizio 
 1 Miss Rolt in the Guildsman, December 1911.
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 dell' intettetto : in this case it was a sacrifice which contained 
 nothing that was not admirable. 
 
 Next to this steady concentration of aim, the most marked 
 characteristic of the man was his physical and moral courage. 
 A letter from a layman, who was one of his best friends, 
 lies before me. The writer says : " The two features of 
 his character must always be the breadth of his mind and 
 his extraordinary personal courage, both rooted in a simple 
 and unassuming confidence in the Almighty's decrees. 
 Whatever it was to be, it must be right : one only goal in 
 front of him, to make for it regardless of all, whether on 
 the right hand or the left, so long as the object aimed at 
 was reached." The courage of which this friend speaks was 
 not shown only in crises of imminent danger, but in the way 
 in which the Bishop at the last deliberately took his life in 
 his hand, and travelled and laboured and ministered when 
 any one else would have retired to the sick-room. Yet 
 even when most venturesome, he took every precaution that 
 the circumstances admitted, and was never foolhardy or 
 (in these ways) self-willed. That imperious will of his not 
 only undertook heroic tasks, but set itself patiently to use 
 all means that prudence might suggest for their accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 I have to thank many friends for help of various kinds 
 in the work which is now offered to his memory. I thank 
 the Bishop's father, Mr. J. H. Collins, and his sister-in-law, 
 Miss Steiiand, for much information and encouragement. 
 I thank his executor, Mr. Wilfrid Barnes, for putting un- 
 reservedly at my disposal all papers that might serve the 
 purpose of this memoir. I thank those who have given me, 
 sometimes unsought, sometimes at my request, accounts of 
 particular passages in his life ; perhaps I may mention 
 especially Professor Caldecott and the Bishop's pupils at 
 King's College, whose names I have mentioned in that 
 connexion ; Miss S. Boycott, Miss G. M. Bevan, Miss P. M. 
 Bishop ; those who have written to me about his work in 
 the West Indies and in South Africa ; the Hon. Mrs. H. N. 
 Gladstone for her account of his work at Messina ; Bishop 
 Montgomery, the Bishop of Wakefield ; those who have
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 written to me about the closing scenes. I thank Mr. Lomas, 
 of Territet, for lending me the volumes of the Anglican 
 Church Magazine, which contain much information about 
 his diocesan work. I thank all those who have lent me letters 
 of the Bishop's ; some of them I may not name, but I may 
 mention in particular Lord Rendel, the Hon. Madame Wiel, 
 the Rev. O. Blogg, the Rev. A. T. Barnett, the Rev. J. H. 
 Toy, Miss Cavendish-Bentinck, the Rev. J. H. Ritson, the 
 Rev. Dr. Robinson. I thank Lord Northbourne for constant 
 help and guidance, and in particular for reading all the 
 proofs for me. I thank His Grace the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury for allowing me to use papers in his possession with 
 regard to the Lambeth Conference of 1908, as well as 
 utterances of his own. I thank the authoress of the little 
 book referred to at the beginning of this Preface for leave 
 to use her materials freely, and for much else besides. 
 Finally, I thank Messrs. Russell & Co., of Baker Street, for 
 permission to reproduce without charge their beautiful 
 photograph of the Bishop as a frontispiece to this memoir. 
 It may perhaps be not unsuitable to state, in connexion 
 with the frontispiece, that the Bishop was twice painted. 
 In one of the two paintings, by Mr. F. Cadogan Cowper, 
 now in the possession of Lord Northbourne at Betteshanger, 
 he was represented as St. Francis of Assisi, listening to the 
 music of an angel. The picture was exhibited in the Royal 
 Academy in 1904, and drew much attention, though few 
 people knew whose features the artist had depicted. The 
 second painting, by Mr. Streatfield, is a grave and impressive 
 portrait of the Bishop in his cope. Since the Bishop's 
 death it has been acquired for Selwyn College at Cambridge, 
 and hangs in the College Hall, as a memorial to the first 
 alumnus of the College to be made a Bishop. 
 
 CANTERBURY, 
 Nativity of the B.V. Mary, 1912.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. EARLY LIFE - - i 
 
 II. ALLHALLOWS BARKING AND KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 8 
 
 III. EPISCOPATE 64 
 
 INDEX 189
 
 I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 THE life which is recorded in these pages began in London 
 on the i8th of February in the year 1867. The Bishop, 
 whose Christian name was William Edward, was the second 
 son of Mr. Joseph Henry Collins and of his wife, Frances 
 Miriam. Mrs. Collins died when William was 21 years old, 
 but Mr. Collins survives him. There were nine children in 
 all, including one sister who died in infancy. Mrs. Collins 
 was of Irish birth, and the Bishop liked to think that he 
 had Irish blood in his veins, and told people that he could 
 feel a thrill when he went near the shores of Ireland. 
 
 A few months after the Bishop's birth the family removed 
 into Cornwall. The removal was occasioned by his father's 
 appointment as Lecturer and Assistant Secretary to the 
 Miners' Association of Cornwall and Devon ao appoint- 
 ment in which he succeeded the late Sir Clement Le Neve 
 Foster. A little later he was also made Secretary to the 
 Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, and County Analyst, 
 and later still, Honorary Secretary to the Royal Institution 
 of Cornwall. In the year 1874, Mr. Collins, who had made for 
 himself a distinguished place among the scientific men of the 
 West, began also to practise as a consulting Mining Engineer 
 an employment which soon took him much away from 
 home, and into far countries. 
 
 The frequent absence of the father threw upon Mrs. Collins 
 a heavy burden of responsibility in bringing up her family. 
 She was a devoted mother, and received in return the whole- 
 hearted affection of her children, especially, it may be said, 
 of William. He cared less for out-of-door pursuits than the 
 
 A
 
 2 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 other boys, and made himself her " right hand " in the duties 
 of the home. The eldest son, Henry, went to the Truro 
 Grammar School, the school of Henry Martyn and other 
 famous men, and under his father's tuition obtained at a 
 very early age a Royal Scholarship at the Royal School of 
 Mines, and so began a successful career as a Mining Metallur- 
 gist. William and his younger brothers were placed, as soon 
 as they were of school age, at the Collegiate School in Lemon 
 Street, Truro, kept by the late Mr. F. Nuttall, where they 
 were well grounded in the ordinary branches of education. 
 It had been intended that they also should pass to the 
 Grammar School ; but in 1881 Mr. Collins took an appoint- 
 ment at the Rio Tinto Mines in Spain, and the family, with 
 the exception of the eldest son, removed to that country. 
 
 It was at this time that the connexion between the present 
 writer and the subject of this memoir began. Bishop Benson 
 had put the parish of St. John's, Truro, into the charge of 
 myself and my colleague, the Rev. F. E. Carter, during a 
 vacancy. The Collins family were parishioners of St. John's. 
 The boys were rather young to be confirmed, William not 14, 
 and Arthur only 12, but their parents were uncertain what 
 opportunities there might be of getting them confirmed 
 abroad and desired that it should be done before they left 
 Cornwall. Seldom can a priest have had a more delightful 
 task laid upon him than it was to prepare the two eager, 
 intelligent, open-minded, pure-hearted boys for their Con- 
 firmation and first Communion. A more beautiful tender- 
 ness of conscience than theirs it would hardly be possible to 
 imagine. 
 
 At this early age began William Collins's connexion with 
 the country from which in after life he was to take his title. 
 He was very happy at Rio Tinto with his brothers and sisters. 
 He edited a little family magazine, full of observation and 
 humour. He acquired the Spanish language. But it was 
 found that the climate did not suit him. After several voy- 
 ages to England and back, he was sent home for good, and 
 lodged with his eldest brother in London. It was now deter- 
 mined that he should take up law as his profession. He was 
 put into the office of Sir Albert Rollit in Mincing Lane. An
 
 EARLY LIFE 3 
 
 incident in his career as a lawyer's clerk is remembered. Late 
 one evening he was told to go and serve a writ upon a butcher 
 in Wapping. The man was known to be a violent and reck- 
 less character, and the neighbourhood was not an inviting 
 one. As young Collins was starting on his errand, the head 
 clerk said to him : " By-the-bye, I suppose you don't carry 
 a revolver about you ? " No, he did not. " Perhaps you 
 have a good strong pocket knife ? " He had not even that. 
 " Here, then ; you had better take the office ruler with you." 
 So armed, he went to Wapping. He succeeded in getting 
 the butcher to come down and open the door, and thrusting 
 his foot in, so that the door might not be shut, got the writ 
 into his hand. When the man saw what it was, he aimed a 
 heavy blow at the young clerk, but Collins managed to ward 
 it off with the ruler, and fled. 
 
 The law, however, was not his vocation. He had set his 
 heart upon being ordained. His father entered his name for 
 the Scholae Cancellarii at Truro, founded a few years before 
 by Bishop Benson, which was under the guidance of Chan- 
 cellor Whitaker. Just about this time I was called up to 
 London, to serve the Church of Allhallows Barking, near 
 Mincing Lane, and was brought again into close relations with 
 William Collins. It seemed a pity that so fine an intellect 
 should not have the advantage of a University education. 
 With a large family growing up and a limited income, his 
 father was not in a position to give him this advantage un- 
 aided. The boy had not been sufficiently taught to help 
 himself by obtaining a scholarship. I was permitted to 
 enlist the sympathies of a few friends. Mr. Munro, the 
 editor of Lucretius, and Mr. Wheatley-Balme, an old friend 
 of my father's and a generous benefactor of Selwyn College, 
 promised substantial contributions ; and with this assistance 
 a project which we had for some time discussed was carried 
 into effect, and Mr. Collins was able to send the boy to 
 Selwyn, where he began residence in October, 1884. 
 
 His undergraduate career was not particularly happy. 
 The College had only been opened two years before, and the 
 men had scarcely, perhaps, fallen into the ordered ways of 
 those in older Colleges. Collins suffered a good deal of
 
 4 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " ragging." He was determined to be like a Nazarite and 
 to allow no razor to touch his skin. This was resented by 
 the others, and long arguments and entreaties from parents 
 and older friends were required before his natural obstinacy 
 was overcome and the offence removed. I cannot find that 
 he made any real friends among his fellow undergraduates, 
 though he did among the dons. He worked very hard, and 
 lived very severely, so much, indeed, as to injure his health. 
 He chose the Mathematical Tripos to work for principally 
 because he knew more mathematics to begin with than any- 
 thing else. He thought also that the study of mathematics 
 would supply what he considered to be a defect in his own 
 mind. Greek he had never learned till he began attending 
 classes at the Birkbeck Institution in London with a view to 
 entering the University, and to the end of his life he had only 
 a fair working acquaintance with it. At the end of his three 
 years he obtained quite a creditable place, near the top of 
 the Junior Optimes. 
 
 But while he made Mathematics his Tripos subject, and 
 treated it with dutiful respect, he was giving his spare time 
 and thought to other branches of learning. Nothing came 
 amiss to him. He was an omnivorous reader. Already the 
 study of history, and especially of history in its bearings 
 upon religion, had begun to engross him. As soon as he 
 was set free from the trammels of his Tripos, he began to 
 read for Dr. Lightfoot's University Scholarship, which is 
 given for proficiency in Ecclesiastical History, but in Ecclesi- 
 astical History in its connexion with History in general. I 
 was appointed to examine for the Scholarship that year, 
 1888, in conjunction with Dr. Hodgkin, the author of Italy 
 and her Invaders. Collins showed an extraordinary and 
 detailed knowledge of the special subjects set ; but his com- 
 petitor, Mr. Townsend- Warner, a Fellow of Jesus College, 
 had done brilliantly in the History Tripos of the previous 
 year, and so had the start of him in general historical learn- 
 ing. Nevertheless we were unanimous in publishing the 
 statement that the merits of W. E. Collins, B.A., of Selwyn 
 College, were very nearly equal to those of the successful 
 candidate. I declined to examine again the following year.
 
 EARLY LIFE 5 
 
 Collins was then elected without any hesitation, and in the 
 year after (1890) he received the award of one of the Prince 
 Consort Prizes, for a dissertation on the Conversion of Frisia. 
 
 Parts of two letters written at this time by Mr. Lyttelton, 
 then Master of Selwyn, will show something of what was felt 
 about him by the authorities of his College. The first refers 
 to the Lightfoot Scholarship, the second to the Prince Consort 
 Prize. 
 
 " May 5, 1889. 
 
 ... I cannot refrain from a line of congratulation, most 
 heartfelt and thorough. It is a real moral triumph over 
 physical difficulties, and one of which you may be far prouder 
 than of the intellectual feat, considerable though that is. 
 I hope you are fond enough of the College to sympathize 
 with my great pleasure over the credit you have won for it." 
 
 " February 5, 1890. 
 
 ... It is a very satisfactory sort of prize to get, and I 
 shall look forward to adding the essay to the Library with 
 great pride the first genuine Selwyn publication. ..." 
 
 Collins, however, was not satisfied with the essay, and never 
 worked it up into a condition to be published. 
 
 Meanwhile a bereavement had befallen him which greatly 
 affected his home life. The family had returned to England 
 in 1884, and were domiciled in London, the father practising 
 as a Consulting Mining Engineer, with frequent absences 
 abroad. At each recurring Christmas, if not very frequently 
 at other times of the year, William used to join those members 
 of the family who were in England. There was constant 
 correspondence between them, even when they did not meet. 
 On Good Friday, in the year that William took his degree, 
 his mother died. Mr. Collins says : 
 
 " I was away in Transylvania, Arthur in Norway, Harry in 
 Spain. Will and George were at home, but both were 
 engaged elsewhere when she died, only the little daughters 
 and her mother being actually present. It fell to Will to 
 summon us home by telegraph and to make all the funeral 
 arrangements. Arthur and I reached home in time for the
 
 6 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 funeral ; Harry could not leave Spain just then, and could 
 only telegraph his grief and sympathy. He joined me soon 
 after in Transylvania when I returned there after the funeral. 
 Will was still more engrossed in his studies after the death of 
 his mother ; and from that time for several years, although 
 there were many casual visits and much affectionate corres- 
 pondence, he had scarcely any part in our family life." 
 
 It may be well to say, in reference to this last sentence, 
 that there was never anything of the nature of an estrange- 
 ment between the Bishop and his own kinsfolk. To his 
 brother Arthur, in particular, he was most deeply attached. 
 Although they met so seldom, for Arthur spent several years 
 of his life in the service of the late Amir of Afghanistan, 
 besides prolonged sojourns in Mexico and in South America 
 the two were devoted friends. Few sorrows touched the 
 Bishop so profoundly as the death of this able and gallant 
 younger brother, who was killed in 1902, at the age of 33, by 
 anarchist miners on strike in Colorado, refusing to listen to any 
 warnings that his life was in danger. To his father William 
 always sent everything that he wrote. When his sisters were 
 married in 1896 and 1907, it was he who married them. He 
 baptized his nephews and nieces. After his consecration his 
 intercourse with the family became closer than before. He 
 paid frequent visits to Crinnis, in Cornwall, where Mr. Collins 
 had settled, and to his elder brother at the Cordova Copper 
 Mines in Spain. The ties of natural affection were never 
 weak in the Bishop ; but in early life his studies and his main 
 interests lay in a different direction from those which carried 
 his father and his brothers all over the world, and the death 
 of his dearly loved mother at what was for him a critical age 
 served to throw him more and more upon the sympathies 
 of friends unconnected with him by birth. 
 
 In these he was already rich. In the Clergy House of 
 Allhallows Barking he was surrounded by men who knew 
 how to appreciate him. The late William Bellars, after- 
 wards Vicar of Margate, a man of thought and learning ; the 
 late David Evans, son of the famous Greek Professor at 
 Durham, and a sharer in his father's genius ; Cyril Bicker- 
 steth, Reginald Adderley, Herbert Thornton ; these were
 
 EARLY LIFE 7 
 
 the first group of associates with whom he was there thrown. 
 That house, 7 Trinity Square, E.G., was for many years to 
 be more of a home to him than any other. Before he was 
 connected with Allhallows, he had been attracted to Christ 
 Church, Albany Street, first under Mr. Burrows, then under 
 Mr. Festing, afterwards Bishop of St. Albans. He taught 
 a class there, and served as a reader in the church. The 
 attachments there formed were permanent. Bishop Festing 
 made him one of his Examining Chaplains. His friendship 
 with Dr. W. J. Sparrow Simpson, then Assistant Curate at 
 Christ Church, lasted throughout life. At Cambridge, after 
 his degree, he found a congenial home in the house of Mr. 
 H. M. Gwatkin, now Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History. 
 Mrs. Gwatkin became a second mother to the delicate young 
 man, who stood in such need of loving care, and the sym- 
 pathetic and stimulating guidance of Mr. Gwatkin was of in- 
 calculable benefit to him in his chosen studies. Another home , 
 not less motherly, was opened to him at Wimbledon. Mrs. 
 Thurston Holland, the daughter of the immortal authoress 
 of Cranford, took him into her house. He spent almost 
 the whole of 1889 there. He used to give " lecturettes " in 
 the schoolroom to the children and friends of the family. And 
 he needed the nursing which he received. The long strain of 
 reading for the Lightfoot had told heavily upon his heart. 
 One day I was telegraphed for ; the doctor at Wimbledon 
 thought he had not long to live. He told me that with such 
 an enfeebled remnant of a heart he did not expect William 
 Collins to live more than a few months at the outside. But 
 Dr. Symes Thompson, who was very good to him, gave a 
 more hopeful account. He said that, with care, he might 
 live to fifty, but not beyond.
 
 II. 
 
 ALLHALLOWS BARKING AND KING'S COLLEGE, 
 LONDON. 
 
 IN the year 1890 Collins was ordained deacon, and priest 
 the year after, by Bishop Temple. His title was a curacy of 
 Allhallows Barking. The Bishop was not altogether willing 
 to admit him on that title. There was little parochial work 
 for him to do, and the situation was rather abnormal. But 
 Collins had not the physical strength for an ordinary curacy. 
 The Bishop soon found that it was no common man that he 
 had to deal with, and gave way. He made the further con- 
 cession of allowing Collins, during the Ember week, to stay 
 in the kind and cheerful home of Mr. and Mrs. Etherington 
 Smith, at Putney, just opposite Fulham, where he was well 
 cared for. 
 
 The work committed to the clergy of Allhallows, over and 
 above the service of the venerable church one of the few 
 which escaped the Great Fire of London and of the parish 
 attached to it, consisted of Missions and Retreats in various 
 parts of the country, courses of sermons and instructions, and 
 lectures of different kinds. Collins took his share in these 
 duties. We endeavoured to keep the share as small as we 
 could, but it was not easy to restrain him. Naturally, 
 lectures on English Church History formed a large part of 
 his engagements, and courses of this kind which he gave 
 at Maidstone, at Belvedere, and at Croydon, were largely 
 attended, and made a great impression. One of his chief 
 friendships of those days bound him to the house of the 
 scholarly Dr. Monckton of Maidstone, where he was a 
 constant visitor, when lecturing at that centre.
 
 ALLHALLOWS BARKING 9 
 
 Two of our colleagues at Allhallows record their first 
 impressions of him there. Dr. Arthur Robinson, the present 
 Vicar, says : 
 
 " My first sight of Willie Collins, as he was then familiarly 
 called, was in the summer of 1887, at the Mission College on 
 Tower Hill, not long before I myself joined the staff. He 
 was then a young layman fresh from Cambridge, making up 
 his mind as to his future course. I remember the impression 
 he left upon me of blended modesty and ability, and a talk 
 we had as to the possibility of combining historical study 
 with the work of a curacy, perhaps in the East End of 
 London. The solution of that problem was most happily 
 found when he too became a member of the College of 
 Allhallows, which had its old City Church and its little parish, 
 both of them full of unusually varied activities and interests. 
 In all of these he took his share. Sympathising heartily 
 with the parochial side of things, he preached with freedom 
 and fervour, and early shewed his remarkable gift of winning 
 the affection of individuals, sparing no pains to be of use 
 to them. Some of his sermons are well remembered still ; 
 as for instance, one on St. Paul's dream vision of the man 
 who beckoned him over to Europe." 
 
 The Rev. G. C. Fletcher, now Vicar of Newchurch in 
 Pendle, writes : 
 
 " I recollect Willie Collins, as every one called him, coming 
 to Trinity Square a lad of 17 or 18, with his pale face, and 
 his great eyes, and his wondrous knowledge. I remember 
 how the wonder of his encyclopaedic knowledge grew upon 
 us. We expected him to know a good deal of Church 
 History ; but his experience with his father in Spain, and 
 then his insight into the law, as a clerk to a solicitor, 
 had given him such a quantity of unusual knowledge. I 
 suppose it was a good deal later that he undertook the 
 Bible Class for the elder lads ; but I remember his remark- 
 able experience coming out in his reply to one of them, who 
 introduced a Bible difficulty, the shooting forth of the olive 
 leaf after the Flood. ' Well,' said Willie, ' I remember 
 perfectly well, after the great flood in Spain in the year 
 (whatever it was), that I saw with my own eyes that the
 
 io LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 olive was the first tree to shew any leaves ! ' After his 
 ordination, I remember his sermons, tightly packed with 
 material for three in each of them, and I remember how 
 much we were all amused to see how closely he set himself to 
 imitate [an older man to whom he was attached]." 
 
 In the letter in which Mr. Lyttelton congratulated him 
 on obtaining the Prince Consort Prize, he added : 
 
 " I have been hearing about you from Samuel Bickersteth, 1 
 who is staying with me. He is full of your lectures and the 
 impression they are making. I hope you find the people 
 responsive. . . . I seldom have to think of one of my Selwyn 
 men being ordained with such unalloyed pleasure as I feel 
 in your case, and my hope and prayer for you is that you 
 will have strength and health granted you to carry out the 
 promise with which you have begun. You will, I know, be 
 alive to the danger of letting your absorbing intellectual 
 interests encroach upon your spiritual and pastoral life, and 
 the position to which you are called will be a great safeguard 
 against this." 
 
 A year after this letter was written, the Master wrote 
 again " to tempt him away from Allhallows," by the offer 
 of a post as lecturer at Selwyn, which was speedily followed 
 by a similar offer from St. John's. The double offer was 
 very flattering, and he had serious doubts whether it did 
 not conceal a snare for him. He kept a letter from a 
 wise friend at Cambridge which helped to remove his 
 doubts : 
 
 " Perhaps your health would be better for lighter and more 
 regular work, with less scurrying after trains. Perhaps you 
 are rushing at your life's work too hastily, and would be none 
 the worse for a quieter time just now. Either of these would 
 be a weighty reason. You need not be modest about your 
 degree, for you have done quite enough History to go upon. 
 And as for ' spiritual gifts/ the less we think of such things 
 the better. If we are doing our duty, our place matters 
 little ; and, indeed, we are not often wise enough to say 
 whether one place is spiritually better than another. 'A 
 1 Then Vicar of Belvedere.
 
 ALLHALLOWS BARKING n 
 
 College don's life should be spiritual ' and so should the 
 grocer's. You will not sink into the rut if you keep the 
 highest call before you rather than these lower ones of station 
 and opportunity." 
 
 He accepted the invitation, and for the next two years 
 did excellent work in the two Colleges and in the University. 
 Besides his teaching in Church History, he lectured on 
 Political Science and kindred subjects, and his lectures were 
 highly appreciated. Of this period Mrs. Gwatkin writes to 
 me : 
 
 "All the time he was a don at Selwyn, he spent part of 
 Sunday with us ; and when he left Selwyn, but still kept on 
 his Lectureship at St. John's, he stayed every week with us 
 when he came down for his lectures. No words can tell what 
 a joy and blessing his love and sympathy were to me all 
 those years. It is something to thank God for all one's life. 
 At that time he was in very bad health, suffering so much 
 from his heart, and I used really to listen with anxiety in 
 the morning to hear if he was moving overhead, but I have 
 never known anyone who more resolutely refused to allow 
 health to interfere with his work." 
 
 There was not much to record in the uneventful life of 
 the University student and teacher ; but he came into close 
 relations with men who left their mark upon him. Chief 
 among these was the Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical 
 History, Mandell Creighton, afterwards Bishop of London. 
 At a time when many earnest Churchmen saw in Creighton 
 only a brilliant and somewhat scoffing epigrammatist, Collins 
 was allowed to see the Christian. He formed a devoted 
 attachment to him, and if any man could be called his master 
 in regard to a broad outlook upon history and life, it was 
 Bishop Creighton. After Collins left Cambridge, Lord Acton 
 became Professor there ; and common studies then brought 
 them together and they were friends. But it was Creighton 
 to whom Collins owed what he became as an ecclesiastical 
 historian and statesman. 
 
 The effect of his teaching upon pupils and fellow teachers 
 alike was all that his friends expected. At the beginning of 
 the year 1893, Mr. Lyttelton vacated the Mastership of
 
 12 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Selwyn for the vicarage of Eccles. He wrote to Collins on 
 February 21 : 
 
 " You have been associated so long and so closely with the 
 College that my thoughts turn very soon to you when I 
 think over the change. I cannot but thank you very deeply 
 for all your help, not only in these later years as a Lecturer, 
 but from the first as an undergraduate, and one who has done 
 the College so much credit. I am sure that my going will 
 not diminish your interest in it, and your devotion to it, and 
 it is a great consolation to me to feel that." 
 
 Mr. Lyttelton's departure from Cambridge was followed 
 at no great interval by Collins's own. The Professorship of 
 Ecclesiastical History at King's College, London, fell vacant, 
 and Collins applied for the post. On November 4, 1893, Mr. 
 Lyttelton wrote again from Eccles : 
 
 " I am so sorry for the College, and for your colleagues, 
 and a little bit for myself in losing one of my chief ties to 
 Selwyn. But of course you come first, and from what I have 
 heard from Knight 1 and from the Master 2 I have been 
 reluctantly facing the probability that the ' experiment ' 
 we made, and which for some time seemed to be really 
 succeeding with you, must come to an end. Last term, 
 indeed, I saw that you were all wrong in health again, so your 
 news came as no surprise. . . . Let me preach to you once 
 more I shan't venture when you are a Professor about 
 overwork. Interest in a subject doesn't make it any the less 
 noxious if pursued when you ought to be in bed, as I have 
 sometimes found myself, though I have never tried the ex- 
 periment on your scale. You may do such good work for 
 the Church and for knowledge that it is a duty to others, as 
 well as to yourself, to take care of your health." 
 
 Collins, though only twenty-six years old, was elected to 
 the Professorship, which, as he loved to remember, had once 
 been held by Maurice, though Maurice, to the disgrace of 
 the history of the College, was ejected from it. His imme- 
 diate predecessor in the office was the amiable and learned 
 John Mee Fuller. The Principal of the College at the time 
 1 Now Bishop of Gibraltar. J Bishop J. R. Selwyn.
 
 KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 13 
 
 of his appointment was Dr. Wace, now Dean of Canterbury ; 
 but during his tenure of the Professorship Dr. Wace was 
 succeeded, in 1897, by Dr. Robertson, now Bishop of Exeter, 
 and he again, in 1903, by the present Principal, Dr. Headlam. 
 
 It was a period of crisis in the history of the College, and 
 the part which Collins took in the development of affairs 
 has been kindly sketched for me in the following paper by 
 Dr. Caldecott, than whom no man is better qualified to 
 form an opinion on the subject : 
 
 " As last century drew to a close a problem of great 
 interest had come to a crisis, namely, how far the Church of 
 England was prepared out of its own resources to maintain 
 in London a purely Church College. The situation of King's 
 College, founded in 1829, brought this problem to the 
 necessity of a decision. For some years the Treasury had 
 been making grants to University Colleges outside Oxford 
 and Cambridge, and King's had had its share of them. But 
 when Sir William Harcourt was Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 this share was withheld on the ground that the College was 
 not an open one ; the consequence of this was that the College 
 was unable to keep its place in line with the other Colleges 
 in London and elsewhere. The restriction of the College did 
 not, indeed, extend to the students : for some years a con- 
 science clause had been in force, and widely claimed. But 
 all members of the Council which governed the College were 
 assumed to be Churchmen, and the principal members of the 
 staff, with the exception of the Professors of Oriental and 
 Modern Languages, had specifically to declare themselves 
 members of the Church of England. This declaration was 
 liberally interpreted ; it was made on appointment and 
 nothing further was required. Still it undoubtedly restricted 
 the range of selection for vacancies ; and it stood there as 
 a bulwark from one point of view, as a barrier from the 
 other. 
 
 " An appeal to the Church to supply the deficiency in funds 
 was decided upon. Lord Salisbury came forward and 
 supported it in a speech at the public meeting which was 
 called, and it was widely circulated. But the appeal failed. 
 Some 30,000 was raised, while not less than 100,000 was
 
 14 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 asked for and was indispensable if the College were to be 
 independent of the Treasury grant. 
 
 " Further, as the formation of a teaching University for 
 London was coming into sight, a fresh need for reform became 
 obvious, as it was certain that the limited constitution of 
 King's would bar its admission as a constituent college in 
 any Faculty except Theology, and that it would cease to be 
 in any substantial sense a University College at all. 
 
 " Dr. Wace was the Principal at this time, and he stood for 
 the continuance of the original constitution at all costs : 
 the Council was understood to be divided. It was in this 
 situation that Dr. Robertson, now Bishop of Exeter, suc- 
 ceeded to the headship of the College. The members of the 
 general staff were restless and dissatisfied, especially when 
 the failure of the appeal was manifest ; but they were un- 
 willing to take action in opposition to the declared policy of 
 the Council, and were reluctant to seem to oppose their 
 colleagues in the Theological department. A movement for 
 reform that would not break up the College could scarcely 
 have begun elsewhere than within the Theological staff 
 itself : if a plan were devised that would not be opposed by 
 them the general staff would cordially welcome it. Such a 
 plan was not far to seek since at Oxford and Cambridge 
 recent legislation had thrown open all governing bodies and 
 teaching posts both in the University and in the several 
 Colleges, whilst retaining provision for religious worship and 
 religious instruction according to the principles of the Church 
 of England. What was recognised at King's was, therefore, 
 that a similar method should be adopted in place of the 
 original close constitution for the Council and the Professor- 
 ships ; while the Theological department should be con- 
 tinued on its old lines and the privileges of worship and 
 instruction be offered to the students in all Faculties. The 
 continuance of the College as a place of preparation for 
 Holy Orders would be on the same footing as the Colleges of 
 Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
 " Some members of the Theological staff had for a long time 
 been convinced that this was the proper constitution for 
 King's as a London College in the new and more promising
 
 KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 15 
 
 circumstances of University Education in London, and would 
 enable it not only to share in all grants, but to take a high 
 position in the new University. But no member's opinion 
 was so important at this juncture as that of Collins, and when 
 after long deliberation he decided to add the weight of his 
 judgment to that side, others followed, and the Theological 
 Staff decided for the reform policy with the approval of the 
 Principal. This being made known the general staff now 
 saw its way clear to express their opinion : there only re- 
 mained the Council. Of this body, Dr. Wace, who had 
 become Dean of Canterbury, was an active member and he 
 still advocated persistence in the original constitution, carry- 
 ing with him some members of the Council. But the majority 
 decided for the reform and it was promptly carried out by an 
 Act of Parliament, which limited the requirement of a 
 declaration of Church Membership to the Professors and 
 Lecturers in the Faculty of Theology ; a step which was 
 carried still further when by the Act of Incorporation of 1908 
 the Council was, except for the Theological side of the College, 
 replaced by a Delegacy of the Senate of the University. 
 
 " What has been the consequence ? There is no longer in 
 London a College which is in government, teaching and 
 students a purely Church of England College, maintained 
 solely by endowments, fees, and the subscriptions of Church- 
 men. The idea of such a College has many attractions, but 
 on the condition that its staff and its equipment be at least 
 equal to those of other Colleges of University rank : to be 
 inferior in quality could only be mischievous to all 
 concerned. As we have seen, this idea did not appeal to 
 Churchmen with sufficient force to produce the necessary 
 financial support, and the idea remains only as that of what 
 might have been, but has not succeeded in establishing itself 
 in actuality. What we have instead is the present King's 
 College, sharing in the Treasury grants to the extent of 
 .8,000 a year, sharing also in grants from the London 
 County Council and other municipal bodies to an increasing 
 extent ; and, what is even more important, a constituent 
 College of the rapidly advancing University of London : the 
 second College in size, the first in the comprehensiveness of
 
 16 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 its range of work. It has already supplied the University 
 with a Vice-Chancellor in the person of Dr. Robertson, its 
 Principal ; Professors and Lecturers are prominent in the 
 work of the University on every level, in the Senate, the 
 Faculties, the Board of Studies and the Examining Boards ; 
 and five hundred of its students are enrolled as Internal 
 Students of the University with all the privileges signified by 
 that status. The Theological department on its part has 
 shared in the general advance. By the remarkable organis- 
 ing capacity of the present Principal, Dr. Headlam, re- 
 arrangements have been made which have raised the number 
 of men preparing for Holy Orders from an average total of 
 about sixty to a hundred and eighty ; and for the supply of 
 clergy to the three London dioceses especially (London, 
 Southwark, and St. Albans) the contribution of the College 
 has become quite indispensable. 
 
 "The efficacy of the action of individuals when great 
 changes are effected affords a subject of perennial interest. 
 It is possible that the forces impelling the course of Uni- 
 versity Education in London would have led to the present 
 situation at King's in any case. But to those who 
 watched the actual working out it seems as if the decision of 
 Collins, with all the confidence that he carried with him on 
 the Theological staff, was an indispensable factor in the 
 change. If this is so, it was one of the most momentous acts 
 of his life. And there is no difficulty in discerning in it that 
 blend of high respect for the past with confidence in the 
 future amid all changes, which invariably characterised his 
 mind and guided his action." 
 
 The effect which Collins produced upon the students of 
 the College was immediate. One of them, the Rev. J. Evan 
 Franks, writes to me : 
 
 " Professor Collins came to King's College when the staff 
 consisted mostly of ' potent and reverend signiors,' . . . and I 
 remember how startled we were when, instead of our grey- 
 headed lecturer, there came into the lecture-room a surpris- 
 ingly young-looking man. 
 
 " Our first thoughts were that we should have to teach him, 
 but after a few lectures, full of research and information,
 
 KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 17 
 
 without any of what we used to call padding, and for which 
 he either had no notes or hardly ever referred to them, we 
 realised that the authorities had been more than justified in 
 their choice, and that a higher standard would henceforth 
 be required of us. We found this to be the case in a change 
 he made, which was not agreeable to all, when at the end of 
 term he placed several names under a line as not having 
 passed in the examination. 
 
 " Professor Collins spared no pains to make us learn. I 
 remember on one occasion his making me jump into a cab 
 with him, when he was going to the British Museum, and, on 
 the way, vehemently clearing up some difficulties which I 
 had about his lecture on Wycliffe. 
 
 " Party feeling ran very high in those days at King's. 
 Professor Collins thus had a difficult task before him, as he 
 had to endeavour to make his teaching useful to both 
 parties. He put before us historical facts in such a way 
 that one felt that there was no special pleading or party- 
 spirit in his treatment of the subject, but impartiality and 
 fairness in stating all sides of the question. Thus he could 
 admire all that was best in the Roman Communion, com- 
 paring the Papacy to the watching servant in the parable 
 who was rewarded by being made ruler of his master's 
 possessions ; whilst at the same time he had an equal 
 admiration for Puritan earnestness ; but neither of these 
 considerations in any way militated against his firm con- 
 viction that the Church of England was the Catholic Church 
 in this country." 
 
 The same writer, after speaking of Collins's accustomed 
 tact in not arousing unnecessary opposition by using words 
 which give offence, adds : 
 
 " But in dealing with the unintelligent ceremonialist, the 
 penny-catechism expert, or the prejudiced Protestant, his 
 gentleness and tender smile would vanish, and we could some- 
 times see a struggle to overcome a latent irritability of 
 temper. With Professor Collins things had been so thought 
 out, and become so clear, that he could not patiently tolerate 
 the crude dogmatic utterances of those who tried to twist 
 history to suit their own preconceived notions. 
 
 B
 
 i8 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " Two of his most ardent desires were to improve the 
 more directly spiritual influence of the College, and the esprit 
 de corps of the students, which must always be a difficulty 
 in a non-residential Theological College. The Hostel now, 
 I believe, is a great help in this direction. Towards this end, 
 Professor Collins ardently supported the scheme for a day's 
 retreat for the students, as also the arrangement that on the 
 Saints' Days, when there was a late celebration of the Holy 
 Eucharist, the students who practised fasting Communion 
 should not be urged to communicate. 
 
 " I think he found it rather an effort outside the lecture- 
 room to bring himself down to our ordinary level. His 
 efforts in this direction were rather like the unathletic priest, 
 who feels he has to study the cricket and football news, in 
 order to gain the respect of the choir boys. He never seemed 
 at home in ordinary small talk and one felt impelled, in talk- 
 ing to him, to bring up to the front all one's reserves of learn- 
 ing, when he would be quite at his ease. 
 
 " I saw little or nothing of him after leaving King's, but 
 shall always be grateful for his influence and teaching, which 
 at a critical time in my life was a great help to me, especially 
 in making me apprehend the spiritual realities which lie on 
 the other side of the Sacraments, and the Catholicity of the 
 Church of England." 
 
 Another student, the Rev. G. W. Gillingham, says : 
 
 "As to the man. He had a charming personality which 
 endeared him to all the students at King's, and during the 
 whole time that I was there, I never heard a single word 
 spoken against him. We were rather a mixed lot ; high 
 church, low church, broad church ; but his Christianity was 
 so transparent that every one loved him ; it was simply 
 impossible to do anything else. 
 
 " He fascinated us all with his lectures upon Church 
 History, which, owing to the extraordinary faculty he had 
 for picking out underlying principles, he always contrived 
 to make interesting no matter how dull the period we 
 happened to be studying. He held, of course, decided views 
 on this and other subjects ; but he never allowed his own 
 predilections to prevent him from placing before us both
 
 KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 19 
 
 sides of any given question and he was never bitter or 
 sarcastic towards the side which was not his own. 
 
 " It was not at all an uncommon thing for him to spend 
 half an hour or more after a lecture, in trying to clear up a 
 difficulty which had arisen in the mind of a student. This 
 was only one of the many traits which served to show that 
 the guiding principle of the man's life was ' to serve others.' 
 
 " The Quiet Days which he conducted at King's from time 
 to time were spiritual delights which will live for ever in the 
 minds of those who attended them. Indeed, it was largely 
 due to him that these became a regular part of our college 
 life. And I don't think I shall be very far wrong in saying 
 that it was he more than anyone else at King's who inspired 
 us with a real affection for our daily services in chapel. 
 
 " If there is anyone to whom he might be compared, I 
 think it is the ' beloved disciple,' at least so it struck many 
 of us at the time. He was brimming over with love for 
 everybody and everything except sin." 
 
 Another, the Rev. C. D. Read, says : 
 
 " Like everyone else, I used to enjoy his most delightful 
 lectures very much. They were illustrated from all sorts of 
 unexpected sources, and showed again and again the extra- 
 ordinary scope of his reading. His expounding of History 
 was a revelation. It was no mere list of facts and party tags, 
 but a real endeavour to unravel the mysteries of a living 
 past and to understand the slow yet sure processes by which 
 the Holy Spirit works. Perhaps the point he emphasised 
 most was the slow and irresistible working of Providence." 
 
 Yet another, the Rev. Albert Smith, writes : 
 
 " He carried with him the calm of one used to habitual 
 prayer. Before his lectures he would lean his head on his 
 hands for a few moments, and one realised that it was not 
 merely for collection of thought. Another thing that we 
 students were conscious of was that his unfailing gentleness 
 sprang from a heart of unbounded sympathy." 
 
 One more testimony may be given, that of the Rev. L. V. 
 Edwards : 
 
 " Not long before my going to King's College in 1902, 
 Bishop Collins had edited a book with sketches of the lives
 
 20 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 of some great English Churchmen, himself contributing the 
 last chapter, on F. D. Maurice. This was quite enough for 
 one who was a hero-worshipper of Maurice to stir excitement 
 at the thought of sitting under such a teacher. I soon found, 
 on taking up residence at King's College Hostel, that the 
 Lecturer on Church History had a great repute amongst the 
 students. Everyone was full of his praises. In one respect 
 he had a unique position amongst the Professors. There 
 was a knot of students of the rather rigid High Church type, 
 and with them Professor Collins was the one trusted figure. 
 Everything he said was law. How exactly he obtained this 
 position it is difficult to say, for when challenged he never 
 concealed his opinions, but expressed them quite clearly.... 
 " Though the students were all preparing for Holy Orders, 
 ' ragging ' during lecture was not unknown. The Bishop, 
 however, had no difficulty in this respect. He seemed to 
 expect perfect discipline, and obtained it quite easily. One 
 incident in his lectures stands out very clearly in my memory. 
 He happened to be speaking of Oliver Cromwell, and men- 
 tioned that if he had broken all the images and coloured 
 windows with which he was credited, he must have spent his 
 whole life in doing nothing else. This statement brought 
 forth a cheer from the ' protestant ' students. A minute or 
 two afterwards he happened to make some trifling statement, 
 such as that Confirmation was sacramental, and this in turn 
 produced a cheer from the ' spiky ' side. Instantly he 
 stopped lecturing, and said very sternly, ' Never let that 
 happen again,' and so long as I was at King's it certainly 
 never did. . . . He would delight in pointing out how 
 certain things had gradually become customary under certain 
 conditions, and had passed little by little into unbending 
 laws. With his lectures there was no nice balancing of two 
 views, leaving you to form your own opinions. He gave us 
 his own opinions quite dogmatically. I remember once his 
 saying that the North Galatian theory was now discredited, 
 and that everyone knew that St. Paul had not abandoned 
 the main roads and towns of commerce. This was rather 
 startling to us who had been spending nearly a whole term 
 under another teacher learning all the pros and cons of the
 
 ALLHALLOWS BARKING 21 
 
 North and South Galatian theories, and trying in vain to 
 balance the probabilities of the case. 
 
 " One of the Bishop's habits was at the beginning of 
 term to open his lecture with the collect for St. Philip 
 and St. James's Day, and always he prayed quietly at the 
 lecture desk before beginning the work for the morning. 
 His favourite attitude for lecturing was with both hands 
 in his pockets, his face beaming with eager delight in 
 his subject. When he touched on some vital truth of the 
 Christian faith, his voice would imperceptibly change into 
 deep solemn tones. At the beginning of a year he would 
 occupy his first lecture with general subjects, trying to 
 instruct us how to consult books of reference in libraries, 
 and give us the secret of extracting in a short time just 
 the information needed. I remember one of his obiter 
 dicta was to read books by authors who wrote from a different 
 standpoint to your own (giving as an instance Martensen's 
 Dogmatics), as likely to teach you more than authors 
 who wrote from your own particular point of view." 
 
 With his return to London in 1893 as Professor at King's 
 College, Collins's connexion with Allhallows Barking was 
 resumed. He was again licensed to the church. He became 
 again a resident member of the House in Trinity Square. 
 For a while he even attempted to retain his connexion with 
 Cambridge, and ran thither each week for two days to lecture 
 at St. John's. About the same time he became an associate 
 of the Community of the Resurrection, then under the 
 guidance of the present Bishop of Oxford. About his work 
 and life at Allhallows, Dr. Robinson, under whose direction 
 he spent so many years there, writes as follows : 
 
 " In the outside work of the House he bore no inconsider- 
 able part. Besides all he had to do as Professor of Ecclesi- 
 astical History at King's College, he constantly preached in 
 London and in various parts of the country. Occasionally 
 he conducted Retreats, and more rarely Missions ; going as 
 far afield as the Riviera and the West Indies. Often he 
 astonished and alarmed us by the journeys he made. It 
 seemed quite natural to him to arrange to lecture at Croydon
 
 22 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 in the evening, after reading a paper earlier in the day at a 
 Church Congress in the Midlands. How he got through all 
 he undertook was inexplicable. It is not an exaggeration to 
 say that he did the intellectual work of three ordinary men. 
 Even if that work did not as a rule entail what is called 
 ' original ' thinking, the demands upon memory and the 
 labour of composition were incessant. Whatever the subject, 
 the requisite knowledge was always forthcoming, and the 
 article or the lecture never failed to leave the readei or hearer 
 with a sense that there was much more behind than had been 
 expressed. His power of lucid arrangement was most en- 
 viable, and his judgments were unusually careful and sound. 
 How the frame of the man could endure the strain was a 
 perpetual puzzle. He must have possessed an extraordinary 
 constitution to bear up as he did under his serious physical 
 infirmities. There can be no doubt that he suffered much. 
 The toils of the day, he would say, were not to be compared 
 with the labours of the night. Heart trouble made a lying 
 position distressing to him, and indeed he made use of his 
 bed as little as possible, to judge by the hour at which he 
 could be heard going out in the early morning to post his 
 bundles of letters. Food was apparently no more necessary 
 to him than sleep. I used in vain to try to persuade him 
 that, if only he would eat more, he might be able to do less ! 
 He loved movement, and wrote with ease in a train. It 
 was always a delight to him to meet people, and to encounter 
 a new fact. Perhaps omniscience was his foible. Certainly 
 it was hard to discover anybody or anything he did not know. 
 When we were doubtful as to a point in the geography of 
 Heligoland, he at once appealed to the last communication 
 which he had himself received from the Governor of the 
 island. If it was a question of seamanship, we were made 
 aware that he had passed the examination for a mate's 
 certificate. And it was clear that he felt a real satisfaction 
 when he could counter a statement with the assertion : ' that 
 is exactly what it is not.' 
 
 " But there was a singular gentleness beneath all the assur- 
 ance and intrepidity; and we often trembled to think how un- 
 certain a tenure of life his was. The change which sent him
 
 ALLHALLOWS BARKING 23 
 
 away from London, and to the work on the Continent, was 
 timely and wise. He lived the longer for it, and found yet 
 wider scope for his manifold gifts. It was not in him to rest 
 until he was compelled to do so. He had put a full seventy 
 years' work and experience into his little more than forty. 
 Of his episcopate I need not tell. Others will bear abundant 
 evidence to its fruitfulness. I am only anxious that some 
 justice should be done to the twelve good years during which 
 he was preparing for it here at Allhallows Barking. During 
 those years he was the untiring student, to whom a life of 
 spiritual devotion was more important than all the activities 
 and achievements of the intellect ; and the sympathetic 
 teacher, who was never out of touch with the difficulties of 
 ordinary people, and never too busy to be at the service of 
 the many who instinctively turned to him for help." 
 
 A much valued colleague at Allhallows, the Rev. W. P. 
 Dott, obligingly sends me a few reminiscences of his life 
 there : 
 
 " I lived under the same roof with him for eight years and 
 saw him in various moods. Once I remember him stopping 
 a fight in Trinity Square by throwing himself boldly between 
 the fighters at the risk certainly of being roughly handled 
 both by the combatants and the crowd of ' roughs.' He 
 was returning from a lecture at King's College, and in a 
 moment his quiet thoughtful mood was changed for one of 
 equally quiet courage in facing danger. With the American 
 poet, in little things as in great, 
 
 ' He saw his duty as a dead sure thing, 
 And then and there he went for it.' 
 
 A few words of reasoning with the two men, and he walked 
 into the house as if nothing out of the way had happened. 
 " He would amuse and astonish us at table sometimes by 
 quoting (and singing) the latest comic song. He had heard 
 it in the train or the street, and with his unfaltering memory 
 could give the words as though he had carefully learnt them. 
 In his lighter moments he was full of quips, and taught the 
 lesson in these moods of how good a thing it is to throw off 
 the strain of an arduous life.
 
 24 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " I persuaded him to occupy a seat in Cheapside to view 
 the Diamond Jubilee Procession, and never have I seen him 
 so animated, nor exhibit so much miscellaneous knowledge, 
 as that day. He knew the records of all the regiments that 
 passed by ; the attainments of all the prominent officers ; 
 he recognised most of the visitors from distant shores and 
 could tell of their reputations ; and his loyalty to the throne 
 was shown in unmistakable enthusiasm when the central 
 figure of the procession came in sight. 
 
 " It was my privilege to visit him frequently during the 
 serious illness when he was a patient in Guy's Hospital. 
 He made light of his sufferings and filled his waking hours 
 with fresh studies, bearing his ills with astonishing courage 
 and hardihood, drawing the warm admiration of doctors and 
 nurses upon himself, so that they were almost sorry when he 
 left their hands." 
 
 Perhaps the first occasion on which Collins came before 
 a larger public was in connexion with the Missionary Con- 
 ference of the Anglican Communion in 1894. So far as I can 
 ascertain, he had no share in the origination of the Conference > 
 which was mainly due to the late Sir James Erasmus Phillips ; 
 but Collins took an active interest in it, was one of the 
 guarantors, and a member of the Executive Committee. 
 Three times he spoke in the course of the Conference, once 
 to protest a paper which he considered at the same time 
 " inflammatory " and " very despondent " about the state 
 of church affairs in Japan; once to urge that we should 
 discriminate between the essentials of a Church which desires 
 to be in Catholic Communion, and those things which may 
 be left for free development ; the third time to suggest that 
 not the same standard of intellectual attainment was neces- 
 sary for clergymen working among very simple populations 
 as for those elsewhere. 1 The tendency of all three speeches 
 was against "Anglicising " those amongst whom our mission- 
 aries are at work. The Conference was very useful at the 
 time, and it prepared the way for the great Pan-Anglican 
 Congress of 1908, in which Collins took a more conspicuous. 
 1 Report (S.P.C.K., 1894), pp. 227, 476, 508.
 
 LAUD COMMEMORATION 25 
 
 part. It may be added, in reference to the subject of Collins's 
 third speech, that when Bishop of Gibraltar he ordained to the 
 diaconate and to the priesthood an elderly man who had long 
 laboured with great success among the sailor folk of the 
 Mediterranean, whose standard of learning was not that of 
 a home diocese, but whose spiritual qualification was beyond 
 doubt. 
 
 Among the special tasks which devolved upon Collins 
 during this period was one which deeply interested him, both 
 for the sake of Allhallows Barking, and as a Professor of 
 Church History. It was the management of the commemo- 
 ration of Archbishop Laud, which took place hi 1895. 
 
 Laud was beheaded on Tower Hill, just outside the 
 windows of the house where Collins lived, on January 10, 
 1645, and was buried on the following day in the Vicar's 
 vault under the altar of Allhallows, " a church " as Heylin 
 says, " of Laud's own patronage and jurisdiction," of which 
 his nephew, Edward Layfield, was Vicar at the time. It 
 was determined to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth 
 anniversary of this event. An influential committee was 
 formed, under the patronage of the President of Laud's 
 College at Oxford. In the handsome chamber which had 
 recently been erected over the porch of Allhallows Church 
 an extraordinarily interesting collection of Laudian objects 
 was exhibited. It included, besides the parochial registers 
 of Laud's burial and subsequent removal to Oxford, the cap 
 which he wore on the scaffold, and his ivory-headed walking 
 stick, his copy of Bishop Andrewes' Devotions in the hand- 
 writing of Andrewes himself, 1 one of the shirts worn by King 
 Charles I. at his execution, many portraits of the Archbishop 
 and pictures of places connected with him, and a wonderful 
 assemblage of books and pamphlets relating to him. 
 
 On the first day of the commemoration, January 10, a 
 few minutes after one, the choir of the church, reinforced from 
 a few neighbouring choirs, came into the snow-covered 
 garden of the square. No effort had been made to attract 
 numbers, but a considerable body of clergymen in surplices 
 
 1 It lay open at the place where Andrewes refers to his own baptism, 
 in the church of Allhallows Barking.
 
 26 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 followed the choir. The Te Deum was sung, and Heylin's 
 account of the last scenes was read aloud to the sympathetic 
 and reverent assemblage. It was a sight not easily to be 
 forgotten. Later in the day, Mandell Creighton, then Bishop 
 of Peterborough, lectured in the church on Laud's position 
 in the history of the English Church. All the time that the 
 exhibition was open, that is to the end of the month, 
 lectures were given on various aspects of the work and 
 character of the great Archbishop. Collins himself lectured 
 on Laud as a Statesman, Professor Margoliouth on Laud's 
 Educational Work, Mr. Hutton (now Archdeacon of North- 
 ampton) on Laud in Controversy, and Mr. C. H. Simpkinson 
 of Farnham on Laud's Personal Religion. The commemora- 
 tion received a great deal of attention in the papers. The 
 Times, on January n, had an exceedingly fine leading article 
 on the subject, in which it repudiated " the prejudices of the 
 illustrious writers who built up the great Whig legend in the 
 first half of the century." 
 
 Collins's labours in connexion with this celebration were 
 great, and they did not end with the closing of the exhibition. 
 For months in that year he was hard at work preparing for 
 the press the valuable memorial volume, entitled Archbishop 
 Laud Commemoration, 1895. The volume begins with an 
 account of the commemoration itself ; then follow the 
 lectures above mentioned ; then an elaborate bibliography of 
 Laud's own writings, and of books and pamphlets relating to 
 him, with an appendix of writings of his which were hitherto 
 unpublished or not easily accessible ; and then the Catalogue 
 of the Exhibition. It is an admirable example of what such 
 a volume should be. The research which it indicates is 
 wonderful, and Collins kept a copy by him, and added to it 
 from time to time fresh material which he had discovered. 
 
 Upon his personal life that commemoration had an effect 
 which was not foreseen at the time. Among the generous 
 contributors to the exhibition was Lord Northbourne. He 
 saw in the papers the notice that was put forth beforehand 
 requesting the loan of Laudian objects, and lent one or two 
 rare and curious volumes. He visited the exhibition, and 
 there made the acquaintance of the erudite young secretary.
 
 CHURCH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 27 
 
 What the friendship then formed became to Collins from that 
 time onwards, no words can tell. His life would have been 
 wholly different without it. 
 
 A work of a wider kind, in which Collins had a large share, 
 was that of the Church Historical Society. The period in 
 which he became a Professor at King's College was one of 
 recrudescence in the Roman controversy. The pushing and 
 hectoring policy associated with the name of Cardinal 
 Vaughan had started gaily on its career. A great organisa- 
 tion for " the Apostolate of the Press " had been formed. 
 Throughout the country unsleeping enemies seized every 
 opportunity of injuring the Church of England and lowering 
 it in the eyes of the people. It was, if I am not mistaken, 
 the Rev. J. Sadler Phillips, now Vicar of St. Etheldreda's, 
 Fulham, who first formed the idea of starting a counter 
 " apostolate." Its duty was to keep an eye on the news- 
 papers, especially the provincial newspapers, and mark any 
 false statements about the Church that might be made there, 
 not only by Romanists, but also by their allies the Libera- 
 tionists, or others. Too often the cause of the Church of 
 England had been taken up by zealous men who were in- 
 sufficiently equipped for their task. They had rashly written 
 to the papers, and had been gradually dragged into waters 
 too deep for them. Skilled disputants on the Roman side 
 intervened, and the weight of argument appeared to be on 
 their side. This was the state of things which it was desired 
 to remedy. The new society was to form a centre to which 
 people all over England might turn for aid if the Church were 
 assailed in their neighbourhood, with the certainty of finding 
 expert knowledge to guide them in their defence. 
 
 The Society got together quickly and quietly. The Presi- 
 dency of it was accepted by Bishop Creighton, who held it 
 till his death, when he was succeeded by John Wordsworth, 
 Bishop of Salisbury. The first Chairman of the managing 
 Committee was the Bishop of Stepney, now Bishop of Bristol, 
 who gave to it ungrudgingly of his time and energy, as well 
 as his great knowledge. Mr. Phillips was a most active 
 Secretary. Bishops like Stubbs and Westcott consented to 
 act as referees. Dr. Bright and Father Puller, and Mr. Dixon,
 
 28 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 the historian, took a lively interest in the work. Well-known 
 men like Mr. Riley, Mr. Birkbeck, and Mr. Brinckman came 
 diligently to the Monday meetings of the Committee at Sion 
 College. But there was no one who threw himself into the 
 project more heartily than the Professor of Church History 
 at King's College. He was always at the Committee, of 
 which he became Chairman when Bishop Browne left London, 
 full of resource and suggestion, and untiring in listening to 
 the reports which came in from the members and correspon- 
 dents of the Society in various quarters. 
 
 Besides this "Apostolate of the Press," the Society aimed at 
 diffusing correct information and establishing right opinions 
 by means of lectures in different centres. Naturally it was 
 not possible for a Professor engaged in daily teaching to go 
 far or often afield during the College terms ; but Collins did 
 more even in this way than probably any other Professor 
 would have done. In organising such work by others he was 
 indefatigable ; and in yet another department of the Society's 
 work the publication of short studies or papers he took a 
 very large part. These papers were generously printed and 
 published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 I have not a complete list of the papers which Collins wrote 
 for the Church Historical Society, but I find the following : 
 What was the Position of the Pope in England in the Middle 
 Ages ? (1895), The Teaching Power of the Church, I. and II. 
 (1896), The Authority of General Councils (1896), The Internal 
 Evidence of the Letter " Apostolicae Curae " as to its own 
 Origin and Value (1897), Unity, Catholic and Papal (1897), 
 The Nature and Force of the Canon Law (1898) , The English 
 Reformation and its Consequences (1898), The Canons of 1571 
 (1898), Four Recent Pronouncements (1899), Queen Elizabeth's 
 Defence of her Proceedings (1899) , Suggestions for the Study 
 of English Church History (1900), Church and State in England 
 before the Conquest (1903), Thomas Becket (1903), Suggestions 
 for the Study of Early Church History (1903), The Rights of 
 a Particular Church in Matters of Practice (1904). Besides 
 the papers which were all his own, he had a share, sometimes 
 the principal share, in papers or books in which several authors 
 combined, such as the volume of Typical English Church-
 
 CHURCH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 29 
 
 men from Parker to Maurice (1902), The Conditions of Church 
 Life in the First Six Centuries (1905) , and Hancock's Peculium, 
 to which he contributed an admirable and erudite introduction 
 (2nd edition, 1907). The labour of criticising and editing 
 the papers of other authors fell mainly upon him. He 
 continued to be Chairman of the Society even after his 
 consecration to the see of Gibraltar. 
 
 Work of this kind naturally brought Collins into con- 
 troversy with other people in various directions. Cardinal 
 Vaughan, who, with all his excellent qualities, was not 
 intellectually equipped for controversy, preached a sermon 
 on March 14, 1897, in which he ventured to claim the support 
 " of the Eastern and Russian Churches " for his view that 
 Anglican orders were invalid because our priests did not 
 " claim the power to produce the actual living Christ Jesus 
 by transubstantiation upon the altar." I remember that 
 in the summer of that year the present Archbishop of Peters- 
 burg and Ladoga was in Cambridge, where I had the oppor- 
 tunity of more than one conversation with him. A similar 
 utterance of Cardinal Vaughan's about the Eucharist was 
 shown to him. The Archbishop exclaimed in horror, and 
 said that the words were " more suited to one of Pharaoh's 
 magicians than to a Christian priest." Collins, conjointly 
 with Mr. W. J. Birkbeck, exposed the defective information 
 upon which Cardinal Vaughan's utterance was based, and 
 showed that the Russian Church had only after important 
 modifications accepted (in 1838) the articles of the Synod of 
 Jerusalem (of 1673), deliberately rejecting any approach to 
 the coarse materialism which the Cardinal supposed that it 
 shared with himself. An authority far greater than the 
 Cardinal possessed was summoned to his aid. No less a 
 scholar than Mr. Edmund Bishop wrote to say that, after all, 
 the doctrine of the Russian Church on the subject was not so 
 far from that of the Council of Trent. He did not venture 
 to say how far it was from the Cardinal's. Mr. Birkbeck 
 Collins was at the moment out of reach had little trouble 
 in showing that Mr. Bishop, who had, it must be owned, 
 been induced to make an excursion into a field that was 
 hardly his own, was mistaken with regard to the authority
 
 30 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 of the work on which he had relied, and that the language 
 " deliberately chosen by the head of the Roman Communion 
 in England " could only be most offensive to Russian 
 theologians. The correspondence was printed in a little 
 pamphlet of great value. 
 
 The position which Collins held about this time with regard 
 to matters agitating the Church of England may be learned 
 from an important Memorandum on Recent Developments 
 of Worship, agreed upon at a meeting held in London, 
 May 2, 1898. The Memorandum, which may be found in 
 the Guardian for May 25, was mainly drawn up, if I am not 
 mistaken, by Collins and two others of the signatories. " Our 
 chief difficulties at the present time," they said, " arise out 
 of a return to certain practices which were explicitly or by 
 implication abolished at the Reformation, or out of a resort 
 to certain foreign developments which never had any footing 
 in the English Church." In the first place they affirmed 
 that in their view developments of this kind could not rightly 
 be introduced except under the sanction of authority, sub- 
 jection to which is a first principle of Catholicism. In the 
 second place, they set forth the authority by which they con- 
 ceived that they were bound, and the organs through which 
 it finds expression. Briefly, that authority is the English 
 Church, and not any foreign one. No " variable rite or 
 ceremony " can have valid authority which the English 
 Church has definitely repudiated. Disciplinary rules or 
 usages do not become binding upon a National Church, so 
 that it cannot set them aside for its own members, merely 
 because they have obtained for a time in other Churches or 
 even throughout the whole Church. Authority expresses 
 itself through the Bishops, jointly when they promulgate 
 canons, after legislation by Convocation, and severally 
 when within the limits received by the Church of England 
 they give instructions to those under their jurisdiction. In 
 the third place, the signatories said how they regarded the 
 Declaration of Assent made by the English clergy. It is a 
 pledge to use the Prayer-book, as opposed to neglecting it ; 
 to consider it as a sufficient rule and order for the ministra- 
 tions of the Church ; any private prayers that may be
 
 INCENSE CASE 31 
 
 introduced in the course of the service are to be inaudible 
 and confined to the necessary pauses in the rite. They con- 
 cluded by pointing out the large liberties already possessed 
 by the English clergy, and by repudiating the opinion that 
 the Ornaments Rubric sanctions the use of all the ornaments 
 referred to for all the purposes for which they were formerly 
 employed. The Memorandum was signed, amongst others, 
 by Messrs. Bodington and Body, Brightman, Brooke of St. 
 John's, Kennington, Coles, Currie of Wells, Charles Gore, 
 H. Scott Holland, Johnston of Cuddesdon, Lacey and New- 
 bolt, Puller, Villiers and Whitworth. 
 
 In the year 1899 Collins was called in to aid as an expert 
 in a Ritual case. Mr. Westall of St. Cuthbert's, Philbeach 
 Gardens, and Mr. Ram of Norwich, were forbidden by their 
 Bishops to use incense in Divine service ; but it was arranged 
 all parties concerned being desirous of ascertaining the real 
 state of the law of the Church of England and of conforming 
 to it to treat the matter as one of those points of doubt 
 which should be sent, as the Prayer Book directs, " for 
 resolution thereof to the Archbishop." Mr. Westall and Mr. 
 Ram, therefore, appealed against the judgment of their 
 Bishops. Archbishop Temple accepted the duty of hearing 
 the case and deciding upon it. If he was not qualified for 
 the duty, like his predecessor, by liturgical studies, he had at 
 least an honesty of purpose, a clearness of perception, and a 
 fearlessness in regard of consequences, which gave every 
 hope of obtaining a judgment that would carry conviction 
 with it. He invited the Northern Primate, Archbishop 
 Maclagan, to sit with him and assist in the hearing. 
 
 The counsel for the appellants were Mr. H. C. Richards, 
 Q.C., Mr. Hansell, and Mr. Thurnam. They had the assist- 
 ance of Mr. W. H. Frere, of the Community of the Resurrec- 
 tion, and of Mr. T. A. Lacey, as liturgical experts. The 
 counsel for the two Bishops were Mr. (now Sir Lewis) Dibdin 
 and Mr. Errington. It might seem strange that Collins 
 should have been invoked to aid on that side. Probably 
 his own predilections would have been in favour of the use of 
 incense, as of other adornments of the church and its services. 
 There was certainly no gulf of ecclesiastical sentiment to
 
 32 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 separate him on the one side and Mr. Frere on the other. 
 But his historical spirit was aroused. The contention on the 
 part of the appellants and their counsel was that the state 
 of things referred to in the Ornaments Rubric was not the 
 order established by the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., 
 but the order which that book had done away with. Con- 
 sciously or not, they pleaded that incense was a good and 
 beautiful thing and therefore ought to be allowed ; they 
 did not address themselves with sufficient directness to the 
 legal or historical question, whether, as a matter of fact, the 
 use of incense is allowed by the existing rules of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 Collins worked hard at the question. Besides reading 
 books of all sorts, ancient and modern, he examined parochial 
 registers in many directions, and amassed a great deal of 
 evidence which he placed at the disposal of counsel. I find 
 a note from Mr. Dibdin to him a month after the hearing, 
 in which he thanks him for a " fresh crop of obligations." 
 At the hearing itself, he made a short but able speech after 
 the two lawyers had concluded. After reminding the Arch- 
 bishops that the question at issue was not, whether the use 
 of incense is desirable, but whether under the rubric it is or 
 is not lawful, he went on to show that at the time when the 
 rubric was made, incense whether rightly or wrongly 
 was held to have no primitive sanction. With as much 
 humour as learning he exposed the contention that the 
 symbolism of incense was " transparently clear," and offered 
 further evidence, of a novel and very interesting kind, that 
 the reformers under Edward had, as a matter of fact, done 
 away with the ceremonial use of incense. The judgment of 
 the Archbishops was in accordance with this view, although 
 to some extent it was influenced by other considerations than 
 those adduced in the hearing, 1 considerations which Collins 
 would perhaps have wished to be excluded. 
 
 In regard to matters of wider policy, I may refer to a 
 deeply interesting paper which Collins read at the Church 
 Congress at Leicester, in October, 1902, on the subject of 
 
 J The speeches on this side were edited by Mr. J. S. Franey, and 
 published by Messrs. Spottiswoode & Co., 1899.
 
 HOME REUNION 33 
 
 Home Reunion. He laid it down that " truth is even more 
 essential than peace. Truth first, peace afterwards ; such 
 is the Scriptural order." " We cannot purchase reunion by 
 giving up anything that we believe to be essential, and we 
 cannot wish that others should do so either." This point of 
 principle was followed by a point of practical wisdom. " It 
 would be futile to remove difficulties on one side by giving 
 up things non-essential, if we were thereby only causing 
 fresh difficulties on the other. . . . We may not advance 
 Home Reunion to the detriment of the reunion of the whole 
 Church. Not even with a view to satisfying the scruples of 
 English Nonconformists should we be justified in making 
 concessions which might naturally give offence to the Roman 
 and Eastern communions. We cannot forget that we are 
 guardians of a common heritage ; witnesses to a Catholic 
 Church which includes both Eastern and Western com- 
 munions." 
 
 The special point to which these premisses led up was 
 that there could "be no tampering with the historical 
 ministry of the Church." " We cannot treat the Apostolical 
 ministry as a thing indifferent : we cannot endanger it by 
 treating those who do not possess it as though they did. To 
 do so would be an act of the greatest practical unwisdom. It 
 would set up a far more serious barrier than any which it 
 could break down, for it would be a grievous blow to all hopes 
 of a restored fellowship with our brethren of the Greek and 
 Roman communions. It may be doubted whether it would 
 even, in the long run, bring us nearer to the Nonconformists ; 
 for signs are not wanting amongst them of a yearning after 
 this very historic ministry. But more than this : it would 
 involve a very grievous breach with our own past, and a 
 betrayal of the heritage committed to us. For if there be 
 such a thing as the grace of the Christian Ministry at all, 
 and no student of the New Testament can doubt that there 
 is, it must surely be a matter of the utmost importance 
 whether a man possesses that ministry or not. Are we to 
 hold that everybody who feels an inward prompting to 
 minister possesses it ? or only he who has been chosen by a 
 congregation ? or only he who has received a laying on of
 
 34 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 hands ? or he who has received the laying on of the hands of 
 those who have themselves received it by an orderly and 
 uninterrupted transmission from the Apostles downward ? 
 We need not attempt to limit that grace, for it is the grace 
 of God, and God overflows His channels of grace. But at 
 least it cannot be doubted that that which is transmitted in 
 the last of these ways, by what we have been taught to call 
 the Apostolical Succession, is the historic ministry of the 
 Church. 
 
 " I know that it has been urged recently, with no little 
 earnestness and eloquence, that modern historical study has 
 exploded the theory of the Apostolical Succession. I can 
 hardly imagine a more unwarrantable assertion. No doubt 
 it is true that the Apostolical Succession has often been 
 stated in a crude and unsatisfactory fashion ; but making 
 every possible concession and allowance to opponents, we 
 may assert without doubt that the Apostolical Succession is 
 not a theory, but a fact. . . . 
 
 " I cannot but think that grievous harm has been done 
 by the rash and ill-considered way in which this subject has 
 been dealt with. An entirely false issue has been placed 
 before us. It is not the question whether there were once 
 ministers who had received no ordination, or had been 
 ordained by presbyters. If there were, it does not touch the 
 case of such as derive their ministry from a presbyter who 
 had expressly received authority to consecrate the Eucharist, 
 but not to ordain ; or the case of those who have no con- 
 secutive ministry at all. At the very least, it is clear that 
 these are not the same thing as the historic ministry ; and 
 the Church which possesses that ministry must needs hold 
 it fast. The English Church does not go out of her way to 
 condemn other ministries, for the Catholic faith does not 
 consist in negations ; indeed, in her twenty-third article of 
 religion she pointedly refrains from condemning them. But 
 she holds fast that which she has, and must needs do so ; she 
 cannot jeopardise her holy gift in the historic ministry of 
 the Church by treating those who do not possess it as if they 
 did. This ministry, therefore, together with the ancient 
 creeds of Christendom, must needs be the basis of every effort
 
 HOME REUNION 35 
 
 after reunion. It does not, of course, follow that she should 
 repel from it the ministers of other bodies when they are 
 willing to enter her pale. There is no reason why they should 
 be required expressly to renounce their former ministry ; 
 Bramhall was far too wise and charitable to make such a 
 requirement. . . . But it is necessary that they should recog- 
 nise and receive the historic call of the Church through her 
 authorised minister the Bishop." 
 
 The paper closed with an earnest appeal for prayerful 
 efforts after reunion such as had been instituted in Scotland. 
 " We may not know how reunion is to be effected, but God 
 does. It is not important that we should know, but it is 
 important that we should watch and learn and pray, that we 
 may be ready when the time comes, and that we may be 
 fitted to do His work." 
 
 Collins's view of the position of Episcopacy is expressed 
 more fully in a lecture which he gave a little later in 1903 
 in a series arranged by Mr. James Adderley in Marylebone. 
 The lecture has been published in the volume of sermons and 
 addresses entitled Hours of Insight, and other Sermons 
 (Murray, 1912). The precedent of Bramhall 1 to which he 
 referred in the Congress paper was quoted by him in 1901 
 in a memorandum which he drew up for Archbishop Temple 
 on the subject of Moravian Orders. This memorandum was 
 never published, and it is now superseded by the Report of a 
 Committee, of which he was a member, appointed by the 
 present Archbishop in preparation for the Lambeth Confer- 
 ence of 1908 ; but it shows what was thought of the Professor 
 at King's College that Archbishop Temple should have set 
 him to investigate single-handed this delicate question ; and 
 indeed Archbishop Temple's predecessor, as early as 1895 
 or 1896, had commissioned the young expert to search for 
 any sign that Moravian Orders had been recognised by the 
 Church of England. 
 
 Always ready to do what he was asked, Collins added to 
 
 his professorial duties at King's College in every direction. 
 
 He examined for Triposes and University Scholarships at 
 
 Cambridge. For two years at any rate, 1893 and 1894, he 
 
 1 Bramhall's Works (ed. Haddan) I. xxxvii f.
 
 36 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 examined in everything at the little Theological College of 
 St. Alphege, Southwark, then under the direction of the Rev. 
 A. B. Goulden. When the University of London was recon- 
 stituted, it fell to him to take a prominent part in organising 
 the Faculty of Divinity in it, in conjunction with leading 
 Nonconformist and Jewish scholars in London, and he spent 
 months of hard labour in drawing up regulations for procedure 
 in the Faculty. The Honours Syllabus in Church History 
 was almost entirely his work. Professor W. H. Bennett, in 
 writing to me on the subject, says how much the Nonconfor- 
 mist members of the Board appreciated Collins's scholarship 
 and sound judgment, and that they found him a delightful 
 colleague. When Archbishop Davidson proposed a scheme 
 for conferring diplomas in Divinity upon qualified women 
 teachers, it was to Collins, in the main, that he turned to 
 work the scheme out in detail ; and it was Collins, in the 
 main, who did the work of testing the candidates. 
 
 As if he had not enough to do in other quarters, Collins 
 consented in 1899 to tne request of Sir D. M. Wallace that 
 he would assist in the preparation of a new supplement to 
 the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, by act- 
 ing as editor of all the articles in it dealing with religion. 
 The ninth edition of this work had begun to appear as far 
 back as 1875, and the twenty-fourth and concluding volume 
 came out in 1889. The proprietors determined, in con- 
 junction with the Times newspaper, to publish eleven addi- 
 tional volumes, containing new matter and information that 
 would bring up to date the articles contained in the four-and- 
 twenty preceding volumes. They could hardly have made 
 a better choice than in asking Collins to act as departmental 
 editor for theological subjects. He was in relation with all 
 the most recent workers in those subjects, and able to deal 
 fairly with men representing very different views. The first 
 of the new volumes was issued in May, 1902. The advance 
 which it marked in regard to religious topics may be seen 
 by reference to Collins's own articles which had nothing 
 corresponding to them before on the Anglican Communion 
 and (in a somewhat different field) on the Apostolical Con- 
 stitutions, and to Mr. Frere's article on Anglican Orders or
 
 LITERARY WORK 37 
 
 Dr. Charles's on Apocalyptic and Apocryphal Literature. It 
 may be imagined how much correspondence was involved 
 in these editorial duties. His own Prefatory Essay on 
 Methods and Results in Modern Theology attracted much 
 attention. 
 
 On December 4 of that year, 1902, Collins took the degree 
 of B.D. at Cambridge, and on November 26 of the following 
 year proceeded to that of D.D. The works which he sub- * 
 mitted as exercises for the two degrees were his contributions 
 to the Reformation volume of the Cambridge Modern History, 
 entitled " The Catholic South," and " The Scandinavian 
 North." The bibliography appended to these two chapters 
 is some evidence of the width and also of the minuteness 
 of his professional research. 
 
 All this while, the Professor was diligently writing articles 
 and reviews for various periodicals, the Guardian, the Church 
 Times, Church Bells, the Pilot, the Saturday Review, and 
 others. Thus, without attempting either completeness or 
 classification, I find that in these years he reviewed the 
 following books : Professor Altamira's Historia de Espafia 
 y de la Civilacion Espanola, Donaldson's Bishopric of Truro, 
 Gairdner's English Church in the Sixteenth Century, Zimmer- 
 man's Carmel in England, Van Dyke's Age of the Renascence, 
 Merry del Val's Truth of Papal Claims, Corvo's Chronicles 
 of the House of Borgia, Hindobro's Historia del Cardenal 
 Jimenez de Cisneros, Bowen's Crisis in the English Church, 
 Robinson's Ministry of Deaconesses, Wakeman's Reformation 
 in Great Britain, Rainy's Ancient Catholic Church, Henson's 
 Godly Union and Concord and Cross Bench Views, Taunton's 
 Thomas Wolsey, the same author's Jesuits in England and 
 the controversy arising out of it, Lord R. Gower's Tower of 
 London, M'Cabe's 52. Augustine and his Age, Fairbairn's 
 Philosophy of the Christian Religion, Oliphant's Rome and 
 Reform, Mann's Lives of the Popes, J. M. Robertson's Short 
 History of Christianity, Frere's Relation of Church and Parlia- 
 ment, Gillow's Bibliographical Dictionary of the English 
 Catholics, Mortimer's Creeds, Drury's How we got our Prayer- 
 book, Maiden's Canonization of St. Osmund, Eckenstein's 
 Woman under Monasticism, Bright's Age of the Fathers and
 
 38 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Kidd's Letters of W. Bright, Merriman's Thomas Cromwell, 
 Carson's Reunion Essays, Lempriere's Compendium of Canon 
 Law. 
 
 During the same period he wrote valuable original articles 
 on the Third Order of St. Francis and on Alfred the Great in 
 the English Historical Review, and the account of his dearly 
 loved master, Bishop Creighton, for the supplementary 
 volumes of the Dictionary of National Biography, besides a 
 noble article upon him in the Pilot for January 19, 1901. 
 Two independent volumes of his own came out, besides, 
 during his tenure of the Professorship. One was his Begin- 
 nings of English Church History, the outcome of lectures 
 delivered in connexion with the thirteenth centenary of the 
 coming of St. Augustine. The other was his admirable 
 book on The Study of Ecclesiastical History in Dr. Robinson's 
 series of " Handbooks for the Clergy." It is something of an 
 education to read the list of books suggested or recommended 
 at the end of this work, at once so full and so discriminating. 
 His own character comes out on every page. 
 
 It will be remembered that the enormous mass of work 
 that Collins was doing was performed in spite of continual 
 ill health. In the summer of 1901 matters came to a kind 
 of crisis. He went down to his friends the Sterlands at 
 Southgate on July 10, and they saw at once that something 
 was wrong with him. He told them that the surgeon whom 
 he had that day consulted at Guy's Hospital said that he 
 must undergo at the earliest possible moment an operation 
 for a kind of trouble which had not before been suspected. 
 Guy's in those days was in very close relation with Allhallows 
 Barking. Successive Matrons and many of the Sisters were 
 attached to the ancient church across the water, and the 
 clergy of Allhallows were frequent visitors to the Hospital. 
 Within its walls a few years earlier, Edith Sterland, a sister 
 of Collins's friends, and very dear to him and to others at 
 Allhallows, had succumbed under an operation. It was, 
 therefore, no strange place that he moved into, when on the 
 I3th he took up his quarters in the private room in Stephen 
 Ward. The next day was Sunday ; and on Monday morning
 
 MISSION IN JAMAICA 39 
 
 Mr. Robinson of Allhallows administered the Holy Com- 
 munion there to him and to Miss Mary Sterland. The 
 operation was performed in the afternoon. It lasted an 
 hour. Not till two hours and a half had passed was Miss 
 Sterland allowed to see him again. He had just opened his 
 eyes, and knew her. " Deo gratias," he said ; " is it really 
 over ? " He told her that he had had a vision ; but she could 
 not allow him to describe it. His heart was so feeble that the 
 doctor would not permit any reassuring telegrams to be sent 
 until after eight o'clock that night, and even then said that 
 for eight-and-forty hours there must still be grave anxiety. 
 
 As soon as he was able to be moved, the invalid was con- 
 veyed to Betteshanger, in Kent. Lord and Lady North- 
 bourne were not then at home, but had arranged everything 
 with the tenderest forethought, and Collins and his attendant 
 had the beautiful place to themselves. There he remained 
 from August 10 till September 16, when he was thought well 
 enough to go and spend his holiday in the West, from which 
 he returned to the usual work of the term at King's College 
 in the beginning of October. He wrote to a friend on 
 October 16 : " I am back and at work, and well again, 
 excepting for a little weakness. As to being able to enjoy 
 life again, I was well able to do that all the time ; for I don't 
 think anything was ever more enjoyable than my last three 
 months have been." 
 
 At the close of the year he started on an errand which 
 took him further afield than he had yet gone. Some years 
 before, in 1895, he had dashed to Cairo, to conduct the 
 devotions of Holy Week in All Saints' Church. This time 
 it was the West that called him. By the invitation of Arch- 
 bishop Nuttall, whom he had seen just before he went to 
 Betteshanger, he went out to conduct a series of Missions and 
 Retreats in Jamaica during the Christmas vacation. He 
 arrived at Kingston on December 27, and left again on 
 January 28. The days between were crowded with such a 
 mass of engagements as makes the mind dizzy to think of 
 them. A full week's Mission at Spanish Town, beginning 
 on Saturday, December 28, another at Port Antonio, 
 beginning the day after the ending of the first (Sunday,
 
 40 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 January 5), a Diocesan Retreat at Spanish Town be- 
 ginning on Thursday, January 23, were the principal items 
 in the campaign ; but besides these there were many other 
 sermons and addresses in different parts of the great 
 island and to various classes of people. The last im- 
 portant effort was a sermon in the Cathedral at Spanish 
 Town on Saturday, January 25, on the combined occasion 
 of the opening of the Diocesan Synod and of the unveiling 
 of a memorial to Queen Victoria by Sir Alfred Hemming, 
 the Governor. The central point of the sermon, which was 
 on the text Isaiah Iv. 10, n, was that amidst all that passes 
 away and perishes, the Church of God contains that which 
 not only satisfies the needs of the moment, but provides like- 
 wise for the future. The Churchmen of to-day are the 
 trustees for those who are to come after. It was a sermon 
 which took deep effect upon all who heard it. 
 
 Collins published a few years later some of the impressions 
 which this work had left upon him. He said : 
 
 " The work of a Mission in Jamaica is very much like one 
 in England, excepting for a few particulars. As the people 
 come to church whenever the bell rings, the services can be 
 changed more easily. Whereas in England people are apt 
 to shrink overmuch from Communion, in Jamaica the tend- 
 ency is all the other way, and the people can with difficulty 
 be kept back when they ought not to communicate. All 
 day long come applicants for interviews, not only of the kind 
 that one is accustomed to in England, but others who recall 
 to one's mind the inquirers whom missionaries have to do 
 with in India. Some, it may be, will bring questions on the 
 Bible ; others will want information for themselves, or the 
 means of refuting Seventh-Day Adventist teaching, or that 
 of the Bedwardites, or one of the other obscure sects that 
 flourish in Jamaica. . . . Others again will sit and weep, or 
 sit and smile, and you have to guess as best you can what 
 it is that they want ; or they will be voluble about the faults 
 of others and their own miseries, or ecstatic and unintelligible, 
 and you can do nothing with them until you can make them 
 kneel down and pray." * 
 
 1 The East and the West, vol. i. p. 108.
 
 MISSION IN JAMAICA 41 
 
 He doubted beforehand whether he would get on with 
 the black people : 
 
 " The first time one came to see me in the vestry of Spanish 
 Town Cathedral my heart sank, for I could scarcely under- 
 stand a word he said, and it was all the harder because he 
 had only about one tooth in his head. But he understood 
 me quite well, and before long I found that it came easier 
 to me too." 1 
 
 It was not long before he was quite in love with the warm- 
 hearted race of grown up children. 
 
 Not all his time in Jamaica was occupied in hard work ; 
 and with his usual power of getting all that he could out of 
 his surroundings Collins contrived to see and to enjoy most 
 of the attractions of the island. A few extracts from the 
 brief journal of a companion may give glimpses of what he 
 saw : 
 
 " Thursday, December 26. Came in sight of Hayti very 
 early. Got to Jacmel at about 10 and lay to. Crowds of 
 shouting negroes in boats came around the ship a gruesome 
 sight quarrelling and snatching for the cargo. After about 
 two hours we steamed away. All day we coasted along the 
 island, very mountainous and bare and rocky. Saw a 
 wrecked steamer which had been run ashore by a Pro-Boer 
 captain, who wished to destroy his cargo of mules for us in 
 South Africa. 
 
 " Friday, December 27. Up very early. Saw the dawn 
 from the beginning. Got on deck to see the approach to 
 Port Royal and Jamaica, a most wonderful and glorious 
 sight in the tropical dawn. . . . A large deputation of clergy 
 and others came on board to meet W. . . . The Archbishop 
 had an ordination at 7, so could not come : he sent his 
 secretary and his carriage, however. . . . Reception in after- 
 noon of clergy and their wives. Went to see Theological 
 College. 
 
 " Thursday, January 2. W. went to Hartlands to lunch 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Wigan, and saw their orange and banana 
 estate. They sent for him in the morning and drove him 
 back in time for evening service. 
 1 P. 107.
 
 42 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " Friday, January 3. At 2.30, Mr. Lynch called for us and 
 drove us to the Bog Walk. Stopped to explore the ruins of 
 the old Spanish Governor's house, and the remains of the 
 great tamarind avenue. The nice farmer's wife, Mrs. Davi- 
 son, gave me cocoa, and beans, and a cake of it. Then we 
 drove on to the power-house, where the water is taken from 
 the Rio Cobre for Kingston electric works. It was a lovely 
 drive along the river, through limestone rocks, and beneath 
 high cliffs clothed with glorious vegetation, enormous bam- 
 boos, etc. Picked coffee-berries. 
 
 " Sunday, January 5. Port Antonio. Torrents of rain 
 during the night. . . . We had to stay in church for ages 
 after the service until it slackened a little. The river came 
 down in flood, and carried away the bar at its mouth, wash- 
 ing down palm trees and canes, and filling all the bay with 
 mud. 
 
 " Friday, January 10. Fine morning at last. At 12, 
 Mr. Harty, W. and I drove in Mr. Hopkins's buggy along 
 the shore, across several streams and a mango-swamp, about 
 7 miles, to Blue Hole, a curious inlet of the sea surrounded 
 by hills and cocoanut palms most lovely spot and a glorious 
 drive. Mountains shrouded still in clouds, but down below 
 sunny and blue, and vegetation wonderful. The coast and 
 coral beaches lovely. Had cocoanut water at Blue Hole, 
 where a boy climbed and threw them down. 
 
 " Wednesday, January 15. We went by the morning train 
 to Montego Bay. Long journey through the mountains 
 greater part of it very lovely. Most remarkable railway ; 
 short zigzags up the mountains and down. Cockpit country 
 very interesting." 
 
 The two days before Collins left Jamaica were busy days. 
 On the Sunday, January 26, he preached in three different 
 churches, and on the Monday he spoke to a great missionary 
 gathering of children at the Deaconesses' Home and preached 
 to men at night at Port Royal. Next day he attended the 
 Synod, which was sitting at Kingston. Before he entered 
 the room, the Archbishop, in his presidential address, had 
 already spoken warmly of the valuable teaching and spiritual 
 counsel which Professor Collins had given, and added, " We
 
 MISSION IN JAMAICA 43 
 
 thank him for the visit. It has been a great help to us and 
 (as we hope) not unpleasant to him. I think you are now 
 ready to support, with earnestness and without misgiving, 
 the design I have long expressed and the plans I have laid 
 for securing the occasional visits of such spiritual teachers 
 and leaders from the Mother Church. Besides other benefits, 
 they will help to save us from the mental and moral torpor 
 and narrowing influences which our isolation and routine of 
 labour tend to foster." The whole Synod rose when the 
 Professor entered. An address was presented to him, in 
 which the clergy expressed their gratitude, and promised 
 that they would " treasure in their hearts the wise counsels 
 so lovingly and impressively given." The Archbishop then 
 added a few more words, saying that he wished to impress 
 upon the clergy " the unquestionable value and lightness of 
 the Professor's method the not relying on isolated texts ; 
 the not formulating technical rules of conduct ; the not 
 repeating statements merely because they were orthodox, 
 but striving to get at and state clearly the broad, deep, under- 
 lying, eternal principles of the divine word." Then they took 
 their leave. 
 
 The little journal says : 
 
 " The Archbishop prayed, and then we said good-bye to 
 him, and he told me to write to him from Barbados. Said 
 farewell to scores of the clergy all very kind. . . . We got 
 off at last and drove down to the quay, our hearts very full 
 of love to all these kind friends. . . . Went on board. . . . 
 Heaps of the clergy came." 
 
 He never ceased to think with affection of the people of 
 Jamaica. To Guy's Hospital Gazette on February 15, 1902, 
 he sent a touching paper on one incident of his mission a 
 visit to the Lepers' Home at Spanish Town. In the first 
 number of East and West in 1903, he expressed his sympathy 
 with the work of the Church in the West Indies in an article 
 on "The Church in Jamaica, past and present," from 
 which I have given an extract above. For the Archbishop 
 he formed the deepest admiration ; he always spoke of him 
 as " a king of men," as indeed his subsequent conduct at the 
 time of the great earthquake in Jamaica showed him to be.
 
 44 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Collins reached Barbados on February ist, and spent a 
 delightful fortnight there, not entirely idle, for he preached 
 once or twice, and conducted a day's Retreat at Codrington 
 College, but for the most part resting and reading, walking 
 and bathing, watching the humming birds and the fire-flies, 
 and recruiting his forces after the tremendous strain of the 
 work in Jamaica. As in Jamaica, so in Barbados, all who 
 heard and all who met him received undying impressions 
 of love and power. Dr. Bindley, who was then Principal 
 of Codrington College, says : " He was with us a fort- 
 night, I think, altogether, and wrote the Introduction to 
 Typical English Churchmen in my library at Codrington 
 CoUege. 
 
 " I shall never forget his brave resolve to throw off 
 evident weakness and lassitude after his arduous work in 
 Jamaica, when he was asked to give us the benefit of his 
 counsels in Barbados. ' I can do it, and will ; but ask 
 Mary.' She advised repose, but he persisted and did. 
 
 " Nor will my wife and children forget his boyish glee 
 and delight when we took him down to the coral-reefed beach, 
 and we were all obsessed with a passion for paddling in the 
 surf. He was the lightest-hearted of us all. ' Please let us 
 drop titles,' he said, after a few hours' talk, ' I feel as if I had 
 known you all my life.' And one felt indeed that his quick, 
 bird-like glances penetrated to one's soul, and that his 
 intense sympathy and acumen made him your friend at 
 once." 
 
 Almost from the beginning of his work in London, Collins 
 was accustomed to put a portion of his time at the disposal 
 of Bishop Wilkinson for the use of the diocese of St. Andrews. 
 Again and again he took charge of various congregations in 
 Perthshire or Fife for longer or shorter periods, and con- 
 ducted Retreats for different classes of people, and the 
 devotions of Holy Week. There was in him a combination 
 of gifts, and a proportion in his views of religion, which 
 specially commended and endeared him to the saintly 
 Bishop in the north. Collins in turn was influenced by 
 the deep spirituality of the Bishop.
 
 WATCHERS AND WORKERS 45 
 
 One thing which Bishop Wilkinson did for him was to 
 bring him into connexion with the Society of Watchers and 
 Workers. In the year 1893, as a beautiful paper by " E. H." 
 in the Watchword for May, 1911, informs us, he accepted the 
 post of Chaplain of St. John the Evangelist's Watch, at the 
 Bishop's suggestion. He threw himself into the work as if 
 it had been his main duty. " E. H." says : 
 
 " From that time he let all the members of the Watch 
 take their part in his work by sending to tell them of dates 
 of the various missions beforehand, and asking their prayers, 
 and each member felt that he had an interest in them and 
 prayed for them individually. As an instance of this, I 
 remember having a pencil line from him on his way to 
 Southampton en route for his West Indian Mission, saying he 
 had left his list of the members behind, and asking me to 
 send him one at once, for ' though I think I know all the 
 names, I don't like to trust to memory only.' " 
 
 In 1904 he wrote : 
 
 " I am afraid it 1 must of necessity mean that I must 
 cease to be Chaplain of our Watch. Badly as I have been 
 able to do the work, it has at least had a big place in my 
 thoughts and prayers. But the joy is that this can't un- 
 make links ; no change of work can undo the personal links 
 which it has led to." 
 
 The Watch to which he belonged started, in the year 1897, 
 what they called a " Watch Dove," a little manuscript 
 book, which went flying from one to another, each member 
 contributing something to it. The Chaplain heartily 
 approved of the idea. "A written letter seems more real 
 than a printed one, and a few words of greeting, or advice, 
 or request for prayer, from each one of us, will come home to 
 all the others in a way that few other things could. The 
 book which has passed from hand to hand and gained some- 
 thing at each passing ought to become rich and eloquent 
 to all of us." He began the book himself, with a paper on 
 Illness which well deserved the greater publicity given to it 
 by being printed in the Watchword for May, 1911. A few 
 characteristic sentences from it may be quoted here. 
 1 His appointment to Gibraltar.
 
 46 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 The problem is stated thus : 
 
 " We should answer at first sight, ' Of course it [illness] 
 is from God : it is one of God's good gifts.' But here a 
 difficulty seems to come in : for if it is of God, surely (so 
 it might seem) we ought to accept it passively, and acquiesce 
 in it, without trying to get well. This we at once feel to 
 be wrong. . . . We know that we ought to try to be well. 
 
 " But this makes a difficulty on the other side. If we are 
 to fight against illness, how can we think of it as coming 
 from God's hands ? And I know people who have felt this 
 so strongly that they actually came to the conclusion that 
 illness was an evil in itself, and the work of the evil one, 
 and that the fight against it is exactly like the fight against 
 temptation. Of course we feel at once that this is going too 
 far the other way." 
 
 After showing that illness, as coming from God, must be 
 the best thing for the sufferer in his actual conditions, even 
 when it contains an element of punishment, he goes on : 
 
 " But now we come to the heart of the whole matter. 
 A gift is not good in itself, but in its use. . . . And as God's 
 gifts are manifold, so they are intended to be used in many 
 different ways. Health is a gift, sickness is a gift, but they 
 are not to be used in the same way. . . . 
 
 " God, then, has given me His gift of sickness : how am 
 I to use it ? As He has given it me, it is good for me to 
 have and use ; but it may be that the way in which I am 
 to use it is by trampling over it. ... I am not meant simply 
 to lie still and welcome illness. I am meant to long and 
 pray for fuller life. ... As surely as our Lord healed 
 divers diseases when He walked this earth, so He does now. 
 I know it. He does not always give back all the joy of 
 living, but at least He gives enough to enable His servants 
 to do their work, and sometimes He gives all. Only, as 
 when He was on earth, He needs our faith that He should 
 do this for us. He says to us, ' Dost thou believe ? ' . . . 
 As Christians, we ought to be laying hold of our Lord by 
 faith, and calling upon Him to heal us. It may be that there 
 are more than we know of, to whom, if they would but 
 do their part, He would say, ' Come, and take up thy bed
 
 GUILD OF THE HOLY CHILDHOOD 47 
 
 and walk ' ; and this, we must remember, would be to His 
 glory." 
 
 How much of the writer's own life was a commentary 
 upon this text ! 
 
 If his heart went out to sufferers, it went out no less to 
 children. There never was a more devoted child-lover than 
 he. He was always perfectly at home in the nursery. It 
 was natural that when a guild for nurses the " Guild of the 
 Holy Childhood " was founded, its founders should turn to 
 Collins. Its object is denned to be " to bind together for 
 the purposes of spiritual fellowship those who have taken as 
 their life work the care and training of little children." 
 Besides rules for prayer and communion and almsgiving, 
 such as all guilds have, this guild has the characteristic rules 
 that " members shall endeavour to study continuously some 
 devotional or theological book," and " shall engage, as far 
 as they may be able, in some collective or individual work 
 for Home and Foreign Missions." Miss Sophie Boycott, the 
 foundress, writes : 
 
 " In 1902 a need was felt by members of the Guild of the 
 Epiphany for a guild to be started for nursery nurses. 
 Professor Collins drew up the rules, gave it the name of the 
 Guild of the Holy Childhood, and acted as its chaplain, Miss 
 S. Boycott being secretary. The first members were 
 admitted in April and May, 1903. In November of the same 
 year, Professor Collins gave an address at the Norland 
 Institute to the nurses on Churchmanship. When Professor 
 Collins became Bishop of Gibraltar, he decided not to give 
 up the work, but to be Warden of the Guild, and appointed 
 the Rev. F. E. Baverstock as his chaplain. The Bishop 
 always took a keen interest in the work and used to look up 
 members in his diocese. He was very sympathetic with 
 them, and entered so into the life of a nurse and the children 
 under her charge. One of the members wrote : ' Even now, 
 seven years ago, I can remember the magnetic sort of sym- 
 pathy which spread around him in one's intercourse with him. 
 I shall never forget him admitting me into the Guild.' It 
 was the privilege of one of the Guild of the Holy Childhood 
 to be able during his last days to help in little ways for him,
 
 48 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 for which she was very thankful. There are now over 50 
 members in the Guild." 
 
 Another work in which he took part, having for its 
 ultimate object the welfare of children, was that of the 
 Society of the Holy Family. This is a society connected 
 with the Community bearing that name, of which my sister 
 is the head. Collins was the chaplain ; he took the utmost 
 pains with the preparation of the rule of the Society. He 
 presided and gave an address at the first meeting of the 
 Society in 1897, and continued to do so each year until he 
 was carried away to episcopal work. One of his latest 
 letters was to express his disappointment at not being able 
 to attend the annual gathering within a short time of his 
 death. 
 
 It will readily be understood that a man so attractive 
 and sympathetic, and at the same time so deeply spiritual, 
 was much sought after as a guide of souls. From the very 
 beginning of his ministry people came to him as if he had 
 had a long experience of life. His guidance was marked by 
 clear insight, by intense affection, and by unhesitating 
 definiteness. A few specimens of the innumerable letters 
 which he wrote during his London life may be given here 
 before we enter upon the account of his episcopate some 
 of them addressed to his spiritual children, some of a more 
 general character. 
 
 Confession Depression. 
 
 Exmouth, April 7, 1894. 
 
 I am very glad to know that you received help in Holy 
 Week. It is indeed a most wonderful time, and it generally 
 happens, I think, that most help comes when our need is 
 sorest. For when all is said, far more comes from the 
 Gospels and Epistles and Lessons, and the prayers, than from 
 the preacher : at any rate, it all comes from God, and God 
 gives most when we need most. And I rejoice with you 
 that He has been good to you now ; for it is always hard to 
 have to begin a new life, so to speak, and away from any who 
 gave the old life its chief charm. . . .
 
 LETTERS 49 
 
 Now, to answer questions as far as I can. 
 
 1. Yes, I should certainly call on the Vicar, if I were 
 you, and ask him to give you work. Delay is never desirable. 
 Many things might happen to delay his call ; and more- 
 over it is always a vast help to a parish priest in his 
 work when others spontaneously come forward and meet 
 him half way. So do so as quickly as possible, and God 
 speed you. 
 
 2. It is never easy to make a general statement with 
 regard to the use of private confession ; for it is a thing 
 which applies to the individual. Of course, in cases of 
 special difficulty or temptation or fall it is almost essential ; 
 and I think, as nearly all who have tried it will tell you, 
 that it is a vast help in the spiritual life in nearly every case. 
 It is especially useful in fighting against a besetting sin, or 
 habitual depression such as you speak of. But, " let every 
 man be persuaded in his own mind." If you make use of 
 this means of grace, it must be because you feel that you 
 need it, not as an experiment, or because others use it. 
 For a confession carelessly made is not a useful or helpful 
 thing. You would find, however, that difficulties of 
 reticence or shyness or the like would be merely minute, 
 and the counsel of a wise and faithful spiritual father would 
 probably help you greatly. Do not let yourself be influenced 
 too much by this, however. The real question is for your- 
 self, after prayer and careful thought. Do not act in a 
 hurry. 
 
 3. It is not easy to deal with this depression and spiritual 
 dryness until it comes, otherwise than by setting a watch 
 over all the little things of life. Nearly every Christian has 
 to fight with it at some time or other, and nothing is more 
 terrible : perhaps, too, the worst thing about it is that one 
 is " alone "in it. And there is the glory of it : because He 
 was really alone, we can never be. He is there if we will 
 but open our eyes. We know it, even before we can feel it. 
 And then there are one or two other things to be said, (i) 
 The depression in itself is not sin ; only to give way to it is 
 sin. (2) A little fervent prayer, however hard and seemingly 
 worthless at the time, is often worth more then than when
 
 50 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 it comes more easily. I am glad that you use a book of 
 Devotions so sober and really reverent and " unemotional " 
 as Before the Throne. 
 
 A rule of life. 
 
 7 Trinity Square, E.G., November 8, 1897. 
 Yes, this is the sort of thing. But I am sending it back 
 because I think you will do well to make it much more brief. 
 To be of service, it should be simply under heads a sheet 
 or half sheet should hold it all. And it should contain (i) 
 only what is personal to yourself, as distinguished from what 
 would apply to any Christian who wished to do right ; (2) 
 only Rule, not comment or aspirations. Experience will, 
 I think, show that it will be most useful to you if you have 
 only the points on paper, and the rest in your mind. 
 
 A distressing ailment. 
 
 Zennor, August 22, 1898. 
 
 I am afraid that your burden is, and will be for some time, 
 a heavy one to bear. May God of His mercy lighten it to 
 you and give you those comforts which He alone can give. 
 Only be very sure of this : that the illness and disappoint- 
 ment are no sign of God's anger, but just the reverse ; and 
 that instead of refusing to receive your work He is just giving 
 you your work to do. For the present at any rate it is clear 
 what He would have of you. You have to bear with 
 patience and cheerfulness. Perhaps you may have noticed 
 in the case of others that the example of one who bears 
 pain, and especially any disheartening and worrying illness, 
 with patience, is a greater help and comfort to others than 
 almost anything else. Well, this is what our Father has 
 given you to do : will you not endeavour to do it for Him 
 as unto God and not as unto men ? 
 
 I have rather broken down, and have brought my books 
 down here, trying to rest and work at one and the same time. 
 For I have too much to do this summer to be able to take 
 an entire holiday.
 
 LETTERS 51 
 
 Cheerfulness. 
 
 7 Trinity Square, E.G., December 23, 1898. 
 It is good, as you say, to be amongst those staunch North 
 Devon folk, who speak the truth, and are faithful in their 
 friendships. And be very sure that it is right and good to 
 appear cheerful as long as ever you can, and that it has nothing 
 hypocritical in it. To aim at appearing cheerful would be 
 wrong ; not so to aim at being cheerful. And the only way 
 to aim at being cheerful is to try to cheer others, to see 
 the bright side, and to show one's best. Just as we try 
 to become good by doing painfully what we might perhaps 
 do easily if we were already good. And God does not leave 
 us alone, so doing. Joy comes by giving joy, often when 
 things look most unpromising for ourselves. 
 
 Endurance. 
 
 Truro, May 31, 1901. 
 
 I have only time for a word, for this Retreat has given 
 me not a moment free, and in fact the addresses have to be 
 given quite without preparation. . . . 
 
 Sometimes all that we can do is to stand still and bear, 
 and go on bearing as best we can, sure that it all comes from 
 God's hand and so must be good for us, good for the whole 
 of His creatures, somehow, that we should bear it all for the 
 sake of the Lord, who bore the cross and shame, and the 
 weight of our sins. Try and think of it so, my child ; and 
 may He of His mercy help you. 
 
 Communion in time of depression. 
 
 Deanery, Worcester, December 2, 1902. 
 No, you must not excommunicate yourself because the 
 struggle is so hard : it would be doing just the wrong thing. 
 You need Him not less, but more. It would be wilful to 
 take matters into your own hands and " punish " yourself ; 
 and even if it were otherwise, that could not be a right way 
 to punish yourself. Let God punish, if He think good ;
 
 52 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 His holy will be done. Try to accept all that comes from 
 His hand as comfort when you need it, and penance when 
 that is necessary, and then you will find (as indeed I know you 
 have already) that even punishment from Him can be a 
 means of blessing. For the rest use your communions as 
 fully as ever you can : and do not fear that it can be too 
 often, provided you come humbly and in penitence. 
 
 And of course you must communicate late, or whenever 
 you are well enough, and as you can. It would not be really 
 reverent to do otherwise, would it ? That is one of the good 
 results of being ill : you get to learn that rules were made 
 to serve us and not we to serve rules. And it doesn't matter 
 what has to go of the rules of devotion that one loves, 
 provided that it only goes so as to make it possible for you 
 to come nearer to the Saviour. 
 
 I am getting very tired, and am very busy. But I have 
 a week's work to do in Rome presently, and hope to get 
 another week's rest there, perhaps. And it will serve the 
 purpose of getting into a warmer climate too. 
 
 Limitations in Ceremonial. 
 
 Zennor, September 5, 1899. 
 
 Just a word or two about Church questions at the present 
 time. I will only state a few things for you to think over 
 quietly. 
 
 1. You prejudice the whole case when you speak of an 
 " unholy compact." No doubt, if we have made an unholy 
 compact, we are bound to break away : but let us be sure 
 that we are not simply selfish in it. I knew a married man 
 once who wanted to break what he called " unholy bonds " 
 because his lot seemed too hard. Why should it be unholy 
 for the Church to accept things laid before it by the powers 
 ordained of God ? There are very few things, in externals, 
 which have not come thence originally. 
 
 2. Moreover, in this case l this is not the question. 
 I can only wonder how many people have really read the 
 decision itself at all. The Archbishop simply adduces the 
 
 1 The decision about Incense.
 
 LETTERS 53 
 
 Act of 1559 as evidence of what the Rubric was really held 
 to mean by all men : not as making a law for us, but as 
 contemporary evidence of what the Rubric meant. If he 
 had brought forward as evidence the fact of what was done, 
 nobody would have thought anything of it : this stands on 
 precisely the same footing. 
 
 3. It is certain, and always has been, that if the English 
 Church is really agreed in wanting anything whatever, it 
 will certainly get it : but if a party (the party, if you will, 
 which expresses best the true Catholic spirit) tries to get its 
 will, it certainly must fail. 
 
 4. Nothing is more clear than that, as at present 
 constituted, hosts of devout souls would be hurt by things 
 which are perfectly innocent in themselves and useful to 
 us. But they would certainly be hurtful to them at the 
 present time, as we can see by the temper which has been 
 aroused amongst them. The true Catholic surely is the one 
 who thinks of human souls, and not who aims at human 
 privileges. 
 
 5. Is there not a tendency to be a little unreal about the 
 Church ? I mean, to speak as if things ecclesiastical (i.e. 
 the externals of worship) were holy as contrasted with things 
 secular. It seems to me that we have not learned the lesson 
 of the Lord's humiliation fully, if we kick against the con- 
 ditions of our life. By all means let us work to change them ; 
 but we must do it by educating those who do not see, not by 
 exciting those who do. No doubt there is a false patience 
 as well as a true patience, an easy-going self-satisfaction as 
 well as a strenuous growth. But it seems to me that if our 
 Lord obeyed the laws of the order in which He lived, we must 
 expect to see the Church compassed about and in humiliation 
 (as He was not otherwise) for us men and for our salvation. 
 It is always easy for us to say, Let us break away and be 
 free : the Lord might have called the legions of angels, but 
 He did not. 
 
 Think of these things. It does not follow that what 
 seems, on the surface, to be most obvious, is therefore most 
 true : and I cannot but feel that they are to blame who so 
 fluently speak shame of those who are over them, and so
 
 54 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 readily assume that they are " Erastian," or " truckling to 
 the civic power." I cannot but fear for the future when 
 our cause is denied in ways like these, when so much of 
 men's self seems to champion it. 
 
 Form of Admission for Deaconesses. 
 
 Guy's Hospital, Aug. 5, 1901. 
 
 1 feel that I owe you an abject apology for keeping you 
 waiting so long ; but it has really been quite unavoidable, 
 and all the time that work left me has been taken up with 
 special commissions from those who have a right to direct 
 me. Latterly, too, I have been ill, and I am now writing 
 from a couch in hospital, where I am recovering (very 
 happily) from an operation. 
 
 I think, after consultation with Mr. Frere and others, 
 that the time has come for a definite ruling from the Bishops 
 on one or two points, and that this must necessarily precede 
 any healthy revision of the Ordination Service. 1 No 
 revision of the service could be anything but blind and 
 blundering without this, for the service must necessarily 
 reflect the view which is held of the office itself, and if the 
 latter is vague, the former cannot safely be revised on any 
 plan. 
 
 The main points which call for an authoritative determina- 
 tion are these : 
 
 i. Is this service intended to be a service of Ordination, 
 or not ? i.e. is it intended to confer character, to constitute 
 those for whom it is used into a definite Order in the Church ? 
 Or, on the other hand, are the Deaconesses to be regarded 
 as members of a Religious Society, admitted with the 
 blessing of the Bishop, but not part of the clergy, and 
 having no definite ecclesiastical " character " ? 
 
 This is obviously a vital question, and one which can only 
 be decided by the Episcopate. And it is essential to the re- 
 modelling of the service, because, in the former case, the 
 service ought to be on the model of the Ordination Services, 
 as the present one is, whilst, in the latter case, it ought to be 
 1 For Deaconesses.
 
 LETTERS 55 
 
 a service absolutely different in structure, like the mediaeval 
 services for the blessing of a nun, or the like. 
 
 I know, of course, that Deaconesses claim the former 
 character, and it is one which, in my opinion, undoubtedly 
 answers best to the character of the Deaconess-office in 
 ancient days. But it is unquestionable (in my opinion) that 
 there has been nothing to give such character to the office 
 as revived so far ; and it needs to be definitely given, and by 
 the Episcopate. 
 
 2. Is the Deaconess to rank with the Deacon, or as a 
 Minor Order ? Here I should say that, at first, the men and 
 women deacons rank together, but that later on, as more and 
 more definitely ecclesiastical functions were conferred on the 
 deacon, the deaconess came to rank with the Minor Orders, 
 and not on a level with them. The importance from the 
 point of view of the service is this : if the deaconess ranks 
 with the deacon, the service ought always to be in the 
 Eucharist, before the Gospel ; otherwise, it should be else- 
 where, and the analogy with the Ordination of Deacons 
 should be done away. 
 
 3. In any case, all that has to do with the position of 
 a deaconess as member of a community should be removed 
 and relegated to a separate service. A deaconess may or 
 may not be a nun : in the case of your Community of course 
 she is. But in any case the admission to the community is 
 an altogether distinct thing from the admission to the office 
 of deaconess. 
 
 I should, then, strongly advise that nothing be done with 
 the service till a definite settlement of these questions can 
 be obtained, and that such a settlement should be sought 
 for. And if nothing can be done yet to obtain such a settle- 
 ment, I should strongly advise that the present office be 
 used exactly as it is until it can. It would be a grievous 
 mistake to remodel the office inadequately on doubtful lines, 
 and so hamper free development in the future. 1 
 
 1 The lady to whom this letter was addressed had been referred to 
 Professor Collins by Mandell Creighton, then Bishop of London. She 
 acted upon Collins's advice and sought the ruling of the Episcopate, but 
 it has not yet been given.
 
 56 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Scientific Theology. 
 
 7 Trinity Square, E.G., Feb. 18, 1901. 
 
 I entirely agree that, although we speak of theology as a 
 science, we are usually only too unscientific in our ways of 
 dealing with it. 
 
 To doubt that Theology i.e. our grasp of the Eternal 
 Truth with regard to God and our relation to Him grows 
 and expands is surely ridiculous : we have only to read the 
 books of any earlier day to find that, whilst they may still 
 be far above us in some ways and on particular points, our 
 whole conceptions are as much larger and fuller as could 
 possibly be. That being so, the true position of a Theologian 
 must be that of a seeker, not of a doubter, but of one who is 
 at all times ready to test his results and, if necessary, restate 
 them. And our sympathies must always be with the seeker 
 rather than with the traditionalist. At the same time, we 
 must be truly scientific : a science, the chief evidence of which 
 is derived from a living personal experience, cannot throw over 
 its life-evidence, and has to test by life, as well as by the philo- 
 sophical theories which happen, at any particular moment, 
 to accompany the scientific results of any particular day. 
 
 As a matter of fact, we have, I think, everything to gain, 
 and nothing to lose, at the present day, by the recovery of 
 the scientific temper. It was not so thirty years ago : then 
 there was a materialistic temper in much of the science of 
 the day. But that has passed away, and scientists recognise 
 to-day (a) that their results are concerned with phenomena ; 
 (b) that an act of faith is needed to make even such a general 
 proposition as that twice two makes four : all that we 
 " know " in the scientific sense is that whenever we have 
 tried it, we have found it so ; (c) that nevertheless all 
 science points to an order and a growing purpose in the 
 universe ; (d) that order and purpose speak to us of mind. 
 For the rest, it must be remembered that as the natural 
 science of theologians is generally a little out of date, so is 
 the philosophy or theology of natural scientists. This must 
 needs be so : and on neither side must one accept what is,, 
 after all, merely irresponsible dogmatising.
 
 LETTERS 57 
 
 Our duty is plain : to study loyally and fearlessly, to 
 sympathise and endeavour to understand all sides, to 
 remember always that if God has revealed Himself in life, 
 life according to the truth, so far as we see it, is the key 
 to truth. 
 
 As for books, I don't know that particular books help 
 much, and yet everything that one reads (excepting " cock- 
 sure " church newspapers) gives one some help. I have just 
 been giving some lectures at Sion College which might help 
 a little, reported in the Churchwoman last week, and this, 
 and next (though I haven't seen the reports). Westcott's 
 Gospel of Life you know : Maurice's Life, and Robertson's, 
 you doubtless also know : Professor James Ward's Gifford 
 Lectures is a really great book. On the strictly theological 
 side there is less of value, perhaps because the spirit of 
 traditionalism is so strong amongst us just now. Never 
 mind ; we need to be large-hearted, yet not forgetting what 
 treasures we bear in the earthen vessels. For us to try and 
 exchange them, or reset them, would be ruinous. We only 
 need to set them forth more faithfully in their reality as 
 regards ourselves. If we do so, even though our statement 
 may be in many ways imperfect, God will be working out 
 a new and truer statement. 1 
 
 Devotional reading for a young Clergyman. 
 
 (ON A POSTCARD.) 
 
 Avignon, March 29, 1895. 
 S. Gregory, de Cur a Pastor ali. 
 
 S. Bernard, de Amore Dei, Sermons on the Canticles. 
 De Voragine, Legenda Aurea. 
 Herbert, Country Parson. 
 S. Athanasius, de Incarnatione. 
 Geo. Fox's Journals. 
 Fioretti di San Francesco. 
 
 1 The recipient of this letter says that at one time he looked over and 
 corrected the answers to papers which he set for members of the Guild of 
 the Epiphany, and this letter came as his comment upon an answer given 
 to one such paper.
 
 58 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Baxter, Saints' Rest (with care, and an unaltered edition, 
 it is excellent reading). 
 
 Bp. Andrewes, Preces Privatae. 
 
 Bp. Wilson, Sacra Privata. 
 
 Bp. Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Dying (of course). 
 
 S. Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises. 
 
 S. Augustine, Confessions. 
 
 S. Thomas a Kempis (of course), in Latin by choice. 
 
 S. Francis of Sales, the Spirit, Spiritual Letters. 
 
 Revelations of Mother Julian of Norwich. 
 
 S. Theresa, Of the Love of God, etc., etc. 
 
 Life of S. Philip Neri. 
 
 Life of F. D. Maurice. 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
 Here is a scrappy list of rather unequal merit, which may 
 serve your purpose. I have put one or two here which 
 everybody would not, simply because they happen to have 
 helped me. The great rule is, I think, to read what you feel 
 
 (1) either to be giving you fresh, original thoughts, or else 
 
 (2) to be quite beyond you. I.e. devotional books, like poetry, 
 ought to be real makers, and are valuable or the reverse 
 precisely as they draw one out or the reverse. If a book 
 feels to be beyond one, or if one has been told to read it, 
 reading it grimly and desperately is likely to do good, but 
 not, in general, what gives one nothing in particular. 
 
 Dangers of penitence. 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, Oct. 18, 1894. 
 
 Yes, all that part of Dr. Pusey's Life is wonderfully 
 moving and sacred. I do not wonder that it has moved you 
 so deeply : it certainly did me. But now let me try to set 
 down the bearings of it all with regard to what you say 
 about yourself ; for I want you to think them over. 
 
 Sometimes a thing like this, which burns deeply into one's 
 own conscience, makes all one's past professions seem 
 almost unreal, and one's righteousness (as it is) filthy rags. 
 Seen by such a standard, all one's confessions have been 
 mere lip-confessions, all one's communions seem almost
 
 LETTERS 59 
 
 mockeries, and all life hitherto a hideous sham. Thank 
 God that He does send us such revelations. But then there 
 is a danger lest we, in the excitement of the moment, forget 
 how far the Lord hath helped us hitherto how He is the 
 surety that our life hitherto has not been in vain, a danger, 
 in fact, lest we should deny the grace that we have already 
 received. I have known devout penitent souls pull down 
 their Christian life in the desire to undergo such a self- 
 emptying, as they think it. You have no desire to do that, 
 of course : but all the same it is very necessary to learn 
 one's lessons of humiliation and penance without doing 
 despite to what God has done in us already. 
 
 Blessings on work. 
 
 Cairo, Easter Tuesday, 1895. 
 
 Everything has gone wonderfully well here : even had I 
 not felt sure of it before, it is impossible now not to see 
 that it was in every way right and necessary to come. God 
 has blessed all that was done most wonderfully with His 
 grace. It has been most joyous to see so large a number of 
 men set right or helped in their life, in what is, I believe, 
 one of the most terrible places to live a godly life in, in which 
 Englishmen were ever placed. I have been touched, too, 
 to find " Evangelicals," living and working here, who have 
 come regularly to services throughout, including the Three 
 Hours, listened to words which must have at least sounded 
 strange to them, and helped one with their prayers and 
 sometimes at least with the most large-hearted sympathy. 
 And now, as you have helped me with your prayers, so too 
 you must help me to thank God. 
 
 It has been very hard work in some ways ; and the great 
 heat during part of the time has not mended matters ; so 
 that just now I am tired out and almost prostrate. And 
 now that the worst of it nearly all in fact is over, I do not 
 seem to mend. But the change of air to Alexandria will 
 probably set me right, and at any rate when I am once at 
 sea, on Thursday at 10 a.m., I do not doubt that I shall 
 feel well at once.
 
 60 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 A heavy Sunday. 
 
 7 Trinity Square, E.G., Oct. 28, 1895. 
 Yesterday was rather a heavy day, and with a bad cold 
 I am feeling the effects of it. I had to preach in the morning 
 at short notice, near here, as well as in the afternoon and 
 evening. Deptford was most interesting : a great church 
 full of men, who behaved very well, considering all things. 
 To be sure, they said " Hear, hear," occasionally, and I 
 heard a few other remarks in a quiet tone, all of which showed 
 they were listening. And one thing that was said delighted 
 me : a broad, unmistakable Somersetshire voice asked 
 " Would 'ee mind saying that over again, zur ? " And 
 outside, I had several questions asked some wise and some 
 other-wise : among them a well-meaning but puzzle-headed 
 Roman wanted to know whether I believed in Lourdes 
 (Miracles was my subject). 
 
 " Beloved Italy." 
 
 Bordighera, April 18, 1898. 
 
 You will be surprised at the address from which I am 
 writing, but the charm of my beloved Italy was too strong. 
 So directly Holy Week was over I moved on [from Ste. 
 Maxime] to Bordighera, and am very much better for the 
 change. I don't quite know what makes it so different ; 
 sea and air are much the same, though the people differ not 
 a little, and here they are far more truly Christian. Nor is 
 it only the glory of the palms and olives of Bordighera, 
 though they are most dear. It is simply that the one is 
 Italy : the other is only France ! 
 
 Resting upon Christ. 
 
 Pitfour, Glencarse, April 10, 1899. 
 
 Now we can understand how desperately hard you found 
 it to rouse yourself, and we can actually see the reason in 
 this illness. You will not suspect me of trying to make you 
 slack or careless, but is it not possible that at other times 
 too you have been anxious and troubled overmuch about
 
 LETTERS 61 
 
 your own deadness ? overmuch, because it was really the 
 result of health and out of your own control all the time. 
 At any rate I am sure that you have every right to rest 
 more readily than you do upon the love of our Lord, and His 
 all-sufficient merit, and His power to renew us when we reach 
 the other side, and to repair the ravages both of illness and 
 sin, and to restore to us in new strength the wills which we 
 have almost lost through our own wilfulness. I know well 
 that it is hard to learn under pain and anguish, and yet 
 it is to be learned, that resolute acceptance is as much a 
 part of the Christian life as strenuous effort is. 
 
 A Christmas holiday. 
 
 Rome, Dec. 28, 1899. 
 
 I am just beginning to feel now how thoroughly tired I 
 am, scarcely fit for anything. But it is such delightful 
 weather here, so spring-like, that it cannot but do one good. 
 There is a good deal of rain between whiles, but the rest of the 
 time it is very bright and clear. The sun in the Piazza of 
 St. Peter's on Sunday at midday was so hot that one could 
 hardly bear it without a covering : in fact many of the 
 Italians there had up umbrellas. 
 
 I hope to get a little work done at Bologna after January 
 8, at the Inquisition Records ; but here I am going to do 
 nothing but make a few pilgrimages and enjoy the beauty 
 of Rome. To-day I went, with the friends with whom I am 
 staying, to the great Basilica of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, where 
 it is quite possible that St. Paul's body actually lay. There 
 I heard Mass the High Mass, with Palestrina's music, 
 far more reverently sung than is usually the case at St. 
 Peter's, and then went on to the Abbey of S. Paolo dei 
 Tre Fontane. This is the present traditional place of his 
 death : but I should think the three springs were a pagan 
 holy place centuries before he lived. 
 
 Yesterday I went to see the Abbe Duchesne, and found 
 Cardinal Vannutelli with him, upon whom I am to call 
 to-morrow. The latter suggests that I should go to see some 
 of the other Cardinals ; but I don't think I shall.
 
 62 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 The Boer War. 
 
 Florence, Jan. 13, 1900. 
 
 I can quite understand ail that it means to D., if her 
 brother is really to go out. In one way one does hate it all 
 so, and long to see such terrible things impossible. But in 
 another, it is good to fight in a cause which takes us outside 
 our own petty likes and dislikes, and spites and quarrels ; 
 and I rejoice in all the unselfishness and self-devotion that 
 it calls out. That it is a real duty to go out, for those who 
 can and have no greater claim, I cannot doubt ; and 
 certainly not least because it means much of self-denial 
 and danger. It is like so many more terrible things : you 
 can see God's hand in it, and God's call in it, simply 
 because it is sufficiently terrible to drag us out of our 
 conventions and unrealities. 
 
 Kind sternness. 
 
 Guy's Hospital, Aug. 2, 1901. 
 
 Thank you for telling me about your poor boy. I am glad 
 there is news of him ; but it is all the more necessary that he 
 should not be allowed home, or have the way made easy. 
 God has now opened a new way for him, and to try to reopen 
 the old would be to close this. He must be sent away 
 to make his own way as best he can. Hardship is more 
 likely to help than anything else, and to make him work 
 and suffer privation is a truer kindness than any other could 
 be, hard as it naturally is for his poor mother to see it. But 
 I trust she will try. 
 
 I am allowed up on a sofa now, in the afternoon. 
 
 His brother's death. 
 
 7 Trinity Square, E.G., Dec. n, 1902. 
 
 I wonder if you remember my brother Arthur. Probably 
 
 you will, the one next to me in age, and always my closest 
 
 companion. We heard just a fortnight ago that he had been 
 
 shot at and wounded by an anarchist striker at Telluride
 
 LETTERS 63 
 
 in the State of Colorado, where he was in charge of large 
 silver mines, but that he had every prospect of recovery. 
 And the next day came another telegram to say that he is 
 at rest ! It seems too sad to believe almost. He leaves a 
 wife and two little boys, and she, I am glad to say, was able 
 to be with him at the last. We still await full details, but 
 we know that he was bright and collected, though in terrible 
 pain. It will be good to think afterwards how sympathetic 
 and kindly he always was towards all that could be sympa- 
 thized with in labour troubles ; and he died at his post as 
 truly as any soldier ever did, the dear fellow, knowing well 
 during the last month or so that his life was in danger. We 
 were confirmed together, and he was always a good true 
 Christian. 
 
 The following letter from a friend who was with him on 
 an Easter holiday in Cornwall in 1903, brings out a side of 
 him which was at least as characteristic as any that his 
 own letters have displayed : 
 
 " Hannafore, West Looe. 
 
 " I wish you could just see Willie now, in the zest and delight 
 of holiday time. It is always a joy to me the boyishness 
 and fun and sweet gentleness with which he makes every- 
 thing a source of enjoyment. He is so gay and light-hearted, 
 with all he has to do and suffer. He always reminds me of 
 those lovely lines of Keble's on St. Matthew ; one is always 
 catching the melody of the everlasting chime. He is 
 certainly wonderfully well just now, considering the fatigues 
 of the last term, and the last fortnight especially. 1 We came 
 down here on Monday. It is a charming little place, and we 
 have hit upon delightful rooms with a lovely view over the 
 sea, standing high on the edge of the cliff. Yesterday was 
 glorious, and we spent the whole day wandering on the cliffs 
 amid masses of golden gorse, or in primrose-lined lanes, 
 so lovely." 
 
 1 He had been conducting the exercises of Holy Week at St. Albans.
 
 III. 
 
 EPISCOPATE. 
 
 IN the latter part of the year 1903, Bishop Sandford of 
 Gibraltar resigned his office, and very shortly after died. 
 On November 27, the day after taking his Doctor's degree 
 at Cambridge, Collins went by invitation to Lambeth, and 
 the Archbishop offered him the vacant see. It was in many 
 ways an adventurous appointment. Collins was young for 
 the position he was now 36 and he was a man of pro- 
 nounced opinions. But there were also marked qualifica- 
 tions. He had the learning which would enable him to 
 move about intelligently amongst the representatives of other 
 forms of Christianity. He had although people at large 
 knew less about it at the time than afterwards the deep 
 sympathy which fitted him for what is largely a pastorate 
 of individual souls, many of them invalids, and many in 
 circumstances of solitude and temptation. And, in spite of 
 his frail health, he was a great lover of travelling, especially 
 by sea, and less wearied and shaken by it than many more 
 robust persons are. His acceptance of the office was made 
 known on December 19. The chorus of just approval with 
 which, at the same time, his book on the Study of Ecclesi- 
 astical History was received, gave promise of his accept- 
 ability as Bishop. 
 
 On the evening before his consecration, he preached his 
 last sermon at Allhallows as one of its clergy. The day 
 was the eve of the conversion of St. Paul, and he took for his 
 text the words, " Unto me who am less than the least of all 
 saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the 
 Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." These sentences
 
 CONSECRATION AND MARRIAGE 65 
 
 are reported to have come in the sermon : " Jesus Christ 
 loved minorities. He loved the things people were ready to 
 die for without seeing any results. If the best things we 
 can think of were to claim success, they would be very poor 
 things. Christ cares for the infinitely little, and for any one 
 particular thing to succeed is often a very bad thing. . . . 
 Men can only see Christ if we show Him in our work and in 
 our lives. Our duty is not that of trying to ameliorate the 
 conditions of life, nor that of trying to get people to join our 
 party, but that of communicating to them of the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ." 
 
 He was consecrated in Westminster Abbey on the Festival 
 of the Conversion of St. Paul, 1904, by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, assisted by many other prelates, in the presence 
 of a great congregation. As one of his oldest friends, I had 
 the honour of preaching the sermon. He was presented to 
 the Archbishop by the Bishop of London, his diocesan, 
 and the Bishop of Bristol, with whom he had worked, 
 and was still to work, so cordially on the Church Historical 
 Society. 
 
 Early on the day after his consecration, he was married. 
 The cultured and devoted woman who became his wife was 
 Mary Brewin Sterland. She had long stood in a very close 
 and peculiar relation to the Bishop. When first (in 1878) 
 I became acquainted with her and with her younger sister, 
 Edith, she was governess to the daughters of Mr. Stanhope 
 Rashleigh, Rector of St. Wenn in Cornwall. At the time 
 when William Collins became an inmate of the clergy-house 
 at Allhallows Barking, Miss Sterland had passed to the 
 house of Mrs. Thurston Holland at Wimbledon. It was 
 there that the attachment began between her and the delicate 
 and engaging boy to whom Mrs. Holland, as I have said, 
 gave a mother's care. From Mrs. Holland's house, Miss 
 Sterland moved to the family of Mr. F. A. White, the friend 
 and treasurer of so many good causes ; though in this posi- 
 tion she did not live in the house, but took rooms for herself 
 and her sister. Edith Sterland, whose touching death has 
 been already mentioned, became governess about the same 
 time to Margaret Wilkinson, daughter of the Bishop of
 
 66 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Truro, between whom and the Whites there was a special 
 bond of intimacy. 
 
 All these circumstances tended to draw William Collins 
 and Miss Sterland together, and by degrees he came to be 
 looked upon as a member of the Sterland family. He began 
 to spend most of his spare time with them. They went 
 together for their holidays in Cornwall or elsewhere. A 
 thorough student herself, Mary was able to help him in his- 
 torical researches, in examining and copying documents. At 
 length it was regarded as a settled thing that Mary and he 
 were brother and sister. The arrangement was unusual and 
 unconventional ; but even so careful an observer of pro- 
 prieties as Bishop Wilkinson sanctioned it. In a state of 
 health like his, and the lady being a good deal senior to 
 himself, people felt it natural enough. Miss Sterland, after 
 Edith's death, travelled with him and took charge of him. 
 She watched over him at the time of his operation in Guy's 
 Hospital, and during his long convalescence at Betteshanger. 
 For many years he wrote on the first leaf of his little pocket- 
 book of engagements, " In case of my death or illness I 
 ask that a telegram be sent at once to Miss M. B. Sterland," 
 and the address. She accompanied him, I believe at 
 Archbishop Nuttall's suggestion, on his mission to the 
 West Indies, and was everywhere received as his sister. 
 In presenting to him the thanks of the Synod for his labours 
 in Jamaica, the Archbishop made a graceful reference to 
 the care taken of him by " his sister," without which he 
 could never have got through all that he had done in the 
 island. 
 
 It was clear, however, that it would be impossible for him 
 to do in his new office what had been possible while he 
 occupied a private position. The two felt it best to put their 
 relationship on a footing more easily understood by entering 
 the married estate. They were married in the early morning 
 of January 26, 1904, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 
 Lambeth Chapel, with the Holy Communion following. Lord 
 Northbourne, from whose house she was married, gave the 
 bride away, and Dr. Robinson was in attendance upon the 
 bridegroom. Among the friends who sat down to breakfast
 
 MRS. COLLINS 67 
 
 afterwards in Lambeth Palace, besides their host and hostess, 
 were Lord Northbourne and the Bishop's respected father, 
 Mr. J. H. Collins, and Miss Sterland's elder sister. 
 
 No words could express the pathetic beauty and tender- 
 ness of the relation now relieved of what to some extent had 
 before been embarrassing. Some glimpses of it have been 
 given by a little book which, though unpublished, has become 
 widely known, bearing the curious title, " Especially William, 
 Bishop of Gibraltar, and Mary, his wife." The writer 
 describes how she first made acquaintance with Mrs. Collins 
 at Gibraltar in 1908. " She told me how frightfully tired the 
 incessant travelling made her, and the crowds of fresh people 
 at every place. ' We can never go to a quiet inn and rest ; 
 it is always receptions to meet the Bishop and crowds of 
 people waiting to see him everywhere, and I can't spare him 
 any of it ; they want him and I can't see them instead. 
 When we married, I thought I could save him from being 
 killed with the life, but I can scarcely help him at all.'" 
 " In pouring rain," the writer proceeds, " I walked down the 
 hill with her back to Government House in the evening. I 
 remember so well, when I said something of what a marvel- 
 lous marriage theirs must be both so utterly devoted in 
 the great work of their lives and to each other how she 
 stopped short, in the middle of the storm, and said with 
 a sincerity of emphasis which preached a whole Gospel, 
 ' Yes ; but no marriage, no earthly love, can satisfy. One 
 must have Him Jesus. I could not go on living without 
 Him, though it's often only just saying His name to myself 
 over and over again.' " 
 
 The day after the wedding, the Bishop was hard at work 
 upon an article on Early Missions in China ; the next day 
 was spent in interviews and letters, and the day after that, 
 the two embarked for Gibraltar, where he was enthroned on 
 Sexagesima Sunday, February 7. They stayedat Government 
 House with Sir George and Lady White, and so began their 
 acquaintance with the diocese under the happiest auspices. 
 From Gibraltar they went on to Marseilles, Hyeres, and 
 Cannes, where they were the guests of Lord and Lady 
 Rendel at Chateau Thorenc, and laid the foundations of one
 
 68 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 of the most delightful of friendships. Then they passed along 
 the Riviera, meeting all sorts of interesting people. At 
 Rapallo they parted. She waited there, while he travelled 
 night and day to Malta to be installed in what might be 
 called his second Cathedral, and to do some work at Naples 
 and Rome on the return journey. At Livorno they met again, 
 and worked their way back by Florence, Genoa, and Turin, 
 to London, which was reached on March 30. The Quarterly 
 Paper of the Gibraltar Mission to Seamen, in giving the list 
 of his engagements for February, headed it with the words, 
 " What the Bishop can do in one month." 
 
 A few lines from a letter of Mrs. Collins gives a picture of 
 part of that first tour, which may stand for many subsequent 
 tours : 
 
 " Bordighera, Feb. 24, 1904. 
 
 " You will like to have news of him, as I don't think he 
 can have had time to write much. . . . 
 
 "We sailed for Gibraltar on January 2gth, and had a dread- 
 fully rough voyage, which was very trying, coming as it did 
 on the top of all our fatigue. But we had a splendid week at 
 Gibraltar, staying with the Governor, Sir George White, who 
 with Lady White and his family did his best to spoil us. 
 Charming as it is to see so many delightful and kind people, 
 it is certainly tiring to have perpetual receptions and dinners. 
 Still, it is the only way in which the Bishop can meet his 
 people ; and it won't be so bad another time, when all the 
 honours have been paid. There are such lots of interesting 
 people at Gibraltar ; we came away with great regret. 
 The enthronement on the Sunday was a most stately function, 
 and the Bishop looked splendid in his scarlet. He is winning 
 all hearts, as he always does ; and though there are many 
 difficulties to be settled, and a terrific amount of work, he 
 is well and happy. 
 
 " We had a capital voyage from Gibraltar to Marseilles, 
 which was our next stopping place. I wish you could hear 
 the Bishop's Confirmation addresses ; they are simply 
 beautiful. He has held six Confirmations, and loves them. 
 ... In each place there is much the same round, a recep- 
 tion of the Bishop, special service in church, Gibraltar
 
 LETTER TO THE DIOCESE 69 
 
 Missions to Seamen Meeting whenever possible, and so on. 
 . . . We have a lot of friends here, and Willie left such a 
 fragrant memory behind him four years ago, that they can 
 scarcely let him go. . . . 
 
 " On March 2 we travel together as far as Rapallo, where 
 I am to stay, while the Bishop makes a rapid rush down to 
 Sicily and then over to Malta. . . . We shall have to be 
 away from each other for about a fortnight, which is horrid 
 to think of ; but the travelling is so expensive that I can't 
 go everywhere with him." 
 
 He had prepared the way for this first journey by a printed 
 letter, from which the following is an extract : 
 
 " 7 Trinity Square, London, E.G., 
 January i8th, 1904. 
 
 " My dear Brethren, I must send you a few words of 
 cordial greeting before I enter upon the exercise of my 
 Office. I thank you most heartily for the very kind letters 
 and messages which have already reached me, and for the 
 prayers which have been so freely offered on my behalf. 
 These last are the foundation and the earnest of my hope 
 that we shall be able to work happily together, to the glory 
 of God and the furtherance of His Kingdom. 
 
 " I am taking up the charge which He has entrusted to me 
 with many searchings of heart, and with a keen sense of my 
 own insufficiency ; and this is not diminished when I think 
 of the good Bishop whose place I am called to fill. But I 
 rejoice to know that the work which he has done during his 
 long episcopate (and in particular, if I may single out one 
 thing, by the agency of the Gibraltar Mission, the founding 
 of which was an act of spiritual genius) has knit together the 
 whole jurisdiction of his See as nothing else could possibly 
 have done, and has made the work of his successor far easier 
 than it could otherwise have been. And it will ever be to 
 me a source of strength and comfort to know that he had 
 heard, only two or three days before his death, that I was 
 proposed as his successor, and that the news made him glad 
 and thankful. This I value and prize as in a sense his death- 
 bed benediction.
 
 70 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " I cannot but know that, in a task of peculiar difficulty 
 and intricacy, you must soon realise the difference between 
 my inexperience and his ripe wisdom. But I ask that you will 
 give me time, and that you will extend to me your sympathy 
 and consideration even where my action is not such as com- 
 mends itself to the judgment of many. I do not think that 
 you will find me lacking in sympathy when brought into 
 contact with ways of thinking other than my own, or with 
 methods of working which I do not myself make use of. I 
 ask in return that you will trust me, give me credit for a 
 desire to be just under all circumstances, and allow to me that 
 same liberty of action and opinion which you claim for 
 yourselves. . . . 
 
 " I am trying to arrange matters so as to be able to cover 
 the whole ground every year, not indeed visiting every single 
 chaplaincy yearly, but getting every year to some of the 
 chief centres in each region, so that chaplains and others who 
 desire to see me on any matter may be able to do so with as 
 little difficulty and inconvenience as possible, and that 
 candidates for confirmation, in cases of need, may be ' brought 
 to ' me for the purpose." 
 
 To the sailors so considerable a portion of his charge 
 he wrote : 
 
 " I can assure you that I had learned to care for sailors, 
 and work among them, long before I ever thought of coming 
 to the Mediterranean, that I have many friends amongst 
 sailors, and that I want to make a great many more. I 
 shall try, as soon as possible, to pay a visit to all our Insti- 
 tutes, and shall claim fellowship with all of you whom I can 
 find there. And I hope that you will come and speak to 
 me whenever we do meet, and give me the pleasure of a 
 handshake at any rate. And remember that there are more 
 sailors than bishops, and that it is easier for you to recognise 
 me than for me to recognise you. So you must please 
 forgive me in case I forget, and help my memory by making 
 yourselves known to me. Be sure that I shall always be 
 glad to see you." 
 
 It was Wednesday, March 30, as I have already said,
 
 MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA 71 
 
 when they reached London, and were welcomed by Lord 
 and Lady Northbourne. On Saturday, April 2, which was 
 Easter Even, after two busy days, they sailed for Cape 
 Town, on the Mission of Help ; Lord Northbourne went 
 down to Southampton with them and saw them off. 
 
 The history of the Mission of Help has been published by 
 Dr. Robinson. Reference has been made to it by the 
 present writer in his Memoir of Bishop Wilkinson, with whom, 
 in a way, it originated. There is no need to repeat the 
 account of it here. But it ought to be understood that a 
 very large part of the labour of preparation for it had been 
 laid upon Collins's shoulders. He had long promised to 
 take part in the Mission itself, and he did not think right to 
 beg off in consequence of his appointment to Gibraltar. In 
 the letter to the diocese from which I have quoted above, 
 he says : 
 
 "As some of you are already aware, I have been engaged 
 in the preparation for it from the beginning ; and at the 
 time of my nomination I was already pledged to go out to 
 South Africa for almost the whole period of the Mission. 
 Moreover, owing to the accidental circumstance of my being 
 in London all the time, as Chairman of the Executive Com- 
 mittee I have had a great deal to do with the arrangements 
 which have been made ; and it is urged upon me in the 
 strongest possible terms by those who are responsible for 
 the Mission that, although my place can very easily be 
 supplied later on, it is most essential that I should be in 
 South Africa at the beginning and during the earlier period. 
 I feel that such a claim is imperative, and have therefore 
 undertaken to leave England for this work, if God so wills, 
 on April and, 1904, returning not later than August. The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury permits me to say that the 
 course which I am taking in this matter has, under all the 
 circumstances, his full approval and sanction. 
 
 " I am taking this course with a full sense of its gravity 
 and importance. I ask you, for the sake of our brethren in 
 South Africa, to bear your share in such inconvenience as 
 it may cause, and to join with me in making this offering of 
 our service. And I ask you to invite your people to do the
 
 72 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 same. We shall be the richer, not the poorer, if we can thus 
 share in the blessedness of giving. There will be, after all, 
 something very fitting in the fact, if you will send forth your 
 Bishop across the whole length of a continent to help our 
 brethren in their need ; if I, who have charge of English 
 Church people along the north coast of Africa, may be 
 permitted to go to work amongst their brethren in South 
 Africa. Already, too, you have taken some part in the 
 matter ; for I rejoice to remind you of the fact, and to place 
 it on record, that the fund which has been raised by the 
 Ladies' Committee in England for the expenses of the 
 Mission of Help had its beginning in a very large gift which 
 was raised for the purpose in one of our Chaplaincies, viz., 
 by the English Church people at Bordighera." 
 
 He arrived at Cape Town on Tuesday, April 19, and was 
 warmly welcomed by the Archbishop at Bishopscourt. 
 Between him and Archbishop Jones there had for some time 
 past been an affectionate friendship. The Archbishop was 
 one of the many people who had put his learning and his 
 good nature under contribution, and Collins had spent time 
 and labour in helping to frame disciplinary canons for the 
 Church of South Africa. Cape Town, however, and the 
 diocese of Cape Town were not to be the chief field of his 
 work in the Mission of Help. During the week that he spent 
 there, he preached in the Cathedral and elsewhere, held a 
 confirmation among the lepers on Robben Island, and 
 attended conferences and addressed meetings of workers. 
 But as soon as the main body of the Missioners arrived 
 he preceded them by seven days and had received 
 the public Benediction of the Archbishop, he left the 
 Bishop of Burnley to direct the Mission at Cape Town, 
 and went off with his own contingent to the diocese of 
 Grahamstown. 
 
 His stay in South Africa extended from Tuesday, April 
 19 to Wednesday, August 10. During that time he preached 
 regular Missions at Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Kimberley, 
 and East London, and did similar work for shorter periods at 
 Humansdorp, Sidbury, Alexandria, Cathcart, Jansenville, 
 Klipplaat, Burghersdorp, Bloemfontein, Wakkerstroom,
 
 MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA 73 
 
 Nottingham Road, Maritzburg, and Durban. To a man with 
 his historical instincts it was of the deepest interest to visit 
 the scene of Gatacre's disaster at Stormberg, and to inspect 
 the ground, where every mile records a tragedy, round 
 Ladysmith and Colenso. He enjoyed the novelties which 
 nature offered, the wonderful views from the mountains, 
 the colouring, the sight of baboons scampering up the hill, 
 of toucans (if such they were) and secretary birds, and 
 above all, the glimpses of native life which he obtained. 
 
 A priest who was working in Kimberley at the time of 
 the Mission there, the Rev. C. S. Hill, now Rector of Harri- 
 smith, writes as follows about the work at Kimberley : 
 
 " The Bishop only took a small part and left before the 
 Mission was over : but this part was perhaps the most 
 valuable of the whole Mission. He preached on the first 
 Sunday, and gave four or five mid-day addresses to business 
 men on the following week days, which were very helpful, 
 and much appreciated. Besides this, he made it his work 
 to see personally the leading diamond merchants and busi- 
 ness men and had a wonderful influence with them. There 
 was much discontent and controversy in the parish at the 
 time, and the Bishop's influence did much to steady men's 
 minds. He specially applied himself to the leading hard- 
 headed business men, whom most clergymen find it hardest 
 to get hold of. 
 
 " I shall never forget the impression which his mid-day 
 addresses made. As he stood on the chancel steps in his 
 purple cassock and pectoral cross, one could not but be 
 struck with his youthful appearance his bright eyes and 
 spiritual face reminding one of the figure of ' Christ among 
 the Doctors ' in Hofmann's well-known picture. He used 
 to come from the vestry punctually on the stroke of the 
 clock and speak, watch in hand, very rapidly for twenty 
 minutes never going a moment over his time. Yet, though 
 he spoke so rapidly, he spoke so plainly that everyone could 
 follow and understand. Each address was illustrated by 
 quotations from Browning. They were very practical and 
 heart searching, and entirely different from anything which 
 I have ever heard. . '
 
 74 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " The following story illustrates what men thought of 
 his addresses, though the effect is hardly what the Bishop 
 would have liked. One man who seldom came to church, 
 attended the Bishop's addresses regularly. When someone 
 suggested that now he would probably go to church more 
 often, he surprised him by replying, ' Never again/ He 
 was asked why he would not. Had he not thoroughly 
 appreciated the Bishop's addresses ? ' Never again,' he 
 repeated ' it would spoil the impression ! ' ' 
 
 The Mission at East London was one which made a 
 great mark. It had been well prepared for, especially by 
 the men of the congregation visiting from house to house. 
 The Bishop won his way at once with the men, and to this 
 day, I am told, he is spoken of with affection by many, 
 and his photograph is still pointed to with pride in their 
 houses. The addresses were of a very high tone, free from 
 any excitement, yet of a telling and searching nature. 
 
 " The part I remember best," says my kind informant, the 
 Rev. L. Moxon, Vicar of Sibford, " was the Instructions, 
 after the service, when he would walk up and down the 
 aisle in his violet cassock, just talking to the people. These 
 Instructions were deeply spiritual, very plain and direct in 
 their teaching upon the Sacraments, Confession and the 
 Church, with a few telling illustrations. 
 
 " The congregations increased every evening until the end. 
 He addressed a meeting of men during the dinner hour at 
 the large railway works, and also a large meeting in the 
 town hall on the Sunday night after a full service. He was 
 also very good with the children ; they loved his stories, 
 and I remember his making them sing hymns, standing 
 until they came to a verse of prayer, when we were all told 
 to kneel." 
 
 It was his method on these occasions to ask the local 
 clergy very little about the parish, and to make little 
 use of them during the Mission. They were told to attend 
 the services like any of their parishioners. It was his way to 
 do everything himself and take over the whole parish for 
 the time being not always, perhaps, to the liking of the 
 clergy concerned.
 
 MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA 75 
 
 A lady who was present at the Mission at East London 
 says : 
 
 " His wonderful personality and calm spiritual strength 
 seemed to attract me most strangely, and I was seized with 
 a longing to tell him all my heart, which was full of sad 
 thoughts at that time, and to seek counsel and advice from 
 him. I was the last to leave the church, and as I stood 
 in the porch, wondering how I could obtain an interview with 
 the Bishop, I looked up and saw him standing beside me. 
 A few minutes later he had taken me into the vestry and I 
 was talking to him freely and unrestrainedly of all that had 
 troubled me in the past and in the present, and of the con- 
 flicting duties which so often came into my life. His 
 wonderful sympathy and power of understanding made me 
 tell him more than I could ever have told a stranger. After 
 he had spoken to me for some time, and we had knelt while 
 he prayed for me, I left him feeling a great and wonderful 
 sense of peace and calm, the memory of which I shall 
 carry with me always. I have tried to follow the advice 
 he gave me ' If two duties have to be faced, the harder 
 one will almost invariably prove to be the right one to 
 follow.' " 
 
 The Bishop parted from his wife at Madeira on the return 
 journey, and went on a tour through Portugal and Spain. 
 Then, after a short visit to England, they started for Odessa 
 and the East. At Constantinople, in full canonicals, he paid 
 his first state visit to the Patriarch, Joachim III., who was 
 most cordial, and knelt before the altar of the Patriarchal 
 Church and kissed the Gospels. This was on October 14, 
 and next day he went over to the island of Halke", to call 
 on the ex-patriarch, Constantine, and to inspect the great 
 Theological College, where a week or so later he witnessed 
 the ordination of an old King's College pupil of his, 
 Mr. Teknopulos, to the priesthood. The whole st;ay at 
 Constantinople was full of fascinating interest. Mr. Pears 
 conducted him over the walls of the city, and everyone 
 else was most kind. At Smyrna he conducted a kind of 
 mission, lasting a week ; but he managed to escape for a 
 day to Ephesus, where Mr. Hogarth showed him the sites.
 
 76 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Such was his first acquaintance with the scenes amidst 
 which his life was to end. 
 
 It would be vain to attempt to narrate the Bishop's 
 journeyings to and fro during the seven years in which he 
 governed the jurisdiction of Gibraltar. To the Apostle 
 Paul it was a trial to " have no certain dwelling place " : 
 the same trial awaited Bishop Collins and, to some extent, 
 his wife. They had, it is true, a kind of home at Sliema, in 
 Malta, where they often stayed for a few weeks together. 
 During the last two or three years of his life they had a 
 house of their own at Hampstead, 12 Fellows Road, 
 which was his headquarters during the summer months, 
 when there was less to be done in the Mediterranean. But 
 at the outset of his episcopate he had not even that comfort. 
 His English address at that time, 24 Steeles Road, N.W., 
 was the house of Miss Frere and her sister, who undertook to 
 forward his letters, and did for him the work of commis- 
 saries. But what furniture he had, and the bulk of his large 
 and much-loved library, was warehoused or stowed away, 
 and he himself was a wanderer. It soon became impossible 
 for his wife to accompany him ; her health began to fail 
 under the strain. She had to stay behind at Sliema, or at 
 the ever-open house of Lord and Lady Northbourne, or 
 with other friends, or in lodgings ; and he travelled alone. 
 In spite of entreaties, he would not take a chaplain. Through 
 the thoughtful kindness of Lord Northbourne, a yearly 
 sum was raised among his friends to diminish the cost of 
 these journeys to his pocket, but nothing could save him the 
 fatigue. He seemed to think nothing of travelling from 
 Genoa to London to attend a committee and returning the 
 next day. Often his means of conveyance from one part of 
 the diocese to another was a cheap trading steamer, with 
 wretched accommodation and horrible food. Many of his 
 long-distance runs, to the south of Russia, or across Spain, 
 were accomplished in trains which had no restaurant car 
 and no sleeping berths. He had a story of one such run, 
 when all the food he could obtain for a whole day was a 
 piece of half-cooked sucking-pig wrapped in paper, which he
 
 DIOCESAN WORK 77 
 
 threw into the rack of the carriage until sheer hunger 
 compelled him to attempt it. A sense of adventure might 
 sometimes carry him along ; but when he was ill, it was a 
 serious thing even to climb up into the lofty carriages of a 
 Spanish railway, where there might be no one to help him. 
 Wherever he was known, he was sure of help ; but there were 
 many places where the obvious fact that he was a priest 
 made the railway people less disposed to be of use to him. 
 
 His work took him, of course, to conspicuous places and 
 into high company. He conducted the services of Holy 
 Week at Rome, or Florence, or some other centre where 
 cultured English people assemble. He sat at dinners and 
 luncheons beside governors and princes of the blood. He 
 was a welcome guest in the houses of famous scholars, and 
 authors, and statesmen. But a great part of his work con- 
 sisted in visiting out of the way places, where a few Cornish- 
 men were working in a Galician mine, or an English manager 
 was superintending oil-works by the Caspian, or an English 
 governess or two were teaching in Roumanian or Russian 
 families. To cheer a lonely little group of English believers 
 where there was no English church or chaplain was a great 
 happiness to him. And naturally, wherever he went along 
 the sea coast, our sailors obtained his attention. He went on 
 board the men-of-war or the merchant ships and addressed 
 the crews. He visited their Institutes ; and a great part of 
 his time was taken up in holding meetings along the Riviera 
 and elsewhere on behalf of the Gibraltar Mission, which has 
 the welfare of the seamen for its object. 
 
 He made it his practice, wherever he went, to cultivate 
 friendly relations, as far as possible, with the native religious 
 authorities of the place. A Waldensian ordination, the 
 opening of a place of worship for the Reformed Lusitanian 
 Church, attracted him. Occasionally he even attended a 
 service in a synagogue. But he was unfailing in his respect 
 for the Roman Catholic prelates in whose dioceses he 
 ministered. He called upon them, and explained that his 
 work lay solely among English people, and that the English 
 Church has no desire to proselytise. He seldom failed to 
 obtain a kindly response. The interview sometimes ended
 
 78 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 by the local Bishop taking the Englishman to the Cathedral, 
 or sending one of his Canons with him, to show him the 
 building and the treasures of the sacristy, and escort him 
 to the station on his departure. 
 
 It was not always, of course, that relations of this kind 
 could be maintained. The opening of a new church for 
 English services at Barcelona in 1905 brought about a 
 lamentable explosion of bitterness, the consequence, no 
 doubt, of complete ignorance with regard to the character and 
 aims of the Church of England. Except at Seville, where 
 the church of a dismantled convent had been purchased 
 for Anglican use, Barcelona was the first place in Spain 
 where the English congregation were able to worship in a 
 consecrated building. The municipal authorities passed the 
 plans for the beautiful church without objection ; but in the 
 latter part of 1904 an agitation against it was begun. A 
 Professor of Canon Law in the University of Barcelona 
 published an article in the following spring, denouncing the 
 new building as " the greatest monument of shame " in the 
 city. The Bishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Casanas y Pages, 
 petitioned the King and the Government against it. The 
 King replied sympathetically, deploring " this fresh attack 
 upon the faith of our fathers and the religion of the State." 
 The Government determined that the two crosses which had 
 been erected on the building must be taken down. This 
 was quietly done very early in the morning of Saturday, 
 May 6, 1905, and the day following the church was solemnly 
 consecrated by Bishop Collins, according to the form drawn 
 up by the Bishop of Salisbury and published by the Church 
 Historical Society. In 1910, with the King's consent, the 
 order which forbade the display of religious symbols by 
 " dissident " religious bodies was revoked, and the Bishop 
 had the pleasure of knowing that the church at Barcelona 
 had been restored to its original condition, and was no 
 longer deprived of the sign of our salvation. This was not 
 the last occasion when he met with official obstruction in 
 the course of his duty in Spain. 
 
 With the Oriental prelates he naturally found it easier to 
 deal. The Report of the Eastern Church Association for
 
 THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 79 
 
 the year 1910 speaks of him as "an ideal Bishop to re- 
 present the Church of England." " We could always feel 
 that in the hands of the Bishop nothing would be done 
 which would in the least compromise the Catholic position of 
 the Church of England, while his grasp of the things essential 
 and his intense sympathy made it possible for him to go a 
 long way in meeting the Eastern Church." It was to him 
 that the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his desire that a 
 few English students might be sent to prepare for the sacred 
 ministry in the Theological School at Halke", in order that 
 some among us, at least, might know the Orthodox Church 
 from inside. In fulfilment of this wish, Mr. P. R. B. Brown, 
 a former Scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, spent 
 about a year in that institution as the guest of the Patriarch. 
 It is to be hoped that others will follow his example with 
 equal profit. Bishop Collins did not hesitate, however, 
 to tell these great dignitaries the truth. When he visited 
 the Patriarch in September, 1906, he assured him of the 
 sympathy with which the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 English Churchmen in general, regarded the distress of the 
 Christian population of Macedonia, and recognised the diffi- 
 culties which beset the action of the Patriarchate ; but he 
 was careful to explain that the Church of England regarded 
 the matter purely from the religious point of view, and could 
 not take sides in a political movement. 
 
 The Rev. M. R. Swabey, who at that time accompanied 
 him, has brought to my notice an incident which reveals 
 the extraordinary promptitude of the Bishop's well-stored 
 memory. " If the first impression," he says in the Report 
 above-mentioned, " made by him on the Easterns was that 
 of youth, the second and abiding impression was that of 
 knowledge. In the course of a conversation with the 
 Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, in the year 1906, 
 a discussion arose on the relationship of the divine and 
 human natures in the person of our Blessed Lord. The 
 Patriarch quoted a canon of an Armenian Council dealing 
 with the question. The Bishop courteously suggested that 
 the particular canon belonged to another Council, and the 
 Patriarch acknowledged that he was right."
 
 8o LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 The constitution of his anomalous diocese gave the Bishop 
 much to think of. In order to promote a sense of unity, he 
 began to hold a series of Diocesan Conferences or Synods 
 in London. Conferences on a smaller scale had been held 
 before in certain fairly denned districts, like the Riviera, and 
 these were still continued ; but the Bishop aimed at some- 
 thing much more. The first of these Diocesan gatherings 
 was held in the summer of 1905, with great success. It 
 was decided that they should be held periodically, and every 
 other year was fixed upon for the purpose. A yearly gather- 
 ing appeared to be impracticable. 
 
 The Bishop was determined to make more of a reality of 
 his See and Cathedral than had hitherto been the case. 
 After much correspondence and enquiry, on Sunday, Novem- 
 ber 19, 1905, he admitted the Ven. D. S. Govett, who had 
 been for twenty-three years Civil Chaplain and Archdeacon 
 of Gibraltar, to be the first Dean of the Cathedral. This 
 step was taken " with the advice and consent of our Synod 
 of Clergy holden in the private chapel of the Dean of West- 
 minster, July 14, 1905, and with the sanction of the Most 
 Reverend Lord Randall, by Divine Providence Lord Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and with the approbation of His 
 Excellency, General Sir F. W. Forestier Walker, Governor 
 of Gibraltar." All future Canons of Gibraltar were to be 
 installed in the Cathedral by the Dean or his deputy. 
 
 Five or six years later, this strengthening of the Cathedral 
 centre was followed by a similar action in regard to St. 
 Paul's Church, Valetta, in Malta. " Ever since its founda- 
 tion by Queen Adelaide, seventy- two years ago," we read 
 in the Anglican Church Magazine for March-April, 1911, " it 
 was intended that the Church should have a collegiate body 
 attached to it ; and although nothing of the kind has taken 
 place, the intention has left its mark in the commonly used 
 description of the church as ' The Collegiate Church of St. 
 Paul.' When the See of Gibraltar was founded, in 1841, 
 and the Bishop was given a residence (then known as 
 Gibraltar Palace) in Valetta, a proper episcopal throne 
 was erected in St. Paul's ; the church became a second 
 cathedral church for the Bishops of Gibraltar, and its
 
 GIBRALTAR AND MALTA 81 
 
 description as the Cathedral Church of St. Paul has been in 
 use ever since." On January I, 1911, the Statutes which 
 the Bishop had prepared were promulgated ; the Bishop, hi 
 accordance with the Statutes, was himself installed as Dean, 
 Mr. A. F. Newton as Chancellor, and Mr. H. J. Shaw as a 
 Canon, to whom shortly after Mr. F. C. Whitehouse of 
 Constantinople was added. In the communique above 
 referred to, which evidently comes from the Bishop's pen, 
 it is contemplated that possibly in the future St. Paul's in 
 Malta might form the Cathedral for a new jurisdiction. 
 The Bishop made much of the local Festival of the Ship- 
 wreck of St. Paul (February 10), and appointed that a 
 Chapter of the Collegiate Church should be annually held on 
 that day. 
 
 In the year 1906, the Bishop showed his care for the 
 spiritual welfare of his flock in Malta by arranging for a 
 Mission, in the special sense of the word, to the fleet and 
 garrison. The Mission began on Saturday, April 28, and 
 lasted a fortnight. It was carried on regularly at the Colle- 
 giate Church of St. Paul, the Military Gymnasium, the Dock- 
 yard Church, and at Pembroke Barracks, besides other 
 places. The Bishop was himself the principal Missioner. 
 He was assisted by Mr. Bernard Wilson of Portsea, and Mr. 
 Austin Thompson, the Diocesan Missioner at Canterbury, 
 both of whom had served with the Bishop in old days at 
 Allhallows Barking, and by Mr. Valentine of Walden, who 
 had been with him on the Mission of Help in South Africa. 
 A simultaneous Mission to members of the various " Free 
 Churches " had been arranged, and was conducted by the 
 Rev. John M'Neill. It was somewhat unfortunate that just 
 at the moment of the Mission troubles arose with Turkey, 
 which necessitated the despatch of three regiments from 
 Malta, and of a large part of the fleet ; but in spite of these 
 hindrances, the Bishop looked back upon the Mission with 
 deep thankfulness. 
 
 He wrote a short account of it which was published in the 
 Guardian, 1 in which he said that no attempt was made in the 
 Mission to lay special stress upon particular moral perils 
 
 1 May 16, 1906, p. 814.
 
 82 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 to which soldiers and sailors are exposed, but to preach the 
 full Gospel of redemption, which appeals to all human beings 
 alike, and that the experience gained had deepened the con- 
 viction of the missioners that this was the right method. 
 " There has been," he said, " a widespread and touching 
 readiness to hear and to respond, a reality in facing the con- 
 viction of sin and the claims of the Lord which has put us 
 workers to shame, and a courage in facing the unexampled 
 difficulties of the life of a Christian soldier or sailor which 
 has made us thank the Lord and take courage." This 
 was the last time that the Bishop conducted a Mission in 
 the strict sense. 
 
 It has already been mentioned how deeply the Bishop was 
 concerned for the welfare of the sea-going portion of his 
 flock. One address of his on behalf of the Gibraltar Mission 
 to Seamen, delivered at Nice on March 2, 1907, has been 
 recorded, and gives a vivid sense of the way in which he 
 understood the men's needs. 1 
 
 " Of course, in speaking of sailors, I refer to two quite 
 different bodies of seamen the ordinary sailor, pure and 
 simple, and the firemen, stokers, engine-men, mecanicisns, 
 or whatever else you like to call them, that great division 
 of sailors which has been called into existence by the growth 
 of steamships. Fifty, sixty, and seventy years ago the class 
 which has to do with engineering and stokeholes was un- 
 known. Now the lot of the engineer, the fireman and the 
 stoker is far harder than that of any other individual on 
 board a ship ; and the lot of the sailor has become harder 
 just in proportion as sailing-ships have gone out, little by 
 little, and been replaced by steamships. I wonder if any of 
 you know what the engine-room of a great transatlantic 
 steamship is like ! It is not a pleasant place at the best of 
 times. The heat is something tremendous ; and when you 
 go from the engine-room to the stokehole it is as bad as 
 going from the deck to the engine-room. Terribly, terribly 
 hot, and reeking all the time with the unpleasant smell of 
 
 'A report will be found in the Anglican Church Magazine for 1907, 
 p. 51, foil.
 
 THE MISSION TO SEAMEN 83 
 
 warm oil. You can hardly keep from fainting. It is all 
 heat and fire around you, and beneath you, and you are 
 cramped and confined to a degree. The engine-room is not 
 a pleasant place to be in, and when you come up out of it, 
 you are all covered with grease and oil, and get into a row 
 for being in such a mess. What does it mean to be down 
 there for four or five hours at a stretch, or perhaps two hours 
 consecutive work shovelling in coals for all you are worth, 
 black and grimy from head to foot, and covered with oil 
 and coal dust from the engines ? I really do not think there 
 could be any other work so difficult, and at the same time 
 so unpleasant, as that of a fireman on board a great steam- 
 ship." 1 
 
 " The general standard of comfort in modern civilisation 
 has increased," the Bishop went on to say, " but the standard 
 of comfort in a sailor's life remains exactly where it was. 
 Since the advent of steamships things have become still 
 worse, if possible, and the comfort has certainly become less. 
 That part of the ship in which the sailors live is smaller and 
 more confined, more pointed and narrow, than it used to be 
 in the old wooden hulks of our forefathers. The modern 
 narrow steamships, plated with steel, are by no means so 
 comfortable for the sailors to live in as the old ones used to 
 be. The fo'c'sle is not a pleasant place to have to sleep in. 
 There is a movement abroad now to alter all that. . . . Later 
 on, I think they will succeed." 
 
 He then spoke of Sunday labour, discouraged now by 
 foreign legislatures, but increasing in British ships. 
 
 " Take a place like Seville, for instance, a great and 
 beautiful city, and the chief port of southern Spain. Of 
 recent years the port of Seville has been greatly improved, 
 and ships can now come right up the Guadalquiver into 
 Seville itself. It is only British ships, belonging chiefly to 
 one important Scottish house, that at the present moment 
 do any loading and unloading on a Sunday. This is really 
 a very serious thing, and gives rise to much reflexion. At 
 the port of Fiume, in Hungary, no working on a Sunday 
 
 1 Compare a letter from Lord C. Beresford, in the Times of April 22, 
 1912, in connexion with the loss of the "Titanic."
 
 84 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 is ever permitted, and there is a fine for those that break 
 the law. Well, it is only British ships that ever do break the 
 law there. They find that, though the penalty may be 
 heavy, it is nothing compared to their loss if they give up 
 Sunday labour. So, as competition is keen, they find it 
 pays them well to incur a penalty which is a mere nothing in 
 comparison with the profit that can be made by breaking 
 the law. At the mouth of the Danube again, they tell me 
 the English have become a bye-word. The Mahommedan's 
 holy day is a Friday, and nothing will ever make him work 
 on that day. The Jew's holy day is a Saturday, and you 
 cannot get the Jew to do any work on a Saturday. The 
 Christian's holy day is a Sunday, and if he is British, you 
 can easily get him to work on that day. ... It is a terrible 
 national disgrace." 
 
 Upon these facts he based an appeal for the Gibraltar 
 Mission, with its Sailors' Guild, and its lending library, and 
 other works, especially its Institutes. 
 
 "After all," he said, " most of our work has to be done 
 in port, when the sailors come ashore. You can prepare 
 somewhere for them to go to when they land. You know, 
 yourselves, perhaps, what it is like to land in a strange place 
 you have never been in before. You have no guide-book, and 
 you are tired of wandering about, and after two or three 
 hours of it, with nowhere to sit down, and nowhere to rest, 
 you begin to wish you were back on board again. But the 
 restraint on board has been tiring too, so you try to enjoy 
 yourself on land as best you can. The people speak a 
 language you don't understand. You are hungry and want 
 something to eat, and do not know where to get it, or how 
 to ask for it. What do the sailor and the fireman do when 
 they come ashore in a strange place ? Suddenly they find 
 themselves set free from the restraint of shipboard. There 
 are no officers and captains, and no orders to obey. Our 
 sailor despises all the lingoes he hears, and is generally very 
 thirsty. He has been living on the salt water for a long time, 
 and he would very much like to be able to sit down and have 
 some amusement on land. But there is nowhere for him to 
 go, except some horrid, disgusting little beer-shop : there
 
 DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER ACT 85 
 
 are always plenty of those, you know the kind, in every port. 
 He goes there. He is very thirsty, and they give him some 
 ' top shelf,' if he has not the money to pay for anything else. 
 And so he drinks that ' top shelf,' vile, fiery poison, and it 
 soon produces the effect it is meant to produce. The man 
 is made drunk as quickly as possible, and then he is turned 
 out. These things go on daily. 
 
 "About a month ago I received a letter from the chaplain 
 at Patras we have managed this year for the first time to 
 have a chaplain there. There landed at Patras, from 
 Newfoundland, a shipping boat, with salt cod. One of the 
 crew went ashore by himself. Some three or four men came 
 and met him. They wanted him to drink with them, and 
 he refused. They set upon him, and tried to force him, and 
 at last there arose a terrible struggle, and one of the three 
 struck him with a stick, which, entering his eye, pierced his 
 brain, and the man died. The chaplain heard of it, and he 
 managed to arrange an English funeral. Then the whole 
 facts of the case came out. Some one had seen it all. ... 
 This is the sort of thing which may happen any day to any 
 well conducted sailor, quite as much as to the others who are 
 always getting into scrapes." 
 
 Bishop Collins was always desirous of giving explicit 
 guidance to those who worked under him, and in the latter 
 part of 1907 he found it necessary to issue instructions to 
 the chaplains within his jurisdiction on the subject of the 
 Deceased Wife's Sister Act, which had recently passed through 
 Parliament. He prefaced his instructions by a clear state- 
 ment of the varying conditions under which marriages were 
 solemnised in the countries under his supervision. He then 
 pointed out that the new Act made no alteration in " the 
 law (or rule) of the Church," but only that one particular 
 " law (or rule) " of the Church could no longer be enforced 
 by the statute law, a clergyman who solemnises a marriage 
 of this kind being no longer liable to the penalties to which 
 he would otherwise have been liable. 
 
 " No doubt," he wrote, " a certain element of confusion 
 has been introduced by the fact that the word ' law ' has
 
 86 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 come to be used by lawyers in a stricter sense than it once 
 was ; to denote the precepts which are enjoined by the 
 sovereign power under a sanction, and nothing else. Accord- 
 ingly, it has been pointed out that the English Church has 
 not, and cannot have, a ' law ' which is contrary to, or not 
 answerable to, the law of the land, since it is not, and cannot 
 be, an imperium in imperio. That is quite true, but it is 
 only by a confusion of terms that it can be held to have 
 anything to do with the matter. Nobody doubts that the 
 Church is bound by the law of the land, like any other 
 society ; nor yet that this involves, in the case of the English 
 Church, a position of exceptional privilege, and correspond- 
 ing restrictions upon our freedom of action. But within 
 these limitations the Church, like any other society, has its 
 own principles, its own methods, and its own rules, which 
 may rightly be spoken of as its ' laws,' in just the same way 
 as we speak of the laws of cricket, or the statutes of an 
 order of chivalry, or the rules of a club. As a matter of 
 fact, a very large part of the ordinary life of the Church 
 depends upon and expresses a Rule and an Order which 
 existed before our statute law began, is not based upon it, 
 and could not by any stretch of imagination be brought 
 within its terms. 
 
 " One such Rule or Law of the Church, which is expressed 
 in, but does not originate in, the ggth of the Canons of 1603, 
 forbids the marriage of a man to his deceased wife's sister. 
 Formerly this was enforced by the law of the land ; now it 
 is no longer so enforced. But the law of the land, as we 
 have seen, explicitly recognises the fact that it still exists ; 
 and it is hard to see how anybody can suppose that it can be 
 altered but by the action, explicit or implicit, of the Church 
 itself. 
 
 " Yet it is not to be wondered at that the position of the 
 English Church in the matter has been so largely misunder- 
 stood ; and, as usual, we are ourselves largely to blame. The 
 use that has been made in the past of the argument from 
 Leviticus cannot but seem unreal to those who reflect that 
 we should never dream of conforming our social life to some 
 other precepts of the Hebrew ceremonial law. . . i There has
 
 DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER ACT 87 
 
 been far too much loose and irresponsible speech about ' the 
 law of God,' as though, with our partial vision and imperfect 
 insight, we were able to lay down dogmatically what is and 
 what is not justifiable for other men, who stand or fall before 
 their own Master, and not before us. In question-begging 
 ways such as these we have largely incapacitated ourselves 
 for bringing home to the consciences of men what are the 
 real objections to the new law ; and yet we are in no doubt 
 as to what they are. Briefly, we hold that it makes a 
 grievous and unnecessary inroad upon the family circle kit 
 introduces an unfair and unjustifiable distinction in t\e 
 treatment meted out to women by men ; and it sows the 
 seeds of future dissension by introducing a contradiction 
 between the marriage law of the State and that of the 
 Church. 
 
 " Personally, nevertheless, I can think of it as quite 
 possible that the rule of the English Church in the matter 
 might be altered in the future in the direction of the new 
 law. I have the strongest sympathy with what has been 
 said by the Bishops of Hereford and Carlisle, as to the 
 extreme undesirability of anything which should narrow 
 down the position of the English Church into that of a mere 
 section. We might, of course, be compelled to take up such 
 a position, in the interests of the Faith, or of morals ; but 
 I had rather that it should be done in the interests of the 
 central truths of the Faith rather than of some particular 
 point of doctrine, to vindicate some great moral principle 
 rather than to preserve a particular point of practice upon 
 which, highly as I esteem it, minds after all may differ. 
 
 " For it must never be forgotten that it is the man and 
 woman who actually contract the marriage ; they, not the 
 officiant, are the ' ministers.' Some such marriages there 
 are which this or that realm does not recognise as valid. 
 Others there are upon which the Church will not bestow 
 its blessing. But in any case, the primary responsibility 
 rests with those who contract the marriage. There are not 
 a few marriages which English clergymen and others are 
 called upon to solemnise, which might occasion us very 
 serious misgivings but for this fact. ... In all these cases,
 
 88 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 after having done whatever hi us lay to set things right, we 
 should all hold, I suppose, that only a very clear and decided 
 conviction would justify us in refusing to solemnise the 
 marriage, the ultimate responsibility for which must lie with 
 the parties themselves. It is to my mind quite conceivable 
 that a similar course of action should be taken here, and 
 that the Church might come to the conclusion that its 
 blessing should not be withheld in this case from those 
 who, contracting a marriage which they hold to be justifiable 
 in God's sight, humbly and heartily desire His blessing 
 upon it. 
 
 " But whatever the future may bring forth, what I have 
 said only places in clearer relief the fact that the rule of the 
 Church against such marriages is at the present time clear 
 and definite ; and the rule is one which can be lightly 
 esteemed by no faithful son of the Church." 
 
 After applying very clearly the principle thus laid down 
 to the three different classes of chaplaincies with which he 
 had to deal, the Bishop went on to say : 
 
 " I think it is important that we should dissociate our- 
 selves entirely from the language which has been used by 
 some people in this matter, as though marriages of this 
 description were no true marriages, or even worse. Such 
 an attitude is surely unworthy and unjustifiable, and would 
 seem to be based upon a misapprehension of our message. 
 For here, as elsewhere, the Church is called upon to bless, 
 not to ban ; not to deny what others have, but to defend 
 \fhat God has entrusted to us. The function of the Church is 
 not to appraise marriages, but to proclaim the sacredness of 
 marriage in itself, and to set before men the ideal towards 
 which all marriages should be conformed. Moreover, it 
 does not appear to me that it can reasonably be contended 
 that they who have contracted a marriage allowed by the 
 laws of the Christian land to which we belong are ' open and 
 notorious evil livers ' in the sense of the rubric at the begin- 
 ning of the office for the Holy Eucharist ; and I must hold 
 that none are to be rejected from Communion on the ground 
 that they have contracted marriage with a deceased wife's 
 sister."
 
 THE BIBLE SOCIETY 89 
 
 Among the causes which the Bishop warmly espoused 
 was to the surprise of some of his friends the cause of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society. Of all the resolutions 
 passed by Societies at his death, none was more appreciative 
 and discerning than the minute adopted by this Society on 
 April 3, 1911, in which, after a review of his career, they said : 
 
 " On the shores of the Mediterranean his journeyings 
 brought him often into close contact with the work of the 
 Bible Society. No greater encouragement has been given to 
 that work than the knowledge that it enjoyed the confidence 
 and support of Dr. Collins. He presided regularly at the 
 meetings of the Auxiliaries in the Riviera, and rendered 
 valuable help in the negotiations over the Modern Greek 
 Version. In 1910 he was appointed a Vice-President of the 
 Society." 
 
 Miss P. M. Bishop, Secretary of the Riviera Auxiliary of 
 the Society, writes to me : 
 
 " Four out of the seven years he was our bishop, he presided 
 at the annual meeting at Cannes. The year 1908 was the 
 Auxiliary's 2ist anniversary, and he spoke of the occasion 
 being ' a call to action to new effort to a fuller, larger, 
 wiser way of doing our duty to see how much more there 
 is to do, and to think how much more we can do. One 
 thing in addition to what is already done would be to con- 
 solidate the work of the Riviera Auxiliary ; that it may grow 
 geographically as well as deeper in love than in the past.' 
 A few days later he wrote : 
 
 ' March 23, 1908. 
 
 My idea with regard to it is that if it is made again, in 
 reality, a Riviera Auxiliary and not merely a Cannes one 
 (as to all intents and purposes it is now), it will gather interest 
 which at present is not only scattered, but in effect lost. 
 And I think that the very fact of all the Cannes Chaplains 
 and myself being connected with it will help people, and 
 especially High Church Chaplains, to consider the matter 
 from a larger point of view and so support it. But I should 
 not feel it to be right to put pressure upon them to do so ; 
 one volunteer is worth ten pressed men, and a moving 
 spirit as contrasted with a law of force, in all but what is
 
 90 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 necessary for order, is the very difference between Christian- 
 ity and Judaism.' 
 
 " Then followed his suggestions in detail suggestions 
 which afterwards were successfully carried out. In 1909, 
 when all his plans were changed because of his illness, he 
 wrote from Bordighera, November 26 : ' I am so sorry that 
 I shall not be able to be at the first meeting of the Bible 
 Society under the new system ! it wouldn't have mattered 
 
 so much at another time, but now . However it 
 
 can't be helped, and we must hope that there may be some- 
 where at hand, at Nice or elsewhere, some " big gun " that 
 we can make use of for the purpose.' 
 
 " His last message to the Riviera Auxiliary was in February, 
 1911, about six weeks before his death, from Marseilles, 
 where he told the deputation how deeply interested he was 
 in the Bible Society's work, and asked him to say at the 
 meeting what ' a real self-denial ' it was to him not to be 
 able to preside and how earnestly he wished them success, 
 and sent his blessing." 
 
 One of the Secretaries of the parent Society, the Rev. 
 J. H. Ritson, obligingly sends me several of the Bishop's 
 letters, from which I give the following extracts : 
 
 " The Convent, Gibraltar, Dec. 18, 1907. 
 You may like to know that I was at Etchmiadzin in 
 October last, and saw the press given by the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society to the Armenian Church for the print- 
 ing of the Bible, in good order, and showing signs of use." 
 
 " 12 Fellows Road, Hampstead, N.W., 
 
 Aug. 4, 1909. 
 
 It is very tiresome that the Foreign Office objects to Mr. 
 Gardner [the chaplain at Athens], taking up this work. I 
 have talked with one of their people this morning, who tells 
 me, as indeed I had supposed, that their objection is not to 
 his undertaking more work, but to a possible confusion on 
 the part of the Greeks of the Society's work with official 
 action. . . . There is need for extreme caution in Greece. 
 I remember one occasion on which political capital was
 
 THE BIBLE SOCIETY 91 
 
 made, or attempted to be made, out of the fact that I went 
 to the Metropolis attended by a Legation dragoman." 
 
 " Train [in Sicily], Jan. 9, 1911. 
 
 I am very sorry that the Greek Church authorities have 
 taken this line, and in a way all the more so because, as I 
 gather, it is with them (in part at least) only a move in a 
 great political scheme. For the present, at any rate, I fear 
 there is no hope of their ' coming down/ and we must just 
 hope for a change of policy, or, better still [for greater 
 enlightenment in certain quarters]. Meanwhile, your article 
 must do good, and I do not think it could be improved 
 upon in any way. It is right that they should know what 
 we think of it." 
 
 The Bishop wrote to the Rev. J. Gardner-Brown, the 
 English chaplain at Rome : 
 
 " Bishop's House, Sliema, Malta, 
 Dec. 7, 1910. 
 
 In your place I should have no hesitation whatever, and 
 should certainly go and support the Bible Society. It is 
 just the kind of work in which, as it seems to me, we can all 
 join ; and the Society has really been very careful to stick to 
 its true work : circulating the Scriptures, with every care 
 to choose versions which are properly authorised by the 
 Church, wherever practicable, and no proselytising. If 
 colporteurs are sometimes indiscreet, and not true to their 
 principles, I am afraid that sometimes applies to Bishops 
 too ! So I should go, not by way of concession, but as assert- 
 ing our Churchmanship. That is the only way to help a 
 good work to be even better done in future. . . . 
 
 God be with you." 
 
 It was, of course, impossible for a busy traveller like the 
 Bishop to write any more books like those which came from 
 his pen before he left King's College. I do not know whether 
 he continued even to review the books of others. The 
 Guardian, however, from time to time, received interesting 
 notes of travel from him. Thus I find articles of his headed,
 
 92 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " In Servia and Bulgaria," " Trebizond," " Batum and its 
 neighbourhood," " Nicomedeia and its neighbourhood " J 
 articles in no way inferior to those with which Mr. E. A. 
 Freeman was wont to delight the readers of that paper. 
 They were not the work of a man who had left off reading. 
 
 Even if to a certain extent precluded from studies of his 
 own, he was indefatigable in encouraging the studies of 
 others. Mention has already been made of one work for 
 the promotion of theological learning in which he took a 
 principal share, especially during the central years of his 
 episcopate. Miss Bevan, the Honorary Secretary of the 
 Archbishop's Examination in Theology, has favoured me 
 with the following account of it : 
 
 "A movement which was started in 1899 at the initiative 
 of Miss Margaret Benson for promoting theological learning 
 owes much to his wise counsel and his active co-operation. 
 The movement began with the founding of the St. Paul 
 Association, the members of which met about once a month 
 in London for the study of some New Testament subject. 
 The papers read at the meetings were then circulated so 
 that those who could not be present might follow the course 
 of study. A library of theological books was also formed for 
 the use of members. Other movements have grown out of 
 this, amongst them, in 1903, the Vacation Term for Biblical 
 Study, which, intended primarily but not exclusively for 
 mistresses in secondary schools, is held every year for three 
 weeks at one of the Universities, and has increased till in 
 the summer of 1910 it numbered three hundred students. 
 The Bishop from the first gave the Vacation Term his support, 
 and helped its promoters with advice in the arrangement of 
 the lectures. 
 
 " In 1905 the Archbishop of Canterbury instituted a scheme 
 for training women who desire to become teachers of theology. 
 The large and increasing part taken by women in religious 
 education, the extreme responsibility of such work, and the 
 special difficulties with which it is beset at the present time, 
 all these were felt to show that an urgent need exists for 
 well-qualified teachers who should have received no less 
 
 1 Guardian, Oct. 21, Nov. 18, Dec. 30, 1908 ; Jan. 20, 1909.
 
 WOMEN'S THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 93 
 
 careful training and preparation than is required for the 
 teaching of other subjects. It was believed that if the work 
 of women engaged in Church teaching were to be definitely 
 recognised by ecclesiastical authority, and accorded a place 
 of its own in the organisation of the Church, this would 
 come as a call to many to give their lives to a work so full of 
 great and sacred responsibility. With this view the Arch- 
 bishop instituted the Diploma which is awarded to candidates 
 who are successful in the Examination, and the Licence for 
 those who, having received the Diploma, desire to devote 
 themselves to Church teaching. But as comparatively few 
 would find it possible to go through a complete course of 
 theological study at one of the Universities, any scheme to 
 be of general use must be framed on a wide basis, and com- 
 bine the essential requirement of a course of systematic study 
 under expert guidance with great elasticity in the manner in 
 which it might be carried out. To devise such a scheme, 
 and set on foot an entirely new undertaking of this nature 
 was no easy matter, but at the request of the Archbishop the 
 Bishop of Gibraltar threw himself into it, and the lines upon 
 which it was drawn up were largely due to the determination 
 in which the Bishop concurred with the Archbishop, that a 
 high standard of efficiency should be maintained, and to the 
 Bishop's remarkable faculty of estimating the tendency of 
 different methods, their practical disadvantages, or their 
 value in effecting the object to which the work was directed. 
 " This, however, was but the beginning of his labours, for 
 having accepted the office of director it devolved upon him 
 to take the oversight of the candidates' preparation. In the 
 case of those who presented theses in lieu of examination 
 the theses were carefully read by him, and to him all applica- 
 tions and schemes of study were submitted. Every detail 
 received his personal and thorough consideration. The 
 length of time which should be given to each subject, the 
 choice of teachers, the special circumstances of the candidate, 
 and the possibilities of training had all to be taken into 
 account. To carry on such a work would in any circum- 
 stances have been one of considerable difficulty, requiring 
 very unusual powers of insight and judgment. In the
 
 94 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Bishop's case it had to be carried on, as a rule, whilst he was 
 traversing his vast diocese by land or sea, somewhere 
 between Gibraltar and the further shores of the Caspian. 
 But he never failed to devote to it the most scrupulous care 
 and attention, never grudging the serious addition it made to 
 his already immense correspondence, or the trouble which it 
 involved, even when such trouble might well have been spared 
 him. During the five and a half years since the movement 
 began, no less than 114 letters were received from him, 
 besides numerous shorter notes. All who worked with him 
 know well the decision with which he was wont to express 
 his views in all the part of the work for which he felt obliged 
 to accept the full responsibility. But they will remember 
 no less his readiness to trust those with whom he was associ- 
 ated, and his generous recognition of their desire to do the 
 part assigned to them to the best of their ability. In all 
 the difficulties and perplexities connected with the work of 
 the Archbishop's Examination, the sense of possessing the 
 Bishop's confidence was a continual encouragement. 
 
 " During the last two years of his life, notwithstanding the 
 pressure of trouble and illness, his interest in his labour of 
 love never flagged, and this, the last letter, returning some 
 papers, was written from Constantinople when he was 
 dying. His handwriting, usually so characteristically forcible 
 and clear, bears the mark of the difficulty with which the 
 letter was written. 
 
 ' In Bed, British Embassy, 
 
 Constantinople, Mar. 7, 1911. 
 My dear Miss Bevan, 
 
 I'm sorry these are delayed somewhat. I 
 arrived here in a dilapidated state. . . . 
 
 By all means let Miss do what she can after Easter 
 
 with Mr. to count towards her preparation when she is 
 
 able to fill in the complete course of study. Mr. isja 
 
 good scholar and a first-rate teacher. 
 God bless you ever. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. E. GIBRALTAR.' "
 
 WOMEN'S THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 95 
 
 A lady writes from India : 
 
 " For some years I was a member of his theological class 
 in connexion with the Guild of the Epiphany. I should like 
 to send a few words to express what I, in common with so 
 many educated women, feel we owe to his sympathy and 
 guidance at a very critical time in our spiritual lives. I for 
 one am under a debt of gratitude for his help and counsel 
 when doubts and difficulties rose which had to be faced and 
 conquered. We studied Martensen's Christian Dogmatics 
 under his direction. To-day I was referring to my papers 
 and his notes and comments on my work, and one or two of 
 his letters, written ' in the train ' mostly, which were so 
 inspiring and suggestive. 
 
 " I seldom saw him, but when I said good-bye to him before 
 I first sailed for India, I shall never forget his words, or the 
 help I found from his letters which he sent regularly, until 
 he had, through pressure of work, to give up the class." 
 
 Besides superintending the studies of the ladies who were 
 reading for the Certificate and Diploma, the Bishop continued 
 to watch over the work of other students. He freely lent 
 them volumes out of his own large library sometimes a 
 dozen at a time. He took a deep interest in the progress 
 of Miss Shipley's English Church History for Children, and 
 Miss Granger's Black Letter Saints, looking over proofs, 
 correcting, criticising, suggesting, writing prefaces, and tak- 
 ing as much pains as if the books were his own. And yet 
 Miss Shipley tells me that she never saw him they only 
 knew one another by correspondence. 
 
 The Bishop's methods with his diocese were not such as 
 everybody could, in all points, imitate. Wherever he went, 
 his personal charm dissolved opposition. Difficulties seemed 
 to disappear when he touched them. Quarrels were made 
 up, and malcontents were reconciled to the Church. Yet 
 not everyone found it easy to work with him and under him. 
 Mr. Bodington tells me that much amusement was caused at 
 a certain meeting when Bishop Collins said that some of the 
 clergy evidently thought that the word episcopus meant, not 
 an overseer, but an over-looker. That was not his view of
 
 96 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 his office. He said to a friend in private, when he was first 
 appointed, that he intended to rule, and so he did. " He 
 ruled me with a rod of iron," wrote, after his death, one of 
 his most willing servants. But undeniably his action was 
 sometimes autocratic. He came into conflict with powers 
 that had long borne what looked like episcopal sway in his 
 jurisdiction. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts has not the reputation of disloyalty to the 
 bishops of the Church ; but at one moment, if I was rightly 
 informed, the Society felt almost compelled to go to law with 
 the Bishop of Gibraltar, and the scandal was only averted 
 in consideration of the fact that the Bishop's wife was so 
 ill at the time that a prosecution would have been inhuman. 
 Yet, in spite of his masterful ways, he never took it amiss 
 when his own opinion was not adopted. He readily admitted 
 the right of others to think for themselves. The friend 
 who wrote about a " rod of iron " added : " and yet he 
 always allowed me to say my whole say against anything he 
 proposed. Nearly always he did what he had intended to 
 do, but smiled kindly at my often strongly expressed opinions. 
 No one could have invented such a man ; had they tried, 
 they would have left out his intensely human side, which 
 made him so lovable. There was to me something most 
 fascinating in that strange mixture of genius and simplicity, 
 of humility, and of wonderful powers and charming weak- 
 nesses, great independence and a yearning for sympathy and 
 affection." 
 
 A correspondent writes : 
 
 "His decided views and firm pronouncements never clashed 
 with his tenderness as a judge. He could come down like 
 a hammer upon the cowardly or tyrannical. He would not 
 appear to agree with people against his convictions in order 
 to save their feelings but he managed to disagree without 
 hurting them ! Withal he was courtesy and chivalry per- 
 sonified. Amid the ' care of all the churches ' he yet would 
 remember to write a letter of comfort or encouragement to 
 a soul here and there, in need of, but little expecting, help 
 from an overworked bishop carrying on the intricate corre- 
 spondence attendant on the working of a huge jurisdiction."
 
 ANECDOTES 97 
 
 Miss Emily Bishop, the Secretary of the Society of 
 Watchers and Workers for the diocese of Gibraltar, writes 
 about this side of his episcopate : 
 
 " The Bishop wrote of a friend : ' A man has time and 
 strength to do what he loves to do in the way of work.' 
 And he loved small beginnings, and nursing them. When 
 he came to the diocese, its branch of the Society of 
 Watchers and Workers was one of the small things he 
 at once interested himself in. And when, later, his opinion 
 was asked on one point, it led to his taking the whole thing 
 into his personal care. And after that, every detail of the 
 working he wished to be told, that he might help in it 
 not during his visitations only, but by letter. Nothing was 
 too trifling or insignificant in his eyes everything was an 
 opportunity for taking trouble and being faithful. ' Yes, 
 our Watchers and Workers Society is a great blessing,' he 
 wrote. From time to time he sent petitions for diocesan 
 needs, to be used by the members. And he kept with them 
 their yearly Quiet Day, wherever he might be. He visited 
 any invalids he could hear of during his visitations, and 
 especially the members of the branch when strength 
 permitted." 
 
 A few little anecdotes may help to illustrate some aspects 
 of the Bishop's character. 
 
 An English clergyman, who did not know him, writes : 
 
 " In the summer of 1908 I was ill and was undergoing treat- 
 ment for a bad heart in a nursing-home in Westminster. 
 I was allowed out for short walks as far as strength permitted. 
 One afternoon I was walking out, leaning on the arm of a 
 young assistant curate, who had come to take me out for a 
 turn. The Bishop of Gibraltar caught us up and passed us. 
 The situation was obvious. A sick vicar was being taken 
 care of by a devoted and youthful curate. The Bishop took 
 it in at a glance, and though he was personally unknown to 
 me, he turned round, and saluted us courteously and with a 
 smile of tender and sympathetic encouragement, which 
 illuminated his whole face, and which I afterwards described 
 in telling the story, as truly ' seraphic.' I remember being 
 much cheered by this evident token of tender sympathy
 
 98 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 towards a sick and unknown priest, which must have sprung 
 out of his personal knowledge of sickness and ill-health. 
 I remember that I felt as if I had passed under a spiritual 
 benediction which conveyed a sense of real joy and uplifting 
 though the incident only lasted a few seconds." 
 
 Mr. Blogg says of him : 
 
 " He loved children, and they soon took to him. In 
 October last (1910), two little boys and a little girl were 
 brought down by their nurse to see the Bishop. The Bishop 
 explained that I was a sailor and a clergyman. The older 
 boy turned to his sister, and said : ' And he/ pointing to his 
 lordship, ' is only a bishop.' The Bishop laughed heartily." 
 
 "A. K. C." wrote to the Guardian soon after his death, 
 and said : 
 
 " I have seen him cross the Black Sea in a petroleum boat, 
 and I have come across the men of the steamer some months 
 afterwards, and they one and all said, ' What a remarkable 
 man for a bishop ! He is clever, yet he makes you feel 
 perfectly at home.' The sick always looked forward to the 
 Bishop's visits in the various hospitals we visited together : 
 he always had a word of cheer both to the English and the 
 foreigner. At the sailors' concerts he made an ideal chair- 
 man, and even after a tedious journey he always remained 
 until the concert was over, though some kind lady would 
 try to persuade him to return with her for a comfortable 
 rest and dinner." 
 
 A former chaplain at a Spanish port writes about one of 
 his visits : 
 
 " His stay was but a short one, but it was long enough 
 to win the hearts of most of us, even of some of the Spaniards. 
 Our maid asked if she might attend the Confirmation Service 
 which he held at our little church. She came in her mantilla 
 and knelt all through the service, and though she could not 
 understand any of it, she said she was sure that all he said 
 was good, ' for he had the face of an angel.' And that was 
 no doubt the reason why several little Spanish children 
 came up to him, as we were walking along the quay, and asked 
 to kiss the cross he wore." 
 
 There happened, some one writes, to be a family at A.
 
 A SERIOUS ILLNESS 99 
 
 perhaps only husband and wife who were rather overlooked 
 in the English set. The Bishop heard of it, and although 
 terribly hard worked at the time, and his throat so bad, he 
 wrote to them saying he should very much like to dine with 
 them. Of course, added my informant, their position will 
 be quite assured in the future. 
 
 The year 1907 saw him take the most adventurous journey 
 of his life, for the promotion of unity among Christians. He 
 began the year, or ended the previous one, with an alarming 
 illness. Fortunately for him, it seized him at Costebelle, 
 where he had the affectionate care of the family of Sir Mark 
 Collet to help him through. Writing on January 3, 1907, 
 Mrs. Collins says : 
 
 " The Bishop is really improving, though very slowly at 
 present. He has been up for a few hours for the last three 
 days, and though he cannot yet stand alone, we are hoping 
 to be able to leave for Gibraltar on the I2th. He has been 
 very, very ill. That horrible Spanish fever was followed by 
 serious complications, causing just as much pain as can be 
 borne, and for several nights and days we were poulticing 
 every hour. We telegraphed to Nice for a nurse, and she has 
 been doing the night work. Now we are able to do without 
 her, and I hope and trust progress will go on steadily. . . . 
 The Bishop lay on the balcony for a couple of hours yesterday 
 morning, enjoying the sun and exquisite view." 
 
 They came to England for a few days in February, partly 
 to consult Dr. Goodhart. Mrs. Collins noted in her diary on 
 the 22nd : 
 
 " He does not think there is anything organically wrong 
 with W.'s heart : says it is terribly overstrained, and that 
 he must have six weeks' rest immediately, and a good three 
 months' holiday in the summer." 
 
 Obedient as he always was to the doctors, he went straight 
 to Corsica, where he had spent a pleasant time the year 
 before, and did his six weeks most of the time at the charm- 
 ing and unsophisticated hill-village of Evisa. Then came 
 work at Florence, Naples, Taormina, Tripoli, Tunis, in Malta, 
 at Athens, Trieste, Venice, Milan, the Italian Lakes, and so
 
 ioo LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 back to England. The Archbishop lent them his house at 
 Canterbury, and there they rested the greater part of July. 
 On the 22nd of that month they went down to Crinnis, his 
 father's house in Cornwall, for the wedding of his sister 
 Gwendolen next day. August and September were spent 
 quietly in England. I find record of only one sermon 
 preached ; it was at Brampton, on behalf of the Church in 
 Jamaica. On October 4 he started on the far errand, leaving 
 Mrs. Collins in London. 
 
 The object of the journey was to visit Mar Shimun, 
 Catholicos of the East, and to help forward the work of the 
 Archbishop's Mission to the venerable Church over which 
 Mar Shimun presides. That Mission was first sent by Arch- 
 bishop Benson in 1886, at the urgent request of the Assyrian 
 Church, whose very existence, after a long and wonderful 
 history, was imperilled by the assaults of Kurdish and 
 Mussulman neighbours on the one hand, and by Roman 
 Catholic and American Presbyterian emissaries on the other. 
 Ignorance, born of oppression and poverty, made them unable 
 to meet their enemies, and they turned to the Church of 
 England for instruction and spiritual aid. The Assyrian 
 Church has long borne the epithet of " Nestorian," but there 
 seems to be no reason for thinking that it is committed to 
 the form of belief usually associated with that word. In 
 view of the Lambeth Conference to be held in 1908, it was 
 thought well that a legatus of high standing should confer 
 with the rulers of the Church which we had so long befriended, 
 in order to see whether a closer union were possible or to be 
 desired. The Bishop of Gibraltar undertook to penetrate 
 into their mountain fastnesses ; and he hoped by starting 
 in October to achieve his purpose before the worst of the 
 winter interfered. 
 
 He printed an account of his expedition in the following 
 year, first in his diocesan organ, the Anglican Church Maga- 
 zine, and afterwards, with additions, in pamphlet form, 
 under the title of Notes of a Journey to Kurdistan. But the 
 pamphlet was not published, and is not easily obtainable. 
 I have no hesitation, therefore, in reproducing here large 
 extracts from it.
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 101 
 
 Arriving at Erivan on Tuesday, October 22, the Bishop met 
 Mr. Wigram, the head of the Archbishop's Mission, and Mr. 
 F. J. Blamire Brown, who was on his way out to join the 
 Mission. Erivan is near Etchmiadzin, the Canterbury of the 
 Armenians. His first steps were turned to Etchmiadzin 
 and to the venerable Patriarch of the Armenians, Meguer- 
 dich, of whom he wrote an interesting account a few weeks 
 later in the Guardian of December II, 1907. This is his 
 narrative of the expedition : 
 
 " Tuesday, October 22. I arrived at Erivan about 7 a.m. 
 . . . We resolved to drive to Etchmiadzin to-day, it being 
 impossible to start on our longer journey till to-morrow, no 
 horses being forthcoming. It was a beautiful drive of about 
 14 versts (10 miles), first across the old bridge and below the 
 Persian citadel of Erivan (taken by the Russians in 1826) on 
 its rocky cliff above the river, then between gardens and vine- 
 yards bordered by poplars. Then we came out upon the 
 open plain, and drove over open moors covered with a 
 beautiful red-brown shrub ; we had the noble snow-crowned 
 mass of Ararat in sight on the left, rising above a range of 
 lower mountains which bordered the plain to the south, as 
 a second but lower range did to the north. 
 
 "As we approached Etchmiadzin several churches [came] in 
 sight, in addition to the great mother church and monastery 
 of the Blessed Virgin itself. The original cathedral was at 
 Artaxata ; about 400 A.D. it was removed to Vagharshapad, 
 now Etchmiadzin ( = the only-begotten Son came down), 
 where St. Gregory the Illuminator had built a little chapel in 
 303 A.D., on the spot where he had seen the Son of God 
 descending in a vision ; afterwards removed again, owing to 
 hostile invasions, but fixed at Etchmiadzin about 1400 A.D. 
 About this mother sanctuary many others gathered, some 
 now in ruins, each formerly with a convent attached : 
 the great church of the Angels, once the Cathedral, now 
 ruined (out of sight, on left) ; the church of St. Rhipsime 
 (close to road on right, finest and most beautiful of all) ; 
 the church of St. Gayanai (beyond the great church, also 
 ancient) ; that of Shogagath (the Divine Light), now in 
 ruins ; and others less interesting and more modern. We
 
 102 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 passed a strange ancient graveyard of the monks, with huge 
 masses of rock covering the tombs. Presently we came to 
 the cathedral monastery : a huge courtyard surrounded by 
 high walls, partly of squared stones from the church of the 
 Angels, partly of mud ; within this the great church with 
 its five domes, the monastic buildings, school, printing press, 
 etc., and, just outside, the guest-houses. Wigram had 
 written to say we were coming, but the letter had miscarried, 
 and we were not expected. After a short wait in the guest- 
 house, however, there arrived the Vartabad Karapet to 
 receive us, he being not only Librarian, but at present 
 Secretary to the Catholicos, and indeed the chief person in 
 the monastery after him. (Vartabad = preacher ; the title 
 corresponds to archimandrite in the Greek Church). Spoke 
 French ; told me that the Catholicos had become very 
 feeble of late, and was confined to his bed, but that he would 
 gladly receive us if we could wait till later in the day. Mean- 
 while he himself would show us the monastery. 
 
 " So he led us by gardens and vineyards to the huge tank, 
 over 100 yards long, which secures them water all the year 
 round, in the midst of a great grove of poplars : then through 
 the gate into the court of the monastery. In the centre 
 stands the great church of St. Mary, with fine seventh- 
 century porch, beautifully carved ; the church itself, with 
 five domes, is much later, and the effect largely spoiled by the 
 red paint with which these are covered. By the porch are 
 alabaster monuments of two Catholicoi, and close to the 
 west wall of the church the monument of Sir John Macdonald, 
 a British envoy to Persia in the eighteenth century, who died 
 there ' from the effects of the climate and over- fatigue.' 
 Within, the effect is very fine and good. Under the great 
 dome (like the little church of the Portiuncula in Sta. Maria 
 degli Angeli at Assisi) is the little shrine said to have been 
 built by St. Gregory the Illuminator, on the place of his 
 vision, which has set the type for the porches of Armenian 
 churches ever since. Here the Catholicos is still consecrated. 
 In the nave there is a fine throne of walnut, given by Pope 
 Innocent XI. (another of ivory, given by Armenians of 
 Smyrna, is at present in the museum for repair). In the
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 103 
 
 sacristy are many interesting things : a huge silver-gilt 
 vessel, 18 inches across, for the holy oil ; many old and good 
 vestments, including some in China silk, with figures of Our 
 Lord and the Apostles in Chinese dress, with long moustaches 
 and pigtails. . . . We could not see the Treasury, with its 
 relics, as there are three keys, and the holders of two were 
 absent. Altogether the monastery gave the impression that 
 the Long Vacation was still going on, and most of its apart- 
 ments were empty. 
 
 " We also went to the Museum several cuneiform inscrip- 
 tions, many interesting antiquities and to the famous 
 Library. The latter is very fine ; there are more than four 
 thousand manuscript volumes (about fifty thousand separate 
 writings), mostly Armenian, a few only Greek and Syriac. 
 I inquired after the newly discovered work of St. Irenaeus 
 on the Apostolic Tradition (in an Armenian version), and 
 was delighted to find that our guide was the discoverer of 
 it. It is now in his rooms, where, later on, he showed it to 
 us, and he and Erwand gave me a copy of the edition of 
 it, with a German translation, that they had just published 
 in Harnack's Texte und Untersuchungen. Then we visited 
 the printing house. It is interesting, with several good 
 machine presses ; also a hand press, given by the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society for the printing of the Armenian 
 Bible. 
 
 "Then after this we paid our visit to the Patriarch, to whom 
 I had a letter of introduction (official in form and properly 
 sealed) from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Patriarch 
 of Etchmiadzin is Catholicos of all the Armenians, and the 
 present holder of the office, now in his eighty-seventh year, 
 is a man of very high character and true sanctity, who has 
 been the real leader of his Church and people ever since the 
 Berlin Conference of 1878. We found him lying in bed, but 
 properly arrayed, wearing his hat and veil, with a little cross 
 of brilliants in front, and a large jewelled pectoral cross ; 
 a fine venerable man, with a face of great strength and gentle- 
 ness combined, beautiful eyes, and firm, aquiline nose ; aged 
 indeed, but showing no signs of mental decay. I presented 
 my letter, which he received with both hands, and then gave
 
 io 4 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 to the Vartabad Karapet, who interpreted it. He welcomed 
 us warmly, spoke of his visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 (Dr. Tait) in 1878, and of the House of Commons, of which 
 he evidently had a very vivid recollection. He asked many 
 questions about the English Church, and expressed his great 
 regard for it. When I spoke of our sympathy with the 
 Armenian Church he seemed to be moved, but made it clear 
 that he had been much saddened by the little interest in 
 his Church that had been shown when he visited England. 
 When I expressed our affection for, and sympathy with, 
 his Church, he thanked me, and gave me both hands, saying : 
 ' Yes, I understand, and I believe your Church cares. But 
 the world is strong, and time will show.' It was clear that 
 he was very tired, and that his memory was failing ; so we 
 did not stay longer, and took our leave of the venerable old 
 Patriarch. 
 
 " After this we were summoned to dinner (3 p.m.) with the 
 Vartabads Karapet, Erwand, Komitas, the headmaster of 
 the school, and one or two other dignitaries of the monastery. 
 They gave us caviare and other sakuski, " borch " (or 
 vegetable soup), meat of several kinds, cheese, and delicious 
 grapes, and drank our health in their own excellent wine. 
 There was much questioning on both sides : as to our journey 
 and as to their life. They have some two hundred scholars 
 in the schools, from thirty to fifty monks in the monastery 
 itself, and often many visitors ; whilst the whole colony 
 dependent upon the monastery is much larger. They 
 invited me to stay with them as the guest of the Patriarch 
 on my return journey, told me how gladly their brethren in 
 the monasteries about Van would welcome me, and urged 
 me, if possible, to visit the famous monastery of Achtamar, 
 on an island in Lake Van, the seat of a patriarchate which is 
 temporarily suppressed. So, with much friendship on both 
 sides, we parted." 
 
 On Friday, October 25, they crossed the frontier into 
 Turkish territory : 
 
 " We arrived at the top of the pass at 9.30 ; an open glade 
 some 7,000 feet up, with the Russian guard-house and the 
 cottage of the serjeant in command, and 200 yards further
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 105 
 
 on the first Turkish sentries. Beyond this the ground fell 
 abruptly, with magnificent views over the plain below, and 
 out towards the Persian and Turkish mountains. Our goods 
 were dumped on the ground just outside the frontier line, 
 and we remained there, cold and hot by turns as wind or 
 sun prevailed, and I troubled not a little by difficulty of 
 breathing, which always attacked me at any height, 
 especially after the least exertion." 
 
 When they reached the Turkish Customs Station, he 
 says: 
 
 " Presently the doctor came to examine us, as there is quar- 
 antine against Russia, letting us through, however, without 
 difficulty. The Customs' examination was more severe. The 
 chief officials and their friends, ten or twelve in all, took their 
 seats on the divan in the inner room, where (as it was Rama- 
 dan) we gave them tea, and let them smoke, in order to 
 propitiate them. Every single package had to be brought 
 in and emptied before them, they making voluble criticisms 
 and showing the liveliest interest and curiosity. Meanwhile 
 the outer room was crowded with sightseers, who came in 
 from the rain outside, and gradually vitiated the air, and trod 
 our floor into a sticky mass. It was nearly three hours 
 before we were rid of them ; after which we had our own 
 supper of tea and coarse bread, unrolled our beds on the wet 
 stable-floor, and slept the sleep of the just. 
 
 " Saturday, October 26. A fine morning after the storm, 
 but very cold : the plain very wet, but the broken ground 
 behind us sprinkled with snow, and the mountains covered. 
 I was up early to see the village, the first Kurdish village we 
 have come to. It is a large burrow, or warren, consisting 
 of a series of earth-mounds of large size, some with solid 
 roofs that can be walked on, others that the occupants 
 anxiously warn one off. . . . The whole thing strongly 
 suggests the underground dwellings in Cornwall, at 
 Chysauster or Treryn. 
 
 " Sunday, October 27. This was the first of many Sundays 
 on which, alas ! we had to do without our Eucharist, and to 
 travel all day, doing the best we could to keep ourselves in 
 the atmosphere of Sunday none the less. . . . We started
 
 io6 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 at 6.45, and Wigram, Blamire Brown, and I said Mattins 
 together as we climbed up the mountains above the village, on 
 our horses. . . . Our path climbed right into the mountains, 
 to a steep and narrow ridge over 9,400 feet high ; and as 
 we were close to the Persian frontier, across which Kurds 
 can disappear after a raid, our zaptieh had secured a guard 
 of six soldiers, who accompanied us most of the day. The 
 climb tired our horses and us ; and at the top, which was 
 bleak and marshy, with a few patches of old snow, I found it 
 very difficult to breathe and no wonder, for I had never 
 been so high up before. Then we descended into a great 
 open valley, which was the beginning of a huge region, 
 hundreds of square miles in extent, simply covered with lava- 
 flows. There were not a few volcanic peaks about, in 
 addition to Ararat, the queen of them all ; but Wigram and 
 I agreed that much of the lava must have come from great 
 horizontal fissures rather than from peaks. In the open 
 valley which we now followed, in a bitterly cold wind, the 
 whole surface for miles was covered with great craggy masses 
 of lava, like a petrified stormy sea, with waves sometimes 20, 
 40, or even 100 feet high. We ought to have gone on as far 
 as Bayazid Agha ; but our guides told us that the road did 
 not go near it, and that there was no other village in front, 
 so at four o'clock we halted at Terchik, a beautiful Kurdish 
 village looking out across the plain towards the Persian 
 mountains to the south and east, which were ominously 
 covered with newly fallen snow. The people offered us a 
 very small room, with clean-looking mats, a fire-place, and 
 a ' port-hole,' six inches across, in the roof. . . . They were 
 actually able to give us a pilaf (rice cooked with butter) 
 and eggs, so that we fared well. 
 
 " Monday, October 28 (SS. Simon and Jude). Alas ! no 
 Eucharist ! A hard frost in the night. They covered our 
 ' port-hole ' with turf to keep us warm, and we had it opened 
 again that we might not suffocate ; but the icy air fell like 
 a waterfall upon us, and my bed (a i-inch mattress with two 
 blankets and a rug) was not sufficient to keep me warm. 
 In the morning I had to break through ice nearly an inch 
 thick, on a large horse-pond, for my ablutions ; the rest, I
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 107 
 
 believe, contented themselves with the regular Eastern wash. 
 We started at six, under the stars, through beautiful open 
 country, but with the great plain of lava never far off, 
 through which the river has cut a deep bed for itself. After 
 two or three hours we came to Bayazid Agha, where we ought 
 to have stayed last night. Our guides were not in the least 
 ashamed of deceiving us, and I learned afterwards that there 
 is no word in Turkish for ' a lie,' as distinguished from ' a 
 mistake." 
 
 That night they spent at the large Armenian village of 
 Kordzut. About 12.30 a.m. they were startled by hearing 
 several shots outside. They at once turned out. On 
 inquiry, it appeared that Kurds had attacked the village, 
 and actually broken down a corner of the sheep-fold in 
 order to steal the sheep ; but the alarm had frightened 
 them, and they had made off without any plunder. 
 
 " Tuesday, October 29. I was up at 3 a.m., and went to 
 the stream to wash, where it flows through a deep hollow 
 some way from the village. As I arrived, a snarl and a 
 growl, and out there came a large wolf, looking in the moon- 
 light as big as a donkey. I stood some time, afraid to go on, 
 for I could not see what had become of him ; then decided 
 that funk was worse than wolves, so went down and washed. 
 We could not get off till after 5 a.m., for what they told us 
 was a ten hours' journey to Van. Crossed two passes, each 
 of about 7,500 feet, and then at length descended to Lake 
 Archag, along the east side of which we had to ride. The 
 lake is very beautiful, deep blue in colour, with a white 
 margin of alkali-stained sand ; it has a little basin of its 
 own, within, but unconnected with, that of Lake Van. We 
 halted for lunch on the north shore, where bands of gaily 
 dressed Armenians passed us, returning from a pilgrimage 
 church. Then we made our way along the shore of the lake, 
 up and down along a sloping path in fierce sunlight, till, at 
 4 p.m., we left the lake and turned towards Van. By this 
 time the baggage animals were obviously tired out, and we 
 found that the men had deliberately taken us somewhat 
 out of our road in order to stop another night on the way. 
 So we sent them off with the zaptieh to a neighbouring
 
 io8 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 village, with orders to come into Van as early as possible 
 next day, whilst we three decided to make a push for it, 
 although it was already getting dark and the horses were very 
 tired. ... At length, about 9 p.m., we reached the Mission 
 House in safety. We had been nearly sixteen hours out, and 
 I had been actually in the saddle all the time excepting half 
 an hour for lunch, and about fifteen minutes when we climbed 
 down a very rough place after dark. 
 
 " Our knock was at once answered, and we were received 
 with joy by the thirty-five boys of the Mission School, who 
 kissed our hands, seized our impedimenta, and seemed not 
 to know how to do enough for us. Mr. Bowdon, the Missioner 
 in charge, received us not less warmly. They had gone out 
 across the plain to meet us more than once, and had given 
 us up for the day. But food was quickly ready, after which 
 we were glad to get to bed, tired out and somewhat chilled, 
 but otherwise none the worse." 
 
 Van was at that time the headquarters of the Arch- 
 bishop's Mission ; it has since been removed to Amadia, on 
 the Mosul side of the mountains. There was much to interest 
 the Bishop in the place and its neighbourhood, and he lost 
 his heart to the little deacons and others attending the 
 Mission School. But he only stayed there two nights, and 
 on Thursday, October 31, he resumed the journey towards 
 Qudshanis, the home of Mar Shimun. The worst was yet 
 to come. He had scarcely felt tired thus far with the long 
 hours of riding ; and though he had found difficulty in 
 breathing on the high ground, the difficulty was not pressing, 
 so long as he was on horseback. 
 
 " Thursday, October 31. We had our Allhallowmas Eucha- 
 rist this morning at six o'clock, by anticipation. I celebrated, 
 wearing mitre and vestments. We used incense, as the 
 Mission is authorised to do on festivals by the Archbishop, 
 and sang the whole service, though I could barely manage 
 my part for lack of breath. (Van is only 5,500 feet above the 
 sea, but for some reason the rarefaction of the air seems 
 especially great.) All the boys were there, standing in a 
 dense mass at the back of the chapel. They joined in the 
 Creed in their own tongue, and evidently followed the whole
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 109 
 
 service intelligently. I shall never forget their rapt faces 
 and the look of awe and reverence in their dark eyes. 
 
 " Meanwhile, all arrangements had been made for our 
 journey to Qudshanis. As we were going to return to Van, 
 we were able to reduce our luggage ... to one horse-load ; my 
 baggage consisting of a sack, and a handbag with my robes, 
 etc. After our experience by the shores of Lake Archag, I 
 thought it wise to guard against the sun, and Bowdon care- 
 fully prepared a pugaree for my soft felt hat. As it turned 
 out, I never once needed it ; on the other hand, I was thank- 
 ful for every thick thing that I had. ... All these, how- 
 ever, proved quite inefficient to keep out the cold. 
 
 "At 8 a.m. on October 31 we started, being accompanied 
 across the plain for nearly two miles by the boys, with 
 Bowdon and Blamire Brown and the Syrian priest. The 
 party consisted of our two selves, Gregor, the Armenian 
 steward at the Mission-house (who speaks Turkish but not 
 English), two kartajis, and four horses mine a chestnut. 
 The zaptiehs who were to accompany us had not turned up, 
 so we left directions that they should follow us. 
 
 " There are several routes to Qudshanis. The shortest 
 and hardest, impassable all the winter, takes three days ; 
 another, by Bashkala, takes about five days ; whilst occa- 
 sionally this also is closed for a time and further detours 
 become necessary. We took the shortest without misgivings, 
 for although the weather was doubtful, and the mountains 
 in sight full of snow, some of the boys had come down 
 recently bj> it, and it is usually open for more than a month 
 later. In this case it proved otherwise, and we did not reach 
 Qudshanis till the eighth day was well advanced. 
 
 " The start was rather unfortunate ; we missed our way 
 when two hours out, and had to retrace our steps for an hour 
 or more. The zaptiehs had not yet turned up ; so after we 
 had crossed the first line of hills, Wigram made a detour to a 
 village to the right to requisition one or more, whilst I went 
 straight on to the Armenian village of Intosh, beyond which 
 our path could be seen, climbing up a very steep gorge 
 between two peaks of the range in front, the pass being about 
 9,000 feet high. Owing to recent heavy rain, the whole
 
 no LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 marshy plain beyond Intosh was under water, and the ford 
 of the Norchnk Su impassable ; so I, with the beasts, had 
 to make for a bridge a huge way off to the left, close to which 
 was a ruined fort of (I think) Sassanian or Roman work. It 
 was nearly three o'clock before we met (Wigram having 
 obtained two zaptiehs, who were to take us to Merwanen only), 
 and getting dusk before we began to climb to the pass. As 
 we stumbled on it became quite dark. My horse did his 
 best, but could not carry me up ; so I got off and walked a 
 few steps, then rested, leaning against him, then up again. 
 The others were not much better off, excepting Wigram, who 
 strode on to the top, and there awaited us. At length, 
 scrambling among loose stones and patches of snow, panting 
 and aching, we reached the top, a mere ledge, in darkness. 
 The descent was more gradual and the path better, which 
 was fortunate, as we still had a long, dark march before us, 
 across rough ground, over which our horses snorted and 
 stumbled, occasionally whimpering in the most pathetic way. 
 At length, at 9.30, we reached Kaseriki (Kurdish). At the 
 first house we tried we could not get admittance. ' My 
 children are with me in bed ! ' was apparently the reason. 
 We resolved to go on to the Agha's house ; but ere we reached 
 it we were taken in at another house, and given a fair-sized 
 room, half for the horses. There was decent ventilation, 
 however, and the good people produced some eggs. We ate 
 our suppers as quickly as possible, got to bed at once, and 
 slept. 
 
 "Friday, November i. A strange Allhallowmas Day. Up 
 at four, but could not get off till nearly six ; the kartajis a 
 little cross and irritable, as they often are in Ramadan. The 
 Agha's house is a huge castellated mass with a solid semi- 
 circular bastion, which might be of any age ; it is now much 
 dilapidated, and has been added to in modern days. We 
 did not see the Agha, who was still in bed ; but he sent out 
 a kind message, and we promised to stay with him if we 
 returned that way. Again a long march, climbing most of 
 the way, and at length entering a long and grand defile, 
 where we saw several magnificent eagles. Much rain and a 
 little snow, so that we were glad to take shelter in a shepherd's
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN in 
 
 hut at midday (the only sign of human habitation we passed) . 
 On again, down a steep ravine, and across the Bohtan Su, 
 which is the main branch of the Tigris ; up the other side, 
 and on till we reached Merwanen, our first Syrian village, 
 where the Malik of the district resides. He is a peasant, who 
 keeps a little store ; and he received us with great honour. 
 He said that there were about thirty Syrian families in the 
 village, besides two Armenian and about five Kurdish. I 
 asked if they had a Qasha (priest) in the village. ' Yes, a 
 kinsman of mine/ he replied. Presently he came, a fine old 
 man and a most picturesque figure ; shocks of white hair, 
 turbaned, about a dark, rugged face of noble expression, 
 with fine, deep-set eyes. He took us to see the church. 
 The Qasha told us that not long before a party of nomadic 
 Kurds . . . had broken into the church, and destroyed every- 
 thing they could lay their hands on. He showed us a large 
 recess full of fragments of MS. books, cut to pieces with 
 swords, or rather knives. The Malik said that they had 
 stolen some of his sheep at the same time ; that it was 
 always the same, they could keep nothing, and that if he 
 could he would sell out, and go off to some other country. . . . 
 Thus the poor nation is weakened. The old Qasha trembled 
 with delight at our visit. When he kissed my hand at 
 parting I kissed his cheek ; and the tears started to his eyes 
 as he seized my hand and laid it on his head." 
 
 It turned out afterwards that Merwanen was right on their 
 way, and that they might have stopped there ; but they did 
 not know it, and set off about 5 p.m. for Sekunis, a large 
 mixed village, mainly Armenian, which they reached after 
 daik. All seemed promising there ; but gradually their 
 lodging filled up with Turks and others, who kept arriving 
 and departing, eating and smoking, drinking tea and talking 
 nearly all night, so that they got no rest at all. 
 
 " Saturday, November 2. Up at three, and off soon after 
 five. When I went out to wash bathed, in fact, in a large 
 stream close at hand it was very cold, but the sky was 
 fairly clear. It was very thick, however, when we started, 
 with a little rain, which soon turned to wet snow, so that we 
 began to get very wet. Then came drier snow, and it
 
 ii2 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 snowed and blew worse and worse as we mounted higher. 
 At length we came out upon the Akarag Dagh, a broad range 
 of broken craggy peaks, with upland valleys between them, 
 forming good upland pasture in summer, at a height of 
 8,000 to 10,000 feet, but now terribly bleak, and deep in 
 snow. It got worse and worse as we struggled on. The 
 horses floundered about, and could not see for the snow (nor 
 could we), and kept coming down. This was quite unavoid- 
 able : they got their feet into holes in the deep snow, and 
 were bound to fall ; and the only thing to do was to get free 
 from the stirrups and throw one's self clear of them into the 
 soft cushion that lay there ready. Poor Gregor did not 
 distinguish himself. As a rule, he kept to the rear ; and 
 whenever things got difficult we could hear him crying out, 
 ' Rabbi, rabbi,' in a voice like that of a sick sheep. He says 
 that if he gets back safely to Van, nothing will ever induce 
 him to visit the mountains again. 
 
 "As we went on the weather grew steadily worse. The 
 wind increased into a blizzard, driving the snow before it 
 into our faces till it cut like so many knives. Gradually it 
 froze on our eyebrows and ears, and Wigram's beard became 
 a solid mass. We began to feel symptoms of frost-bite. 
 Both my ears, one cheek, and fingers of both hands were 
 frozen, so that after rubbing the latter with snow I had to 
 keep them in my pockets, guiding my horse as best I could. 
 At length, when we had hardly strength to face the storm 
 any longer, and our horses were even more exhausted, and 
 their feet bleeding from slipping against the rocks, the guide 
 whom we had taken from Sekunis, and the two zaptiehs who 
 had joined us there, confessed that they had lost their way 
 completely. So, as we could not hope to get through, or 
 indeed to hold out much longer at all, we resolved to make for 
 a place of shelter, and turned off to one side. It was easier 
 going now, but we had still a long way before us, down and 
 up again, until at length our eyes were gladdened by the 
 sight of some mounds above the level surface of the snow, 
 which we knew to be a cemetery ! Thus death became a 
 sign of life to us, and about 12.45, half-frozen and wholly 
 exhausted, we reached the village of Shinzaga, about 8,000 

 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 113 
 
 feet up. One of our zaptiehs said that if we had gone on 
 fifteen minutes more not one of us could have survived to 
 tell the tale. It was not perhaps so bad as that, but we 
 were certainly in considerable danger, and most mercifully 
 preserved. Our men behaved well throughout, and so did 
 the horses, two of which were simply done, whilst most 
 were badly cut about the feet. 
 
 " Our arrival created no little excitement. We were given 
 a small ' room/ where we soon had our beds spread and a 
 fire lighted, and took off some of our wet things. Our host 
 was the headman of the village, and an officer of the Hamidieh 
 irregular cavalry. He came in to greet us, wearing his 
 military greatcoat, medals, etc., and coughing as if he were 
 in the last throes of consumption. Presently other people 
 crowded in, too, till we could hardly move, and although the 
 hole in the roof let in the snow whilst it let out the smoke, 
 the air was heavy and stifling. . . . We settled down as best 
 we could to rest and read, and get our bruises and our frozen 
 fingers healed. I took the opportunity, moreover, of making 
 a more thorough inspection of the ' house ' than I had been 
 able to do before, under similar circumstances, when we 
 generally arrived after dark, and left at daybreak, if not 
 before. I made a rough plan of it. ... 
 
 "As our men were not a little disheartened, as well as 
 fatigued, and had behaved well, we resolved to make them 
 a present of a sheep, which cheered them up at once. It was 
 brought in for our inspection, poor thing ; a nice black 
 creature with a huge fat tail, and its price two medjids 
 (seven shillings). Soon after 6 p.m. a strong smell of tallow 
 told of the roasting of him, so we went into the large living- 
 room to see what was being done. They had burned wood 
 and tezek in the tellura till it was nearly red-hot, and half 
 full of ashes, then put in a layer of wet leaves and grass 
 (I think), and then the sheep, wrapped up in his own tail- 
 fat. We sent them a handful of tea to go with it, and they 
 brought us a portion of the roast sheep, with which, a tin of 
 soup, and a bowl of yaurt (a kind of junket, a favourite and 
 very useful Turkish dish) , we fared sumptuously. The men 
 seemed to be eating the greater part of the night.
 
 H4 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 " There was much discussion as to what we were to do 
 next. The general opinion was that we could not possibly 
 get across the pass to Qudshanis, since it was sure not to be 
 open again this year. Our host, however, talked of another 
 attempt if the weather was good on the morrow. If it 
 failed, we should have to go round, which would take much 
 longer. That is very awkward for me, as I have no time to 
 spare ; but it would be wrong to go back now, so I must 
 try to squeeze things together later on. 
 
 " Sunday, November 3. Somewhat rested, but stiff and 
 sore, and the frozen fingers and one ear tiresome. It snowed 
 most of the night, and was still coming down at 7 a.m. We 
 said Mattins together, and sang a hymn. Made a start at 
 eight, as it looked better, with the headman as our guide. 
 At first the sun shone, and the glare, in spite of our snow 
 spectacles, was very great ; but soon the sky clouded over, 
 and the snow and wind began again. It was not so bad as 
 yesterday, and we were not facing it ; moreover, we had a 
 guide whom we could trust ; still, it was pretty severe. The 
 snow was much deeper than yesterday ; in fact, in some drifts 
 the horses went in right up to their ears, and we came off 
 more than once. Passed several large cemeteries, relics of 
 deserted villages, and two ancient hill-forts ; saw several 
 eagles and vultures. But our attempt at the higher ridges 
 failed ; we could not get through the snow, and the wind was 
 still almost unbearable. So when we reached Pagana, about 
 i p.m., we decided to stay there, on the urgent advice of our 
 guide and the zaptiehs. The horses had done nearly as much 
 as they could manage, and we were far from well ourselves ; 
 besides, there was no other village in front that we could 
 reach before night, and it would not have done to be exposed 
 to the bitter wind. . . . 
 
 " Here we remained the rest of the day, going out from 
 time to time into the biting wind and hard frost. . . . Later 
 on the Agha arrived, on a magnificent horse ; a fine, tall man, 
 in the uniform of a colonel of the Hamidieh cavalry, with a 
 gorgeous turban having a jewel in front. About 5 p.m. 
 there came in many people of the village, including the 
 Mullah, in his white turban (we were greatly struck by the
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 115 
 
 devout Mahomedanism here ; we saw nothing like it either 
 before or after). . . . Alter this there followed much talk, 
 especially on the part of the Agha, who is indeed a jewel 
 amongst Aghas. He could not imagine why the Sultan 
 had interfered with the Persian provinces. Everyone knew 
 that they had been Persian for over a hundred years, and 
 God gave us our possessions that we might govern them 
 rightly, not that we might defraud our neighbours. This 
 province had been ruined by bad government, and did not 
 need enlarging. . . . 
 
 " The Agha asked where we were going, and was much 
 interested to hear of our errand. . . . He said that he was 
 great friends with Mar Shimun, and loved him as a father. 
 He promised also to start with us to-morrow, to show us the 
 road, and to let us have a guard of four men, who would at 
 least help to make the road passable. We certainly ought 
 to get on the better for the fact that so many people are 
 making it a point of honour to see us safely through ! 
 
 " During all this, the Mullah had sat alone at the upper 
 end of the room. Now the Agha arose and went to him, and, 
 with two or three more, said the evening prayers of the 
 Mosque ; we saying our prayers meanwhile. After which he 
 retired, and we went to bed. 
 
 " Monday, November 4. A disturbed night. At 1.30 a.m. 
 they brought in a meal for the Mahomedans, who were 
 keeping Ramadan. The meal ended in smoke and talk, 
 and we got little more sleep. They were asleep again by 
 4.30, when we got up, so as to be ready by 6.30, when we 
 had arranged to start. We had to wait till 7.45 for the 
 Agha, who was ready at last, with his fine horse and the four 
 men on foot ; then, after affectionate farewells to the little 
 son, we started. The sun shone at first, but it soon got over- 
 cast, and snowed and blew fiercely, so that the day was a 
 very exhausting and breathless one, up and down amongst 
 the high mountains, twice or three times up to 10,000 feet 
 and never below 8,000. We managed to cross the water- 
 shed, but all our efforts to get over the pass towards Qud- 
 shanis failed, owing to the weather and the soft snow. So, 
 after directing us towards the upper valley of the Zab, the
 
 n6 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Agha took his farewell, giving his gloves to Wigram as a 
 present. We turned in the direction pointed out, along a 
 depression which would lead in time to a stream which would 
 flow ultimately into the valley of the Zab. It was very hard 
 work ; the snow soft, the streams half-frozen, and covered 
 with ice. Often our horses fell, the baggage animal especially, 
 whose load had to be pitched off into the snow, and repacked. 
 Sometimes they put their feet apart and slid down long 
 slopes of snow ; one horse which had given much trouble 
 from the start proved quite an expert tobogganist. We got 
 very tired, but there was nothing for it but to press on before 
 the blizzard. We passed a few tracks of wild creatures, but 
 little else, though we saw signs of human habitation far off 
 our route. At length, about five, we reached a large mixed 
 village, Arkinis, with very large flocks and herds, and many 
 fierce dogs. Here they put us into a kind of loft, with two 
 small windows covered with cloth, and fortunately a decent 
 stove ; and they brought us a dinner of bread, yaurt, and 
 dried apricots. I was about done when we arrived, and 
 Wigram's hands were in a very bad state. These persistent 
 high altitudes are trying, and the weather keeps bad. The 
 wind is roaring outside now. We use the prayer for fine 
 weather, modified, in our daily Offices. 
 
 " Tuesday, November 5. As hard a day as we have had 
 harder for Wigram. We did not start till 8 a.m., to give 
 the horses rest, and descended steadily by a precipitous path 
 for 1,300 feet to the Black River (Awarosh Syr., Karachi 
 Turk.), the chief of the branches which together make up 
 the Greater Zab. Here we had actually left most of the 
 snow ; but we were by no means ' in clover.' Our way lay 
 at first in the river-bed over large rough boulders, and we had 
 to cross it twice where it was rather swift, though nearly 
 covered with ice. Once, and once only, Gregor took the 
 lead. But the poor fellow slipped off his horse into the ice- 
 cold water, and had to be wrung out, after which he retired 
 into obscurity. After following the river through a rocky 
 gorge (the path by the waterside being flooded), and for 
 miles along a slippery ledge, we found that we had to climb 
 up the left bank, several thousand feet, into the snow again,
 
 JOURNEY TO KURDISTAN 117 
 
 and on in a snowstorm, which got steadily worse. At this 
 point a mutiny broke out in the caravan. We had passed 
 the highest point, near which there is a village, and descended 
 nearly a mile in the deep snow, when the zaptiehs caught us 
 up with the news that the two kartajis had flung down their 
 horse-loads in the snow and refused to go on. (Of course, 
 the zaptiehs ought to have prevented it ; it was just what 
 they were there for.) We were at the point where some 
 remarkable red rocks rise into the air with a cuneiform 
 inscription, it is said, though we did not see it ; these gave 
 a little shelter from the biting wind and the snow, which 
 gradually changed into rain. So we waited there while 
 Wigram returned on foot after the kartajis, climbing at a 
 great pace. He found one load in the snow, the other 
 brought back to the village and deposited there, and one of 
 the kartajis on the look-out. Taking no notice of him, he 
 promptly found two new horses, hired them, and brought 
 the loads on, the whole thing occupying some three hours. 
 Meanwhile, the rest of us Gregor the Armenian, the two 
 zaptiehs, the Kurdish guide, and I waited with the horses. 
 Presently, without a word to me, the three first-named 
 slipped away, leaving the Kurd and me with the five horses, 
 and made for the village about twenty minutes below. As 
 soon as I realised what had happened, I took two of the horses 
 and the Kurd the other three, and we made our way down, 
 getting soaked on the way. After much searching I found 
 Gregor and the two zaptiehs making themselves comfortable 
 over a tellura in one of the huts. I promptly upset them on 
 to the ground and boxed Gregor's ears it was the only thing 
 to be done and made them make room for the Kurd at the 
 fire and dry such things of mine as I could spare, for of course 
 we were both wet through. Presently Wigram arrived, even 
 wetter if possible, with his capture. Finding that the 
 zaptiehs had announced that we were going to stay there, 
 we resolved to go on to the next village, the name of which 
 I forget, some two miles away. It was still raining, and the 
 half -frozen slush and mud were very slippery ; but we arrived 
 at last, long after dark, soaked again and fagged out. Our 
 whole caravan had to share a large ' room ' with a Kurdish
 
 n8 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 family ; but we had one end to ourselves, with a hearth, 
 and soon stripped and put our things out to dry, partaking 
 of the ' cup that cheers ' in our beds, upon which the rain 
 dripped all night in a way that was hardly cheerful. A bad 
 cough kept me awake for hours. 
 
 " Wednesday, November 6. Our things were not nearly 
 dry. My sheepskin coat was no longer available, as its 
 padded sleeves were soaked through, and the coat which I 
 got out of the sack was already wet. So was the burca ; 
 but I still found it very useful over my knees. During the 
 night, the rain and melted snow fell freely through the roof. 
 One of my boots, which had been unfortunately placed, con- 
 tained nearly enough water to wash with ; while a masterly 
 attempt had been made to steal my goloshes, which I found, 
 after much searching, hidden behind a water- jar. It was 
 still raining hard, and very slippery. But our horses are 
 really wonderful, whether on ice, or slippery mud, or narrow 
 ledges, where it seems hardly possible to stand. They are 
 shod with solid plates of iron covering the whole hoof, with a 
 round hole about as large as a halfpenny in the middle. . . . 
 We climbed down to the valley of the Black River, then up 
 again, with hard rain all the time, by narrow slippery ledges 
 that one would have hesitated to go by on foot. Passed a 
 fine vulture on a pinnacle of rock, so near that we could 
 examine him perfectly. About midday we saw the junction 
 of the Black River with the other branch, forming the Zab, 
 and rode on with the most magnificent views on either side. 
 The Zab has been identified with Hiddekel ; and certainly 
 this might be the Garden of Eden country. The valley of 
 the Zab itself is deep and wide, with fine wooded slopes, 
 and stretches of good alluvial soil here and there at the 
 bottom. Above there are magnificent precipices, with huge 
 projecting rock masses and snow mountains at the sky-line ; 
 and each of the side valleys looks more enchanting than the 
 last. . . . 
 
 "At 6.30 we reached the Syrian village of Kirmi. Wigram 
 was already well known, and I was introduced as the Bishop 
 from England. They received us with open arms, and gave 
 us a good-sized room, with a tellura in a rough, uneven floor.
 
 QUDSHANIS 119 
 
 Our only fellows in occupancy were two buffalo calves, a cat, 
 a puppy, and some chickens ; but it seemed to be on the 
 way to every other part of the house, and people passed 
 through more than once. We took care to spread our beds 
 at the highest point of the rough floor, and partially dried 
 our wet clothes over the tellura. But we were too tired to 
 rest much." 
 
 The next day the Bishop at last reached the goal of his 
 expedition. 
 
 " Thursday, November 7. A wonderful and never-to-be- 
 forgotten day ! They had sent on a runner before us to 
 Qudshanis, to say that we were coming. We started at 
 7 a.m., with one zaptieh, the baggage coming on after. 
 One of the horses died on the way of fatigue. We made 
 our way out of the snow and down a breakneck ridge 
 into the valley of the Zab. As I had already noticed, it 
 contains great stretches of fine alluvial land, capable of high 
 cultivation, full of small trees in their autumn colouring, 
 many of them laden with berries, and a few flowers. I saw 
 terebinth, tamarisk, yew, laurustinus, and many varieties of 
 willows ; and amongst the flowers several species of ever- 
 lasting flowers, poppies, and various flowering daisies. After 
 two hours we turned up the narrower and bleaker valley of 
 the Qudshanis River, and followed it for half an hour to" a 
 beautiful open glade where three streams met, crossed by a 
 tree-trunk bridge, which, however, had been swept away, 
 so that we had to ford the streams. Here there was a large 
 encampment of wandering Kurds, with their tents (of black 
 skins across a ridge-pole), their crowds of children, and flocks 
 and herds and fierce dogs. It was late in the year to see 
 them, as they usually take shelter in some ruined village as 
 soon as the snows begin. We followed the stream to the 
 left for an hour and a half, amid scenery which became wilder 
 and grander every minute, and by a path which at times was 
 a mere crumbling ledge, so that we slipped down the sloping 
 bank more than once. Here, however, two Syrians came 
 down to meet us, greeting us most enthusiastically. They 
 now took charge of the proceedings, helping Wigram's horse 
 and mine (the zaptieh had fallen behind) over difficult places,
 
 120 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 and finding an alternative route where the path was hopelessly 
 broken ; in fact, I don't think we could have made our way 
 without them. At length the river divides again, and the 
 sharp ridge between leads up to the platform on which 
 Qudshanis stands, up amongst the clouds, like the kingdom 
 of Prester John. We crossed a bridge formed of one huge 
 stone, and followed the right branch, which became a series 
 of torrents and falls as we ascended, and then we turned off 
 up the rocky pathway to the plateau. Half-way up a crowd 
 of boys met us, and at the top (where the wind blew keenly 
 and the ground was covered with wet snow) stood Mr. 
 Browne and the whole body of the Syrian clergy now here, 
 who escorted us in triumph across this wonderful little ' alp/ 
 amongst the poplar trees and the great masses of rock 
 apparently left by glacial action . . . past the new Mission 
 House, where Browne lives, and not far from the patriarchal 
 church (familiar to me through many photographs), and on to 
 Mar Shimun's house. 
 
 "At the door he received us with great warmth ; took me 
 by the hand, then I kissed his ring, and he mine, and then 
 we kissed on the cheek. Next he introduced his brother 
 Dawid and his sister Surma (who speaks good English), and 
 soon we were sitting in his reception-room, still in our wet 
 clothes, drinking tea and coffee, and receiving the almost 
 rapturous greetings of these dear people, whilst the wind and 
 snow redoubled their violence outside. They told us that 
 when first the bad weather began they hoped that we might 
 get through ; that then they became anxious lest we should 
 have fallen ill, or been sncwed up, and that latterly they had 
 given us up altogether, and prayed that we might have got 
 back safely to Van. Early this morning, however, Browne's 
 servant, Shamsha Petros, . . . came to him, saying that in 
 the night he had seen us in a dream. We were coming up 
 the river, ' the Abuna i.e. Bishop, ' my father ' wearing a 
 black hat, and the Rabbi a white one.' Some hours after- 
 wards came the runner to say that we were on the way, and 
 then we arrived, I wearing a black fur cap, and Wigram a 
 white helmet ! . . . 
 
 " We sat till lunch at I p.m., which we ate in Eastern
 
 QUDSHANIS 121 
 
 fashion, at two low tables, Mar Shimun, Surma, the Arch- 
 deacon, Browne, Wigram, and I, after which they were 
 passed on to the others present. Fine thin bread, eggs, 
 honey in the comb, two vegetable dishes, excellent melons, 
 yaurt, and kabobs for Wigram and me ; everything that we 
 ate, so Surma told me, came from the place itself. Then they 
 left me to unpack my things. These were for the most part 
 wet through, and I spread them out to dry at the lower end 
 of the reception-room, which is warmed by a stove and a 
 fine brazier ; for I was to stay here as Mar Shimun's guest, 
 and make use of it. Shamsha Abner took away the wettest 
 things, together with handkerchiefs, etc., for the wash. To 
 my amazement the latter came back, beautifully done, in 
 an hour or two. Then I was taken over the patriarchal 
 house. It consists of an ordinary Syrian house, but of large 
 size, and not half underground, together with a large room 
 used for the daily diwan (native in style, with an Eastern 
 floor and mats), several private rooms for members of the 
 family, and the reception-room, of which they are very proud. 
 This latter is a long room, with wooden floor well covered 
 with rugs, a raised platform at one end, walls plastered in 
 white and green, and a fine ceiling of walnut. At one end is 
 a fine painted Syrian cross, at the other a recess painted in 
 colours on gypsum in the Turkish style. 
 
 " At four we went to evening prayers in the cathedral. 
 It was still snowing, but we were able to see something of 
 Qudshanis on the way : the great wall of rock, over 2,000 
 feet high, at the upper end of the triangular plateau ; the 
 deep valleys on either side, with the steep snow-covered 
 ranges beyond ; the beautiful little view of distant ranges 
 beyond the dip at the foot of the plateau ; on the plateau 
 itself, the little groups of houses here and there, amid the 
 snow-covered pasture, and the clusters of poplars and orchard 
 trees. The patriarchal church of Mar Shaliba stands finely 
 not far from the point, and overlooking the valley, in the 
 midst of its little cemetery. It is solidly built of large stones, 
 and dates from about two hundred and twenty-five years 
 ago, when the patriarchate was settled here, but it is in the 
 style of a much earlier day. To enter it you cross a sloping
 
 122 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 ladder over a gorge, and climb through a low doorway (less 
 than 3 feet high, so that it is no easy thing to enter a Syrian 
 church with one's vestments on !) into an inner court, partly 
 covered, where the daily Offices are said in summer. Then 
 through a very low square doorway with a fine sculptured 
 pattern all round it in low relief, . . . into the church itself 
 a dark, square building of large stones with only one little 
 window, I think, and a barrel-roof of stone, supported on 
 two great round arches. The graves of about twelve former 
 patriarchs are built into the wall on the north and west 
 sides. A ladder leads up into the baptistery and treasury. 
 The sanctuary recess is covered by a curtain, and there is a 
 vestry, with an oven for baking the holy loaf, on the eastern 
 side. The service itself, and the singing, were striking ; still 
 more so the rugged-faced clergy grouped about the reading- 
 desk, reading by the light of a single twisted wax taper 
 placed upon the book. 
 
 " Then we went into Mar Shimun's daily diwan, at which 
 we appeared in academical dress, that being the dress of the 
 missioners or ' apostles/ as they are called by the Syrians 
 for state occasions, by Archbishop Benson's appointment. 
 Here I presented the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter of 
 introduction, and a more formal welcome was given me for 
 the benefit of all and sundry who were present. I asked if 
 the Liturgy was to be celebrated on the morrow ; Mar 
 Shimun answered that it was a dies aliiurgiciis, but that there 
 should be a special celebration of the Eucharist so that I 
 might be present with them. Then questions of all kinds 
 began to pour in upon me, and conversation gradually became 
 more general. The question was asked in diwan how many 
 of those present had been in a train. We found that out of 
 about thirty, two had seen the train at Tiflis, but none had 
 travelled in it. Surma has been to Van once, but Mar 
 Shimun has never left his own country. . . . 
 
 " Friday, November 8. Called at five, by Qasha Awimelk, 1 
 
 for the Syrian Eucharist at six. Still very bleak, and much 
 
 new snow on the ground. My cold rather troublesome. 
 
 Qasha Ephrem celebrated. Mar Shimun vested me in stole 
 
 1 Now Mar Timotheus, Bishop of the Syrian Church of Malabar.
 
 QUDSHANIS 123 
 
 (blue) and girdle with over-shoes, and took me into the 
 sanctuary. In former days clergy of other Churches have 
 been allowed to celebrate there, according to their own rites ; 
 Dr. Cutts did so, and Browne has done so. But towards 
 the end of the late Mar Shimun's life a Roman Catholic 
 (Uniat) priest who visited Qudshanis was allowed to do so, 
 and sprinkled the whole sanctuary with holy water by way 
 of purification. Since this profanation, as they regarded it, 
 none but Syrians had been allowed to enter, until now. It 
 is a very small sanctuary, but lofty for its size. It contains a 
 stone baldacchino, on pillars, with a low altar roughly vested 
 with a covering reaching to the ground, on which there are 
 two candles, the Book of the Gospels, and a wooden cross of 
 peculiar shape, about 18 inches long, leaning against the 
 wall at the back. Incense is used. The deacon came and 
 kissed Mar Shimun's hand at each censing, and then mine. 
 The proper thing to do at the censing is to lean forward and 
 draw the smoke towards you with both hands. The paten 
 and chalice are both huge, of silver, and apparently of old 
 workmanship. The administration of the former took place 
 at the south end of the curtain, of the latter at the north. 
 
 "After the Liturgy we returned for breakfast, and I 
 thanked Mar Shimun for the opportunity of joining in their 
 service. I had noticed that once or twice the ministrants 
 had stopped, and discussed quietly what was to come next. 
 I mentioned this, and said how much more reverent it was 
 to wait and settle such a point quietly, if it arose, than to 
 beckon and whisper and fuss about it as we sometimes do. 
 He answered that there was a special reason for their un- 
 certainty to-day. As it was a dies aliturgicus there was no 
 proper service for it, but he had told them that it was the 
 Feast of the Visitation of the English Abuna, and that they 
 were to choose what was most suitable. O that I could have 
 understood it all ! 
 
 "After breakfast we had a long and most important con- 
 ference with Mar Shimun as to the future of the Church and 
 the work of the Mission, Browne interpreting. We spoke 
 in particular of the future relations of our Churches. I told 
 him that the English Church had no desire to lord it over
 
 i2 4 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 other Churches, and, in fact, that our message was the 
 freedom of Churches, as contrasted with the Papists, who 
 wished one Church to lord it over all the rest, and the ' Presby- 
 terians ' (i.e. the American Mission), who practically abolished 
 the Church. He was so pleased with this that he made me 
 repeat it, and subsequently wrote it down in his note-book 
 from my dictation. Then we spoke of the possibility of 
 intercommunion in the future, and the obstacles on their 
 side and on our side respectively. He said that he hoped for 
 it some day, but was sure that his people were not ready for 
 it yet ; it would rouse much opposition, and cause troubles 
 with those outside which they were not yet strong enough 
 to face ; but that he looked forward to the time when the 
 men trained at Van and Urmi had leavened the Church, 
 when it would be possible ; it was what he, above all, 
 desired. I agreed that it was not possible yet, and asked if 
 there were any other obstacles on their side. No, he said ; 
 there was nothing against it in the Canons (this he repeated 
 quite decidedly), and so far as authority went, he could 
 direct to-morrow that we should be admitted to Communion. 
 In fact, he had done so in a particular case : a cousin of 
 Lord Percy's, a devout Anglican, had asked permission to 
 make his Communion with them, and he (Mar Shimun) had 
 given the permission, which had been used. I asked if they 
 had any scruples as to our doctrine or the like. He answered, 
 very emphatically, No; that such difficulties as his people 
 might feel were based, not on objections to any particular 
 doctrines or practices, but simply on the fact that we were 
 strangers, and therefore suspect. 
 
 " Then we spoke of difficulties on our side. I said we 
 made no difficulty in admitting individual members of the 
 old Churches of the East to Communion when they were 
 deprived of the ministrations of their own clergy ; that I 
 had already given directions for this to be done in the case of 
 members of the Orthodox Eastern Church and Armenians, 
 and that I should gladly do it in the case of a Syrian ; but 
 that when it was a question of permitting members of any 
 Church to communicate freely with us, we naturally asked 
 for satisfaction as to their substantial orthodoxy. ... In
 
 QUDSHANIS 125 
 
 the case of the Christians of the East their past history gave 
 ground for seeking such satisfaction. It was natural that 
 we should ask, ' Is this the faith that you hold ? ' Not that 
 we should ask them to disavow their Fathers, not that we 
 should ask them to revise their doctrinal books or to make a 
 new creed, but simply that we should say, ' This is the Faith 
 as we hold it. Is this what you believe ? ' I asked Mar 
 Shimun if they would welcome a letter from us asking such 
 questions as this. He answered most emphatically, Yes ; 
 that they could not and would not disavow their past leaders, 
 but would willingly answer any questions that would give 
 satisfaction to us or others. 
 
 " Then we spoke of the methods that such possible inter- 
 communion might take, and its natural limits. Ultimately 
 I suggested : (i) Communion on their part with us on our 
 Easter and Christmas, and on our part with them on theirs ; 
 and (2) free admission of any member of either communion 
 to communicate in the Eucharist of the other when he had 
 no Church of his own to resort to, provided that he did not 
 infringe the discipline of his own Church by doing so. ... 
 With this also he expressed himself in entire agreement. 
 
 " Then I told him of the forthcoming Lambeth Conference, 
 and said that I hoped that it might be possible for some 
 resolution to be framed which would facilitate such action 
 on our side. He was much interested, and plainly greatly 
 struck when I told him that there would be nearly two 
 hundred and fifty bishops there from all parts of the world. 
 He said that he would pray for our great gathering, that God 
 would bless and guide us. 
 
 " So much for our conference. It was extremely inter- 
 esting, and in all ways satisfactory." 
 
 The next day the Bishop was obliged to leave Qudshanis 
 again. 
 
 " Saturday, November 9. A cold bright morning, the 
 ground hardened by frost. Up at 5 a.m., again wakened by 
 the Archdeacon, and across to celebrate in the Mission Chapel 
 at six. The Archdeacon and several of the Syrian clergy 
 present. We sang the Eucharist, and had Syrian anthems at 
 the pauses in the service ; it was very touching and uplifting.
 
 126 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Breakfast, then across to finish packing ; then a farewell 
 reception. Mar Shimun gave me two of his own stoles, 
 woven, with crosses and his name on them, and he and Suite l 
 gave me a fine pair of gauntlets. I gave him a mitre, with 
 which he expressed himself greatly pleased, and promised to 
 wear it. Browne also gave me three Syrian stoles. 
 
 " Our farewell was very touching. Mar Shimun promised 
 to pray for me, and begged me never to forget them. I 
 promised to write to him, and to remember him and his 
 Church and people always on the festival of Mar Shaliba 
 (September 18, O.S. ; October I, N.S.). We could hardly 
 break away from the dear folk who crowded to take their 
 farewell. At length we mounted, and rode across the 
 plateau. Presently we had to dismount, in order to descend 
 the icy path to the cascade ; then we mounted again, and 
 were helped by willing hands far along the road. The 
 venerable Browne, with three more, stood at the edge, and 
 waved to me till at length we turned the corner, I blessing 
 them with the Sign as they passed out of sight. It has been 
 a wonderful experience, and the Missioners are full of what 
 it has meant to them and the Mission. On the way we more 
 than once said that the bad weather must have been the 
 work of the Evil One. If so, his work had been overruled ; 
 for undoubtedly these dear people have all valued our visit 
 the more because getting there was not a ' picnic.' They 
 have become precious to me ; and I have found very real 
 friends in Mar Shimun and Surma and their little circle. 
 
 " I can hardly exaggerate the effect which these people 
 have made upon me. That they are very ignorant and back- 
 ward goes without saying ; it could hardly be otherwise after 
 centuries of seclusion and persecution. The Mission has not 
 yet done its work of instruction amongst them, and will not 
 have done it for very many years. But there is a naturalness, 
 a simplicity, and a spontaneity about their religion which is 
 very attractive. In many ways they seem to me to illustrate 
 the life of Christians of very early days, both in its strength 
 and in its weakness ; and again, whilst they have plenty of 
 ethnic superstitions of their own, there is a remarkable 
 1 Mar Shimun's aunt.
 
 ETCHMIADZIN AGAIN 27 
 
 absence of modern ' corruptions ' in their religion, or of such 
 a mixture of pagan and Christian superstition as is to be 
 found, for example, amongst the Orthodox in some of the 
 Greek islands. Altogether, I feel that Christendom would be 
 vastly the poorer without this little Church. 
 
 " It was nearly 10.30 when we started. ... As it was 
 impossible to make a long day's march, the horses being 
 still very much exhausted, we stopped for lunch in the 
 glade of the three streams, just beyond the Kurdish camp. 
 Then on again, and reached Kirmi before 4 p.m., when 
 we were given the same ' room ' as before, with the puppy, 
 chickens, two buffalo calves, and a cat ; also the whole 
 ' spread eagle/ i.e, the inner organs of a sheep, hung by 
 a nail to the centre post of the ' room.' But we were now 
 dry and rested, and slept comfortably." 
 
 The rest of the return journey, though full enough of 
 discomforts and adventures, was comparatively free from 
 dangers. The route by Bashkala, which they followed, was 
 easier. But the Bishop was sorely in need of attention. 
 Not only were his clothes torn to pieces ; he had a great sore 
 on his forehead, his feet were frost-bitten, two finger nails 
 were gone, and there were minor ailments. The trouble in 
 his feet for some time got worse and worse. He could not 
 walk, and could hardly stand, without pain. He felt the 
 effects of the exposure till the following Easter. 
 
 He visited Etchmiadzin once more, and condoled with the 
 monks for the death of the Patriarch Meguerdich, which 
 had taken place since he had left them. 
 
 " After breakfast," he writes, " I was formally received 
 by the Vice-Patriarch in Synod, the assembly consisting 
 of four metropolitans and four vartabads, all aged and 
 fine-looking men, with Vartabad Karapet to interpret. 
 They received me with great honour, and pressed me warmly 
 to stay ; and there was much cordial conversation, some 
 of an intimate kind. I told them that we in England 
 thought that their methods of agitation were often quite 
 wrong, and that they were trying to do the Lord's work 
 with the devil's weapons. The Vice-Patriarch took it very 
 well, and said : ' Yes, but you must remember that we
 
 128 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 have been a down-trodden Church for centuries, and cannot 
 act as if things were in our own hands, as you can ' ; 
 which is all too true. They asked many questions about my 
 journey, and hoped that it would not be the last visit of an 
 English Bishop. At the end they told me that as the late 
 Catholicos had been unable to send a reply to the Arch- 
 bishop's letter, it would devolve upon the Vice-Patriarch to do 
 so ; but they would like me to bear witness with how great 
 joy they welcomed a message from the head of our Church." 
 
 In 1910 he sent to the Great Church at Etchmiadzin, as a 
 memento of this visit, a magnificent chalice veil, which was 
 worked under his direction by Miss Sophie Boycott. 
 
 On December n the Bishop and his wife met again at 
 Marseilles. She had mercifully been spared the knowledge 
 of what he was passing through, and had received only 
 occasional and much-delayed telegrams from various places. 
 " W. arrived from Mentone," she notes, " at n p.m. It 
 seems scarcely possible to think he is really here. He is 
 very tired and battered, and still his frost-bitten feet are 
 troublesome, and he has a cold, etc. ; but he is better than 
 I had dared to hope." Their joy in meeting again was 
 tempered by receiving a telegram to say that the Bishop of 
 St. Andrews had died that day suddenly in Edinburgh. 
 
 The year (1908) which followed that in which he went to 
 Kurdistan was a busy year for the Bishop. Over and above 
 all his usual work, it was the year of the Pan- Anglican 
 Congress and of the Lambeth Conference. 
 
 No one espoused with more ardour than he Bishop 
 Montgomery's great conception of a consultative gathering 
 of all Anglican Christendom with reference to every topic of 
 the Church's life and work. In regard to the Bishop of 
 Gibraltar the difficulty must have been to determine which 
 topics he was not to touch, when there were so many 
 which appealed to him. He gave an address on " The 
 Church and Human Society " at the first meeting of that 
 section in St. Paul's Cathedral on June 16. He gave another 
 on " The Church's Call to Prayer " at the last meeting 
 of the Congress in the Albert Hall, on June 23. But all
 
 PAN-ANGLICAN CONGRESS 129 
 
 the rest of his time was engrossed by the section on the 
 Anglican Communion, of which he was chairman. He wrote 
 for it one of the " Preliminary Papers," though for some 
 reason it is not reprinted in the Report of the Congress. He 
 presided twice a day at the meetings of that section, on June 
 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, and in the morning of June 20. The 
 subjects discussed at these meetings were, " The Anglican 
 Communion, its Place in Christendom," " The Common 
 Element in Service Books, Ceremonial and Formularies," 
 " Things Essential and Things Non-Essential, " " The 
 Historic Episcopate," " Possibilities of Intercommunion," 
 " Possibilities of Re-union," " Local Churches, their Early 
 Growth and Equipment," " Local Churches, Steps towards 
 Permanent Organisation," " Problems of a Native Episco- 
 pate," " Relations between Individual Organised Churches 
 and the whole Communion," "A Central Authority." It will 
 be seen that many burning questions were touched which 
 required both skill and knowledge in the chairman. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury has lately referred to 
 Bishop Collins's conduct in that capacity. "Among the 
 memorable discussions," he says in his recent Charge, 1 
 " which make those weeks live and glow in the recollection of 
 thousands of ordinary people, no debate, if I may judge from 
 the testimony which has continuously reached me, stands 
 out more vividly or profitably than the full discussion which 
 took place under the alert and brilliant chairmanship of 
 Bishop Collins of Gibraltar upon the topic our topic to-day 
 ' The Anglican Communion. Its place in Christendom. 
 What is our distinctive message and work ? ' ' It would be 
 hard to give a better epitome of the Bishop's views as an 
 ecclesiastical statesman, or a better sample of his powers, 
 than by reproducing the series of short speeches in which he 
 summed up the discussions of those six days. 2 This, for 
 instance, was the close of his speech at the end of the first 
 session : 
 
 " (i) I yield to no one in reverence for the great Empire to 
 which most of us here belong. But if I am asked to make 
 
 1 The Character and Call of the Church of England, p. 42. 
 
 2 They will be found in Vol. VII. of the Report.
 
 130 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 empire the criterion in matters that concern the Church of 
 God, I must decline. (2) What are we to understand by 
 ' English.' The word is a very elastic one, as we soon find 
 when we go beyond the seas ; for ' they little know of 
 England who only England know.' It grows as we move 
 onward ; it comes to express new types of character, new 
 ideals of life. But even so it cannot satisfy us here. The 
 Anglican Communion is English in origin, but before our 
 very eyes it is being shown that it is more than English, 
 even in the most comprehensive sense of the word. When 
 I am asked to regard our Communion as merely English, 
 racially English, my answer must be ' No.' (3) We who 
 have studied the facts of life in the light of the Incar- 
 nation have come to see that the centre of all history, and 
 of nature itself, is to be found in the Life and Person of 
 the Incarnate Lord ; to that point all converges, from that 
 point all takes its beginning. But can we regard any other 
 age, or event, or series of events in this way ? I yield to 
 none in reverence for the English Reformation ; but if I 
 am asked to see in it the formative period of our Church 
 history, to regard it as the norm of our development in 
 perpetuity, I can only say that I will not do so. 
 
 " Turning now to our discussion as a whole, I see one very 
 significant fact. All our speakers seem to agree that the 
 right way for us is the way of expression, not the way of 
 suppression. They do not formulate their ideals for the 
 Anglican Communion in the same terms, but they are agreed 
 that our characteristic features are not to be whittled away, 
 but to be expressed even more faithfully, if possible. This 
 surely is right. To us the life of nations is a guide, not a 
 snare ; differentiation is to us the work of God, not of the 
 devil. We would deal with positives, not with negatives ; 
 with facts, not with negations. We stand for historic con- 
 tinuity ; we must be more careful to keep the deposit 
 committed to us. We stand for liberty ; we must fight for it 
 more fearlessly. 
 
 "And what is our especial danger as a Church ? Surely 
 it is that which faces us constantly in our every-day life : 
 our worldliness, our selfishness, our lack of care for all these
 
 PAN-ANGLICAN CONGRESS 131 
 
 things. We expect matters to right themselves : we are 
 moderately earnest, as one has said, instead of being earnestly 
 moderate. And thus we rest on our oars when we should be 
 up and doing ; we let opportunities slip which can never 
 recur. We close open doors, not of deliberate intent, but of 
 sheer lack of realisation of their possibilities. It is better 
 to make mistakes than to make nothing ; but we make 
 mistakes through the very inertia which prevents our doing 
 what we might do. For all these things the Lord of the 
 Churches calls us to account : bids us learn and amend even 
 here and now." 
 
 The Bishop of Salisbury said frankly at the morning meet- 
 ing on the last day, that he was there " not to speak, but to 
 listen to the summing-up of the Bishop of Gibraltar." Many 
 must have been in the same position. 
 
 A writer in the Anglican Church Magazine, with perhaps 
 a touch of pardonable pride in his own diocesan, gave the 
 following as his after-impression of the gathering : 
 
 " The outstanding feature of this section it might almost 
 be said, of the whole Congress has been the personality of 
 the Bishop of Gibraltar. One looked forward to his sum- 
 mings-up with a certain anticipation of an intellectual and 
 spiritual treat, and they were nothing short of masterly. 
 They showed a grasp of the whole subject and a keenness in 
 selecting the exact points to emphasise which were simply 
 delightful ; while the deep earnestness which characterised 
 his utterances, and the spirituality of his dark ascetic face, 
 produced an effect which I shall never forget." 1 
 
 And it will be remembered that these admirable utterances 
 were not, like papers, carefully prepared beforehand, but 
 were the outcome of the actual discussion, which served to 
 evoke out of his well-stored mind reflexions as incisive and 
 striking in their form, as they were large and courageous in 
 their substance. 
 
 Looking back upon the Congress from the present time, 
 Bishop Montgomery writes to me : 
 
 '" Bishop Collins was of priceless value in Section F. As 
 soon as everything was arranged in regard to the various 
 
 1 Anglican Church Magazine, 1908, p. 103.
 
 132 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 sections and their general subjects, we approached Bishop 
 Collins to become Chairman of the Section, and I requested 
 permission to be Secretary, as it was the subject that 
 interested me most. From that time we were closely associ- 
 ated for months. It was he who drew up the details of the 
 subjects under that head. We had constant correspondence 
 with him from various parts of Europe. I think I may say 
 that every point in an exceedingly interesting set of sub- 
 sidiary questions was his work. I was immensely struck 
 with the way in which he seemed to touch every important 
 point in his subject. 
 
 " Then came the actual Congress Meeting. We claimed and 
 obtained the large hall at the Church House. The hall was 
 almost always filled to the utmost extent, and it would be 
 impossible to speak too highly of his summings-up at the 
 close of each session. I sat next to him and therefore had 
 an unrivalled opportunity of knowing his mind. He was 
 terribly in earnest, and could not bear anything like a joke. 
 He was determined, if possible, to have no applause, and 
 though he did not quite succeed in that, he gave a tone of 
 intense seriousness to the whole of the week's proceedings. 
 Naturally, too, his remarks sotto voce to me upon the speakers 
 at times were delicious. I think his austerity in the chair 
 would have been resented from anybody else, but his intense 
 seriousness and his extraordinary ability and complete know- 
 ledge of all the questions concerned, gave him an influence 
 over the audience which I shall never forget. Ever since 
 that time I have always felt very near to him. It is especially 
 touching to me to remember that almost his last letter was 
 written to my wife about an article of mine in the Mission 
 Field in March, 1911, upon the difficulties of a Chaplain in a 
 Treaty Port. He spoke more than kindly of my attempt. 
 
 " On the whole, I think Collins's work at the Pan- Anglican 
 Congress was the best achievement of the whole Congress, 
 but perhaps I am biassed, as that was my section, and I 
 never had any opportunity of even visiting the other sections. 
 I never saw even the buildings ; it could not be helped." 
 
 This popular gathering was followed immediately by the 
 more august and responsible gathering of nearly two hundred
 
 LAMBETH CONFERENCE 133 
 
 and fifty Bishops in the Lambeth Conference. The Con- 
 ference began with a group of sessions lasting from July 6 to 
 July n, in which the subjects to be dealt with were opened 
 by selected speakers, before being considered in detail by 
 separate Committees. The Bishop of Gibraltar spoke in 
 these introductory sessions five times. The first of the 
 five speeches insisted on the importance of holding to the 
 definite historic facts of our Lord's life, and not slighting 
 them in favour of the spiritual or metaphysical ideas which 
 they suggest. The second was on the familiar subject of 
 Reunion and Intercommunion, the third on Organisation 
 within the Anglican Communion. The fourth speech was one 
 of determined opposition to anything like making the Unction 
 of the Sick a ministerial act of the Church, though the 
 Bishop desired to leave people perfectly free to use it un- 
 officially. The fifth, which probably took many of his hearers 
 by surprise, was a vehement and reasoned argument against 
 tying the Church down to the use of wheaten bread and the 
 fermented juice of the grape in the celebration of the Holy 
 Eucharist. He criticised the resolution on the subject 
 passed by the Lambeth Conference of 1888. He said that it 
 was not accurate. " From as early a date," he said, " as 
 we have any definite account, in the Church in Portugal the 
 unfermented juice of the grape has certainly been used, even 
 though it be in a few instances." The Fourth Council of 
 Braga, in 675, " the whole class of Frankish liturgies," 
 Panormitanus, St. Thomas Aquinas, the customs of Upper 
 Egypt and Abyssinia, the use of " dibs " in Palestine 
 James of Volaterra and the concessions of Innocent VIII. to 
 the Church of Norway, Jewell's reply to Harding the book 
 called Social England, were all laid under contribution. 
 He asked whether it were more important to do exactly what 
 our Lord did, without regard to circumstances which might 
 involve reclining on couches and celebrating in the evening, 
 or to act in the spirit of His action. "Are we to hold (I 
 do not myself see how we can) that the history of the Church 
 is to become a history of ever-increasing bondage that the 
 number of things we can do is being diminished day by day, 
 and the number of chains we have to bear is increased day
 
 134 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 by day as the years go by ? A great Russian ecclesiastic 
 (so great that I would rather not name him) said to two of 
 us once, that he hoped we in England might come to agree 
 with them in doctrine, but that we should never place upon 
 our shoulders the bondage of ceremonies which neither they 
 nor their fathers could bear." 
 
 The Bishop was placed upon five out of the eleven Com- 
 mittees of the Conference, those on Liturgical Questions, on 
 the Conditions requisite to the due Administration of the 
 Holy Communion, on Marriage Problems, on Anglican 
 Organisation, and on Reunion and Intercommunion. He 
 was no sleeping partner in the business of those Committees. 
 When the whole Conference reassembled to discuss their 
 Reports from July 27 to August 5, the Bishop of Gibraltar 
 perhaps took a less prominent part in speaking than he had 
 done in the earlier week ; but there were many occasions 
 when he intervened with effect. He again combated the 
 proposal to restore Unction to a place in the Prayer-book, 
 or to define too closely the material to be used in the 
 Eucharist. It is clear that he did his best to persuade the 
 Conference to take the line which it ultimately took with 
 regard to marriage questions. Personally, as he explained 
 to the Conference, he was disposed to adopt the more 
 rigorous line, but he desired earnestly not to carry resolutions 
 which would give offence to a large and important section 
 of the Conference. Whether in consequence of his advocacy 
 or not, the outcome of the discussions showed a certain 
 hesitation and reserve of judgment in reference to these 
 matters, which many at the time deplored. His advice was 
 always in the direction of width and progress. He desired 
 the Bishops to acknowledge in " the democratic movement " 
 of our time " a revelation of the mind of God." He thought 
 it an anachronism now to take " the geographical view " of 
 a Bishop's office, as the Bishop of an area, rather than of the 
 people. The Report on relations with the Orthodox Eastern 
 Church, and with the Separated Churches of the East, was 
 entrusted to him for guidance in the debate, and was carried 
 through skilfully and promptly. 
 
 If he did not speak so often during this fortnight, his work
 
 LAMBETH CONFERENCE 135 
 
 was none the less effective. Those who were behind the 
 scenes knew that he took an important share in drawing up 
 the Encyclical Letter which summarised and interpreted the 
 Resolutions of the Conference. The central conception of 
 the Encyclical, which made everything turn on " service," 
 was due, if I rightly understand, to another eminent prelate ; 
 but night after night the Bishop of Gibraltar was at work 
 with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of 
 Oxford in drafting fresh paragraphs of the Encyclical, to 
 be put into final shape by the three or four Bishops who 
 were entrusted with the preparation of the complete 
 document for the consideration of the Conference as a 
 whole. Unquestionably the figure of Bishop Collins was one 
 of those which stood out most clearly in the recollections 
 of the members of the Conference. 
 
 The Bishop of Wakefield, who was one of the secretaries 
 of the Conference, has kindly sent me this account of Bishop 
 Collins's part in it : 
 
 " No one who was at the Lambeth Conference in 1908 could 
 fail to be vividly impressed by the personality of Bishop 
 Collins of Gibraltar. Those of us who knew him well were 
 not wholly taken by surprise, but to many he seemed to 
 come quite as a revelation. He sat not far from the middle 
 of the room, just a little towards the right of the President. 
 Slight, almost frail, with his pale and delicate features, high 
 forehead and clear eyes, he seemed the last man to sway an 
 assembly of this unique kind, which comprised men of 
 independent minds, tot reguli, as Archbishop Benson used 
 to call them accustomed to rule and to express themselves 
 with decision. Yet the moment he rose to speak, and that 
 clear penetrating scholarly voice began, we all felt that a 
 master mind had been at work, and the subject assumed a 
 new importance. 
 
 "What struck me most of all, perhaps, was the sure-footed 
 way in which he intervened in so many problems, some of 
 them of a difficult and intricate character. His knowledge 
 was as astonishing in its variety and range as it was accurate 
 in detail. Facts, dates, names of less known writers, customs 
 of many lands, came pouring out upon some particular point,
 
 136 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 as if from an erudite article in an encyclopaedia, leaving the 
 shorthand writer almost breathless in pursuit. And this 
 remarkable and ready information was matched by a singu- 
 larly clear and ripe judgment. When the conclusion was 
 reached, you felt as if the last word on the subject had been 
 said, and were not surprised to find that he had powerfully 
 influenced the final resolution or report in question. 
 
 "And this surenessof knowledge and judgment were coupled 
 with a lofty conception and a dignified yet humble spirit, 
 that held us at times quite spellbound with admiration. 
 Whether he was laying down great principles or precedents, 
 or surveying present conditions with profound insight and 
 sympathy, there was the same decisiveness and quiet con- 
 fidence, against which there seemed no appeal. And with all 
 this quietness there was a suppressed fire in him, which was 
 ready to blaze forth against any unrealities or fantastic 
 theories, and he could be uncompromising, inexorable and 
 stern in face of errors. He was extraordinarily clear in his 
 vision of the Church of England, as combining liberty with 
 order, and progress with fidelity to Apostolic faith and disci- 
 pline. He saw her, as Bishop Lightfoot had done, as the 
 potential mediator between great communions, the rallying 
 point for different standards of faith. As such he fought for 
 liberty of custom for her where some would have feared to 
 concede it, while on the other hand he would not surrender 
 one single part of the heritage he believed she was intended 
 to guard in the expression of her faith and worship. 
 
 " This is, I fear, a poor account of the impression left on 
 my own mind by this remarkable man. But it would be in- 
 complete without one more touch which gave distinction and 
 grace to all that he said, namely, the evident spirit of prayer 
 and nearness to God which breathed through it all. His 
 was a big soul in a delicate frame, a brave undaunted spirit 
 betraying itself every moment under unusual limitations of 
 bodily strength. The Church has lost in him a saint, a 
 scholar and a theologian, of a type which perhaps only our 
 own Church produces, and that only once in a generation." 
 
 This brilliant year closed, for him, in an achievement of
 
 MESSINA 137 
 
 another kind. On Sunday, December 20, he preached in 
 the little English Church at Messina, and met all the members 
 of the English colony there, numbering about 120 souls. 
 It was understood that he was to return and spend the last 
 day of the old year with them. On Monday, December 28, 
 the great earthquake took place, which destroyed Messina. 
 
 The Bishop was in Malta when it occurred, where his wife 
 was lying ill. He started at the first possible moment for 
 Sicily. The papers that were read at home said little about 
 him. A telegram from Malta in the Times of January 5, 
 1909, said, " The Bishop of Gibraltar has returned here after 
 visiting Messina " ; another on the nth said, " The Bishop of 
 Gibraltar is proceeding to Messina." That was all. His 
 work was not done to be reported. It would be difficult for 
 those who did not know the Bishop to imagine from these 
 telegrams what the man was about. 
 
 Fortunately, the Bishop himself gave to his friends some 
 account of his time at Messina not in writing, as he did 
 when he returned from Kurdistan, but in speech. He did so 
 mainly with a view to obtaining aid for those who had 
 suffered in the earthquake, or were in spiritual perils which 
 the earthquake illustrated. The Hon. Mrs. H. W. Gladstone, 
 who was staying with her parents, Lord and Lady Rendel, 
 in their house at Cannes, Chateau Thorenc, when the Bishop 
 paid them a visit in the following February, has kindly given 
 me these notes, which she took down at the time : 
 
 "The Bishop of Gibraltar has been staying here, and has told 
 us a great deal about the earthquake at Messina ; in fact, it 
 seemed hardly possible for him not to talk about it ; it seems 
 in a way to be a relief from the overstrain and excitement 
 that he has been through, although his voice and throat are 
 both affected, and he is conscious that the horror of it all may 
 be too great for those who have not themselves lived through 
 this terrible and abnormal experience. He said to me : 
 ' Tell me if you cannot bear it,' and I must confess that it 
 haunted me a great deal. . . . 
 
 " Forty-eight hours after the earthquake he returned to 
 Messina on board the ' Minerva/ which was at once made 
 into a floating hospital ; and a little hospital for first aid
 
 138 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 was established on the quay. The sailors themselves 
 had to undertake the nursing of those men, women and 
 children who were brought on board ; and when told that a 
 second bay or mess would be wanted, and that it had been 
 left to them to volunteer to clear out, they came to the 
 Bishop and asked him how much more room was likely to 
 be needed. The Bishop's answer was, ' All the space that 
 we can possibly get ' ; whereupon the whole of the lower 
 deck was cleared, scrubbed with carbolic, and made ready. 
 
 " Great discrimination was shown among the men them- 
 selves as to the tending of special cases, the married men 
 looking after the women and children, etc. One sailor, 
 presumably the father of a family, made, in the most in- 
 genious manner, a feeding-bottle for an infant, who had been 
 born actually during the earthquake and had been brought 
 on board alive. The child's mother had perished in the 
 earthquake, or died from the shock. The bottle was made 
 out of a soda-water bottle, the glass tube of a siphon placed 
 in it, and a flexible tube, made out of a neatly-sewn piece of 
 sail-cloth. The triumph was the teat for the baby to suck 
 through. The sailor came to the deck cabin, and said, 
 ' Have any of you gentlemen got a fountain-pen ? Well, 
 it's not the pen I want, but the thing you fill it with.' The 
 Bishop produced a filler, and so the bottle was completed 
 with the bulb of the filler belonging to the Bishop's stylo 
 and all in about a quarter of an hour ! 
 
 " The arrival of the Queen of Italy on board the ' Minerva ' 
 he described as a most touching incident. She had come off 
 in a cruiser, even before the King. The poor patients on 
 board recognised her immediately, and held out their arms 
 those who could crying out, ' Madre, Madre ! ' The 
 Queen stood there, unable to speak or move, the tears pour- 
 ing down her face ; then, when she could speak, she went 
 round to hear their separate tales of woe ' Madre, come to 
 me, I have lost my husband and my children,' or whatever 
 sad tale it might be, or to let them show their wounds and 
 tell of their sufferings and fright. After going round to 
 each, she visited the hospital on the quay, but was mercifully 
 not allowed to go further inland, or to leave her cruiser
 
 MESSINA 139 
 
 again. The Bishop was most deeply impressed by her 
 behaviour, and said that no one came out better, or as well, 
 as the King and Queen. The Archbishop of Messina, and 
 his brother, the Prefect, had fled after the shock. The 
 Archbishop returned, but the Prefect did not, and one of the 
 first actions of the King was to dismiss him publicly. 
 
 " The Bishop said much more might have been done in 
 saving life, had there only been time to organise the work of 
 excavation. At Reggio, great thoroughness and method 
 was shown by dividing the work into different areas ; this 
 was instituted and worked by an Italian naval captain. At 
 Messina the Italian admiral in command was too old and too 
 weak a man to carry out such an organisation. The result 
 was that digging was done wherever groans were heard, and 
 that work done by one party of sailors was repeated by 
 another, so that the second party sometimes even undid the 
 work of the first. 
 
 ' ' The Russian sailors worked with the English sailors, but 
 showed more callousness in sometimes leaving their ex- 
 cavating to go where there was more chance of success. The 
 English sailors worked on, on the most desperate chance, and 
 in consequence failed perhaps to save as many lives as the 
 Russians. The Bishop worked a great deal with the 
 Russians, as he could speak something of their language ; 
 and one night he worked on alone, where moaning and a cry 
 for help had been heard. He felt he could not leave his 
 task, but he became so exhausted that he finally fell asleep 
 over his digging, and when he awoke all sounds had ceased. 
 
 "But a happier and more successful incident, amongst many 
 others, was one when he was again working with Russian 
 sailors. They were digging in between two houses, where 
 the space became so confined that the Bishop was the only 
 one who could get down to it on account of his slightness. 
 After a time he found he could not move or make any progress 
 because of a heavy mass of masonry, and all he could do was 
 to scoop out a small hole from underneath in front of him. 
 But by this means he managed to pull out, bit by bit, a 
 mattress, and then a small boy, alive, but delirious with 
 fever. The child said, when given some water, ' I could
 
 140 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 drink up the sea.' He was, poor child, the only member of 
 his family rescued. 
 
 " During this same excavation another slight shock 
 occurred, and the Bishop had a very narrow escape (he 
 told me that he had not told his wife about it) . In a mass 
 of masonry, two beams became loosened, and moved 
 towards him. All he could do was to stand upright against 
 the wall, and see them coming nearer and nearer. They 
 stopped moving when actually against his breast. 
 
 " It was the Bishop to whom came the knowledge, or the 
 thought, that the Consular Office, though not entirely 
 demolished, was left entirely unprotected. (The Consul had 
 had his wife killed by his side, and his boy badly hurt, and 
 had disappeared, with him.) The Bishop knew that most 
 important cyphers were kept there, so with a few blue- 
 jackets he went to try and see what could be done. He first 
 took the precaution of having some pick-axes forged on 
 board the ' Minerva.' On making their way to the ruined 
 street, they thought that their task might prove quite 
 impossible, owing to the condition of the adjoining houses. 
 Owing partly to his intimate knowledge of Messina, they 
 were finally able to enter the office, after scaling huge heaps 
 of rubbish and broken walls. In the office were two safes ; 
 one they broke open with their picks ; the other, built into 
 the wall, resisted their efforts, and to force it more would 
 probably have brought down the wall and the adjoining 
 house. The safe they had broken open proved empty, and 
 no keys could be found, but the Bishop thought it possible 
 that they might be in the Consul's own apartments. These 
 rooms were in a house at some distance, and the district and 
 street were in a still worse state. So dangerous indeed it 
 was, that they were absolutely forbidden to make the attempt. 
 The Bishop, however, determined to make it, and alone ; but 
 was persuaded finally to allow a young lieutenant (Kennedy, 
 I think, was his name) to accompany him. He could not 
 have accomplished his task alone. Unlike the Consulate, 
 the rooms were very high up in the house, and on arriving, 
 after much more difficulty than they had in reaching the 
 Consulate, they found the staircase had, in many parts,
 
 MESSINA 141 
 
 disappeared. To reach the first floor they had to find a loose 
 beam which they could put upright, and then swarm up 
 pull it up after them, and again in the same manner reach 
 the next story ; and so on. After much searching in the 
 Consul's rooms, where such were the horrors of this awful 
 time they found the dead body of the Consul's poor wife 
 lying, they had almost given up their task, when they found 
 an old wooden box, open. Inside was a cash box containing 
 two bunches of keys. After a very perilous descent and 
 scramble, they returned safely to the Consulate, and managed 
 to secure the precious papers, which included the ' Cypher 
 Y.' This incident the Bishop told us then in confidence, 
 and we understood that hardly anyone knew of his action. 
 He did not wish it to be known, and said that had any 
 unscrupulous person got hold of the papers, they could have 
 been sold for a very large sum of money, and caused great 
 trouble throughout Europe. 
 
 " The English chaplain (Mr. Huleatt), his wife, and some 
 ladies living with them, all perished in the total collapse of 
 one of these tall houses. It is hoped that they were in- 
 stantaneously killed, as the rubbish and debris was of such 
 immense proportions that no attempt could be made to 
 excavate or dig into it. The Bishop managed to climb down 
 into the little English church from above, and found nearly 
 everything destroyed, but, I think, saved a small cross which 
 had stood on the altar, and one or two fragments, a hymn- 
 book, and so on. And I know he told me that he actually 
 picked up a scrap of one of his own notes of the sermon he had 
 preached there on the Sunday, aoth December." 
 Another lady adds the following recollections : 
 " Though not personally acquainted with him, I had often 
 met him and heard him speak when he journeyed backwards 
 and forwards on the Riviera. On three of these occasions 
 he left an impression I shall not easily forget. . . . The third 
 and last time was when he came in 1909 to where I was 
 staying, to plead, as was his wont, for the Gibraltar Mission 
 to Seamen, in which he was so deeply interested. It will be 
 remembered that the terrible earthquake in Sicily had taken 
 place at the end of December 1908, and he chose on this
 
 142 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 occasion, not so much to plead for the support of the Mission, 
 as by his graphic and impressive words to try and convey to 
 our minds some of the unique and awful experiences gone 
 through by those on the spot. 
 
 " I remember that ... he began by telling us of the 
 last days he had spent at Messina with the chaplain and his 
 family, only a week or so before the catastrophe, and how 
 he had noticed in his room the crack in the wall, the result of 
 the last earthquake. 1 He left them, to return two days or 
 so after the event, to find the house in ruins and not one out 
 of that household of nine persons left alive. With difficulty 
 he made his way to the little church, of which hardly a 
 portion was left standing, climbed in by a window, and 
 found the Christmas carols lying there, which had been sung 
 on the Sunday night. From there he tried to reach the 
 Sailors' Rest, also in ruins, and where, looking down among 
 the debris he saw a shipping guide, which he succeeded in 
 reaching. On consulting it he discovered that an English 
 steamer was due to pass through the Straits of Messina in a 
 few hours, and with the help of the Consul or other officials, 
 the ship was stopped, and the captain was persuaded to 
 take 600 destitute refugees to a place of safety. He told it 
 all so simply and so graphically, and explained to us the 
 peculiar nature of the small English congregation at Messina, 
 many of them being the descendants of those English who 
 came there during the occupation of the island in the early 
 part of the nineteenth century, and told us of their poverty, 
 and through it all of their love for and support of their 
 Church, and he ended up his story by recounting how some of 
 these faithful members of the Church had spent what was 
 to most of them their last night upon earth. Evening 
 service was over in the little church, where the Christmas 
 hymns and carols had been sung, and four members of the 
 congregation, two men and two women went on their way 
 together to their respective homes, where, as they passed the 
 doors of one of the worst wine shops in Messina, they saw a 
 sight, too common, alas ! in those parts. Four English 
 
 1 It took place in September, 1905. See the account by Mr. Huleatt in 
 the Anglican Church Magazine for that year, p. 175 foil.
 
 MESSINA 143 
 
 sailors, belonging to a ship then in harbour, had been drugged 
 and robbed of every penny, and turned out into the street. 
 Instantly these brave men and women determined to save 
 these men from further ill-treatment, and each taking 
 possession of one sailor they walked them down to the 
 harbour, and sent them safely to their ship. 'And/ added 
 the Bishop, ' I am not going to tell you the name of that 
 ship. She is far away now, but among the many rescuers in 
 the morning that followed, none worked so hard or so bravely 
 as the men of that ship. It was the last act on earth in 
 the lives of three of those four brave souls/ 
 
 "So he ended, appealing to us for help to raise the new 
 church, to be built, not in the doomed Messina, but in the 
 safer position of Catania. I feel sure that none who listened 
 to his earnest and appealing words will forget that account 
 of the earthquake at Messina." 
 
 Another kind informant writes : 
 
 " His courage and endurance were boundless, and however 
 ill he was he seldom could be persuaded to cut an engage- 
 ment or relax in any duty while on his episcopal visits. 
 
 " He told me once his nerves did what he told them to ! and 
 he certainly evinced marvellous control over them. 
 
 " During the earthquake at Messina (whither he sped from 
 Malta among the first), when he was digging with the 
 Russian sailors to rescue the entombed, he continued to dig 
 for hours after the sailors left (bound through duty to return 
 to their ship), until at dawn he utterly collapsed. The 
 piteous cries of a buried woman had impelled him to his 
 hopeless task. His behaviour while with the Russian sailors 
 must have earned him their deep respect and admiration, 
 for I know that he was received with all honours when later 
 he visited the ship. 
 
 " He did not take a gloomy view of the earthquake or allow 
 the unspeakable horrors he witnessed to depress him or us. 
 He made us see the wonderful and beautiful side of the 
 tragedy : how in most instances, by some token or other, or 
 by the attitude of the unearthed victims, the self-sacrificing 
 or protective instinct in man was revealed ; how the suffer- 
 ing was mitigated further than we could imagine, the lapse
 
 144 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 of time and anguish being minimised for the buried through 
 merciful stunning or sleep ; how the severe injuries and 
 wounds were felt less than the scratches and slight hurts 
 encountered afterwards. Then again, the highest and best 
 was brought out in the sailor rescuers. The wounded 
 men, women, and children were nursed and cared for on 
 the ships by some sailors with motherly tenderness and 
 tact, and beauty and mercifulness shone through the whole. 
 
 "But did not the brave Bishop, caring for his little English 
 colony of Messina, develop a septic throat through his 
 indefatigable labours among that ghastly wreckage, which 
 caused him much after-suffering and ill-health ? 
 
 " Through the tales of daring, self-sacrifice and tenderness 
 (which escaped journalistic ears), he made us, not marvel at 
 the severity or callousness of powers which permit the 
 ravagings of Nature and horrors attendant on catastrophes, 
 but see God's love and pity in a world which produces 
 heroism ; see divine compensation in loss, separation and 
 distress ; attribute marvellous escapes to His watchful care ; 
 acknowledge divine outcomes from calamity and suffering. 
 
 "Indeed, I know that the Bishop, by his faith, raised many 
 from doubt, strengthening by his hope and enlarging souls 
 by his love and charity." 
 
 The horrors of those days at Messina were indeed beyond 
 description. Not for a long time after could the Bishop 
 sleep without starting up, imagining that he heard the groans 
 of buried people. The smell of the place did not leave his 
 nostrils. On one occasion the Bishop was obliged to hack 
 away a corpse with his own hands, because, embedded in 
 the ruins, it got in the way of delivering a live person im- 
 prisoned within. It would perhaps be hard to picture a 
 more astonishing figure than that of the frail English Bishop 
 toiling away by himself all through the night amidst the 
 dying and the dead in ruined Messina. 
 
 His labours in connexion with the earthquake did not cease 
 when the rescue work came to an end. For a long time he 
 was engaged in raising a fund for the relief of the British 
 sufferers, and in administering it. Between 600 and 700 
 for this object passed through his hands.
 
 HIS WIFE'S ILLNESS 145 
 
 He returned from Messina to Malta to find his wife worse. 
 She had written to her sister the day he left, but she never 
 wrote again. What was the matter with her was difficult 
 to tell. She had been in poor health for years, and now the 
 travelling, and the anxiety for the Bishop, had done their 
 work. At one moment the doctors spoke of nerves ; at 
 another they suspected a tumour in the brain. He got her 
 across to Cannes, where she had the advantage of the advice 
 of the eminent specialist, Dr. Erd, of Heidelberg. The 
 Bishop wrote to Lord Rendel on May 3, from Cannes : 
 
 " I did not find my wife really better ; and as Dr. Erd 
 advises that she should have special electrical treatment, 
 which can be given better at Heidelberg than anywhere else 
 (though he did not suggest this), I decided to take her there 
 as soon as possible that it might begin without delay. So I 
 have ordered a through carriage to Heidelberg for this after- 
 noon at 5.32, and we set off then, arriving, all being well, 
 about 9.30 to-morrow (Tuesday) p.m. Her favourite nurse, 
 Miss Bartlett, is going to stay on with her, and Miss Wells 
 goes too. I shall be there long enough to see her installed 
 and the treatment begun, and then shall have to start on 
 my travels again. She will be there for a month's treatment, 
 from which we hope great things ; and then, all being well, 
 I shall be able to take her back to England." 
 
 She did not improve at Heidelberg. The Bishop left her 
 there while he came to England to preach the Ramsden 
 Sermon at Oxford. 1 He fulfilled engagements in North 
 Italy, coming back to her at every available moment. 
 " There has been no sign of loss of memory or perception," 
 he wrote in May, " not a sign of irritability or the like, only 
 weakness and loss of power, and if ever strength was made 
 perfect in weakness it is with her." 2 But the weakness 
 increased. At last, in the beginning of July, he came to the 
 desperate resolve to bring her back to England, to Sir Victor 
 Horsley. He engaged a special carriage in the express from 
 Mannheim on the 7th. To join the express with greater 
 
 1 Published in Growth through Vision, being the sermon which gives a 
 name to the volume. 
 
 2 Especially, p. 9. 
 
 K
 
 146 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 comfort for the invalid, he took a motor from Heidelberg, a 
 distance of twenty or five-and-twenty miles. It poured with 
 rain the whole way. The summer of 1909 was a very wet 
 one, and the road was completely broken up by the rains. 
 At one place on the journey the car became so firmly stuck 
 in the mud that the chauffeur declared that there it must 
 stay. Nothing but the sheer force of the Bishop's will got 
 that car out and made it reach Mannheim. When they 
 arrived at Mannheim, the hour of the express was long passed ; 
 but mercifully the train also had been greatly delayed, and 
 they were able to put Mrs. Collins into it, with scarcely a 
 minute to spare. The passage, by night, from the Hook of 
 Holland, was frightfully rough, and she had always been a 
 bad sailor. She was so weak that she could not turn her 
 head as she lay on deck. Hour after hour he sat by her, 
 supporting her on his arm. The wonder was that she did 
 not expire a dozen times on the long journey ; but she 
 reached their house in Fellows Road alive, where the 
 thoughtfulness of her friend Miss Margaret Rolt had got 
 everything ready for her. There she was joined by her 
 sister, Miss Sterland. Sir Victor Horsley came, and per- 
 formed an operation with his accustomed skill, in the 
 drawing-room of their own house, but she had no power of 
 recovery, and on Thursday, July 15, she died, after receiving 
 the Blessed Sacrament with him. As she passed away, the 
 Bishop and those who were with him sang the hymn, " How 
 bright those glorious spirits shine." 
 
 The Bishop himself was mortally stricken by her death, but 
 he bore it, not only with courage and patience, but with a 
 faith which could be pathetically cheerful. The funeral 
 took place on Monday, July 19. The first part of the service 
 was held in St. Mary's, Primrose Hill, the church served by 
 the Bishop's kind friend, Mr. Dearmer, where there had been 
 a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at an earlier hour. From 
 the church the body was conveyed by road to the cemetery 
 at New Southgate, and buried in a grave close by her sister 
 Edith's. The Bishop's father, his elder brother, and other 
 members of his family, and of hers, were present, and Lord 
 Northbourne and other friends. At Mrs. Collins's own desire,
 
 WIDOWHOOD 147 
 
 the widower lifted his poor marred voice to read the words 
 of committal to the grave. 
 
 Here is a little note which he wrote to one of the many 
 acquaintances who condoled with him. 
 
 " 12 Fellows Road, N.W., July 18, 1909. 
 
 So many thanks : I value your letter. 
 
 It makes the future very dreary : but I had always prayed 
 that it might be I left alone and not her, and I have so much 
 to give thanks for that a lifetime is not too long." 
 
 Here is another : 
 
 " This is only a word to thank you for your letter of 
 sympathy with me in my bereavement. We have always 
 been everything to one another, and the blank is the greater. 
 But I know full well that death and separation are the transi- 
 tory things, not love ; and now I have to try and live in 
 that knowledge." 
 
 The beautiful little book Especially tells of the visit 
 to Eden Gate, in Westmoreland, which brought him the 
 consolation which tender sympathy and the artless affection 
 of children can minister. He went into Devon and Cornwall, 
 to some of the old haunts. 
 
 " I got back last afternoon," he writes, " from my hurried 
 visit to her sister at Braunton and her brother at Boscastle, 
 and brought with me heath to make a cross which I took at 
 once to the dear grave. She loves Boscastle so, and its sea, 
 and its moors. . . . So full of interviews and other work. 
 And Mary, bless her, is very near." 1 
 
 Then, all alone, he started for a long journey in the East. 
 
 It would have seemed that the utmost that he was capable 
 of was to drag his own body to the places where he had to 
 go ; but Bishop Collins was never put off from serving the 
 needs of others, and he had strange powers of resourcefulness. 
 The Hon. Madame Wiel has sent me an account of one 
 incident of this extraordinary journey. She says : 
 
 " The following story was told me by the Bishop of one of 
 his experiences on board a Russian ship, when the cargo was 
 
 1 Especially ', p. 30.
 
 148 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 chiefly composed of Russian peasants suffering from an out- 
 break of small-pox. The Bishop heard of their sufferings, 
 and went down into the hold to see what he could do. He 
 found some of the victims with faces swollen to such an 
 extent as to have lost all likeness to human beings. He 
 ordered a quantity of mutton fat to be melted down, and as 
 soon as this was ready he proceeded to daub it over these 
 wretched creatures, and swathe their faces and heads with 
 such bandages as he could get hold of. He then had them 
 removed to another part of the ship and with the assistance 
 of the captain caused the hold to be scoured out with boiling 
 water, and disinfected to the utmost. Two victims had died 
 before the Bishop began his operations, two were so ill that 
 he obtained leave for them to be taken on shore at some port. 
 On reaching his destination the Bishop was presented with 
 a scroll in some language to him unknown, but which on 
 being presented to the Turkish authorities was found to 
 declare that his quarantine fees were paid and that he was 
 free to land forthwith without further ado. He himself 
 never knew nor found out who had made himself answerable 
 in this way for him, or if it was an unobtrusive way of 
 recognising his work among the miserable small-pox victims, 
 and expressing in a really practical way their gratitude for 
 all he had done." l 
 
 At this point I insert a number of letters written by the 
 Bishop between his consecration to the office and the last 
 few months of his life. 
 
 Occupation : Past and Future. 
 
 San Remo, February 26, 1904. 
 
 The time is so fully occupied that I may not attempt more. 
 At each new place I find not only the regular public work to 
 be done, and fifty people who want " only a few minutes," 
 in which, however, I have to make momentous decisions at 
 
 1 1 have followed the authoress of Especially (p. 31), in placing this 
 incident here ; but I do not feel sure that it did not occur on some earlier 
 voyage in the Black Sea.
 
 LETTERS 149 
 
 a moment's notice, but also a good many sick people who 
 would like to see me, and some only of whom, alas ! I can 
 manage to see. 
 
 I am so sorry that things are going hardly with you, and 
 especially when I am far away and cannot help you. But 
 you must never make the mistake of thinking that all the 
 past is worthless because the present seems so barren and 
 unworthy. That is a hopeless thing to do, and just a 
 temptation of the evil one, who always tries to make us 
 think that our good aspirations were worthless and unreal. 
 The mistake is, just starting from the assumption that we 
 are the centre, and the present time the point from which 
 things are to be judged ; whereas Christ is the centre, and 
 He sees things as they shall be. So do not give way. It 
 was only what was to be expected that you should be dis- 
 heartened ; and the vital question is whether you will hold 
 on, and get outside it, so to speak. 
 
 The Gospel of Love. 
 
 Durban, July 28, 1904. 
 
 The new home must be somewhere where you will be at 
 least within easy reach of the preaching of the Gospel of 
 Love ; for I am sure, with you, that that is what we want 
 more than all else. Out here there seems to be nothing else 
 to preach, hardly ; and certainly things are more wonderful 
 than one could think or imagine. It is the results which 
 nobody can tell, and no accounts summarise, which have 
 been most wonderful, and no part of my work has been more 
 wonderful than that at Kimberley. 
 
 Spanish Travel : To the Lord Rendel. 
 
 Santiago de Compostella, 
 
 September 26, 1905. 
 
 A word would reach me at the British Embassy, Madrid, 
 on October 7. I am travelling about, and should not be 
 sure of getting it before. On Sunday I was at Vigo, minister- 
 ing to some 40 clerks of the Eastern Telegraph Company
 
 150 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 there, who have no chaplain anywhere near ; now, on my 
 way to Cortina (a seven and a half hours drive by diligencia) , 
 I am at the greatest of all mediaeval pilgrimage places, 
 a strange little granite-built town, in country like Brittany 
 or Cornwall, with the most glorious Cathedral and not a 
 few other great buildings. At Corufia we have a service for 
 the very few English people there, and I go on by Lugo, 
 Leon, to Bilbao (where we have a chaplain), then by 
 Zaragoza to Tarragona and Valencia, to Madrid and so on. 
 My wife is in England during this very rough journey, 
 but rejoins me at Gibraltar. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Malaga, October 23, 1905. 
 
 Here everything is in a terrible state owing to the drought, 
 and there is much illness. The peasants have lost everything ; 
 and it is not a thing of which the results will pass away, for 
 by a wretched compact between the emigration agents and 
 the local money-lenders the peasants are being forced into 
 emigration. And poor Spain, already weakened to death, 
 is being yet further drained of its best blood. For here the 
 peasant blood is the best. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Till December i [?igo6], 
 
 , The Convent, Gibraltar. 
 
 It is good, after all my travelling, to be stationary for a 
 little while, and the new Governor, 1 with whom I am staying, 
 is a man whom it is a privilege to know. But although it is 
 a change after all my journeying, it is not much rest ; for 
 the arrears of letters have to be made up, and what with 
 Army and Navy my time is about as fully occupied as it 
 could possibly be. It was a grievous mistake to leave 
 Gibraltar and Malta alone so long ; but in one way I reap 
 the benefit, for they come to me about everything, and treat 
 me with the most extraordinary consideration. 
 1 Sir F, Forestier- Walker.
 
 LETTERS 151 
 
 Words of Good Cheer. 
 
 Le Bocage, Costebelle, 
 December 12, 1904. 
 
 I do not wonder that you lose heart at times and that these 
 winter months are terrible to face. But they do not go on 
 for ever, and there is an Eternal Spring which is surely 
 coming, and which is even now not so far off, hard though 
 it is to realise that it is so near. . . . 
 
 Be very sure that God feels for you far more than any 
 human friend can. ... It is the grace of God which has 
 enabled you to bear hitherto, and that has given you such 
 strength as you have. 
 
 The Power of Suffering : His own Work. 
 
 Malta, December 29, 1905. 
 
 You remember what Shakespeare says about the words 
 of the dying : 
 
 " O, but they say the tongues of dying men 
 Enforce attention like deep harmony ; 
 Where words are few, they're seldom spoke in vain, 
 For they breathe truth who breathe their words in pain." 
 
 It is just the same with the thoughts and words, the works 
 and the prayers, of the suffering. And there must be some- 
 thing of good in it, mustn't there ? when our powers for good 
 are made larger. . . . 
 
 As you know, we are always travelling. Malta is one of 
 the places where we stay longest, having an English colony 
 of some 20,000 people. But we are only here till January 8 
 (having arrived on St. Thomas's Day), and excepting here 
 and Gibraltar our stay is never more than two or three days. 
 We go to Sicily next, then Crete, Greece, Italy, etc. ; in the 
 middle of February I am in England for about five days, 
 preaching before the University of Cambridge, lecturing and 
 giving addresses, consulting with the Archbishop in London, 
 etc., and then abroad again. It is very interesting, and, I 
 think, profitable work, but it is tiring, and the opportunities
 
 152 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 for connected study and writing are not great ; and it is 
 easy to get " dissipated," i.e. to live in a scrappy sort of way, 
 in a life which is so broken up. 
 
 A Pastoral Journey. 
 
 The Convent, Gibraltar, December I, 1905. 
 
 It has been such a busy time for me first travelling four 
 or five thousand miles to and in the Spanish Peninsula, then 
 a very busy time here (I never come here without wishing 
 that we could be here longer), then back to some of the 
 Spanish mines, during this last fortnight. Amongst other 
 things I had a long journey on mule-back in the mountains, 
 and came back here from Cadiz on a torpedo-boat destroyer, 
 doing target practice on the way, in the course of which I 
 aimed and fired one of the guns, making a fair shot too I 
 To-morrow I am off, this time by torpedo-boat, to Tangier, 
 and thence, next week, to many places, and so to Malta. 
 Doesn't it almost take one's breath away ? . . . 
 
 They are very anxious days just now in some ways. I 
 hear much that is terrible from the South of Russia, and 
 would far rather relieve our chaplains in Odessa and else- 
 where than merely tell them (as I must do) that it is their 
 duty to stay there until the Consuls declare it unsafe for our 
 people to remain. Then there are the perpetual questions 
 as to the possibility of keeping up chaplaincies in little places, 
 and helping scattered groups elsewhere. 
 
 A State Visit. 
 
 Constantinople, St. Matthew's Day, 1906. 
 I am in the midst of the most interesting things here. 
 Yesterday I went through the streets in an open carriage, 
 robed and with decorations (you can do anything in Con- 
 stantinople), to see the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the 
 Armenian Patriarch (their chief representative in Turkey). 
 And to-day the Metropolitan of Chios, the Protosyncellos, 
 and the Archdeacon, have just returned the call on behalf 
 of the former. It is so interesting.
 
 LETTERS 153 
 
 Alicante. 
 
 Fonda Iborra, Alicante, October n, 1905. 
 This is a strange place by the sea a long double or treble 
 line of houses on a fine bay, dominated by a great castle on 
 a high white-grey hill, and with little but palm trees growing 
 everywhere, bearing dates that are nearly ripe. There are 
 very few English here, and the Consul is a Roman Catholic ; 
 but I am going to give some of them their Communion 
 to-morrow, and also to consecrate the burial ground here, 
 in which Professor Freeman the historian was buried. He 
 died here, of small-pox, about twelve years ago. It is very 
 interesting, though very tiring, going about ministering to 
 these little knots of our people. I wish it were possible to 
 do more for them ; but it can only come by little and little. 
 
 Work in New Russia. 
 
 [Hughesovka, June, 1906.] 
 
 The company in question is largely an English one, which 
 owns large coal mines and steel works here. We have just 
 arrived, after two nights and a day in the train from Odessa, 
 and a fourteen-mile drive across the steppe, which is not so 
 flat as I had imagined it, but perpetually covered with dust 
 in the summer, mud in the spring and autumn, and snow in 
 the winter. It grows corn in abundance, with weeds, and a 
 few beautiful, though not delicate, flowers ; but about here 
 the smoke from the furnaces has spoiled things entirely, and 
 there is nothing but bare earth, slag, and a very ramshackle 
 town. But there are some two hundred English people here 
 with their chaplain, and when things are quiet and peaceful 
 there are a hundred more ; whilst things in Russia are so 
 disturbed, however, most of them have sent their wives and 
 children home. . . . Everything is greatly disturbed all 
 over Russia, but it doesn't really make it dangerous for us in 
 any way. Troubles occur almost daily at Odessa, and yet 
 people go on living their lives bravely and quietly. They 
 have grown steadily in spite, if not because, of the troubles ; 
 and on Ascension Day, out of a colony of some 350 people in 
 all, I confirmed thirteen adults.
 
 154 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Fasting Communion. 
 
 Galatz, Roumania, June 22, 1906. 
 
 To answer your question first, just as it stands : I don't 
 think that you will get any light on the subject from the 
 practice of the Reformers. That fasting Communion con- 
 tinued to be a general custom (it would be going beyond the 
 evidence to say the universal custom) after the sixteenth 
 century, and indeed after the Restoration, is quite clear. But 
 the question was not one, if we may trust the evidence (and I 
 am sure that for this purpose we may), which was consciously 
 before the mind of the Reformers as of pressing importance, 
 and they neither made any effort to settle it, nor did they 
 consciously and deliberately leave it an open question. 
 
 In my opinion, the best way to approach the whole question 
 is this. It is ambiguous and misleading to speak of the rule 
 of fasting Communion at all. If by rule is meant regula, 
 precept, law, or even definitive canon, there is no such rule 
 of the Church. There are rules of the Church about fasting ; 
 there are rules which set apart certain days of fasting or 
 abstinence ; but there is no rule of fasting Communion. On 
 the other hand, there is a custom of fasting Communion, and 
 a custom of the highest degree both of antiquity and of range. 
 Now such a custom is to be highly honoured and carefully 
 observed : no reverent man can treat it lightly. On the 
 other hand, a custom is not a law : it may be disregarded, or 
 rather not followed, for a sufficient reason. And further, 
 the sufficient reason must be relative to the individual case, 
 and not merely a kind of general exception to a rule. On 
 the other hand, no Catholic-minded man will lightly imagine 
 "sufficient reasons," and he will, if he is wise, and the occasion 
 is one which is likely to recur, seek to make his action regular 
 by the sanction of authority where possible. I have myself 
 given a dispensation to a priest who cannot fast for many 
 hours ; I have also refused one, in one case, where there 
 seemed insufficient reason. 1 
 
 1 The Bishop went on to refer his correspondent to the Introduction to 
 Dr. Wickham Legg's Papal Facilities for Dispensation from the Fast 
 before Communion,
 
 LETTERS 155 
 
 An Earnest Parliament. 
 
 Le Bocage, Costebelle, 
 
 March 21, 1906. 
 
 How stirring things have been in England ! To see a 
 House of Commons again consisting of men who are in 
 earnest, and who realise that God has not said His last 
 creative word in human life, is a fine thing ; whether one 
 is in every detail with them or not is so small a point in 
 comparison ! 
 
 Father William's " Workless and Starving." 
 
 Smyrna, September 18, 1906. 
 
 I ought to have written before to thank you with all my 
 heart for your pamphlet Workless and Starving, which I read 
 with a full heart and a stricken conscience, and which has 
 often been in my mind since. 
 
 Without doubt you are right ; what is wanted is not 
 merely measures of palliation or relief at particular times, 
 . . . but an entirely new conception of the meaning and the 
 dignity and the duty of labour, a revelation, not a poultice. 
 That we may make many inadequate experiments if we try 
 to do something is obvious ; but the terrible evil now is that 
 most people, who are Christian in their own lives, are purely 
 fatalistic in all that concerns labour, and take it for granted 
 that because a struggle for existence in brute beasts follows 
 out an inevitable course, all that concerns labour is equally 
 mechanical and dead. 
 
 But we are learning, all slowly though it be. And every 
 trumpet call does good, though it seems to fall on deaf ears. 
 "Prophet eyes can catch a glory slowly gaining on the 
 shade " ; but only where we are at least trying to learn, 
 and to do each thing as we learn it. God speed you all who 
 are engaged in the battle.
 
 156 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 The Education Bill. 
 
 La Pinedo, Costebelle, 
 
 January 7, 1907. 
 
 You must be greatly disappointed, as I am, about the 
 Education Bill. The whole thing is a great muddle, and 
 (as is generally the case) I don't find myself in full agreement 
 with anybody ; but I was far more in agreement with the 
 Bishop of Hereford than with any other of the Bishops. 
 When I come to think of it, I don't want to find myself 
 in entire agreement with anybody, so far as opinions go. 
 I value my opinions as much as most people, and should 
 wish to be prepared to die for them ; but I know too much 
 about their one-sidedness and narrowness to wish anybody 
 else to think exactly the same ! There is a broader basis 
 of fellowship than that. 
 
 Work for the Sufferer to do. 
 
 At Sea, between Sicily and Crete, 
 
 June 4, 1907. 
 
 All that you tell me of the difficulty of realising God and 
 His love, and seeing spiritual things, must make it infinitely 
 harder ; but I do not think that in themselves they ought 
 to dishearten you. They must be mainly or altogether the 
 effect of the disease itself, and God knows all about them too. 
 You must only try not to let anything slip that can be held 
 firm, and remember that amongst so much that He has taken 
 from you, He has still left you the opportunity of work for 
 Him. Your pain itself helps you to witness for Him, and 
 every word of hope and thoughtfulness that you can manage 
 to say to others will tell with them much more than what 
 others might say. So God has still true and deep work for 
 you to do ! Aiid if you find that you can't carry your 
 thoughts beyond the grave to the joy and glory and peace 
 there, it is only because they are so wonderful and beyond 
 all our possible experience.
 
 LETTERS 157 
 
 Knowledge of his Flock. 
 
 Chateau Thorenc, Cannes, 
 Marth 12, 1908. 
 
 Yes, I will gladly tell people at Gibraltar about : in 
 
 fact, I am writing to-day to the Dean, and to Mr. Carey, one 
 of our best Army Chaplains, who looks after the Eastern 
 Telegraph Company's men. Of course I know them well, and 
 generally pay a visit to their quarters when I am in Gibraltar. 
 They live together college-fashion, and are a very good set 
 of men in all ways. But their hours and their rules make 
 them keep very much to themselves, and they go out little ; 
 though they have plenty of games, etc. 
 
 Rumour of his Translation to Chichester : to the 
 Rev. Dr. Robinson. 
 
 The Convent, Gibraltar, 
 
 December 23, 1907. 
 
 Rumours are troublesome things. ... So far as one 
 can come to a conclusion on a problematical question, I 
 decided to stay here. As things are, I get opportunities, 
 perhaps increasingly, of consulting with high people in 
 England on most of the points that arise ; and it does not 
 follow that I could do more, were I actually on the spot. 
 It is my weakness that I too easily get absorbed in the details 
 of work ; and whereas here, with every community differing 
 from every other, it perhaps serves a good purpose, in England 
 it would hardly do so. Then again this work of mine is 
 gloriously many-sided, and, I hope and believe, really fruitful : 
 so far as strictly " diocesan " work is concerned, I don't 
 think that anywhere are the opportunities so great, and the 
 opportunities of fellowship with other Churches are not to 
 be despised. On the other hand, I am conscious of having 
 failed entirely of finding the right permanent basis of work 
 yet : in a jurisdiction like this it is most important that the 
 Bishop should come into actual and frequent contact with 
 places and people, seeing that they cannot get into the 
 train and visit him when things go wrong ; and yet I
 
 158 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 doubt whether other Bishops would be able to travel so 
 much. . . . 
 
 Yes, we are indeed the poorer for the death of the beloved 
 Primus, so far as our counsels are concerned. We have his 
 example still, and surely his prayers. Just as I left England 
 early in September he wrote to ask me to go and stay with 
 him, " to take counsel about the movement for unity here 
 in Scotland, and to think about our duty in the Lambeth 
 Conference." How I wish that it had been possible, and now 
 more than ever ! 
 
 Messina : to Mrs. Collins. 
 H.M.S. " Minerva," December 31, 1908. 
 
 We got in at 9 on Wednesday, and as soon as possible I 
 got ashore, with a packet of biscuits, my flask, and two ship's 
 water bottles. Already on the " Chesapeake " a British 
 ship in the harbour we had found some refugees. ... I 
 found the Huleatts' house a huge pile of ruins. . . . Then 
 I went to one or two other houses which I thought might 
 give news of our people, and soon found X., his wife and 
 child, in a destitute condition. After helping them as well 
 as I could, and making arrangements for them to go to the 
 "Minerva," I attached myself to a Russian rescue party, and 
 we climbed up and over mound after mound, as people came 
 and told us that there were sounds below, or as we heard 
 them. In such cases it meant literally digging them out, 
 or excavating amongst ruins till we could reach them. In 
 one case, deep in the ruins, we got to a boy of 12 or so, and 
 at last, through a deep narrow hole I was able to reach 
 down to give him water. There were two great beams in the 
 way ; so the only thing was to reach down with a knife, cut 
 the mattress below him, and draw out its contents through 
 the hole, till he sank far enough down for us to get at him 
 by a new hole below the beams. But we got him out, thank 
 God, his eyes bright with fever, and bruised, but not much 
 worse otherwise ; and this was one of six or seven whom we 
 got out before dark. . . . 
 
 I have spent a good deal of time with our sick we have 
 had two deaths to-day trying to write letters for them in
 
 LETTERS 159 
 
 Italian, talking to them, trying to explain to these sailor- 
 nurses what they want, nursing babies, and so on. They are 
 so patient and good. As for the sailors, they are magnificent 
 so gentle and tender as nurses. All the sweets in the 
 canteen have been bought up by them to give to the children, 
 and they speak a lingo all their own to them, as relay after 
 relay has come to us since yesterday morning, which seems 
 a year ago. . . . 
 
 I am well and not too tired. Everybody is good to me 
 Captain Wake and all his officers, and the men especially, 
 who make much of me, and ask me to interpret with their 
 patients, and bring me all sorts of scraps of would-be Italian 
 to interpret. 
 
 The Earthquake at Messina. 
 
 H.M.S. " Lancaster," January 12, 1909. 
 I am here again at this city of the dead, making a few 
 final enquiries and arrangements for some of our folk who 
 have been saved, and burying some of the dead who have 
 been recovered. I came down with the Duke of Connaught 
 in the "Aboukir," have visited the hospital, and have been 
 here [in Messina] all day for a heartrending day, digging in 
 the rain with a party of stokers. We have found four bodies, 
 greatly decomposed ; but there are many more below. 
 Personally, I should like to have this work given up entirely ; 
 for I should prefer any I loved to remain embedded in these 
 masses of lime, rather than have all this terrible work. But 
 people feel so differently about these things ! 
 
 The Earthquake at Messina. 
 S.S. " Palermo," at Sea, January 20, 1909. 
 Then came the terrible earthquake, and I set off at once 
 for Messina and Reggio, and have been there half the time 
 since December 30, going to and fro in warships. You may 
 imagine what a heartrending time it has been utterly unlike 
 the accounts in the newspapers, which appear to have been 
 written for the most part by people who were nowhere near 
 the earthquake, but worse by far. Only it was good to be
 
 160 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 there, and to help with the wounded and homeless, and to 
 dig out one after another of those who were buried under 
 the ruins. And our sailors were quite splendid, working all 
 day long under conditions of great difficulty and no little 
 danger, and ministering like trained nurses to the wounded, 
 and giving up their berths in order that we might have more 
 hospital space. 
 
 Well . . . these things are certainly not less terrible from 
 within than from without; but I think that near at hand you 
 see God's love better than far away, in all the love which 
 suffering calls forth whence ? And if " love is all and death 
 is nought " as we know it is, however hard it may be to 
 live up to it one can understand a little bit that God 
 is over the earthquake. Only we could not understand 
 unless the Son of God had come down to suffer and to 
 die for us. 
 
 His Wife's last day : to Miss Cavendish-Bentinck. 
 
 12 Fellows Road, N.W., July 14, 1909. 
 
 I must send you a word that you may know of God's 
 dealings with us. You know how ill my Mary has been for 
 long, and for some little time now we have known that 
 it was either a tumour or abscess on the brain, and that 
 there was but little hope of recovery if the latter, none, if 
 the former, since it was evidently so deep-seated. To-day, 
 Sir Victor Horsley operated, an operation intended partly 
 to relieve some of the worst symptoms, partly to see if more 
 could be done. The operation has passed safely, but they 
 find that there is a very large solid tumour, much dispersed 
 in area, and that there is no hope at all. So we are trusting 
 that at least she may have relief and that God of His mercy 
 will give her a peaceful passing. She is very weak, but we 
 trust going on well. 
 
 That is all that there is to tell, excepting that she is just 
 bearing it all and using it all as the saint that she is, and that 
 we are not unhappy, and are full of thankfulness. I ought 
 to have nothing but praise for the rest of my life ; and we are 
 thankful to have been able to bring her safely to England ;
 
 LETTERS 161 
 
 and we have had much precious time together lately, and 
 have been able to speak quite openly and get behind 
 and above separation and things present and things 
 to come or any other creature. I wanted you to know 
 and dear Mrs. Scott, that you may think of us with dear 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jeaffreson. 
 
 Ferrol. 
 
 British Vice-Consulate, Villagarcia, Spain, 
 
 October 20, 1910. 
 
 You remember Ferrol ? The place where there were 300 
 of our people and a Plymouth Brother ? . . . The people 
 have now grown to nearly 500. And although they are 
 mainly Scotch Presbyterians or Nonconformists, before we 
 left they were keen that I should send them a chaplain some- 
 how, and I think it may be done soon if we can find the right 
 man to go there as schoolmaster and chaplain. There are 
 80 children delightful ones and at present only 40 of 
 them go to a little school kept by a nice teacher, a girl. 
 Well, it looks hopeful, and such a " parish " f or a man to 
 work in. Ever since I landed I have been in telegraphic 
 communication with our Ambassador in Madrid about a 
 Naval Cemetery which is to be consecrated here ; the 
 Spanish authorities have been putting all sorts of difficulties 
 in the way. Now, the Ambassador tells me, we have 
 certainly done all that is legally necessary and are quite 
 free to consecrate ; but they are still making little administra- 
 tive obstacles. But last night the Vice-Consul, at my request, 
 sent a message to the local Alcalde (Mayor) to say that I 
 intend to consecrate it to-day, inviting him to be present, 
 and adding that I am going to do myself the honour of 
 calling on him afterwards. He has sent back to say that he 
 will not be responsible, but evidently realises that he has 
 neither the duty nor the right of interfering it is always 
 right enough with these people if you keep within legal limits 
 and know your own mind ; but this matter has been 
 dragging on since April between the Vice-Consul, the Spanish 
 authorities, and our Admiralty.
 
 162 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 Home Politics. 
 
 Bordighera, December 16, 1909. 
 
 My thoughts are very full of our poor at home, for things 
 are going to be very bad, I fear, this winter. The worst of 
 it is that " prosperity " does not help them now ; it only 
 means that work goes on feverishly for a time, and that then 
 as soon as it ceases to be remunerative in the highest degree, 
 they are rather ruthlessly discharged, instead of being kept 
 on constantly, good times or bad times, as they used to be. 
 It was time that some effort was made to adjust taxation 
 more fairly to the rich and the poor ; and whatever faults 
 in detail there may have been in this Budget, it was at least 
 a brave and honest attempt to do that. And I hope it has 
 done it ; for no future government will dare to fall back from 
 the new order of things which it has shown the way for. 
 
 Unction : to a familiar friend. 
 
 Bordighera, February 12, 1910. 
 
 I should say that Unction is in its essence an Act of Faith, 
 just like the many others that people make, or ought to 
 make, in illness. Of course, they don't make them nearly 
 enough, or there would be less illness ; and it is a very good 
 thing in such an Act of Faith to have a concrete act, a psy- 
 chical moment on which the mind can grasp. For most of 
 us do nothing particular with our lives just because we don't 
 particularly try ; i.e. have no definite aim or aims, never 
 come to the point. All that is good, then. But so far it is 
 not a new thing in kind ; it is what has always been done in 
 the Church, now in one way, now in another ; and what we 
 have gained at the present day is a more definite recognition 
 of a duty and a right which it always belonged to us to 
 exercise. 
 
 When, however, people speak of Unction as the " lost 
 Pleiad of the Church," or as having a grace peculiar to itself, 
 they seem to me to be talking nonsense, and a very bad kind 
 of nonsense. To take an illustration of what I mean : had 
 the Church been without the Eucharist for centuries, it
 
 LETTERS 163 
 
 might have had many gifts and many graces, but it would 
 have lacked the grace of the sacramental feeding on the 
 Body and Blood of Christ. Here, it is quite otherwise. 
 There is no grace which the Church has lacked, in that a 
 rite which was never strictly a rite of the Church has fallen 
 into desuetude. The grace of healing has been given all 
 along, in answer to the prayers of the Church, to particular 
 prayers, to acts of faith of all kinds. Most priests in 
 visiting the sick, lay hands on them. Often they call for 
 special efforts, sometimes even say, "Arise and walk," and 
 it is done (/ have known cases). All these are different 
 illustrations of the same thing, healing in the Church 
 through the power of Christ. 
 
 On the Church : to the Rev. J. H. Toy. 
 
 Bordighera, February 23, 1910. 
 
 The matter about which you write is one which is attract- 
 ing a good deal of attention, and I think we shall hear more 
 of it yet. Briefly, there are four things which must be borne 
 in mind about it. 
 
 i. The fact itself is very much exaggerated. Formerly, 
 people used to speak vaguely and ignorantly about the 
 Dark Ages, and it was true, as S. R. Maitland replied, that 
 the main reason why they were so dark was that people were 
 so much in the dark about them. Now, by a swing of the 
 pendulum, it is all the other way. People are now as 
 ridiculously ready to assume that everything was good in the 
 Middle Ages as they were formerly ready to assume the 
 reverse ; and on the other hand, nothing is too bad [for 
 them] to say about the period previous to the Oxford Move- 
 ment. The fact of the matter is that the slackness of that 
 period (especially in the matter of Baptism) is very greatly 
 exaggerated. It is much the same with other things. I 
 hardly know a single instance of so-called " Puritan " neglect 
 which is not in reality, and demonstrably so, a survival from 
 the Middle Ages ; and the neglect of Baptism, and above all 
 of Confirmation, in times before the Reformation must have 
 been incomparably greater than most people realise. If I
 
 164 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 were to look for the greatest uncertainties in the transmission 
 of Holy Orders in times past, I should not find it here. 
 There are things far more serious elsewhere. But the fact is 
 that one does not need to look for them. People are starting 
 from the wrong end when they try to build destructive 
 arguments on things such as these. 
 
 2. They are equally wrong-headed when they base their 
 theory of the Church on a mechanical idea of a chain in 
 which a broken link invalidates all that comes after. The 
 whole point of corporate life is that one weak spot does not, 
 and many weak spots do not, destroy the body. A truer 
 image would be that of a coat of mail, in which one broken 
 link does not destroy the continuity of the rest, or a rope, 
 which is continuous even though no single fibre subsists for 
 more than a foot or two of its length. Of course the truest 
 image of all is a living body, in which the life of all is not only 
 not destroyed by local failure, but the life of the whole 
 actually repairs and makes good the need of the part. A 
 mechanical theory which forgets the solidarity of the body 
 is hopelessly wrong. 
 
 3. And again, Christ is not divided ; the Creed is not a 
 series of twelve, or a hundred, or a million propositions, 
 but a whole, of which we see now this aspect, now that. A 
 theory which separates the ministry from the living Church, 
 or the particular lives of individual Christians from the life 
 of the Body, is unchristian and therefore uncatholic. In 
 their eagerness to assert the Apostolic Ministry, people are 
 apt to forget that it is a function of the Body, of the Apos- 
 tolic Church ; and that the life of the Body is in a true sense 
 the guarantee of the maintenance of the Apostolic Ministry. 
 (It is the true strength of Scottish Presbyterianism that it 
 bears witness to this fact.) 7 should not hesitate to say 
 that the very meaning of the corporate life of the Church is 
 that it guarantees to us the continuity of the Ministry, and 
 makes good accidental defects, where the intention of the 
 Church has been maintained as regards its Ministry, and 
 where its practical action has been continuous. The idea 
 is not familiar to us, but it is quite in accordance with 
 primitive use, and quite familiar in Eastern theology, that
 
 LETTERS 165 
 
 that is Holy Order which the Church recognises as such, and 
 that the Church of its inherent life makes good any defects 
 which there may be in that which it recognises. 
 
 4. But the chief thing after all is that which you speak of 
 the ever present care of Our Lord for His Church. There 
 is a mechanical way of talking of the Sacraments, into which 
 many people fall, which is not only hideously irreverent, but 
 which " destroy eth the very nature of a sacrament." The 
 fact is that Baptism is not a kind of curse against the un- 
 baptised, but a revelation of God's Eternal Will of Love and 
 the application of that Will to him who receives it. The 
 Eucharist, and Confirmation, and Orders are of the same 
 order. In each case, two things are involved, an Act and 
 a Life : in the language of scholastic theology, an actual gift 
 and a habitual grace : an act of baptism and a habit of 
 baptised life, an act of receiving and a habitual (i.e. constant, 
 continuous) feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ. To 
 say that he who shares the habitual life of the baptised 
 but has not received Baptism is outside grace would be an 
 act of dogmatic negation ; and no negation is part of the 
 Catholic faith, or can be. Of course, to say that he is in 
 the same position as if he were baptised would be an act 
 of presumption, putting our own ideas in the place of that 
 which we know by faith ; but to say that the life of the body 
 is null, or that the Body is outside grace because some indi- 
 viduals who went before had never received Baptism, would 
 be a return from a Gospel to a Law, from the Life of Christ 
 to the bondage of the Evil One. At every point, grace rests 
 upon His Will. It is a Present Christ, who speaks now, not 
 an Absent Christ, who spoke once, who is the Giver of Grace, 
 the Minister in every Sacrament. 
 
 I am here getting well, please God, from a serious illness. 
 May He bless you ever, my dear Toy. 
 
 A Favourite Motto. 
 
 Villa degli Angeli, Fiesole, April 13, 1910. 
 So my path is clear for the present simply to do all I 
 can to get well, and try to follow Bishop Hacket. That motto
 
 166 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 of his, " Serve God and be cheerful," has always been a 
 favourite one of mine ; I wonder if you have ever come 
 across any of his books ? 
 
 Prayer for Health. 
 
 Fiesole, April, 1910. 
 
 Now let me try to answer your question about the prayers, 
 (i) I am quite sure that God is to me all that the most 
 loving Father and Mother is, and infinitely more : all this 
 in the most complete, ideally perfect fulness. (2) And 
 because that is so, I ask, and know I ought to ask, for just 
 the very thing that I feel the need of : not some idealised 
 picture of it, or what I think it may be proper to ask, but it. 
 That is the most child-like thing I can do, to take my own 
 trouble to Him, and really to ask for that which is my 
 heart's desire. "An infant crying in the night " is most 
 childlike. I claim a son's rights ; I call for the satisfaction 
 of a child's needs. (3) I realise all the time, or rather learn 
 progressively to realise, please God, what a bad child I am, 
 and how little I know about my own needs ; and the best 
 thing of all is when I begin to learn that what I really want 
 is not an it, but Him who with Himself " freely gives us all 
 things." But this does not in any way modify the single- 
 heartedness of my asking. Some day I may come to see 
 that what I asked for was not what I want ; then I will ask 
 differently : but here and now, because I want this, I ask 
 for it, and not for something else, and I am childlike in 
 proportion as I do so. (4) " In My name " certainly isn't 
 a limitation of the asking, but an enlargement of the spirit 
 of the asking, so that we know already that the prayer is to 
 be answered ; that it is His will, and not simply our will, 
 which is the basis of answered prayer. 
 
 And certainly bodily health is not to be excluded from the 
 asking. I cannot doubt that we have not asked enough, 
 and that there has been far too little " faith-healing " in the 
 past. The only pity is that reaction is the least healthy way 
 of growth. When we learn more about healing in the 
 Saviour, in an age which is morbidly fearful of pain, there is
 
 LETTERS 167 
 
 a danger lest even our good New Light should be received as 
 a way for our old selfishness to walk in. And they who 
 realise for the first time that the Gospel is, amongst other 
 things, a Gospel of Health, are apt to forget that all down 
 the ages the sick have been healed by the prayer of faith. 
 You will not think I mean, however, that we are not to use 
 our New Light. 
 
 Forrest's "Authority of Christ " : to a Student 
 of Theology. 
 
 12 Fellows Road, Hampstead, 
 
 October 5, 1910. 
 
 It is, I think, most interesting, and very valuable. I don't 
 think I remember any part that is not in accordance with 
 any specific teaching of ours. The difference, if any, is 
 rather one of the proportion of the faith, and so far as I 
 remember I should put it under two heads, (i) We have 
 learned so much from the new light, and from what is at 
 present also the misleading glimmer (in parts) of psychology, 
 that we have for the time lost our orientation, and are all 
 floundering. . . . We shall get it again in a newer and deeper 
 way. Just now the tendency is to make Atonement centre 
 too much in ourselves. No doctrine of Atonement can be 
 ultimately satisfying which does not in a real sense centre in 
 God. (2) One needs the doctrine of the Church more ; not, 
 of course, the polity thereof, of which perhaps we get too 
 much just now. The fundamental question is between 
 Westcott and Newman in the Apologia. The former finds 
 himself face to face with three final existences self, the 
 world, and God ; the latter God, and his own soul. The 
 former is the basis of Catholicism ; is not the latter the basis 
 of most other -isms ? I am not saying that J. H. N. 
 always occupied this position : he did not. . . , But no 
 doctrine of the Atonement can be adequate which does not 
 build upon Ephesians and I St. John.
 
 168 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 The Lisbon Jesuits : to the Rev. Dr. Robinson. 
 
 Gibraltar, Allhallowmas Day, 1910. 
 
 I came here three days ago from Lisbon, on a Dutch ship 
 which brought also thirty-one Portuguese Jesuits, priests 
 and students, who had been deported by the authorities. 
 We made friends, and I have been able to help them a little 
 here. But when one of them introduced his fellow to me 
 as " another of our Confessors," I could not help protesting, 
 and asked them whether they thought it was justifiable to 
 use such a description when they had been shut up by the 
 police to protect them from molestation by their own people. 
 The feeling is amazingly strong against them, partly on 
 political, partly on other grounds. (I, too, have seen the 
 underground passages from the chief Jesuit house in Lisbon, 
 but of course it is outrageous to give only a bad interpreta- 
 tion to things such as these.) Of course there is a con- 
 siderable amount of mere secularism, but most of it is 
 " anticlericalism " pure and simple, and one cannot but 
 think, " O f or a Savonarola ! " 
 
 Prayer-book Revision : to the same. 
 
 Malta, November 16, 1910. 
 
 I am so thankful that so far Convocation has done the 
 right thing, and congratulate you heartily on your share in 
 it. I only hope that the result will not be frittered away 
 by either a mere tinkering of details, or a concentration of 
 attention on the two burning questions of the Quicumque 
 and the Vesture. I long to see two things more : (a) a 
 plain recognition of a moderate dispensing power, so that in 
 particular cases special modifications may be made, within 
 limits, with the authorisation of the Bishop ; (b) a plain 
 recognition of the fact that rubrics are not canons i.e. that 
 a rubric records simply how things are done (i.e. unless there 
 is valid reason for some other course), and that it is the func- 
 tion of a canon to prescribe how things shall be done. Of 
 course each of these opens large questions ; but I don't like 
 the idea, which seems to satisfy many very good people, of
 
 THE LAST PERIOD 169 
 
 first making the directions of the Prayer-book " reasonable " 
 (according to the ideas of 1910 or 1911), and then saying, 
 "All these you shall observe to the last iota ! " 
 
 It has already been mentioned that at the time of Mrs. 
 Collins's death the Bishop had partially lost his voice. He 
 could make himself heard, but with difficulty, and the voice 
 was painful to listen to, it was so husky. The mischief 
 began soon after his labours at Messina ; and he was inclined 
 to believe that he had there taken some septic poison into 
 his system. He put himself under the best medical direction, 
 hoping that his throat might be set right. But it did not 
 improve during the months that he spent in England that 
 summer. In the autumn the doctors silenced him altogether. 
 He was not only forbidden to preach or take services ; he 
 was not allowed even to speak not so much as in a whisper. 
 Conversation on his part was cut down to what he could 
 write on slips of paper. Even this was so tiring for him that 
 it was not much encouraged. 
 
 He took up his winter quarters at Poggio Ponente, near 
 Bordighera. From that place he sent out a printed circular 
 in December, saying : 
 
 " I am unfortunately in the hands of the doctors, who 
 have forbidden me to travel, or to speak or preach for 
 the present, and have sent me here for special treatment 
 for my throat, etc. So the above will be my address till 
 further notice." 
 
 In sending the circular to Lord Rendel, he added : 
 
 " What is printed on the other side is for the world at 
 large : for your own ear, let me add what is amiss. It 
 turns out that my throat and lungs are tuberculous, and I 
 am here for proper open-air treatment, which is already 
 doing good. But my work, and letter-writing, are cut down 
 to a minimum." 
 
 To another friend he wrote on the circular with pathetic 
 humour : 
 
 " The silence is so essential because they are afraid that 
 one of the vocal chords is destroyed altogether. I make the 
 doctors laugh by whistling a few bars of The Lost Chord when
 
 170 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 they come ; but of course it is rather serious, for it means that 
 I shall never be able to sing any more, if so." 
 In sending the same to Madame Wiel, he said : 
 " I am particularly anxious that my brethren should not 
 put off telling me things on the ground of ' not troubling 
 me ' and so add greatly to work afterwards." 
 
 It was obvious to urge him not to travel again without 
 taking a chaplain with him, or at least a valet ; but his 
 reply was : 
 
 " Nice as it would be in some ways, I don't think it would 
 be really feasible for me to have a chaplain with me. It 
 would at times, when I am on the Riviera or in big centres ; 
 though even then he would often be of more use in London, 
 amongst my papers and books, than with me. And in the 
 outlying districts, which after all take more than half my 
 time, he would hardly help me at all, and in some ways add 
 to work ! There isn't any Bishop's work quite like this of 
 mine which is, of course, one of its many charms. Then 
 again there are times when a man-servant would be a help, 
 but many more when he would only be in the way ; and I 
 should dislike it of all things ! And I know that St. Paul 
 had companions on his journeys : so do I when I go to 
 Kurdistan ; but when it is a question of travelling by train, 
 don't you think it would have made a difference ? But I 
 will try and be good about it I will ; and certainly the 
 more for your letter." 
 
 He wrote to Lord Rendel again on January 13, 1910 : 
 "All is going on well, and I am decidedly better than I 
 was, so far as the lungs are concerned. With the throat, 
 which is of course the centre of the mischief, there is little 
 or no change as yet ; but that was bound to be a very slow 
 business. No, the London doctors were quite decisively 
 against the Alps : they would be as bad for other things as 
 they might be good for the mischief itself ; and indeed I 
 have had not a little tiresome heart-trouble as it is. However, 
 that is better too, I am thankful to say. And in other ways 
 I am very well off. It is a little awkward at times not to be 
 allowed to speak, but not really unpleasant, for with it 
 there comes a very pleasant restfulness too. Everybody is
 
 THE LAST PERIOD 171 
 
 good to me, and I have many willing helpers, and a most 
 delightful nurse ; and it makes it easier in many ways that 
 she knows all about last year, having taken care of my wife 
 so devotedly. And God has blessed me with peace of mind. 
 I am of course setting my will in the direction of getting well ; 
 but if it were to be otherwise, I own that I should be happy, 
 for the sake of that which is ' far better/ Of course it 
 isn't possible to make plans yet, but, though the doctor will 
 not even look upon it as possible, I dream of being able to 
 do two months of journeying in the more important regions 
 before the summer. The chief anxiety, if it can be called 
 one, is whether I shall have any voice. I could make myself 
 heard (before I was put to silence), though with difficulty 
 and the expenditure of about three times the ordinary 
 amount of energy. But it seems more than likely that one 
 vocal chord is gone altogether ; and if so I can hardly hope 
 to sing again, or take a real physical pleasure in speaking. 
 However, all that is happily not my concern ! 
 
 "As I can't talk, I am not allowed to see many people ; but 
 there is a good chaplain here, who is one of my own private 
 chaplains too ; 1 and kind Mrs. Scott and Miss Cavendish- 
 Bentinck, in whose garden I spend the afternoon, are old 
 friends of ours ; and Miss Wells is just coming out to 
 Bordighera and will be able to work for me, as she has done 
 before. And I get a certain amount of reading done, and 
 have a good many books with me, and a capital library near 
 at hand ; so it is quite a good place to be ill in. 
 
 " How critical the state of affairs at home is ! I trust that 
 all may go well, but there has not for some time been an 
 election in which it was so hard to foresee the result." 
 
 He wrote brightly a few days later to Madame Wiel : 
 
 " Poggio Ponente, 
 Conversion of St. Paul, 1910. 
 
 To-day is the sixth anniversary of my Consecration : 
 to-morrow of our wedding. We had planned, if we could, to 
 make it in a sense a sabbatical year to travel as little as 
 we could, and stay longer at Gibraltar and Malta, and possibly 
 
 1 The Rev. A. T. Barnett, to whom he was deeply attached.
 
 172 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 to get longer for rest in England this summer. My dear one 
 rests. . . . 
 
 " (January 30.) This place has become almost the centre 
 of the universe lately ! All sorts of friends of mine are 
 coming out here to get a glimpse of me, or to hear at any 
 rate. The Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Davidson 
 are here now, and come to see me daily ,' and I am rather 
 expecting the Pope before long, and the Dalai Lama, and 
 the ex-Sultan, and perhaps Dr. Cook." 
 
 At the end of the year 1910 the Bishop sent out a Pastoral 
 Letter to the people under his charge. After telling them 
 of the state of his health, he said : 
 
 " Limitations such as these are somewhat irksome, but 
 I am sure that it is right for me to face them, and to try and 
 do my work under them. I believe that you would wish to 
 bear them with me rather than that I should give up ; and 
 every single voice that I can hear on the subject strengthens 
 this belief. Above all, those who speak with authority are 
 quite clear that I ought to go on, keeping well within the 
 limits of what is possible, and doing everything that can be 
 done to help forward a complete recovery, if that be in 
 God's providence for me. And you have always shown 
 me such wonderful loving kindness that I am writing now 
 with the object of taking counsel with you, my friends, as 
 to what we can do to make the most of such powers as I 
 have, and to secure that the Lord's work shall suffer, and 
 His people be straitened, as little as need be in the 
 circumstances. 
 
 " I think these are the chief points involved, (i) It is, 
 of course, absolutely impossible for me to preach. To me, 
 at any rate, this is a very heavy deprivation ; for I have 
 always been able to enter into the words of George Herbert 
 with regard to the Country Parson, that ' the pulpit is his 
 ]oy and his throne.' Yet silence may have its advantages. 
 Long ago, when my dear wife and I used to make plans for 
 the future, it was one of our dreams that my seventh year as 
 Bishop should be a Sabbath rest from preaching (at any rate 
 from preaching in season and out of season), so that I might 
 have an opportunity of sitting at the feet of my brethren.
 
 THE LAST PERIOD 173 
 
 The seventh year has come, and it is to be a year of silence, 
 but in a very different sense from that which I had thought 
 of ; and how different in other ways, too ! Well, it is a 
 privilege to sit among the hearers. And yet I will ask my 
 brethren of the clergy to believe that it is a matter of real 
 regret with me that I shall not be able to relieve them of the 
 strain of having to preach only too constantly. I know well 
 that there are many who seldom hear any voice but their 
 own. 
 
 " (2) But whilst I am wholly unable to preach, there is 
 not quite the same difficulty with regard to other services. 
 Throughout my illness I have been so far blessed as to be 
 able to celebrate the Eucharist weekly of course in private 
 every Sunday, with but few exceptions. Now I shall be 
 able to do so in church, when there are only a few people 
 present, and where the church is so arranged that they can 
 come quite near : and when I am going to celebrate in any 
 church I shall be grateful if the chaplain will ask the people 
 beforehand to come into the chancel or otherwise to draw as 
 near as may be. ... I can of course confirm in a very low 
 voice ; and so many letters have reached me from those who 
 are or were looking forward to their Confirmation, urging 
 that if possible they should be confirmed by their own 
 Bishop, that I have decided to do so wherever I can, writing 
 a charge that can be read for me by my chaplain or some 
 other person." 
 
 After urging that the cause of Christ and the Church 
 should not suffer by his restrictions, and in particular the 
 Gibraltar Mission to Seamen, he concluded : 
 
 " I need only add one word more. You see that this is a 
 business letter ; but that with which it is concerned is the 
 Lord's business, as indeed all our business is, if we could but 
 see it. This is not ' the best of all possible worlds ' : it is 
 marred by our blunders, our failures, and our perverse self- 
 will. But we Christians have a right to believe and to be 
 sure that God makes the best of us and of His world, and 
 takes and uses even these things for our well-being. We 
 know, if we really think of it, that not things, or even other 
 people, but we ourselves have been the chief obstacles in
 
 174 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 the way of our own true progress, and that the one thing we 
 really need is to trust ourselves to, and to follow after, Him 
 that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, 
 and who with Him will freely give us all things. To His 
 love and care I commit you." 
 
 This was the Bishop's last message and testimony to his 
 diocese and to the Church at large. 
 
 To go back a little, after a few months at Poggio Ponente 
 it was thought, contrary to the expectation of his friends, 
 that the Bishop might be moved. He was taken to Fiesole, 
 where Mrs. Jeaffreson, the widow of his loved and honoured 
 chaplain, Herbert Hammond Jeaffreson, had prepared a 
 cottage for him hi the grounds of her beautiful Villa degli 
 Angeli, looking out over Florence. It was there that I saw 
 him for the last time, in April. At Livorno, on his journey 
 to Florence, he had seen a famous specialist, who had 
 examined him before ; the specialist said that the silence 
 must last till the following October at least, but that there 
 was marked improvement, and that he might well hope by 
 the end of the year to have a voice, though not his old 
 voice, but " una voce raucosa e profonda." This put him 
 in good heart. 
 
 The sea always did him good ; and after a good rest at 
 Fiesole he was sent, with a nurse, on a long cruise not to 
 work, but to get the sea air. He started from Venice on 
 May 19, and went down the Adriatic to the Levant, getting 
 his first glimpse of the Holy Land. He returned by Genoa, 
 Algiers, and Gibraltar to England, arriving on June 23. 
 The improvement was so marked that the doctors were 
 astonished. One of them told him that if he liked to set the 
 improvement down to the power of prayer, he was not in a 
 position to put it down to anything else. 
 
 That his mental powers were unimpaired may be seen 
 by a story which his friend the Archbishop of the West 
 Indies related to his Synod in February of this year (1912), 
 in an address which has been published. The occasion was, 
 no doubt, a meeting of the Consultative Body appointed by 
 the Lambeth Conference, of which Bishop Collins was a 
 member. It sat for two or three days at the end of July in
 
 THE LAST PERIOD 175 
 
 1910, and he attended the sessions. Archbishop Nuttall 
 says : 
 
 " There were several Bishops discussing a matter of import- 
 ance on which they had to make a practical recommendation. 
 Something turned on historical precedent. Bishop Collins was 
 not able to use his voice, but he had small tablets of paper on 
 which he could write, and which he could pass on for others 
 to read what he wished to say. All the other members had 
 spoken on the subject except himself and myself. I then 
 ventured to say that I could not agree with the opinions 
 expressed, for although I could not at the moment recall 
 facts and dates, I was quite satisfied that in several periods 
 of Church history long ago incidents had occurred which 
 furnished the precedents needed to establish my view. While 
 I was speaking Bishop Collins was writing, and as I sat down 
 he passed on to me the paper on which he had written and 
 which I read to the meeting. It contained dates, and names 
 of individuals, and of places where the facts occurred, sub- 
 stantiating what I had said, but which I could only refer to as 
 an impression. He was thus able to recall, in a moment, 
 details of transactions which occurred hundreds of years ago, 
 the record of which was to be found in the by-paths of history, 
 and which he had had no time to look up, and which, when 
 stated circumstantially, of course shaped the opinion of the 
 meeting accordingly." 
 
 The Archbishop proceeds : 
 
 "During this period when there seemed some possibility 
 and even probability of Bishop Collins recovering his health, 
 if not sufficiently for diocesan work and public speaking, yet 
 sufficiently to enable him to carry on his studies and his 
 writings, I tried hard to persuade him to come to Jamaica to 
 spend the winter with us, promising him rest in a suitable 
 climate, and the sympathy and help of a host of friends. I 
 hoped it would prolong his career. I still think it might have 
 done so ; but he was bent on returning to the work of his 
 unique diocese. He did so, and there finished his earthly 
 course." 
 
 The authoress of Especially gives a touching account of 
 a visit that he paid to Devonshire in the month of August
 
 176 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 a month that was saddened for them both by the death of 
 General Sir F. Forestier Walker, whom the Bishop regarded 
 " as the very type of a true and loyal Christian gentleman." 
 He also visited his friend Mr. W. J. Birkbeck, at Stratton 
 Strawless. There was no doubt that he was better. 
 
 The voice did not return ; but perhaps because it was then 
 clear that nothing would ever bring it back, the rule under 
 which he lived was so far relaxed that he was now allowed 
 sometimes to whisper. He wrote to Lord Rendel on Septem- 
 ber 21, 1910, from Hampstead, to which he had returned : 
 
 " I am still voiceless, and the doctors don't give a very 
 hopeful forecast in that respect. But in other ways I am 
 decidedly stronger, and have been able to see a great many 
 chaplains and others, and so to make up in part for not 
 having been able to get about last year. Now they are 
 letting me go to some chief centres for a month or more at 
 a time and do what I can for them : confirming in a whisper 
 (with a charge read for me), and at any rate keeping the 
 reins in my hands. (I personally hope to get about more than 
 they say, with care as to avoiding bad days, taking a chap- 
 lain with me when possible, and so on.) So I start for the 
 North of Spain early in next month, going on thence to 
 Gibraltar for a fortnight, then to Malta for two months, and 
 so on. Of course it remains to be seen how far I shall be 
 able to carry all this out ; and I am to see the ' medicine 
 man ' again before definitely fixing my plans." 
 
 He started. He was accompanied for a good while by his 
 devoted chaplain, Mr. Oswald Blogg a former pupil of his 
 at King's College, who obtained temporary leave for the 
 purpose from the naval authorities. He visited Ferrol, 
 Corufia, Lisbon, and Gibraltar ; a letter of his has been 
 already given, describing how the vessel conveyed from 
 Lisbon a number of Jesuits and other priests who had been 
 expelled from Portugal. The writer of Especially tells 
 a little anecdote of a service held on this occasion in the 
 Spanish Cathedral at Gibraltar : 
 
 "A Roman Catholic gentleman who was present told a 
 friend of mine that he noticed a priest with a very saintly 
 face come in and kneel down close to him, following the
 
 THE LAST PERIOD 177 
 
 service in his book and praying with such devotion, that he 
 wondered to which of the Portuguese orders he belonged. 
 While leaving the Cathedral he whispered to a man he knew, 
 ' Isn't that a wonderful face ? which of them is he ? ' and 
 received the reply, ' That man ? He isn't one of them at 
 all ; he's the English Protestant Bishop.' ' And if only he 
 had not been gone by then, I declare I should have liked to 
 kiss his feet,' concluded the man. My friend said that this 
 was not the whole of the story, for as our Bishop came out 
 of the door the people pressed about him, Spanish fashion, to 
 kiss his hand. ' But I am the English Catholicos,' the Bishop 
 whispered in Spanish. ' We know who you are,' was their 
 reply." 1 
 
 From Gibraltar he passed to his own house in Malta, and 
 spent Christmas there. He wrote from Malta to Madame 
 Wiel on the Holy Innocents' Day : 
 
 " We leave here on Monday : we = my chaplain Mr. 
 Shaw 2 and myself for a fortnight in Sicily, at all the chap- 
 laincies : then I go to Gibraltar again, and South Spain 
 (alone), and then probably to Constantinople. But it isn't 
 easy to make plans long in advance, when one works under 
 limitations. 
 
 " I am writing this at intervals of attending to a little 
 patient of mine a wee kitten, which turned up in my little 
 garden here ten days or more ago, absolutely starving and 
 caked with mud and dirt, and claimed sanctuary. Of course 
 I adopted it, and directly it had eaten some food the poor 
 little thing tried to wash itself, but had no soap (i.e. natural 
 soap), and could not even sit up, but tumbled over. It still 
 has some bad internal ailment as the result of its privations, 
 but is getting better, and follows me everywhere, with its 
 tawny coat and its dear little pinched face, like a baby lion. 
 It will let me do anything to it in the way of clumsy healing 
 gives a single little whimper, like a baby, if I hurt it, but 
 then stops, and will let me do anything so long as I whisper 
 to it all the time. How dear ' the lower creatures ' are ! 
 and how poor the world would be without them ! Don't 
 
 1 Especially, p. 85. 
 
 2 Mr. Blogg had been compelled to leave him.
 
 178 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 you think that ' His jewels ' must include the cairngorms 
 and olivines and beryls and tourmalines, and all those 
 beautiful stones of Corsica that are too soft to be cut for 
 the market, as well as all the orthodox ' precious stones ' ? 
 I'm sure of it." 
 
 The year 1911 began for him in Sicily, but before the end 
 of January he was at Gibraltar. " He was only here for a 
 week," we read in Especially, " but he used every inch 
 of his strength in the time. And his Sunday ! Two celebra- 
 tions and three services ; people to meet him at luncheon, out 
 to tea at the Colonial Secretary's, and out to supper at the 
 General's. The only speck of comfort was that church did 
 really rest and uplift him beyond anything, and I fancied 
 he had grown more accustomed to hearing his sermons 
 preached for him." Every week he wrote one or two, to 
 be thus used. 
 
 On the seventh anniversary of his wedding day he left 
 the loving friends at Gibraltar first for Seville ; then to 
 meet his eldest brother and his family at Huelva ; then for 
 Rio Tinto, where his home had been for a while in boyhood ; 
 then for other places in Spain. He was all alone. He got 
 through his work, though he confessed that he was so tired 
 that he hardly knew what to do. At Tangier he met again 
 the lady who has given so moving an account of his last 
 years, and her daughter, and after his work there crossed 
 with them for one last night under their care, and then sailed 
 to Genoa, took train to Venice, and then sailed again to 
 Constantinople. 
 
 On the voyage he wrote his last letter to Lord Rendel, 
 looking forward to a visit to Valescure in April, before spend- 
 ing Holy Week at Bordighera. 
 
 " S.S. ' Serbia ' for Constantinople, 
 
 February 18, 1911. 
 
 Whilst the labour is undoubtedly great, and the limitations 
 many, I begin to wonder whether, in this altogether excep- 
 tional diocese, it may not be possible for a voiceless Bishop 
 to go on and do his work, when under the circumstances 
 of an ordinary diocese it would be plainly impossible. If so,
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE 179 
 
 I can go on cheerfully, though I do not say how gladly I 
 shall face release when it does come. Nor should I have 
 said that, but that it slipped out. It is not healthy to think 
 on those lines. . . . 
 
 " The function of realities which we know as worship must 
 be capable of taking other forms too : the resolute setting our 
 face towards the highest ideal we can form or seize hold of, 
 the attempt to realise it in all our dealings with other people, 
 and the definite drilling ourselves into each of these, must be 
 one of such forms. But words soon fail us here, and thoughts 
 go deeper than words. And (you will not see the connexion) 
 even though the fatigue may not hurt you, I wish you may 
 not have to take that hurried journey to England. God 
 bless you all. ... 
 
 " ' This is Ancona yonder is the sea.' So I can say, 
 sitting on deck here." 
 
 The Bishop could not have spent his last weeks on earth 
 in a house where he was more tenderly cared for than in the 
 British Embassy at Constantinople. A warm friendship 
 already existed between him and Sir Gerald and Lady 
 Lowther, and one motive which constrained him to take this 
 voyage, when he was well aware that it might be his last, 
 was his desire to confirm Lady Lowther, who was one of the 
 candidates awaiting him there. 
 
 He arrived at Constantinople on Saturday, February 25, 
 and attended one service in the Embassy Chapel next morn- 
 ing. After that he only left his room on one day. A chill 
 contracted on the boat developed into congestion of the 
 lungs and pleurisy. Although warned by Dr. Clemow, the 
 Embassy physician, that he ought to do no work, he persisted 
 in reading and writing, and even in seeing a few visitors. 
 He lay in bed in a large room overlooking the Embassy 
 grounds and the Golden Horn ; but his impetuous spirit 
 would not let him rest, and whenever he felt a little better, 
 he insisted on getting up, lay on the sofa in his purple 
 cassock, and jotted down notes for Mr. Whitehouse, the 
 Embassy Chaplain, to fill out into letters, on every con- 
 ceivable question of Church order and discipline. After a 
 few days, his breathing became very laboured, and as he
 
 180 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 expressed it in writing to friends, the doctor put him " on 
 a nourishing and sustaining diet of strychnine, oxygen, and 
 milky food." Through it all, he insisted that he meant to 
 take the two Confiimations at the Embassy Chapel and 
 the Crimean Memorial Church on the appointed day. " I 
 shall be better," he repeated over and over again ; "I shall 
 be better " ; and he literally forced himself to be better, 
 though it was only for a short while. 
 
 The day came. It was Monday, March 13. He got up 
 and dressed. He was carried to the Embassy Chapel in a 
 sedan chair by Turks in fez or turban. Usually he wore 
 cope and mitre in confirming these ornaments had been 
 presented to him by the diocese in 1905, and he valued them 1 
 but on this occasion he felt unable to wear them ; he 
 confessed that the weight of them would be too great for 
 him. The service was very simple. There were only two 
 candidates. The chaplain read the service ; the Bishop in a 
 whisper read the Prayer of Invocation, and performed the 
 act of Confirmation. There was no Charge ; but the candi- 
 dates were directed to attend the afternoon Confirmation at 
 the other church. Once more in the afternoon, he was 
 carried in the sedan chair. He sat at the bottom of the 
 chancel steps ; he could not get up them. His Charge, which 
 he had written during the last few days, was read for him by 
 Mr. Whitehouse, and then he repeated the prescribed words 
 two-and-twenty times over the candidates. His bodily weak- 
 ness was so great that he could with difficulty raise his hands 
 to place them on the candidates' heads. He looked to be 
 dying. " The scene," Mr. Whitehouse says, " was most 
 impressive the spare, disease-stricken form, the whispered 
 words, the palpable effort of an indomitable will determined 
 to overcome the frailties of the flesh so impressive that 
 many present were moved to tears." " To see him stand to 
 bless the people in a whisper," writes one who was present, 
 " was the most pathetic sight I ever witnessed." 
 
 The chaplain of the Memorial Church, the Rev. R. F. 
 Borough, says : 
 
 " I shall never forget the affecting sight of the dear man 
 
 1 See Anglican Church Magazine, July- August, 1905, p. xiii.
 
 THE LAST CONFIRMATION 181 
 
 as he sat in his chair while his Confirmation charge was 
 being read a bowed, shrunken figure, with head bent and 
 chin sunk on his chest, but the great eyes burning with a 
 lustre that seemed to look beyond the walls of the church, 
 his crozier resting over his shoulder with its foot on the ground 
 and seeming as if its mere inert weight would slowly crush so 
 frail a thing to the ground. And as he let it rest without 
 placing his hand upon it, or his arm round it, it was more like 
 a corpse sitting in state." 
 
 The Bishop wrote next day to the .author of Especially : 
 
 "Although everything went well yesterday, and I appreci- 
 ated the eighteenth century feel of being carried through the 
 streets in a sedan chair, it was a very fatiguing day, and 
 to-day my breathing is in a poor state, and I am being dosed 
 with oxygen. Still, it is done, and is a new point to start 
 convalescing from on a higher level." 1 
 
 The Bishop was still looking forward to future work. He 
 wrote to Mr. Price, the chaplain at Venice, on March 12, 
 and again on March 14, asking him to meet him at Trieste 
 on March 30, and to make arrangements for his journey to 
 the Riviera. 
 
 He set to work after the Confirmation to write a Pastoral 
 Charge to the congregation of the Memorial Church, to be 
 read to them on the following Sunday. There had been 
 divisions of opinion and sentiment in the congregation ; and 
 the way in which he pronounced upon the matters at issue 
 showed that his judgment was as penetrating and sound as 
 ever. 
 
 " It has been a very sincere grief to me," he said, " that 
 I have been unable, owing to serious illness, to see anything 
 of you during my stay in Constantinople, but God's will be 
 done. You have been very constantly in my thoughts, and 
 I have endeavoured so far as it was possible, to consider and 
 to weigh not only what I had heard already about the 
 difficulties as to the Services, but also the many letters which 
 I have received during these weeks specifying particular 
 points on which they ask for change, or for the restoration of 
 something formerly used. May I ask each and all to believe 
 
 1 Especially, p. 121.
 
 182 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 that I have considered and much value their letters ? and 
 that I do not write to everybody concerned simply because 
 I have not the strength for it. ... 
 
 " In case of any differences arising on the subject [of the 
 Church Services], it is the plain rule of our Church that the 
 Bishop is to hear and consider the whole matter, and to 
 resolve them to the best of his ability, for the good of all 
 concerned. It is this which I have endeavoured to do ; and 
 I would ask and call upon you, as your Father in God, to 
 accept my ruling in the matter (made in weakness and some 
 pain), not with any jealous scrutiny, but with a willing 
 resolve to accept for the good of all what may not be pleasing 
 to each individually, and thus to make it the basis of a new 
 and fuller life." 
 
 With the special points in question we are not here 
 concerned. 
 
 Noting further unfavourable symptoms, those around him 
 begged that his friends in England might be communicated 
 with, but he absolutely forbade Mr. Whitehouse to write. 
 " I am prepared for any and every eventuality," he said, 
 and would discuss the matter no further. The Ambassador, 
 however, took steps to inform the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 of the state of the Bishop's health. 
 
 " The keynote of the Confirmation charge," Mr. White- 
 house writes, " had been, ' Go on/ and it was evident that 
 he was urging himself, in spite of the bonds of weakness and 
 suffering, to ' go on ' until the very end. He did not even like 
 being asked how he was ; but he admitted to one of his 
 nurses that he felt the end could not be long delayed. The 
 Holy Sacrament was borne frequently to him straight from 
 the altar of the Embassy Chapel." 
 
 His death was expected daily by his flock at Constanti- 
 nople, and every effort that loving hearts could prompt was 
 made to keep him at the Embassy to the last. But he 
 would take no advice. He had made up his mind that if 
 he were alive he would confirm at Smyrna, as he had con- 
 firmed at Constantinople. Nothing could shake his deter- 
 mination. The utmost that he could be prevailed upon to 
 concede was that he should take a nurse with him. He would
 
 HIS DEATH 183 
 
 not hear of being accompanied by anyone else, though many 
 offered to go with him. Fortunately, a kind nurse had been 
 found for him in Constantinople, a Greek lady of the name of 
 Bolas, who had had three years' training in the London 
 Hospital, and who was in Constantinople for a holiday. 
 Tickets were bought for him and Miss Bolas, and in the 
 afternoon of Thursday, March 23, Lady Lowther drove with 
 him down to the port, and he was carried on board the 
 " Saghalien " of the Messageries Maritimes. " His spirit 
 was as bright and shining as ever," says one who was there, 
 " and his marvellous smile as radiant and ready. His ' God 
 bless you/ whispered fervently, I shall always carry with me 
 through life." The tears were in his eyes as he said good- 
 bye to the friends who saw him off. Some of them thought 
 that they saw a change come over his face as they left him, 
 which betokened the nearness of the end. 
 
 The boat left the port at 4.30 p.m. The Bishop, who had 
 been lying down, seemed to enjoy his tea at 5. In spite of 
 the nurse's entreaties, he insisted on getting up and dressing 
 for dinner soon after 6. He ate well ; but at 7.30 the oppres- 
 sion upon his chest grew heavy. His cough became very 
 troublesome. At midnight oxygen was administered. Soon 
 after, when the nurse felt his pulse, he saw that she looked 
 anxious and alarmed, and assured her that there was nothing 
 amiss, and that he only wanted to rest. But before long he 
 began to be unconscious, occasionally rallying for a while. 
 Once or twice Miss Bolas heard him murmur to himself the 
 words, " The fellowship of loneliness." The Greek nurse 
 and the ship's French doctor did all that could be done, but 
 at 7.50 in the morning of Friday, March 24, the breathing 
 ceased, and the indomitable spirit passed to Him who 
 gave it. 
 
 " The nurse performed the last offices," Mr. Whitehouse 
 writes. " ' I permitted no one but myself to touch his holy 
 body,' she said with tears ; ' and I called in the captain, and 
 made him seal up all the Bishop's luggage.' " With flag 
 at half mast the French vessel proceeded on her way past 
 Mitylene, and up the Gulf of Smyrna, until she cast anchor in 
 the port.
 
 184 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 At Smyrna the " Saghalien " was anxiously expected. The 
 Confirmation candidates were assembled in the Church of 
 St. John the Evangelist, awaiting the arrival of the Bishop. 
 Mr. A. S. Hichens, a devoted chaplain of the Bishop, and 
 Mr. Brett, the chaplain of St. John's, knowing how ill 
 the Bishop had been, had procured the loan of a steam 
 tug, and arranged to bring him straight from the 
 " Saghalien " to the nearest point for the church, and take 
 him back immediately after the Confirmation. Accom- 
 panied by two other English priests, they went out to 
 the vessel, only to find that the Bishop lay dead on board. 
 Returning to St. John's, Mr. Brett announced to the 
 congregation what had happened, and Mr. Hichens read to 
 them the charge which the Bishop had sent him a few days 
 before. 
 
 The Bishop's body, clothed in his purple cassock, was con- 
 veyed, at the Consul's desire, to the British Seamen's 
 Hospital. There it lay until the Sunday. Information had 
 been telegraphed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to 
 Mr. Johnson, the Bishop's brother-in-law, whose address was 
 found in his pocket-book ; and on the instruction of the 
 Archbishop, who had communicated with the Bishop's father, 
 arrangements were made for burying the sacred body at 
 Smyrna. The hospital is near the church, and on the 
 Sunday the coffin was removed to the chancel, awaiting 
 burial on the morrow. The grave was prepared in the vault 
 below the west window of the nave, the marble floor of the 
 nave being taken up that the body might be easily lowered 
 to its place. 
 
 On the Monday, March 27, the funeral took place at 3.30 
 p.m. It was attended by the Consul-General and his staff, 
 in uniform, the clergy of the three English churches of 
 Smyrna, Bournabat, and Boudjah, with a great many 
 members of their flocks, and some other English priests 
 residing there. It was further attended by the Greek Arch- 
 bishop of Smyrna, and the Greek Bishop of Tralles, who came 
 attended by several of their priests, and by the Armenian 
 Bishop, the French and German Protestant pastors, and 
 several members of the American Mission and College. An
 
 BURIAL SERVICES 185 
 
 address was given by Mr. Hichens. After the body had been 
 lowered to its resting-place, the Archbishop of Smyrna gave 
 an address in Greek, in which he spoke sympathetically of 
 the interest which the Bishop had taken in the work of union 
 between the Churches. 
 
 There, then, his body lies, in the bosom of that Church 
 of Smyrna, to whose Angel St. John was bidden to write, 
 " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
 life." To the first known Bishop of that Church perhaps 
 already Bishop when the Apocalypse was written the 
 martyr Ignatius wrote, praising his " resolution in God, settled 
 as upon an immoveable rock," congratulating himself upon 
 having had the privilege of seeing his " blameless counten- 
 ance," which he hoped would be a never-ending joy to him 
 in God, and urging him to " extend the course " which he 
 had already run and to " exhort all men, that they might be 
 saved." "Assert thy position with all diligence, fleshly and 
 spiritual. Take thought for unity, which is the best of all 
 things. . . . Devote thyself to unceasing prayers. Ask for 
 even more understanding than thou hast. Be watchful, 
 possessing a spirit that never slumbers. . . . Where work 
 is hardest, great is the gain. . . . The time demands thee 
 . . . Stand firm like an anvil under the stroke. It is the 
 part of a great athlete to receive blows and to conquer. . . . 
 Study the times, looking for Him who is above time, eternal, 
 invisible, who was made visible for us intangible, im- 
 passible, who for us was made passible and for us in every 
 way endured." If St. Ignatius could have foreseen the 
 career of the English Bishop who is buried at Smyrna, and 
 desired that there should be a likeness between him and St. 
 Polycarp to whom he wrote, could he have traced the features 
 better ? 
 
 On the same day that the Bishop was buried at Smyrna, 
 a memorial service was held in the chapel of Lambeth 
 Palace. It was attended by prelates who leant upon his 
 counsel, by Lord Northbourne, his well-tried friend, by 
 his father, Mr. J. H. Collins, and all the other members 
 of his family in England, by many of the Bishop's spiritual 
 children, and a large company of those who loved and
 
 186 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 honoured him. A writer in the Watchword for May, 1911, 
 said : 
 
 " In the early Keltic Church in lona, he used to tell us 
 that when anyone ' passed to the Lord in the Heavenly 
 Fatherland/ the others were told, ' You must chant praise 
 to-day for . . .' The echo of that praise rang through the 
 service that morning. We sang his favourite setting of the 
 Twenty- third Psalm by George Herbert, ' The God of love 
 my Shepherd is,' and ' Now the labourer's task is o'er,' and 
 when the five-fold Alleluya of the last beautiful hymn 
 
 ' Ye watchers and ye holy ones, 
 Bright seraphs, cherubim and thrones, 
 Raise the glad strain, Alleluya ! ' 
 
 wafted down to us from the organ loft, it was difficult to 
 believe that one could not catch his voice in the Alleluya." 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, who was only just re- 
 covering from an illness, gave the following address : 
 
 " May I say a very few words here and now about the friend 
 and brother, the guide and teacher, whom we have lost ? 
 I may have at present no other equally appropriate oppor- 
 tunity. There are very few men in the Church of England 
 to-day whose call to pass into the larger life beyond would 
 leave such a blank as that which we are now conscious of, at 
 the core and centre of our Church's thoughts and plans and 
 energies. It is well that in this ancient chapel, at this spot 
 of all others, we should together quietly and deliberately 
 thank God for him to-day. He loved this place. At this 
 altar-step he was married seven years ago. Here in his last 
 days in England, not yet six months since, he joined with us 
 in prayer and Sacrament. It was appropriately so. For, 
 little as the world saw and knew of it, he has for years been 
 one of our central forces of inspiration and counsel, and in 
 several different fields of thought and difficulty those 
 especially in which we deal with Churches other than our 
 own it was to his mature knowledge of past and present, 
 and to his devout and chastened vision, that many of us had 
 learned to look. In some of the gravest labours of the 
 Lambeth Conference of 1908 he bore a leading, sometimes
 
 BURIAL SERVICES 187 
 
 even the foremost, part. His broad and accurate learning 
 historical, literary, and ecclesiastical was of the unusual 
 sort, which is readily, almost momentarily, available when 
 it is needed, and its contributions to the common good were 
 quietly given with a deep and solemn reverence for the 
 Church's living Lord, which was, perhaps, its most obvious, 
 as it was its profoundest, characteristic. I have felt again 
 and again in him the living reality of each severally of the 
 seven Pentecostal gifts the spirit of wisdom and under- 
 standing, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of 
 knowledge and godliness, and of holy fear. 
 
 " And now he has gone. They tell us that it was his 
 indomitable courage which kept him with us even so long. 
 With Pauline tirelessness he worked in Pauline and other 
 lands, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of 
 robbers (as Kurdistan can show), in perils in the city (let 
 Messina tell), in perils in the sea, in weariness and painful- 
 ness, in watchings often. And now, from those things at 
 least, he is at rest. We shall no more on earth be stimulated 
 by the eager look, or wait a few quiet moments for what has, 
 of late, been the whispered counsel, or the swiftly written 
 sentence of epigrammatic force, and go away with a fresh 
 lesson as to the power of mind over matter, and the influence 
 of a personality so vivid in its buoyant spring. None realised 
 better than he latterly did himself the perils which belong 
 to that masterful spirit which dominated both his own life 
 and sometimes the wills and the wishes even the reasonable 
 wishes of other men. 
 
 " We shall not easily see his like again. We are here as 
 those who knew and loved him nay, rather who know and 
 love him still, the women whose studies he has guided, the 
 Societies in whose counsels he has taken part, the pupils he 
 has trained, the colleagues with whom he has ministered in 
 word and Sacrament, and, most of all, the men and women 
 who, through his love, learned more about the love of God. 
 What his loss means to me I cannot easily express. 
 
 " He is in the presence of the Lord Whom he served and 
 loved with an intensity which was in itself a potent influence 
 upon us all. In that eager service he spent and was spent to
 
 i88 LIFE OF BISHOP COLLINS 
 
 the last hour, taking his final Confirmation only a day or two 
 before the characteristic close of his earthly life upon the 
 sea which he had traversed with such persistent and effective 
 zeal. Our thoughts to-day yes, and his are three : 
 Love, Joy, Peace. 
 
 Let us give thanks unto our Lord God, 
 
 It is meet and right so to do. 
 
 ' Nor dare to sorrow with increase of grief 
 When they who go before 
 Go furnished ; or because their span was brief, 
 When in the acquist of what is life's true gage, 
 Truth, knowledge, and that other worthiest lore. 
 They had fulfilled already a long age. 
 For doubt not but that in the worlds above 
 There must be other offices of love, 
 That other tasks and ministries there are, 
 Since it is promised that His servants there 
 Shall serve Him still.'" 1 
 
 Archbishop Trench's Poems, p. 102 (ed. 1874).
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Africa, Mission to South, 71 foil., 149. 
 Allhallows Barking, 3, 6, 8, 21, 25. 
 Apostolical Succession, 33 foil., 164. 
 
 Barcelona, church at, 78. 
 
 Barnett, Rev. A. T., 171. 
 
 Bartlett, Miss, 145. 
 
 Bennett, Rev. Professor W. H., 30. 
 
 Benson, Archbishop, 2, 3, 35, 100, 
 
 122, 135. 
 
 Bevan, Miss G. M., 92. 
 Bible Society, 89 foil. 
 Bindley, Rev. Dr., 44. 
 Birkbeck, Mr. W. J., 28, 29, 176. 
 Bishop, Miss E., 97. 
 Bishop, Miss P. M., 89. 
 Blogg, Rev. O. W. C., 98, 176. 
 Bolas, Miss, 183. 
 Borough, Rev. R. F., 180. 
 Boycott, Miss S., 47, 128. 
 Brett, Rev. W. H., 184. 
 Browne, Bishop G. F., 27, 65. 
 
 Caldecott, Rev. Dr. A., 13. 
 
 Cavendish-Bentinck, Miss V., 160, 171. 
 
 Church Historical Society, 27 foil. 
 
 Collet, Sir M. and family, 99. 
 
 Collins, Bishop W. E. ; his parentage 
 and early life, I foil. ; gains the Light- 
 foot Scholarship, 4 ; death of his 
 mother, 5 ; of his brother Arthur, 6, 
 62 ; ordination to Allhallows Barking, 
 8 ; Lecturer at Selwyn and St. John's, 
 10 ; Professor at King's College, 
 London, 12 foil. ; Missionary Con- 
 ference of 1894, 24; Laud Com- 
 
 memoration, 25 ; Church Historical 
 Society, 27 ; on developments of 
 worship, 30; case of Incense, 31; 
 on Home Reunion, 33 ; on Episco- 
 P ac y> 35 5 tne Encyclopaedia Bri- 
 tannica, 36 ; proceeds B.D. and D.D., 
 37 ; publications, 37 foil., 64; serious 
 illness, 38 ; mission in the West 
 Indies, 39 foil. ; " Watchers and 
 Workers," 45; "Guild of the Holy 
 Childhood," 47 ; "Society of the Holy 
 Family," 48 ; spiritual guidance, 48 ; 
 letters, 48 foil., 148 foil.; consecration, 
 65 ; marriage, 65, 66 ; enthronement, 
 67, 68 ; pastoral letters, 69, 70, 172 ; 
 Mission of Help to South Africa, 71 
 foil.; Constantinople, first visit to, 
 75 ; Roman Catholic prelates, rela- 
 tions with, 77 ; Orthodox do. , 79 ; 
 diocese, organisation of, 80 ; Mission 
 at Malta, 81 ; seamen, care for, 70, 
 77, 82 foil., 173 ; marriage questions, 
 85, 134 ; Bible Society, 89 ; women's 
 examinations in theology, 92 ; anec- 
 dotes, 96 ; illness, 99 ; Kurdistan, 
 journey to, 100 foil.; Etchmiadzin, 
 first visit to, 90, 101 ; second visit, 
 127 ; Pan- Anglican Congress, 128 
 foil.; Lambeth Conference, 133 foil.; 
 Messina, the earthquake at, 137 foil., 
 158, 159 ; his wife's illness, 145, 160; 
 and death, 146 ; ministry to small- 
 pox patients, 148 ; on Fasting before 
 Communion, 52, 154; the Education 
 Bill, 156; Unction, 133, 134, 162; the 
 Church, 163 ; Prayer-book Revision,
 
 INDEX 
 
 1 68; his loss of voice, 169 ; beginning 
 of fatal illness, 169 ; attends Consul- 
 tative Committee of Lambeth Con- 
 ference, 174; Gibraltar, last visit to, 
 178 ; Constantinople, arrival at, 179 ; 
 last Confirmation, 180; leaves Con- 
 stantinople, 181 ; death at sea, 183 ; 
 burial, 184; memorial service at 
 Lambeth, 185 foil. ; portraits of him, 
 viii. 
 
 Collins, Mr. A., the Bishop's brother, 
 2, 5, 6, 62. 
 
 Collins, Mr. H., the Bishop's brother, 
 2, 5, 146, 178. 
 
 Collins, Mr. J. H., the Bishop's father, 
 i, 5, 6, 67, 146, 185. 
 
 Collins, Mrs., the Bishop's mother, I, 
 
 5- 
 Collins, Mrs. W. E., the Bishop's wife, 
 
 66 foil., 68, 99, 100, 128, 145 foil., 
 
 160. 
 Communion, the elements for Holy, 
 
 133- 
 
 Confession, 49. 
 Constantinople, Joachim III., Patriarch 
 
 of, 75. 79- 
 Creighton, Bishop, II, 26, 27, 38, 55. 
 
 Davidson, Archbishop, 36, 64, 65, 66, 
 71, 92, 93, 100, 129, 135, 172, 182, 
 184, 186. 
 
 Deaconesses, 54. 
 
 Dibdin, Sir L., 31, 32. 
 
 Dott, Rev. W. P., 23. 
 
 Eden, Bishop, of Wakefield, 135. 
 Edwards, Rev. L. V., 19. 
 Episcopacy, 33, 35. 
 " Especially William, "etc., v., 67, 147, 
 
 148, 175, 176, 177, 178, 181. 
 Etchmiadzin, 90, 101, 127, 128. 
 
 Testing, Bishop, 7. 
 
 Fletcher, Rev. G. C., 9. 
 
 Forestier Walker, Sir F. W., 80, 150, 
 
 176. 
 Franks, RCT. J. E., 16. 
 
 Frere, Miss, 76. 
 
 Frere, Rev. Dr. W. H., 31, 36. 
 
 Gibraltar, Cathedral of, 80. 
 Gillingham, Rev. G. W., 18. 
 Gladstone, Hon. Mrs. H. W., 137. 
 Guy's Hospital, 24, 38, 62. 
 Gwatkin, Professor and Mrs., 7i n 
 
 Hichens, Rev. A. S., 184, 185. 
 Hill, Rev. C. S., 73. 
 Holland, Mrs. Thurston, 7, 65. 
 
 Incense, Lambeth hearing on, 31. 
 
 Jamaica, 39 foil. 
 
 Jeaffreson, Rev. H. H. and Mrs., 161, 
 
 174. 
 
 Jesuits, the Portuguese, 168, 176. 
 Jones, Archbishop W. W., 72. 
 
 Karapet, the Vartabad, 102 foil. 
 King's College, London, 12 foil. 
 
 Lambeth Conference, 133. 
 
 Laud, Commemoration of Archbishop, 
 
 25- 
 
 Lowther, Sir G. and Lady, 179, 182, 
 
 183- 
 Lyttelton, Hon. and Rev. A. T., 5, 10, 
 
 II, 12. 
 
 Malta, 76, 80. 
 
 Marriage questions, 85, 134. 
 
 Meguerdich, Armenian Patriarch, 101, 
 
 103. 
 Messina, earthquake at, 137 foil., 158 
 
 foil., 169. 
 Monckton, Dr., 8. 
 Montgomery, Bishop, 128, 131. 
 Moravian Orders, 35. 
 Moxon, Rev. L., 74. 
 
 Northbourne, Lord, 26, 39, 66, 67, 71, 
 
 76, 146, 185. 
 Nuttall, Archbishop, 39, 41, 42, 43, 66, 
 
 174.
 
 INDEX 
 
 191 
 
 Pan- Anglican Congress, 128. 
 Phillips, Rev. J. S., 27. 
 
 Qudshanis, 1 20 foil. 
 
 Read, Rev. C. D., 19. 
 
 Rendel, Lord, 67, 137, 149 foil., 169, 
 
 170, 176, 178. 
 Ritson, Rev. J. H., 90. 
 Ritual questions, 30, 31, 52. 
 Robinson, Rev. Dr. A. W., 9, 21, 38, 
 
 39, 66, 71, 157, 168. 
 Rollit, Sir A., 2. 
 Roll, Miss M., vi, 146. 
 
 Sandford, Bishop, 64, 69. 
 
 Seamen, Gibraltar Mission to, 69, 70, 
 
 77, 82 foil. 
 
 Shaw, Rev. H. J., 81, 177. 
 Shimun, Mar, Catholicos of the East, 
 
 IOO, 1 2O foil. 
 
 Shipley, Miss M. E., 95. 
 
 Smith, Rev. A., 19. 
 
 Sterland, Miss H. G., 146, 147. 
 
 Sterland, Miss M. B., 38, 39, 65, 66. 
 
 See Collins, Mrs. W. E. 
 Sunday labour, 83. 
 Swabey, Rev. M. R., 79. 
 
 Temple, Archbishop, 8, 31, 35. 
 Thompson, Dr. E. Symes, 7. 
 Toy, Rev. J. H., 163. 
 
 Unction of the Sick, 133, 134, 162. 
 Vaughan, Cardinal, 27, 29. 
 
 "Watchers and Workers," 45, 95. 
 
 Wells, Miss C., 145, 171- 
 
 White, Mr. F. A., 65. 
 
 White, Field Marshal Sir G., 67, 68. 
 
 Whitehouse, Rev. F. C., 81, 179, 180, 
 
 182, 183. 
 
 Wiel, Hon. Mme., 147, 170, 171, 177. 
 Wigram, Rev. Dr. W. A., 101 foil. 
 Wilkinson, Bishop G. H., 44, 45, 65, 
 
 66, 71, 128, 158. 
 William, Father, 155. 
 Wordsworth, Bishop John, 27, 131. 
 
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