would thereby be done to the city and its vicinity; thus bearing testimony to the benefit which results to the community from having in it a chief minister of religion, who, from his station, education, and pecuniary resources, can exercise a beneficial and powerful influence upon its society, and be a leader of the charities around him. 64 But to us, my Lord, it may be permitted to declare that, besides temporal views, we had other objects in mind, when we took part in the petitions and address to which we have alluded. "Entertaining the well-grounded belief, that the Episcopal is the only form of church government which is stamped with the sanction of holy writ, supported by its best interpretation, the primitive usage of the Church, and the concurrent voice of the Apostolic Fathers, and seeing how greatly the blessings, which it is designed to be the means of bestowing are impeded, when, from the wide extent of a diocese, the greater number of its Clergy can seldom come under the immediate eye of their Bishop; when the laity, in the same proportion, are shut ont from intercourse with him; and when, moreover, the young members of the Church are, of necessity, too generally sent forth into life unimpressed and unblessed by the solemn rite of confirmation; we were chiefly desirous that our diocese, or so much of it as would remain after the separation of the archdeaconry of Dorset, should not be appended to another already sufficiently extensive to engage the whole care of its chief minister. We had, indeed, fondly cherished the hope, that with the opportunity which had presented itself of giving greater efficiency to the Church Establishment, our rulers and the Commissioners would have acknowledged the propriety of adding to the number of our Bishops throughout the country; and we trusted that under this arrangement, so much to be desired, our city, with a neighbouring district, would have been allowed to form a see by itself. For an Establishment to be so limited in its powers as to be incapable of adequately discharging the duties for which it is made responsible, we could not but regard both as unjust to the Church established, and as injurious to the country at large. We had been taught this lesson by the past; we had seen how unsparingly censure had been heaped upon the Clergy, and how continually increasing dissatisfaction and dissent had spread amongst the people; and, inquiring carefully into the causes of these crying evils, we had no difficulty in tracing them, in a great degree, to the deficiencies which had so long beeu permitted to exist in the Establishment. We had, therefore, made it our prayer, that these deficiencies might now be supplied, and, amongst other hopes of the kind, had indulged the one we have now expressed. That the whole of what we desired has not been granted, we are willing to attribute to reasons which, in the breasts of the Commissioners, were paramount and imperative; and carrying our thoughts and our affections to the good of our brethren in other parts of the kingdom, we shall unfeignedly rejoice if what we deemed our loss shall prove to be their gain. But, my Lord, our wishes have been complied with to a considerable extent; and for this measure of justice to the great cause in which they were cherished, as well as for the gracious manner in which our appeal was received by the Commissioners, and especially by the Archbishop our Primate, we shall ever feel it a duty to express our thanks and gratitude. "We have also another subject in which to rejoice. It was in your Lordship's character that the Clergy of this diocese found their chief satisfaction, in looking to the proposed change. In that good report' which your Lordship had so generally obtained, we saw the most favourable auspices. "Impressed with a lively sense of respect for talent and learning, when held in subserviency to christian grace, and made to minister to the enlargement of the Redeemer's kingdom, for beneficence, integrity, and piety, we can assure your Lordship that, with whatever feelings we may have viewed the decision of the Commissioners in regard to one part of our petition, towards your Lordship we entertain those only which your known qualifications for your high office must ensure. Our welcome, therefore, is cordial and sincere; and it is our earnest prayer to Almighty God, that for the sake of his Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he will so shed abundantly the healthful spirit of his grace upon both you and us, that, labouring together in our several avocations in his vineyard, in due subordination and harmony, we may be the instrument in his hand to perpetuate for his church a good name amongst men, and the humble means of winning for his glory many souls to salvation." His Lordship listened with evident pleasure to this testimonial of respect and welcome, to which he made the following reply: : "It is with deep-felt satisfaction that I receive so cordial a welcome, accompanied with the expression of sentiments of so kind and so Christian a character, from the Clergy of the Cathedral Church, the City, and Deanery of Bristol-whom I am able this day to accost as my brethren in the Lord. This is personally the more gratifying to me, because I am aware that in the arrangement by which I now appear among you as your Diocesan, there are some circumstances not altogether conformable to your wishes. "Respecting the recommendations of the Church Commission, you will not expect me on the present occasion to say much. I agree with you in thinking that an increase in the number of Bishops would, if practicable, have been a convenient as well as an efficient measure in new modelling the Episcopal divisions of the country, for the better superintendence of our Church. But I could easily convince any one of you, that there existed obstacles of a kind absolutely insuperable in the way of its adoption; and that the Commissioners, whose views were directed only to the production of practical good, were precluded from recommending such a scheme: since the recommendation itself, without the least chance of success, might have proved destructive of the whole plan for the temporal reformation of our Establishment. It is, however, only an act of justice towards the Commissioners to state, that the case of Bristol was entertained by them with interest and with sympathy; that they regarded the wishes expressed not only by the Clergy, but by the Municipality and the rest of the Laity for the residence of a Bishop amongst them, as highly honourable to the parties, and gratifying to the friends of the Church. But the circumstances were really embarrassing. While on the one hand the great population and importance of the second city in England demanded attention, on the other; there was a necessity for altering the inconvenient territorial arrangements made on the foundation of the See by King Henry VIII., which had been always the subject of complaint, and the bad tendency of which is properly noticed in your address. Although myself a member of the Commission, I abstained from taking a part in any of the discussions respecting this question; foreseeing the probability, from my particular station, of my becoming personally interested in the settlement of the See of Bristol. But when the final decision had been taken, and received the sanction of the Legislature, and when I was called upon to undertake a great addition to the labour and responsibility already imposed upon me, I felt that it was a duty belonging to the post which I held in Christ's vineyard, and that therefore it became me, as a faithful servant of our common Master, not to decline the task. "It is a great satisfaction and encouragement to me, that on my first arrival among you I am greeted by such flattering expressions of your good will and good opinion: although cannot help entertaining much apprehension that I may not fulfil the expectations which you are pleased to form of me. It is upon a sincere desire to promote the welfare of our venerable Church in this diocese, that I must ground my whole claim to your good opinion and support. To this work I cheerfully dedicate myself, and I place reliance for my success, not on my own powers, which are very feeble, but upon the assistance of that Providence, by which I have been called to the work. "It is true, as you observe, that the circumstances attending my appearance as your Diocesan are novel and peculiar.' But this peculiarity is of a kind which rather tends to encourage than alarm me. I am not placed here, like my predecessors, by the nomination of the great and powerful-nor do I come like them, to this bishopric as a professional advancement, and as a step to further promotion. I am sent here upon grounds independent of patronage, present or future, and of all other worldly considerations, simply as an instrument to promote the service of our Apostolical Church. "I entertain an earnest desire to contribute by my humble exertions to extend the influence of our Establishment among the people, as well as to promote the comfort, the respectability and efficiency of those to whom its ministry is committed. It is my hope that we shall live together with harmony and mutual good feeling of brethren. From the dispositions this day evinced, and from the reputation of the Clergy of Bristol for piety and zeal, I cannot doubt that I shall receive cordial support from them in any measure for the promotion of religion; and particularly that I shall experience their co-operation in an attempt to remedy one of the greatest evils with which our Establishment has to contendI mean the want of church-room for the increased and increasing population of the diocese." The Clergy present were then individually presented to his Lordship. CONSECRATION. Dr. Longley was on Sunday, November 6, consecrated Bishop of Ripon, in York Minster, by the Archbishop of that principality, assisted by the Bishops of Lincoln and Chester. The ceremony created much interest, and the Lord Mayor, and a great portion of the aldermen and council were present among the spectators. ORDINATIONS.-1836. By the Archbishop of Canterbury in Croydon Church, October 30. |