Item, paid for mendyng of surpleces to cristofer tailers wif & to osborns wif Item, paid for the obit of Julyan fayrehed Item, paid for wasshyng all the yere Item, paid to lawles wex chaundeler for wex that was for Item, paid for hey Summa of this sid vjli vijs iijd Item, paid for makyng of the prikyng byll for the clerkes wages Item, paid for wrytyng of thys accompnt Item, payd for ij Bordes for to vnder plate the vpper Roff of the steple Item, paid for yrn werke for the Canapy to hang in the sacrament & for the lyne Item, paid to the lyman for iiij C. lym Item, payd for wasshyng Item, paid for a dore for the torches & for the henges Item, paid for Bryke Item, paid for Candelles iij lb Summa xlixs xd ob. Summa Totalis xiiiji iiijs jd Receyued xiiijli ys viiid And so Rest Clere to the Churche of thys Accompt xixd THE LATE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. ARCHDEACON HARRISON'S CHARGE. As it has always been the practice of this Magazine to abstain from making any observations on Visitation Charges, we are assured that we shall not be expected by our readers to deviate on the present occasion from a rule which was well considered at the first, and whose propriety and wisdom has since been abundantly proved by experience. Otherwise, there are obviously many reflections which one would have felt disposed to make on the recent Charge of Archdeacon Harrison, of which we propose to lay a considerable part before our readers. From the long and confidential intercourse necessarily resulting from his official connexion and residence, no person had enjoyed greater opportunities than the Archdeacon, of appreciating the virtues of the late Primate. This fact alone would render it VOL. XXXIV.—July, 1848, D unnecessary that we should offer any apology to our readers on account of the length of the extract we have made; and indeed, we doubt not, will make the delineation the Archdeacon has given of the character of this venerated prelate, a much more acceptable and interesting communication than any we could furnish on any other subject, to all to whom it may not be convenient to refer to the Charge itself. The Charge is entitled "The Remembrance of a Departed Spiritual Guide and Ruler." In the commencement, the Archdeacon reminds the clergy that this was the year of the Archbishop's ordinary visitation, and that it was in consequence of the Archbishop's death, and of the present Primate having thought it more advisable to postpone his primary visitation until next year, the ordinary visitation of the Archdeacon was not suspended. He then proceeds to state his intention to avail himself of the opportunity of recalling to their remembrance the "words which" had been "spoken before" by their departed spiritual ruler, as well as "the circumstances of difficulty and danger which called them forth;" and "the pattern of deep personal piety and pastoral care, which, as exhibited in him, made him so bright and eminent as an 'ensample to the flock."" The subject is treated in the following extract, which contains the greater part of the Charge, and which it will be unnecessary to interrupt by any observations of our own. "It would, however, I deeply feel, be indeed a presumptuous undertaking were I to take in hand anything that would pretend to be a complete delineation of endowments and qualities like those possessed by him whom we have lost. No one can possibly estimate the difficulty of such an attempt, in the same degree with those whose privilege it has been to be admitted to more familiar converse with his powers of intellect, and to a nearer view of his principles of conduct, and the practice of his daily life. It is, indeed, comparatively easy to catch the bold outline, or the strongly marked expression, of a mind and spirit distinguished by some one, or some few, leading points of character. But it is far otherwise, where that which strikes even the casual observer is a certain symmetry of proportion and harmony, by which individual features are lost in the general effect of the whole. And, in a case where the painter, with all his skill, has scarcely been able to transfer to his canvass the full expression of the outward lineaments of the countenance, as it dwells in the memory of those who were most familiar with its varied lights, difficult indeed and hopeless were the task of him who would attempt, especially within narrow compass, to delineate with the pen the yet more remarkably diversified impressions of the mind and spirit which moved within. My own hand, I shall readily be believed when I say it, would shrink unfeignedly from such a task in utter weakness and trembling. But to call up to remembrance an image which to so many among you, my reverend brethren, has been made familiar by the intercourse, official or private, of many years,-to some among you, by relations subsisting throughout the whole period, the all but twenty years, of his going in and out among you; and in the minds of all, I am well assured, associated with some pleasing recollection or other, this is an easier task; and one in regard to which, the few words to which I must necessarily confine myself on an occasion like the present, will serve sufficiently to suggest the memories they would recal φωνᾶντα συνετοῖσι. "Of the benevolence and tenderness of heart, which so remarkably distinguished the archbishop; the kindly affection, the unwillingness to inflict pain or cause a wound, unless duty absolutely required it; of that spirit of Christian love which suffereth long and is kind,' which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things;'-of this spirit shed abroad, in large and overflowing measure, over all that he said or did, it is superfluous for me to speak for none could look upon the beaming countenance, and not see these things written there in characters 'known and read of all men.' And not less manifest was his attainment of that without which true charity can never so establish her supreme sway-I mean the habitual self-government of the subdued and well regulated mind; which was not less clearly revealed in the outward lineaments than was the spirit of benevolence and love to others; the placid temper which bore witness to vigilant self-discipline; for it was no mere accompaniment of constitutional insensibility or indifference, but in reality held sovereign control over a more than ordinary keenness of feeling, and quick susceptibility of impression. And, as the natural result of the perfect self-government thus acquired, there was unequivocally marked the presence of peace within, unruffled amidst manifold disquiet, imperturbable amidst many provocations. "And the foundation of that perfect charity, and of this inward peace, which both bore witness to its presence and tended to produce it, was laid in genuine, unfeigned humility. Charity,' saith the apostle, ' vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,' and therefore again, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.' That which was pre-eminently characteristic of our archbishop was an humble-mindedness, a meekness and lowliness of heart, which, perfecting into the highest Christian grace the genuine growth of natural kindliness and benevolence of feeling, made him, in the special sense of the term 'meekness,' willing to endure wrong, slow to resent or to realize an injury, easily dismissing the recollection of it. And this is the very character of which the apostle, in another place, has thus traced the outline; humility being, as it were, the centre grace, charity the crowning virtue, and the result of all, that heavenly peace of mind which has God for its Author, and heaven for its home. Put on therefore,' saith he, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God ! rule in your hearts.' And if these were the striking features of the character of our departed father, even to the eye of the casual observer, the mind' which was in him could not be essentially other than that which was also in Christ Jesus,'-in Him who, Himself our Divine and perfect Exemplar, hath said to His disciples, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' "But as the kindness and benevolence of heart of which we have been speaking, was something very different from mere easiness of natural temper, so also was the meek humility something which was perfectly consistent with-nay, rather, which naturally produced, as its inseparable result,-a peculiar, indescribable dignity. There was, in fact, in him that entire forgetfulness of self, which has in it the very essential character of dignity, inasmuch as the individual is altogether lost sight of, in comparison with the sacred and responsible office with which he is invested. "It was truly observed of another eminent prelate of our own times, one who immediately followed the deceased archbishop in the chair of divinity at Oxford, and for many years adorned the same episcopal bench with him-I allude to the late Bishop of Durham,— that, though usually gentle and condescending in his manners to men of all conditions who approached him, he evidently maintained an habitual self-respect, and remembrance of what was due to his high station; preventing, or repelling with a proper severity, the approaches of unbecoming familiarity.' And of our venerated primate it might with great truth be said, that never, through any excess of natural kindness of feeling or humbleness of mind, did he suffer that to be lightly regarded, or robbed of its due respect, which he held not for himself, but for the Church of God,-for her due honour and dignity, and for the benefit of the Christian state, which it has been the duty and the privilege of the Church in England, for ages past, to consecrate and sanctify. There was no barrier of repulsiveness of manner, of earthly haughtiness or pride; but yet so was the place whereon he stood ever guarded by the undefined, yet not unfelt, sense of respect which his presence inspired, that no liberty could easily be taken with the person or the office of the primate and metropolitan of Canterbury. "And if I may refer again to what has been well remarked, in regard to him who was the last Count Palatine of the chief bishopric of the northern province, that, 'on taking possession of the princely see of Durham, he' could at once gracefully assume his station at the head of the nobility and gentry of the Palatinate;' that 'he instantly showed himself noble, as if he had been nobly born and educated, instead of having been raised to nobility from an inferior rank; and in particular that, on his public days, he did the honours of Auckland Castle with a liberal hospitality, and dignified courtesy and propriety, which elicited universal admiration;' I need not point out how pre-eminently this was true of him of whom we may say, in the language which the biographer of Bishop Van Mildert has employed in regard to him, that it was felt by all honest men, of every class and party, that, when he was struck by death, a prince and a great man, and one not less good than great, fell that day in Israel. If our archbishop had committed to him the administration of a princely revenue, he had a princely heart wherewith to administer it: and he administered it faithfully and wisely, with no view to the mere gratification of personal indulgence, or pleasure in earthly pomp or state; but as one who had been called, in the providence of God, not to the untitled, unendowed bishopric of early times, of days of poverty or persecution,-an office which verily hath its own dignity and its own reward, but to a position in which that same Supreme Providence had hidden him take his place next to the princes of the blood royal of England; to stand there as a witness, meek and holy, for the kingdom which, in its essence and in its origin, is not of this world;'-the kingdom which wars not with weapons of carnal warfare, enrols not earthly armies, nor forms leagues of worldly policy; but which has nevertheless its own princely diadems and its own sceptres of spiritual rule, ordained of Him who said to His Church of old,' Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.' "In our departed primate there was no love of secular pomp, of outward form or ceremony, for its own sake; nay, rather, to his peculiar simplicity of mind and feeling, these things were essentially unwelcome or even irksome: but he put them on in that very selfforgetting simplicity, because they were the established appendages of his office, and he would not have an undue importance unwittingly attached to them even by a reluctance in wearing them. And as regards particularly his public days at Lambeth, while he exhibited in them a princely magnificence, and it was a striking sight to see there the highest in rank, from the members of the royal house downward, the most distinguished by station and office, the merchant-princes of England, and her honourable of all estates, paying their graceful homage to the chief spiritual ruler of the Church, kneeling with him. in his chapel, or sitting around his board; he gladly availed himself, now five years ago, of the opportunity which seemed to be afforded by his severe illness, in the preceding year, to discontinue his public days; desirous, thereby, moreover, to relieve his future successor from any invidiousness or difficulty in giving up that which, with diminished revenues, it would be impossible or inconvenient to maintain. No man ever less loved, for its own sake, pomp or state or worldly attendance: so little, indeed, did he care to be ministered to, and so unpleasant to him was overmuch observance, that it required even something of the skill which dutiful affection would teach, to be able to render him any service in attendance on his person. "But if a peculiar and inimitable dignity was combined, in perfect harmony, with the singular humility and meekness which characterized our lamented primate, not less remarkably was the pre-eminent gentleness and amiability of his character united with extraordinary firmness. This part of his character was, perhaps, less generally under. |