A sketch of the life and episcopate of the Right Reverend Robert Bickersteth, D.D., Bishop of Ripon, 1857-1884

Front matter

PRINCETON, N. J.

BX 5199 .B455 B473 Bickersteth, M. Cyril 18 1936.

A sketch of the life and

Preface

very near it, and yet see little or nothing of its grandeur ; a row of ordinary houses may obscure or hide it altogether ; but if you pass beyond the city walls and gain a distant point of view, you see at once how easily that Minster in its magnificent structure and proportions dwarfs all the inferior buildings around it, and is the centre to which all the thoroughfares and streets converge. And the work of many servants of Christ is not fully known even by the men of their own generation, until the lapse of time reveals its symmetry and completeness. This memoir will at least afford a vantage ground from which to contemplate the life now before us.

All patient observers must acknowledge the simplicity and godly sincerity of his course. His character was indeed without a fold. As an undergraduate at Cambridge, as a curate at Sapcote and Reading, as Vicar of St. John's Clapham, as Rector of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, as Canon of Salisbury, as Bishop of one of the most arduous dioceses in England — whether as pastor and evangelist, or as a standard-bearer in the front ranks of Evangelical Churchmen ; whether in the sacred circle of his own home, as son, and brother, and husband, and father, and friend, or on the public platform and in the House of Lords, as an unflinching witness for the truth and denouncer of compromise, — one motive animated Robert Bickersteth, and all who knew him will confess the motive was, The love of Christ constraineth us not to live unto ourselves, but unto Him Who died for us.

It was this which gave him such influence with men

PREFACE.

vii of all parties in the Church and State. It was not only his genial courtesy to all, nor his singular felicity of utterance, nor his indefatigable labours in journeying and preaching and correspondence, nor his administrative power, invaluable as these talents were, but it was his unwavering adherence to the Scriptural principles of our Reformed Church, and his downright honesty in avowing them, which made men feel they could trust him through and through. They rallied round one who was staunch and true to the Church of their fathers. I have been told by members of the Upper House of Convocation, that his clear incisive sentences in the united meetings of Bishops at Lambeth were looked for with an interest, and listened to with a respect not inferior to that accorded to the eloquent words of the late Bishop Wilberforce of Winchester. Even where others conscientiously and resolutely differed from him (and I confess on the subject of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, I strongly hold the very opposite view to that he strongly advocated) no one could doubt the sincerity of his convictions, nor the simplicity of his aim.

Unwearying industry, and an apparently inexhaustible cheerfulness characterised him. I remember him once saying to me, " You cannot think what those words have been to me in the throng and pressure of work — ' Do your best, and leave the rest.' "

He did his best, grudging no toil, never asking, " Is it so nominated in the bond ? " seeking only the Master's approval, and counting not his life dear unto himself, that viii

PREFACE.

he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God. And having done his best, he could afford to leave the rest confidingly and gladly in a Heavenly Father's hand. Duties were his ; events were God's ; and thus the joy of the Lord was his strength. It never seemed to cross his mind, Will this display my knowledge, my judgment, my tact ? but only. Is this for the glory of God and for the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom And so, amid the innumerable claims of his busy life, he ever seemed to live like one who said —

"All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye,"

and realized the double benediction which rested on Abraham of old, " I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing." Surely it was of such single-hearted labourers Charles Kingsley sang —

' ' Be good, and let who will be clever : Do noble things, not dream them, all day long ; And so make life, death, and that vast for-ever, One grand sweet song."

I have deeply felt the responsibility of reading the proof sheets of this memoir as they passed through the press, for it has brought me into such close contact with one whose walk with God and consecration to duty must, I think, be very humbling to all who are seeking to be imitators of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises. God grant us all to follow him as he followed Christ.

PREFACE.

IX

This life needs no preface. It speaks for itself. But I cannot close these few words without saying how much I am persuaded the Church is indebted to his son, who, aided by other members of his family circle, has so patiently and skilfully grouped together these life-etchings of his beloved and honoured father. The biographer is hidden throughout ; for his only object has been to present his father to us just as he was, a noble type of personal piety, of Evangelical Churchmanship, and of whole-hearted devotion in every office of the ministry to the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls.

E. H. EXON.

The Palace, Exeter, January 7, 1887.

ILL US TRA TIONS

Portrait of Bishop Bickersteth ' Frontispiece

Grave at Ripon Face p. 302

Chapter I. Early Family History

I

Influence of family and early training — The Bickersteths of Kirkby Lonsdale— The brothers, Henry (Lord Langdale), Robert, Edward, Rector of Watton, and John, Vicar of Acton — The Gorham Judgment and the Evangelical party — Friendship with Rev. C. Simeon — Mrs. John Bickersteth, her character and influence upon her children, extracts from her devotional books

Chapter II. Boyhood At Acton

The parish of Acton — Pupils at the vicarage — Dean Alford, Bishop Pelham, etc. — Recollections of the latter — A model parish — Large numbers of communicants — Strict churchmanship of the older Evangelicals — Robert Bickersteth as a boy — His early talent for surgery — Portrait of a true parish priest — Evangelical, but not Low Church ....

Chapter III. Youth And Early Manhood

Death of Mrs. John Bickersteth — A career in the navy promised, but exchanged for that of a doctor — Robert Bickersteth a medical student in London and Paris — He comes under the influence of Henry Melville — Goes to Cambridge with a view to ordination — His first curacy at Sapcote — Reading and Clapham — His first sermon and studious life — Tenderness and sympathy with the poor — What a little child thought of Cousin Robert's sermons — Appointment to St. John's, Clapham, and marriage with Miss Elisabeth Garde — A crowded church and attached congregation — Growing reputation as a preacher — Style and matter of his preaching — Controversy with Rome, and work in connection with Irish Church Missions xii

CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

Rector of St. Giles's — Organisation of an overgrown parish — Secular and sanitary work — Strong views on the connection between the physical condition of the people and spiritual work — The possibilities of vast improvement — What the Church has done for London — A sudden diminution of income and providential supply of temporal wants — Offer of canonry at Salisbury and other preferment — Lay work and district visitors — A controversial class for inquiring Romanists ... 57

Chapter V

Residence at Salisburj' — Intercourse with Bishop Hamilton — Strict attention to cathedral duties — Correspondence with Bishop Hamilton — Bible Society, etc. — Narrative of the way in which my father received the offer of Ripon — Palmerstonian bishops — Bishop Ryan's summary of Providential preparation for the episcopate . . , 78

Chapter VI. Diocese Of Ripon, 1857

Diocese of Ripon — Wilfrid and the distant past — Reconstitution of the See in 1836 — Bishop Longley and his work— Rapid progress and great needs — Dr. Hook's work at Leeds — His estimate of religious life in Yorkshire — Relations between High Churchmen and an Evangelical Bishop — Rev. C. Clayton— Letters from Dr. Hook and Bishop Barry 90

Chapter VII. Diocesan Ivork: Preaching

The chief duty of a bishop — Incessant preaching — Outdoor services — " Gig Bishops " — Sympathy with sufferers from the Oaks Colliery disaster— A Sunday at Barnsley — Watchfulness and energy — Confirmations— Tact in winning over Dissenters to the Church — Letter from Sir E. Baines 104

CHAPTER VIIL

HOME LIFE AT RIPON.

Home life at Ripon — Depth and tenderness of domestic affection — Letters to his wife — The Palace and the garden — The village of North Leys — Spiritual care of the villagers — Early rising and methodical habits — Sundays at the Palace — A custom of the Clapham sect — Letters to his

CONTENTS.

xiii children — Tender solicitude for their spiritual welfare — Advice on school and college life — On ordination and the choice of a curacy — Happy relations with the cathedral and city — Dr. McNeile — Letter from Dean Fremantle — Singular happiness of his home life — The first break in 1872 — Death of Ernest — Letters from his tutor— Recollections of Rev. C. Cobb 121

Chapter IX. Diocesan Work: Church Building And Church Restoration

Church building and restoration — Movement in the great towns — Splendid liberality of Yorkshire churchmen — Letter to a non-resident incumbent — Jealous regard for the interest of the Church and tenderness in censuring defaulting clergy — Letters from friends of one to whom the Bishop specially ministered, and from Bishop Kennion of Adelaide . 145

Chapter X. Diocesan Work: Ordinations

Ordinations at Ripon — Searching inquiry into motives of candidates — Efforts to raise the standard — Theological colleges — Letter to the Dean of Lichfield — The Leeds Clergy School — Letter of Rev. C. Cobb — Reminiscences of a clergyman ordained at Ripon . . . . . .162

CHAPTER XL

LONDON WORK.

London work — The House of Lords — Letter from Archbishop of York (Musgrave) — Speeches on Deceased Wife's Sister's Bill — On disestablishment of the Irish Church — Life in London — Wants to preach every night — Political opinions — Relations with eminent statesmen — Letter from Mr. Disraeli on Church questions — The Bishop of Durham (Dr. Baring), and the question of his successor — Work on Ecclesiastical Commission, etc. — Tribute of Bishop Thorold — May Meetings . .175

Chapter XII. Opinions On Questions Of The Day

Opinions on various subjects — " Essays and Reviews " — Letter to a clergyman and extract from Charge on rationalistic interpretation of Holy Scripture — A subtle connection between rationalism and superstition — Condemnation of Ritualism — Letter to a clergyman — Criticism on an erroneous definition of the " Real Presence " — Wears the cope in Ripon Cathedral — Dislike of prosecution for ecclesiastical offences — An eloquent appeal for personal hohness in the clergy 194 xiv

CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Diocesan Work: Education

PAGB

Diocesan work — Education — The Training College — Progress of elementary education in the diocese before 1870 — Great increase of Church schools — Diocesan inspection in religious knowledge — The Bishop deeply thankful for Mr. Forster's Bill — Analysis of the Act — He warmly advocates the increased efficiency of Church schools and the importance of religious teaching — Speech at Huddersfield, in 1879 . 218

Chapter XIV. Retreats, Missions, Church Congress, And Diocesan Conference

Retreats and Missions — Letter from Dr. Gott — My father conducts the first Episcopal Retreat for Clergy — Bishop Kennion's notes of his address — Advocates Mission work and takes an active part in Missions in Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, etc. — The Leeds Mission in 1875 — Letters from Canon Temple on the Church Congress at Leeds, and on the Diocesan Conference — Bishop Forbes of Brechin — Letter from the Rev. H. D. Cust Nunn on the rural deans' conferences .... 236

Chapter XV. Episodes Of A Busy Life

Hard work and scanty holidays — Confirmation tours in the dales — Hospitality of the laity — Visits the sick, and constantly talks with working men on spiritual things — A railway accident — Illness in 1877 — Spends six weeks at Cintra— Letters home from thence — Experience of Roman Catholic processions — Returns home — The exercise of patronage — Practical sympathy with the impoverished clergy — Temperance work and the Navvy Mission Society 269

Chapter XVI

CLOSING YEARS. THE END.

Death of Craufurd Tait — Pan- Anglican Synod — Sermons before the Synod and the Church Congress at Sheffield — Visitation in 1879 — Growing weakness — Hard work in l88o — Winters at Bournemouth — Arrangements for the appointment of a suffragan — ^Kind help of Bishops Ryan and Hellmuth — Weakness, but regular attention to letters and fervent intercession for the diocese — Return from Bournemouth in March, 1884 — Great hopes of recovery, and the sudden end on Easter Tuesday — The funeral, and extracts from letters 286

Chapter I. Early Family History

Influence of family and early training — The Bickersteths of Kirkby Lonsdale — The brothers, Henry (Lord Langdale), Robert, Edward, Rector of Watton, and John, Vicar of Acton — The Gorham Judgment and the Evangelical party — Friendship with Rev. C. Simeon — Mrs. John Bickersteth, her character and influence upon her children, extracts from her devotional books.

Professor Drummond reminds us, in his most interesting chapter on environment in " Natural Law in the Spiritual World," that it is of the essence of a good biography to point out, in the earlier chapters, how the subject has been influenced by his parents and remote ancestors, no less than by the religious and political atmosphere of the times in which he lived.

This is especially true when we try to sketch the portrait of one who may be regarded as a typical representative of a great religious movement.

Bishop Bickersteth was always known as an Evangelical bishop, and, though no one was more anxious than he to be the bishop of his whole diocese rather than the bishop of a party, his consistent public action, no less than his training and his avowed sympathies, leave us in no doubt as to the party within the Church to which he was uniformlyattached.

B

Happily now the old party lines are less strongly marked. Nevertheless, a very large body of the clergy are still reckoned as Evangelicals, and not a few High Churchmen are ready to admit that they owe at least as much to the Evangelical traditions as to the great Oxford Movement itself.

It is this which gives a permanent interest to the life of one who was connected by birth with the pioneers of the Evangelical Movement, and who, through the course of a long ministerial life, never wavered in his attachment to the same great truths ; while he learned to love and work in harmony with men of widely different views, so long as they loved the same Lord in sincerity and truth.

This must be the excuse, if one is needed, for a son, who desires to do honour to his father's memory, and to sketch his life as best he can for the sake of many who loved him, as well as for the wider circle who may profit by reading the record of a good man's life.

I call this book a sketch, for there is material for nothing more. My father's life was not eventful ; and his correspondence consisted almost entirely of short business letters. Many of those which have been preserved are admirable illustrations of clear judgment and lucid expression, while some of them, written to his family and near relatives, are the index to a character of the deepest piety and the tenderest affection ; but they do not in themselves present a ^ complete picture of his mind, like the letters of Bishop Thirlwall, or take us behind the scenes of Church politics, as many letters of fascinating interest preserved in the life of Bishop Wilberforce.

HENRY BICKERSTETH, THE SURGEON. 3

All I can attempt to do is to show something of the "environment," and let a busy life speak for itself.

To follow the hint of Professor Drummond to which I have already alluded, I must take my readers to the little country town of Kirkby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland. At the close of the last century there lived in that place a surgeon, named Henry Bickersteth. The family name was often spelt Bickerstaffe, and their earlier origin is to be traced to the manor of that name near Ormskirk, in Lancashire.^ Henry Bickersteth, the surgeon, married a lady named Elisabeth Batty. She was, according to the testimony of all who knew her, a woman of strong individuality and high character, and an account of her is given in the life of her distinguished son, Edward Bickersteth of Watt;on.

Henry Bickersteth was the author of a little book entitled, " Medical Hints for the Use of Clergymen," which we notice with interest, because it is the first trace of the steps by which so many of the family have been led from the cure of the body to the cure of souls.

The surgeon's family was a large one. The eldest son, James by name, was lost at sea in early

' The Bickersteths, or Bickerstaffes, were seated at Bickerstafife as early as the twelfth century. In the reign of Edward II. the office of Sheriff of Lancashire was held more than once by a member of the family, and Dugdale's " Monasticon " testifies to numerous benefactions which religious houses in the county received at the hands of one or other of the same name. The manor passed, by the marriage of an heiress, to an ancestor of the present Earl of Derby, but a branch of the family continued to reside in the neighbourhood, until James Bickersteth, or Bickerstaffe, the father of the above-named Henry, left his native county to settle in Westmoreland, rather before the middle of the last century.

LIFE OF BISHOP ROBERT BICKERS TETH.

youth ; but his four brothers, born in Kirkby Lonsdale, each earned more or less distinction in Church or State.

Henry, the third son, was, like the rest, intended by his father for the medical profession, and went to London in his sixteenth year, to walk the hospitals with his uncle, Dr. Batty, who was practising there. He seems never to have cared for his father's profession, and went to Caius College, Cambridge. His University career was one of great distinction, and he took his degree as senior wrangler in 1808.

In those days, at any rate, senior wranglers made themselves a name in after life, and Henry Bickersteth became equally distinguished at the Bar. His chief public work was devoted to the reform of legal procedure, and he showed a remarkable absence of ambition in refusing the Great Seal when it was pressed upon him by Lord John Russell, in 1850.

He had, however, been raised to the peerage as Baron Langdale, many years before ; and held the office of Master of the Rolls from 1836 till his death, in 1851.

It will probably be interesting to my readers to be reminded that Lord Langdale, as Master of the Rolls, drew up the judgment of the final court of appeal in the celebrated Gorham case. Whether right or wrong, that judgment was the means of preventing a schism which threatened to tear asunder the Church of England ; for it is notorious that a large section of the Evangelical clergy would have considered their position in the Church untenable, if the contention of the Bishop of Exeter had been maintained. As it is, the baptismal controversy has

REV. EDWARD BICKERSTETH.

well-nigh ceased, and the great majority of the clergy accept the language of the Prayer-book ; though they are not agreed in the exact sense of the word " regenerate."

Of this judgment, Dean Stanley said, in the course of an essay on the connection of Church and State —

" There is perhaps no decision of any council or Holy- Office equal in moderation and insight to that of the Gorham judgment, unless it be that which so greatly resembles it, in its inclusion of two opposite principles— the decision of the first Council of Jerusalem " (Essay, p. 284).

Of Edward Bickersteth, the fourth son, there is less need to speak, for those who read this book are likely to be familiar with the outline of his life, and as a great leader of the Evangelical party, and a zealous supporter of the Church Missionary Society, his name is in all the Churches. He was for many years Rector of Watton, Herts.

His influence and position were almost unique ; his spiritual force was intense, and the active energy of his character brought him into contact with many of the most zealous clergy throughout the country,^ while he was disposed warmly to co-operate with those whom he regarded as Evangelical ministers outside the Anglican Church.' In this direction he was more tolerant or more lax than his brother

' In the Life of Lord Shaftesbury, by Mr. Edwin Hodder, there are several allusions to the intimate relations existing between the Evangelical leader and the great philanthropist. The latter wrote in his journal, February 17th, 1850, " Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick. Is this too much to say of Bickersteth? I trow not. This dearly beloved friend and fellow-servant is grievously ill ; and prayers, we bless God, are daily made for him throughout the Church. How little can we afford to lose such a champion for the truth !"

John, who occupied a position of comparative obscurity as Vicar of Acton, in Suffolk, and afterwards Rector of Sapcote, in Leicestershire.

Edward Bickersteth left behind him one son, who, after thirty years of laborious work as Vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead, was appointed to the deanery of Gloucester in 1885, and on the very day of his installation was offered the bishopric of Exeter.

Robert Bickersteth, the youngest of the Kirkby Lonsdale family, was the only one who remained in his father's profession, and became a surgeon at Liverpool. He was distinguished in religious and philanthropic work, no less than in his medical profession.

John Bickersteth, my grandfather, was the second son ; and his sons were, Henry, who, in the course of a long residence as a medical man at the Cape of Good Hope, earned the gratitude of churchmen by his devotion to the interests of the Church of England in that colony ; Edward, now Dean of Lichfield, who was for many years Archdeacon of Buckinghamshire, Vicar of Aylesbury, and Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury ; and the subject of this sketch, Robert, Bishop of Ripon.

If the Vicar of Acton occupied a position of comparative obscurity, yet his work was of a very remarkable character ; and it will not be without interest to some readers to dwell for a space on the uneventful life of a country clergyman in the first half of the present century.

Several modern biographies, and especially Mr.

REV. JOHN BICKERSTETH.

Mozley's Reminiscences, give a graphic picture of the time when the Oxford Tracts were first launched upon the world, and startled the slumber of many a quiet parsonage with the perplexing rush of ideas at once new and old.

But it would be a great mistake to suppose that till the Tractarian Movement, there was nothing to break the deep sleep in which the Church had lain all through the Georgian era. The burning love of souls and the fiery energy of the Methodist Revival found an echo within the Church, and there were those who combined the fervour and piety of the Wesleys with a spirit of sober loyalty to Church order, the lack of which had turned a powerful auxiliary of the Church into a sect separate from her. These were the men who formed the Bible Society, who supported Missions to the Je'ws, and, with Wilberforce and Clarkson, stormed against the slave-trade till the conscience of the nation was aroused to roll away that terrible reproach to England and Christendom.

Such a man was John Bickersteth, of Acton. Like his younger brother, he had left Kirkby Lonsdale for a clerkship in the Post Office, but, not content with any calling lower than what he deemed the highest, took Holy Orders.

The Rev. John Bickersteth was a young man when he went to Acton in 1812, and his ministry there lasted till 1837.

What the life at Acton was like, we are able to picture vividly enough from a few letters which have been preserved, and from the recollections of some of those who lived at the vicarage as pupils of Mr. Bickersteth, or candidates for Holy Orders who spent a year or two with him to gain an insight into parochial work.

At Cambridge John Bickersteth had made the acquaintance of the Rev. C. Simeon, whose great influence over the younger members of the University made itself felt long before his name became a household word throughout the Church. The following letter, which was preserved by the Rev. Canon Carus amongst Mr. Simeon's correspondence, shows how strong an admiration and respect the writer had for the great Cambridge leader : —

Dear Sir, — Believe me, though I have had so little opportunity of manifesting it, I have not ceased to retain a lively gratitude towards you for all your undeserved kindnesses to me during my residence in the University, and an affectionate interest in your spiritual and temporal prosperity. May the great Head of the Church long continue your valuable labours for the good of His people ! I think you will pardon the freedom of my writing to you upon the subject of one dear X.o yoii, and dear also to me ; on different accounts, and yet not wholly dissimilar. You, dear sir, were, I believe, under God, Mr. Martyn's spiritual father : I am not sure whether, under God, I am not the same Mr. Martyn's spiritual son : I am sure that his preaching, which most providentially I had the happiness of hearing, just before he left England, at St. John's Chapel, was the means, by God's grace, of strengthening if not* establishing impressions still, alas ! too feebly operative in a heart not yet sufficiently made captive in every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Under these circumstances, though I never had any personal knowledge of Mr. Martyn, nor could have, as he left England almost immediately after I first saw and heard him, yet, feeling a lively regret for the loss which the Church sustains in him,

MRS. JOHN BICKERSTETH.

and desiring to contribute my mite towards the promotion of an object near his heart, I, in common with a London friend, who wishes to remain unknown, but was ahke a partaker of the benefit of his public labours, beg to enclose two guineas (one from each of us), which we doubt not you will be at the trouble of appropriating to the right channel. I am afraid amidst your numerous avocations it would be too much to hope for the happiness of seeing you at our humble vicarage. Permit me, however, to add that we should consider such a sight of you so great a happiness that we will hope you would not neglect a favourable opportunity of gratifying us in this particular. In the mean time I am sure we shall have your prayers, which I hope, together with our own, and those of other Christian friends, God will continue to bless for the good of the little but dear flock which God my Saviour has put into my hands. I feel that I am unworthy of being His undershepherd ; but if He guides, directs, and blesses, then I am safe. Mrs. Bickersteth has lately presented me with a dear babe. She would feel herself honoured by an introduction to your acquaintance, which she both is prepared and knows how to value.

I am, dear sir,

Your sincerely obliged and grateful,

John Bickersteth.

Acton Vicarage, near Sudbury, June 2, 1813.

The infant to whom reference is made in the letter was Edward, the present Dean of Lichfield ; but on a subsequent occasion Mr. Simeon visited Acton, and it was thought a matter of great rejoicing in the family that he consented to act as sponsor to Robert, the future Bishop of Ripon,

The Rev. John Bickersteth had married Miss Henrietta Lang, who seems to have been admirably fitted for the position of a clergyman's wife. After lO LIFE OF BISHOP ROBERT BICKERSTETH.

her death in 1830, her widowed husband pubhshed a little memoir, which shows her to have been a very remarkable woman, and one who could not fail to have a most powerful influence upon her children. Before her marriage she had passed through a change in her religious convictions, which led her to give herself almost entirely to good works amongst the poor in the little village of Natland, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

At Casterton Hall, where she was a frequent guest, she made the acquaintance of her future husband, who had just commenced his work at Acton.

How deeply she was impressed with the responsibility of becoming a clergyman's wife is shown in a letter written to a friend before her marriage. She writes : —

I humbly trust I did not presume to listen to the proposal till I had begged the blessing and guidance of my Heavenly Master. And though it appears to be His will hitherto to sanction the step I am about to take, yet it is a duty still to pray for a negative to any plan which will not promote my spiritual progress. By the assisting grace of God, it is my wish unreservedly to surrender all I have and am to His service and glory ; and I can earnestly pray that I may be kept from anything that would interrupt such a surrender. I am in some measure sensible of my present temptation. Oh, implore of Him Who hears and answers prayer, that all His gifts may be sanctified ; that the streams of mercy may never draw me from the Fountain ; and that, through all created comfort, the steady eye of faith may be fixed on the Creator. Acton is a retired corner of the vineyard : pray for its minister that he may be endued with strength from on high equal to his day; and especially pray for her who must so soon