BISHOP G. A. SELWYN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 11

BISHOP G. A. SELWYN.

CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH.

LIFE AND WORK IN NEW ZEALAND

AN APPRECIATION BY THE PRIMATE,

Monday next, April 5, will bo tho centenary of the birth of George Augustus Selwyn, tho first Anglican Bishop, of Now Zealand, founder of tho Molanesian Mission, and subsequently Bishop of Lichfield from 1867 to 1878, and first prelate of the order of S.S. Michael and George. Bishop Selwyn was born in- a year remarkable for splendid births, for 1809 saw the birth of his life-long friend, W. E. Gladstono (December 29); Charles Darwin, tho great scientist (February 12), Tennyson (August 6), Abraham Lincoln (February 12), Edgar Allen Poo (January 19), Oliver Wendell Holmes (August 29), and others famous in literature, science, and other ways. Fascinating But Dominating. Tho following brief description and character sketch of Bishop Selwyn has been placed on record by Commander Gambier: — Bishop Selwyn was a man . of most fascinating but dominating personality, and although ho accomplished a work of unequalled magnitude and importance as an evangelist, not only in New Zealand but throughout Polynesia, still I always think ho was a great acbniral or general thrown away. He was a born leader of mon, and in tho Roman Empire ho might have been a Marcus Aurelius, acclaimed Imperator by tho army, and hare beon borne on their shields t-o don tho purple at the Capitol. As it was, his incomparable energy and power of organisation fizzed out in starting missions. The Maoris adored him, and he hold them in the palm of his strong hands. He was remarkably handsome and well made, except that his leg's were too short. He had rather a brusque yet charming manner, whilst the highest virtues of man, including unselfishness carried, to self-abnegation, seemed to live in him. I have never seen or known any man liko him. There is no shado of doubt that by his power of will and tho influenco he exercised over the Maoris, be saved the entire white population from massacre at a critical moment. Commander Gambier talks lightly about Selwyn's "energy and power of organisation fizzing out in starting missions," but the great bishop himself regarded Christian mission work and tho building up 011 sound foundations of tho Church of the Province of New Zealand, as the supreme object of his lifo. These were the things which to him were above all others worth while. Tho churoh Constitution. The constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand is one of the great monuments of Selwyn's work in this Dominion. It has been said that "he found a mission station; he left an organised Church." The constitution was drawn up in consultation with the most distinguished Churchmen in England and Now Zealand, and it has since been copied in its main features by Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Ireland. Somo people consider that the Church has been too .tightly fettered in some respects by. the fundamental provisions of the constitution, and they may eventually have to bo modified j but, taken as a whota, it is a noble monument to the wisdom and foresight of Bishop Selwyn and his colleagues. When the Bishop left Now Zealand for Lichfield tho General Synod bore testimony to his great work in the following words:—

How can we ever forget you? Every spot in New Zealand is identified with you. Each hill and valley, each river and bay and headland is full of meiuorios of you. The busy town, the lonely settler's hut, the countless islands of the sea, all speak of you. Whether your days be few or many, wo—as long as we live—will ever hold you deep in our inmost hearts. All wo pray for you and yours; the clergy to whom you have been indeed a father in God) the old tried friends with whom you have taken counsel, tho youngor men of both races whom you have trained, the poor whom you have relieved, the mourners whom you have comforted, the sick to whom you have ministered, the prisoners whom you have visited, all think of you now and will think of you always with truo affection, and will offer for you always their fervent prayers. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. SELWYN'S GENIUS FOR ORGANISATION. By The Most Rev. Dr. Nevill, Primate of New Zealand. [Specially written for The Dominion.] Considering that at least two histories of the life of Bishop G. A. Selwyn have been published, it seems to mo to be somewhat superfluous to enter again upon any general description of his career as a great missionary bishop, but since I am now one of tho very fow remaining links of personal connection between the first Now Zealand Bishop and the present day, because I was honoured by not a little of intercourse and friendship with him during some ten years, I shall, I think,, best satisfy the demand you make upon mo if I supply to The Dominion newspaper some reminiscences of my own relating to the latter part of Bishop Selwyn's life.

"He Must Obey." . Joiin Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield, diet! suddenly on a day on which Bishop Cowie, our late Primate, and I had been engaged with hint for some hours on Church business. We each went to Eccleshall Castle to attend his funeral, together with tho loading clorgy of the diocese, our interest in tile question of who would be his successor was thus, perhaps, more than usually aroused. Ere long a rumour reached us that_ her Majesty the Queen, and the then Primo Minister, wero not quite in accord upon fii is subject. It was said that Lord Derby had been recommending a certain dean as suitable for the post, to which tho Queen replied, "No, if it is to be a Dean at all, it must be Dean Stanley," to which the reply was made, "Then please your Majesty, it shall not bo a dean at all." A deadlock seeming to be imminent, Lord Derby asked whether, the Queen had met Bishop Selwyn, then in England, and formerly known as a Curate of Windsor, and Lord Derby ventured to suggest that her Majesty should ask Bishop Selwyn to dinner. This was done, and the Queen was so charmed by tho bishop's personality, and by ms devotional spirit, that she said it would be a favour to her if ho would accept the Bisjiropric of Lichfield. Tho bishop replied that ho went to New Zealand because lie was sent, and though it would be a grief to him to leave it, her Majesty's wish was to him a law that ho must obey, and thus it came to pass that Bishop Selwyn signed himself for a while, "Lichfield and Now Zealand, and I havo several lotters of his with this signature. Shipwrecked. It is well known that Bishop Selwyn returned to New Zealand to preside over the Generil Synod of 1868. We in England in due time received a letter announcing his arrival in some such terms as these: "I reached New Zealand the day before yesterday wis shipwrecked in the Tory Channel the- dav after and an; now in Nelson," reminding one of Oaesars vein, vidi, vici for its brev° lty It was by that synod that the diocese of Duncdm was constituted, and it wbb provided that the new diocese should remain under the charge of Bishop Ilarpor of Christcburch, "until his successor should be lawfully appointed," this notwithstanding the fact that Bishop Jenner had been consecrated about two years before by tho Archbishop of Canterbury, who acted under a misapprehension. Tho formation of the diocese of Dunedin was thorefore tho closing act of ecclesiastical organisation performed by Bishop Sclw-n, win, apart from the diocese of Melanesia, to which ho gave oiigin by simpiy consecrating a bishop to bo iicad of tho mission lie himself had founded—left

on his resignation in 1868 six dioceses in tho country on which ho set foot in 1841 as sole bishop.

Constitutional Government,

No sooner had the bishop reached England again than ho sot to work to establish in hia diocese something hko the more constit llional government to which he had become accustomed in tho colony, and great was tho opposition ho met with in his endeavour. Nor did the self-evident fact that the assemblies which tho bishop sought to set up could bo 110 more than voluntary associations for tho purposo of consultation and advico sufllco to allay tho feeling excited. In a country where Church and State are united, tho action of an individual bishop could in no wise alter the law of the land. Tho proposal was an innovation, therefore it must bo a deep-laid scheme to land the Church in tho bosom of tho I'opo: Tho bishop dccided to visit every rural deanery in his dioceso for tho purposo of disarming this strange suspicion. In some of these meetings speeches wero made by valiant "supporters Of tho reformation" which wero almost insulting to some of tho Staffordshire cle-gy determined to attend as many of theso meetings as they could and

to speak in explanation and.advocacy of the bishop's objects. It was thus that I became well known to Bishop Selwyn, and was a not unfrequent visitor to Lichfield, for almost his first act had been to surrender Eccleshall Castle to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and to reside at Lichfield. Not a few amusing episodes occurred at these meetings, and the bishop's ready wit and unfailing good humour went far towards carrying tno concluding vote in favour of his design. He was; however, greatly tried by this senseless opposition, and riot a little annoyed by the extreme ignorance too often displayed. ' The Bishopric of Wellington. It will be remembered that Bishop Abraham felt it his duty to resign the Dishopric of Wellington, to go to the aid of his friend and former chief. Bishop Hobhouse, for-i merly of Nelson, was already in England through ill-health. Bishop Selwyn called these men to his aid, and tho .eyes of all England became directed to the Diocese of Lichfield with no little interest. Bishop Selwyn, in tho exerciso of the authority vested in him by the Auckland Synod, had somo time before selected Mr. Cow'ie, Rcctor of Stafford, for his successor in Auckland, and I was surprised one morning to receive a letter from him saying, "If you would like to bo Bishop of Wellington send in your namo to the Diocesan Synod." I replied in the same spirit that "without making the old profession of nolo episcopari I certainly should not send in my own name to any synod vnder tho sun." The next post brought me a letter . saying that I was "quite behind the times, that "everybody was a candidate for a bishopric nowadays," concluding with an invitation to Lichfield to talk things over. I went, with the-result that it was eventually arranged that as I was then suffering from overwork, and could leave four curates behind me, I should visit New Zealand, whero Mrs. Nevill had friends. Bishop Abraham, with whom I had much conversation on this subject, told me that it was probable that Archdeacon Hadfield would bo eloeted by tho synod, but, failing him, the members of the synod would bo glad to have tho namo of a suitablo clergyman submitted to them. Hospitably received by the late Sir W. Martin on our arrival in Auckland, I found that Archdcacon Hadfield had been elected, and had accepted the position of Bishop of Wellington, and I accompanied Bishop Cowie, of Auckland,'to Wellington to act as his chaplain at the consecration.' 'I found that in addition to tho twelve letters of introduction to 1 Wellington Church folk which Bishop Abraham had given me, tho

Lichfield bishops had kindly written privately about me, and thus my name came somewhat prominently before the Cliurch in New Zealand, and this led to my eventual election to tho dioceso of Dunedin in March, 1871. I have, therefore, always regarded myself as the last link with Bishop Selwyn in his oversight of the Church of Now Zealand. An Anglican Patriarchate. As it is my desire to speak of New Zealand's great apostlo rather than of myself, I pass ovor all tho years till 1878, only observing that during that time I availed myself of the bishop's friendship to writo to him from timo to time upon Church questions, and I bring these reminiscences to air ond by a reference to a circunistancc occurring at tho close of tho bishop's great career. Archbishop Tait had dotcrniined to repeat the experiment of 186S by holding a second groat conference of bishops at Lambeth, liisllop Selwyn, who had always been possessed of a too great foar of provincial freedom leading to a too great independence of the authority of tho Church in England, strongly desired that advantage should bo taken of tho approaching conferenco to invest tho Archbishop of Canterbury with some new dignity, which should empower him, under tho title of Patriarch of tho Anglican Communion, to 6tumuou and uresido

over a formal synod of the whole. In purBuanco of this objoct, so dear to his organising genius, the bishop visited America and ondeavoured to win over tho bishops in that country to his views, in which, however, he J*' 83 not successful. I had' myself,' ventured to differ somewhat strongly with thia p»wposal, holding not only that such a bond was contrary to tho principles of a truo catholicity. tending, as it would, to reduce England to the position of a sect, but also that any such formal bond must become a source of troublo in tile future, and I decided to attend the conference for-tho purpose of discharging my conscience on tho subject'by tho expression of mv views. Bishop Selwyn kindly invited me J 1 ? 1 Richfield, I must not say witli tho object of bringing to bear his great inmioncc upon mo, but I certainly looked tornaru to some private discussion of tho subject. Yt hat was, therefore, mv surprise and sorrow to find in tho first English newspaper which I obtained on the arrival of mv vessel an account of the death of , tho Bishop of Lichfield, which had occurred tho day before. I was greatly impressed by this circumstance. It spoko to mo with the voice of the Great Head of tho Church, calling loniojiis servants when their proper work was done. It spoke of the limitations of tho greatest and most devoted, that we each livo ill our own age, and are too much bounded by its ideas, that wo may oven do more harm than good when, with the purest motives wo strive to stereotype tho ideas and prepossessions of our environment upon tho unfolding years. Yet the life of this groat man, so free from all littleness, and so full of pioty and zeal for God, is a groat example to our time and the ages yet to come.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

NEW ZEALAND AND LICHFIELD,

For the following sketch of tho career of itehop Selwyn we are mainly indebted to the Memoir of tho Life and Episcopate of George Augustus Selwyn," by the Rev. H. W. Tucker:—

Born in 1809, at Hampstead, tho son of an eminent lawyer, ho was educated at litoiij and St. John's, Cambridge; was secr I! 1 3° «'? s . sical tripos; and was elected a fellow' of his college. Ho returned as private tutor to Eton, and thero was remarkable for his Christian earnestness and energy of character.

In 1840 New Zealand became an English colony; in the following year the Colonial ■Bishoprics Council was founded, and the new colony was one of tho first places to which they desired to send a bishop to regulate tho work of the few missionaries of the Church of England already there, and to lay the foundation of a church contemporaneously. with tho establishment of British rule. Selwyn was chosen for the position, and from the first, great things were expected of him. He travelled indefatigably over his great diocese, walking through tho bush, swimming the rivers, cruising round tho coasts in small boats which, he himself navigated. Whenever ho stayed in a settlor's house (writes one of those whose guest the bishop had often been), his great desire seemed to be to give no trouble. He would insist on carrying his own travelliug-bags, would always tidy his own room and make his own bed, and I havo known him sur* reptitiously to wash his own clothes. This was done with the knowledge that in New Zealand servants are scarce, and that the ladies of tlio household do many things for themselves and their families which ladies are not accustomed to do in England. His own hospitality was profuse but simple; indeed he kept open house; every one who came to Auckland was welcomed, and knew I that formal invitation was not needed. 'I give good advice, but bad dinners,' the Bishop used to say to his guests; the bad- , ness of the dinners being only a synonym for plain roast and boiled." ; It happened that the Colonial Office had, in drawing up the bishop's letters patent, assigned to him, per incuriain, a diocese stretching from fifty degrees south latitude to thirty-four degrees north. The bishop acceptod tho v error as an opportunity of doing missionary work outside the limits of r«ew Zealand. In .1848 he embraced the opportunity of a voyage in H.M.S. Dido, to visit some of the islands in the Pacific, on a V 0^ go n ? f , ' ns Pcction. In the following year tho Bishop had procured a little vessel of his own, m which he visited many islands, and brought back five native boys to bo educated in his school at Auckland. In 1851 the dioceses,of Sydney and Newcastle had provided him with a larger vessel, the Border Mind, in which he cruised among the islands of the Pacific, sometimes swimming ashore in the presence of natives of doubt--1! or , evon hostile disposition, and winning thorn by the manly dignity of his presence, and tho attractiveness of his manner.

Visits to England,

In l&si he visited England in order to obtain from the Home authorities the subdivision of his diocese. He was received with much enthusiasm by the church at Home, and his presence and his addresses sensibly increased tho interest of tho church in mission work, and elevated the common idea of tho importance and dignity of the work.

Iho Bishop was successful in obtaining the subdivision of his diocesc; in 1556 the diocese of Christchurch was founded, and two years later the Sees of Wellington, Nelson, Waiapu • and Dunedin in ISG6. In 1861, Mr. Patteson was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia. Again, in 186", Bishop Sehvyn visited England, in order to attend the Lambeth Conference. The idea of tlio conference was to draw the churches of the Anglican communion togetlier, and to discuss questions which had arisen respecting the relations of the colonial and the mother clmrchcs, and tlio mutual relations of all the churches of the English l descent. Selwyn's character and practical experience mado him a leading and influential person in the conference. While tlio Bishop was still in England, Bishop Lonsdale's death vacated the See of Lichfield, and lio was induced, reluctantly, and in obedience to others, to accept the English See. He stipulated for leave to pay a last visit to New Zealand, to set that diocese in order for his successor; and the farewell which the people there took of him, proved that they had learned to estimate the grandeur of'his character and work. The ninetieth occupant of the See of Lichfield, and succeeding so good and earnest a bishop as -Lonsdale, Selwyn yet found ample SC9PO for his genius for ecclesiastical organisation. He removed ' the Episcopal rcsidenco to Lichfield; secured the help of two suffragan bishops; established a scheme for the training of candidates for ordination; and put new energy, into tlio hearts of the workers, and into the work, of the dioceso generally; besides making Lichfield a centre of foreign missionary spirit. In his last illness, "amid the wanderings caused by bodily weakness, his thoughts' were with the distant islands for which lie had dono so much, and to" whoso evangelisation, when his own active labours there were ended, ho had gjven his son." At one time bo would oxclaim with kindling eye, "A Light to lighten the Gentiles"; at another ho would murmur, "They will all come back," referring to the Maoris who had apostalised during the war, and then in the soft Maori language, which, for a quarter of a century, was familiar to him as his mother tongue, he would say, "It is all light." Ho died April 11, 1878, and lies buried in the churchyard of Lichfield Cathedral.

The Sehvyn Centenary will bo celebrated in Wellington on Friday, April 23, and Simday, April 25, wlie.n there will l>c special torvices and appropriate addresses in the various churches. In Auckland a great public meeting is to bo Jield in the third week in Slay. I-lis Excellency the , Governor, in consenting to preside, stated:—"l am very pleased and proud to take part in honouring Selwyn."