CHARLES FERRY SCOTT, D.D.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVIII, Issue 2, 1 August 1927, Page 14

CHARLES FERRY SCOTT, D.D.

First Bishop m North China

Address by Bishop Norris at the Memorial Service m Peking, Feb. 16th, 1927.

We are mjet to-day to remember before God, His servant Charles Perry Scott, who was called to his rest on Sunday evening at Shanghai. The first Bishop of our Church to reach Peking — he was consecrated m 1880 — he had spent over fifty years m China, and nearly fifty years m Peking. A fortnight ago he bade farewell to the city winch was for so long a time his home, anil after spending a week at Tientsin with his nephew and niece, he journeyed to Shanghai purposing to sail thence with his niece, Miss Mary Scott, for Ebgland. God willed it otherwise, and at the home of his great friend, Bishop Graves, at St. John's University, he passed away, from heart failure, on thie eve of the day fixed for his departure. "'The dear old Bishop laid down his life m China, and I think that 'is what he wished.' " So wrote one who rightly claimed to tie the Bishop's oldest friend m China. He came to Peking m 1881, quietly and trustfully; he left it as he came. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." It may ble that quietness and confidence arouse no great enthusiasm, win no spectacular triumphs, claim but brief notice, if any, m history as recorded by human pens; but they are stronger than men thinly and they attract men to God. As we look iback on the Bishop's life and — to quote words inscribed on the wall of his Memorial Chapel at the Oh'ung Te school — "recall th© patient story of those years," there runs through them a thread made up of divers strands, of quiet faith, of sober judgment, of winning courtesy, of wonderful humility, a thread luminous with beauty, instinct with holiness. It wene easy to record the many achievements of a long episcopate 1 , to ■enumerate the many friends whose testimony combines to prove that there has been something about Charles Perry Scott which won for him their gratitude and honour. But we would content ourselves with emphasising the two characteristics already mentioned, Mr Scott's first years m China were a period of preparation. Jt We ask," he wrote soon after he reached China, "for the prayers of those at home, for our own spiritual life, that we may have power. . . that we may be guided ... that we may be shown how to

begin work among the heathen when the times comes j" and again later : "Let us ask that you will not grow weary m intercession for the work, however long it may be (before fruit appears." Bishop Scott's first years us Bisliop must have tried almost beyond endurance any man less truly dependent on God. One attempt affer another seemed to fail, slow additions to a tiny staff were balanced by retirements, and staff and means alike grew very slowly. If we look back to thie next period' of his episcopate (1889-1900), marked by the Bishop's serious illness m 1893, and furlough m 1894, and various difficulties arising m the Diocese after his return, once more the dominant note is patience and quiet persevernece m his own sufferings, patience with his staff, perseverence under financial stress — for the support of the Diocese was but meagre m comparison to its needs — and perseverence m the pursuit of a distant ideal which now took shape m his mind, the union of the Anglican Dioceses m. China m one Church. Then came the debacle of 1900, the wreck of the home which Mrs Scott had shared for eleven yiears, followed by her death m September. It seems a long time ago, and there a-re not many who will recall to-day the "ibeauty" — the word forces itself to the front — of his patient bearing of affliction. Some wondered if he would return at all ; he had been a Bishop already for twienty years, and though not an old man, might fairly have claimed retirement to quiet work at home. But that would have wronged the 1 courage and the strength of one whose character was built on quietness and confidence. He oame back 3 huilt up again his halfshattered work, gave up Shantung to Bishop Iliff, Honan to Bishop White, and threw himself into the task of realising his dream of one Anglican Church m China, a dneam which came true m 1912. when the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui held its first generalSynod. Never was there a less masterful chairman, never a man whose personal humility combined so effectively with the wisdom of his judgment, that men followed when they almost seemed to lead. That done, he felt he could lay down the burden of the Diocese, and m 1913 he resigned. One feature of the Bishop's work calls for special mention, because it was not only the fruit of natural genius, but also the expression of his character. He had the family gift for architecture and he adapted it wonderfully to scanty means and materials. But he supplied more than genius; it

was m very truth with him a work of love to beautify the House of God, wherever he was; at Chef oo m the seventies, m Beking m the eighties, at Tientsin m the nineties, and again m Peking m his greatest 'building, the Cathedral Church of Our Saviour, designed and built by him for the almost incredibly small sum of £1500, and lastly m his own Memorial Chapel at the Ch'ung Te School m 1916. His genius m thi s respect made men wonder; his meticulous care for the smallest, derail mad© men look beyond the genius to find the love. "Oh. how amiable are Thy dwellings, Thou Lord of Hosts." The same care which was lavished oh the Cathedral was . given to tEe design of an alter-cross for a little up-country Ohurchroom, to tlie choice and execution of a text to adorn the walls of a chapel. When one thinks of the scanty means at his disposal for such work, almost one might say m the words of St. Peter: "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have that I give to Thee." After a visit home he returned to Peking m 1915, and for thirteen years has lived there. The writer wns once told of a remark made about this by an American Bishop who had known Bishop Scott for many years. Some one said to him : "It is hardly fair to his .successor to "have Bishop Scott living at his door, is it? I should think it might make trouble." The anwer came without hesitation: "Then you don't know Bishop Scott; he would never make trouble for anyone, and he would not allow it to ibe" made." The Bishop not only successfully avoided "'making trouble,'' but m a hundred little ways, no less than m other big things, he took pains to support his succesor, and that as far as might be without letting the pains be apparent. It was an eloquent lesson m perfect loyalty. But his last years m Peking were by no means confined to a role of leisurely retirement. Wherever, whenever, however, he could help, he helped. As he wrote m 1914 : "The new Bishop may want me to stop a gap somewhere, and if he does I shall of course postpone coming home." In the twelve years that followed he stopped many gaps, and now at last his going has left a gap that none else can fill. Our missionaries m Peking and throughout the Diocese and many friends both here and elsewhere m China, will sorely miss that gracious presence, that kindly welcome^ that all embracing interest, and most of all. that "beauty of holiness"— but they will not readily forget, ...... . :