the Archdeacon soon discovered that his position was quite unreal, and left him powerless for any good. So he returned to England to press upon the authorities in Church and State the need of some more effective organisation in the colony, and in 1836 he went back to Sydney as Bishop of Australia. Of this new-made see the limits were more extensive than from London to Constantinople, i.e., than the whole width of Europe. The absurdity of this state of things was constantly pleaded by Bishop Broughton, till at length in 1846, the Sees of Adelaide and Melbourne were founded, the former by the munificence of Miss (now Baroness) Burdett-Coutts. Of these two Sees the first occupants were Bishops Short and Perry. The former of these, who to his credit still remains at his post, does not appear to have troubled himself with anything more than mere diocesan routine; while Bishop Perry, though presiding over the wealthiest portion of the great continent, after less than thirty years of service, (in which time he was the great obstructionist to the development of the Church in its completeness,) sought the otium cum dignitate of life in the old country. Mr. Tyrrell was consecrated to Newcastle, a district taken from the mother diocese of Sydney, in 1847. The diocese of Sydney itself has received a succession of three Bishops, of whom the present Metropolitan, though amiable and energetic, was not bred up in a school that has at all realised the true position and history of the Church. Consequently circumstances seemed to force on Bishop Tyrrell from the first a more prominent position than his natural temperament would have led him at all to seek. His biographer represents him as a devout, studious, and thoughtful man, who allowed himself no indulgencies, and was true to all Catholic traditions. Not being married, he gave his whole heart and soul to his diocese, lavishing on it considerable sums of money, on a system of which we shall have more to say hereafter. As illustrations of the self-denial which he practised, it may be mentioned that he only allowed himself ordinarily five or six hours of sleep, that he rarely touched wine, never smoked, had, save for the last year or two, no carriage, nor even an arm-chair, and died on the small iron bedstead which he used in his passage out from England. In all these respects his life was really saintly, the characteristics which might otherwise have turned into austerity being checked by great tenderness and compassion for others, and a strong affection for children. This is an inheritance of surpassing value which Bishop Tyrrell has left to the whole Anglican Communion; and in this busy age (and as we shall presently see the good Bishop had his full share of physical activities) it is an example which is not often to be looked for. But now confining ourselves to the record of his Diocesan administration we notice two points in which his memory will ever be held dear in Australia, and indeed throughout all the Colonial Churches of our Communion. 1. With regard to the financial condition of the Church, Bishop Tyrrell appears to us to have exhibited more foresight and sagacity than any of our Colonial Prelates. When he went to Newcastle his own income was provided by the Colonial Bishoprics Fund; and such clergy as there were, received salaries from the government as chaplains. Against this improvident system he set himself with all his might. His own salary, if we understand Mr. Boodle rightly, he invested from the first, while he induced the chaplains to throw their fixed stipends into a common Clerical Fund. At the same time he required all the congregations to contribute, in addition to a grant from this fund, an income proportionate to their circumstances for the support of their respective pastors, besides making voluntary offerings at Easter, and other seasons. cr Endowment, he again and again asserts, is the pressing claim of the day,”—and one of his first benefactions was to invest £1000 in behalf of the Newcastle Church Society," so that the clergy might never suffer from unpunctual payments. The Bishop's action in all these matters was dictated by the highest wisdom. "His design," says Mr. Boodle, "was to provide for the accumulation of a capital of £250,000 for nine distinct objects, embracing with paternal forethought all the chief wants of the Church. 1. The Bishop's Income of £1,200 per annum 2. Stipend of one Archdeacon. 3. Three Canons and Rural Deans 4. Clergy stipends £100 per annum each,―remainder to be pro 5. Superannuated Clergy vided by the flocks 6. Sick Clergy 7. New Clergy 8. The Training of Future Clergy £30,000 5,000 6,000 9. The Religious Education of the Young VOL. II. We do not gather from Mr. Boodle's Biography exactly to what extent this grand scheme was realised before the Bishop's death. Some purchases which he made did not turn out well; and the Colonial government so persistently thwarted "denominational" schools, that he must, we think, have failed materially in this great work which he had very much at heart. But upon the whole it would seem that the Bishop really accomplished most that he proposed to himself,—his own personal resources doubtless, and those of a maiden sister who was deeply attached to him, contributing not a little to the result. He lived also to establish two daughter dioceses, to build fifty-five new churches in his own immediate see, twenty parsonages, and many schools. This subject is so important that we quote one passage from the pages of the "Life." "The evil of depending on, and using up large annual grants from England was strongly impressed on him during his visit to New Zealand in 1851, and he was led to think that it would be well if English Societies, instead of making grants for current expenses only, would allow some of the funds to be used for endowment. He inquired, for his own guidance, into all that was doing there, and was greatly confirmed in his own opinion of the value of such appropriations. Writing to the Secretary of the S. P. G., he says, 'The annual outlay of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand I found to be £10,000. This outlay had continued for twenty years, so that the large sum of £200,000 had been expended there on the missions to the natives. I looked round for the permanent result of this outlay. Doubtless many souls have been gathered year by year to the LORD,-but what was the permanent provision for ministering to souls made from this large outlay? I could not see or hear of any. At that time I resolved that, with the LORD's blessing, such should not be the result of twenty years' grant from your Society for my destitute diocese.""P. 240. 2. The other subject on which the good Bishop laboured with equal vigour, if not absolutely with equal success, was what is now generally called the Synodal action of the Church. Low Church Bishops approve of Synods, in so far as they are under their own control, and register the opinions of their respective diocesans; but they are unwilling to allow them any independent authority. So Bishops Barker, and Perry, and Thomas had no objection to Diocesan Synods, but thoroughly objected to their own synods being controlled by a Provincial Synod,-and this was the point which Bishop Tyrrell resolutely contested, maintaining most justly that without some Superior Synod to give cohesion and unity to the Church of the Colony, the ecclesiastical organisation would be incomplete. Ultimately, for peace' sake, he forbore to press his opinions to their full extent, and was obliged to be content with carrying out a somewhat shadowy Provincial Synod, in the hope that ere long it would have its legitimate rights bestowed upon it. There is one question of considerable importance connected with the constitution of these assemblies which both the bishop and his biographer pass over without comment we mean the question of the lay element. On this subject Bishop Tyrrell appears to have adopted without hesitation or inquiry the precedent set by his friend and fellow-collegian, Bishop Selwyn, who had gone out to his diocese a few years before he was himself called. As matter of fact too it should be said that the Newcastle Synod, when after a long contest with the Erastian Party it was formally established, was at first merely the Church Society already existing mutato nomine. Further the bishop had been so much opposed by the combined Erastian and Evangelical Parties in the matter of Synods Diocesan and Provincial, that we can quite understand that he was loath to raise more topics of dispute than were unavoidable. And once more, the initiative on the matter of organization having been taken by his friend Bishop Selwyn, who was earlier in the field than he had been, he would naturally shrink from attempting a new model for himself, even although his own reading would have shown him that he was departing from lines laid down in the best ages. So it happens that the laity in the Australian Synods possess a power which is not theirs by right or prescription. The seed of how much evil may lie hid in that arrangement it is of course impossible to foresee; but we may hope that some check at last may be found in the fact that the Colonial Church seems still to cherish the idea of some dependence on the Mother Church which still happily adheres to the true ecclesiastical framework. Did space permit we could give various amusing anecdotes. One we must not withhold as characteristic of the Bishop's physical energy. He was doomed to be much disappointed like other Bishops in those who offered themselves both as schoolmasters and clergy for the service of the Diocese. "Evangelical" candidates he always found, even the most amiable, to be "singularly self-sufficient;" some failures occurred on moral grounds, more through the peculiarities of the climate and the hardness of the work; at length an Oxford man called on him and offered his services. A long walk gave the Bishop the opportunity of thoroughly testing the motives and principle of the candidate. This walk ended in the threatening of a thunderstorm, which caused the Bishop, who was an excellent walker, to quicken his pace considerably. The young man kept up and was able to be so much ahead as to open his garden gate for the Bishop. The Bishop with a meaning smile acknowledged himself beaten, and added "I think you will do." It remains only to say, that Mr. Boodle has used the materials provided for him excellently. We strongly recommend his volume, and we are sure that no one can peruse it without deep interest. ANTHOS. A TINY bud unfolding its leaves to mortal eyes, Wondrous, oh, wondrous is this fair flower's birth, Blooming so softly, all the summer day, Fanned by the gentle breeze, lull'd by the night-bird's lay, Alas, that a thing so bright should fade from human view. Fading so silently, fading from sight, Falling, fair blossom, thy leaves so pale, so white, Bright may thy life be, bright as the flower's, Mayst thou behind thee leave sweet mem'ries of the past. C. M. |