RJbf0t, Pev. Thomas Atkinson shop . of North .- Carol ina# By Henry n- # %dy % l88l« ^ 2 2. j5 I 7 *>C Trinity College Historical Society Collection Trinity College Library Durham, N. C. •f.V Jn Jttemoriam. Rt; Rev. Thomas Atkinson, D.D., LL.D. BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/sermoncommemoratOOIayh SERMON COMMEMORATIVE OF THE LATE Thomas Atkinson, D.D., LL.D. Bishop of Norih Carolina DELIVERED IN CHRIST CHURCH, RALEIGH BEFORE THE Convention of North Carolina May 18, 1881 BY HENRY C. LAY Bishop of Easton NEW YORK JAMES POTT, PUBLISHER 12 Astor Place W \ ft \ „.% Some portions of this sermon were omitted, for lack of time, in the delivery. SCHOOL OS-RELfCFOV SERMON. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. — John xxi., 21, 22. HE risen Lord is conversing with the two most eminent of His apostles. He shad- ows forth what shall befall them in the latter days. " Follow me," He said to Peter, and suiting the action to the word, He took some steps along the shore. He predicts a life of persecution. He sig- nifies also what manner of death he should die. Bonds and the Mamertine prison await him, and he is to be crucified at Rome with his head down- ward. Thus dealeth the Merciful One with a devoted servant, whose heart He had just broken by the very excess of His forgiveness, and on whom He had just devolved the most sacred of all trusts, the feeding of His sheep and of His lambs. 4 In Memoriam. "And what shall this man do?" St. John, already a martyr in will, although un- bidden, has risen up to tread in symbol the via dolorosa behind his master and his comrade. Our Lord replies, for history interprets the dark saying, that for John there awaited not like bitter- ness of death. He was to tarry to a good old age until his Lord should come and give him release in the ordinary course of nature. But ''what is that to thee?" We must not question Him too curiously when to one disciple He appoints a life of sorrow and a death of shame, while another, just as ready for the baptism of suf- fering, is to abide in safety and to die in peace. My brethren, I would set in the forefront of this discourse, the expression of our devout gratitude to Almighty God for the tenderness of his life-long dealing with Thomas ATKINSON, late Bishop of North Carolina. Few lives have been so even and so prosperous, so laden with substantial blessing, so shielded from calamity. I am far from suggesting that he did not share to the full in the trials and the griefs common to all great-hearted Christian men. The flesh could not be subdued to the spirit without anguish of soul. Zeal for God's house could not but consume the heart in which it burned. Sympathies so habit- Bishop Atkinson. 5 ually cultivated could not fail to call forth, in this sad world, many a tear of generous grief. Grave responsibilities could not be borne through a long life, and often under critical circumstances, without heart-ache and anxiety, and many a wound to the sensibilities. But for all this, we may rightly say of this steward in the family of God, " The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, * ' * : * the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper." Consider him in his natural endowments and his personal gifts. How goodly a presence was his ! A manly form, a noble head, a countenance in which intellectual power, strength of will and sweet- ness of temper were harmoniously combined, and were the more lovely for the singular absence of self-consciousness. Strangers everywhere turned to look on him as on a man, beyond doubt, a chief- tain in his proper sphere. How suitable was his preparation for his ultimate work! To early familiarity with plantation life and country people were added the study and practice of the law, promoting that judicial mind which in after years gave him so much power in debate, and which in the House of Bishops caused him to be deferred to in any emergency specially demanding moderation and just judgment. 6 In Memoriam. During his earlier ministry, the very repression to which men of his ecclesiastical views were sub- jected in Virginia, served, as in the case of his dear friend Bishop Cobbs, to make him more cautious, more tolerant, more careful to observe the propor- tion of faith. But he never wavered in the two convictions which moulded his ministerial career, viz., that the apostolic authority has been perpetu- ated and is now vested in the Bishops, and that in the holy sacraments grace is exhibited and con- ferred, unless there is a bar. Success attended his priestly ministry in Norfolk and in Lynchburg. When he removed to Balti- more, Maryland at once recognized his ability, and gave him her confidence. Grace Church is a monu- ment of his success as a Presbyter of that diocese. He was prospered as Bishop of North Carolina. That diocese had just received in the defection of his predecessor a severe and mortifying blow. The friends of Bishop Atkinson anticipated for him no small difficulty in securing the confidence of people alarmed and agitated, and in preventing the re- bound toward denial of catholic truth, which so naturally follows the insidious intrusion of medi- eval errors under color of that honored name. I need not tell you that, under his firm and gentle guidance, confidence was restored, and your Bishop Atkinson. 7 diocese remained true to her principles as in the days of Ravenscroft. I would mention, moreover, some illustrations of this prosperity, of another sort. Bishop Atkin- son was never a man of large wealth. He had never more than a moderate salary ; but, through the blessing of God upon a domestic life void of ostentation or extravagance, and a household most prudently administered by one on whom he had need chiefly to devolve that care, he had always enough for reasonable wants ; enough for his fa- vorite books ; enough to help a poor man ; enough to aid a child or a friend in an emergency. Nay, during the years of civil war, when the usual in- come from the diocese failed him, it was as if the ravens brought him food. An old investment, for long years utterly worthless, became remunerative for the time, and supplied all his needs. In another point of view, the domestic life of our departed friend is remarkable. To Robert and Mary Tabb Atkinson, of Mans- field, Va., were born eleven children, of whom Thomas was the sixth in order. The first death in this large family was that of the eldest son, at the age of fifty. Another son died at the age of sixty; thus, of the Bishop's ten brothers and sis- ters, eight survive him, and three of these survivors 8 In Memoriam. are his seniors. Again, the Bishop's married life extended over a period of fifty-three years. In all this time there was never a death in his immediate family. Surely, brethren, those of you who are familiar with the sorrow of the " dead lamb" in the flock, and the " vacant chair" by the fireside, will recog- nize the tenderness of providential ordering, which thus exempted from bereavement one who had a singular appreciation of the family tie, and who especially enjoyed the affection and the compan- ionship of his kindred. I might multiply these illustrations: I might speak of the absence of all acrimony or defamation in the exciting controversies in which he was con- spicuous ; of the health usually adequate to his duties ; and, when it had seemed to fail, wonder- fully restored by travel ; of the comparatively easy descent into the grave at last — made the easier from the knowledge that the diocese was safe, dur- ing his disability, in the charge of an experienced colleague fully adequate to its administration. Brethren, you have the right to ask why I have dwelt at so much length upon these particulars. I answer that this review of the prosperous life of a man who had the courage and the will to drink any cup of pain, and yet was spared so much of Bishop Atkinson, 9 life's bitterness, teaches us a lesson concerning the love of God. It reminds us that where the conditions of the individual soul and the development of the divine purpose permit, God prefers to assign us the dis- cipline of prosperity, rather than of adversity. He doth not deal with us capriciously, but varies the expressions of His love to suit the needs of each soul, and to fit it for its place and its work in His spiritual kingdom. It is not every one, as Leigh- ton says, who can carry a full cup even. It was because the Lord loved St. Peter that He made him partner in His stripes and wounds and bitter cross ; it was because the Lord loved St. John, that He sustained him in life with the rap- turous visions of Patmos, and gave to him a peace- ful old age in which to preach still his favorite message, " Little children, love one another." But it is the same infinite, undying love, which sets each star in the celestial firmament where best it may illustrate the glory of His grace. In discharging the duty which your Bishop and other honored members of this diocese have laid upon me, I cannot easily avoid the strain of per- sonal reminiscence. Our ancestors were friends and neighbors, and were connected by marriage. My mother was IO In Memoriam. reared in the family and married at the home of his grandfather, and the family bond was drawn more closely in later years. My first visit to him was at his home at Lynch- burg, in the year 1843. Very pleasant is it to recall the intimacy of the three friends, Cobbs and Parks and Atkinson, and their discussions, in the pres- ence of a young candidate for orders, of a problem that at that time so agitated the diocese of Virginia — the ultimate tendency of the Oxford Tract Movement. In the year 1850 I found myself with Dr. Atkin- son in the House of Deputies, where he was con- spicuous as a leader, and we . have ever since been associated in one or the other house of the General Convention. When he was consecrated, I was his attending Presbyter : presently he preached the sermon at my own consecration, and afterwards I discharged the same duty in this pulpit, at the con- secration of his assistant and successor. In time of peace, and time of war, we have been associated in council and committee, acting to- gether in critical circumstances, and uniformly agreeing as to the great principles of ecclesiastical administration. Bishop Atkinson. FAMILY AFFECTION. In this connection it may be noted that Bishop Atkinson laid much stress upon the ties of kin- ship. No man was more free from the weakness of courting the great and the wealthy, or from the affectation of pretending to be the superior of his neighbors in birth or social position. But he held that family connection with worthy people of the past and the present is a privilege to be duly rec- ognized. A year before his death, in the little cathedral chapel at Easton, he expounded the salutations in the last chapter of Romans. He read the verses, " Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen ; " " sa- lute Herodion my kinsman ; " " Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen salute you." " See," he said, " how much stress the apostle lays upon the family tie ! And so everywhere. In the Gospels the relationship of apostles to each other is told us. In the Acts of the Apostles, James is our Lord's brother, John Mark is sister's son to Barnabus. I can but think it is a Christian duty to recognize and to value these bonds of kinship. When people boast that they do not care for their relations and connections more than for other peo- 12 In Memoriam. pie, it only proves that they have cold hearts and care little for any one but themselves." And surely he was right in this position. It does widen our hearts and broaden our sympathies thus to love our kindred. It is, beyond all doubt, a restraint upon the young to know that they bear a name which has never been dishonored, and that any misdeed of theirs will carry personal mortifi- cation into an extensive circle of relatives and connections. CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES AND CHRISTIAN CHARITIES. In an age of unhappy religious divisions, dis- crepancies of doctrine and of discipline do often seriously mar the intimacies of the family and the friendships of social life. As a churchman Bishop Atkinson occupied no uncertain position. He held that the constitution of the Church was divine, imposed upon her by her Lord, and not to be changed in the discretion of men. He maintained that its government was vested in the Bishops, and that the authority to rule the church of God has been duly transmitted from age to age in the line of an apostolic succession. He affirmed that the Church, in the long centu- ries of her triumphs and her martyrdoms was one Bishop Atkinson. 13 body, known everywhere as the one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, with no lines of difference or demarcation save those of nationality. In the denominational arrangement Avhich recognizes no other bond than a common acceptance of evangeli- cal truth, he could not recognize the original, or- ganic unity of the one Bride, the undefined. He held and maintained very pertinaciously that the na- tional Church of England, as a historic church, as a corporation which has never forfeited the charter of the Lord, bears the symbols of authority, and is entitled to the spiritual allegiance of the nation where she resides. He claimed for the daughter Church of America like authority over the nation- ality which sprang from the loins of England. Holding these views, he could not and he did not unite in official ministrations with the clergy, how- ever beloved and respected, of other religious bodies. Is it possible, we are often asked, that a wise and good man can adhere to these convictions, when they require him to lock up his sympathies, to shut his eyes to the noble zeal and heroic deeds of Prot- estant Christendom, to deny in the teeth of incon- trovertible facts the blessing and power of God the Holy Ghost, upon so-called irregular, ministrations? — when they force him on, so to speak, technical grounds, to deny his brotherhood with the meek 14 In Memoriam. and loving ones over whom his Lord pronounced the beatitudes ? If results like these did indeed follow practically and logically from the maintenance of what are known as catholic principles, it would be an argu- ment against their truth. As a matter of fact, Bishop Atkinson, with all his uncompromising adherence to his ideal of the Catholic Church, the Church as it was in faith, in doctrine, in ecclesiastical order, before the division of the East and West, did cultivate the largest Christian sympathies. In every one who loved his Lord and exhibited the image of His holy character, he recognized a brother. So far from disparaging religious excellence, he recognized it, and rejoiced in it wherever it was found. In those systems and organizations with which he could not personally co-operate, he was the last to deny the merit of their administrative methods, the activity of their zeal, or the beneficial results of their ministrations. Himself unwavering in his convictions, he did not pronounce those who differed from him wrong- headed or bad-hearted. The proof of all this is found in his affectionate relations with many not of our communion, in the absence of all bitterness in his teachings, in the respect and kindness enter- tained for him by persons of all denominations in Bishop Atkinson. i5 his diocese. And was he illogical in this? Did the instincts of the heart prevail over the mistaken convictions of a partisan judgment ? Remembering how remarkable he was for his love of the truth, for subordinating everything to the truth, for fol- lowing out the truth to all its consequences, we might well hesitate to believe that he indulged sym- pathies which could not be reconciled with his intel- lectual convictions. Long years ago he called my attention to a sermon of William Archer Butler's on the compatibility of catholic principles with Chris- tian charity. He indorsed it, as fully expressing his own mind, and dwelt upon the pleasure and satisfaction which he experienced in finding his own convictions directly formulated and forcibly argued. It is not illogical to hold that division is in itself a sin and a disgrace, while we believe that with the many, it is a misfortune rather than a fault. The many are guiltless of any purpose to disregard the ecclesiastical economy derived from our dear Lord, or to disturb that unity for which He prayed. They are following the examples of their fathers and mothers, and seeking to work out their salva- tion amid the surroundings into which they were born. It is not illogical to hold that Almighty God has i6 In Mentor iam. certain channels for the transmission of His spirit- ual graces, and that our personal safety and a just regard to the highest interests of humanity require that we should stand in the old paths, that we should contend earnestly for the faith once deliv- ered and for the order once universally prevalent, and that by divine warrant : it is not illogical, I claim, holding these principles, to believe with Archer Butler, that God binds us but not himself by these prescriptions, that there is a merciful accommodation to altered circumstances, however they may have originated in a fault, so that grace is not frustrated by reason of our innovations and irregularities. If an artery be obliterated, whether by misfortune or by fault, it doth not follow that circulation must cease in the unhappy member. The physical anastomosis has its analogue in the realm of spirit. We cannot agree that separation from the one catholic body of Christ, which is in itself an evil, and is to the individual a grievous loss, does either in logic or in fact make void the gracious purpose of our Father in Christ Jesus. God forbid that in our zeal for order and authority, we should deny that God's word is efficacious as spoken by earnest men of other orders or of no orders at all ! God forbid that we should deny that grace is conferred to godly people in sacra- Bishop Atkinson. 17 ments ministered otherwise than as we would dare to minister them ! God forbid that the most faith- ful bishop or priest should be unwilling to accept the lesson of humility and benevolence from any saintly man, howbeit in his view church organization is matter of mere expediency or pre- ference ! One of Bishop Atkinson's firmest convictions, founded, as he thought, on the general consent of the primitive church, was that every baptism, by whomsoever administered, where the matter and the form are used, is a valid baptism, and that the person so baptized becomes thereby a member of the catholic body of Christ. He told me that in St. Peter's church, Balti- more, when a child was presented for baptism, there was a hesitancy in replying to the prelimin- ary questions. On inquiry, it appeared, that at its birth the child's life seemed to be in danger, and that the physician, of his own motion, hastily applied the water and pronounced the formula. Bishop Atkinson affirmed this baptism sufficient, and refused to repeat it. Catholic principles may consist with Christian charity. I know of no life which more than our departed father's was a proof and illustration of this proposition. 2 i8 In Memoriam, His parents were Church of England people: they lived and died in our communion. But in their day the Church was at its lowest point of coldness and indifference. There were some able and earnest men of the Presbyterian church, especially Dr. John H. Rice and Dr. Ben- jamin Rice, who labored with much success in Southern Virginia in awakening men to religious earnestness. The Atkinsons, while they adhered to the Parish Church, and there frequented the Holy Communion three times a year, came under the influence of these ministers, and were largely guided by them in their spiritual life. Bishop Atkinson was baptized in the Episcopal church : some of the children later born, received baptism at the hands of Presbyterian ministers, and thus the family became divided. The bishop and two of his brothers remained in the church of their fathers : while three of the brothers, of whom two survive, took Presbyterian orders, and have been beloved and efficient ministers in that communion. The sisters are divided, in like manner, in their ecclesiastical relations. I have heretofore intimated that love of kindred was a passion with Bishop Atkinson. It could not but be a pain and grief to ail the members of the family, that in anything which affected their relig- Bishop Atkinson. 19 ious life, there should be difference of opinion. But no shadow ever came, by reason of such differ- ence, over the peace and happiness of their homes. I doubt whether in all the land could be found a large family of brothers and sisters so devoted to each other, so delighting in each other's company, so sympathizing in each other's joys and sorrows, so ready to seek fraternal advice, so free to utter all their minds on all subjects at each other's fire- side, kindly and courteously but without reserve. My Brethren, let us not be frightened because the world deems any definiteness of belief to imply uncharitableness. Charity is not indifferentism. Charity, while it makes the largest toleration for individual infirmities, dares not be liberal in dealing with truth and duty. But I may best conclude this part of the subject in the Bishop's own words. Said he, in a published sermon, " Be assured, in order to be right, in order to be safe, it is not enough to be sincere ; it is necessary to hold the truth sincerely. There is such a thing as truth, whatever skeptics, whatever sensualists may say to the contrary. " It has an existence independent of all that men think concerning it. If we shut our eyes to the sun, we do not extinguish it thereby — it still shines on ; so, if we remain ignorant of the truth or re- 20 In Memoriam. ject it, it still subsists — nay, if the whole world agrees to deny it, it still subsists. It is indeed im- mortal. Religious truth is the transcript of the eternal ideas in the mind of God. Error is of the earth, earthy. Error is perishable. . . . Well then, may the wise man say, Buy the truth and sell it not. Buy it at any price ; sell it at no price. Buy it with toil, with obloquy, with suffering, with danger ; sell it not for money, nor fame, nor safe- ty, nor popularity, nor life."* THE EPISCOPATE, ITS POWERS AND DUTIES. I pass on to consider our departed father, as a bishop in the church of God, and of the influence he exerted as priest and bishop, in vindicating the just prerogatives of the episcopal office. The American Church, after emerging from her colonial dependence, entered upon her career under many disadvantages. For all practical uses, there had been in the col- onies, no ecclesiastical discipline or subordination. The canonical oversight of the Bishop of London was almost a fiction. The church was nondescript * Tracts for Miss. Use, No. I, " What is Truth," p. 16. Bishop Atkinson. and acephalous. An Episcopal Church without a bishop is the very worst form of Congregationalism. No wonder that the clergy, hitherto free from any rule or oversight, should regard with jealousy and alarm the elevation of one of their number to a superior position. The question of the ordinal, " Will you reverent- ly obey your Bishop? " was distasteful to republi- can ears ; it was easy to invent a casuistry, still much in favor, whereby the solemn pledge should be emptied of all its significance. Some would make it to mean, not that the first impulse shall be to follow with a glad mind and will the Bishop's godly admonitions, and to submit one's self to his godly judgment, as a dutiful child respects the ad- vice and judgment of his father ; but this instead: I will reluctantly obey the Bishop when disobedi- ence threatens to entail ecclesiastical censure or deprivation. Thus there grew up the theory that the Bishop has no rights of fatherhood inherent in his high commission, but is the mere creature of the canon. He is primus inter pares, appointed to discharge certain ministerial functions. He has indeed the care of all the churches, but with the exception of some definite official acts, must be the curate, not the chief pastor, in any particular church where he officiates. In the fear of episco- 22 In Menioriam. pal despotism, the office was in danger of being robbed of all its efficiency. The contest over the just rights and dignity of the episcopate had to be fought, and in the provi- dence of God, William Rollinson Whittingham was called to be the champion for this principle. I may say the martyr for it. He had thrown himself into his office with wondrous zeal and energy. For a time the growth and new inspiration of the diocese attested the might which is inherent in a vigorous government sustained by spiritual earnestness. And then there grew up a resistance to the exercise of what he deemed the absolutely essential privileges of his office, so persistent and obstructive that it robbed his work of its sweetness, and entailed upon him a life-long sorrow. This controversy was the burning question at the General Convention of 1850, and at that Con- vention and in the preceding Diocesan Convention of Maryland, it fell to the lot of Dr. Atkinson, then rector of St. Peter's, to vindicate the true ideal of the office of a bishop. If these two fathers had no other claim upon the Church's gratitude, they would deserve to be ever held in honor, for averting so great a calamity as that of the degradation of the episcopate. Bishop Atkinson, 23 In this Maryland controversy of 1850, it was maintained* that the bishop had no right to ad- minister the Holy Communion at his visitation ; and, indeed, that " a proper respect for the just in- fluence of his office as a presbyter of this church " actually forbade the rector to " vacate the trust of such administration." It was held that while the law forbade the celebration by the bishop, it was silent in respect to the use of the pulpit and desk ; these the bishop might occupy at his visitation, but only by the courtesy of the incumbent. Maryland will not soon forget the magnificent debate which ensued, both sides being represented by men of extraordinary ability. Dr. Atkinson was the author of the report, and moved the resolu- tions sustaining the bishop, which were adopted by an overwhelming majority. I consider this report one of the most important utterances ever given to the American Church. The argument is thus concisely expressed : "Your Committee is of opinion that the true solution of these questions does not rest on any mere verbal criticisms of Canons and Rubrics, although entirely consistent with the results of such criticism, when rightly employed. Their true solution rests on principles much deeper and more vital ; *Vide the correspondence in Appendix to the Maryland Journal of Convention of that year. 24 In Memoriam. " principles which lie at the foundation of the Church itself. In reasoning with churchmen it is lawful, it is indeed only re- spectful to them, to take as axioms those truths which the Church clearly maintains, however they may be doubted or denied by those out of her pale. Among such truths are the following : " i st. That Bishops are successors to the apostles in the ordinary powers of their office, though not in the extraordi- nary qualifications and endowments of those first ministers of Christ. " 2d. That as such the apostolic commission embraces them, and that they too are enjoined and authorized to go into all the world, and teach or disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. "3d. That consequently, Bishops, as such, have the right to preach, and to administer the Sacraments, as well as rule in the Church. "4th. That these Episcopal rights are to be exercised in their dioceses, these being their appointed fields of labor. "5th. That, consequently, every Bishop has a right to preach and administer the Sacraments in his diocese, inde- pendently of any parochial cure which may be intrusted to him ; and in every part of his diocese ; for if there be any part of his diocese in which he cannot exercise episcopal rights, then in that part he is not Bishop. " On these principles the Committee found their clear con- viction of the general right and authority of a Bishop to preach, or to administer the Sacraments, and to rule in his whole diocese and in every part of it. It would seem a neces- sary conclusion that if there be a church in a diocese in which the Bishop can never preach or administer the Sacraments Bishop Atkinson. 25 and the like, without being in each particular instance pre- viously authorized by another, that he really has not episcopal power in that church. It may be asked, is there no limitation to these principles ? Can a Bishop ^at any time, in any part of his diocese, perform any ministerial act he pleases ? The Committee will not keep back their belief that in the begin- ning- it was even so — that in the earliest days of the Church Presbyters did not preach when Bishops were present, and that, as we are taught by the learned Bingham, it was a not- able event when St. Augustine, while still a Presbyter, was permitted to preach in the presence of the Bishop, The in- stitution of the parochial system has, however, produced a mighty revolution in the relations of Bishops and Presbyters. Presbyters are now made responsible for the spiritual state of the souls in their parishes, and their power must bear some relation to their responsibility. The Committee consequently conceive that the mere presence of a Bishop does not, by the existing established system of the Church, take away the right and duty of a Presbyter to teach in his own person, and ad- minister the Sacraments by his own hands to the people of his charge. And yet the Bishop on the principles first laid down, must also have the right to teach and administer the Sacra- ments in every part of his diocese. These apparently con- flicting rights are, as the Committee believe, perfectly recon- ciled in the admirable system of the Church by confining the Bishop in the exercise of his, to those comparatively rare oc- casions, on which he goes officially, in his very episcopal character, in visitation of a parish. If he have it not then, he never has it, and one of two conclusions must follow ; either that the Bishop, as such, is not authorized to preach and ad- minister the Sacraments, or that being thus authorized by his very office, this authority is afterwards taken from him by 26 In Memoriam. the Rubrics and Canons which regulate that office. Are we to believe the Church has so stultified herself ? And that having- in the Consecration Office given these powers in obedience to Scripture, the moment the consecration is com- plete, she takes them away by the Rubrics and Canons which she has enacted, and which the Bishop is bound to observe? " To these principles the Bishop, when presently called to preside over a diocese, conformed his own action. He ruled his people prudently, with all his power. Not angrily, harshly, capriciously, or in the way of meddlesome interference with the just freedom and discretion of the clergy and laity ; not with episcopal pretension ; no man was more free from the vanity and arrogance of official self-asser- tion. He might well have taken as the motto of his episcopate the aphorism of Lord Bacon, ''As- sert the right of thy place, but voice it not with useless challenges." But rule he did, firmly, gent- ly, manfully. In things indifferent or doubtful or where the law was silent, he required that the god- ly judgment of the chief pastor should prevail over the discordant opinions of the many pastors. I said he ruled manfully. He respected the man- hood of his clergy as well as his own. He ruled with a dignity, a sympathy, a reasonableness, a high courtesy, which forbade any sense of humil- iation in submitting to authority. Bishop Atkinson. 27 He had once occasion to set out in order his ideal of a faithful episcopate. He said : " The Church which received the truth from Christ, which can itself neither make it nor reveal it, has yet the high mis- sion of guarding it and teaching it. She has systematized the teachings of Scripture, incorporated those which are essential to salvation into her Creeds, and wrought these and other truths into the very texture of her Liturgy and offices. Now it is a part of a Bishop's duty to guard this precious deposit. * ~¥ * ^ -¥r H< =fc " In the midst of mutable opinions, open to change at every hour, whether the change be ordained by the Pope at Rome, or the Pope in the individual's own bosom, God has seen fit, in his mysterious sovereignty, to entrust this Church with a stable and definite Creed, the very truth as taught by Christ and His Apostles, as received and transmitted by that body which he has promised never, never, never to forsake ! This truth it is a Bishop's office to guard, and his duty to diffuse. " Again, it belongs to the office of a bishop not only to guard the doctrine of the Church, but to labor directly for the souls of men. Bishops are rulers in the Church of God, but they are likewise Pastors, whose business it is to feed the flock. There is danger that in our own minds, as well as in the opinion of the multitude, the former relation may over- shadow and even thrust out the latter. The Bishops of the primitive Church were pre-eminently Pastors, only second- arily rulers. In the mediaeval period, when dioceses were inordinately enlarged, and became the objects of secular am- bition, the office of ruler absorbed every other appertaining 28 In Memoriam. to the order. Men held more than one diocese, and even dioceses in more than one country, and even children were made Bishops, as children might succeed to a lordship. This abuse tended to bring- about, and in some degree to justify the introduction of the Presbyterian system, and so obstinate are old traditions and old habits of thought, that we have scarcely yet learned to feel how direct ought to be the rela- tion between a Bishop and his flock, how immediately he ought to feed them, and not merely by the hands of others, how individual should be his acquaintance with them, how he ought to know his own sheep by name. A Bishop ought to be a preacher to his diocese, whose voice is familiar in every part of it ; of all preachers, he ought to be the most earnest, the most self-renouncing, the most studious to win souls. " But if we value souls, we must use all suitable means to win them, and one surely of the most efficacious of these is, by simple, earnest, loving, thoughtful, instructive preaching. And what an opportunity of doing good in this way is put into the hands of a Bishop ! Wherever he goes, multitudes of people flock to hear him. He may be a gifted preacher or he may not, but at any rate he is their Bishop, their chief Pastor. He speaks with authority. Every word rightly spoken by him tells. The people look to him with confidence for their food. How necessary, then, that he should be prepared to distribute this food, the sincere milk of the word, the bread of life. Not fossil skeletons of old sermons which he has dug up out of his closet, from which all life has departed, if ever they had life ; not the hard stones of controversy with which to pelt op- posers ; not the chaff of mere declamation ; not the vapid flowers of a gaudy rhetoric, but the bread of life, carefully Bishop Atkinson. 29 searched, arid as far as may be, winnowed from error ; divine truth taught positively, taught with authority, with reference to the wants and dangers of his immediate hearers, their pe- culiar duties and temptations. * H" * * „ * * ' * " And at the same time that the Bishop is a shepherd over the flock, he is to be the ruler and the overseer of the other shepherds. These he is to cheer, and strengthen, and encour- age, and at the same time direct, and if need be restrain. A Bishop ought to have, to be fully fitted for his work, a sym- pathizing nature, to be able to weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice. His brethren of the clergy should recognize in him their truest friend, and apply to him spontaneously for counsel and for consolation. And yet, with the gentleness of a father, there should be the authority and firmness of a ruler ; and these latter qualities are the more necessary in our day, because so plainly the tendency among us is to break down all authority. A Bishop, with his entire church, may have to oppose himself to a powerful and threat- ening world. He may have to stand up with his clergy against the laity. He may have, hardest trial of all, to stand up against his clergy, for he must stand up supremely for His Master, whose steward he is. How difficult in this office to be faithful ! Need we wonder that the ancient Bishops are said sometimes to have fled from those who sought to conse- crate them ? "* I cannot doubt that my brethren of North Caro- lina will recognize in these words a faithful picture Sermon at a consecration in Richmond, 1859. 30 In Memoriam. of the spirit and of the methods which character- ized the Episcopate of him who so long presided over them. THE OXFORD MOVEMENT. Having thus considered Bishop Atkinson's share in resisting any attempt to detract from the cath- olic features of the Church, we may well proceed to notice his position in connection with a drift of thought in an opposite direction. The Oxford Tract movement has in the last half century exerted in the Church a wonderful influence for good, not unmixed however with grave evils. From the very first, our Bishop recognized the value of this movement, and sympathized in the purposes avowed. So far as it taught men to reverence the Primitive Church, and to accept the " quod semper, ubique et ab omnibus " as the authori- tative corrective of a vagrant private judgment, he deemed it a much needed revival. So far as it affirmed the grace of Holy Baptism : so far as it affirmed the precious mystery of the Eucharist, that Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, hath given His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Holy Sacrament : so far as these leaders incited men to lead a life of devotion, Bishop Atkinson. 3i habitually praying in the house of God, and fre- quenting His Holy Supper ; so far as they per- suaded them to resort without diffidence to their Pastors for advice and guidance in their trials ; just so far and no further did Bishop Atkinson favor the new teaching. But he was Anglican to the back-bone. He was thoroughly convinced that the Anglican Refor- mation was necessary and lawful, and was wisely conducted, so that no catholic truth whatever is denied or obscured in our formularies. He had no sympathy with the formulas, old or new, whereby men sought to explain the inexpli- cable, and to define the mode of the Real Presence. He had little patience with that extravagance of private judgment, which has led individuals and parties to pronounce doctrines and ceremonies to be catholic, whereof the Church, whose commis- sion they bore, had given them no authority to speak. Auricular confession he regarded as the crucial question. In his charge to the diocese, and in his reply to Archbishop Gibbons (a reply marked by chivalrous courtesy to his critic, no less than by force of argument), he declared himself invincibly hostile to any theory of confession and absolution which would offer as necessary food, remedies only profitable for the most serious maladies of the spirit. 32 In Memoriam. Especially was he offended at any importation of the Liguorian casuistry into this Church. No human power could have wrung from him that which was confided to him in priestly confidence. But to deny all knowledge of a matter, saying to himself, I know it, not " ut homo" but " ut Dens," he would have scorned, as he would have scorned any other lie, or any other suggestion that the God of Truth is to be served with lies. Not that he specially affected the name " Protes- tant." With one of his clear convictions, the mere protest against error was no adequate denomina- tion. He denied the false, but he also affirmed the true. The word " CATHOLIC " issued from his lips with no faltering or uncertain sound. In his sermon commemorative of the late Bishop of Maryland, Bishop Atkinson used this language: " It is not pretended that lie liked ritualistic ceremo- nial : his mind was, as some suppose, not sufficiently (Esthetic, or as I should say, too masculine for that." I ventured to tell him, at the time, that I differed from him, both as to the fact, and the explanation. Certainly Bishop Whittingham was no ritualist, in the party sense, but he had aesthetic taste, and he was musician enough to read with pleasure the score of the " Messiah." Bishop Atkinson was neither musical, nor sesthe- Bishop Atkinson. 33 tic. In his lofty intellectuality he deemed the truth in her own simple attire, without any extra- neous adornment, beautiful enough to win the homage of all minds and hearts, provided only that she were reverently approached. But I cannot think that the masculine mind necessarily revolts from the aesthetic in religion. Surely the sweet singer of Israel was no effeminate, and yet we cannot repeat his psalms without feel- ing that he delighted in the magnificent procession, the swelling chorus of many instruments and voices, the vesture of wrought gold, in which loving hand- maids delight to array the King's daughter. I freely grant that we have need to guard against ceremonies misleading or meaningless : against the unauthorized, the extravagant, the puerile. But if this Church of ours is to do her utmost work in the land, she must be inventive of expedients to win attention and to elicit the affections. Her apples of gold must be set in pictures of silver. Glory and beauty must characterize the adornments of the sanctuary and the sacred services therein. THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF 1865. I have been admonished that any memorial of Bishop Atkinson would be imperfect which should fail to make mention of the coming together which 3 34 In Memoriam. he chiefly promoted, of the dioceses, temporarily separated by civil war. I may not here rehearse the story in order: the time forbids; but some of its incidents may well be revived. The war ended, the South lay prostrate and dis- organized, and communication, even by letter, was dilatory and uncertain. But it happened that the Bishops of North Carolina and of Arkansas had an opportunity of personal conference. It needed but a moment or two to discover that we were alike convinced, that after the fall of the confede- rate nationality, there no longer existed any raison d'etre for a confederate church, and that no time should be lost in seeking a resumption of our organic relations. Thus Bishop Atkinson set forth to the General Convention, while I was glad to follow him, haud passibus cequis. We were presently in very delicate and embar- rassing circumstances. We knew well that we ex- posed ourselves to the suspicion of courting the winning side, and of leaving in the lurch brethren in misfortune, especially in Alabama, where the churches were closed by military edict. We came into a community exultant with vic- tory and enthusiastic in loyalty, disposed to take for granted that to return was to ask forgiveness. Bishop Atkinson. 35 To the tact, the gentleness, the manly outspoken- ness of Bishop Atkinson the Church is indebted for the honorable result of this venture. To Bishops Potter and Whittingham, who, with friend- ly violence brought us back to our seats in the House of Bishops, standing guard over us to shield us from any possible annoyance ; to Dr. Kerfoot, now the Bishop of Pittsburgh, and then a deputy from Pennsylvania, who resisted any action dis- courteous to the few delegates from the South ; to John and William Welsh, who laded us with hos- pitable kindness, we came under lasting obligations. It soon appeared that the Convention cheerfully acquiesced in all that we desired in behalf of our absent brethren. But what of the expected peccavi? This issue could not be avoided. Presently Bishop Burgess of Maine, then in very failing health, offered a res- olution appointing an early day to be observed as a Thanksgiving for the results of the war. Among these results as specified in the preamble, were " the universal establislnnent of the authority of the national Govemmeiit" and also " the extension among all classes and conditions of men of the blessings of freedom, education, culture and social improvement." At the hours appointed for this discussion the Southern Bishops were not present. During a re- 36 In Memoriam. cess, Bishop Burgess came to my desk and com- plained affectionately yet earnestly, of the marked reflection upon the Bishops, despite the evidence given of their fraternal consideration, in thus de- clining to attend the debate. I replied, that but a few moments before, Bishop Atkinson had said to me, that the brotherly kind- ness of the Bishops had been such as we could de- light to remember to our dying day. Some of them (Bishop Burgess knew that the allusion was to himself) we shall never see again. They are now discussing a resolution in which we cannot agree, and will utter sentiments which cannot but pain us. It is best that we should not hear all the words spoken. Bishop Burgess was moved by these kind words. Presently he asked, " What is there in this resolu- tion that can possibly grieve you ? " I pointed to the words " extension of freedom." I trust in God, I said, that freedom may bring to the colored race all the blessings you anticipate ; but wiser men than I, and Northern men at that, honestly doubt whether freedom will prove to them a blessing or a curse. Why should this House commit itself in a matter wherein it has no authority? He considered a moment, dropped down into a seat and taking a pen, erased from his resolution Bishop Atkinson. 37 the words objected to. Subsequently he asked leave to amend it by inserting the clause, "and grate- fully acknozvledging the special, loving kindness of the Lord to this Church in the re-establisJiment of its unity througJwut the land, as represented in this National Council." Upon the sixth day, Bishop Whitting*ham offered a substitute, and on the motion of Bishop Clarke the whole matter was referred to a committee con- sisting of the five senior Bishops. After two days, this committee reported a preamble and resolutions. In these we could not possibly concur. All eyes were upon Bishop Atkinson as he an- swered the appeal made to him. He knew that he had that to say which must needs be most dis- tasteful to men full of exultation at the Southern downfall. With no diffidence and with no temper, rather with the frankness of a child uttering his thought, he opened all his mind. " We are asked," said he, " to unite with you in re- turning thanks for the restoration of peace and unity. The former we can say, the latter we cannot say. " W r e are thankful for the restoration of peace. War is a great evil. It is clear to my mind that in the counsels of the All-wise, the issue of this con- test was pre-determined. I am thankful that the appointed end has come, and that war is exchanged 38 In Mentor iam. for peace. But we are not thankful for the unity described in the resolution, ' re-establishing the au- thority of the National Government over all the land' We acquiesce in that result. We will ac- commodate ourselves to it, and will do our duty as citizens of the common Government. But we can- not say that we are thankful. We labored and prayed for a very different termination, and, if it had seemed good to our Heavenly Father, would have been very thankful for the war to result other- wise than it has resulted. I am willing to say that I am thankful for the restoration of PEACE TO THE COUNTRY AND UNITY TO THE CHURCH." These words, which I feel very sure are substan- tially accurate, well illustrate how he labored for peace, and yet without any unmanly concession whatsoever. His language, " in consideration of the return of peace to the country and unity to the Church," was incorporated in a substitute offered by Bishop Stevens, and adopted by a vote of sixteen to seven, the Southern bishops being excused from voting. Those of us who were actors in these proceedings were ever after at a loss suitably to express our ad- miration of the consideration for the scruples of the few unfortunates, displayed by the majority of the Bishops. Bishop Atkinson. 39 It deserves to be noted that so soon as we had resumed our seats in the Ho.use of Bishops, Gen- eral Lee wrote to us a letter of earnest approval and sympathy. I would not claim for Bishop Atkinson more than is his due. Doubtless the good sense and the good feeling of the Church would have secured the same result after a few years. But by his promp- titude, by the frankness with which he met the immediate issues, by his calm determination to allow no censure to be cast upon those with whom he had been associated, he secured a speedy adjust- ment of all possible differences, and promoted no little the spirit of toleration and kindness. A few years have escaped. The House of Bishops has in its ranks five or six ex-confederate officers. One of them is a Foreign Missionary Bishop, another presides over the diocese of Michigan. SYMPATHY WITH THE COLORED RACE. Among the subjects which soon after these events came to be pressed upon the attention of the Church, was the necessity of adequate provision for the social and religious needs of the emanci- pated race. The Bishop had no need to learn the lesson of 4Q In Memoriam. responsibility and of sympathy for colored people. He had always been considerate of them, always anxious to secure for them, while in servitude, adequate protection against abuse of authority, and to promote the patriarchal relation of master and servant, which when duly observed, made the tie of ownership and dependence very graceful. Bishop Atkinson, with his usual decision, urged the necessity of active measures on the part of the Church, for the care of the colored people, and threw his influence earnestly into the establishment of the Freedmen's Commission. This Commission was not heartily accepted by Southern Churchmen. To me it was a grief of mind that I could not, at its inception, give it an active support. Secular education as the chief end, not as a means to religious culture, or a corollary to it, was the avowed purpose of the Commission. It proposed to establish schools responsible to the central board, and not under the direction of Bishops and Rectors. I was alarmed at so serious an innovation on just principles of spiritual subordination, and found myself painfully out of accord with Bishop Atkinson. Doubtless he was more far-seeing than others of us. In a little while the objectionable features Bishop Atkinson. 41 were removed, and the Commission planted itself upon a churchly basis, which leaves nothing to be desired. The Bishop's hearty acceptance of the scheme led to the establishment in his diocese of the Nor- mal School, which he greatly valued and faithfully watched over. The colored congregation in Wil- mington was especially dear to him. He put forth every effort to promote the good-will of the two races, and to extend the Church's blessings to both alike. One cannot but contemplate with awe the prob- lem to be solved in Southern dioceses, and the larger problem in all the land, touching the practi- cal catholicity of the Cfcurch. How shall a Church, where members are chiefly English-speaking and are of the white race, provide for the needs of people of foreign speech, or of another race? A delegation of German ministers came once into our House of Bishops with a piteous appeal to save men of their nationality, dwelling in our midst, from the anarchy and the heterodoxy into which they were drifting. The response, kind and sym- pathizing to be sure, was the disheartening " 11011 possumus." For this National Church of ours has no exche- quer : nothing is laid at the feet of the Apostles. 42 In Memoriam, The alms of the faithful are all marked special. The Legislature and the Executive of the, Church are reluctant to devise any general policy for the common good, when they are powerless, for lack of means to put it in operation. The first instinct of the judgment is to provide for these specific classes teachers of their own race or language, and services suited to their immediate circumstances. Something has been done on this basis, for Indians and Negroes, for Germans, French- men, Italians, Norwegians: for Jews as well as Gentiles. But the work is scarcely begun. As the most practical scheme for methodizing such work, without surrendering the territorial ju- risdiction of Bishops, Bishop Atkinson urged again and again, with unwonted earnestness and without any success whatever, the consecration of suffra- gan Bishops. The mind of the Church is so im- movable on this subject, that this device is not to be thought of. Each Bishop must, according to the wisdom given to him, devise such expedients as may best reach specific needs. But, as for the black race, who knows not that, on any large scale, it is simply beyond the reach of our financial ability to provide in the most of our neighborhoods separate ministers and churches for the white man and the black? Bishop Atkinson. 43 Why should we not worship together and kneel at the same altar ? We were wont often so to do in the olden days. I have seen in St. Philip's, Charleston, colored people occupying the range of seats all along the wall, on the same floor with the whites, while an old negress, crippled with rheumatism, crept up the main aisle to a seat pro- vided for her in front of the desk. On the Polk estate, in Tennessee, one used to see the masters occupying the front seats at morning prayer, with the servants in the rear ; while at the evening prayer, the positions were reversed, and the in- struction was specially adapted to the humbler members of the flock. In making a visitation of Louisiana in Bishop Polk's behalf, I have confirmed the well-born, re- fined young lady and her maid, whom she had instructed, by her side. The chivalrous, high-toned, Christian gentry of the South used to see in such associations no surrender of their dignity. If the Church is to discharge aright her high mission to all sorts and conditions of men, I am persuaded we must at last regard the colored peo- ple as parishioners, and give them adequate accom- modation in the church. In this effort we must consider the reluctance of some of our parishioners, and their fear of dis- 44 In Memoriam. turbing the usual order of society. These scruples and anxieties are to be prudently dealt with, not violently forced. But there is a graver difficulty to be encountered in the unseemly self-assertion of some colored peo- ple, and in the persistent demand of theorists (themselves never coming in contact with the ne- gro), that all the lines of color shall be obliterated, and that the two races shall commingle, in all respects, as if they were one race. I was present once at church, when this demand was made of our Bishop — than whom the colored man had no truer friend. Some murmured at the provision he had directed to be made for them, claiming the right to select their seats at pleasure, side by side with the whites. The Bishop rebuked the demand as presumptuous and disorderly. I cannot think that this enforced familiarity is reconcilable with the just self-respect of either race. It seems most natural that white people, attending a church of the colored race, should ac- cept the accommodation provided for them. And surely the Christian, taught of his Master to prefer the lowest room, should not thrust himself into a contiguity deemed too familiar by his neighbor. Providence, not man, has plainly marked the difference of type in the African and the Cauca- Bishop Atkinson. 4 5 sian. To obliterate the color line is, in the end, to promote intermarriage, to the great injury of white and black alike. I believe that the confu- sion of the races is a thing impossible. But oh ! that the day may come when we shall dwell side by side, exchanging all human kindnesses, while yet respecting the lines of demarcation, which God, not man, has drawn. Oh for the day when white and black shall worship in the same churches without confusion, without rivalry or offense, the rich and the poor together, and the Lord the Maker of them all. CONCLUSION. In thus presenting some particulars of the life- work of our revered Father in God, I trust that he is more truly delineated than by any mere enu- meration of his mental and moral characteristics. There was a remarkable compensation, so to speak, in these; one virtue supplementing and restraining another, and all combined with rare adjustment into a harmonious whole. He was intensely intellectual, but, at the same time, so replete with sensibility, and with all the generous emotions, whether of mercy or of wrath, that he was in no wise coldly intellectual. 4 6 In Memoriam. He had an ample share of self-will and of self- reliance ; great confidence in the determination of his own judgment; great firmness in acting out his own convictions ; but his fairness and candor, his intense reasonableness, forbade self-will to degenerate into obstinacy, while his modesty and unselfishness caused the self-reliance to avoid vanity or arrogance. He was eminent for the dignity of his bearing, yet benign and affable, condescending to men of low estate, yet with no consciousness of condescen- sion. He was prudent and cautious in his speech, reti- cent when it behooved him to be reticent, and when he did speak, so transparent and downright, that all might know what was in his mind. He was a theologian, and yet not a mere theolo- gian. On principle and of a purpose he cultivated general literature, lest he should fall into theologi- cal narrowness, and informed himself and interested himself in all that might keep him in sympathy with his kind. He was most precise in his memory of persons, names, dates and facts, yet never prolix, tedious or disposed to emphasize trifles. He was intensely ecclesiastical, while yet in his private religious life and in his daily teachings he Bishop Atkinson. 47 dwelt upon those simple truths of the old, old story of the Incarnation and the Sacrifice of the Son of God, on which all our hopes repose. He knew how to relax from labor ; he appreciated the hu- morous, while relaxation never became indolence, and playfulness never passed into frivolity. But was he, one may ask, absolutely perfect ? Certainly, he himself would have been the last to affect exemption from the common frailty. Whatever may have been his share of mortal weakness, even if I had the sagacity to discern it, I dare not dissect, in search of flaw, a soul so just and guileless. Of one thing I am well assured, that those who loved him best and knew him in his utmost unreserve, find no note in the tablets of memory whereon this honored name is written, which may not be perused without exciting a se- rious regret or causing a blush of shame. The Bishop's life was one of patient industry and uniform labor, with but occasional interruption, until he had passed a little way beyond the Psalm- ist's bound of three-score years and ten, and then it appeared (I am told such is the most probable explanation of his gradual decay) the heart, as young as ever in its warm affections, first felt the debility of age. The keepers of the house were no more tremulous than before, neither had the 4 8 In Memoriam. strong men bowed themselves, nor those that looked out of the windows become darkened, nor the doors become shut in the streets causing the sound of the grinding to become low. He seemed as strong, as clear in vision, as distinct in speech as in years before. But the golden bowl was breaking, the wheel becoming disabled at the cistern whence issues the stream of our physical being. It re- mained only to be patient and to whisper in the heart the " Expectans expectavi ; " for presently this man goeth to his long home, hard by the altar where he delighted to minister, and the crowd of mourners, family and friends, vestries and citizens, white and black, bear him in sad procession through the streets of the city where he dwelt. The latter months of his life were spent in seclu- sion ; months they were in which with weariness and languor, but without acute suffering, he stead- ily descended to the grave, released from life so gently that at the last hour there were no pains to add anguish to his dismissal. Without too officiously opening the curtains of his sick-room, I would tell you, as I have learned them from those who ministered to him, some par- ticulars of his last sickness. " You knew him well, and are fully aware how deeply his modesty and profound humility veiled Bishop Atkinson. 49 his inward feelings, and especially his religious emo- tions. He was remarkable for sincerity and sim- plicity of character, and was always averse to a display of his feelings. Accordingly his long sick- ness was chiefly marked by the utmost patience and humility, and gentleness. So too his thankfulness and Christian courtesy were very manifest to the last. No murmur of complaint ever escaped his lips, and the slightest service called forth his cour- teous thanks. As it was in his days of health, so in all his sickness, and in his greatest sufferings and helplessness, he would if possible help himself, and would try to lessen the care and pains of the loving ones, who found their highest delight in minister- ing to him. " His noble and richly stored mind retained its brightness, and his broad and generous sympathies with all the best interests of man were manifested to the last. He was read to a great deal, and after his daughter came to Wilmington, she spent much of the time in reading to him. Among other things, he would have her read to him his favorite London Guardian, and choice articles from the Reviews, keeping up his interest in the great pub- lic movements and events of the time. " His childlike submission to the guidance of the Church was noteworthy. He had the appointed 4 5o In Memoriam. lessons and the daily portions of the Psalter read to him every day, and on Sundays the entire ser- vices ; and it was ordered that very shortly before his departure, the two evening psalms for the fourth day, so singularly appropriate, were read to him ; the twenty-second psalm containing the plaintive supplications of our Blessed Lord upon the cross, and His thankful exultation ; and then that beauti- ful inspired viaticum of the saints, ' The Lord is my Shepherd,' and the words of this psalm were the last words of Holy Scripture which fell upon his ear, and very soon afterwards came the sudden summons of the Saviour calling him to Himself. " Those who were constantly with him during the last weeks, now see and feel that they were all the time sustained and strengthened by his perfect pa- tience and gentle cheerfulness, and by the atmos- phere of peace which his lovely spirit seemed to diffuse around him." Brethren of the clergy and of the laity, it were superfluous to impress upon you the lessons of such a life. They are familiar to every thoughtful mind. May the Church in our land, be ever ordered and governed by Pastors as faithful and true as he whom we commemorate to-day! May he who suc- ceeds to his vacant chair be blessed and prospered Bishop Atkinson. 5i in his zealous efforts to supply the spiritual needs of a diocese so large, so overwhelming in its re- sponsibilities, so deficient, I fear, in the laborers and the means necessary to reap the fields every- where ripe for the harvest. May your reverence for him and his high office, as well as your loving recollection of the words of him who being dead yet speaketh, lead the members of this diocese to rally as one man around your chief Pastor, so that this diocese of North Carolina shall be to us all the very pattern of wise, united, effective working for God, for his Church, and for man's salvation ! I may best conclude this sermon by uttering con- cerning him whose episcopate is ended, the words wherewith he sought to encourage, long years ago, a young man just assuming the responsibilities of that office. " Men bow themselves to be consecrated as Bishops, feeling that they are about to take up a heavy burden, and yet, after all, it is to him who enters on it with his whole soul, a good work, arduous but glorious. Must we not believe that God gives special grace to faithful men who heartily devote themselves to this work? Are we not permitted to hope that we see the effects of this grace in their increasing ripeness and sound- 52 Bishop Atkinson. ness of Christian character? That the rash and vehement are softened, and the gentle and yielding are strengthened? And surely, surely we must be persuaded that the reward of a good Bishop here- after, will be something signal and transcendent. " The angels of the churches are repre- sented IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, AS STARS which the Son of Man carries in his right hand, and the elders are described as sitting around the lord on hls throne, clothed in white raiment, and having on their heads crowns of gold." w # A778L viziz?