and value your vigorous work at Landport, and how anxious I
am to promote and help it in every legitimate way. I am most
anxious not to make a fuss about trifles, and I desire to
recognise to the full the due elasticity and variety desirable
in the services of the Church, especially in such neighbourhoods
as yours. You will never find me inclined to be needlessly rigid
about comparative trifles, but a Bishop’s responsibility is so
grave that when large questions arise he must of necessity act
with the utmost care.
“I trust that it may be possible for you so to modify the
arrangements as to enable your proposed opening services to
take place, postponing for the present the decision upon the
particular point to which I have called attention.
“If you desire to see me upon the subject, I shall be at your
service here at any hour to-morrow, except 1.30 to 3, when I
have another engagement. If you are coming, please telegraph to
say so.
I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.
“Since writing the above I have thought it may be a convenience
to you that I should send it to you by hand. My chaplain
accordingly bears it.”
An interview took place on October 25th. (See p. 167.)
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_25th October, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I must send a few lines to thank you for the honest and simple
straightforwardness and frankness with which you this morning
put before me your position in the question which has arisen,
and for your ultimate acquiescence in the suggestion I made as
to your proper course of procedure.
“I pray God that to each of us, in our respective positions of
anxious and responsible work, may be given from on high that
right judgment in all things for which we are accustomed to
ask; and whatever may ultimately be decided with respect to the
particular point which is now under consideration, I feel sure
we shall not lose or loose that bond of fellowship which unites
in heart and spirit those who have in common the one great aim
of advancing to the best of our power, and in accordance with
what seems to us to be the due order of our Church of England,
the Kingdom of our Blessed Lord.
“I am, with kindest regards,
“Very truly yours,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_25th October, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I send you the statement I read out to my people. I have
directed the architect to prepare you the plans. I shall be
grateful if, when you receive them, you will give me a date when
I may expect your decision.
“I am, yours very obediently,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“As our new church practically joins on to the old church, the
late Bishop considered that no new licence would be needed. When
I communicated this fact to our new Bishop, he desired that a
new licence should be granted, and therefore sent the Rural Dean
to report on the fabric and ornaments of the church.
“Acting on his report, the Bishop feels that it is impossible
to grant this licence until he has consulted authorities as to
the legality of the Third Altar, the one which you beautified in
memory of Henry Ross, and which used to stand in the old church
with the Memorials of the Dead around it. He therefore wrote to
me that the licence would not be granted until the Altar was
removed. My own feelings under these circumstances were that it
would be better for us to remain in the old church, and not to
open the new church. But when I saw the Bishop this morning, he
very much disliked this idea, and suggested, as an alternative,
that we should proceed with the opening, screening off the Altar
and the Memorials of the Dead; that the plans should be at once
submitted to him, showing every detail; and that he should
proceed after due time to deliver judgment; if he can license
the Altar, I am to remove the screen; if he cannot, I am at once
to resign, so that a successor may be appointed who will remove
the Altar and the Memorials.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_26th October, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I have just received your letter enclosing a copy of the
intimation you read yesterday to your people. I feel sure it
was not your wish to say anything which would convey a mistaken
impression of what has passed between us on the question at
issue, but you have certainly done so, however unintentionally.
“Your words, ‘The Bishop wrote to me that the Licence would not
be granted until the Altar was removed,’ are surely inconsistent
with the purport of the actual letter, in which I tried to
point out to you that the question was one which I ought not to
prejudge, and that it required time for consideration.
“Again, I never, either in letter or conversation, desired you
to screen off the ‘Memorials of the Dead.’ If the temporary
screening off of the site intended for the proposed third altar
necessarily involves this--which I did not understand--it is
merely incidental, and your words would convey the wholly false
impression that I had objected to the erection of ‘Memorials of
the Dead.’ I have not seen them, and I do not know their precise
character, nor did I mention them in any way.
“Most important of all, your final sentence practically says
that in the event of such a third altar being found to be
inadmissible, it is my wish that you should resign.
“You will remember that on the contrary I expressed my great
regret at hearing from you that such would in that event be
your course of action, although you assured me that in any
circumstances you had already settled to leave S. Agatha’s a
few months hence. My own wish would be strongly against your
resignation.
“I feel sure, as I have said, that it was not your intention to
mislead any who may have heard or read your words, and I do not
doubt that you will desire at once to set the matter right, by
giving publicity to this letter or otherwise.
“I am, dear Mr. Dolling,
“Yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.
“REV. R. R. DOLLING.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_October 28th, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I am very sorry, indeed, if I have in any way misrepresented
our conversation, but in your letter to me of the 24th, you say:
“‘I must ask that the church be not publicly opened for Divine
Service, until a question so important as this has been
submitted to the proper authorities for decision, or until the
altar in question has been removed from the building.’
“You yourself told me, when I saw you, that it would be a
scandal if the church was not opened, and, therefore, surely
it was only left to me by your letter of the 24th, to create a
scandal or to remove the altar.
“Secondly, the memorials are practically a part of the altar,
as a frame is to the picture, and without these memorials,
the altar would, I take it, be unobjectionable, or rather, as
I think you said yourself, the question is not the red-tape
question whether there is to be a third altar, but whether it is
to be an altar of this kind--_i.e._, Dedicated to the Dead.
There will be the twelve Celebrations said at it every week, and
only two of them will be said for the Dead. I certainly supposed
that your injunction, therefore, referred to the character of
the thing as a whole.
“Thirdly, I certainly do not say that you would wish me to
resign. What I do say is, ‘If he cannot license the altar, I
am at once to resign, so that a successor may be appointed,
who will remove the altar and the memorials.’ This surely does
not convey the meaning that you wish me to resign, but that
the action which you quite conscientiously may be compelled to
take, may necessitate my resignation, which is quite a different
thing. I believe that there is not a man in all the Diocese
more anxious that I should remain than you are. I have written
to the Portsmouth paper which mentioned the fact. I enclose you
the letter.
“Canon Jacob’s letter which I enclose, and which please return,
may enable the question to be decided in a more satisfactory way
than by your Lordship’s personal judgment.
“I hope that in a few weeks the fabric of the church will be
free of debt. I have built a Parsonage House, and I have £1100
in hand towards the endowment. If on these terms the district
can be created into a parish, the question would then be one
which could be decided by the highest ecclesiastical legal
authorities.
“I should be very grateful for your Lordship’s opinion on this
matter.
“Ever your obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_29th October, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I thank you for your letter of yesterday. If, as I suppose,
the letter to the _Evening News_ which you send me in
manuscript has been published in that paper, it meets the chief
objection I felt to the wording of the memorandum you sent me,
and I am obliged to you for making the point clear to those who
might have misunderstood it. If you are satisfied, I do not wish
to dwell further upon the other points mentioned in my letter
to you, although I still think your words would convey to most
hearers or readers a different impression from that which you
can yourself have intended. With regard to the suggestion, that
an endeavour should now be made to have the district legally
assigned, and the church duly consecrated as a parish church,
I should like a little time for consideration and consultation
with others before giving you definite advice. You will remember
that the Diocese is still new to me, and that in a matter like
this local knowledge is almost essential to a right decision.
Such knowledge I will do my best to acquire speedily. I retain
in the meantime Canon Jacob’s letter upon the subject.
I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“S. AGATHA, LANDPORT,
“_November 4th, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I send you plans of east end, with its two apses and altars,
and north and south side of church, showing stations and third
altar. The only place not shown is the baptistery under the
tower. I had intended putting an altar in this for the use of
parents on the morning of the baptism of their children. I did
not speak of this to Bishop Thorold, for it was only suggested
to me when I showed the baptistery and font to some of the
mothers, and they said what a comfort and help it would be to
take Communion in the baptistery. I will send you a little plan
of this. I mentioned it to Canon Jacob, but he said there was no
use in speaking of it to you. Most of the columns, paintings,
&c., are memorials; they will all have on them, ‘Pray for the
soul of,’ &c. The altars all have candlesticks on them. There is
a large crucifix by the pulpit.
“Ever yours very truly,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
We always have confession in public in church, so there would be three
seats for this purpose in the church.
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_6th November, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I received last night your letter of the previous day,
enclosing the plans. Now that I have these before me I can
better consider the subject, and ask such counsel as seems
desirable. It is difficult for me to say by what day I may be
able to give you my decision upon the matter.
“I am much pressed at present with work of every kind, but I
will take care that there is no unnecessary delay. I should
hope, in a fortnight’s time at the latest, to be able to write
to you definitely.
“It is possible I may wish to see you again. May I ask you
to tell me whether any particular day in the week would be
specially convenient or inconvenient to you for the journey to
Farnham?
“Nothing could, I think, be gained by my seeing the architect,
as the plans seem perfectly clear.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_11th November, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“Would it suit you to call here next Saturday morning, November
16th, or, if more convenient, to dine and sleep here on Friday
night, the 15th, leaving as early as you like on Saturday
morning?
“I am anxious, if possible, not to postpone our interview beyond
next week. Please let me know when I may expect you.
“I am, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
A prolonged interview took place on November 15th. (See p. 170.)
“CLARENCE STREET, LANDPORT,
“_15th November, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I am very grateful to you for your patience this afternoon. You
will he glad to hear that I do not feel any the worse. It would
be a great relief to me if your lordship could tell me about
the date when your lordship is likely to deliver judgment. Of
course, we do not mean for one moment to hasten you, but our
own minds would be more at rest if we knew about the date.
“Mr. Gresham desires to join with me in many thanks to Mrs.
Davidson for her great kindness.
“Yours very obediently,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION, LANDPORT,
“_16th November, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,
“I send you our Vespers of the Blessed Sacrament, our Stations,
our Mass for the Dead, and our children’s Mass book, and
the rules of our Communicants’ Society. Our conversation of
yesterday was so different from what I have had with Bishops
in former days. They seemed to desire to deal with things
concerning which complaint had been made to them, and so, when
I had ventured on other details of our service here, they
stopped me, as though to say, ‘That question is not before me,
I do not desire to know it.’ It seemed to me, yesterday, that
your attitude was the very opposite of this. You wanted to know
everything we do at S. Agatha’s, and, therefore, praying over
it all last night, and thinking about it, I was very anxious to
discover if I was perfectly honest and straightforward, and I
think I was. But when I was leaving your room you said to me,
‘Have you anything more to say?’ I took that, at the moment, to
mean, ‘Is there any defence more that you would like to make
concerning your doings?’ But, on thinking it over, it seems to
me it may have meant, ‘Are there any other services or practices
that you ought to tell me about?’ If this is your meaning, pray
let me know, and I will send to you, in detail, everything else
that we do. If, on the other hand, this thought of mine is over
scrupulosity, please don’t answer this letter.
“Your obedient servant,
“R. R. DOLLING.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_21st November, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I have not had a moment in which to reply to your letter
received two days ago.
“When I asked you at our recent interview whether you had
anything more to say, I did not in the least mean to ask you
for a detailed account of all the services you hold. Some day I
should be interested to hear from you about everything, in order
that I may thoroughly understand your position and teaching.
But all I desired in our recent interview was to understand the
present situation in all its bearings, so that my decision may
be based upon a really sufficient knowledge.
“I have been so much pressed during this last week by unexpected
matters, including the illness and death of a dear friend,
that I have been ceaselessly on the railway, and it has been
impossible for me to give to S. Agatha’s matters the attention
they deserve. Hence there may be a little delay in my sending
you the formal letter I have promised. I can only say that I am
doing my best.
“I remain, yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“FARNHAM CASTLE, SURREY,
“_7th December, 1895_.
“DEAR MR. DOLLING,
“I am now able to write to you definitely upon the question
which has arisen with regard to S. Agatha’s church, and as
you may probably wish to make my letter public, it will be
convenient that I should briefly recall what has taken place. On
October 2nd, a few days after I had become Bishop of Winchester,
I heard from you that you had made arrangements to open the
new church for divine service on October 27th. With a view,
therefore, to your receiving the necessary licence, I directed
Canon Jacob, as Rural Dean, to pay the customary preliminary
visit to the church, and to report to me whether all was in due
order. On October 24th I received this report. He told me of the
beauty and dignity of the building, and its general suitableness
for divine service in a great parish. The fittings and ornaments
were not yet _in situ_, and he was, therefore, unable
to report upon them in detail. But he directed my attention,
as in duty bound, to the structural arrangements for Holy
Communion. These, as shown in his report, and in his subsequent
explanations to me with appended plans, are as follows: One
large Holy Table or Altar in the usual position in the centre of
the east end of the church; a second (for less largely attended
services) at the east end of the south aisle; and a third in
the south aisle, placed against the side wall of the church. It
is also your wish to place a fourth in your Baptistery at the
west end of the north aisle, but that question is not at present
before us.
“When Canon Jacob paid his official visit to the church, the
proposed third altar had not yet been erected; and after full
correspondence and conversation between yourself and me upon
the subject, it was decided that the opening services should be
held in accordance with the arrangements you had already made
before I became Bishop, but that the site of the proposed third
altar should be temporarily curtained off, and its erection
at the least postponed, so that I should have time before
issuing formal licence for the conduct of divine service in the
building, to consider the arrangements proposed. You urged me to
give you an answer as speedily as possible, as in the event of
my being unable to sanction the proposed arrangements you would
feel it necessary to withdraw immediately from S. Agatha’s,
instead of remaining until Easter next, when you proposed in any
case to resign.
“As it is not proposed that the church should be consecrated at
present, the question raised does not, and, indeed, cannot, now
come formally before the Diocesan Court. Pending consecration,
it rests with the Bishop to grant or withhold at his discretion
the necessary licence for the conduct of divine service in the
new building. In order, therefore, to understand in all its
bearings the question to which you attach so much importance,
I have, in addition to our correspondence, had two prolonged
interviews with you; and I am anxious again to express to you
my appreciation of the honest and straightforward readiness you
have throughout shown to give me all possible information as
to your usages and the opinions on which they are based. In a
matter of this kind, where we have but one object--namely, to
arrive at a right conclusion in accordance with the doctrines
and laws of the Church of England--it is of paramount importance
that there should be no concealment or reserve in setting the
facts before the Bishop, on whom lies the grave responsibility
of decision.
“I am cordially grateful to you, therefore, for freeing me from
any difficulty of that sort. After deliberately weighing all
that you have put before me, I have come to the conclusion that
I should act wrongly were I, on my personal authority, now to
sanction the erection and use of the proposed third altar in the
situation and for the purposes you have described to me. When
the church is consecrated it would, of course, be possible for
you, or your successor, to apply to the Diocesan Court for a
faculty for the erection of such a third altar; and, were the
faculty refused, you would have the opportunity--which you tell
me you desire--of bringing the question before the higher Courts
on appeal from the decision of the Chancellor.
“In the meantime, as I have fully explained to you in
conversation, I cannot, in exercising my discretion upon a
proposition so unusual, regard the question as merely the
technical one--may there be three altars or holy tables in one
church?
“It is easy to conceive a church or cathedral of such dimensions
or construction as to render it desirable to extend yet further
the principle upon which a second altar or holy table has been
sanctioned in many of our churches for more convenient use when
the number of communicants is small; and, whatever might be
the legal decision on such a point, no question of doctrine or
principle need thereby be raised. But such is not the case at
S. Agatha’s. You do not ask for my sanction of the third altar
on grounds of convenience (in the ordinary sense of the word);
and, indeed, it is obvious that in that respect it would have no
advantage over the second, or subsidiary, altar, to which I have
raised no objection. You have explained to me that your wish for
the addition rests, in the main, on quite different grounds. The
altar in question is intended to have special association with a
deceased friend, whose memory is rightly cherished in the parish.
“You desire that it should be surrounded with memorials of the
dead, and that its special, though not exclusive, use should be
for the celebration of what you describe as ‘Mass for the Dead.’
“I endeavoured, in our recent conversation, to ascertain exactly
what you mean by this term, and you explained candidly and
clearly what it is that you believe and teach. You regard the
Celebration of Holy Communion ‘for the dead’ as having the
effect [you add, ‘we know not how’] of shortening the period
during which the souls of the faithful departed are in a
state of ‘purgation’ or ‘preparation,’ and of hastening their
admission to the Beatific state.
“Now, I have no wish to dictate to you, or to dogmatise, upon
the mysterious and difficult question of what is known as
‘prayer for the dead’--a term obviously capable of a great
variety of meaning, ranging from the words we use in the Prayer
for the Church Militant to doctrines of quite another sort.
The whole subject is of great importance, and I will gladly
discuss it with you hereafter; but, whatever liberty of private
opinion and individual devotion may be permissible, I have no
hesitation in saying that I should depart both from the spirit
and the letter of our Church’s formularies were I definitely
to sanction the addition of a third altar to S. Agatha’s with
the knowledge that one main purpose of its erection is that it
should be a centre for services and teaching of the character
above described.
“I myself believe your teaching on this subject to be
contrariant to some of the distinctive principles of the Church
of England, and I am bound to add further that I am unable to
reconcile your usages in celebrating the Holy Communion with the
specific directions in the Book of Common Prayer, which both
you and I have solemnly pledged ourselves to follow. You tell
me, for example, that in S. Agatha’s Church, where you have
about twenty celebrations of the Holy Communion every week, more
than half the celebrations on week-days, ‘perhaps eight out of
fifteen,’ are in ordinary circumstances without communicants.
You have so arranged that the celebrant shall know beforehand if
any desire to communicate, and, if not, the celebrant omits the
Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution from the Service.
“On week-days, unless they are festivals, the Creed and the
_Gloria in Excelsis_ are always omitted.
“It is impossible for me to disregard these facts in coming to
a decision as to what I ought, at this juncture, to do. You
have, as it seems to me, dealt practically at your will with our
Church’s Rules.
“I do not, for a moment, doubt that your motive is a good one.
Your services are those which, in your individual opinion, are
best calculated to lead your people into a knowledge of what you
believe to be the truth.
“But the Church of England does not allow us thus to deal at
our will with the Book of Common Prayer, and in the event of
your deciding to remain at S. Agatha’s, I must carefully discuss
with you what modifications are required in order to bring your
services into harmony with the Prayer Book.
“I need not repeat to you what I have so often said as to my
sense of the value of your devoted work in the midst of special
difficulties. Many of your distinctive Church Services seem to
me to have a special value, as bringing home to the minds of
unlearned people, by the use of anniversaries and memorials and
otherwise, the links which bind us to the world unseen.
“These are, I believe, compatible with perfect loyalty to the
Book of Common Prayer.
“I earnestly trust you may not think it necessary to sever
yourself at present from a parish in which God has signally
blessed your energy, your self-devotion, and your enthusiasm;
and you may rely upon my constant endeavour to help and further
your work in every legitimate way.
“I am, my dear Mr. Dolling,
“Yours very truly,
“RANDALL WINTON.”
“WINCHESTER COLLEGE MISSION,
“LANDPORT, PORTSMOUTH,
“_9th December, 1895_.
“MY DEAR LORD BISHOP,