APPENDIX B. ...SELWYN'S VALEDICTORY MEETING, 1867.
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APPENDIX B.
ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF BISHOP SELWYN'S VALEDICTORY MEETING, 1867.
A valedictory service was held at the Brunswick Hall, in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 1, 1867, being on the occasion of the departure of Bishop Selwyn for the Pan-Anglican Conference at Lambeth. The attendance was very large. His Honour the Superintendent of the Province, the late John Williamson, Esq., occupied the chair. The Presbyterian and Wesleyan Churches were represented---the former by the Rev. David Bruce, and the latter by the Rev. James Buller. Mr. Buller spoke as follows:--
Mr. Chairman,--I am happy to see your Honour, to-night, in your present position, and I rejoice to have this opportunity of expressing my personal esteem for the Right Reverend gentleman, of whom we now take an affectionate farewell, but only, I hope, for a short season. During my long residence in New Zealand, I have had some few opportunities of intercourse with him, and have always been deeply impressed with the urbanity of his manners. I was living in this island several years before the advent of the Bishop, and so have watched his public course from the beginning. I have done so with deep interest, believing that the success of our common Christianity could not but be powerfully influenced by his labours.
I shall be only repeating what I have often said, in other places, that, while not agreeing with everything,--seeing not, eye to eye, with the Bishop at every point,--I am a sincere admirer of his talents, piety, and zeal. I am restrained, by the presence of our distinguished and right reverend friend, from saying all that is in my heart. Throughout more than a quarter
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of a century, he has been indefatigably employed in laying the foundation of his own Church in this country--a Church of which he is so great an ornament. I doubt whether any other man would have the ability, or the means, of doing all that he has accomplished. He has laid his Church, particularly, under a debt of lasting gratitude for his eminent exertions. Bringing to her service talents of the highest order, which would grace any position, he has undergone, on her behalf, labours which could be compassed only by an iron constitution of body, a powerful, cultured, and sagacious mind, and a truly apostolic zeal. In the spirit of self-sacrifice, he has endured toils, hardships, and privations. He has been "steadfast, immovable," through "evil report and good report."
The Church over which he presides in this country, will, I am sure, hand down the name of Bishop Selwyn to a grateful posterity, as he who gave form and substance to her ecclesiastical system, and who, by the ardour of his zeal, not less than by the versatility of his genius, sketched out and initiated the evangelization of the Western Archipelago--the founder of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, and the father of the Melanesian Mission. It is fitting that this public expression of their obligation to his great services should be rendered by the clergy and laity of that Church. And from the commanding position the Bishop has maintained before the public, and his courteous bearing towards other denominations, it is also fitting that this opportunity be given for the expression of cordiality on the part of those who do not belong to the Church of England in New Zealand.
I have the honour, sir, this night, to represent a sister communion, which from its beginning has borne a peculiar relation to the English Church. In a country where all religious denominations are on a common platform, the word "dissenter" is a misnomer, in the case of any one of them. But even in the mother-country, where the term is legitimate, it has never been claimed by "the people called Methodists." Their existence as a Church did not originate in any schismatic disunion, violent separation, or avowed dissent from the National Church.
Every one, acquainted with modern Church history, knows that the venerable Wesley was, to the hour of his death, a
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clergyman of the Church of England. And I will venture to say that if there had been in England then, such an Episcopate as there is in New Zealand now, the earnest and fruitful labours of the Wesleys would have been thankfully recognized--their followers would not have been driven to the necessity of forming a separate Church organization--and it would, I think, have been John Wesley's own fault if he had not then become a Bishop himself, and, perhaps, not the least of that order.
I use the word "Bishop" now in its popular sense. Believing, as I do, that every minister of Christ is a scriptural episcopos, I am not insensible to the advantages of the threefold order, where, as in this country, the superior clergy devote themselves, not merely to official duties, but also to a personal ministry to all "sorts and conditions of men," both colonial and Maori.
In the course of my labours, I have obtained some knowledge of every Bishop of the Anglican Church in this country. More than once have I followed in the track of their laborious journeys, and I am free to say of them all, though not equally gifted with their Metropolitan, they are, all of them, men of superior learning, of simple habits, and of devoted zeal. I cannot pay them a higher compliment than to compare them with the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States of America.
Your Honour will allow me to say that, as a minister of the Methodist Church in New Zealand, I do not envy, but rejoice, in the progress of the English Episcopal Church. I remember when she was represented here by those excellent men, the servants of the Church Missionary Society, one of whom now worthily governs a diocese. The more truly I hold to the principles of my own denomination, the more fully must I be "the friend of all, the enemy of none."
Some good men cherish the idea of an outward and visible unity of Christendom. In theory, this may be a "consummation devoutly to be wished;" but, for my own part, I see no reason to expect it, or to hope for it. Freedom of thought, and liberty of conscience, must produce differences of religious opinion, varieties of Church polity, and diversities of Church formularies. This, I think, will be to the end of time. We must wait for a higher and better state of being, for absolute oneness.
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"When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Meanwhile, the nearer we all approach to the standard of a living Christianity, the more shall we realize and manifest the substantial "unity of the spirit," however divided in our respective lines of Church action. "By this shall all men know that we are His disciples, if we have love one to another."
In my thoughts of the great destiny in reserve for this fine country, I cannot but regard, as the most potent element in its future prosperity, the several churches, all "built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone." Our respective organizations may sometimes bring their angular points into contact with each other, and the friction may be somewhat grating; but I submit that the oil of holy love will remove that friction, and in the spirit of brotherly forbearance we shall pursue our onward march of toil and conquest, in parallel lines of peaceful, if not harmonious, co-operation, in the good warfare against the triple and common foe, "the world, the flesh, and the devil."
We shall all do well to bear in mind the example of the apostle Paul, who would rejoice if Christ was preached, though it might be "of some, even of contention and strife." May I be permitted to add that I have a strong sympathy with the object of the Bishop's visit to England. Whatever views may be maintained touching the relation of Church and State in the old country, I should deplore it as a great evil if an alliance between them was effected in this or in any new country. It would not only evoke the strongest opposition on the part of all other churches, but would be opposed to the interests of the body that accepted that distinction. If the Anglican Church in the colonies is to stand, like all other churches, on the foundation of a voluntary compact, it is due to her that, like other bodies of Christians, she have unfettered liberty of religious action within her own pale. And if the letters patent from our royal and beloved Queen do at all stand in the way of that liberty, the sooner they are cancelled the better.
But I must ask pardon, sir, for having spoken so long. I beg to offer my congratulations to the Episcopalian Church. Most fervently will I join her clergy and laity in the prayer that
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Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn may have "a prosperous voyage by the will of God," and that, after a happy sojourn in the dear old country, they may return in the "fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace." I trust the Bishop has many years of labour before him in this land, and may "the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hands."
