It is obvious to remark that the disastrous consequences which the Bishop anticipated as likely to follow upon the rejection of his bill, have not, in fact, ensued. It may, however, at least be doubted whether the present position of the Church, with regard to cases of heresy, can be considered satisfactory by her faithful members. The Meanwhile, the struggles of theological warfare, and the agitations of the Church, were, for a moment, interrupted in the life of Bishop Blomfield by an incident of unmingled pleasure. He had long intended to build and endow, at his own expense, some one church in his diocese. The neighbourhood of Shepherd's Bush, not far from his own palace at Fulham, where a considerable population had grown up on the outskirts of the large parish of Hammersmith (which itself had once formed a part of Fulham), was the spot which he eventually chose for this purpose. Being lord of the manor, he was enabled to grant part of the site for the church, schools, and parsonage, the rest being given by a local landowner. building cost him between £7,000 and £8,000, and an endowment of £150 a year was provided out of the revenues of the see, the Ecclesiastical Commission adding £40 out of the sinecure rectory of Fulham and Hammersmith. The organ, stained-glass windows, and other decorations, were offered by the friends and family of the Bishop, and by persons residing on the spot; two windows being given by a number of the Essex clergy, as a mark of respect and affection for their former Diocesan, and the font by the churchwardens of Holy Trinity, Finchley, in testimony of their gratitude for the great assistance rendered to that district by the Bishop; and the church, which was a good specimen of the revival of ecclesiastical architecture, was consecrated April 11th, 1850; an excellent sermon being preached on the occasion by the Bishop's chaplain, the Rev. W. G. Humphry. The event is thus recorded by one of the most respected organs of the Church1 : "In the midst of the eager struggles for Christian truth and the confused strife of tongues now raging around us, it is a real consolation to be able to turn, for a few moments, to a visible sign of the catholic life of the English Church, to a labour of love, freely undertaken in her and for her, and consummated, during these days of confusion, by a prelate who refused his concurrence to that judgment which is spreading grief and anxiety amongst us. Such a spectacle was the consecration, on April 11th, of the church of St. Stephen, built at the expense of the Bishop of London, at Shepherd's Bush. At all times a bishop himself building a church is a thing to make Churchmen rejoice, still more so when the Church embodies in so prominent a manner those principles of ecclesiastical order and architectural truth which the Church of England has so extraordinarily recovered of late years." The Bishop himself thus records the consecration in his diary : "I was this day permitted, by the goodness of God, to consecrate the church which I have built and endowed at Shepherd's Bush, humbly beseeching Him graciously to accept the offering for the sake of Jesus Christ. My dear wife and children (except my dear son Henry, who is at Malta), my brothers, with their families, &c., were present, with many of the clergy of Essex, both of my late and present dioceses, who offered two stained-glass 1 Guardian Newspaper, April 17, 1850. windows and a silver-gilt alms-dish. n, an The parsonage-house at Sh, to the Chu built by Bisho the incumbent "Still less," he continue sound words; and while we liberty to interpret 1 believe to be the themselves set teaching in aring ased his conc spreading grief and spectacle was the conse the church of St. Stephen, the Bishop of London, at Sheptimes a bishop himself building ng to make Churchmen rejoice, stilthe Church embodies in so prominent st se principles of ecclesiastical order ane 1 truth which the Church of England hat inarily recovered of late years." 10p himself thus records the consecration in1 My s day permitted, by the goodness of God, to hurch which I have built and endowed h, humbly beseeching Him graciously for the sake of Jesus Christ. xcept my dear son Henry, who ith their families, &c., were "gy of Essex, both of my ffered two stained-glass which he preached at this consecration, and which is said to have had the effect of preventing some who heard it, for the time at least, from seceding to the Church of Rome, shows that he felt that the occasion was no ordinary one. The subject of the sermon is, "the nature of the Church, and the duties of its members." After speaking of the notes which distinguish a true branch of the Catholic Church, he argues that no man, who has grounds for believing his own Church to be such a branch, is justified in deserting it for any mere faultiness of discipline : "Still less," he continues (with evident allusion to the recent Gorham judgment), "is such a renunciation to be justified, on the ground that any authority, short of the authority of the Church itself, has pronounced any opinion, or done any act, which may seem to cast a shade over the brightness of her teaching, while that teaching, in its acknowledged and authoritative institutes, remains unchanged. With regard to our own Church, let us be thankful that her light still shines in all its strength and purity in her Confessions and Liturgical Offices; that every one who ministers at her altars must of necessity hold up that light to the faithful as the very light of truth; and that it still burns on the candlestick of pure gold in the midst of the sanctuary, to give light unto all that are in the house.' Shall we, my brethren, while the Church itself continues to speak with authority the same unvarying language, and to hold fast, as a Church, the form of sound words; and while we ourselves are left at full liberty to interpret her mind according to what we believe to be the scale of truth; shall we, if some think themselves set free to put a different sense upon her teaching in some one of its features, and to maintain |