A Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Salisbury, at His Primary Visitation, in August, 1855

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Excerpt from A Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Salisbury, at His Primary Visitation, in August, 1855I cannot say that the lapse of time has as yet much lessened these difficulties. It is my infirmity, and one I almost glory in, that my feelings for my Clergy are still rather those of a Brother, than of a Spiritual Father, and that I can still hardly believe that I am now occupying the seat of him whom, according to my office, I attended on a like occasion to the present just sixteen years ago, and with whose life and labours of love I have been so long trained to associate all my best hopes, under god, for the Church of my country. I need scarcely add, that the more intimate know ledge my daily ministrations have given me during the past year both of his work, and of the manner in which he effected it, has only deepened my conviction that my hopes were not those merely of an attached, admiring, and grateful friend, but such as could stand the test of a cooler, less partial, more fairly balanced judgment than mine could possibly be. It has, indeed, been to me both a very grateful and a very profitable duty to collect the evidence on which I make this statement, and I am sure that you will only be the more ready to accept and act upon any counsel I may have to give you, if I first, by way of preface to it, present you with some sketch of the results of the Ministry of our late beloved Bishop, and give you proof that I know and appreciate the principles by which those results were reached.