Bishop of London

“ In that same year—1235—the Bishop of London “perceiving that the Caursines openly multiplied their usury without shame and led a most filthy life, harassing the Religious with various injuries and amassing heaps of riches from the numbers who were forced to submit to their yoke,” arose and admonished them to desist from their practices and to do penance for their misdeeds. But what is a Bishop of London compared with the Pope of Rome? The Caursini laughed at the Bishop; they appealed to Rome; they procured an order that the Bishop, then old and ill, should repair to Rome with his complaints. ”

“ Then the Bishop of London's apparitor came and railed on the other bishops, and said that he, nor no such as he, should have jurisdiction within his Lord's precincts. Then was the Bishop of London sent for to make answer; but he was sick and might not come. On Friday, the clergy sat on it in Convocation House a long time, and left off till another day; and in the mean time, all men that have taken loss or wrong at his hands, must bring in their bills, and shall have recompense. ”

“ It was not the most propitious moment perhaps to propose to the Bishop of London that he should help forward a plan to put the Bible into the hands of the people, when they had just refused to tax themselves at the bidding of the Cardinal, for it would inevitably compel the clergy to dip their hands into their own pockets to supply the King's need. ”

“ Let us return to the establishment of Christianity in London. It was in 604, as we have seen, that the East Saxons were baptized, their king, Sebert, being the nephew of Ethelbert, King of Kent, who was his overlord. It was Ethelbert, and not Sebert, who built St. Paul’s for Mellitus, the first Bishop of London. Christianity, however, is not implanted in the mind of man altogether by baptism. Mellitus was able to leave his diocese a few years after its creation in order to attend a synod at Rome, and to confer with the Pope on the affairs of the Church. ”

“ The vicar of an East London parish was one of the first London clergymen to grow his beard. The then Bishop of London wished to stop the practice, and, as he was going to confirm in that church, sent his chaplain to the vicar to ask him to shave it off, saying he should otherwise select another church for the Confirmation. ”

“ Wina, expelled from the church of Winchester by Cenewalche the king, was adopted to be the fourth bishop of London, in the reign of Wolferus king of Mercia, and sat nine years.
Erkenwalde, born in the castle or town of Stallingborough in Lindsey, first abbot of Crotesey, was by Theodore archbishop of Canterbury appointed to be bishop of the East Saxons, in the city of London. ”

“ Besides the great subject of Baptismal Regeneration, the entire Episcopal theory and practice offended me. How little favourably I was impressed, when a boy, by the lawn sleeves, wig, artificial voice and manner of the Bishop of London, I have already said: but in six years more, reading and observation had intensely confirmed my first auguries. It was clear beyond denial, that for a century after the death of Edward VI. the bishops were the tools of court-bigotry, and often owed their highest promotions to base subservience. ”

“ William the Conqueror's Norman Bishop of London was a good, peace-loving man, who interceded with the stern monarch, and recovered the forfeited privileges of the refractory London citizens. For centuries—indeed, even up to the end of Queen Mary's reign—the mayor, aldermen, and crafts used to make an annual procession to St. Paul's, to visit the tomb of good Bishop William in the nave. ”

“ The Times makes an appeal about Christmas time for the refuges of the destitute in the metropolis, and generally it raises somewhere about £10,000—a nice addition to the regular income of the societies. The Bishop of London, since he has been connected with his diocese, has consecrated 29 new churches, accommodating 90,000 persons, erected by voluntary subscriptions. We may depend upon it the various sects of dissenters are equally active in their way. ”

“ It seems to us that in a work intended for the general use of the Church and addressed to men of all opinions, they only remember to be thoroughgoing advocates and justifiers of the Court which happens to have grown into such important consequence to the English Church. The position is a perfectly legitimate one; but we think it had better not have been connected with a documentary work like the present, set forth by the direction and under the sanction of a Bishop of London. ”

“ In the year 1627 he was one of the King's Privy Council. He became Bishop of London in 1628, and on August 4th, 1633, he was translated to the See of Canterbury. He attained to these positions through many difficulties. The Puritans were ever his bitter opponents. At Oxford, as Divinity Professor, he imparted sound Church teaching to the undergraduates who came under his influence. This brought him into prominence, and the Puritans then saw the type of man they would have to deal with. ”

“ We have just returned from a visit to M. Martin Noirlieu, once sub-preceptor of the Duke de Bordeaux, and now a curé at Paris. He has been in England, and speaks favourably of us. He thinks there is much good and real religion in the people of England, though very defective, and though the Church is suffering under many abuses. He said they computed that the Bishop of London received as much as all the French Bishops put together. The state of things here is totally different from what it is with us. ”

“ These p. 184have already received the sanction of two prelates, who preside over populous dioceses, the Bishops of London and Chester, who have both recommended them in their Charges to their Clergy. “The vastness of the field,” observes the Bishop of London, “which demands their exertions, and their own insufficiency to meet that demand according to the promptings of their conscience, and the impulse of a truly Christian charity, are matters which lie heavily upon the mind of many faithful zealous clergymen. ”

“ These, and many other reasons, make it impossible for the mere parochial system to bring out the zeal and the liberality of London Churchmen. If they are to realize their unity and their strength, they must do so not as members of a Parish, but of a Diocese; their Bishop must be to them the sign that they are one body; their good works must be organized more and more under him, and round him. ”

“ Erkenwald, whose shrine stood at the back of the high altar in the oldest church, was the fourth bishop (A.D. 675-693) , and it was at his house in London that Archbishop Theodore, the organiser of the Church of England, was reconciled to Bishop Wilfrid after their long estrangement. [355] Aelfun, or Alhunus, was{332} Bishop of London in 1012, and performed the burial service over Aelfah (or Alphage) , Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered by the Danes and buried in St. Paul’s. ”

“ When the Bishop ceased to preside over a ward I know not. It is certain, however, that it was of incalculable advantage at that time for the City of London to be partly governed in its temporal affairs by one who was a great churchman, a great lord, a person often with the King, a scholar and a statesman, one who had nothing to gain by encroaching on the liberties of the people, and, therefore, one who might be trusted. ”

“ From the account thus given we may also see the difference which existed between such a city and one founded originally upon a system of free gylds. These associations placed the men of London in a position to maintain their own rights both against king and bishop, and indeed it is evident from the ‘Judicia 333Civitatis’ itself, that the bishops united with the citizens in the establishment of their free communa under Æðelstán. ”

“ A bishop was then not often selected because he could preach well, but because he knew how to govern. Who, even in our times, would think of filling the See of London, although it is Protestant, with a man whose chief merit is in his eloquence? ”

“ Above all, the Episcopalians of the Diocese loved their Bishop as a man—a vital, interesting personality who possessed none of the unctuous pompousness of the commonplace ecclesiastic. Miss Nell Battle Lewis once aptly characterized the Bishop as "much more than a Churchman, able Churchman though he is. Foremost, he is a man—a gentleman—of the most unswerving honesty, conviction, courage, kindness, humor, and charm." [42]
Throughout almost all of his Episcopate Bishop Cheshire had no secretary. ”

“ The English Church Union party has increased more rapidly in the Diocese of London than anywhere else. Of course, London is the headquarters of every movement. There are now forty-one churches in the Diocese which use incense and reservation, and a much larger number have vestments and other uses which were extremely rare in Bishop Jackson's time. One thing I should always insist upon very strongly, and that is that hard, zealous and successful work is not confined to any school. ”

“ William Gray, dean of York, consecrated bishop of London, who founded a college at Thele in Hartfordshire, for a master and four canons, and made it a cell to Elsing spittle in London; it had of old time been a college, decayed, and therefore newly-founded. He was translated to Lincoln 1431.
1431. Robert Fitzhugh, archdeacon of Northampton, consecrated bishop of London, sat five years, deceased 1435, and was buried on the south side of the choir of Paul’s.
1435. Robert Gilbert, doctor of divinity, dean of York, consecrated bishop of London, sat twelve years, deceased 1448. ”

“ The relations between the two were revised by Richard de Ely, Bishop of London in 1197; by Eustace de Fauconberg, Bishop of London in 1224: and by Simon of Sudbury, Bishop of London in 1373, and the two foundations were finally separated on the dissolution of the priory in 1537.
There is in the British Museum (Cotton MS. Vespasian, Bk. ix.) , a Life of Rahere written by one who had known those who knew the founder. The manuscript is a copy of an earlier one written in the reign of Henry II., within fifty years of the foundation of the{181}
hospital. ”

“ From London, in 1510, he was invited by Bishop Fisher to come and teach at Cambridge, where by his influence he had been appointed Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Regius Reader of Greek. “Unless I am much mistaken,” Erasmus writes, “the Bishop of Rochester is a man without an equal at this time, both as to integrity of life, learning, or broad-minded sympathies. One only do I except, as a very Achilles, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Warham) , who alone keeps me in London, though I confess not very unwillingly.” ”

“ To bring the dispute within a narrow compass, the author fixes upon the diocese of London. His first position is, that Compton, who was Bishop of the diocese at the Revolution, continued rightful Bishop as long as he lived: that he neither ceased to be its Bishop by resignation nor deprivation. He allows it to be granted that the Revolution was unjustifiable: and that the successors to the deprived Bishops were schismatical intruders: but even then he argues, that Compton remained the rightful Bishop of the diocese of London. ”

“ Others have devoted themselves to the study of the ecclesiastical and monastic side of the City's history—its Cathedral, its religious houses, and hundred and more parish [pg iv] churches, which occupied so large an extent of the City's area. The ecclesiastical importance of the City, however, is too often ignored. "We are prone," writes Bishop Stubbs, "in examining into the municipal and mercantile history of London, to forget that it was a very great ecclesiastical centre." ”

“ The clerks who issued from the universities obtained episcopal orders, and in some cases took upon them the vows and robes of the Mendicants. They then began to wander about the country, preaching and teaching, living on charity, received into certain houses; and so continued for the rest of their lives. For the most part, they were careful not to ask for a license from their Bishop; they had no papers; they were not attached to any House; they roamed about from village to village, from town to town; in London they preached in the streets, in the markets, at street corners ”

“ Freeman (Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 538) describes them as ‘seafaring’ men of London, while Gross (The Gild Merchant, vol. i. p. 186) writes: ‘The lithsmen (shipowners) of London, who, with others, raised Harold to the throne, were doubtless such “burg-thegns.” ’
Another important point to be noted is the prominent political position of the bishop. As early as A.D. 900 ‘the bishop and the reeves who belong to London’ are recorded as making in the name of the citizens laws which were confirmed by the King, because they had reference to the whole kingdom. ”

“ North, and by east from Bishopsgate, lieth a large street or highway, having on the west side thereof the parish church of St. Buttolph.
Then is the hospital of St. Mary of Bethelem, founded by a citizen of London, and as before is showed: up to the bars without the which is Norton fall gate, a liberty so called, belonging to the dean of Pauls; thence up to the late dissolved priory of St. John Baptist, called Holywell, a house of nuns, of old time founded by a bishop of London. Stephen Grausend, bishop of London, about the year 1318, was a benefactor thereunto ”