Chapter II. The College Discipline: Description and History

THIS chapter is intended to give some account of the discipline of the College in the widest sense of the word--disciplina, the sum of influences for the producing and training of character which the college system attempts to give. The purpose for which the College exists is explained in the Trust Deed of 1854 as "a school for the theological training of candidates for Holy Orders in the Church of England and Ireland, and for no other purpose whatsoever." The school is to be under the "sole management and control of Samuel, Lord Bishop of Oxford, and his successors for the time being, for ever." The officers, under the authority of the Bishop, make a declaration on entering office that their teaching will be "in accordance with the Articles and Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England as agreed upon at their final settlement in the year 1662, and also in conformity with the rule laid down by the two Houses of Convocation, when, in the year 1571, they imposed upon the clergy subscription to the Articles: 'ne quid unquam doceant pro concione quod a populo religiose teneri et credi velint, nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrinae Veteris aut Novi Testamenti, quodque ex ilia ipsa doctrina Catholici Patres et veteres Episcopi collegerint.'" As the diocesan clergy school of the see of Oxford, the College, by its Trust Deed, has had set before it the task of training [39/40] its students in the fulness of the revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures, as that revelation was understood and held in the early and undivided Church.

Originally the only officers of the College were a Principal and a Vice-Principal. To these was added, in 1855, a chaplain. Since 1895 the teaching of Hebrew has been in the hands of a Hebrew lecturer, who also holds the post of curate in the parish of Cuddesdon. Before this time Hebrew was taught either by one of the officers or by someone resident in Oxford. The buildings and property of the College are vested in a body of trustees, consisting of the Bishop of Oxford, the Archdeacon of Oxford, and the Principal of the College, by whom all questions relating to the extension or alteration of the fabric are settled.

There has never been any entrance examination for the students. The intellectual qualification for admission has always been the holding of a University degree. In the first circular issued in 1854, just before the College started on its course, applications for admission are invited from any members of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham who have passed their final examination, and students of King's College, London, who have passed the two-years' course there, or graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, holding the Divinity Testimonium. From 1881 to 1888 inclusive a notice appears in the Regulations to the effect that non-graduates also may be admitted on certain conditions. But the difficulty of arranging for a common course of lectures and other instruction for students of different attainments must have been considerable. In 1889 admission was nominally limited to graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, and this still remains the rule. The general similarity of these two Universities in their system of education, subjects, and standards, has been found to simplify the work of the College as regards both the method and the scope of its intellectual training. But at the same time the [40/41] Principal is at liberty to accept graduates of other Universities, and as a matter of fact there is now practically always one (sometimes more than one) student in the College who has come from some other University. [In the College Register there are in fifty years thirty-three names of graduates of Universities other than Oxford or Cambridge.]

The period of training in the College occupies at the least one year, consisting of four terms, viz. Lent term of nine weeks, finishing on Easter Monday; Easter term of six weeks, finishing with the annual festival on the Tuesday after Trinity Sunday; Trinity and Michaelmas terms of eight weeks each, finishing on the Mondays following the September and Advent ordinations. The lectures are arranged to cover a year's course. No student is admitted for any shorter time, except schoolmasters, College Tutors, and others who could not leave some permanent work for a twelvemonth. The second summer term, covering August and September, is often known as the schoolmasters' term, because such students are received for that term only. The whole year is indeed far too short a time to devote to the special training for the ministry. In any other vocation no one would think of being content with so short a time. And the College presses all its students as urgently as it can to give a longer time. About 30 per cent, of them spend five or six terms: occasionally one or two have given even two years to their preparation. It is true that in considering the length of time which ought to be given to this special training, we should take into account the general training at the University which has preceded it. But even so, it remains as one of the things we earnestly desire for the future that the time of the special training for all graduates who seek Holy Orders should be extended to at least eighteen months, or even two years.

Generally speaking, the greatest difficulty in the way of such [41/42] a plan is the question of expense, a difficulty which will not be removed until clergy and laity alike recognise their responsibility to assist the poorer candidates to meet the cost of the needful training. A minor but still serious difficulty is the unreasoning impatience on the part of both parents and sons to discard all further preparation and proceed to the work of life as soon as possible after the University degree is taken. In many cases this would be overcome if the Theological College course were required of every candidate for ordination; but, still, in not a few cases the means for it would not be forthcoming. The cost of the year's training at Cuddesdon was originally £110, but it was found that this wag not enough to cover the expenses, and the charge was raised o £30 a term, i.e. £120 a year. This payment covers all expenses except washing. Till the year 1903 there was no regular provision for helping the students who could not afford the usual fees. Much, indeed, was done privately by a few old students, who most generously offered their help to the Principal in giving snail exhibitions to those who needed help. In March, 1903, an attempt was made to start a small but constant exhibition fund. The response to this appeal in the first year of its existence remitted in a sum of £248; and to this has since been added tie gift of £1,500 by an old student to form the nucleus of an exhibition fund. It is earnestly hoped that many Cuddesdon men will be glad to show their gratitude to the College by their regular support of this fund for helping others to enjoy the privileges they themselves value so highly.

Before describing the life and discipline of Cuddesdon it will be interesting to give, in the words of the founder himself, his ideal of what the College should aim at and his forecast of some of the dangers which its system might involve. Bishop Wilberforce's primary intention seems to have been that the College should be a training school for the future clergy of his own diocese. [32/43] The work of its officers is described in the Trust Deed as "the instruction of those who are to preach the Word of God in that diocese" (i.e. of Oxford). But no obligation to work in the Oxford diocese was ever imposed upon its students, although, naturally, more have been ordained to titles in that diocese than in any other. [About 10 per cent, of the total number of students have been ordained to work in the Oxford diocese.] The following notes are taken from The Life of Bishop Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 245:--

I. Threefold object of residence here: 1. Devotion. 2. Parochial work. 3. Theological reading.

II. Aids to be given to daily prayer: Opportunities of private seclusion. Constant access at all times to the Bishop and the Principal.

III. Aids in learning parochial work: Schools. Visiting. Sermons. Missionary meetings.

IV. Dangers as well as advantages in collegiate life: The habits of lounging. Waste of time. How such habits will bear upon future ministry. Habits of self-denial to be learned here.

V. The shortness of the residence of some makes the amount of reading necessarily small. Sketch of studies. Scripture. Pearson and Hooker. Apostolic Fathers. Such lectures as may be obtained from occasional lecturers.

VI. Great importance of conduct in the eyes of others--the village and University men.

Cuddesdon men of all times will recognise here many of the moulding principles of the College life. And when the College once started upon its work it is surprising how quickly those who guided it seem to have hit upon the practical methods and details in filling out this ideal, and it says very much for their wisdom and foresight that the lines which they laid down have been altered so very little in the succeeding half-century of growing experience. The sons of the College in these latest days, when they read descriptions of the Cuddesdon life at various times, such as the speech of Mr. Swinny at the festival of 1861; or Bishop King, speaking just after his consecration in 1886 to his [43/44] old Cuddesdon pupils of the years 1859-1873; or Mr. Purse, parting with his men at the festival of 1883; or Mr. Ducat, at his first festival in 1884--cannot help noticing a familiar ring in the words. Those who have known the College longest tell us how little the passing of time seems to change its institutions and its spirit. The exhortation of S. Paul, thn parakataqhkhn fulaxon, which Cuddesdon College has taken for its own motto, applies not only to the deeper things of faith and life, but also to many of the outward ways in which the faith and life have found expression. Without any suggestion of a rigid uniformity, each generation of men has felt its responsibility to preserve and hand on to its successors the best traditions which it itself received, and this continuity of life and tone in the College has done very much to preserve the esprit de corps amongst its members.

The part of Bishop Wilberforce's scheme which has been least realised is the side of practical experience in parochial work. The cause of this is the smallness of the village of Cuddesdon. The students at first were in the habit of paying spiritual visits to the poor in the parish of Cuddesdon and neighbouring villages. This was found unadvisable, and has been quite discontinued. Our present students are encouraged to make friends with the villagers: some of them have shown a much valued kindness to the old and infirm poor in the way of reading to them and visiting them socially. Sunday-school sometimes finds employment for one or two of the students, but this teaching work cannot be said to form a part of the ordinary College course for everyone. Nor is any opportunity given for experience in day- or night-school teaching, as has been the case sometimes in the past. [Mr. Furse, in his report presented to the Bishop of Oxford (1878), mentions catechising of the school children on Sunday afternoons by the students in the presence of the vicar or curate of the parish; also a Sunday afternoon class of country lads held in the College lecture-room, and teaching in the parochial day- and Sunday-schools.] A few of the men [44/45] (at their own choice) assist at a boys' club on Saturday evenings; but otherwise the only relation between College and village is that of a most kindly social interest in one another. In neighbouring villages, as opportunity offered, the students have sometimes held cottage services. Perhaps the greatest help in the pastoral life which the village gives to the College is the insight it offers into the working of a simple country parish. The Principal is also vicar of the parish; indeed, it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise, since the students attend all the parish services. The curate of the village, as Hebrew lecturer, is on terms of personal friendship with the students. The present writer well remembers that, when he was a student, the quiet object-lesson of this well-worked village parish gave him a new conception of the beauty and blessedness of pastoral work which has often been a stimulus and inspiration to him in after days. It is a great thing for Cuddesdon men to see the parish priest's life lived under their eyes before they enter upon the same life themselves.

Inside the College the men attend a course of lectures on parochialia, covering the whole duty of a clergyman both in his church and among his flock outside. But the only regular practical work in which they are trained in their year's residence is the reading of the lessons in church and the composition and delivery of sermons. Each man in his time at Cuddesdon has to preach in church before his fellow-students two written sermons. These must be in matter and style appropriate to an ordinary parish congregation; they are delivered in the church on Mondays and Tuesdays after Evensong. We must not omit, however, from the practical training the lessons in voice-production and enunciation which every student receives in his first or second term, and continues afterwards if necessary. Elocution we do not pretend to teach. The nearest approach to it is the hints and practical advice which the Principal gives to each man when his turn comes for reading the lessons or preaching.

[46] The absence of special practical training--the technical side of clerical work, if it may be so called--though quite unavoidable owing to the position of the College in a village of only four hundred people, may appear to be a drawback. But it has also its great compensations. The English mind, with its love of that which is immediately and tangibly practical, is often impatient of that deep foundation-laying, which although so vitally necessary for solid work and sure progress, does not seem at first sight to bear upon the practical training. In commercial education it hurries on the technical training at the expense of a broad general education. There is a danger of the same thing in the training of the clergy. The foundation--intellectual, moral, and devotional--must be laid sure and deep before the technical education can be of much use. The latter can well wait; it can well be learnt later; the former cannot wait, and must be assured before ordination. And so long as the course at the Theological Colleges is so lamentably short, the main, if not the whole, stress must be laid on this side--the side on which most can be done to prevent the fatal error of treating the routine of work or the details of ritual as the safeguard of a faithful ministry. It is found at Cuddesdon that the brief year is more than filled with this inner preparation for the ministry; and it is perhaps not wholly a misfortune that the impossibility of an elaborate technical training makes it possible to give more time and toil to the training of the mind and soul of those who are about to be ordained. And when they are thus prepared, a well-selected curacy will do the rest. It is there that the Cuddesdon man must learn as a deacon in parish work to complete his College training. Vicars who take Cuddesdon men as curates understand this principle of the College preparation and their own responsibility to carry on its work by careful supervision of their new deacons, so as to make [46/47] the diaconate a time of training for the life of the priesthood to follow.

We may turn now to the College discipline in the narrower sense of the word. Perhaps the first thing that strikes a Cuddesdon student on his arrival at the College is that he has entered into an atmosphere of stricter discipline than he found at the University. Without being in the least a monastic institution, Cuddesdon sets before her sons certain regulations on the basis of which they may frame themselves for a professional life; and a professional life implies the presence of some habits and the absence of others. Some men have said that they felt it at first something like going back to school again. The College tries to qualify this way of looking at the matter by drawing each student to approach the College rules with the sincere desire for self-discipline. The obedience which it asks is the free and hearty consent of the full-grown man, who takes on trust (at first) rules which the experience of others has shown to be helpful in the training of character, and himself imposes them upon himself as his own rules of life.

The College rules are simple and few. They relate for the most part to the disposal of hours for work and devotion. Every student, "unless hindered by sickness or other urgent cause," is bound to attend Mattins in the parish church at 8 o'clock on week-days and Compline at 9.30 p.m. in the College chapel. These are the only daily services for which any regulations are made. He is also "recommended not to absent himself without sufficient cause from Early Communion and Morning and Evening Prayer on Sundays and from the address in the College chapel on Friday afternoons." He is required to sleep in College unless he has obtained leave of absence from the Principal. Further, he is supposed to attend the lectures recommended to him, and to observe carefully the [47/48] hours set down in the time-table for private study. The timetable as at present arranged is as follows:--

Sundays:--

Prime 7.30 a.m.

Holy Eucharist (in Church) 8

Breakfast 8.45

Mattins (in Church) 11

Dinner 1.30 p.m.

Tea 5.30-6

Evensong (in Church) 6.30

Supper 8

Compline 9.30

Week-days:--

Prime 7 a.m.

Holy Eucharist 7.5

Private Meditation (in Church) 7.15

[or in Chapel at 9.30]

Mattins (in Church) 8

Breakfast 8.30

Private Study and Lectures 9-30-1 p.m.

Sext 1.5

Dinner 1.30

Tea 4.30-5

Evensong (in Church) in Winter, 5.0; in Summer . .... 6.45

Private Study 5-7.30

Supper 7.30

Private Study 8.30-9-30

Compline 9-30

Silence after Compline on all days.

On Holy Days, Private Meditation (in Chapel) at 7 (or 9.30); Prime at 7.30; Holy Eucharist (in Church) at 8; and Mattins at 10.

On Thursdays Prime is said at 7; Mattins in Church at 7.15; Holy Eucharist (in Church) 7.45; Private Meditation (in Chapel) 7.45 (or 9-30).

On Fridays, Address (in Chapel) at 5 in Summer; 5.30 in Winter.

N.B.--The Services in italics are those which, by the rules of the College, all Students are required to attend.

[It may be interesting to compare with the above the earliest time-table of the College, covering Trinity and Michaelmas terms, 1854, quoted on pp. 107-8.]

[49] It will be seen that the hours of the day are carefully mapped out. From 2 o'clock to 4.30 is a time of leisure and recreation. Outside this regulation of time the only two express rules are the rule of silence after Compline, and the rule about smoking. How far the former rule goes back cannot be discovered. It is at least as early as 1876 when it appears in the regulations of the College. But there is no mention of it in the earliest timetables and regulations; nor is it alluded to in the descriptions of College life in the troubled times of 1857-8. It has long proved itself to be one of the most beneficial of the College institutions, securing freedom from interruption and distractions, a quiet time for reflection at the close of the day's work, opportunity for private devotions, self-examination, and preparation for the next morning's meditation. Mr. Furse said that the testimonies which he had received from resident students to the wholesome influence of this quiet time confirmed his previous impression that some such discipline was of priceless value to the young man. As regards smoking, from the earliest days there was a regulation which strictly prohibited it within the precints of the College. [See the notice of February 27th, 1855, quoted on p. 109.] But in 1876, when the first of the colonies was established at Wellburne, the students who were sent to live there were allowed by way of compensation to exercise their own discretion as to smoking in their rooms. This permission has been extended to the inhabitants of the other colonies which have been since established, and in 1895 the regulation with regard to the College was relaxed to the extent of allowing students to smoke in their rooms between supper and Compline. This restriction, light though it is, forms a wholesome corrective to any undisciplined habit of smoking, and a real help in self-denial.

We turn now to that side of the College life which is perhaps the most difficult of all to describe, the importance of which, [49/50] nevertheless, can hardly be overestimated in its influence on the men--the social life of the place. The life is in the fullest sense a common life. There are not only the lectures and outdoor games to bring the men together. All meals also are in common. The only things which a Cuddesdon man has to himself are his sitting-room for private reading, and his bedroom for sleeping. All things else he shares in a common life. Many a man would say of himself that he came to Cuddesdon at first with very little enthusiasm or even sympathy for its practice and teaching: that what first drew him on to a deep love of the place and everything connected with it was the subtle, almost indefinable charm of this social life. What visitors seem to notice and remark upon almost at once is the exceedingly happy terms of intimacy and friendship which exist both between the students themselves and between the officers and the students. Men seem so thoroughly to understand one another. The College is not too large to be a happy family, in which each member knows and feels that he occupies a place in the brotherhood. New-comers are quick to fall in with this ready intercourse and friendly intimacy of all with all. Special friendships, of course, exist; but anything like a spirit of clique-forming or any failure to contribute to the common life would be strongly felt as going against the best traditions of the College. There is a spirit of mutual forbearance and readiness to help, a restraint of irritability, and an open, warmhearted cheerfulness breathing through all the social relations, which are, as they should be, the natural fruit of the common devotional life. Men learn to "love the brethren."

The effect on character of this bright side of the College social life is indeed far-reaching. Men at the University live in their own set. Here, though in a smaller society, they are forced to widen their circle of acquaintance, to live on terms of intimacy with men whom before they would have avoided, and learn to [50/51] appreciate the variety as well as the unity of the Christian life. A man is thus brought under the influence of types of character which exercised no power over him at the University because he kept aloof from them. Thus his outlook over the world of his fellow-men is widened, prejudices are removed, a new power of sympathy and appreciation is drawn out from him. He learns not to be repelled at some unattractive foible or infirmity on the surface, but by patient and kindly intercourse to discover the good that lies underneath. It has not infrequently happened that the most unlikely people have made firm and lasting friendships at Cuddesdon. Such an experience draws forth new traits of character which will be of the greatest value to the future priest--genuine fruits of a deepening love towards all men for Christ's sake. Another effect of this kindly intercourse appears in the case of sensitive, reserved, shy men. To escape from an atmosphere of chilling criticism, to feel that they are trusted, and that they can trust others to interpret them charitably, is to these natures like coming out of darkness and cold into warmth and sunshine. The effect is wonderful. They open out and blossom with a new strength, often disclosing a beauty and depth of character quite hidden before. Where men trust one another in this way they can speak freely and confidently, whether in the language of serious rebuke or bantering chaff, or in the communing on the deep things of the spiritual life. Who does not recall with pleasure the happiness of that social life at the common meals in hall, the gatherings in the organist's room after supper, on the football or cricket field, in the quiet walks and talks with friends?

This characteristic of Cuddesdon has been remarked from its early days. Mr. Swinny notices it in 1861. Speaking at the festival of that year, he "attributed much to the common life of the students--the constant, loving, scarce-felt control of men of kindred spirits, an influence which could not be [51/52] found elsewhere." Its charm has never been better expressed than by Bishop King at the festival of 1900: "There is something I feel about Cuddesdon which I cannot quite feel of any other place. It was here that I learned to realise more than ever I did before the possibility of the reality of the love of God and the love of man. Somehow at Cuddesdon the cloud of conventionality which hangs over us so constantly seemed to be lifted off, and we saw something more into the hearts and minds of others. My life here gave me hope of a higher life for myself and a higher life for other people too."

The annual festival plays an important part in the social aspect of the College life. Whatever other aspects it may present to the old student, it is before all these a great reunion of Cuddesdon men. Not only those who were friends here together in past days, but men of every generation are brought together under the common bond of affection for their old College. It is to the whole company of Cuddesdon men something of what the daily life of the place is to each successive generation.

We turn now to the intellectual equipment which the College tries to give its men. A word may be said first about the library. The growth of the library has been for the most part gradual and uneventful. The chief additions to its shelves come from the gifts of students, with whom it is customary to present one or more books on leaving the College. A few books have been presented by authors or publishers. Any important works which the library ought to get at once on their publication are provided out of the general funds of the College. But it has been enriched also by three great benefactions. The Liddon bequest, left to the College by Canon Liddon's will in 1890, was a legacy of £200 to be devoted to the purchase of books of patristic theology. With this money we have bought complete sets of Baronius' Annals (20 vols., folio), and their continuation by Raynaldus (15 vols., [52/53] folio), Tornielli, Annales Sacri (4 vols., folio), and (still in progress) the famous Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (66 vols., folio), the Analecta Bollandiana (27 vols., 8vo., still in progress), the magnificent new edition of S. Thomas Aquinas ("jussu impensaque Leonis xiii., P.M. edita": 11 books in 7 vols., folio, still in progress), and the Benedictine edition of S. Gregory Nazianzen (2 vols., folio). These have been placed in a bookcase in the old chapel (near the place where Dr. Liddon sat, and where his portrait now hangs), with the following inscription:--

HENRICI PARRY LIDDON
E MUNIFICENTIA COEMPTI LIBRI
HOC IN SCEINIO REPOSTI SUNT
JUXTA SEDEM AB IPSO OLIM OCCUPATAM
IMAGINEM REVOCATURI
REVERENDAM JUCUNDAM AMABILEM
PIIS POSTERORUM MANIBUS ATTRECTANDI.

Another munificent gift has come to the library from a part of the legacy bequeathed to the College in 1871 by the Rev. Andrew Beauchamp Starkey (student in 1861). Part of this bequest was spent on the reredos in the chapel, and another part on the fives court. With the rest Migne's Patrologia Graeca et Latina, in uniform binding, was bought for the library. The set is wanting in some patristic works of which the library has other and better editions. It is placed in a bookcase inscribed, "E DONO ANDREAE BEAUCHAMP STARKEY, M.D.CCCLXXI." A third notable gift consists of two bookcases in the upper library, containing books on the foreign missionary work of the Church, called the Willis Memorial Shelves. These were bought with part of the money subscribed in 1898 for commemorating at Cuddesdon the name and work of Mr. Willis. Amongst the books on these shelves is a splendid edition of Walton's Polyglot Scriptures, formerly belonging to Mr. Willis himself, which was presented to [53/54] the library after his death by his brother. Other valuable works which the library possesses are Labbé's Councils (23 vols., folio), with Mansi's Supplement (6 vols., folio), Wilkins' Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae (4 vols., folio), Le Plat, Monumenta Concilii Tridentini (7 vols., 4to), Suarez (27 vols., 4to), the Oxford Library of the Fathers, and of Anglo-Catholic Theology, an almost complete set of Bampton Lectures, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (the last edition, with the supplementary volumes), the Dictionary of National Biography, Dr. Murray's English Dictionary (still in progress), the British Critic (vols. 1-34), Christian Remembrancer (1844-68), Expositor (1887 onwards), Guardian (1847 onwards), Church Quarterly Review (from vol. 1). Generally speaking, the library is exceptionally rich in patristic literature. It possesses in fact, we believe, a complete set of ecclesiastical writers from the first to the eleventh century. The period after this is represented chiefly in Migne. The most noticeable omission here is the works of S. Peter Damian. The greater number of the ancient fathers are in the best folio editions; all the Benedictine editions are in the library. Outside patristic literature the library is by no means completely equipped. The liturgical section is well furnished. The biblical section supplies most of the books which are useful in preparation for Holy Orders, but needs much supplementing. Devotional books and biographies are well supplied. Church history is only moderately represented outside the patristic writings; the same is to be said of Christian evidences and pastoral theology. In all there are between four and five thousand volumes housed in the common-room and the upper library (formerly the old chapel). The question of shelf-room is rapidly becoming a pressing problem.

The lectures given in College at the present time consist of six courses, each lasting through the entire year of four terms. The courses are on Old Testament, New Testament, the Thirty-nine [54/55] Articles, Church History, the Book of Common Prayer, each occupying two lectures per week, and Parochialia one lecture per week.

The Principal lectures on the New Testament, the Articles, and Parochialia. His lectures include a general introduction to the New Testament, to our Lord's life, and to the work and writings of S. Paul. The lectures on the Articles are a general introduction to Theology, dealing with the doctrine of God and of the Incarnation; the doctrine of Grace and Redemption, of the Church and Sacraments, and of the relation of the Bible to the Church and the Creeds. In Parochialia he deals with preaching and visiting and work in Parish Schools.

The Vice-Principal is responsible for the lectures on the Old Testament and Church history. The Old Testament lectures deal chiefly with the theology of the Old Testament. The history and the contents of the separate books are left for students to read up for themselves in the Bible and from recommended books. The first term's course of lectures covers introductory matter, such as the doctrine of inspiration, the history of the canon, and a rapid outline of the literary criticism of the Old Testament, its main established results and their practical significance. In the second term the difficulties of the early parts of Genesis and the patriarchal history are treated of, along with sections on the Names of God in the Old Testament, Messianic prophecy, the doctrine and history of the Covenant. The third term deals with the Law, and especially with the theological teaching of the sacrificial system. The fourth term is spent upon the teaching of the prophets and the sapiential books.

The Church history lectures of the first two terms are occupied with the period from the close of the New Testament canon to the Council of Constantinople. The third term follows the general Church history down to the death of Gregory the Great. The [55/56] fourth term deals with the history of the British, Irish, and English Church down to the death of Wilfrid. The Reformation period of English Church history is included under the Prayer Book lectures. Much of the history of doctrine in the Middle Ages and the period of the Continental Reformation comes under the dogmatic lectures.

The Prayer Book lectures are given by the Chaplain: first term, on Mattins and Evensong, with the Litany; second term, the Holy Communion; third term, the Baptismal and Occasional Offices, and the Ordinal; the fourth (Easter) term being devoted to a short survey of the period of the English Reformation, from Henry VIII. to the Restoration.

In addition to these lectures, tuition is given in Hebrew by the Hebrew lecturer, and the Chaplain gives private assistance in the Greek Testament to those who need it. Occasional lectures are given sometimes by outsiders. We have had lately, e.g., a course of four lectures on educational methods of dealing with children. In private reading the men are directed to give especial attention to the study of the Bible, on which they are recommended to spend four hours a day. At the beginning of each term they are examined in all the lectures of the previous term and in certain books taken in connection with the lectures. The Bishops of Oxford and Rochester have consented by way of trial to accept as candidates for ordination without the ordinary examination students of Cuddesdon (and Wycliffe Hall) who have resided at the College for five terms, and have done satisfactory work in these terminal examinations. We hope that in time other Bishops also will consent to the same arrangement, by which the College course will, under certain conditions, be accepted as a sufficient intellectual preparation for Holy Orders. It covers indeed a much wider field of reading than is demanded by any of the Bishops' examinations, and at the same time the method of [56/57] examining is more prolonged and thorough. It would be a gain to our intellectual training if we could add courses on Christian evidences, natural theology, and Christian ethics. The first two subjects are partly covered by the dogmatic lectures; it must be taken into consideration, also, that most of the men have had some philosophical reading for their University degrees. A separate course on Christian ethics is obliged to give way to more pressing work. The reason for the omission is the shortness of time given to the preparation for Holy Orders.

Comparing the present intellectual training in the College with that of its early days, the chief point of contrast would seem to be that we go less deeply into special parts of the field, but cover the whole area more completely. The lectures of the Michaelmas term, 1854, were as follows. Courses were read on S. John's Gospel, Ecclesiastical History, and Parochialia by the Principal; and on Hooker, Book v., and Pearson, by the Vice-Principal. In Lent term, 1855, the Principal lectured on the Epistle to the Romans, Tertullian de Praescriptione Haereticorum, and the Vice-Principal on the Book of Genesis, Pearson on the Creed, and Hebrew. Other lectures were given during the year on the Acts of the Apostles, the Liturgy, Eusebius, Old Testament, the Book of Isaiah, S. Chrysostom de Sacerdotio, S. Augustine's Confessions, the Articles, the language of the New Testament, and Bishop Sanderson's treatise, de obligatione conscientiae. Mr. Furse, in his report on the College in 1878, gives the following account of the lectures during the period 1873-1878:--

"The subjects of lecture . . . have been, in the Old Testament, the first sixteen books of the Bible, with occasional instruction (intended chiefly for Hebrew scholars) in the Psalms and Minor Prophets; in the New Testament, the four gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, and the Pastoral Epistles; the Book of [57/58] Common Prayer, the Articles, and the history of the three creeds. Two lectures a week are given every term in Church history, divided into periods from the first three centuries to the English Reformation, and in this course of lectures special attention is paid to the mediaeval period, with the view of setting clearly before the students the gradual encroachments of the see of Rome upon the liberties of the Church. During the past year lectures have been given on the evidences, with special reference to modern scepticism." Mr. Furse mentions also instruction in dogmatic theology and parochialia, and special treatises, S. Athanasius de Incarnatione, S. Augustine de Doctrina Christiana and de Catechizandis Rudibus, S. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, and Tertullian de Praescriptione Haereticorum. He speaks also of debates which were held once a term upon questions of practical religion. Subjoined to his report is a lecture list for Trinity term, 1878. From Monday to Friday inclusive in each week three lectures were given each morning (as against two at the present time). On Saturday there was only one lecture. On Wednesday there was a fourth lecture at 7 p.m. The subjects were the Book of Deuteronomy (two lectures weekly), Zechariah in Hebrew (two lectures), elementary Hebrew (two lectures), the Gospel according to S. Mark (two lectures), the Thirty-nine Articles (two lectures), Apologetics (one lecture), Church history (two lectures), Pearson on the Creed (one lecture), Parochialia (one lecture), the Epistle to the Hebrews (one lecture). Besides the special patristic treatises mentioned above, the students have since from time to time been set to read as vacation work S. Cyprian de Unitate Ecclesiae, or S. Vincent of Lerinum's Commonitorium. Latterly these special books have not been included. The Church history of the first three centuries is read partly in the original sources (Gwatkin's Selections from early Christian writers is the text book used), and the Bishop's examinations necessitate some doctrinal patristic reading (part of [58/59] S. Augustine's Tractatus in S. Johannis Evangelium). We have felt that a more detailed reading of patristic literature belongs rather to the period after ordination.

We will bring this chapter to a close by attempting to give some account of the devotional training which the College seeks to offer its sons. It is here in this all-important sphere of clerical training that the University is able to offer but little. This truth has been acknowledged by those on both sides best qualified to speak. What chiefly moved Bishop Wilberforce in his desire to found a diocesan theological seminary was his perception of the inadequate devotional training in the Universities for one who is to be an efficient mover and guide of souls. In the early days of the Theological College movement these institutions were looked upon with a certain distrust by many of those engaged in teaching at the Universities, who thought that it was like casting a slur upon the University life to suggest the need of further training. Bishop Wilberforce found this feeling one of the great difficulties he had to meet in pressing the claims of his College. But he insisted always that there could be no rivalry between the two. At the festival of 1865, in proposing the toast of "The two great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge," he rejoiced to see that the first feelings of suspicion on the part of the University of Oxford towards Cuddesdon had disappeared. "Its goodwill was testified to-day by the presence of heads of houses, professors, and masters in abundance; its old feeling of suspicion arose from a reasonable feeling of jealousy which he himself should have shared if he had been Head of a House instead of Bishop of Oxford. There was an Irish fairy-tale of a 'skreetel' sitting crosslegged on the beam of a barn, and saying to himself, 'To-morrow I shall be fourteen thousand years old,' when lo! a bear comes in to rest for the night. 'If I let this bear stay here,' soliloquises the suspicious elf, 'he may possibly do me some damage,' so he turns him out. [59/60] Now the University is not the 'skreetel,' because it is too big, and Cuddesdon College is not the bear, because it is too small; and, moreover, to make the difference more absolute, 'we have,1 said the Bishop, looking up to the tent above him, 'established ourselves in the barn, and no damage has ensued to anyone.' [Guardian, June 21st, 1865.] The purpose of a Theological College in his mind was to give that devotional training which the University no longer attempted to give. In laying the foundation-stone of the College on April 7th, 1853, he said: "Institutions of this kind, under the direct management of the Bishop, will keep young men together in discipline, will give them parochial experience, and tend to form habits of life for the future clergyman. Far be it from me to say anything in disparagement of our Universities, yet they do not meet the case. They may be very well for those who wish to arrive at abstruse theological learning, but we want something which shall more directly prepare men who have gone through a general education for the practical duties of a clergyman." The same truth was heartily acknowledged from the side of the University by Dr. Leighton, the Warden of All Souls College, at the festivals of 1861 and 1862. On the latter occasion he said that "while yielding to no one in his love for Oxford, he still felt there was a supplementary education required; nor was it only that of the mind, but of the heart and spirit. The habits of ministerial life required to be formed, and it was very difficult to form these at a University. Should the day come when the Universities became still more secular than they are now, the value of Cuddesdon and similar institutions might become even more apparent than at present." [From the Guardian, June 18th, 1862. We have ventured to give these quotations at length, because the feeling is still abroad that for a University graduate the Theological College training is of the nature of a luxury, excellent if possible, but rather unnecessary.] More recently the present Bishop of Rochester, speaking [60/61] in the Upper House of the Convocation of Canterbury, February 18th, 1901, said: "What one feels as Bishop is that when he sees men from the Theological Colleges he can reckon upon something about which he is often painfully uncertain in other cases. One knows that the man is sure to have been taught to say his prayers, that he has learned something about a systematic study of the Bible for spiritual and devotional purposes, and that he has some idea of method and order in life."

To make men feel that the devotional life is the centre of the whole College training and the root of all good in the place, to make them "men humble, thoughtful, careful, patient, and simple lovers of God's truth, lovers of men's souls," [Bishop Wilberforce, at the opening of the College, June 15th, 1854.] to teach them that "themselves first training for the skies, they best will lead their people there," has always been the aim of Cuddesdon as it was the prayer of its founder. The atmosphere of the College life is one of free and yet restrained devotion. In all social relations the consciousness of the devotional life behind makes itself felt; felt, rather than expressed, for there is, as there should be, a certain reserve in talking on religious matters. The ordinary conversation as a general rule is wonderfully healthy, and utterly free from any trace of morbidness, although here, as in any religious society, there is a man now and then whose thoughts and words run too much in a narrow ecclesiastical groove. More rarely a reaction in times of spiritual strain has led to the danger of exaggerated and unrestrained boisterousness. If religion is touched upon in the common talk of the dinner-table and the organist's room it is rather in the way of a passing word or allusion, natural to the theme of conversation, and unaffectedly expressed. One often feels with thankfulness that the naturalness of these touches is an evidence of simple reality in religion. They are neither withheld from a false feeling of shame, nor are [61/62] they forced into the conversation; they come in their proper place, where a religious mind would feel them, and knowing itself in the company and sharing the sympathy of others like-minded with itself, it simply and almost unconsciously speaks its thought. In private conversation of twos or threes men open out their souls to one another more freely and unreservedly; "they that feared the Lord spake one with another.1" Not infrequently men can get help from one another in this way with spiritual difficulties where the College officers could not come to know them and their needs so intimately as a bosom friend of their own age and standing does. The prayer-desk in each man's room, the open chapel and parish church into which men may go at any time to pray or meditate without feeling that they are doing anything peculiar or attracting undesired attention, the quiet example of the best men around them--these teach and help a man to be open and unashamed in his religious exercises, while at the same time the reserve of general conversation will impress on him the need of reverence and restraint in talking about his religion. This devotional atmosphere is one of the most precious of the College traditions, not only because of the help which it gives a man in entering upon a higher spiritual life, but also in itself, because it becomes in turn the atmosphere of his own life when he goes out to his work and helps other men in the same way in which it helped him when he came into contact with it.

The devotional and intellectual sides of Cuddesdon life lie very near to each other. Naturally in the lecture-room intellectual instruction takes the most prominent place. But the fact is always kept in sight that this is only a means--a necessary and invaluable means--but only a means to a spiritual end. Each lecture begins and closes with prayer. The lectures on doctrine have for their aim the intellectual illumination of the great Christian truths, but only as the means of deepening the spiritual [62/63] apprehension of them. The relation of doctrine to worship and morality is always being put before the students. In the Church history lectures is traced the unfolding in history of the doctrine of the Church in Her relation to Her Lord and the Holy Spirit, Her mission and place in the world. In the Bible and Prayer Book lectures the transition from intellectual to spiritual is even more ready and frequent.

In the Friday afternoon addresses the element of intellectual instruction in faith and practice is present, but the devotional and spiritual element is predominant. These addresses or meditations are given by the Principal in the College chapel. Their subjects cover the whole range of Christian teaching. Moral and spiritual difficulties, and the moral or spiritual side of intellectual difficulties, are dealt with; but for the most part the addresses are characterised by deep simple teaching leading on to earnest warning or exhortation. Details of life and conduct are put under the light of great principles; conscience is awakened; undesirable tendencies beginning to show themselves in the College are examined by the test of the highest Christian standard of life, under the shadow of prayer, and in the light of wisdom and experience; appeal is made for common effort to cast them out. A quiet word in season spoken at such a time is found to be far the most effectual way of meeting these difficulties. Instruction is given also in practical spiritual matters, e.g. how to observe Lent, Holy Week, Eastertide, the Ember seasons, or to practise Intercession. Instruction in the simpler and more necessary rules of spiritual life, such as prayer, preparation for Holy Communion, meditation, self-examination, is given privately to each student. These weekly devotional addresses date from the first year of the College life. In the Easter term of 1855 we find the following notice, dated April 23rd, 1855: "A lecture on some point of ministerial duty or moral theology will be delivered weekly in the College chapel." [63/64] In 1858 an account given of the College life in the pamphlet, "Cuddesdon College, by one who knows it," says that the day's work was brought to a close by "the usual Church of England service at nine o'clock in the chapel, concluded once or twice a week by a sermon-lecture bearing more especially on the motives and spiritual preparation necessary for the ministry and the life and conversation which should be aimed at by those ordained." Exactly when the time of these addresses was altered to Friday afternoon is not known. In any case it was before the year 1878 (see Report by Canon Furse, p. 10). They have long been held one of the most valued institutions in the College.

By the practice of systematic and daily meditation the student is taught to carry on for himself the same kind of help which the Friday addresses give him. In a note on the work of the College during its first term Liddon mentions, among other things: "I have given the students rules for meditating and a scheme of subjects for meditation for three weeks; they have been in constant use of these." There is also a notice dated April 8th, 1856, pressing upon the students the need of meditation. When the new chapel came into use in 1875 it was agreed to set apart a regular time for meditation: the time fixed was the first half-hour of the morning's work after breakfast. At the present time those who do not attend the celebration of the Holy Eucharist can use the time (7.10-8 a.m.) for meditation in the parish church. Those who have not made their meditation before breakfast still use the old time (9.30-10). In this way a man is taught to acquire the habit of daily meditation upon the Scriptures. Those who know the priceless value of systematic meditation and also the great difficulties in the way of regular meditation in the midst of parochial work, will realise what a boon it is to the Cuddesdon student to have begun the practice and learnt to know its necessity and its usefulness before he enters upon the ordained life.

[65] The common services of the College have been arranged from the first upon the principle of combining a minimum of compulsion with an abundance of opportunity. Since the first term of the College life the only two services which students have been required to attend have been the Morning Prayer of the Church and an evening service (either Evensong or Compline). At the very first these were the only daily offices at the College. The former was said at 9 a.m. in the Bishop's chapel; [In the year 1855 the hour of this service was changed to 8.30, and it was held in the parish church.] the latter at 9.30 p.m. in the College chapel. A little later, as Evensong was said in church on Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 o'clock, the 9.30 service on those days was composed of the Compline Psalms, and a few collects: within a short time the present Compline service was said in full. Midday prayers were next introduced: and family prayers were said for the servants in the chapel at 7.45 every morning. The full list of services at the close of the first term will be found quoted below on pages 107-8.

Mr. Swinny (appointed Principal in 1859), speaking at the festival of 1861, endorsed the wisdom of this principle on which the common devotional life of the College was based. "He confessed that he came impressed with some doubt as to the desirableness of so great a development of the devotional element as he found established---whether the services were not too frequent, the standard too high. His experience had led him to endorse the view which had been taken of what was required for such a work. It was necessary to set up a mark towards which men should grow: those who grew but slowly towards it perhaps turned out the best."

At the present time students are required to be present daily on week-days at Mattins in the parish church at 8 o'clock (the [65/66] Thursday Mattins at 7.15 is optional) and at Compline in the College chapel at 9.30. On Sundays, in addition to the above, they are expected to attend Evensong in the parish church. Thus it is only at the opening and the closing of the day that the College demands the presence of all her children for common prayer. But at the same time a man is generally made to feel that he must aim at imposing upon himself a higher rule than the College imposes on him. Of course, the differences of aptitude for common prayer, and the differences of earlier surroundings make the growth slower or more rapid in some cases than in others. But a great majority of the men who are ordained from the College would say that Cuddesdon had given them a love which they never lost for some of the lesser hour offices of the Church. Most men get into the way of attending (besides Evensong) Prime (at 7) and Sext (at 1.5) at least three or four days a week by the time they have been at the College a year. A large proportion attend almost every day unless prevented by absence or urgent work. This is the kind of standard which the general practice of the older students sets for the new-comers to see and to aim at attaining.

The Annual College Festival, which has always been held on the Tuesday after Trinity Sunday in every year, is primarily a great common act of thanksgiving on the part of all members of the College past and present, and falls therefore to be noticed in this connection. All members of the College resident in the United Kingdom are invited to be the guests of the College on this occasion. Many of them arrive on the Monday afternoon. On the evening of the Monday a discussion is held on some practical question of the day affecting the work and position of the Church. On Tuesday morning the Bishop celebrates the Holy Eucharist in the parish church. At a quarter to twelve a procession of old and present students and officers is formed on the lawn of the palace garden, and marches to the church, singing Psalm lxviii., Exsurgat Deus: [66/67] "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered." As the procession enters the church, the hymn 242, "We love the place, O Lord," is sung. A sermon is preached, and a solemn Te Deum of thanksgiving chanted. This is followed by a luncheon, to which other guests are invited.

The chief material alteration in the services, since the establishment of the College, has been in the increased opportunities for being present at and communicating in the Holy Eucharist. At first the Holy Communion was celebrated on Sundays and Holy Days only, with a daily celebration for ten days before each ordination. In Lent, 1855, a midweek Communion was added on Thursdays, with a daily celebration in Holy Week (up to Good Friday), and a midnight celebration on Easter Eve. In the octaves of the Ascension and Whit-Sunday there was a daily celebration in the chapel. From the Trinity term of 1855 onwards the Thursday celebration was observed throughout the year. By the time of Canon Furse's report in 1878, a weekly Communion on Tuesday had been added to these. This was continued until 1896, when the great blessing of a daily Eucharist was obtained. On Sunday and Thursday the celebration takes place in the parish church; on other days in the College chapel. The simplicity of the ceremonial at the Holy Eucharist generally comes as a surprise to new students--to some as a pleasant surprise, to others somewhat as a disappointment. Most men expect to find much more. In this respect the services in the College chapel and at the church are exactly the same. The eastward position is taken. . The two Eucharistic lights are burnt at early celebrations. Vestments are not worn. There is, of course, no rule imposed as to Communion or attendance at the Eucharist: but the opportunity afforded of frequent attendance and Communion is deeply valued by the students. Since 1901 a monthly paper has been issued containing suggested subjects for intercession at the daily Eucharist or in [67/68] private prayer. The field of these intercessions is made as wide as possible; it covers not only the work of the Church at home and abroad, but also the needs of the nation and of others in times of great crises. These papers are valuable in many ways. They help to inform and interest the men in the sufferings and necessities of their fellow-men all the world over, and to stimulate them in the practice of intercession. At the same time this united prayer of the College each day without doubt meets with its response from the Giver of all good.

The greatest occasions for the deepening of spiritual life in the Cuddesdon man's year would be the Ember seasons (in particular that before his own ordination) and the Lent term. During the whole of Ember Week the names of those who are to be ordained from the College are read out daily at the Eucharist. The Ember list containing these names is sent also to all old students who desire it. The Friday in Ember Week is always, except in Lent, set aside as a Quiet Day. [The Quiet Day was instituted in 1893. Till then its place had been taken by a course of addresses given on the first three days of Ember Week by an outside Praelector, and the observance of a rule of silence after supper on each day of the week (instituted in 1876).] Ordinary work is suspended: silence is observed from the Compline of Thursday until after Evensong of Friday. Three or more addresses are given by a conductor. Special litanies of intercession for Embertide are provided during the week for the men to use as they have opportunity, and the Litany of the Holy Ghost (from the College Office Book) is said each day publicly. Our nearness to the Bishop enables every student to assist with his prayers and presence at the ordination of his fellow-students who are going into the Oxford diocese, as well as to see how an ordination is conducted.

The Lent term is the Cuddesdon man's greatest privilege during his residence, and also the time of his greatest trial. The season of the year, the increased strain in spiritual effort, and moral [68/69] striving after greater self-mastery, all combine to increase the temptation to give way to weariness and irritability. He discovers the meaning of the text, "My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation." He finds a greater need to exercise self-restraint and perseverance, and much of the blessing of Lent comes to him in the strength of character thus acquired. The term begins with a two days' retreat--a time at once of steadying after Christmas festivities, and of preparation and prayer for the coming Lent. With the approach of Lent comes the call to a higher and more strenuous life. The only difference in the College routine is that an opportunity is given for observing the fast on Wednesday as well as the usual Friday in each week, and that on Friday silence is kept for dinner, and some book (generally on mission work) is read. There is also a parochial week-day Lent service on Thursday evenings, with an address. The Holy Week itself is really an extra week added to the ordinary eight-week term. The regular lectures and work come to an end with the close of Passion Week; the Holy Week itself is entirely devoted to prayer with special study and meditation upon the sacred season. From Palm Sunday until Easter Day the day begins at 7.15 (Prime is said for the servants at 7) with the service of Ancient Mattins for Holy Week. This is followed by a celebration of the Holy Communion in the parish church at 8 o'clock. Then comes breakfast. At 11 Mattins is said in the church, followed by an address, generally a meditation on the epistle or gospel or second lesson for the day, or on one of the Passion psalms. From this time until after None, which is said at 2.30, silence is kept. A biography or a book on missions is read during dinner. At 5 o'clock there is a lecture on the Atonement; at 7 Evensong, with an address on the events of the closing scenes of our Lord's life; Compline at the usual time, 9.30. A continuous chain of prayer and meditation is kept up throughout the [69/70] night of Maundy Thursday. On Good Friday after Ancient Mattins the Reproaches are sung; Mattins and Ante-Communion at 10.30; the three hours' service from 12 to 3; Litany at 5; Evensong with address at 6.30. On Easter Eve at midnight the Easter Ancient Mattins are sung and the church bells ring out a merry peal to usher in the Resurrection Day. The Compline of Easter Day is followed by a solemn Te Deum, and the "Hallelujah Chorus" is played upon the organ. On Easter Monday the College disperses home to the four corners of the country. All this detailed list of services may, to the reader, sound merely wearisome, but that in reality is far from the truth. It is indeed a very great week; such a Holy Week as Cuddesdon men often long for in after years, but which very few of them ever get the privilege of spending again: a week when all other work has been put away, and there are no other duties to distract and fill up the time, but one is free to read and listen and meditate, following day by day the steps of the Saviour as He finishes the great work, entering more deeply into the meaning of all, examining one's own life anew with a fresh insight in the light of the Cross, realising more the awful sternness of the divine holiness and the infinite depth of the divine love, and growing in penitence and self-dedication. It involves a very great effort, but anyone who has given his best to a Holy Week at Cuddesdon will remember the time as a great landmark in the history of his conversion and growth in Christ. Those who watch the College life are thankful to see each year how this sacred season lifts men up to a higher level and supports them there. It is very rarely that a man does not rise to the occasion and receive an abundant reward.

As the student draws nearer to the close of his stay in the College, his thoughts naturally become more centred on the great event before him--his ordination. As soon as he has passed his [70/71] Bishop's examination--which is generally about three weeks before the time of the ordination--and has some free time, he is recommended to the reading of books and the use of devotions appropriate to the time just before ordination. The more immediate preparation for his ordination begins with a retreat, which is always held from the Tuesday evening to the Friday morning in the week before Ember Week. A retreat for ordinands was held for the first time in the December of 1876. It was taken by the Rev. Father Congreve, and was found to be "so blessed in its results" that it was decided to hold one always before ordinations. Besides the guidance of the addresses and the freedom for prayer and meditation, a quiet time such as this offers a much-needed opportunity of finally testing the conviction of a divine call, reviewing the past life (in preparation, it may be, for a first confession), and of consulting a priest of long experience on any difficulties which may still remain in the mind at the end of the College course. As soon as it is known who is to be ordained, the Ember list of names of ordinands is sent to all old students who desire to have it. So, braced by the retreat and cheered by the knowledge of the united body of intercession daily offered on his behalf, the student says good-bye to the College and goes forth to his ordination and his life's work. But the tie which binds him to Cuddesdon is deepened rather than broken when he leaves the walls of the College. He will come back for a few days in the following year for the retreat before his ordination as priest. Then there are two occasions on which he is specially invited to visit his old College again--at the Annual Festival of the College on the Tuesday after Trinity Sunday, and at the Annual Priests' Retreat for Old Students held in October. [This retreat used to begin on the evening of the festival day. But this arrangement was found to be so inconvenient for the College, that since 1878 the date has been fixed in October.] He will know also that he will [71/72] be welcomed at any other time when he can come: and as long at any rate as any of those who were officers at the College in his time remain, he will know that he has in them friends to whom he can always look for help and advice and encouragement in any trouble or difficulty. And it is to be hoped that he will bear with him wherever he goes, not only the thankful remembrance of a very happy and blessed year in his life, but the seal which Cuddesdon has tried to set upon him of a holy, humble, zealous priestly heart.

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