[29] Guardian2, 28th October 1885.
Every one must be deeply touched by the Bishop of Manchester's sudden, and, to most of us, unexpected death; those not the least who, unhappily, found themselves in opposition3 to him in many important matters. For, in spite of much that many people must wish otherwise in his career as Bishop, it was really a very remarkable4 one. Its leading motive5 was high and genuine public spirit, and a generous wish to be in full and frank sympathy with all the vast masses of his diocese; to put himself on a level with them, as man with man, in all their interests, to meet them fearlessly and heartily6, to raise their standard of justice and large-heartedness by showing them that in their life of toil7 he shared the obligation and the burden of labour, and felt bound by his place to be as unsparing and unselfish a worker as any of his flock. Indeed, he was as original as Bishop Wilberforce, though in a different direction, in introducing a new type and ideal of Episcopal work, and a great deal of his ideal he realised. It is characteristic of him that one of his first acts was to remove the Episcopal residence from a mansion8 and park in the country to a house in Manchester. There can be no doubt that he was thoroughly9 in touch with the working classes in Lancashire, in a degree to which no other Bishop, not even Bishop Wilberforce, had reached. There was that in the frankness and boldness of his address which disarmed10 their keen suspicion of a Bishop's inevitable11 assumption of superiority, and put them at their ease with him. He was always ready to meet them, and to speak off-hand and unconventionally, and as they speak, not always with a due foresight12 of consequences or qualifications. If he did sometimes in this way get into a scrape, he did not much mind it, and they liked him the better for it. He was perfectly13 fearless in his dealings with them; in their disputes, in which he often was invited to take a part, he took the part which seemed to him the right one, whether or not it might be the unpopular one. Very decided14, very confident in his opinions and the expression of them, there yet was apparent a curious and almost touching15 consciousness of a deficiency in some of the qualities—knowledge, leisure, capacity for the deeper and subtler tasks of thought—necessary to give a strong speaker the sense of being on sure ground. But he trusted to his manly16 common sense; and this, with the populations with which he had to deal, served him well, at least in the main and most characteristic part of his work.
And for his success in this part of his work—in making the crowds in Manchester feel that their Bishop was a man like themselves, quite alive to their wants and claims and feelings, and not so unlike them in his broad and strong utterances—his Episcopate deserves full recognition and honour. He set an example which we may hope to see followed and improved upon. But unfortunately there was also a less successful side. He was a Bishop, an overseer of a flock of many ways of life and thought, a fellow-worker with them, sympathetic, laborious17, warm-hearted. But he was also a Bishop of the Church of Christ, an institution with its own history, its great truths to keep and deliver, its characteristic differences from the world which it is sent to correct and to raise to higher levels than those of time and nature. There is no reason why this side of the Episcopal office should not be joined to that in which Bishop Frazer so signally excelled. But for this part of it he was not well qualified18, and much in his performance of it must be thought of with regret. The great features of Christian19 truth had deeply impressed him; and to its lofty moral call he responded with conviction and earnestness. But an acquaintance with what he has to interpret and guard which may suffice for a layman20 is not enough for a Bishop; and knowledge, the knowledge belonging to his profession, the deeper and more varied21 knowledge which makes a man competent to speak as a theologian, Bishop Frazer did not possess. He rather disbelieved in it, and thought it useless, or, it might be, mischievous22. He resented its intrusion into spheres where he could only see the need of the simplest and least abstruse23 language. But facts are not what we may wish them, but what they are; and questions, if they are asked, may have to be answered, with toil, it may be, and difficulty, like the questions, assuredly not always capable of easy and transparent24 statement, of mathematical or physical science; and unless Christianity is a dream and its history one vast delusion25, such facts and such questions have made what we call theology. But to the Bishop's practical mind they were without interest, and he could not see how they could touch and influence living religion. And did not care to know about them; he was impatient, and even scornful, when stress was laid on them; he was intolerant when he thought they competed with the immediate26 realities of religion. And this want of knowledge and of respect for knowledge was a serious deficiency. It gave sometimes a tone of thoughtless flippancy27 to his otherwise earnest language. And as he was not averse28 to controversy29, or, at any rate, found himself often involved in it, he was betrayed sometimes into assertions and contradictions of the most astounding30 inaccuracy, which seriously weakened his authority when he was called upon to accept the responsibility of exerting it.
Partly for this reason, partly from a certain vivacity31 of temper, he certainly showed himself, in spite of his popular qualities, less equal than many others of his brethren to the task of appeasing32 and assuaging33 religious strife34. The difficulties in Manchester were not greater than in other dioceses; there was not anything peculiar35 in them; there was nothing but what a patient and generous arbiter36, with due knowledge of the subject, might have kept from breaking out into perilous37 scandals. Unhappily he failed; and though he believed that he had only done his duty, his failure was a source of deep distress38 to himself and to others. But now that he has passed away, it is but bare justice to say that no one worked up more conscientiously39 to his own standard. He gave himself, when he was consecrated40, ten or twelve years of work, and then he hoped for retirement41. He has had fifteen, and has fallen at his post. And to the last, the qualities which gave his character such a charm in his earlier time had not disappeared. There seemed to be always something of the boy about him, in his simplicity42, his confiding43 candour and frankness with his friends, his warm-hearted and kindly44 welcome, his mixture of humility45 with a sense of power. Those who can remember him in his younger days still see, in spite of all the storms and troubles of his later ones, the image of the undergraduate and the young bachelor, who years ago made a start of such brilliant promise, and who has fulfilled so much of it, if not all. These things at any rate lasted to the end—his high and exacting46 sense of public duty, and his unchanging affection for his old friends.
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1
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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2
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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7
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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10
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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layman
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| n.俗人，门外汉，凡人 | |
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21
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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29
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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30
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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31
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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32
appeasing
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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assuaging
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| v.减轻( assuage的现在分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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arbiter
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| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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41
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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42
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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43
confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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45
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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46
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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