THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHEEPFOLDS 547

for what divine among us, writing of episcopal proprieties, would think of saying that bishops “must not be given to wine,” must be “no strikers,” and must not be “novices”? We are not in the habit of making bishops of novices in these days; and it would be much better that, like the early Church, we sometimes ran the risk of doing so; for the fact is we have not bishops enough-by some hundreds. The idea of overseership has been practically lost sight of, its fulfilment having gradually become physically impossible, for want of more bishops. The duty of a bishop is, without doubt, to be accessible to the humblest clergymen of his diocese, and to desire very earnestly that all of them should be in the habit of referring to him in all cases of difficulty; if they do not do this of their own accord, it is evidently his duty to visit them, live with them sometimes, and join in their ministrations to their flocks, so as to know exactly the capacities and habits of life of each; and if any of them complained of this or that difficulty with their congregations, the bishop should be ready to go down to help them, preach for them, write general epistles to their people, and so on: besides this, he should of course be watchful of their errors-ready to hear complaints from their congregations of inefficiency or aught else; besides having general superintendence of all the charitable institutions and schools in his diocese, and good knowledge of whatever was going on in theological matters, both all over the kingdom and on the Continent. This is the work of a right overseer;¹ and I leave the reader to calculate how many additional bishops-and those hard-working men, too-we should need to have it done, even decently. Then our present bishops might all become archbishops with advantage, and have general authority over the rest.*

* I leave, in the main text, the abstract question of the fitness of Episcopacy unapproached, not feeling any call to speak of it at length at present; all that I feel necessary to be said is, that bishops being granted,

¹ [On Bishops as overseers, see Stones of Venice, vol. ii. (Vol. X. p. 25); Sesame and Lilies, § 22; Time and Tide, § 72; and Fors Clavigera, Letter 62.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]