CHAP. XVI.

SETTLEMENT OF THE BISHOP IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. HIS PRIMARY CHARGE.

DAVID'S.

1803 and 1804.

In the autumn of 1803 the Bishop of St. David's took possession of Abergwilly Palace. Situated two miles from Carmarthen, in the vale of Towy, on the edge of the river of that name, amidst meadows of exquisite verdure, skirted by lofty wooded acclivities, this peaceful residence was in perfect accordance with the taste of its new occupant. Its rural beauties and secluded character delighted him, and his love of the picturesque found ample scope in the scenery of the neighbourhood. His predecessor in the see, Lord George Murray, had much improved and beautified the principal apartments of the palace, but it was substantially in great want of repair; and in many respects its defects proved incurable. The passing traveller must not judge of what it was during the occupancy of Bishop Burgess, by the elegant and spacious mansion which now forms the palace. This has been exclusively the work of Dr. Jenkinson, the present

bishop, who has also added much to the beauty of the pleasure grounds by judicious improvements. At the time to which we refer, it was a large, straggling house, cheerful in its appearance, but without any pretension to architectural character and effect.

The year 1803 closed before the Bishop found himself comfortably settled in his new residence. His primary visitation of the diocese took place in the year 1804. During the preceding months he had made himself fully acquainted with its condition, and had anxiously reflected upon the best means of exerting himself for its improvement.

The charge which he delivered on that occasion was equally beautiful and impressive. He touched upon the high responsibility attached to the cure of souls, with the earnestness of one who deeply felt its weight; but he more especially dwelt upon the happiness arising out of the mixture of studious, peaceful habits, and active duties naturally connected with the clerical profession. In dilating on this subject, he had the advantage of speaking from intimate experience. At Winston he had himself acted the conscientious part which he now recommended to others, and had largely tasted of the pure and elevated happiness which he depictured. So faithfully, indeed, does this charge reflect the image of his own feelings, tastes, and predilections, that we shall further the object of this memoir, as a portraiture of his character, by intro

ducing a brief analysis of some of its most interesting and impressive passages.

He makes, at the outset, some striking reflections upon the testimony borne by the experience of all ages to the vanity of every scheme of human happiness which is not based upon religion. He then refers to the witness of the Royal Psalmist to the same truth, and cites various sublime passages in which David declares that in the love, the service, and the favour of God, he found the alone adequate object of his soul's noblest powers and affections. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

For the attainment of happiness thus deeply founded, the Christian minister, he proceeds to prove, enjoys singular advantages. His profession naturally keeps him aloof from the violence of civil discords and contentions, and the law fortunately disables him from those competitions of interest, those hazards of commercial speculation, which tend to fill the mind with uncharitable selfishness and irreligious anxiety. The opportunities for mental advancement and for self-inspection which he pos-sesses, may be improved to the most valuable ends; and if, as is often the case, the scene of his clerical labours happens to be a retired situation in the country, he may convert this allotment of Provi

dence into an additional means of happiness. In retirement all nature assumes new beauties. In this

garden of Eden the voice of God is more distinctly heard than in the din of crowds and cities. The mind here disengages itself from the contagion of earthly cares, and fits itself for the finest exercise of all its powers.

To be employed in the acquisition of knowledge, or in the contemplation of important truths, is not only one of the purest pleasures of which the human intellect is capable; it is also the most permanent, the least dependent upon accidents, and the most worthy of a rational and intelligent na

ture.

The love of knowledge is an original innate principle. For what is mind but the faculty of perceiving knowledge? The pleasure arising from what we did not know before, is, too, as universal as it is innate; is seen in the infant and the savage, in the scholar and the philosopher. It is also as active as it is universal. One man it sends to the utmost bounds of the habitable globe, through the severest extremities of heat and cold, of danger and disaster; another it impels with the same ardent spirit of inquiry, to exhaust, in his laboratory or his study, the vigour of his healthiest days, the flower of his animal spirits, perhaps the very power of his

reason.

Happily for him who devotes himself to the Christian ministry, no other professional study

combines so many of the most valuable parts of learning.

Whatever can in any degree recommend the cultivation of general knowledge, or give value to books, those inestimable repositories of its treasures, may be eminently said to the praise of sacred learning. The antiquary, the philologist, the historian, the moralist, the poet, and the artist, will all find in the study of the Bible, ample stores to interest their respective tastes, and exercise their talents.

But in the vast concerns of eternity how much greater is its value? They that fear God and know the depth of their own sinfulness, and look with awe and terror to the demands of divine justice, will there meet with the most consolatory grounds of hope and confidence in the mercy of God, and motives to gratitude for the means ordained for their salvation.

They who, under the impressions of the merciful goodness of God, hunger and thirst after righteousness, will there find food that will satisfy their longing after divine knowledge, their desire of growth in grace and moral improvement, food that will never fail, but endure unto everlasting life.

The Christian minister derives from the study of the Bible all the interest and pleasure which might be expected from the only authentic history of the first origin of the human race, of the progress of society, the destruction and renovation of mankind, the institution of religion and law, and the revolu