G. A. Selwyn, D.D.: Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield

G. A. Selwyn, D.D.: Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield

The life of George Augustus Selwyn has many lessons to teach us. In the position which he was called upon to fill, there were exceptional opportunities which his own natural gifts enabled him to meet in an exceptional way. He showed himself to be not only a devoted missionary and a capable organizer, but a statesman, able to grasp a big situation and to lay wise foundations for the future. As a missionary bishop, he had the care of a specially virile and promising race in the Maoris, and of the other very varied races that inhabited the countless islands of the Pacific. But he had also to provide for the spiritual needs of the colonists who came to his diocese in ever growing numbers, attracted by the rich promise of New Zealand. The claims made upon his time and thought by the colonists, the Maoris and the islanders had all to be met and adjusted, and in the midst of all the urgent demands for the pressing work of each moment, he had to be building up the church of the future. He could not think only of the native Church. His call was not only to be a missionary, to bring the heathen to Christ, but also to lay the foundations of a Church which was to witness to Christ in a x land destined for a great future, as part of the British Empire. He had to consider how black and white could be welded into one nation, and into one Church. His could not be the simple straightforward task of the teacher or the evangelist. Yet he was ever at heart a missionary, animated by a true sense of vocation. There are those whose own life of devotion and service is their chief witness for Christ, their great gift to His Church; but Selwyn was called to do more than witness for Christ by his life and his individual work. His work as an organizer was inspired by a desire for efficiency, for making the best use in Gods service of the men and the money entrusted to his care. But more than this, he had ever before him a vision of what the Church in New Zealand should be in the future. He saw it a Church, founded on the best traditions of the past, able to grow and expand to meet all the needs of the future, in communion with the Anglican Church throughout the world, that Church which he believed by its origin and history to be the branch of the Catholic Church best fitted to the genius of the Anglo-Saxon people. Rooted in the past, throbbing with the active life of the present, ready to meet the great possibilities of the future, the Church was the inspiration of all his efforts. But in his devotion to the whole, he never lost sight of the individual. It is the combination of far reaching xi views with tender care for each individual soul which gives him his special charm and makes him so valuable an example for others. Organization was never to him an object in itself. In the midst of big schemes, struggling with big plans, there was no service however menial that he was not eager to render to any sufferer however humble, there was no task however arduous that he was not ready to undertake. He lived intensely, and though life was to him a constant act of self-surrender, he could rejoice in it and in all that it brought to him of beauty, interest and affection. George Augustus Selwyn had all the advantages of birth and education which would have made a brilliant career in England easy for him. He came of a distinguished family, and his father, a successful lawyer, was in a position to give him every educational advantage. Born in 1809, he was the second of four brothers, who all had brilliant school and college careers. His energy, his capacity for rule, his sympathy showed itself even when he was a boy. His sister says, he was truly the family friend and counsellor, ever ready to help in all difficulties. A specially tender tie bound him to his mother; she suffered grievously from nervous depression and he gave up much time in his holidays to cheering her. By her bedside he probably learned that tender care for the suffering which marked him throughout life. At the early age of seven he was sent to a large preparatory school at Ealing, and from there went on to Eton where he was said to be the best boy on the river, nearly the first boy in 2 learning and the greatest diver in the school. His exact scholarship and his skill in swimming and diving were all alike capacities which helped to fit him for his future life. Very popular in the school and distinguished in athletics, he never neglected his studies. One of his friends says that he seemed to be always preparing himself for some unrevealed future of usefulness. It was the same when he went on to St. Johns College, Cambridge, in 1827, and entered with his usual ardour into both the studies and the sports of the university. Mathematics were very distasteful to him and in the class list of 1831 he was only a junior optime, but he was the second classic of his year. He rowed in the Cambridge boat in the first Oxford and Cambridge boat race. When he left Cambridge, he spent four months in travel on the continent and returned to Eton as private tutor to the sons of Lord Powis. The same energetic life of work and play was continued in his new position at Eton. He it was who persuaded Dr. Hawtrey to draw up rules for bathing and boating on the river. Till then there had been no rules, and the river was considered out of bounds. He wished the boys to have freedom to enjoy the river, but to be obliged to learn to swim before they boated. He himself loved boating and long walks, finding his way across country by a compass; 3 he took part in steeplechases, and so learned to ride horses of all kinds over rough country. Whilst he enjoyed all these varied occupations which were to prove a preparation for the life before him, he had as yet not the slightest idea of going to work abroad. A letter written many years afterwards (1850) to his son shows how uncertain he was as a young man about his future career. I remember that at your age, though I had some desire for the ministerial office I had not any fixed or devoted purpose of heart to undertake its duties, nor any steadfast resolution to frame my life so as to make it a preparation for it. It pleased God that much of the restless energy which then found its vent in mere amusement and running to and fro, as it seemed without point or aim, was a training of which I have since felt the value, to enable me to do the work of an evangelist in seeking out the sheep of Christ that are scattered over a thousand hills. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 60731
Author: Creighton, Louise
Release Date: Nov 19, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English