page 145

Chapter XVIII.
Constitution for the Church of England.

In 1850, busied with the preparation of the Constitution and the harassing cares of government, Sir George Grey was confined to his bed by sickness at Taranaki. He seized upon this brief period of involuntary relaxation to place in tangible shape an idea which had for some time exercised his mind.

A member of the Church of England, though unobtrusive and retiring in his membership as in his ordinary Christian character, it had been forced upon him that the position of that Church within the colony needed an organisation and a framework fitted for the altered circumstances of a new country. As, years afterwards, when in enforced idleness in England, he framed a Constitution for the local self-government of Ireland, so now—when for the moment laid aside from the performance of his ordinary duties—he framed the Constitution for the Church of England in New Zealand under which that Church now lives and acts, and which seems destined to supply the necessary powers and functions for a long and successful existence.

When Bishop Selwyn was finally leaving the colony in 1867, he delivered a farewell address in the Brunswick Hall, in Auckland. For a quarter of a century, Selwyn had been identified with everything that was good and noble in the Southern Hemisphere. His apostolic labours had extended over regions more remote, and to congregations more varied, than those of the Apostle Paul. He page 146was now returning under the order of his Mother Church, to end his days in the diocese of Lichfield.

It had been said that in framing her Constitution the New Zealand Church had departed from her allegiance to the Church of England, and that Selwyn himself might have some apprehension that his conduct would be severely commented upon, if not condemned. Upon these points the Bishop thus spoke:—

"I certainly have no fear in going to England. I go there simply as an obedient Son of the Church of England, and the more so, perhaps, because it has been said that I was an advocate for the severance of the Church of New Zealand from the Mother Church —to make her entirely independent of the Mother Church. I desire to show no such feeling at all. I desire to carry an expression of your opinion that we, as a body of English Churchmen, are as united in feeling to the Mother Church as we should have been if we had remained in our native country. That we have not separated from her in any respect; that we have done everything we could to carry out the liturgy of the Church; and that we have not deviated in any respect from the doctrines of the Church of England. I would now say a few words with regard to the Synod and the Constitution. The speakers who have referred to that subject have mentioned me as the originator of that Constitution. I have the pleasure of saying to you all that there was something more touching in the origin of that Constitution than persons are generally aware of. The first draft of the present Constitution was drawn by Sir George Grey on a sick bed at Taranaki, and it was the fruit of those feelings which come upon the mind in sickness, when a man sets aside thoughts of government and the cares of this world, and knows, as a Christian man, that he has something better to think of than the perishable things of this life. His Excellency has produced what has been of great spiritual benefit to the Church in this country, by giving them at least the outward framework, which is as necessary to inward spiritual life as the body of a man is necessary to contain his soul. And so far are we against setting ourselves against the authority of the Queen, that it was the Queen's own representative who drew out the first draft of the Constitution; and I believe I have now in his handwriting that upon which the Constitution is framed."

page 147

Though not mentioned in the Bishop's speech the original draft of the Constitution, when forwarded to him by Sir George Grey from Taranaki, was, with the letter enclosing it, the subject of deep and prayerful consideration. In reply, Selwyn, as the Bishop of New Zealand, finally stated that he was prepared to adopt the proposed Church Constitution if it were deemed desirable by a large number of the members of the Church of England within the colony.

Upon receipt of this answer Sir George wrote the following letter:

My Lord,—

"We the undersigned members of the branch of the Church of England existing in the New Zealand Islands, beg with great respect, to offer the following remarks for your Lordship's consideration.

"Upon reviewing our present position, we find that we form the most advanced and remote outpost of the Church of England. There have also devolved upon us, in common with many of our countrymen, the important duties of aiding in the foundation of a great nation, and in the moulding of its institutions. At the same time, there are in our immediate vicinity various heathen nations, and even in the midst of us are many native inhabitants of these islands who have not yet embraced the doctrines of Christianity. Moreover, we, the European members of the Church of England, have been collected from many countries, and are settled in widely detached localities; and thus although we are bound together by a common faith, and have common duties to perform, we are united by but few of the usual ties of long and familiar acquaintance, whilst there is no system of local organization which might tend to draw us together as members of the same Church.

"We, therefore, feel ourselves called, from circumstances and from our position, to vast responsibilities, and to the discharge of important duties, whilst we have many elements of weakness around and amongst us. From these causes it is our earnest conviction that a peculiar necessity exists for the speedy establishment of some system of Church government amongst us which, by assigning to each order in the Church its appropriate duties, might call forth the energies of all, and thus enable the whole body of the Church most efficiently to perform its functions. Even with such a system our efforts might at first be feeble, from want of numbers, and from our limited means, but yet we humbly trust that we should labour with such heart and earnestness as become those who desire in the planting here an efficient Church, which may, with God's blessing, promote His service, spread wide a knowledge of the Gospel, and secure the welfare of those vast numbers of our brethren who must hereafter occupy these islands.

"Actuated by these views and wishes, we beg to submit for your Lordship's consideration, and, we trust, for your approval, the outline of a plan of Church government, resembling in many points that which we are informed has proved so beneficial to our brethren in America, and which we should all be satisfied to see adopted here. By providing for the assembling page 148of a general convention, the proposed plan affords also a security for the ultimate establishment of that system of Church government which may be found to be most in conformity with the wishes of the whole body of the branch of the Church of England existing in New Zealand.

"We have felt the less hesitation in submitting these our views to your Lordship, because we are aware that you have long been most anxious to see an efficient system of Church government established amongst us, and that this subject is one which has not only always occupied your own earnest attention, but which you have on various occasions commended to the serious consideration of the members of our Church."

This letter was signed by many hundreds of the leading members of the Church of England in all parts of the colony, and was followed by the establishment of the Constitution of that Church as it now exists, the first general convention of which met shortly before the end of June, 1852.

This work did not end its course in New Zealand, nor were its good effects limited to that colony. The English Church in Canada and in Ireland has practically adopted its provisions. Thus the New World helps the Old.

Among Sir George Grey's visitors at this time when the Constitution of New Zealand and its Church were both being elaborated, and when the plans for the confederation of the islands of the Southern Ocean were yet existing, was Lord Robert Cecil, since then Marquis of Salisbury, the present Premier of England. Lord Robert was a schoolfellow at Eton with Lord Carnarvon, then finishing his University career, which Lord Robert Cecil had thrown up some time previously, having left Christ Church while Lord Carnarvon was still there.

An incisive writer and an earnest thinker, he and the Governor enjoyed many a walk by the seashore in Wellington while discussing the political and social phases of modern life, especially those which affected the future of the British Empire and the British people. When, seven years afterwards, Sir George Grey was recalled from South Africa, Lord Robert Cecil amply returned his hospitality and proved his friendship for his New Zealand host in many ways.