CURRENT LITERATURE.
Bishop Selwyn, of New Zealand and of Lichfield: a Sketch of his .We and Work. By G. H. Curteis, M.A. (Kogan Paul and Co.) —One of the most earnest and successful missionaries of our day, George Selwyn was also one of the most distinguished of English Bishops. A strong man in body and mind, utterly free from con- ventionality, or from thoughts of self, and with considerable organising power, the influence he wielded was greater than he could have perhaps justly claimed on the score of mere intellect. No one probably was better fitted for the position he occupied both in New Zealand and the Mother-country. His infinite resources, This unfailing courage, his untiring energy, his facility in ruling ethers, combined on his own part with a habit of obedience,—these were characteristics that would have distinguished their possessor, whatever might have been his career in life. When combined, as in Selwyn's ease, with a zeal due to profound piety, the extraordinary influence he exercised is readily explained. It is perhaps us- necessary to say that a Life of the Bishop was published some years since by the Rev. H. W. Tucker, and that the wife of the present biographer also wrote a " sketch " which, it is now stated, passed through several editions. Mr. Curteis observes, however, that much fresh material has been placed at his disposal, and that many facts are within his own personal knowledge which throw light on Bishop Selwyn's episcopate in England, a period far too slightly delineated in the previous biographies. The present volume, therefore, deals principally with Selwyn's work in the diocese of Lichfield, and with his views on many of the con- troversial questions which have agitated modern Churchmen. The Bishop's courage never carried him into the region of specu- lative thought. We are told, indeed, that he was perfectly able to grasp and to deal with the subtle problems which perplex modern Christendom, but, as he once confessed to his biographer, "he deliberately and firmly, as a man called to action and not to -thought, put all such questions away from him, because he felt a full conviction that no man could live with efficiency two such dissimilar lives at once as those of thought and of action." A mind of that class, while shrinking from discussion, is also averse to change. Selwyn's vote was always given against any attempts to weaken the force of the Church's dogmatic utterances. He objected to any discussion of the Athanasian Creed ; he "esteemed the Board Schools a grave and perilous mistake ;" opposed the University Tests Bill, which was carried in 1871; indignantly remonstrated with Dean Stanley when he admitted a Unitarian minister to Holy Communion in West- minster Abbey ; and was one of the four Bishops who protested against the consecration of Dr. Temple as Bishop of Exeter. Bishop Selwyn knew, as we have stated, where his real power lay, and probably no man of late years has done more for the Church by active work, and by the wisdom that knows how to deal with men. His indifference to appearances is a delightful trait in his character. As a Colonial Bishop, he put his hand to any work without a thought of his dignity ; and the man who could navigate a ship in the Pacific Ocean as well as a sea captain, was as handy when ruling in an English diocese in helping a poor woman to stack her coals :—" Any man seemed instantly to acquire a claim to his respect who did what he could for himself, instead of making use of the ser- vices of other people. Once, when a colonist of rank, desiring to have his three children baptised, wished the ceremony to be per- formed in his house, on the plea that there was no road by which to drive them to church, the difficulty was promptly met by the Bishop, who offered to carry two if the father would carry the third. And even in England, reckless of what Hrs. Grundy might say, he would hardly ever allow his travelling-bag to be carried by any one but himself." The volume is one that deserves to be widely read, for it is rich in interesting material. Mr. Curteis's style is a little laboured, and he sometimes makes the mistake of writing about the man instead of enabling the reader to see him. Mrs. Selwyn's letters, on the contrary, do this in great measure, and they are delightful.
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