But when
the Bishop insisted that I and the priests who have borne with me and
worked with me and preached with me and prayed with me all these years
should abstain from saying those Masses which we believe and which you
believe help our dear ones waiting for the Day of Judgment--why, then, I
felt that my surrender would have been a denial of our dear Lord, such a
denial as St. Peter himself uttered in the hall of the high-priest's
house. But the Bishop does not believe that our prayers here below have
any efficacy or can in any way help the blessed dead. He does not
believe in such prayers, and he believes that those who do believe in
such prayers are wrong, not merely according to the teaching of the
Prayer Book, but also according to the revelation of Almighty God. I do
not want you to say, as you will be tempted to say, that the Bishop of
Silchester in condemning our method of services at St. Agnes' is
condemning them with an eye to public opinion or to political advantage.
Alas, I have myself been tempted to say bitter words about him, to think
bitter thoughts; but at this moment, with that last _Nunc Dimittis_
ringing in my ears, _Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace_,
I realize that the Bishop is acting honestly and sincerely, however
much he may be acting wrongly and hastily.
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