Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/36

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14
DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN

crepitude. His lordship's appearance was indeed a revelation. In him was found a combination of all that cheerful disposition, mental vigour and agile movement characteristic of men full twenty years younger at their best. The fresh, frank features graced with silvery white side whiskers, above which the lofty brow towered, sparsely flanked with similar adornment, the bolt upright ness of a medium-sized frame, and the general indications of muscular strength were those of a wonderfully well-preserved man. In short, there was a complete absence of the hoariness of age and of waning power—mental and bodily.

In the course of the interview in the Palace library, the Bishop treated with marked incredulity the suggestion one so often hears, that the Church in Wales is an alien Church. “It is palpably false,” he observed, warming to the subject. “Why, we are the oldest branch of the Christian Church in Wales. Take the case of Llandaff, the list of Bishops of this Diocese began early in the sixth century, and Bishops have never ceased to be here since that date. The list or chain continues with unbroken links.” To lend weight to his argument, his lordship produced a recent number of the Llandaff Diocesan Magazine, in which some apparently well-informed correspondent deals at length with the early Church influence in Wales.

The effect of it is to show that the Christian