Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/716

 were drawn upon for the text of the Gospels. Wordsworth met satisfactorily all the requirements of palæographical, grammatical, historical, and exegetical knowledge, and his notes and indices became mines of varied erudition. As a preliminary to the substantive publication, certain important MSS. were from 1883 onwards printed in full in ‘Old Latin Biblical Texts’; in this task Wordsworth enlisted the aid of Dr. Sanday and other scholars. Subsequently he associated with himself in his work the Rev. Henry Julian White, now professor of New Testament exegesis in King's College, London. At length in 1889 St. Matthew was published, in 1891 St. Mark, in 1892 St. Luke, in 1895 St. John. An ‘Epilogus’ of discussions and results followed in 1898, the whole forming a quarto volume of over 800 pages. The Acts appeared in 1905; the work is still in progress under the care of Dr. White with the assistance of the Rev. George Mallows Youngman. Before his death the bishop passed through the press a minor edition of the whole Vulgate New Testament, which appeared in 1912. Owing to other occupations Wordsworth in his later years took no large share in the actual shaping of the work, but the materials were mostly of his collection, and he retained a full knowledge of every detail, and in doubtful questions gave the final decision.

Meanwhile Wordsworth had gained high office at Oxford and in the church. In 1877 J. B. Mozley [q. v.], regius professor of divinity, chose him as his deputy, and he served that office for two years. On his lectures as deputy professor he based the Bampton lectures of 1881. Entitled ‘The One Religion,’ they were a development of the ‘testimonium animæ naturaliter Christianæ,’ and a comparison of Christianity with other great religions. Wordsworth was no orientalist, and this is the only book in which he used second-hand knowledge. Nor did Wordsworth venture elsewhere upon the field of philosophy, which as in the case of his uncle Charles was alien to his mode of thought. At the same time the Bampton lectures illustrate his strong interest in missions. He was among the founders of the Oxford Missionary Association of Graduates, and of St. Stephen's House, which was designed to prepare members of the university for mission life. In 1883 Wordsworth's theological learning was recognised by his election to the Oriel professorship of the interpretation of scripture. The Oriel professorship was newly founded, and he was the first occupant; it carried with it a canonry of Rochester, where Wordsworth threw himself heartily into the work of church and cathedral. Two years later Wordsworth was nominated to the see of Salisbury in succession to George Moberly [q. v.]. He was consecrated on 28 Oct. 1885, and was made D.D. at Oxford. Thenceforth his literary work, apart from the Vulgate, was incidental to his new duties. Succeeding to a well-administered diocese, without the problem of an increasing population, he was able to devote much of his time to the general policy of the church. Possessed of a strong will and unfailing memory, combined with a genuine interest in the work of his clergy and an ample generosity, he fully exerted his authority. He made himself an efficient ecclesiastical lawyer, and was fearless in risking litigation, from which in fact his boldness protected him. He was the first to exercise the power under the Pluralities Act Amendment Act (1898), by which a bishop can appoint a curate, at the expense of an incompetent incumbent, to a neglected parish. He also revived the canonical right of examining and rejecting, on the score of insufficient learning, the presentee to a benefice. The diocesan work for which he found widest scope was that of education. Not only did he make great, and often successful, efforts to maintain elementary church schools, but he also concerned himself with higher instruction. He founded and endowed the Bishop's School at Salisbury for the secondary co-education of boys and girls.

In the central counsels of his church, Wordsworth's influence was especially powerful. He was on terms of close intimacy with Archbishop Benson, and his assistance proved indispensable to Benson's successors. He was one of the assessors in the bishop of Lincoln's case in 1889–90, and laboriously studied the relevant law and history.

Wordsworth cherished hopes of reunion of Christendom, and the aspiration stirred his best energies. But he inherited much of his father's strong feeling against Rome; and though he frankly expressed his admiration for its more scholarly representatives, he was always ready to state, in Latin or English, the points of difference and the claims of his own church to antiquity or authority. He was always interested in symptoms of internal revolt in the Roman communion, and watched such growth as might be found among the Old Catholics, especially of Austria. In fact, his range of interest covered the whole area of Christendom