Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

VOLUME XV THE NUMBER IX WELSH OUTLOOK Where there is no vision the people perish" NOTES OF THE MONTH IN the death of Dr. Daniel Davies, the late Bishop of Bang-or, the Church in Wales has lost a very sound leader and a wise and far- seeing counsellor. He owed his election to the episcopate partly to the exceptional industry and organising ability which he had shown as a parish priest in the diocese of St. Asaph, and partly to his well-known qualities of moderation, shrewd- ness and sympathetic broadmindedness. He was not a personality that would inspire any great and triumphant enthusiasm, but on the other hand he would never do anything that was likely to rend his church or to alienate any section of it. He only occupied the See for three years and the period was too short for him to have an opportunity of proving that the safe man may develop into a highly effective or even a great bishop. He was never much of a national figure though he was far more interested in national movements and affairs than most people thought. THERE is no doubt but that some of the most important appointments and elections to high offices in the Church in Wales since disestablishment have been open to serious criticism from the national point of view, but when Dr. Davies was elected to Bangor, Welsh Churchmen and non-Churchmen alike all felt that the new bishop was a Welshman to his marrow, that he knew Wales and its life and was in sym- pathy with its ideals and aspirations. Within a few weeks his successor will have to be elected. It is undoubtedly true that at the moment there is a marked dearth of outstanding personalities among the Welsh clergy--of men obviously marked out for leadership. The Church is not alone in this respect. The other religious bodies are more or less in the same position. Still within SEPTEMBER 1928 the ranks of the Welsh clergy there are men who are Welsh scholars, who have done great work for their church and at the same time have con- tributed generously to the general national life, who in all their sayings and doings have demon- strated that they are actuated by a real love for their country and a deep sympathy with its life and activities, and who, above all, have an intim- ate acquaintance with the religious life of the country outside their own church. There are thousands of Welshmen who will watch the elec- tion of Dr. Davies's successor with a great deal more than mere curiosity. Will the electors act under a sense of national and not merely section- al responsibility or will they merely be moved by party interests and social influences? We have al- ways said that the Church in Wales in this gener- ation has an exceptional opportunity of regaining the confidence and even the affection of the people of Wales, but it may very easily lose it and lose it for many generations to come. The election of the new bishop will show us in what direction it is moving. TWO British statesmen stand out from among their contemporaries in virtue of their intellectual attainments-Lord Bal- four, and, as we must now write, the late Lord Haldane. No ministers who have held Cabinet rank in our time can compare with these two in the range of their knowledge or the depth of their reflections. Both derived their great physical and mental powers from energetic Border stock; both have exercised their minds continuously on the ultimate problems of the universe and have com- bined with the life of contemplation an active political career and the discharge of the highest offices in the State. Roughly speaking, Lord Bal-