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DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
out; to adapt herself to new conditions which made unforeseen demands on all her resources; and we are thankful that, during these times of stress and strain, the Diocese should have had the inestimable advantage of your lordship's counsel and guidance…. Your lordship has won more than our confidence and admiration. We believe that in your declining years, so blessed with undeclining power, it will be a comfort to you to be assured that you have won the best gift we can give you, that of our deep and respectful affection…. Most earnestly we pray that the ‘good hand of our God upon us’ may long preserve to your lordship the blessings of good health and undiminished powers, and, to the Diocese, the best gift it can ask—the continuance of your wise and fatherly rule.”

With every semblance of admiration people were wont to speak of Mr Gladstone as the G.O.M. of politics. Remembering that it was he who wisely called the Bishop of Llandaff into office, the introduction of a parallel seems not improper. With what material there has been at his command the author presents a pen-picture of the life of the G.O.M. of the Church in Wales, mindful of the influence he has exerted in its interests, and of the lasting good he is handing on to a presumably grateful posterity.




Approached for an interview on the story of the Church in Wales, the Bishop of Llandaff wrote from Henllan, Narberth, naming a day in the month of September for the purpose. At the time, the author recollects, the prevailing feeling in Wales was one of intense gloom, for but a few days before there had occurred, hard by Cardiff, one of those