we should like it to be; but its shadows as well as
its brightness are but extensions of the phenomena of the religious
world outside. The divisions of Christendom did not originate in New
Zealand.

With a background furnished by the process just described--a process
constant in character, though moving faster or slower according to the
variety of local conditions--we may now fill in the foreground of the
scene with the few events of the last 34 years, which stand out above
the general level of parochial or diocesan life.

The decade of the 'eighties saw no change in the constitution of the
episcopal bench. From 1877 to 1890 the bishops remained the same. Bishop
Harper passed his 80th year, but continued actively at work; after him
in order of seniority came Bishops Suter of Nelson, Hadfield of
Wellington, Cowie of Auckland, Neville of Dunedin, Selwyn of Melanesia,
and Stuart of Waiapu. All worked harmoniously together, the leading
personality being perhaps the Bishop of Nelson.

A sign of recovery from the exhaustion of the war-period may be found in
the stately churches which now began to rise here and there.
Christchurch Cathedral, after its years of forlorn desolation, rose
slowly from its foundations during the later 'seventies, until in 1881
the nave and tower were completed and consecrated. St. Mary's, Timaru,
was begun in 1880, and its nave completed six years later. St. John's
Cathedral, Napier, was rapidly built and consecrated as a finished
building in 1888. Nothing so artistic or so solid as these edifices had
yet been seen in the country, and nothing equal to them was produced for
many years.

Not only were new churches built: they were filled. A great impetus to
devotion was received in 1885 and 1886 from Canons Bodington and G. E.
Mason, who were sent out from Selwyn's old diocese of Lichfield to hold
missions in Auckland and Christchurch. These able men spent 10 months in
the country, and gave of their best to every place they visited.

In 1889, Bishop Harper gave notice of his intention to resign his
primacy, and, in the following year, laid down his pastoral staff. He
had reached the age of 86 before his resignation took effect, but his
mind was still vigorous, and when relieved of the cares of office he
took up the humbler work of giving divinity lessons in a girls' school.
He was pre-eminently a man of peace, but beneath the placid exterior
there lay an indomitable will. One who knew him well wr