Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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10 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD sador Houghton, where he passed the days in quiet and comfort, seeking recovery. Apparently somewhat improved in health and with the hope of gaining more strength, he undertook, in March, 1929, a trip across the continent through Switzerland to the Med- iterranean where he and Sir Thomas Barlow were to embark on the yacht Asia for a cruise. He arrived in Paris on March 21st and called on General Pershing and attended service at Holy Trinity Church on Palm Sunday, the last service he ever attended. He left Paris the next morning, stopping at Lausanne. Here in the city which had become the enduring symbol of his life, of his greatest contribution to Christendom he died March 27, 1929. The Bishop had copied in a book found in his room the following words of Theodore Roosevelt: The tree should lie where it falls. And so Lausanne became the final resting-place for this gallant, dar- ing, and consecrated soldier and servant of Christ. Bishop Brent, in his lifetime, was honored by many academic bodies and by the governments of several nations. He held three degrees from Trinity College, Toronto, his alma mater-Bachelor and Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity. Honorary degrees were awarded him by King's College, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Glasgow, Columbia University, the Uni- versity of Rochester, Union College, the University of Toronto, and New York University. With humble pride he wore the Dis- tinguished Service Medal of the United States and the ribbons of a Commander of the Order of Leopold of Belgium, Companion of the Bath of England, Officer of the Legion of Honor of France. Considering the activity and fullness of his career as a mis- sionary bishop and Christian statesman, Bishop Brent might be called a relatively prolific writer. Twenty-one full-sized books appear over his name, not counting a sizeable number of pamph- lets, reports, and articles. As Bishop in a great communion in Christendom, and, in the opinion of many, its greatest song as a faithful servant of God, as a friend of humanity, as an apostle of Christian unity, as a prophet of a united world dwelling in harmony and peace, as a spiritual leader of fighting men in wartime, as a gifted preacher, brilliant lecturer and speaker, as one who was truly a man of God, and as President of the First World Conference on Faith and Order, Charles Henry Brent will long be held in honor. There are two types of successful men, the late Bishop Charles Lewis Slattery of Massachusetts once said. One type un- dertakes only such tasks as can be completed triumphantly with- in a definite time. These men announce their reasonable goal, and then, in their own lifetime, attain it. Brent was of the higher type, which dared to gaze far beyond the limits of one man's life, or of the immediate century or age. An adventurer he was on uncharted seas. f Reprinted by the kind permission of the Editor of the Holy Cross Magazine, West Park, New York.l

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 9 as delegate to the League of Nations Conference on Narcotics in 1923 and 19249 acting as chairman of the subcommittee on inter- national affairs at the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm in August, 19253 functioning also as bishop-in-charge of the American Episcopal churches in Europe 1926-1928g and, finally, presiding over the First World Conference on Faith and Order in Lausanne in 1927. The causes of permanent world peace and Christian unity lay especially close to his heart in these postwar years. Repeatedly he preached on these subjects and more and more his public utter- ances became less sermons and more prophecies and fragments of visions. The greatest claim laid upon him during these years, which proved to be the last ten years of his life, was the necessity for a re-united Church. The unity of Christendom, he declared, is not a luxury, but a necessity, and the world will go limping until Christ's prayer that all may be one is answered. From every angle he saw its dire urgency. As a missionary, he saw that a divided Church could not succeed in its task of the conversion of great nations. He had witnessed at first-hand the waste of energy, money, personnel, and the confusion and weakness of competing Christian bodies. As a statesman, he realized that until the Church could give its united witness to the problems of education and mo- rality, social and international justice, the greatest force for righteousness would be lacking in modern life. As a mystic, he saw the matter of Christian unity in terms of the mind of God and set the aim for complete organic unity. His work for Church unity, through the World Conference on Faith and Order, became the major interest in his life. It pos- sessed him and permeated him. It seemed to many during these years that his zeal for unity was leading him to minimize funda- mentals of Christian doctrine. He was criticized for the breadth of his definition of the Catholic Church and especially for his latitudinarianism with regard to Holy Orders. The high point of his life and ministry was, Without any doubt, the First World Conference on Faith and Order convened in Lausanne in 1927, where, as President, he won not only the approval but the admiration and love of the delegates who had assembled from 40 different countries and represented 70 auton- omous Christian communions. His Death The Bishop's last great sermon was delivered in Canterbury Cathedral in November, 1928. It was, prophetically enough, on the subject: The Way to Peace. He was in England at the time to attend the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury. After the ceremony, on the advice of his physician, Sir Thomas Barlow, he did not return to America. He spent the next three months at the American Embassy in London, the guest of Ambas-

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 11 tg QLA :ls ,ii . 1 5,111 ' fx ff., fsj' 3X 6 Q1 Q, ff 'fi ,X 521- we I . ' 'ASQ ., ' vm' lift xi' iii: xxx , . 35 1',',,:'3,j 4. 4- '- 'L fl'-G+ 3. f. M :fi -. M --A .gm- ' 3.15, I 5:-Lnwzll Ll Wilt- I In iaifllp il lg, 1,1 :fi Ja '- 'I 1 1 - I 'O' . ' Ill 'silt' Ia 1- 5 'buhiq mfg I 'K 73' , V flf!i'l!Q:- - T aiiigsrqf' 477:-: 'fA'..51' vimmvn - 'M f' ' hd fe.-aj H.. H5 .,':,,:-:Ski , 'Nfl' fl ltuy, ,5gfvf.i.'s'z'Z ,, Lu If cus .v-C+ , :al ai i im.. -7,-nie---ci' . ' :lu It n'.': tq'hfQln:' ,' I IF '1 L n'lV'lf3s'i'l:54l'2br Fffiiily . 5 g 1 gf A-5. 'Hill lf 1-fhlfimiflg ,, 'T 5 was-f.v.:.-. . ,- '-'ri ,.- a me QTY-ey '-V-Ir, i .. V H I E Cn the first Sunday of the term, the School had the pleasure of hearing a short address delivered by Archbishop dePencier, retired Bishop of New Westminster, B.C., who had just returned from the meeting of the General Synod at Winnipeg. Archbishop dePencier spoke on the theme that to us is given the power to become the children of God, but that before this can be accomplished we must prepare ourselves in three ways, which he outlined to us. The Iirst was that we must give ourselves wholly to God, not only on Sundays, but on every day of the week. The second counsel that the Archbishop gave us, was that we must know ourselves, our dangers and our diffi- culties, as well as our physical and intellectual powers. Thirdly, he said, we must forget ourselves, that we must never be selfish, and as the prime example of unselfish devotion we were reminded of our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross.