Untitled - Electric Scotland

232 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [CH. x.
George s in the East. It would be easy to name clergy
of views similar to his who might have made far more
sweeping changes in the services of the Church than any
that were made by Mr. King, and who would yet have
retained the enthusiastic support of at least a large section
of their parishioners. It was the misfortune of Mr. King
that his efforts after ritual improvement had the result of
irritating beyond endurance many
of the old-fashioned
parishioners, chiefly of the middle class, who still con
tinued to attend their parish church ; while he had, as he
himself says, no such agencies among the poor as might
have served to attract them by degrees
within the Church s
walls. One of the memorials to the Bishop of London,
adopted in open vestry without a dissentient voice, states
that
"
on account of the religious difference between the
Rector and his parishioners there had not been a single
charity sermon in the church for sixteen years, either
for the National Schools or for the local and medical
charities, although these sermons were frequent before
that time."
It is essential to bear these facts in mind for the proper
understanding of what followed.
From the beginning of his Episcopate Bishop Tait had
been receiving periodical complaints and memorials from
one or other of the parties in the distracted parish, and
the following letter shows that even before his consecra
tion he had been in commurication with Mr. Lowder
upon
the difficulties of his work.
The Bishop-elect of London to the Rev. Charles Lowder.
" MY
"BRIGHTON, Nov. itf/i, 1856.
DEAR SIR, Let me thank you for sending me the
earnest expression of the feelings with which you have under
taken your difficult post in St. George s in the East.