Untitled - Electric Scotland

438 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [CH. xv.
inspired found enthusiastic utterance among those who
were assembled for the consecration of his Church. In
Mr. Lowder s words :
"
It was a day ever to be remembered in the history of the
Mission, whether for the fulfilment of long-indulged anticipations
in the sight of a duly consecrated church, the beauty and solemn
character of St. Peter s, the full attendance of clergy and friends,
or, above all, for the hearty sympathy of the Bishop in the work
of the Mission, and the warm applause which his encouraging
words elicited from the large gathering of friends (about three
hundred)
at the luncheon."
The Bishop s speech, as reported in the Guardian? was
as follows :
" He
had had an intimate connection with the work for more
than ten years, for it was before his consecration that Mr. Lowder
first brought it under his notice. He was of opinion that it would
not do for the Bishop of London, or the Bishop of any other
place, to agree with everybody, for in that case he believed he
would agree with nobody. What a Bishop was bound to have
was a real sympathy with goodness wherever he found it. He
would be unworthy of the office he held if he did not sympathise
with the clergy and the noble-minded ladies who had worked so
hard in this district, which had at one time enjoyed a world-wide
reputation for the bad character of its people, but which, he was
glad to say, was fast losing that . . . stigma. He then alluded to
the high character and worth of Mr. Lowder, whom he looked
upon as one of the principal agents in effecting that
East and West of which he had spoken.
union of the
"Mr. Lowder, in reply, alluded with great feeling to the
manner in which the Bishop had recognised the honesty of their
purpose, and said that he should indeed have felt humiliated if
he had not always conducted himself as he ought to his spiritual
superior. He had always met with kindness from the Bishop,
even when they differed from each other, and when he had felt
it his duty to bow to his Lordship s authority, he had done so in
the spirit of love."
1 See Guardian, July 4, 1866, p. 688.