Untitled - Electric Scotland

502 LHT; OK AKCHWSHOP TAIT [CH. xvm.
of the parochial clergy. I feel greatly indebted to you for the
trouble you have taken, as well as for all your other efforts for the
good of our poor parishes in London. It is difficult to estimate
the amount of weight which belongs to the various communica
tions you have received, without knowing how far the writers have
been themselves successful under God s blessing in the manage
ment of their parishes ; and this, of course, the confidential
nature of their letters, and the consequent suppression of their
names, prevents me from knowing.
"I was last night, e.g., in a very poor parish in the East of
London, containing a very large population,
where I met between
100 and 200 of the laity, all actively engaged, under the superin
tendence of the clergyman, in the work of his parish. The
opinion of a clergyman who has experience of such a parish would
be peculiarly valuable.
"I have carefully examined the extracts you have sent to me,
and have been much struck with the suggestions made as to the
importance of maintaining the integrity of parochial organisation.
I confess I agree also in the difficulties expressed as to the forma
tion of any body which should bear the name and have the
organisation of an Order, in the sense usually attributed to that
word. . . . You rightly interpret my wishes in saying that I do
not desire myself to suggest such a combined movement in my
diocese. But you are right also in adding that I am ready to
recognise any well-considered plan which receives the sanction of
a considerable body of the clergy. . . . Again thanking you for
the trouble you are taking, I am, my dear Sir, yours faithfully,
11 A. (!. LONDON."
It is impossible in this connection to omit all reference .
to a subject which brought upon the Bishop for many
years an amount of correspondence out of all proportion
to its actual importance. The Rev. J. L. Lyne, who was
ordained Deacon in the Diocese of Exeter in 1860, and
who soon afterwards took the name of *
Father Ignatius/
came after some years to London, where his powers as a
religious speaker, together with the peculiarities
of his
doctrine and dress, attracted great attention. At least
one London clergyman was for a short time associated