Untitled - Electric Scotland

510 LIFE OF ARCHUISHOP TAIT [CH. xvm.
had suddenly joined the Church of Rome, he wrote as
follows :
"LONDON HOUSE, S.W.
"REV. AND DKAR SIR, I heard on Saturday from Mr.
C- that you had ceased to officiate as his curate, and tin-
lamentable cause. FVom what he tells me, I feel that in this
matter you have acted, either with sad precipitation or with want
of straightforwardness, as you ministered in the Church of England
within a very short time of your avowing yourself a convert to
Romanism. The vows of God which were upon you ought to
have made you act differently. Your ecclesiastical superiors were
entitled to he informed of the state in which you found your
mind, and it is right I should tell you that, quite independently
of the fatal errors to which you have given yourself, you cannot
expect God s blessing on a step taken in a manner so unworthy
of its seriousness, and of the position which you occupied as
trusted with grave responsibility by Mr. C- and myself. I
pray that God may open your eyes to make you see the impro
priety of your conduct in this respect, as well as the dangerous
errors to which you expose your soul. Had you opened your
mind to me, as you were in duty bound, I should have done my
best to direct you and if I had failed to satisfy your conscience,
you would then at least have felt that you had taken the right
course in consulting me. Believe me, Rev. and dear Sir, your
faithful servant,
A. C. LONDON."
The facts to which the following letters refer have
been made public in the biography of Frederick Maurice. 1
It was not easy for ordinary men to understand the
delicate sensitiveness which made him think it right, as he
explained in the printed letter prepared for publication, to
resign his incumbency, lest the strong opposition which
he wished to offer to some of the theories of Bishop Colenso
and the Essayists should be supposed to be dictated by a
craven fear lest he should sacrifice his emoluments if he
announced his liberal opinions.
1 Vol. ii. pp. 426-434.
I