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TAIT, ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL (1811-1882)
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See also:TAIT, See also:ARCHIBALD See also: His See also:translation to Canterbury in 1868 (he had refused the archbishopric of See also:York in 1862) constituted a recognition of his work, but made no break in it. His last years were interrupted by illness and saddened by the See also:death in 1878 of his only son See also:Craufurd, and of his wife. If Blomfield had almost remodelled the See also:idea of a bishop's work, his successor surpassed him. Tait had all Blomfield's earnestness and his See also:powers of work, with far wider interests. Blomfield had given himself zealously to the work of church-See also:building; Tait followed in his steps by inaugurating (1863) the Bishop of London's Fund. He devoted a very large See also:part of his See also:time at London in actual evangelistic work; and to the end his See also:interest in the pastoral See also:side of the work of the See also:clergy was greater than anything else. With his wife, he was instrumental in organizing See also:women's work upon a See also:sound basis, and he did not a little for the healthful regulation of Anglican See also:sister-hoods during the formative period in which this was particularly necessary. Nor was he less successful in the larger matters of See also:administration and organization, which brought into See also:play his sound See also:practical See also:judgment and strong. See also:common-sense. He was See also:constant in his attendance in See also:parliament, and spared no pains in pressing on See also:measures of practical utility. The modification of the terms of clerical subscription (1865), the new lectionary (1871), the Burials See also:Act (1880) were largely owing to him; for all of them, and especially the last, he incurred much obloquy at the time. The Royal Commissions on See also:Ritual (1867) arid on the Ecclesiastical Courts (1881) were due to him, and he took a large part in the deliberations of both. Probably his successor (see See also:BENSON, E. W.) was brought into closer relations with the colonial churches than Tait was; but the healthy development of the See also:Lambeth Conferences on the lines of mutual counsel rather than of a hasty quasi-synodic See also:action was largely due to him. On the other hand, Tait was not successful in dealing with matters which called for the higher gifts of a ruler, and especially in his relations with (a) the liberal trend in See also:modern thought, and (b) the See also:Catholic revival. (a) As regards the former, he was himself not a little in sympathy with it. But although well-read, he was no See also:scholar in the true sense, and had neither the knowledge to feel sure of his ground nor the theological insight to perceive the real point at issue. His See also:object in dealing with questions of faith, as in dealing with the ritual question, was primarily a practical one: he wished to secure See also:peace, and obedience to the See also:law as he saw it. Consequently, after his sympathies had led him to See also:express himself favourably towards some movement, he frequently found himself compelled to draw back. He expressed a qualified sympathy with some of the writers of Essays and Reviews, and then joined in the censure of it by the bishops (1861). The same See also:kind of apparent vacillation was found in his action in other cases; e.g., ixl the See also:Colenso See also:case (1863), and in the controversy as to the use or disuse of the Athanasian See also:symbol (1872). It was naturally and widely misunderstood. Some who did not know him thought, or pre-tended to think, that he was a Socinian or a See also:free-thinker. The See also:world at large knew better; but even See also:Temple warned him, in the case of Essays and Reviews, " You will not keep See also:friends if you compel them to feel that in every crisis of life they must be on their guard against trusting you." (b) As regards the second point, Tait was concerned with it during the whole of his episcopate, and above all on the side of ritual, on which it naturally came into most See also:direct conflict with the recognized ecclesiastical practice of the See also:day. He had to See also:deal with the St See also:George's-in-the-See also:East riots in 1859, and the troubles at St See also:Alban's, See also:Holborn, in their earlier stages (1867); he took part as See also:assessor in the Privy See also:Council judgment in the Ridsdale case (1877); he was more closely concerned than any other bishop with the agitation against See also:confession in 1858, and again in 1877. His method throughout was the same: he endeavoured to obtain a compliance to the law as declared by the courts; failing this, he made the most See also:earnest efforts to secure obedience to the ruling of the See also:Ordinary for the See also:sake of the peace of the Church; after this, he could do nothing. He did not perceive how much of See also:reason the " ritualists " had on their side: that they were fighting for practices which, they contended, were covered by the See also:letter of the See also:rubric; and that, where rubrics were notoriously disregarded on all hands, it was not See also:fair to proceed against one class of delinquent only. In fact, if others were inclined to ignore it altogether, Tait could hardly realize anything but the connexion between the See also:English Church and the See also:State. From such a position there seemed to be no See also:escape but in legislation for the deprivation of the recalcitrant clergy; and the Public See also:Worship Regulation Act (1874) was the result. For this Tait was by no means responsible as a whole: some of the provisions which proved most irksome were the result of amendments by See also:Lord See also:Shaftesbury which the bishops were unable to resist; and it must be See also:borne in mind that the most disastrous results of the measure were not contemplated by those who were instrumental in passing it. The results followed inevitably: clergy were cited before a new tribunal, and not only deprived but imprisoned. A widespread feeling of indignation spread not only among High Churchmen, but among many who cared little or nothing for the ritual practices involved; and it seemed impossible to foretell what the outcome would be. But the aged archbishop was moved as much as anybody, and tried hard to mitigate such a state of things. At length, when the Rev. A. H. Mackonochie was on the point of being deprived of his See also:benefice of St. Alban's, Holborn, for See also:contumacy, the See also:arch-bishop, then on his deathbed at Addington, took steps which resulted in the carrying out of an See also:exchange of benefices (which had already been projected), which removed him from the See also:jurisdiction of the See also:court. This proved to be the turning-point; and although the ritual difficulty by no means ceased, it was afterwards dealt with from a different point of view, and the Public Worship Regulation Act became practically obsolete. The archbishop died on the 3rd of December (See also:Advent See also:Sunday), 1882, leaving a See also:legacy of peace to the Church.
Tait was a Churchman by conviction; but although the work of his life was all done in See also:England, he remained a Scotsman to the end. It was the See also:opinion of some that he never really under-stood the See also:historical position of the English Church and took no pains to learn. See also: (1891); A. C. Tait, Catharine and Craufurd Tait (1880). (W. E. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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