Archibald Tait - Notable Accomplishments

Notable Accomplishments

If Blomfield had almost remodelled the idea of a bishop's work, his successor surpassed him. Tait had all Blomfield's earnestness and his powers of work, with far wider interests. Blomfield had given himself zealously to the work of church-building; Tait followed in his steps by inaugurating (1863) the Bishop of London's Fund. He devoted a very large part of his time at London in actual evangelistic work; and, to the end, his interest in the pastoral side of the work of the clergy was greater than anything else. With his wife, he was instrumental in organising women's work upon a sound basis, and he did not a little for the healthful regulation of Anglican sisterhoods during the formative period in which this was particularly necessary. Nor was he less successful in the larger matters of administration and organisation, which brought into play his sound practical judgment and strong common-sense. He was constant in his attendance in parliament and spared no pains in pressing on measures of practical utility. The modification of the terms of clerical subscription (1865), the new lectionary(1871), the Burials 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 Ritual (1867) and on the Ecclesiastical Courts (1881) were due to him, and he took a large part in the deliberations of both. Probably his successor was brought into closer relations with the colonial churches than Tait was; but the healthy development of the Lambeth Conferences on the lines of mutual counsel rather than of a hasty quasi-synodic action was largely due to him.

On the other hand, Tait was not successful in dealing with matters that called for the higher gifts of a ruler and especially in his relations with (a) the liberal trend in modern thought and (b) the Catholic revival.