Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/411

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THE ARCHDEACON OF LIVERPOOL 359

upon the horns of a dilemma, and looked fearfully disconcerted, as well he might. The audience ob serving this, cheered again and again, and vied with one another in the cry, " Give it to him, Doctor ! " This occurred in 1860, and the incident is still fresh in the minds of the older inhabitants of Liverpool. It should be explained that Mr Bradlaugh had a rather large following in the city, where there existed a Secularist s Society. The Archdeacon therefore has frequently lectured in Hope Hall on "Atheism," "The Evidences of Christianity, or Reasons for Faith," or " Why should We Believe the Bible " ; and, recently, seven lectures in his own church, on Sunday evenings, on " Higher Criti cism," of which he is a sturdy opponent, taking the traditional orthodox view.

Notwithstanding all the numerous engagements which devolve upon him in the Archdeaconry and as parish priest, Dr Taylor is still keenly interested in controversial subjects, and he makes time to sustain his long-standing reputation as one of the principal pamphleteers and thoroughgoing members of the Church Association, whose views he is understood to express with invariable preciseness and accuracy. Every Evangelical movement, great or small, finds in him a very hearty supporter. Per haps one of his greatest joys to-day is that his five sons, one of whom is the President of the Liverpool Laymen s League, largely inherit his love for civil and religious liberty and the principles of the

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