57 
largely in the same direction in which the Countess had 
broken ground ; its strongholds were found chiefly in 
fashionable places of resort and in considerable towns, its 
adherents belonged chiefly to the middle class, especially the 
upper middle class. The numerous and powerful circle of 
which Wilberforce was the centre was of the same class. His 
most generous and influential supporters were found among 
the highest ranks of commercial life. Thus it resulted, that 
notwithstanding all that had been done by Methodism in its 
various forms, by the Low Church Evangelical movement, by 
the philanthropic efforts of which Wilberforce and “ the 
Clapham sect 33 were the centre, there were left wide spaces 
and important sections of England and English society 
almost untouched by the new life which had flamed so far and 
so wide through the land. Leaving out of account the west 
and south-west of England, there was little sign of earnest 
religious life in any purely agricultural region south-west of 
the Trent ; there was quite as little in the eastern counties ; 
nor was there any more sign of fervency or life in those dis- 
tricts of country north of the Trent where the politico- 
ecclesiastical alliance of the Church and the hereditary landed 
interest was strictly maintained. In short, in the England of 
which Oxford may be said to have been pre-eminently the 
representative — alike in general culture and in political and 
ecclesiastical tendencies — there was no movement of religious 
revival and aggression, whatever amount there may have been 
of steadfast orthodoxy or of religious reverence. 
Now it is precisely these regions of England and the cor- 
responding sections of English life which have at length been 
reached by means of the Oxford High Church movement. I 
am far from meaning to intimate that within these limits only 
that movement has been confined ; I know that it is far 
otherwise. Nevertheless the High Church revival was applied 
first of all to some of the rural parishes, and took hold first of 
some of the sections of society which I have attempted to 
describe, and it took hold of them with authority and direct- 
ness. While elsewhere it encountered organized opposition, 
here, for the most part, it obtained entrance with comparative 
ease, and in these spheres of influence the High Church 
revival has made a powerful impression, whereas the other 
forms of religious life and organization had, for the most part, 
failed to strike any root of power. 
But High Church zeal has besides applied itself to the 
reclaiming and converting of the lowest classes of our large 
towns with great earnestness, and not without success. It 
works more by specific missions, by brotherhoods and sister- 
