Editing Cosmo Gordon Lang (section)

===Appointment===

In late 1908 Lang was informed of his election as [[Anglican Diocese of Montreal|Bishop of Montreal]]. Letters from the [[Governor General of Canada]] and the [[High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom|Canadian High Commissioner]] urged him to accept, but the Archbishop of Canterbury asked him to refuse.<ref name= L178>Lockhart, pp. 178–80</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Cosmo Gordon Lang Raised to Dignity|work=The New York Times|date= 15 November 1908|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1908/11/16/archives/new-archbishop-of-york-cosmo-gordon-lang-raised-to-dignity-refused.html| access-date=2 August 2009}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A few weeks later a letter from [[H. H. Asquith]], the prime minister, informed Lang that he had been nominated [[Archbishop of York]].<ref name= L178/> Lang was only 44 years old, and had no experience as a diocesan bishop. On the issue of age, the ''[[Church Times]]'' believed that Asquith deliberately recommended the youngest bishop available, after strong political lobbying for the appointment of the elderly [[Bishop of Hereford]], [[John Percival (bishop)|John Percival]].<ref>{{cite news|title= 100 years ago: Dr Lang Raised to York|work=The Church Times|date= 21 November 1908|url= http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2008/21-november/comment/100-years-ago-dr-lang-raised-to-york| access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> Such a promotion for a suffragan, and within so short a period after ordination, was without recent precedent in the Church of England. Lang's friend [[Hensley Henson]], a future [[Bishop of Durham]], wrote: "I am, of course, surprised that you go {{em|straight}} to an archbishopric{{nbsp}}[...] But you are too meteoric for precedent."<ref name= L178/> The appointment was generally well received, although the [[Protestant Truth Society]] sought in vain to prevent its confirmation. Strong opponents of Anglo-Catholic practices, they maintained that as Bishop of Stepney Lang had "connived at and encouraged flagrant breaking of the law relating to church ritual".<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Confirmation of Bishops}}</ref>