THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT.* Duna za the ,discussions of
which L'Evangile et rEglise was the centre, a French Bishop described the attitude of the Catholic Hierarchy towards such controversies in summary terms : " Un evOque ne discute. pas ; il ne raisonne pas : il condamne." It is to the credit of the Bishop of Ely that, in dealing with Canon Glazebrook, he should have preferred the way of argu- ment to that of authority. But the latter, though •the less honourable, might have been the safer. For, impossible as it is, it is unassailable ; there is no arguing with authority on its own ground. Theeknglican Via Media attempts to combine the two methods. They do not, however, lend themselves to combina- tion : and those who most respect the episcopal office will be the first to regret the loss of dignity which it has-suffered owing to Bishop Chase's well-meant but ill-judged entrance into a controversy which the wiser members of his Order have declined, and in which his intervention could only have been justified by a success which it has failed to gain. Canon Glazebrook's original statement was so moderate and non-contentious that it would probably have attracted little notice outside the small number of persons interested in theology had it not been for the Bishop's action. This sent The Faith of a Modern Churchman into a second edition ; produced a demand for a French transla- tion; brought the delicate questions with which it deals into public notice; and served the purpose of a large-type advertise- ment of the opinions which it denounced. These results are ambiguous ; religion " "often. fears her friends."
The principle of the symbolical interpretation of the Creeds is not the point at issue. For the English Church, the Creeds are secondary to and based on Scripture (Article VIII.) in such a manner that a method of interpretation which is applicable to the latter is a- fortiori applicable to_ the former ; and the articles of the Apostles' Creed-.which concern the Descent into Hell, the Ascension, and the Resurrection of the Flesh are universally taken symbolically. " The question is with regard to the clauses " Born of the Virgin Mary " and " He rose again [i.e., in the flesh] from the dead." Canon Glazebreok's contention is that " it is permissible for -those who recite the Apostles' Creed to interpret these two clauses symbolically, so long as they hold to the spiritual truths which.they represent." And he reminds us—opportunely, in view of the opening given to-ignorance and fanaticism by certain recent ecclesiastical legislation—that
" There is a real danger that the Church of "England may lose the fine tradition of intellectual freedom and tolerance which has been one of her noblest characteristics ever since the Reformation. For a large and well-organized body among the clergy are urging the Bishops to silence or excommunicate the many thousands of loyal Churchmen- who, yielding to none in their devotion to Christ's divine person, do not believe
or The Letter and the Spirit: a Reply to the Bishop of Ale &Molina • By IL G. Glazebrook. D.D.. Canon of Ely. London : Murray. 15e.]
that the fourth-century has said the last word about the conditions under which He was manifested to the world. If they are banned. or alienated, the loss to the Church will. -not be _less than it suffered when Wesley and his .flock were driven. into the wilderness by the episcopal ineptitude which it is now the fashion to lament. They do not deny any articles of the Creed, but only decline to affirm some of them in the literal sense ; still less do they seek to impose their own.interpretation upon others,- for they desire to live and worship in brotherly concord with all who can say from their hearts that Jesus is the Lord."
It is impossible to compress either.t,he controversy itself, or the complicated and often almost personal detail in connexion with which it comes before us, into the limits of a review. The Bishop's thought. moves rather on theological than. historical lines ; • but Belief and • Creed is perhaps the -best English statement of the traditional beliefs. If, as will probably be the case, it seems to the reader that Canon Glazebrook has decidedly the better of the argument, this.must be attributed not to any special incapacity on the part of his assailant, but to the relative strength of their respective positions. " The evidence is slight," says the Bishop,.speaking of the Virgin Birth. How slight it is difficult to realize till it has been formulated and examined. Not a few readers whose sympathies are rather with tradition than with criticism will find it difficult to accept the arguments by which the traditional opinions•are-defended. " The Bishop's conclusions may be, and probably-are,- correct," they will say, " but he has certainly -failed to -prove them, and his failure prejirdices his cause."
The instinct .of piety is to resist change, and the English mind is • disinclined to. speculation. But at the• Reformation piety survived greater shocks than any with which it is threatened by criticism ; and the intellectual climate changes, though it does so slowly, and creates an atmosphere which affects -these of us who. move with most difficulty among ideas. Conservative theologians. would do well to reflect that the notion of miracle was intended to facilitate belief, not to hinder it. The Virgin Birth, e.g.;-was an attempt .to explain how the Incarnation was possible ; the resuscitation of Christ's crucified , body was an attempt to explain the how of the Resurrection. In each ease the religious truth. is one thing ; the speculative, or theological, explanation is. another. . The latter is human, and varies with the varying thoughts of men. When it becomea an obstacle rather than a help to religion, a difficulty in the way of rather . than a relief to faith, is it not reasonable to suppose that to insist upon its retention is an error at once of principle and of policy, a substitution of the letter that killeth for the spirit which
giveth life ?
Previous page
