26 JANUARY 1918, Page 11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are Often more read,, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] THE HEREFORD CONTROVERSY. [To Tas Beeves or TEE " SPECZATOR."1 Sul,--The real cleavage in the Church of England to-day is not between this party and that, but between those who accept the Principles of the Reformation and those who do not, between those whom Dr. Henson calls " men of the future and men of the past." The Reformation itself was not the assertion or denial of Particular truths, but a new attitude towards truth. The Church of the Reformation looked forwards as well as backwards. She " held it better men should perish one by one Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon at Ajalon."

For this reason she parted from the Church of Rome, the Bourbon among the Churches which " has learned nothing and forgotten nothing."

Dr. Heasen's appointment has not created the cleavage, or even widened it, but it has made the line of division more obvious, and

perhaps it has given to some a clearer perception of their own position. Dr. Henson is " a man of the future," and therefore his appointment is a scandal to those who believe that the mind of the Church, like that of the youthful Lothair, "is already made up on every possible question." It is regarded with different. feelings by others who, while they do not share all his opinions, are, like himself, looking forward rather than backward, and who believe that the words of the Master were spoken to the Church of every age " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."—I am, Sir, &c.,