7 MARCH 1914, Page 14

CLERICAL MEMORIALS.

[To in Servos or wor "Sncraron."1 Brik—It may, I think, be safely predicted that not much will come of the Memorial about which Mr. Gamble has written to you. It seems to resemble in character and aim the Oxford clerical declaration of 1864 respecting Biblical inspiration and everlasting punishment, issued by way of protest against the judgment of the Privy Council in the Essays and Reviews case, and signed by more than eleven thousand clergymen. When Bishop Thirlwall was invited to regard the number of the signatures as giving the pro- nouncement overwhelming weight, he replied: "I consider them in the light of a row of figures preceded by a decimal point, so that, however far the series may be prolonged, it can never rise to the value of a single unit."—(Life of F. D. Maurice, Vol. II., p.470; The English Church in the Nineteenth Century, by F. W. Cornish, Vol. II-, p. 233.)—I am, Sir. &c.,

C. L. D.