DR. BARNES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19154, 10 November 1927, Page 10

DR. BARNES.

ATTACK ON SACRAMENTAL DOCTRINE. COMPARISON WITH PRIMITIVE MAGIC. (FKOM OCR OWW CORBZSPOXDENT.) LONDOX, October 8.

Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham, who recently created some sensation by his sermon at "Westminster Cathedral on the Darwin theory, has again returned to the attack. This time in a sermon at Birmingham ho dealt with the subject of the Sacraments. "It is fatally easy," ho said, "to pass from the idea that. Sacraments serve to reveal God to a belief that through them we can bring God to men, or cause Him to locate Himself in some object or place." Dr. Barnes admitted that Lis sermon would be considered controversial, "but," he declared. "I make no apology. The English .Church will break in pieces unless unity regarding Sacramental doctrine can bo renched. "Moreover," added Dr. Barnes, "unless such unity is based on truth the Church will end by purveying nonmoral, semi-magical beliefs, which are a travesty of Christianity. "The priest-magician from time immemorial has been supposed to possess skill to persuade his god to show his presence or power in some unusual fashion. There are among ourselves to-dlav men and women who pretend that a priest using the right words and acts can change a piece of bread so that within it there is the Real Presence of Christ. - "The idea is absurd, and could be proved by experiment . "If there were a physical change in the bread, chemical analysis would detect it. If there were a s P irltual change, it must surely be possible for man to recognise it by his spiritual perception. I assert that there is no man living who, if a piece of bread were presented to him, could say whether or not it had been consecrated. "it is well-nigh incredible that at (be present day, when experimental .»vchology has become a science there ,'muld be a recrudescence of the sort of sacramental magic which by that science can be demonstrably discredited."