BISHOP BARNES FIRM.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19941, 30 May 1930, Page 13

BISHOP BARNES FIRM.

RESERVATION MUST CEASE PRISON IF NECESSARY. '(nok ora own . coßßESPomasrr.)' ■ LONDON, April 24. , In a reasoned statement on the Church : dispute in his diocese, the Bishop of Birmingham mokes it clearthat: he will not obey the recent Chancery Court order that he should institute the Rev. Q. .D. Simmonds to the,, benefice; of St. Aidan's, and that he" ..is prepared to go to prison if the order : 'is insisted upon. • He states that in .answer to overtures which have reached him, he said that reservation at St. Aidan's' ntust cease. "Failing such an understand-, ing," he says, "whatever the consequences, I mast" continue to refuse institution." "In, this-.event," Dr. Barnes .pro?, cceds, "the trustees can go again to the Chancery Division of the High -Court. If their appeal caused me to be sent to prison I'should, without complaint, thus serve the cause .of reformed religion." In refusing to permit reservation at ;St. Aidan's, the Bishop wishes, it to ,be understood that he is not only respecting the decision of Parliament, j.but is also' protesting against "the .error that a spiritual presence can be attached to, or inhere in, inert matter." The Church of England, he declares,' i repudiated-all such ideas at the ReI formation. Sound Teaching Needed. ■ In the course- of his statement, Bishop Barnes says: "The disunion , ; within the Church weakened its moral authority-in Birmingham; the prevalence or false sacratnental teaching | alienated thoughtful and -educated [people. Obviously sound > Anglican teaching was needed; and, gradually,' illegal services copied from Roman Catholicism had to be made to cease.

"I went slowly. I did not, even after a year's delay, ask that the practice of reservation shonld cease altogether, because it was not then known now far reservation 'for the sick only* might be sanctioned by the Church and Parliament. But in November, 1926,1 demanded that public reservation of the consecrated elements of Holy Communion should cease, and that also such Roman usages as Benediction, Adoration, and Procession of the Host should be brought to an end. "Most of the clergy showed' friendly loyalty; but some fifteen churches refused my request, and formed the called 'rebel' group. What was I to do with them Pi The incumbents con-; corned wero undoubtedly acting .illegally, in defiance of the solemn Declaration of Assent which, each had taken before being admitted to his . living. Each had sworn canonical obedience to his bishop, in all things lawful and honest; and was consequently false to his oath.

" "Of course, I would have taken legal action against each. At the cost in every case of a very considerable sum, T could have had tho incumbent removed from his living.

"In the.struggle his lawyers might, and probably would, have so arranged matters that he went to prison tot contempt of Court. Such proceedings,, to say the least, would have been nnedifying." Appeal to Law OoutttL Later the Bishop says: "1 confess that I did not sanest that m^issnanaible

body of Anglo-Catholic patronage * trustees, including a Diocesan Bishop, j would abandon the old Hteh Chorea . doctrine of the spiritual independence of the Church and appeal to tha layCourts.

"Such action, aims, in fact, at fore- „ , ing me to . alkw reservation at St-' 'Aidan's, although Parliament,' by » .Vote popular within and without tha - Church, refused to localise resexvatka . - both in £927 and attain in 1998*. \ " "In answer to overtures which hare" ** preached me, I hare said that Taaw- - 'ration at St. Aidan's must, cease. If-* "the patronage trustees or /Chair pre* sentee are willing to assure me that reservation shall .cease.'l will proceed to institute at once. Failing andr an ' understanding, whatever the " conga , quence, I must continue, to xefwa*Mt-\ stitution. . . , »W * ■ "I wish it to V u°d?ratood;|hat. i* 4 toNper« "£ Aidan's, <I am ,-nofe pnly ;re«Mctwß *B% * of Patliamtmt. hut I «■£•]»*£ protesting error titofe : »- * spiritual presence <Mu.be .attaicMd to, " or inhere in; iner4£4aatter. TBmt amor • runs' through .prn£spe, ration, «rf" is common The Church of ideas of this kmd^\Jh> r ßaftmnigfU .*-. "The present elsewhere than in "BJrmtnJßßiWii.f fav* " made it clear that, if reservation-b* ,- conceded" ''as J an administrative -apy- 1 venience, "doctrine*' akin to transab- , h stantiation will "be taught, and devotions to. a spiritual presence assumed to be.associated with,the consecrated elements will be -arranged. ■*»-**- "Mr earnest desire ia to prevent the lodgment of * such doctrines and practices within the English Church*. ]est the faith we profess becomes cotitjuniaated. Tt is essential'to oar continued well-being as a Chun* that w* should preserve a faith worth; toaflH the intellectual, no, lass than .-'.tha moral, respect 0f..-the Englislr- fteopla.

Toning Point in Church** HSsfocr. It is -announced that the patrons of -the living of St. Aidan's, Birmingham, "intend io take a farther step in thai* ' disagreement with the Bishop of BSr- ' mingham, in order to secure what they 1 consider their rights in tho matter. This week's "Guardian," in a «■- .rnent on Dr. Barnes's recent statement, writes:— ■

The document just issued by the Bishop of Birmingham inay veil proro to be a turning <poist in the history of the Church of England. Br. Banes % statement is * masterly exposition ef the case for order and discipline in the Church within, the widest possible limits.

' Many will feel that the Bishop of Birmingham. would have acted more wisely if he had stated his position in Court without necessarily defending the action. By not doing bo, fee has put himself technically "in contempt,** not as a Bishop, but as a subject of the Crown. By appearing in Court, pexswally or by proxy, he would have deno nothing to weaken his position as m defendant of the spiritual independence of the Chureh. By not doing so, he has given all the enemies ef the Establishment an example wherefroat to argue.

On the other hand it may be amid that he' has forced a crisis, in the proper sense of that ill-used word, which had to be faced sooner or later. Hewever comprehensive the Church of England may be., there mutt be some dividing line between Bone and /-Gra-r terbury,oorr r perhaps we ought to say, ■between Birmingham and Truro. " BtT Barnes has offered Dr. Etere a dilemma fom v whlch there in no eneftne. Either the Bishop of Trnrd'aost 'cam v "' the Bishop of prison, or ,tpr ax. Aiaan's,,w*p *S ■ observe his oath &'4bttßsmFX£rfbw£ * will not, we understand, Mtrtt* &*•* ~