RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1277, 4 November 1911, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

"MIRACLES IN TI-iE NEW TESTAMENT." BISHOP OF WINCHESTER AND THE iv'L'V. J. M. THOMPSON. The Bisliop of Winchester (Dr. Tnlhol) writes to the "Church Times" as follows:—

September 7, 1911. Sir,—A brief notice was published in July of the fact that, as bishop of tho diocese to which Magdalen College, Oxlord, belongs, I had withdrawn the license, held by the ISov. J. 31. Thompson as JJcan of JJivinitv.

'The letters of several correspondents have shown mo that 1 ought (alike on my own account and on .Mr. Thompson's) to give some further indication of tho manner and motive of my action. 1 write, therefore, with Mr. Thompson's own concurrence and goodwill, to e.sk you to publish the letter which 1 wrote to him,' and of which 1 sent a copy to the President ol ilngdnlen for use of the college. It will indicate what 1 took to be the nature of my responsibility, and what 1. have and have not done. It will, I hope, shew how very far I am from desiring to stifle or penalise freedom of thought by official action. 1 can truly say that nothing would be more odious to me. Tho question is whether the freedom of a teaching officer of the Church can be unlimited, and, if not, where or how the limit should be drawn. Yours faithfully, Edw. Winton.

The following is the Bishop's letter to Air. Thompson;—

My dear Thompson,—l write, with tho gravest sense of responsibility, about your book, recently published under the "Miracles in ■ the New Testament." The private communications which I have had with you will, 1 hope, have convinced you, if that were needed, not only of my personal regard, but of my desire on every ground" to say and do nothing which may bo wanting in fairness and ccmsidcratawss. I may, therefore, without risk of misunderstanding, at any rate en your part, express myself new more briefly and summarily. I regard the p'.illictaion of your book as a most unhappy step; and it raises, as regards yours; If. a very unwelcome T should desire "lo keep tlio limits of liberty as wide as possible. There is very much in your book which is fiillj within the area of legitimate discussion by believers. The conception of miracle— e.c. may vary with different minds and different times! There is room ngain, as has been lately shown, for devout and free thought about the union of God and man in the person of Christ. But you deal with two matters which are part of (he Creed of the Church, as that has been, within all our knowledge of it, believed. The Church which witnesses to the gTeat and saying truth'of the Incarnation of the Son of Gcid, in which you are yourself a devout believer, has always bc-h>vcd ns part of that truth that lie wa* "born of Iho Virgin 3'iary," and that. ITo was raised and "rose from tho dead the third day," in (he body which had suffered death upon the Cross.

Yo-.i have taken mwii yonraelf, after very few yc.-.rs' inquiry, to 'teach in popular and lueid form, and with groat cs> plieitiM-ss. that those narts of the Creed are not esse;:t ; al to if, and to do so in r-nch a way as lo suggest that they ara indeed false, and harmful to truth and faith. I cannot help saying that this swt.s- to mo t.t be, for an officer of tho Church, in a high degree presumptuous and wrong. If candour is a moral merit, M also ara the cptiiiirisrateiijus, modesty, an<l_ reversnw which would mako a Christian follow the wis? counsel, often given even in tho lesser mutters of literature, and wait long and patiently before he issued on his own autneritv teachings so disturbing and so '.ueecurt. It"our bona fk-.?:--, and your desiro to attract swne v:<o are repelled by the parts of Christian belief in question, rto not seem to mo to give yen any sufficient justification for this oVticn, ' though 1 likeuld dc;.To to th<mi all possible weight in judging your wrsanal attitude. But thiw; things h-rre'if-wirier than noisr.nal Leaving. I should fail in my duty if 1 did rot declare that in my judgment your teachings are (unl'-i-s snbjV-ctivcly fnr individuals) incompatible with the 'faith of tho' Church, ami it 1 did not plainly say that they cught not to be issued by one who hob's, a3 you do, a responsible pastoral pcsition under license from Church authority. This brings mo to what, with a rehietOTico wliiclh i know you will believe to be sincere, 1 condmie to ba my own narticular duly. The by-laws o'f Magdalen which mako it "tho duty of the l>ans ot Divinity to give to tho nndtrgraduatx) members of tho C'd'ege, being members of the Church of England, reli.riciis and tlirologieal instruction." go on to wake it his "duty ... to apply to the Bishop of Vi'in-hester for a liccnsn to eserciso cure of souls within t!ie College, and . . . to exhibit his license to the College." The requirement is, I thin!-:, plainly intriidod to obtain from (lis respoiisiblo trustee of Clum.'h authority a eerliiicnto to the Cello;; 1 that '.he person in ijncstinn is, in his official judgment, nuaiined to discharge, on of the Church, the duties of the office. That cortific-atn is what 1 am now constrained to withdraw. [ shall ec-mimn:iea , .-'> this dceision to tho president: and I hope you will agree that 1 shall do so best by sending him' n copy of this letter.

In acting thus I discharge what, rightly or wrongly. 1 conerivo to l:e my own immediate rs.'ponr-ibllity. T neither claim nor desire, Hint loy decision should bt quoted in any direction as settling further points. You have annealed (o me— for o.\am:i!e— very strongly in the name of that freedom ci : teaching which, cs you hare said, ought to be found especially in academical surroundings. It srbms nlain that, so far as this i? an ac'idr-mical claim, it is for academical ners'ins and bodies to and to acknowledge, within whatever limits they think right. You yourself hold several other posts. I am not called to pronounce any decision upon these. One of them, your Tutorial and Classical Fellowship, will, I am glad to know, be ouiie linfilt.vtul by any action with regard to tho office of Dean of Divinity. May I, in conclusion, express my earnest hope that you will regard my action .is not unkindly taken—upon that indeed T reckon comidomly—but, further, that you may «m'-'dcr if, now and in the days to come, not as tho action of an authority which loves to hamper, or readily interfere, but rather as that of one which, whilo it sincerely desires to tee fr."-.dmoss. freed-im, and movement in roiiaious life, that this must be vestrain-r-d by the single but necessary condition that it docs not impair the inUrrritv or fullness of that sublinw and Divine Fact, to which tho Church has borne, unchanging witness. Believe mo to be. if I may, Yours in sincere regard and friendship, KDW. WINTON.