CHURCH OF ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 142, 19 June 1925, Page 6

CHURCH OF ENGLAND

BISHOP/ BARNES'S RECENT

SERMON

COMMENT BY THE DEAN OF

BRISTOL

"SIGNS OF VITALITY GREATER THAN EVER." '

•Dr. E. A. Burroughs, Dean of Bris- :. tol, was a passenger from the South torday,.aud is a guest at Bishopscourt. Dr. 1* .Burroughs, was .one of the two delegates „ ;,. from the'Hdiue 'Church invited to the ""'Australian. Church Congress at Mel- ._.; bourne, and is now on his way Home via' New" Zealand and Canada. It is .-:.,•-his --intention to End out air he can ■ about-church life here. Most of Dr. ■ Burroughs's life has been spent-in academic work. He-was a fellow and tutor of Hertford College/Oxford, from 1905 lo 1920, and fellow and chaplain of Trinity College,-Oxford, 1920-21, and from then went to Bristol as Dean. For ■ . the four years before he became Dean, 1917-21, he was one of the chaplains to the King, and was Canon: of Peterborough Cathedral during the same period. ..as well as working at Oxford. .'-'■" NECESSITY 'OF RELIGION.; ■•;- "Having been so long in the ednca- --.. tional world at Oxford, of course the . educational side :.' interests. me very •i much," said Dr. Burroughs to-day, - "and I took the opportunity of visft- •.'- ing. Christ's. College at' Christchurch ■i-i;." yesterday,, .and, I, am, staying at^ the Collegiats School at .Wanganui over the iii. .week-end.' .....'. . ."

■.'-. "In the course of my speech in.Wel- ;■-<■ lington this evening, I am going to 'express a certain amount of amazement that someone from England feels in finding that so progressive a community, as the Dominion of New Zealand was 'unprepared "even-to "allow a. hymn and the Lord's Prayer-to-open the proceedings of the schools under State control, because at Home, at any rate, we are rea.lisijig."more ..and more acutely, especially-in. jacfc-of post-war social developments, the "absolute necessity, of •.:„ ...religion as;. the ground work of "character and citizenship. : The general qiies- - tion of religious education is being re- ~;." ."Opened with very good.hope;, and it seems "to me that something like an ..._ agreed solution which will abolish the present* dnal system '.of- council ..schools rt",T'an*d'.''church "schools,", arid provide; for a more or less uniform and' adequate provision of agreed religious instruction .."« in ..all. .tlid schools, .of' tlie. ..country... ;. ai .,,':'- "In that connection possibly it maybe of interest to mention that I edited .-last--year--a-volume, of.essajs on Education,; .and .Religion jaisijig-jtjiat question' of national religious education," which was contributed to by some of our lead--1~""ing ' educational experts; 'including the headmasters of Eton, Marlborough, and Westminster, and, incidentally Canon "Woodward,. who has just refused the *■'' Bishopric_of Christchurch." --•-'- -----""-• '-V_A point-which-seems-to me■ to need much"'more 'attenti'on'tha'n it has receiv- .-~." fed" is the. evidence provided by the war -.is to 'the vast potentialities of human '-nature-if it is handled;and developed in the right 'way; "and." the right way "involves the presentation of a. great ideal. • During the -wa^, idealism came into its

own, arid.inaterialism'was for tho time

"ii;_~being "a' back"number,—and the results I:;- nmazed-pnd delighted us all. Men prov- '-;.' 1- ed -.themselves capable of. any degree of :.".X self-sacrifice, for. the--good"' of .the:, whole;. ,:.J. but we liave not known how lo preserve the- best spiritual results of the war. The result, is the. confusion and .depression which .jvVare so conscious of to-day, •-■ -and .-which--has its roots -in.' the' return of selfishness. Thero is much point in ■" words" ""used'-by' my distinguished brother Bean, BY. Inge,- of St. Paul's Cathedral,. ;»;.■ in- one of his .'Outspoken Essays',:— CJ..'ldealism :must be;compacted as a religion, for it- is*thc function of religion fbjprevenk the 'fruits of'tlie-.flowering time's, of the "-spirit from being-lost.' " .... NOT PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THE "I -- - : ; FUTURE. .; " ;\- In spite of depressing features on the surface of post-war life, Dr. Burroughs is far from pessimistic about the future. V. : : "Mfsrrecent""travels have" convinced him -afresh that there is in the hearts of '■•■■■'; . men much more readiness to recognise .-■ the force of such arguments than, might appear. Nor would he at air subscribe to the pessimistic view of the state of the .Church, of England■ at Home-"which ap- -.-' pears to have been expressed in a ser- -. mon at "Westminster Abbey by Dr. J3. .W. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham. The cable message stated: "Bishop ,"" : ;Barnes; "preaching- in 'Westminster Abbey, in a remarkable sermon on Catholicism and. Christianity.-said the present state of the Church of England was causing grave anxiety. Anglo-Catholics usual- -..'-. :ly belittled and"derided the value of Re:i a doctrines, ■ .-which they explicitly repudiated in"-articles in which they ' ... openly taught that this new Catholicism ■ " was essentially . reactionary. The de- ■''"'.. cline in number and quality of can- ;•," .' didates for" the ministry was a-- most serious problem, said the.Bishop. With ..' -'.' the grave shortage of clergy the parochial system was breaking down. Differences ,;- •_ within, the Church-wero so acute that in. ,: --- large cities ,the-churches were deeoming congregational,-, not . parochial. As the /quality.of .the clergy declined; their out- ■ "look was becoming increasingly narrow. The best modern theological scholarship was ignored. ■ An official committee put forward non-controversial proposals for the revision of tho Prayer...:book, .but .when the proposals reached the clergy a desire to give a Catholic tarn lo the Prayer-book showed itself. 'We stand at the -cross-roads,' declared tho -..".: Bishop...'-.Wo"have'seen, enough" recently :"" of' the situation within the 'Church to be gravely apprehensive.' " "i)r. Barnes," said the Dean of Bristol, "has had 'a somewhat trying experience since his elevation to the episcopate last year, as the result of a heroic attempt to check the nndiscipline of the extremer. ■"Anglo-Catholic section in his diocese, and this may have coloured his outlook. On the other hand, the passage <l«oted may very well have sounded quite '■"different"" in its full, context. Tho fact remains, too, that Dr. Barnes '"■would not have .accepted a liish- ... ojiric if lie had dispnirtd . oT the fnir.iv of- the Church of England. As Canon of Wpstminsler ami tho lend- .-■;. . ing -authority on scientific subjects in the -,]. V" Chui-ch of Knglan'd (he is a Fellow of ...'.".the Jfo.v.'il Society, ami Doctor of Science • ■ «£. Cambridge),-he vsis-ali-endy "as widely known an any man in Hie Anglican Cnminnuion; and it meant a real sacrifice to liis own 'UiAcs an;l pursuits in accept Iho burden of a diHici.lt dioi-ese. Jl. should count for something that at- a time like this the Church of England could find men of such intellectual dis- .. tine-lion to hold its -bishoprics, and .should have the .courage to appoint as bishops 'im-ri a» fearless in their adhcr- ■- ence to modern idc.l.3 as Dr. Barnes. SfGXS OP G.RE.VrKR VITALITY. ''11. would- be easy to prove thai., in . juany directions'-th'» Church-nf lJujland ,;';:.. ai..'.JToine.- .is -rliu-.vluc. . sio-nUr.: signs 0! -vitality than ey*?.' within living "memory-"- ---.' His'.recefirexperiencs 'w Australia has

further convinced the Dean that the Anglican Communion overseas has a great work .to do in the upbuilding of tho British Empire and the maintenance of its best traditions; and he hopes that one result of his travels may be to enable him to spread information at Home as to the wonderful possibilities of life in the great overseas Dominions.

Dean Burroughs is speaking to-night in Wellington on "The Human Hope," and will deal with the future prospects of humanity, ami the need of a new emphasis on the spiritual side of life.