The Appointment to Hereford.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 11, 1 May 1918, Page 86

The Appointment to Hereford.

The 'following -extracts : exeriiplify the storm of indignation that ;p has' arisen m England amongst all schools of thought m the Church (except Div Henson's own) with regard to '. his noiriinatiori to the See of Hereford; / The Bishop of Oxford on Jariuary 3rd wrote a long letter of solerilri protest to ; the Archbishop of Cariterbury. " He says ' ' he repudiates again and again, any irisisteriee upon the 'empty tomb,' and declares it to have ho significance. But the empty tomb was an . absolutely necessary condition .of any such resurrection as the New Testament postulates. If the tomb Avas not empty Christ was not, iri the New Testament sense, risen again. On the whole I am. led irresistibly to the conclusion that, though lie nowhere explicitly expresses m so many words his personal disbelief m the physical miracles affirmed m the Creeds, he does m fact regard them as incredible." The "Church Times," as might be expected, is altogether uncompromising:— "The Bishop of Oxford's letter has cleared the position. If the Archbishop and Bishops consent to consecrate Dr. Henson, they will by their action annul declarations solemnly made and repeated. The Bishops will be corporately committed. They will give occasion for suspicion of all solemn public assertions of the clergy m the matter of religion. They will afford excuse to all officers of the Church to treat their solemn declarations on other subjects as 'scraps of paper,' their discipline and authority will de undermined." The correspondence columns of all the Church papers overflow with letters on the subject. The Dean of Canterbury and other leading ' ' Evangelicals ' ' were also strong m protest against the appointment. Iri a leading article m the "Record" Dr. Wace writes very strongly:— "If the Evangelists cannot be believed m solemn statements relating to our Lord's Birth arid Resurrection, what sufficient reliance can be placed upon them generally? That question will certainly be raised respecting . them by ordinary people, arid the very basis of truth m! the Christian fever latiori will thus' be undermined. ' ' . The ' ' Record,' ' judging by- an editorial note m the same number, seems to have changed its first tone of approval. . After referring to the variousprotests the note concludes:— . "Meanwhile the Bishop-elect,main-tains a si>hirix 7 like silence, . even as Temple did.' ./ But times are changed, and Dr. Henson does not seem to be

aware of the deep distress his,. own , refusal !■ to speak is /causing his best < frierids." ,.' "./'! ; /•' ■.. ■■[■< .' '■-;;■ The Bishop of London, m reply to : many letters and to a , Aery largely ■ sign ed memorial, made it krioAvn that ho would not take r any part m Dr. Henson's consecration. • The Bishop of Salisbury also declined and m a - letter to his Archdeacon gives his rea- • sons.; He puts the : .case from the point of view: of ordinary Churchpeople and shows why ; the refusal ' to -,- admit the .truth m. toto: of the Gospel •■ narratives would be so calamitous:—^ "I have no liking or aptitude for / ■ controversy, but I am a country ! Bisliop, ; arid T do know how the faith ; of earnest, if ' unlearned, people is bound up with these ; narratives, the only accounts Aye have' of the facts^ for indeed there are no others— and I am profoundly convinced that when ; : such people hear from their Chief Pastor that the old stories of the Nativity and Resurrection are not ; facts, that, beautiful and tender" as Dean Henson declares them to be, they are not historically true; and, . further, that the miracles they have always believed to have /been' worked hj our Lord were not miracles m the sense they have been accustomed to regard : them, the . result will be disastrous :to the faith of : thousands. Dean Henson, like some others, writes entirely for those Avhose iriinds" are disturbed and. unsettled, but with- • little consideration or sense of ; responsibility towards others whom he is himself disturbing by claiming a finality for critical cohclusioris to Avhich, as. experience ■, has 'shown usj they are by • no 7 means always , en-, titled." ;-, • - 7 Dr. Henson was consecrated on February. 2nd, but most of ; the Bishops of important Sees m the Southern province . refused to take, part. ■-■:"■