THE interest in the questions raised by the Bishop of Zanzibar's
Letter [100 Years Ago, 6 December
2013] is unmistakeable, and the daily press is not slow to take
advantage of it in a slack season. Elsewhere we have felt compelled
to deal with some letters that have been published. In this place
we will do no more than say this. It is quite reasonable to say
that the Church of England has been, in this unexpected way,
brought to a position of crisis, but it is not for anyone to affirm
that we have arrived at the parting of the ways. That will depend
upon the handling of the question which has been forced upon the
Archbishop of Canterbury's attention. His Grace knows as well as
anyone that the present controversy is not the outcome of newly
formed opinions, but is the necessary consequence of giving
practical expression to opinions that have always been held by
those who approve of what was done at Kikuyu. So long as those
opinions were kept in the academic state, it was possible to
preserve the unity of the Church of England, but if Modernists are
to be allowed to fraternize with Unitarians and unbelievers,
Evangelicals with Protestant Dissenters, and High Churchmen with
the followers of Cardinal Bourne, we certainly have come to the
point at which our paths diverge, and we must part company with
each other. What was done at Kikuyu was of a piece with what has
been done at Hereford, as also in some other places on certain,
special occasions. Without committing ourselves to a judgment on
these proceedings on the ground of their being schismatical, we
feel that we are justified in saying that, at least, they are
irregular, and present a great contrast to the more correct
attitude that is maintained by those who happen to be of our own
way of thinking.