The papers of Monday published the reply of the Archbishop
of Canterbury to the Bishop of Birmingham's open letter. The reply is written with a beautiful appreciation of the exact value of words. It is, we think, just, and it is precisely what we should have expected from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He begins by condemning the " Unseemly incident " in St. Paul's Cathedral, and proceeds to state his conviction that the Bishop of BirminghaM has exaggerated the adherence of thoughtful people to obsolete Creation theories. He then turns to the Bishop's remarks about " magic " and -" idolatry " in connexion with the Holy Com- munion. He thinks that the Bishop of Birmingham has gone beyond the duty of affirming—" as we all affirm "- that " the doctrineof Transubstantiation is untrue." He feels that the Bishop has wounded " the souls of honest and faithftil English Churchmen " who stand in the tradition of such English Bishops as Andrewes, Ken, Wilson, King, and Bishop Gore.
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