New-York tribune., 1906-11-27
DIR. CRAPSEYS RETIREMENT.

DIR. Crapsey's letter to the Bishop of West
ern New York, withdrawing from the ministry
of the Episcopal Church without waiting for the
execution of the sentence Of suspension by the
ecclesiastical court is written with dignity and
reveals a man of sincerity and deep religious
conviction. He is not a sensationalist or
poser. In perfect good faith he held and ex-
pressed views concerning the immaculate con-
ception of Jesus which he considered to be
within the range Of the permitted liberty of
thinking In the Episcopal Church. He did not
proclaim these views as a controversalist or as
an innoyator but incidentally in an effort to
bring to his people a more vivid conception of
spiritual truth and to help them to live and die
with faith and courage. When challenged to
dsavow these beliefs he declined to play the
hypocrite, and when brought to trial offered to
show that his views accorded with the Script
ure, were widely held by theologians in good
standing, both in the English and the American
branch of the Anglican communion, and were
defensible under an Interpretation of the an
cient formula Of the historic creeds no. more
strained than many other interpretations of the
creeds which are generally tolerated. He was
not allowed to prove these things, nor was he
able to bring his case before the whole Church,
but was condemned for departure from the lit
eraIism of the clergy of one diocese, and the
court of appeal was able merely to pass upon
the technical conduct of his trial.
DR.. Crapsey protests that he never was aware
of any insincerity in his course, and it is evil
dent that he was not. The inSincerity would
have been to conceal or recant his views after
they had become an issue. Now when the
courts decide that his teachings are not permis-
sible-at least in the Diocese of Western New
York-he withdraws in perfect good taste. AS
The Tribune exclusively announced yesterday
morning, he will remain in Rochester, abandon
ing all attempts to exercise priestly functions,
but apparently retaining his membership as
layman in the Episcopal Church. He will con-
tinue to work among the poor. and will write
and speak. probably less in the hope of winning
converts to his theological opinions than of con-
vincng the Church that those opinions are
within the range of permitted liberty of
thought. He urges those who agree with him to
remain in the Church, reminding them that the
judgment of the court affects him only. Some
question is raised as to how this can be. but
when the fact is recalled that the judgment is
merely the prevailing opinion in one diocese
and that many clergymen and professors of
other dioceses offered to testify that DIR. Crap
sey's views We're not hereticaI it becomes clear
that he is right. Liberalism is proclaimed in
one diocese. 1t is still an issue to be settled in
the Church at large, and those whom he eXhOrts
to stand firm may still with good faith toward
their Church await the determination whether
It is an organization bound by sixteenth CEN
tury interpretations of Christian truth as
phrased in the Greek philosophy Of the fourth
century, or is at liberty to reinterpret It's creeds
in the light of new philosophical conceptions
and new scientific knowledge. 1t is the old and
periodically recurring issue between the theories
of the Church a crystallized and as an organic
body, and however it may be determined, or
may think it ought TO be determined, for the
next generation in the Episcopal Church, it is
impossible to withhold from DR.. Crapsey credit
for undoubted sincerity and courage and high
moral purpose.