The San Francisco call., 1906-11-26

ROCHESTER,, n. Y, Nov. 25.-Bow-
ing to the will of the church, but re-
fusing to make "cowardly retraction"
of the belief which induced the church
TO terminate his ministry, the Rev.
Algernon S. Crapsey, rector of St An
drew's of Rochester, n. Y, today re-
nounced his ministry in the Protestant
Episcopal church in a letter to Bishop
William David Walker of the western
diocese of New York. In his letter the
Rev. Mr. Crapsey reafhrmed his belief
that the motion of the origin of Jesus,
the son of man, was born without
human father" is without foundation
in history. He aNo asserted that
when I say of Jesus that he ascended
into heaven, l do not mean and cannot
mean that with his physical body of
flesh, blood and bones. he f1oated into
space and has for 1000 years been exist
ing somewhere in the sky in that very
physical body of flesh, blood and bones.
Such an existence would seem to me
not glorious, but horrible"
COUNSELS CLERGY AND LAYMEN
Declaring that he is about to carry
the case to the free intelligence and
enlightened conscience of the world he
counsels the hundreds of clergymen
and thousands of laymen in the
Protestant Episcopal church who have
has not to be dismissed, and to stay
where they are.
Il appeal" he says, from those in
places of authority in the church and
to the great body of people"
He asserted that he does not blame
his judges, and though he bows to their
will and feels that it is final for him,
he says, II am equally certain that 1T is
final for the church When the great
tribunal of free thought has decided
this contention, the men who admin
lister the church on earth will conform
to this decision"
Having let go of the temporary and
unstable Interpretation of the creed,
he declares that he holds more firmly
to the gospel
DIR. CRAPSEY'S LETTER
In his letter, the Rev. DR.. Crapsey
says:
Under existing conditions I deem it
nay duty to make formal and final
Protestant Episcopal church, and in
consequence 1 ask that you will, for
reasons as to time already given. not
earlier than the Sd, not later than the
9Th of December, take order under
canon 313 of the general canonS of the
church to accomplish my deposition
from the priesthood.
! am certain that you will be glad
to acknowledge that / am not COM
PEELED to this action by anything that
centers on my moral integrity or calls
in question my faithfulness as a pas
tor. Ny sole difficulty lies in the fact
that a long, careful and conscientious
study of the Holy Scriptures has com
pelled me to come to certain conclu-
sionSf concerning the natal history
of Jesus which are not in physical ac-
cord with the letter of the creeds, and
since have compelled me in the order
to heed the creeds to give to certain
articles an Interpretation that will har-
monize them with the truth as l find
that truth in the teaching of the Holy
Scriptures.
But the recent judicial decisions
have declared that any such harmon
victions of the truth is not permissi-
BILE in the Protestant Episcopal church.
In my own case / recognize the right
of the constituted authorities of the
tation, and in order to hold fast to the
truth must let go OF the creed as now
interpreted by the courts. / am not
now and never have been conscious of
any insincerity in giving such inter-
pretations to the various articles of the
creed as are demanded by present con-
ditions of thought and the present
state of knowledge, any more than 1
am conscious of inSincerity when /
say the sun rises and sets, though as
a matter of fact the sun does nothing
of the kind
SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION
If I am to hold the creed at all 1
must give to certain, If not all, of its
articles a spiritual rather than lit
orally heretical Interpretation.
When l say of Jesus that he ascend
ed into heaven do not mean and can
not mean that with his physical body
of flesh, blood and bones he f1oated into
space and has for 1000 years been ex-
listing somewhere in the sky in that
very physical body of flesh, blood and
bones. Such an existence would seem
to be not glorious, but horrible, and
such a conception is to me not only
unbelievable, it is unthinkable. What
l do mean by this phrase is that Jesus,
having accomplished his work in the
| flesh, ascended into the higher life of
the spirit. Also, when / say of Jesus
that he was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, / do
not mean that the great and living
God in order to get into this world,
had to violate his wonderful law of
human generation, break into sancti-
ties of marriage and cause a son of
man to be born without a human
nant to my ideal of a wise and holy
| God. I was not, therefore, alarmed-I
was relieved, when a careful study of
/ the Holy Scriptures convinced me that
this notion of the origin of Jesus was
without foundation In history
Jesus was not lessened in my wor-
ship. He was ennobled by this discov-
| cry. When 1 reached the conclusion,
as / did some years ago, that the in
fancy stories were not historical did
not cease to believe in Jesus. be-
sah- A,btar c1eor <~o-,