THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH ON "CHRISTIANITY AND FREETHOUGHT."

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3842, 22 April 1881, Page 1

THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH ON " CHRISTIANITY AND FREETHOUGHT."

I now trust that we hare disposed—l hope you will think fairly—of that prejudice which lies upon the 1 Tery threshold of our inquiry, that Christianity id opposed to Freethought.—lf Freethought mean freedom as opposed to necessity, Religion does not-deny this; it asserts it. If it. mean freedom as opposed to authority, Religion does not create a contradiction between the idea of freedom and the idea of authority; and it is just as easy to reconcile the fact of freedom and authority in Christianity as it is in the State or in Society. And if by freedom of thought you mean thought without consequences, there--is no such thing either in Society or in Nature, and therefore you have no right to expect that it should exist in Christianity. Therefore we do maintain/that in all that is really , implied in the word. " Freethpught, ''' Christianity is not that which denies it,_. but that which asserts it. Christianity "is tnat -which - gives you back , the reality of freeaonv-

although it gives you back with it the awful responsibilities of freedom. Christianity is that which gives you a possible escape from the soulless despotism of material law, in the merciful will of a loving Father. Christianity is that which prophecies for you a time when the mysteries which now cause your free thoughts to hang in suspense shall be cleared away. Christianity is that which gives back freedom to the conscience, vigour to the will; but with these it gives you back, as I have said, the awful responsibilities of a free choice, and yet an infinite blessing in the power to make it. Christianity is that which reveals, aye, and proves to you great truths concerning yourselves and concerning God, and bringing you to know these truths, '••. doth make you free."