The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-13 00:00:00

PAPER

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Presentation of the Oxford DOa:ritiolii''t.:

\tn. rA.
A large number of the clergy attended yes liy aetrutia4
beth Palace to present to the Archbishop the ditioratia S
prepared by the committee appointed at the meeting held at
Oxford, and which has since received the signatures of up-
wards of 11,000 of the clergy of England and Ireland. His
Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury received the deputation
in the library of the palace. About 300 of the clergy were
present. With his Grace there were the Bishops of St
Asaph, Bangor, Rochester, Gloucester, Carlisle, Moray and
Ross ; the Hon. and Rev. G. M. Bourke and the Rev. Pre-
bendary Hall, chaplains to the Archbishop; the Rev. IV..
Stubbs, librarian; and Mr Dunning, the secretary.

Among the clergy present were the 'Yen. Archdeacon
Clarke, Dr Cotton, Provost (.f Worcester College ; Dr
Leighton, Dr Courtenay, Rev, R. R. Faulkener, Rev. J.
Bareman. Rev. C. M. Arnold, Rev. E. Bull, Rev. E.
EavicLon, Rev. lt. Gunner, Rev. F. 11. Sharpe, Rev. W.
Davies,
Rev. C. C. Spencer, Rev. Dr Biter, Rev. W. it•
Cosens, Rev. T. F. Liugham, Rev M. May-3w, Rev. \V.
Lyall, Rev. W. Dutch, Rev. George Philips, Rev. S. S.
Merry, Rev. E. Over, Rev. Ackworth, Rev. T.
Rev. Burman Casson, Rev. Francis Rivntcr, Rev. Sir N.
Chinnery, Rev. I'. T. Leigh, W. S. Duckl,,, It.v.
W. Robinson, Rev Ernest Cowan, ft,v. Henry Cal;horfe,
Rev, Prebendary Stevenson, Rev. E. Bull, &.-:.
The Yen. Dr. CLERKE. Archdeacon of Oxford, in rnt-
, renting the aadress, said—My lord archbishop, every one
here present must be so perfectly well acquainted with the
object which has brought us together to-day that I con—
ceive I shall best be consulting your own convenience and
my own feelings by introducing this subject in as few words
as possible. (Hear, hear,) I have been requested, as
chairman of the committee who have drawn up the declare..

tion so generally published, in the name of that committee
to present to your grace and the bishops now present an
address, and also to deliver to you the declaration which has
met with so large a number of signatures. With respect to
ourselves, acting as the committee, we have drawn up the
declaration in compliance with a request which was made
when we were appointed in February last, at the meeting
in Oxford, to draw up that which would receive the sanction.
and approbation of a great number of the clergy, and I am
anxious here to state that that meeting at Oxford was
called together by a very strong expression of feeling and
of,anxiety which seemed to pervade all parts of the land.
(Cheers.) This declaration has since been in circulation,
and has received a number of signatures, amounting, I
believe, to at least 11,000, and that number is even now
increasing, for we have daily been receiving additions to it.
In discharge, therefore, of the duty committed to me, I
will proceed to read the address to your grace, previous to
delivering to you the declaration. Thus far I think I have
discharged as briefly as possible the duty which has
been committed unto me as chairman of the committee which-
was brought together. It was at the meeting at Oxford
that we were appointed a committee, and upon that autho-
rity alone, and not upon any authority of our own, we have
continued to act to the best of our ability. But, my lord, in
the discharge of this duty I feel that I have another which
I ought in the first instance to discharge, and that is to ex-
press to your grace, in the name of the committee and in.
the name of a large number of the clergy who are here pre-
sent with the deputation, how deeply indebted we are to
your grace for your kind consideration—(cheers)—in re-
ceiving us in your palace in order that we might here pre-
sent to you, in a manner most congenial to our own feel-
ings, and, as I conceive, post suited to the solemnity of
these proceedings itself, and within these walls to have the
honour of presenting your grace this declaration which I
am now about to lay before you. This, my lord, is but one
of the many proofs, if any proofs were indeed necessary,
of your great kindnws, condescension, and willingness to
meet all the just wishes, and to consider the accommodation
of the clergy generally, and also to support cordially every-
thing that the clergy may take up which they conceive t 3
be for the benefit of the Church, for the glory of God, for
the,keeping of the faith of Christ, and for the maintenance
and support and increase of the Church, as the witness and
as the keeper of Hely Writ. I believe it will be necessary
for me only to proceed to read the address, which I now
read in the name of the clergy here present to-day, and•re-
presenting also a much larger body of clergy, who are not
able to attend this meeting. The venerable archdeacon
then read the following address:—
"MOST REV. AND RIGHT REV. FATHERS IN GOD,
" We, the members of the committee appointed at a meet-
ing held in Oxford to draw up a statement setting firth the
clear and consistent teaching of tho Church of England and
Ireland on matters upon which such clearness and consis-
tency of teaching have been gravely questioned, leave now
the honour to present to your lordships a declaration of firm
belief that the Church maintains without reserve or qualifi-
cation the Inspiration and Divine Authority of the whole
Canonical Scriptures as not only containing but being the
Word of God, and also teaches the eternal punishment of
the wicked. My lords, we understand the work entrusted
to us under a sense of many and deep responsibilities ; we
were called npsn to act with decision in matters of difficulty
and importance which were heavily oppressing the minds
of Churchmen, and did not issue the declaration till we had
obtained the consent and sanction of a large number of the
clergy of England and Ireland. We cannot draw our
labours to a close without first of all expressing before your
lordships and the clergy here assembled that we are heartily
thankful to Almighty God because the task imposed niKa

us has been carried through to the end with perfect
unanimity on our part, and because the weight of it hps
been greatly relieved by expressions of cordial assent and by
hearty co-operation on the part of a large number cf the
clergy who have tffixtd to it their signatures, We can
assure your lordships that, large as this number is, it by no
means represents the whole of those who unswervingly
hold the several articles of faith, the truth of which this
declaration seeks to affirm. Beyond the public means of
communication, we know through a large correspondence
that there are, besides the number of names appended to
the declaration, some thousands of the clergy whose faith.
it equally expresses. They assure us they were deterred
from signing it, not by any doubt as to the faith of the
Church of England or their own, but by various natural
and legitimate considerations. Indeed, when we consider
the novelty of the course which the necessity of the case
suggested in order to reassure the lay members of our
Church of the faith of their clergy, we have reason to be
thankful to Almighty God for the great success with
which Ho has been pleased to bless it. We trust that the
declaration has had some force in removing the misgivings
of many as to the authoritative teaching of the Church on
matters of such vital moment to men's souls as the accept-
taxies or denying the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,
and also the eternity of the punishment pronounced upon.
the accursed. We further trust, that, as expressing the
opinions of so large a body of the clergy, it will strengthen.
your lordships' hands in any future measure which you may
devise for guarding the faith of the Church. As we com-
menced our work with humble prayer for Divine guidance,
so we close it with fervent joy that we have been allowed
to promote the glory of our Lord, and with thankfulness
that the acceptance which this document has met with,
affords an assurance that the Church of England can give
to all her members throughout the length and breadth of
the land a witness that the true faith of Christ, which is
her life, is upheld in her by her Divine Lord, and that her
clergy who bind themselves to it, evince their obligation
by a faithful, open, and unreserved acceptance of the doc-
trine of the Church as set forth in her creeds, articles, and.
other formularies.
" (Signed) C. C. Clerks, D.D., Archdeacon of Oxford,
chairman; R. L. Cotton, D.D,, Provost
of Worcester College ; G. A. Denison,
M.A., Archdeacon of Taunton; W. H.
Fremantle, M.A., Rector of Claydon,
secretary ; F. K. Leighton, D.D., War-
den of All Souls College ;
C.
to aa
beri
D,D„ St. Martin's, Birmingham ; and E.
B. Pusey, D.D., Regina Professor of
I
Hebrew."
The declaration, of which the following:: copy, was
next read d deacons in holy
" We, the undersigned presbyters an l
orders of the Church of England and
ifyireithall e souls
Church,
c inspirationof
men
our bounden duty to the Church
lidcation, the
wqb_ goelew.Coarado
fi ca 1 Scriptures as
to declare our firm belief that the Ch.uercncantihomilingland and.
Ireland, in common with the I
maintains, without reserve or
:authoritytainin g
God; and fur-
nanodt onlypiv Divine
en
f our blessedo
they teaches, in the words Lord, that the
cursed, equally with the ' life' of the
punishment' of the
~,
rlastiog•
'righteous,' is eve
d address
The declaration an were handed to his grace by
1.,T who stated that a more complete list of
vrould shortly be presented.
the signatures
P of C A
butofbethineg
The Archhis-0.- --NTraufußy, in reply, said —Reve-
rend and dear brethren: we, the Bishops of the United
Church of England and Ireland here present, accept this
declaration as a renewed expression of your belief in those
doctrines of the Church to which it refers. It is satisfac-
tory to receive your assurance that there are some thousands
of the clergy who, agreeing with yon in the substance of
the declaration, hesitated to sign it only by reason of its
form or circumstances. This assurance strengthens our
conviction that the clergy of our Church will never be dis-
posed to propagate opinions which tend to subvert the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity. We, for our parts,
shall ever feel it to be our duty to maintain the authorita-
tive teaching of the Church; humbly trusting that we may
receive guidance from above. and be endowedstrength
d the with
we:faof
and wisdom to promote the glory of God
Ilia Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The proceedings were closed by the benediction of the
rchbishoo.

SHIELDS, May 11.—A large fleet of laden vcshels
sailed from the Tyne this morning, many of them bound
for the Baltic, as the armistice has opened out the German
ports. There is a considerable demand far coals to he sent
out to Cronstadt, and many ships have been chartered
thence, the rates being about £l3 per keel. The wind is
not favourable for quick passages to the Elbe and Baltic, as
it is still front the north-east,
The barque Francis Milley, from l‘fauritius
landed at Plymouth last night Captain liewes, his wife, two
children, and five seamen of the Boston ship Avon, laden
with guano for Queenstown, which was destroyed by the
Confederate cruiser Florida, on the 29th of March, 14 N.,
long 34 W.

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