The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-11 00:00:00

TRINE.

The Bishop of LONDON said that it would be in the
recollection of their Lordships that in 1850 he had in-
troduced a Bill into the House for the purpose of regu-
lating the court of last appeal, the Judicial Committee
of the Privy Council, in all cases where the question of
doctrine should come before them. The important pro-
vision of the Bill was that the Bishops should deliberate
thereupon, and communicate the result to the Privy
Council ; that the Privy Council should be bound
by
that opinion to decide whether the doctrine was true
doctrine and consistent with the doctrines of the Church
of England. The Bill had not been favourably received
by their Lordship, and he had suffered lustyeettirvel
tof
pass, contenting himself with only giving an intimation
that ho did nut altogether let the subject cease,
one of such a nature that it ought not to be suffelreLdwatos
rest much longer undetermined. All ho intended
to say on the present occasion wasonly that
early next session, if it pleased
him, he intended to introduce a God h spare
Bill, different in
oneimportant point from the former one, because it did
away with the objection that had been made, still con-
tending that the question of doctrine should be referred
to the Bishops er to the Upper House of Convocation;
that their opinions should be communicated to the Judi-
cial Committee of the Privy' Council, but that it should
not be binding up on them,but merely communicated to
them in the way of advec7;u
important alteration, b That was obviously a very
because it was objected that the
former Bill was an Invasion of the jurisdiction of the
Court. He mentioned the matter now that the Govern-
ment might have time to consider the question, and make
up their minds how far they would sanction the prin-
ciple. He did not think it right to put a Question di-
rectly to the Noble Earl at the head of the Government.
He wished merely to express an anxious hope, whiol":"5
shared with him by many otherg, theL the preposition
would receive the farourable consideration of those with
whom, after all, the decision must rest. The matter had
been iecoreeetly placed upon the minutes of thoieLced.
ibipil douse,jig Gettiialy said ao; Wput a ,

direct question to the Noble Lard at the head of the
Government.
The Earl of DERBY thanked the Right Rev. Prelate
for not having brought forward the sotject as a direct
question, which it might have been inconvenient to ex-
press an opinion upon, with regard to the course which
her Majesty's Government might think it right to adopt
upon u Bill not then before the House. Suah a course
would lead to an inconvenient precedent, and, in the po-
sition ho was at present placed in, he was certainly un-
able to express an opinion with regard to the course the
Government might take, without consulting his col-
leagues upon both the principle and details of the Bill. If
he rightly understood the Right Rev. Prelate, he pro-
posed to leave the jurisdiction in the same hands us it
was at present, and did not propose to interfere in any
way with the opinion and decision of the Privy Conned,
but he proposed that the Bishops—as their Lordships
sometimes acted in calling in the Judges to direct their
opinions and judgment—should be called upon to give
their opinion, when the question arose'upon matters of
doctrine, to say what was essentially doctrine, or heresy,
or error. Although he certainly could not pledge him-
self as to the course he would pursue ; y( t, if he
was not mistaken, he recollected a proposition of some
such intermediate step between the Bill of the Right
Rev. Prelate of 1850 and the total rejection of the mea-
sure having been made to their Lordships. Still he was
of opinion that where a question arose of what was false
doctrine or heresy, the opinion of the Bishops upon such
points—although they might not be entitled to decide
what was doctrine—yet their opinion and judgment must
be most valeable upon such qeestions, as they must
base long and deeply studied it, in directing the judg-
ment of the Privy Council to a final decision. Further
than that he did not think the Right Rev. Prelate would
wish him at present to go.—(Hear, bear.)
ECCLESIASTICAL MUNIMENTS.

On the—Motion of the Bishop of SALISBURY. the
House went into Committee on the Ecclesiastical Muni-
ments Bill,
After a brief conversation it was agreed to send the
Bill to a Select Committee.