The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-19 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

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JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY

COUNCIL, Dec. 18.
GORHAM V. THE BISHOP OF EXETER.

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(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.

Mr. BADELEY continued to say, that it was the
most presumptuous thing to take upon ourselves
opinions such as were entertained by the appellant on
the subject of baptismal regeneration. The question
was what doctrine bad the Church held, and what had
she handed down ? He (Mr. Badeley) held that the
Opinion that prevenient grace was necessary to confer
regeneration to infants in baptism, was unsound
doctrine ; it was certainly not the doctrine of the
Church of England, and was nowhere to
be found in her formularies. The idea of
prevenient grace was putting a limitation upon the
sacrament of baptism, and attaching a condition which
the Church had not done. Mr. Gorham had no right
to put such a limitation upon it, seeing that the
Church had laid down the doctrine of baptismal
regeneration generally and absolutely. It seemed to
him (Mr. Badeley) that Mr. Gerham's doctrine was a
most fatal heresy. It was a lowering of the doctrine
of the sacrament of baptism by preceding it with
something of which the Church knew nothing.
If that were so, then he contended that Mr.
Gorham was rightly rejected by the Bishop of
Exeter from the living of Bampford Speke. If he
(Mr. Badeley) had proved that Mr. Gorham held
doctrine inconsistent with the doctrine taught in the
Book of Common Prayer, then he contended that the
Bishop was bound to refuse him institution. Mr.
Gorham had done more than contradict the doctrine
in the Book of Common Prayer ; he tad done some
thing worse; he had contradicted the Nicene Creed,
in which we were taught to believe " one bap-
tism for the remission of sins." It was by bap-
tism, and by baptism alone, and not by any
prevenient grace, that that remission of sins
was given. If there was one part
of the formularies of the Church of England which
we should preserve with more religious tenacity than
another, it was the Nicene Creed, since it had been
handed down to us from the earliest period of the
Church, and had alway a been regarded with the deepet
veneration. lie had little more to urge on their
Lordships on this question. He had laboured under
some disadvantage he believed, because he saw before
him two Right Rev. Prelates, one of whom it was
supposed at least, if not both, had during the pen-
dency of this suit committed themselves more or less
to the opposite side of the question.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY, with some emo-
tion, said—Upon whet authority is that supposed, so
far as I am concerned ?

Mr. BADELEY—SimpIy, if your Grace asks me,
it is supposed that your Grace has preferred
a gentleman in the Church who has taken a
very violent part in this matter—a very strong part
as a partizln, and who has also taken it upon him to
express himself very strongly indeed about the
Right Reverend Prelate whom I have the honour to
represent.
The Archhiihop of CANTERBURY--I gave that pre-
ferment to that gentleman in consequence of a work
he published five or six year.; ago, entitled " The
Rule of Faith and Practice.," which I consider to be
a most important work with regard to the Church ;
and I had no thought at all of his book about infant
baptism, which I believe had not been published at
the time ; indeed, I am sure it had not.
Mr. BADELEY—I thank your Grace most sincerely
for that explanation. It will be received most
thankfully by a large body in the Church ;
and, whilst I most sincerely apologise for the
remark which has elicited that statement from your
Grace, yet I cannot say I regret it very much when
I think of the explanation it has been the means of
drawing from your Grace, and which will be received
most thankfully by a considerable number of persons
in the Church.

The Archbishop of CANTERBURY—It only shows
how mistaken it is to make observations of that kind
founded upon imperfect or erroneous information.
Mr. BADELEY..—I most sincerely apologise to your
Grace.
Lord CAMPBELL (emphatically)—l must say the
observation was extremely indecorous, more par-
ticularly when it is contrasted with Mr. Badeley's
previous argument, than which anything more
learned, able, or temperate I have never heard.
Mr. BADELEY bowed and repeated his apologies.
In conclusion he seil—lf your Lordships should
reverse this judgment the consequences will be. most
tremendous. It will be regarded as a sen-
tence declaratory, by the highest authority in
the land, that the Church has forfeited her trust,
that she has ceased to hold that primitive
doctrine which is at once her privilege and her boast,
and that she has lost that which is her only hold upon
the affections and obedience of her children. But I
do hope from such circumstances your Lordships will
save the Church of England. With that remark I
shall leave this momentous question in your Lordships'
hands; and I can only pray God Almighty to guide
you to a right decision.—(Murmurs of applause.)
It being now a little after three o'clock, their
Lordships adjourned until about a quarter past four.
On the re-assembling of the Council,
Mr. TURN&R proceeded to reply upon the argu-
ments advanced on behalf of the respondent's case.
lie ,should abstain from giving one single answer to
the observations which had been used respecting
himself personally by the Counsel on the opposite side,
as to the manner in which be had opened the appel-
lant's case. The argument which had been chiefly
employed against Mr. Gorham by the Counsel for
the respondent was, that he had dissevered
regeneration from the sacrament of baptism. It was
important for him (Mr. Turner) to stete exactly what
Mr. Gorham did actually believe on this point. Mr.
Gorham might have differed upon the extent of the
grace given in the sacrament, but that the sacra-
ment, worthily received, did give grace, he had never
attempted to deny, and never had thought of denying.
Mr. Gorham held that the doctrine of regeneration
being tied to the sacrament of baptism was a tenet
of the Church, and not of the Church of England.
It would be found, on a reference to page 96 of Mr.
Gorham's book, that though he might have differed
as to the extent of the grace conferred in baptism,
that he did not deny that baptism was an effectual
sign of grace, and that grace was given to the worthy
recipient of that sacrament. If Mr. Gorham had
fallen into any error at all, it was in holding that
grace might be given by God when and where he
willed, and not in denying the efficacy of baptism.
The geestion was, whether that opinion was contrary
to the doctrine of the Church of England. Dr. Addams
had said that the doctrine of the Church of England
with respect to baptism had never varied since the
Reformation. Now, in the Articles of 1536 and of
1552 there were very great discrepancies on the sub-
ject of infant baptism. The declaration that infants
should be saved thereby, in the Articles of 1536, was
similar in the Articles of 1552. It had been
contended that the doctrine of the Church
of England was, that in baptism there was
remission of sins ; but it might be open
to very great doubt whether remission of sins
meant regeneration in the sense in which it was used
in the Articles. Remission was something done for
us; regeneration what was worked in us. The
question was not whether sacraments conferred grace,
but whether regeneration was tied to the sacrament.
It was said that infants must necessarily be worthy
recipients of baptism ; but had we any right to assume
that infants must necessarily be an object of God's
mercy? Had the Church of England ever under-
taken to declare the inscrutable purposes of God ? In
the 8;11 Article the Latin word "renatis" was in one
place translated " regenerated," and in another
" baptized," and it was argued from this that " rege-
nerstion" and " baptism" were equivalent terms.
That argument, if argument it could be called, was
entirely destroyed by the word " baptized" being used
in the passage in St. John, from which the Article
was drawn up, and Mr. Gorham's view was
strengthened by the fact that the words " credentibus
et renatis " were used in the Article. With regard to
the argument from the Prayer Book, he should like to
know on what ground it was assumed that the Ar-
ticles and Prayer Book were in pari materia.
Lord CAMPBELL—I should say they were generally
in pari materia but alio intuitu.
_ _ _

Mr. TURNER continued—Not one word had been
said about the statute 13 Elizabeth. The Prayer
Book was not intended, like the Articles, as A decla-
ration of faith, but as a form for insuring a uniform
mode of worship. They bad been told that the lex
supplicandi was the lex credendi, and that might be
true in :some cases ; but where the lex credendi was
separate, was there any ground for saying that the
lex supplicandi was the same, because it had been
withdrawn from the lex credendi, of which at one
time it formed part ? Then, with regard to the canons,
a direction in them to the minister to instruct children
in the catechism was construed into a declaration that
the doctrine of the Church of England was to be
found in the catechism. His Learned Friends had not
only omitted any reference to the statute 13 Elizabeth,
but they had omitted saying anything of the King's
declaration prefixed to the Articles, in which it was
said that any matter of doctrine not to be found in
the Articles should be referred to convocation, and be
judged of by convocation alone. On the office of
private
matter and the words were the essentials of baptism ;
but he did net say w'a,,ther promises of faith, and repent-
ance ware implled in that office. IN er had any
answer been given to his (Mr. Turner's) argu-
ment that in the office of confirmation the promises
given in baptism were required to be renewed by
the party confirmed. The whole argument from
sponsorial promises--the whole que.,tiAl of con -
damn or. no condition—had been passed over
avithaut a single observation en the part of his
Learned Friends. There were Articles in the Church
of England which left a latitude for private judgment,
like that which referred to Christ's descending into