The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

DR. HAMPDEN

Lord John Russell's answer to the bishops has
called forth a long letter from the Bishop of Exeter,
who examines in detail Lord John's reply to the
&shops' allegation. The Bishop maintains that Dr.
Hampden's appointment would be an act beyond all pre-
cedent, for never before was any person recommended by
the crown to a bishopric against whom there stood a for-
mal legal judgment affirming the unsoundness of his doc-
trine. He asks the premier to refer the writings of Dr.
Hampden to the judgment of the Church in convocation,
or, if there are objections to that course, to let these
writings be judged by a provincial council of the bishops,
assisted by such divines as her Majesty shall be graciously
pleased to name. Dr. Phillpott maintains that the judg-
ment of Oxford University ought to be a ban of exclusion
(from the office of abishop at least) so long as it remains
in force, or until itis proved to be unfounded. In an-
swer to Lord John's averment, that many of the most
prominent among the original majority against Dr. Hamp-
den have since joined the Church of Rome, the right rev.
prelate says, that by "the most prominent" ought
to be understood the Committee, who openly sat for the
purpose of devising measures for vindicating the Univer-
sity from the evils which might be expected to result from
such a selection of the King's Professor of Theology :
" Of these, one, indeed, has fallen, to the consternation and
grief of all who knew, or had heard of, his high faculties.
The others, thank God, still stand rooted and grounded
in faith and love." The Bishop further asks, "If, instead
of a decree having been passed against Dr. Hampden for
unsound teaching by the University of Oxford, a judg-
ment of the Court of Queen's Bench had been pronounced
against him for some flagitious crime, and if this judg-
ment were urged as a reason why he should not be pro-
moted to a bishopric, would this be to transfer the Royal
supremacy from the Queen to Lord Denman ? If it would
not, why should it be said to follow from Dr. Hampden's
being disqualified for a bishopric, so long as he is under
the censure of the Oxford decree, that this is to transfer
the supremacy of the Crown to the convocation of Ox-
ford ?" The right rev. Prelate proceeds--" My Lord,
the Crown has no right, can have no right (I•trust, too,
that it will be found to have no power), to force a bishop
on the Church whom the Church has a just right to reject
as a 'setter forth of erroneous and strange doctrine, con-
trary to God's word.' True, my Lord, the Statute 25
Henry VIII., chap. 20 tthe Magna Charta of tyranny),
does give to the Crown a power, which your Lordship ha 3
been pleased to call a ' right,' to condemn to prison and to
penury any dean or any chapter who may refuse com-
pliance with such a mandate. But no Statute has the
power to effect the execution of the mandate itself; no

Statute has the power to make an honest and conscien-
tious chapter to elect, or an honest arid conscientious pre-
late to consecrate, to the office of bishop, such a person as
I have described above. . . . My Lord, do not imagine
that I am one of those who, if it were within their power,
would d^ C

aeprive ti. ._;rown of any portion of its rightfu.
supremacy, especially of its just, legitimate Christian in-
fluence, in the appointment of our bishops—an influence
which I firmly believe to be necessary to the peace, and
therefore to the efficiency of the Church. Let the Crown
continue to nominate them, but let it exercise this right,
which almost all considerate Churchmen wish it to re-
tain, with caution, with discretion, with due regard to the
feelings and the conscience of all concerned."
An address, signed by 485 lay members of the Church
3f England (including several peers, members of parlia-
-t, &c.) the el- Dr "-

men disapproving o, -.evation 01 ter. Hampden
to the see of Hereford, was presented to Lord John Russell
on Friday week. His lordship in his reply says he is fully,
prepared to take all the consequences of the recommenda-
tion, as he believes " the appointment will tend to
strengthen the Protestant character of our church, so se-
riously threatened of late by many defections to the church
of Rome." His Lordship adds—" That the appointment
should excite feelings of bitterness is I hope an error, as
it would'show a sad want of Christian charity on the part
of those who would indulge such feelings." _ _

V The
Bishop of Norwich, in a letter which has been
published, has declined to sign the memorial of the
Bishops; urging, as his reason, that by such a proceeding

undue authority would De given to a university censure,
originated by parties suspected of a leaning to Rome, and
with manifestations of bitter party spirit ;—that the cen-
sure of 1836 was virtually repealed by the statute of 1842,
appointing Dr. Hampden examiner in the new Theologi-

cal Examination ; that Dr. Hampden has been unfairly

and that he (the Bishop of Norwich) considers Dr. Hamp-
den's sentiments, on those particular topics on which he
was supposed to be unsound, are in accordance with the
formularies of our Church and the Scriptures.

to the Premier, on the subject of the charges brought
against him. After alluding to the pain which it causes
to an honest mind to answer a charge of unfaithfulness to
a high trust, and remarking that the present agitation is
neither strange nor novel—the apostles themselv

having

been reviled-and evil intreated by their brethren, and
Bishop Bull and Archbishop Tillotson having been called
upon to answer a charge of Socinianism brought against
them—the bishop designate thus proceeds
Let me then, I would say, my lord, be instructed and
encouraged, by these and other like examples, to submit
with patience to His will, who, in the mystery of His pro-
vidence, has appointed for good that I, humble servant of
His as I am, should pass through this ordeal of calumny.
What is more afflicting in it is, that I am accused of de-
tracting from His glory, and the infinite merits of His
blessed Atonement. He knows, however, that I have not
done so. lam solaced and strengthened withthithmAhtt

throwing out against me. Let me endeavour to_ silet
that conflict of feelings within my own heart

;, whict

unmerited and so base a charge naturally excites

" First, then, my Lord, -I
most solemnly deny the
scandalous imputation. As an honest man, I say, I do
not, and never did for one moment of my life, in thought
or word, hold or maintain any other doctrine respecting
our Lord's most holy Person and His blessed work 'of
Redemption, than that which is plainly set forth from
Scripture in the Articles and Formularies of our Church.
I hold, too, ar.d have ever held most firmly, the full doc-
trine of the Holy Trinity, as stated on the same authority
in the same documents of the Church.

" Nay, I go on to say, with the utmost confidence of my
sincerity, that I have on every occasion exerted myself to
defend those Holy Truths, which I believe not with a
mere assent, but really love and delight in. My convic-
tion his been, that no sermon, no exposition of religious
doctrine, or exhortation to religious conduct, could have
any unction of spiritual instruction, any living power to
teach or to persuade, which did not derive its strength
from those holy and lovely truths, which describe to us
God the Father giving His only-begotten Son, His co-
equal in Majesty and Power, " to the end that all that
believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life,"—God the Son giving Himself in love, taking on
Him our nature, and born into the world, living and
dying for us men, and for our salvation,—God the Holy
Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, the
Third Person in the Blessed Trinity, sent down with holy
comfort from the Saviour to instruct and guide the Church
through all ages.
"These great revealed verities, no mere opinions collected
by speculative reasoning, but the manifest indisputable
taught and enforced both
as most certain and as most necessary to be believed.
bt teaching a chi
whatng otfie Scripture,
thenwithout
everwhich Scripture would not
that
tn
theat-
tempted
doctrines
" It
of Scripture or any other of its great fundamen-
tal truths, such as Original Sin, Justification by Faith,
preventing and assisting Grace, the efficacy of the two
i st
o not
e shownn' y te
teaching,
ing.
prejudiced whatever
adversaries, e rasya rhi ea Sy , e
sacraments instituted by our Lord, are nothing more
than theories formed by the human mind on the text of
Scripture. It is a very great mistake to suppose that I
have ever meant this, in what I have said of the force of
Theory, in my Bampton Lectures or elsewhere. It is one
thing, to endeavour to unfold the theories on which a
particular phraseology employed in the systematic state-
ment of divine truths has been framed and adapted to its
purpose' and quite another thing, to state that the truths
themselves which that phraseology expresses are mere
theories, or mere opinions, or probable conclusions, hav-
ing no positive certainty in them. This latter miscon-
struction belongs to those who have taken it up. It is
not mine. It has no warrant in anything that I have
said in theological discussion. My Bampton Lectures,
indeed, were not written for popular reading, but for such
as should come to the study of the subject, with some
previous knowledge both of theological questions and of
Ancient Philosophy. It is no wonder, then, that they
should be open to this misrepresentation to ordinary
readers. I should be much concerned if, from any un-
skilfulness in the use of words, I should have given rise
to misapprehension. I would not assert, however, that I
have always succeeded in conveying my thoughts exactly.
But I am not, at any rate, to be blamed for some mis-
takes, or rather perversions of my meaning. For this I
know, that arguments which I have advanced in support
of the truth, have, in many instances, by an artful selec-
tion of detached words, been represented as upholding
the very errors which they refuted !
" But whatever has been done, by hostile and uncandid
expositors, in the way of perverting or obscuring my
meaning, I have the satisfaction of knowing that many
honest and intelligent minds have apprehended my true
intent, and appreciated my labours. Thus, for instance,
this or that person would not, or could not see, that it is
a strong argument for the truth of the Catholic doctrine
of the Trinity, that even heretics (as I have urged) have
in some sense professed it, however imperfectly and in-
juriously, thus acknowledging the truth amidst their vain
attempts to corrupt and destroy it, unconsciously bearing
testimony to its existence in disputing it; and the truth
itself showing its vital strength in surviving their attacks.
" Many such instances of cruel misrepresentation I
could allege. But I will not weary your lordship's patience.
Let me, however, be suffered to say, what I would fain
have remembered only in thanksgiving to Him whose
grace enables us to think or do anything good, that I have
reason to bless God, that in one instance at least 1 have
not laboured in vain ; but that a person, now a pious and
distinguished minister of Christ, was confirmed_ r.nd. fixed,
by what 1 have advanced on the subject of the Trinitarian
controversies, in the true faith of that Holy Mystery.
And does not this one fact more than outweigh the
assertions of a thousand anonymous writers in newspapers,
copying one another, and repeating the original false
statement of the first mistaken or misrepresenting com-
mentators ?"
The doctor then goes on solemnly to declare that he has
"insisted constantly on the supremacy of Scripture as
our rule of Faith," and that he has "ever taught that a
authoritative
interpreter
t
deferential respect to the authority of the Church, as it is
laid down and explained in the formularies of our Church
kweaespmeroostf H
ineoulymwbenritt,o,nbuCthtrhisetians. In the viewrpre of
er his
of
t .
opponents. the Church "is not simply ' the witness and
1 •
tich Scripture is conceived by them
Igin un§c," Thiq notion of Cburch

k an

Dec. 21, 1847.

authority will be found, says the doctor, "to be the root
of the objections of this class of theologians to the teach-
ing of all who require that all doctrines should be drawn
from Scripture. With them the reference to Scripture is
an heretical principle,' because it holds up the authority
of Scripture over that of the Church in all questions of
doctrine." Those who are urging the point, says Dr.
Hampden, " were the most active instruments in carrY-
ing the statute of the University, passed in 1840. That
statute has been virtually repealed, first, by the Nor
Theological Statue of 1842, which placed me, as Regius
Professor, at the head of a newly-constituted Board of
Theological Examiners ; and then, in the same year, by
the just act of the chief Authorities of the University,
with whom rests the initiative of every measure, ths
Board of Heads of Houses and Proctors, who unani-
mously proposed a form of statute for rescinding it. So
far, then, as the chief responsible body of the Universal
is concerned, I am relieved of the burthen of that statue;
though the Tractarian party succeeded, with a very
duced majority. however, in throwing out the measure in
Con vocat ion ."

Dr. Hampden then alleges that that statute is perfeetk
understood, and asks, " How any one can put it forwal'd
now, when by such act they are implicating themselves
with the theology and the spirit of its chief promoters,
the editors of the ' Tracts,' a pamphlet, full of gross mis-
representations of my writings, the production of A.
o ewm an, was circulated through the country?" and this,
with the great polemical excitement of the times, con-
curred in obtaining a majority against him ; "not, hew'
ever, even then, until after a repulse, on the first assault,
by the firm and spirited intervention of the proctors.
How, then, can any wish to sympathize or identify them-
selves with the chief actors of that day ? Where is gr.
Newman now, let me ask, the principal mover then?
What are the rest doing—his old associates whom he has
left—but training others to imbibe the spirit of their great
leader, reluctant as they may be to follow him through,-
out ?"

—•
The reverend writer then says, "I am not under the
censure of the University ;' for the statute referred to no
opinions or doctrines whatever, but only to the manner of
treating theological subjects. When, indeed, a censure of
the University is passed, certain propositions are selected
from the author's writings, and the decree of Convocation
condemns those particular nrooq,itions. This was done
recently in the case of Mr. Ward, the author of the
'ldeal of the Christian Ctiureh.' Nothing of the kind
was done -in 'fly ease: nothing specilaras even alleged
against me."

zette co

order to the

The Morning Post of Friday professes to " understand
that, yesterday, the first formal step was taken, in the
proper court, at Doctors' Commons, to bring to a legal
test the orthodoxy or otherwise of Dr: Hampden."
The clergy of Liverpool have addressed a letter to Lord

John Russell, in which they say " We have witnessed
with the deepest clncern the opposition, which your lord-
ship has encountered from a quarter whence it never
ought to have aris2n. to the appointment of Dr. Hampden
to the episcopate. We believe that your lordship will not
be unwilling to receive the assurance that the elevation of
that distinguished individual has afforded us the greatest
showing that the First Minister of the
nt exigencies of our be-
tted to meet them. At
If the asser-

satisfaction, as

Crown is well aware of the pres,
loved Church, and nobly detertr

tion which has been made that the promotion of Dr.
Hampden is regarded with alarm by the clergy and laity
of our Church, believing as we do, that, on the contrail;
the measure is hailed wiih the warmest approbation by all
the real friends of our National Ecclesiastical Establish-
ment."

Dr. Merewether, the Dean of Hereford, has forwarded
a memorial to the Queen, in which, after alluding to hio
having received the Royal license to elect a Bishop of
Hereford, and the Royal recommendation to elect Dr•
Hampden, he refers to the vote of censure passed on Dr'
Hampdt n by the University of Oxford, and pleads for
that right and liberty of conscience which he says will ba
" trampled to the very dust" by a compulsion to elects

person still under that censure. On this ground he prays
either that Her Majesty will recommend some other per-
son, cr that she will graciously relieve the Chapter from
the necessity of proceeding to the election, till she has
pleased to submit n- - "icationg

Impden's pub
" to the judgment, either of the two houses of convoea-

tion of clergy of the province of Canterbury, which is now
sitting, or of the provincial Council of bishops of the same
province, assisted by such d'v,nes as Her Majesty, or the
provincial council shall be pleased to call, or of some ether
competent tribunal which 11:r Majesty shall be graciousli
pleased to rppoint. In order whereunto we have ePt:

pointed for t e day of election the 28th day of December
instant, being the eleventh day from t'le receipt of PC
Majesty's conge d'e'lire, and the last which we ea" la'"
fully appoint. And we are the more emboldened
this our humble supplication at the feet of your gaiesti
by your known cordial attrch;nent to our h&y and apos-
tolic church, and by your f ithful and uniform observance
of the oath made by your Maj2sty at your coronation,---
' That you will maintain and preserve to the utmost of
your power the doctrine, discipline, and government
thereof." to lay

The following letter from a highly intelligent clerical
correspondent with special reference to the Bishop of
Exeter's interference in the matter appears to place tha
subject in a very clear point of view.
" I was in hopes that it would have occurred either to
yourself, or to some earlier and abler corresi ondent, to
remind your readers how the Bishop of Exeter, whose
purpose it now suits to defer so implicitly to the solemnity

A' an Universit
PEI CLIII laxr miria

demriatiOn for a distinct and established Heresy, whom
though interdicted at the time from the pulpits of the
University, he allowed to preach, within his diocese, at

" Upon this man, be it remembered, the church disci-
pline act, as originally introduced by the Bishop of Lon-
don, would have conferred summary and almost irrespon-
sible power in matters affecting either the doctrine, or the
discipline of the church. Now, I would ask, what con-
fidence could be placed in the decisions of such a Rhada-
manthine Court, especially were a case to arise, as be-
tween Dr. Pusey and Dr. Hampden ?
" Dr. Pusey's aim and endeavour is to unprotestantiso
the Church of England, to which, as she is, he has
so-
lemnly pledged, what ought to be, an unfeigned assent
and consent. Dr. Hampden's convictions, running pare
with his engagements, keep him still true to the obligatons
he has honestly undertaken—(see his letter to Lord VIII
Russell, of the 9th it stant, which all the Tractarian p:essf
with more cunning than candour, have carefully stir
pressed)—only he will not consent to un-church that large
body of his fellow-Christians, who, differing on points of
comparatively minor importance, nevertheless hold to dial
same Lord, the same faith, the same baptism. the stun°
God and Father of all, into whose name he hath bees
baptized himself. 'Tis but a fresh illustration of the OW
adage—

" Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.'
" Yours, &c.,

" Dec. 20,1847

"ANOTHER PRESBYTER.

COURT AND FASHION,

Osborne is still the abiding place of the Queen and the
Court. The Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby are
still on a visit to her Majesty ; and on Wednesday, Pro..
fessor Sedgwick also became a guest at the Royal board.
It is her Majesty's intention to proceed to Windsor from
Osborne to-day.

Lord John Russell and his lady attended the meeting at
Exeter-hall on Sunday week to hear Dr. Cumming preach.
MYSTERIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS.—We have every rea-
son to believe that her Majesty is again in the most in-
teresting condition in which a married lady can be placed ;
the time expected is about the end of March.—Globe.
PRESENT OF A YORKSHIRE PIG TO PRINCE ALBERT.
—The committee of the Leeds Association for the Im-
provement of Pigs and Poultry have sent to the Royal
Farm at Windsor, a choice specimen of a superior large
breed of pigs, which his Royal Highness Prince Albert
has accepted.
PRINCE ALBERT A MINER.—It is highly gratifying that
we are in a position to state, that his Royal Highness
Prince Albert has, with a view to advance the mining in-
terests of the county of Cornwall, determined on working
the South Towan, United Hills, and Wheal Charles
Mines, being parallel lodes. We state this on authority,
and are well pleased to find that the attention of the Prince
is thus directed to our national and natural resources of
wealth.—Mining Journal,

PRESENT TO THE ROYAL CHILDREN.-011 Tuesday' sus
elegant miniature carriage was exhibited at the maker',
in Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, London. It ia 'si
step-piece barouche, being nearly a fac simile of a ba-
rouche now used by her majesty and Prince Albert, but
on the scale of six inches to one foot. This equipage is
designed to carry four children, and has been built by or-
der of the Queen Dowager, for presentation to the PM.
of Wales and his royal sisters and brother.

A melancholy accident happened on Sunday evening, 64
the Earl of Harrowby's seat, in Staffordshire, to one of
the noble earl's grand-daughters, a young lady aged seveo
teen years, daughter of the Hon. Granville Ryder, anti
niece to Lord Sandon. She wr.s standing before the firs,
warming herself, when her dress, which was composed bi
light materials, was drawn towards the bars by the action
of the draught, and in an instant she was enveloped is
flames. The unfortunate young lady rushed into the roost
in an agony of terror and pain into the hall, where the
flames were extinguished, but not until she had been so
dreadfully burnt as to leave no hope of recovery. She
died after much suffering in the course of Monday n*hi.
Lord Sandon received several severe burns in his effigiev
to extinguish the flames.