CHURCH MATTERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 178, 10 June 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHURCH MATTERS.

The correspondent of the Nelson Examiner, writing from London, says : Church matters demand a little more space than usual this month. I told you last month of the recent reversal by the Privy Council of the sentence of the two Essayists and Reviewers. Apropos of this, a clever epitaph was made for the Lord Chancellor (do not suppose he wants one yet. He is, for aught I know, in as good health as he was a month ago, when it was made ; but this form is convenient for pointing the expressions). It runs thus : RtCIIABD BaBON WeSTUDBY, Lord HigU Chancellor of England, He was an eminent Christian, An energetic and successful Statesman, And a still more energetic and successful Judge, During his three years’ tenure of office, He abolished The time-honored institution of the Insolvents’ Court, The ancient mode of conveying land, * And The Eternity of Punishment, Towards the close of his earthly career, la the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, He dismissed Hell with costs, And took away from orthodox members of the Church of England Their last hope of everlasting damnation. X do not know that I should have thought of sending it to you, clever as it is, but for the wrath •excited in some quarters by its publication, and the increase of bitterness thereby infused into the controversy upon the necessity of believing in the eternity of the punishment of the wicked. As soon as the judgmant was delivered, a paper was got up, which is now generally known as the “ Oxford Declaration.” It was got up by Dr. Pusey and Canon Miller, representing the two extreme sections of the church, and sent round to the clergy for signature. 9,000 names of clergymen have now been appended to this document, the object of which is to declare the teaching of the church to be definite and precise on the subjects of the “ inspiration of holy Scripture,” and the eternity of punishment; which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had declared it was not. A case was made out and submitted to two eminent counsels for an opinion, as to whether the signing of this declaration was not rebellion against the Queen’s supremacy ; and ■ they, Messrs. Stephen and Traill, gave an affirmative reply. But not content to be thus condemned, they got up a statement of the case, with chiefly technical differences, and submitted it to two “ still more eminent and successful” counsel, the Attorney-Gene-ral and Hugh Cairns, who gave an opposite decision. So adhne sub judice lis est. Some few of the clergy have not only refused to sign, but have also manfully entered their protest against it. Their champion is Mr, Maurice, who, some ten years ago, was deprived of his professorship at King’s College, on the ground of unsoundness on this very point—the question of eternal damnation. Soon after the delivery of the judgment, the Archbishop of Canterbury entered his protest against one portion of the decision ; and he has just issued a pastoral letter, explaining away his concurrence in the other part. The University of Oxford has marked its disapprobation of heresy, by deciding, by a large majority, to continue to fine the heretical Professor of Greek, Mr. Jowett, £360 per annum, i.e., to refuse to augment his statutory stipend of £4O to a level with the other professors, who receive £4OO. It is acknowledged that no one in Oxford discharges ihe duties of his office more conscienciously; that, in fact, he gives up an immense deal of precious fame to gratuitous teaching,*to which he has no

sort of obligation ; "and further,'that ' he never in any way attempted to exercise any influence whatever, in religious matters over his pupils, most of whom almost adore him. A compromise, too, had been proposed, I think, by Dr. Pusey, who is not an ungenerous foe, by, which they who voted for the professional salary might be carefully guarded from'all suspicion of sanctioning Mr. Jowett’s heretical views on theology. ' But no : the clergy were in such a flutter of alarm at the Privy Council decision, that the majority of votes were given against remedying an absurd accidental injustice, for the sake of marking their horror of heresy. The country, as represented by the House of Commons, has pronounced its opinion on the Government of the University by non-resident clergy, by passing the second reading of Mr. Dodson’s bill for the abolition of tests on proceeding to the final degree. That is the thin end of the wedge. The Christian Young Men, and their religious guardians, have resolved not to publish this year the lectures. They had invited Professor Owen, the great naturalist, to give them a lecture on the power of God, supposing him to be an eminent Christian, because of his opposition to the heretical theory of Darwin and Huxley. But they were grievously scandalized by his telling them that the serpent never walked upon legs, and warning them against the dangers of a slavish interpretation of the Bible, and looking for absolute truth on scientific matters therein. So the Professor is condemned to obscurity by Exeter Hall.

which had just been committed, but only in regard'to my liability to conscription.