THE LATE CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS IN SYDNEY. To the Editor of the New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 499, 25 January 1851, Page 3

THE LATE CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS IN SYDNEY. To the Editor of the New Zealander.

Sir,—l trust your candour will give a place in your paper to some observation! on the letter of " A Member of the Church of England," in your last public tion. Your correspondent contra-ts tha statement of five of the Australasian Bishops as to the doctrine of the Church on the subject of BipU\m, with that of the Bittiop of Melbourne, and mt mates that the last will be allowed to be that which is " most conformable to the Gospel of God and ih* 1 common icn*e of man," by all " who>e rcnuds not prone to mystery, nor aveue to ■eison, c nscientiously prefer the plain and liberal view of such a <loetrin il question to the dogmatical interpretation of a few Tractarians.'' I fed much a a loss as to the meaning; of tin's part < f your coi respondents letter. If he means that the doctrine of Baptismal Grace, must appear vrry absurd to those who are ready to reject any do. trine because it speaks of what is mysterious and incomprehensible to ui«n, I certainly ngree with bini; aid there h abun» dance of evidence in the past history of the church, a rid of the various bodies which have separated from her, to prove, that the denial of that doctrine has, very generally, been only a first step towards the reaction of almOht every distinguishing doctrine of Chriniianity What your co responden' means by ' the liberal view of such a doctri al question," I cannot divine lie who desires to submit implicitly to the revelation which God has q yen us of His will, I apprehend will not ask any question respecting this or any olh jr doc trine besides this, " Has it been revealed to vi by G»A ?" Your correspondent has not, however, thought it necessary to offer any proof that the doctrine to which he adheres it true and orthodox, or that of the five Bishops false and heretical, apparently 6'ipp"sing H quite enough to assert that the latte r is " the interpre- j tation of a tew Tractarians,"—»" a small section of the English Church," —and that it '• Equals in incredulity the doctrine of Trausubsrantiation," Passing by for the present, therefore, the most import mt question,—-what is the testimony of God on this subject 1 J shall first notire these assertions of your correspondent. Iv the arguments for Mr. Gorham, in that most important case which has given rise to this discussion, it was never once asserted, much l"«s attempted to be proved, that the doctrine espoused by your correspondent, was the doctrine of the Church of England, nor wuh it ever denied that the doctrine stated by the five Bishops had been at all times held by the great major ty of English Churchmen. All that Mt. Gorham sought, was to have it declared that his, (which appear hlso to be your correspondent's) doctrine had always been tolerated in the Church, and that it ought therefore to be infeired that it wai not intended to exclude from benefices in the Church, those who 10 interpreted the Church's formularie a ; and this is the whole extent of the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, be it right or wrong. Here I cwnot help noticing an apparent inaccuracy in your own lemarks on the " Minutes of Proceedings of the Episcopil Synod.' You say that your readers " are uware ot the particulars of the contention on the vexed q >estion of Baptismal Regeneration, between I the Bishop of Exeter and Mr. Gorham, aud the uuhtsitaiing clearness with which the'fchighest Courts have pronounced judgment against Dr. Phillpots;" and that you observe '• therefore with regret tnal five of the six Bishups have expressed their view* in entire acj cordance with those of his lordship of Exeier." From this some of your readers may be led to believe that the " highest Courts " in England had unhesitatingly condemned the views on the sui ject held by the Buhop of Exeter and the five Australasian Bishops. 1 cannot however, suppose that you intended to make such a statement, for you must bs awaie that the only high Count thut hive "pionounced judgment" •♦ on the vexed question" are the Com t of Arches and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and that the first of theie Courts pronounced Mr. Gotham's doctrine a heresy, aud refused him institu'ion; and that the becond gave no judgmentwhateveras to the Bishop's doctrine, m>r at to the truth of Mr. Gorham'i,—but merely that Mr. Gorham for so iaterpreting the formulunei of the Church, was not to be excluded from the benefice to which he had been presented. Lord Campbell, one of the Judges of ibat Court, has written expressly that the Court gave no judgment agam»t the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. In the other Courts, the Queen's Bench, &c, the question raised and decided was simply— whether the Judicial Com" mittee was the proper Court to have heard me appeal from the Court of Arches, or whether the case ought pot legally to have been referred to the decision of the Convocation. I assert however, in opposition to your correspond dent, not only >hat the doctrine of the Church on this ''vital po.nt," (as you rightly name it, although (he Committee ot Privy Council are of opinion that a clergyman of the Church of England may st his pleasure either esteem Baptismal Regeneiation a most precious ttuth or a '• soul destrbjing heresy," as the Record hai it) us set foith by Jiie out ot six of the Australasian Bishops, hai to say the leaac, been that of the vast majority of the Church's teachers in all ages; but more especially that it was the doctrine ot nearly every one of lho»e communities of Christian* which, at the Reformation, threw oIF the yoke oi the Bishop of Rome. I shdH fiist offer a lew quotations to .how what was the Church's doctrine before shs had come under the ! dominion of Rome; and then shew what was Uie doctrine of the iletoimed bodies. 1. "We will state also in what manner we are created anew by Christ, and have dedicated ourselves to God. * * * We then lead them to a place where there is water, and there they are regenerated in the same manner as we also were, lor they are there washed in that water, in the name of God the Father and Lord of the Umverse, and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chribt, and of the Holy Spirit. For Christ said, Except, ye be born again, ye 6hall not enter the kingdom ol Heaven." —Justin Martyr's Apology, sect. 79, (written about A,. D. 140 ) 2. " He fashioned mauout of the earth, regenerated him by water, gave him increase by the Spirit-, and taught him by the Word."—St. Clement, of Alexandria. 3. " I'tiat B ptisiu u that in winch the old man diei, and the new i-> born, the blessed Apostle teaches and prove*, when he says,' He saved us by the was it ig of regeneration. 1 Mvueover when any oue receives th.:; Holy Gb st, he is born not by imposition of bauch, but in Baptism; that being now born, he may receive the Spent." " aince in tne layer, that k iv Baptism,— Regeneration takts pUce."-5/. Cyprian. 4. "Gieat its the Baptism oefore you ; to the captivet a ransom ; to sins, remiSNion; the death of iin, the regeneration of thesoul."—67, Cyril, of Jerusalem. (Addressed to Catechumens.) 5. "Regeneration begins a second life.. ...Where tore the Lord, the Giver ot Life gave us the covenant ol Ba^tioin, —'lie uouole innate of d ath and lite ; de-itn in ihe water, lie through the spirit. The graci- in the water, is am. (com its own nttme, but from the presence of the Bpir.t.*' — 4>^. i?n«ii 6. " The bupuzed person put* off the old man anJ

I is renewed, as born from above, by the grace of the Spirit,"—-St Athanasius. 7. " I acknowledge one Baptism* for the remission of sins." —Nicene Creed. 8. " Christ works this by the of Baptism, that every one lays aside what was born, and puts on what is reborn." —St. Ambrose. 9. " No one passes from the first to the second man except through the Sacrament of Baptism. In Jitfcla ones born and not yet baptized let Adum he recognised; in little onei born and baptized, and there/ore regenerated, let Christ."— St. Augustine. Similar quotations mi«ht be produced to almost nny amount. The foregoing may, howe\i.r, suflice, for thepresent on this part of the subject, and I shall now pioceed to thow what was the doctiine held on this subject subsequent to the Reformation. 1. "The tecond birthe is by the water of liaptisme, which Paul calleth 'the bathe of Regeneration,' because our synneg be forgiven us in Bajittune, and the Holy Ghost is powred into u% as into God's beloved children, so that, by the power and working of the Holy Ghost, we are made tiewe creatures. And so by Baptiame we eater into the Kingdom of God, and shall he saved for ever, if we contynewe to our lives end iit the faythe of Christ." —Archbishop Granmcr's Catechism. 2. " Like as Christ was born in rags, so the conversion of the whole world is by rags, by thing 3 which are most vile in this world. For what is so common as water? Yet we wash out remissions of our synnes by bap'isme."—Latimer's Sermons. 3. " The grace which is given with Baptism doth so far forth depend on the very outward sacrament that God will have it embraced not only as a sun or token of wbat we receive, but also as an uisfiument or means whereby we receive rrace; because Baptism is a Sacrament which God bath instituted in His Church. to the end that they which receive the same might thereby be incoip >rated into Christ; and so through His most precious merit, obtain as well that saviug grace of impuiation which taketh away all former guiltiness, as also that infused virtue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to the powers of the soul thenfirst disposition towards newness of life." '* God\j Providence hath called infants into the fi.st beginning of eternal life, and presen'ed them ai the well-spring 1 of new birth, wherein original sin is purged, besides which sin theie is no hindrance of their salvation known to us.—Flooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Booh, v., 60. 64. 4 " Nothing in the Christian religion is more certain than the <xceeding gieat and tunst certain efficacy of Baptism i" spiritual good ; v is an cuuvard and visible sign indeed, but by it an invisible g,rdre ii signified ; and the sign itself was instituted for the very i purpose ibat it should confer that grace." —Bishop \ Pearson's Minor Theological Worts, vol. 1, 313. 5. " On the authority «' this example (that of St. Paul Roman! vi 3, viii. 13, Gal. ni. 26.), and of the undeniable practice of the first ages of Christianity, I our Church comiders B^piiim as conveying Regenetation, instructing us to pray be/ore baptism, that the infant may be born again, and made «n heir of everlasting galvation, and to return thanks after bapti»m, • That ii hath pleased God to regeneiata this infant with His Holy Spirit, and receive him for i his own child by adoption.' "—Apottolica Preaching- ' Considered, by the present Archbishop of Canterbury. 6. " We assuredly b> lieve ilmt by Baptise we are engrafted into Chriit Jesus, to be made partakers of his justice, by which our sinnes are covered and remitted." —Old Scotch Confession dratvnup by John Knox. 7. " Baptisme is a Sacrament wherein the Lord, by [ a visible tigne doth tesiifie His grace unto us, whereby ! He doth regenerate us, and cleanse us from our sins,, and alto receive us to be His peiple, that we may live to Chriv, die to the old Adam, and be partakers of the good things of Christ." —Confessions of Helvetia* as sent to Luther. 8. " This Sacrament consitteth of an outward washing that is done with water, with calling on the name of the Holy Trinity ; and that washing is vied both to signify and to witness a spiritual washing, and inward oleaniing of the Holy Ghost from the disease of hereditary sin, and from other sins, the guilt of which is here forgiven and takeu away, and to the attaining of n new manner of birth or regeneration, whereupon it is called the sacrament of the new birth —that ii of Regeneration. For we believe that whatsoever by baptisme is in the outvrurd ceremony signified And witnessed, all thnt doth the Lord wash and perform inwardly." —Confession of Bohemia. 9. " We do not often expound the turn of the doctrine of the Gospel comprehended in these words, • I baptize thee,' that is, 1 do witness that by this dipping thy sinnes be washed away, and that thou art nowreceived of the true God And that th« Holy Ghost is given in baptism, St. Pflulaffiimeth it in his epistle to Titus, saying, ' By the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.' '*— Confession of Saxon?/, drawn up by Malancthon, See also Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galattans, chap, iii, v. 27. The foregoing quotations must surely convince even your correspondent that the doctrine which ho condemns is something more than " the dogmatical interpretation of a few Tractarihns. 1' Having already, I fear, trespassed too much upon your room, I shall reserve for another letter a few obiervations on some of yrur correspondent's statements. Meanwhile, knowing that there nre a class of o'herwise estimable persons (of whom, I suppose, j your correspondent to be one) who are afraid to look ' at the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, because they imagine that its reception is a step towards Popery. I shall close this communication with an extract from a letter I lately received from a dear friend in Briuin (who holds, as I do, that thU doctrine is a moi>t fundamental one), in the sentiments of which 1 most heartily concur. " you will have seen the sad results of the Gorham. case. It is not possible to give you any idea of the* ferment which has been raised by this most iuiquitou* decision. Mr. Maskell you will see bas gone to Rome* and otheis are spoken of as likely to follow. 1 confess I do not andersiaud that pare of the movement. Sappose that the decision h.ts established a false doctrine what should take us to Rome ? Say the worst possible ot the English Church, she does not yet nullify tho doctrines of the lacarnation of Christ and tii» redemption of the fallen fla»h, as the Romanists do, by teaching the immaculate conception of the Virgin; neither does the defame God'« holy name,and cutoff man from the alone Mediator, as does Rome by representing the Father and the Son as all answer and wrath, to be appeased only by the Mediation, and authority of the Virgin mother, to whom, and to the Saints, prayers are ever nude as to tho-e who have power with God. Neither does the Euji-b. Church, as the Roini-h, present hei chi.d.en with a maimed Sacrament, bo licking in an essential ptrt h.u one may reasonably question whether lhe Holy Communiou has not ceased to be given." You-s very respectfully, A Lay viembek of thb Anglican Church. January 21,1851.

* Actaii., 38;xxn.. 16,