ADDRESS OF THE SUPREMACY DECLARATION COMMITTEE. [From the Record.]

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 641, 5 June 1852, Page 4

ADDRESS OF THE SUPREMACY DECLARATION COMMITTEE. [From the Record.]

The circumstances of the present times having rendered necessary some public manifestation of feeling on the part of the clergy in support of the Eoyal Supremacy, and its recent exercise in the case of " Gorham v. the B'shop of Exeter," the following Declaration has been drawn up on the subject, and has already been signed by more than two thousand three hundred clergymen. No arguments can now be requisite to prove, to all who are interested in the peace and welfaie of our Church, that however undesirable it may be for the clergy, under ordinary circumstances, to issue such Declarations, a state of tl '^gs has now arisen among us in which silence might fairly be lr'sconstrued. The Committee, therefore, only feel it necessary to request that the names of the clergy who wish to subscribe the following Declaration may be forwarded, at as early a period as possible, to the "Supremacy Declaration Committee," at Messrs. Ilatchard's, 187, Piccadilly .—. — "A Declaration, by the undersigned Clergy of the Church of England, in support of the Royal Supremacy in things Ecclesiastical, and of the wisdom and authority of the judgment emanating from its recent exercise. " We, the unders'gned Clergy of the Church of England, viewing with surprise and concern the attempts made by parties holding office in the Church to invalidate and nullify the judgment recently delivered by the Sovereign, as " Supreme Governor of this realm, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal," by the advice of the Privy Council and the Primates of the Church, in the case of ' Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter,' hereby testify our thankfulness for the judgment so delivered ; and feel ourselves called upon, under present circumstances, (ivhether holding, or not, tl c view which called forth the judgment,) humbly to state our conviction, thatit was a wise and just sentence, in accordance with the principles of the Church of England. "And we respectfully, but firmly, protest against any attempt, from whatever quarter it may proceed, to bring into contempt a judgment so issued ; and to charge with false teaching, and discredit with their flocks, those whose doctrine has been pronounced by that judgment to be ' not contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the Church of England.' " Such attempts we hold to be equivalent to the enforcement of a standard of doctrine in our Church, by unauthorised individuals, opposed to that established by its supreme authority ; and, consequently, to be irreconcileable with the first principles of all Church polity, and necessarily to lead to a state of disorder, strife, and confusion in the Church." Among the names of those who have already signed, are the following :—: — T. H. Bowers, Dean of Manchester. W. D. Conybeare, Dean of Llandaff. Gilb. Elliot, Dean of Bristol. H. D. Erskine, Dean of Ripon. A. C. Tait, Dean of Carlisle. T. Bevan, Archdeacon of St. David's. J. H. Browne, Archdeacon of Ely. J- B. Collyer, Archdeacon of Norwich. Thomas Hill, Archdeacon of Derby. George Hodson, Archdeacon of Stafford. E. B. Hone, Archdeacon of Worcester. Henry Law, Archdeacon of Wells. J. C. Moore, Archdeacon of Man. W. Spooner, Archdeacon of Coventry. Saye and Sele, Canon and Treasurer of Hereford, &c. L. Vernon Harcourt, Chancellor and Prebendary of York. Christ. Benson, Canon of Worcester. W. S. Gilly, Canon of Durham. W. Gray, Canon Residentiary of Ripon. M. Irving, Canon of Rochester. S. Lee, Canon of Bristol, &c. F. Y. Lockwood, Canon of Canterbury, &c. C. Phillips, Canon of St. David's, &c. E. T. M. Phillips, Chancellor of Gloucester, &c. Henry Raikes, Chancellor of Chester. J. Scholefield, Canon of Ely, and Regius Professor of Greek, Cambridge. H. M. Villiers, Canon of St. Paul's, &c. Hugh Williams, Chancellor of Llandaff. W. Wilson, Canon of Winchester, &c. T. Woodrooffe, Canon of Winchester, &c. B. P. Symons, Warden of Wadhani College, Oxford. G. S. Fabcr, Master of Sherburn Hospital, and Prebendary of Salisbury. , C. J. Vaughan, Head Master of Harrow. &c, &c., &c. !