THE ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY AND YORK ON THE ROYAL SUPREMACY.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 645, 19 June 1852, Page 3

THE ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY AND YORK ON THE ROYAL SUPREMACY.

The following important correspondence has been published :—

I. —Letter to the Primates enclosing the Declaration. 31, Charterhouse-square, Dec. 31, 1851. My dear Lord Archbishop, —l am requested by the " Supremacy and Gorham Cause Declaration Committee" to forward to your grace the enclosed "declaration," which has now been signed by 32G2 of the clergy (not including seven names which we have been unable to verify) ; among whom are seven deans, twelve archdeacons, and a large number of the dignitaries of the Church throughout the kingdom. These signatures have been obtained, not by means of application sent to all the clcipy, but by private coirespondcnce with persons known to the

committee, and a few advertisements in the newspapers; consequently the number so obtained cannot be considered as at all an adequate representation of that portion of the clergy who would have signed the "declaration" if it had been sent to the whole body; and further, the answers which we have received show that it represents but a fraction of those who cordially agree with the views stated in the " declaration," a very large number of the clergy being reluctant, from failing to recognise its necessity, and from other causes^ to make any public movement in the matter. With a feeling of reluctance to issue such declarations needlessly, the committee cordially sympathise; nor was it till some time had elapsed after the delivery of the Gorham judgment that it was determined to offer the clergy an opportunity of publicly testifying their sense of its value. But circumstances, to which it is unnecessary further to allude, seemed to render it a duty incumbent upon them to make known their sentiments on the subject, not only to disabuse the public mind of the false impression -which it has been taught to entertain respecting their views in the matter, but also to discountenance any attempt that might be made to set aside in practice a judgment solemnly pronounced by the ultimate court of appeal in matters ecclesiastical; and for these purposes the names appended to the enclosed " declaration" appear to the committee to be amply sufficient, coming as they do from every diocese, and from all parts of the kingdom, and amounting probably to about one-fourth part of the officiating clergy, especially when it is recollected that a recent declaration of a contrary kind, which was sent to every individual throughout the whole body of the clergy, and also to the lay members of the universities, obtained, as is well known, less than 1800 signatures, lay and clerical together. I am, my dear Lord Archbishop, Your Grace's obliged and faithful servant, W. Goode. j '

ll.—The Declaration Enclosed. 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 undersigned 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 (whether holding or not the view which called forth the judgment), humbly to state our conviction that it was a wise ami 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 irreconcilable with the first principles of all Church polity, and necessarily to lead to a state of disorder, strife, and confusion in the Church.

Hl.—-Reply of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Addington, January 2. My dear Sir,—l have much satisfaction in receiving the declaration which you have forwarded to me from so numerous a body of clergy upon a ! subject which I sincerely hope may no longer be permitted to disturb the peace of our Church. There are many questions in theology upon which Christians may differ without reproach to themselves or injury to others. From the Reformation until the present time numbers of our clergy have subset ibed the same articles, have used the same formularies, have ministered in the same Churches, whose sentiments, if they had been obliged to state them with logical precision, would have been found to vary, more or less, from each other, both with regard to regeneration and to the effect of infant baptism. But this difference has not prevented their harmonious cooperation, or impaired their usefulness; and 1 should have been seriously grieved if the period of my archiepiscopacy had been chosen as the period when freedom of opinion within the reasonable limits hitherto deemed allowable, was, for the first time, denied to our clergy in a case where it is not denied them by the word of God or the declared doctrine of the Church of England. I remain, my dear Sir, Very faithfully yours, J. B. Cantaur. Rev. William Goode.

IV.—Reply of the Archbishop of York. Bishopsthorpc, York, January 5. My dear Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of the dclaration, and of your letter which accompanied it. I am glad to find such a large number of the clergy agree in regarding "the judgment" al lucled to as "a wise and just sentence, in accordance with the principles of the Church of England." Concurring entirely in that opinion, I would only add the expression of my sincere hope that it may be considered by all parties as a final settlement of the point in dispute, and thus tend to promote that peace and harmony among ourselves which the times and the circumstances of the Church require. I am, my dear Sir, Your faithful servant, T. Ebok. Rev. W. Goode.