DR. HAMPDEN. Protest of the .Bishops.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 287, 29 April 1848, Page 3

DR. HAMPDEN. Protest of the .Bishops.

The following important correspondence has taken place in reference to the appointment of Dr. Hampden to the See of Hereford :—: — " My Lord, — We, the undersigned Bishops of the Church of England, feel it our duty to represent to your Lordship, as head of her Majesty's Government, the apprehension and alarm which have been excited in the minds of the clergy by the rumoured nomination to the See of Hereford of Dr. Hampden, in the soundness of whose doctrine the University of Oxford has affirmed, by a solemn decree, 'its want of confidence. " We are persuaded that your Lordship does not know how deep and general a feeling prevails on this subject, and we consider ourselves to be acting only iv the discharge of our bounden duty both to the Crown and to the Church, when we respectfully but earnestly express to your Lordship our couvic-

tion that if this appointment he completed, there is the greatest danger both of the interruption of the peace of the Church, and of the disturbance of the confidence which it' is most desirable that the clergy and laity of the Church should feel in every exercise of the Royal supremacy, especially as regards that very delicate and important particular, the nomination to vacant sees. " We have the honour to be, my Lord, " Your Lordship's obedient faithful servants, " C. J. London " C. WINTON " J. Lincoln " Chr. Bangor " Hugh Carlisle " G. Rochester " Rich. Bath and Wells " J. H. Glocester and Bristol " E. Sarum " A. T. Chichester " J. Ely " Saml.' Oxon " To the Right Hon. the Lord John Russell, &c."

" Chesham-place, December 8, 1847. "My Lords, — I have had the honour to receive a representation signed by your Lordships on the subject of the nomination of Dr. Hampden to the See of Hereford. " I observe that your Lordships do not state any want of confidence on your part in the soundness of Dr. Harapden's doctrine. Your Lordships refer me *o a decree of the University of Oxford, passed eleven years ago, and founded upon lectures delivered fifteen years ago. " Since the date of that decree Dr. Hampden has acted as Regius Professor of D vinity. The University of Oxford, arid many Bishops, as I am told, have required certificates of attendance on his lectures before they proceeded to ordain candidates who had received their educafon at Oxford. He has likewise preached sermons, for which he has been honoured with the approbation of several prelates of our Church. " Several months before I named Dr. Hampden to the Queen for the See of Hereford, I signified my intention to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and did not receive from him any discouragement. "In these circumstances, it appears to me that should I withdraw my recommendation of Dr. Hampden, which has been sanctioned by the Queen, I should virtually assent to the Boctrine that a decree of the University"" of Oxford is a perpetual ban of exclusion against a clergyman of eminent learning and irreproachable life, and that, in fact, the supremacy which is now by law vested in the Crown is to be transferred to a majority of the members of one of our Universities. " Nor should it be forgotten, that many of the most prominent among that majority have since joined the Communion of the Church of Rome. " I deeply regret the feeling that is said to be common among the clergy on this subject. But I cannot sacrifice the reputation of Dr. Hampden, the rights of the Crown, and what I believe to be the true interests of the Church, to a feeling which I believe to be founded on misapprehension and fomented by prejudice. " At the same time I thank your Lordships for an interposition which I believe to be intended for the public benefit. " I have, &c, " J. Russell. " To the Right Rev. the Bishops of London Winchester, Lincoln, &c."