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 LIBRARY 
 
 O F THE 
 
 U N I VERS ITY 
 
 or 1 LLl NOIS
 
 5 
 
 Gorliam v. the Bisliop of Exeter 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 SIR WALTER FARQUHAR, BART., 
 
 PRESENT CRISIS IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 BY WALTER FARQUIIAR HOOK, D.D. 
 
 VICAK OF LEEDS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEI^IARLE STREET. 
 
 1850.
 
 Recent Publications by Rev. Dr. Hook. 
 
 ON THE NONENTITY of the ROIMISH SAINTS, and the 
 
 INANITY OF ROMAN ORDINANCES. TwoSennons. Third 
 Edition, with a Preface. 8vo., 2s. 6d. 
 
 ON THE MEANS OF EENDERING MORE EFFECTUAL 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. Tenth Edition. 8vo., 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 FRIENDLY AND SEASONABLE ADVICE TO THE 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLICS OF ENGLAND. By Dean Comber. 
 New Edition, with a Preface and Notes. 18mo., 3s. 
 
 London : 
 
 Spottiswoodks .ind Siuw, 
 
 New-strcet-S(junre.
 
 LETTER. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 I have received your letter inclosing a copy of 
 certain Resolutions wliicli have been signed by Arch- 
 deacon Manning and others, to whose opinions that 
 attention is due which we are ever ready to pay to 
 persons of acknowledged learning, piety, and talent. 
 
 The Resolutions were sent to me before their pub- 
 lication, but I did not sign them, because they seem 
 to me first to overstate the difficulties of our present 
 position, and then to imply that if the sentence in 
 favour of Mr. Gorham be not reversed, the Church of 
 England will cease to be a true church, and that 
 the Subscribers must quit our Communion. 
 
 It is due to some of my Friends who have sub- 
 scribed the Resolutions, to state, that they disclaim 
 the latter inference, and that they had no intention 
 thus to commit themselves, and the cause of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 . Still, as you assert, and as I know, there are many 
 persons who take it for granted that the Church of 
 Rome is a true and Catholic Church, and express 
 doubts whether this can be predicated of the Church 
 of England, if she does not take some decided steps 
 to extricate herself from the difficulties, in which she 
 
 A 2
 
 appears to be involved by the judgment given in the 
 case of Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter. 
 
 I propose, tlierefore, before offering a few observa- 
 tions upon the exaggerated view which some persons 
 are inclined to take of the difficulties of our position, 
 to show that, supposing our case to be as bad as 
 possible, there is no refuge in the Church of Home 
 for those who have the fear of God before their eyes, 
 or the love of Catholic Truth in their hearts. 
 
 The question with respect to the Church of Rome 
 is not whether it is Catholic or not ; but whether it 
 be or be not Antichrist. Let it be remembered that 
 some of the most learned and devoted servants of 
 Christ have regarded the Church of Rome as Anti- 
 christ. I say not whether they are right or wrong : 
 I only state the fact. To this opinion the Church of 
 England seems, in our Homilies, to incline.* For my 
 own part, I look to the coming of a personal Anti- 
 christ ; and I also expect that the number of Be- 
 lievers — the true Church — will be reduced to a 
 very small number before the final triumph. But 
 still, with the Church of England, I see much of An- 
 tichrist in the Church of Rome, and I think that she 
 will be closely connected with Antichrist when he 
 shall appear. But be this as it may : they who talk 
 lightly of seceding to the Church of Rome should 
 
 * " He," the Pope, representing the system, " ought rather to 
 be called Antichrist, and the successor of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, than Christ's vicar, or St. Peter's successor ; seeing that not 
 only in this point, but also in other weighty matters of Christian 
 religion, in matters of remission and forgiveness of sins, and of 
 salvation, he teacheth so, directly against both St. Peter, and 
 against our Saviour Christ." — Homily on Ohcdieiice. , 
 
 UIUC
 
 bear this constantly in mind, that the question to be 
 asked with respect to that Church is, whether it has 
 not upon it " the marks of the Beast ; " and as many- 
 men more holy than they, some even members of the 
 Church of Rome, have expressed their belief that this 
 is the case, it is a very fearful thing to contemplate 
 the possibility of entering into a community, which 
 may be Antichrist. 
 
 And then, again, when people talk lightly of joining 
 the Church of Rome, I wish they would consider 
 seriously what it is they will have to do. They look 
 with a magnifying glass on every gnat Avhich annoys 
 them in the Church of England, and shut their eyes 
 to the multitude of camels they will have to swallow 
 if they join the Church of Rome. 
 
 If they join the Church of Rome they will have to 
 anathematise all who do not believe that Christ has 
 appointed seven true and proper sacraments, neither 
 more nor less, all conferring grace, and all necessary 
 to salvation ; that is, they will have to anathematise 
 not only all members of the Church of England, but 
 all the Fathers of the Church : 
 
 They will have to regard, as necessary to salvation, 
 all the ceremonies held in the Romish Church, in the 
 administration of the sacraments ; such as spittle and 
 salt in baptism ; the holding the sacrament above the 
 priest's head to be adored ; the exposing it in the 
 church to be worshipped by the people ; the oil and 
 chrism in confirmation ; the anointing of the eyes, 
 ears, noses, and hands of the dying : 
 
 They will have to believe that all are damned who 
 
 A 3
 
 arc opposed to the observances and constitutions of 
 the Romish Church: such as the celibacy of the 
 clergy ; the orders of monks, friars, and nuns ; the 
 service of God in an unknown tongue ; the saying of 
 a certain number of Ave Marias by tale upon their 
 beads ; the sprinkling of themselves and of the bodies 
 of the dead with holy water; the consecration and 
 incensing of images ; and various other observances 
 too numerous to mention : 
 
 They will have to accept, on pain of damnation, 
 the figment of transubstantiation, and to believe that 
 the priest offers up his Saviour in the mass, a true, 
 real, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the quick 
 and the dead : 
 
 They will have to affirm that those are damned 
 who do not hold that communion in one kind is suf- 
 ficient and lawful, notwithstanding the Institution of 
 our Lord in both kinds : 
 
 They will have to believe in a purgatory after this 
 life, in which the souls of the dead are punished, and 
 from whence they are liberated by the prayers and 
 offerings of the living : 
 
 They will have to believe that dead men and 
 women, whom the Pope has canonised, or shall here- 
 after canonise, are, or ought to be, invocated by re- 
 ligious prayers ; and that the images of Christ and 
 the Virgin Mary ought not only to be had and retained, 
 but likewise to be honoured and worshipped : 
 
 They will have to receive and hold, under pain of 
 eternal perdition, the power and use of indulgences, 
 as they arc now received and practised in the Church 
 of Rome :
 
 They will have to renounce the first and second 
 commandments ; to worship the creature as well as, if 
 not more than, the Creator ; and to bow down to wood 
 and stone, the work of men's hands. 
 
 Nay, further ; as to this very article of the Creed 
 now under consideration, is not the Church of Rome 
 heretical ? 
 
 I beg to submit to you the following passage from 
 our great authority on the subject of Baptismal Re- 
 generation, Bishop Bethell : he says, " In common 
 with the Church of Rome and the Lutheran Churches, 
 we hold that Regeneration, or the New Birth, is the 
 spiritual grace of Baptism conveyed over to the soul 
 in the due administration of that sacrament. We 
 hold, in common with those Churches, that in adults 
 duly qualified by repentance and faith, the guilt of 
 sin, both original and actual, is cancelled in Baptism; 
 that in infants, who have committed no actual or 
 wilful sin, and can possess no such qualifications, the 
 guilt of original sin is done away ; and that infants, 
 no less than adults, are made in Baptism children of 
 God, members of Christ, inheritors of the kingdom of 
 heaven, and partakers of the privileges and blessings 
 of the Gospel covenant. But the Church of Rome 
 contends that not only the guilt, but the very essence 
 and being of original sin is removed by Baptism ; the 
 Church of England declares that this corruption of 
 nature remains even in the regenerate. The Church 
 of Rome has decreed that concupiscence (or fuel, 
 fomes^ as it is called), which remains after Baptism, 
 has notj properly speaking, the nature of sin ; whereas 
 
 A 4
 
 8 
 
 we affirm that concupiscence has the nature of sin, 
 and allege the authority of an Apostle in support of 
 our opinion."* 
 
 We, in common with all Protestants, regard this 
 as a great and fundamental heresy in the Church of 
 Rome, laying the foundation of their grand error, 
 viz. justification by inherent Righteousness. 
 
 Although we believe that the guilt of original sin 
 is done away by Baptism, as by that act we are 
 transplanted from the family of the first Adam into 
 the Church of Him who is the Lord from Heaven ; 
 we expressly assert, in direct opposition to the 
 Schoolmen and the Church of Rome, that the " in- 
 fection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are 
 regenerated ; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in 
 Greek Phronema sarkos, which some do expound the 
 wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some 
 the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of 
 God. And although there is no condemnation for 
 them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle 
 doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of 
 itself the nature of sin." f 
 
 But we may make the case even stronger against 
 the Church of Rome. She not only has placed a 
 wrong construction upon an article of the Creed, but 
 she has tampered with the Creeds themselves. The 
 Creeds of the Church of Rome are 7iot merely and 
 simply the old Catholic Creeds of the old Catholic 
 Church. The Church of Rome in 1564 adopted a 
 
 * Bishop Bethell on Regeneration, pref. xvii, 
 t Article IX.
 
 new Creed, many articles of which are directly op- 
 posed to the articles of the ancient Catholic Creeds. 
 
 The Church of Rome adopts the Apostles' Creed 
 and the Athanasian Creed ; but, instead of the Nicene 
 or Constantinopolitan Creed, she has, in opposition to 
 the Catholic Church, devised the following : 
 
 " I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven 
 and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, light of light, 
 true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial to the 
 Father, by whom all things were made ; who for us men, and for 
 our salvation, came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the 
 Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, was crucified 
 also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and 
 rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended 
 into Heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come 
 again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose king- 
 dom there will be no end : and in the Holy Ghost the Lord and 
 life-giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son : who toge- 
 ther with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who 
 spoke by the Prophets. And in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic 
 Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins, and I 
 expect the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to 
 come." Amen. 
 
 " I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical 
 traditions, and all other constitutions and^ observances of the said 
 Church. 
 
 " I also admit the sacred Scriptures according to the sense 
 which the Holy Mother Church has held, and does hold, to 
 whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation 
 of the Holy Scriptures ; nor will I ever take and interpret them 
 otherwise than ^according to the unanimous consent of the Fa- 
 thers. 
 
 " I profess also, that there are truly and properly seven sacra- 
 ments of the new Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and 
 for the Salvation of mankind, though all not necessary for every 
 one ; namely, baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, extreme 
 imction, order, and matrimony, and that they confer grace; and
 
 10 
 
 of these baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be reiterated 
 without sacrilege. 
 
 "I also receive and admit the ceremonies of the Catholic 
 Church, received and approved in the solemn administration of 
 all the above said saci'aments. 
 
 " I receive and embrace all and every one of the things which 
 have been defined and declared in the Holy Council of Trent, 
 concerning original sin and justification. 
 
 " I profess likewise, that in the mass is offered to God a true, 
 proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead ; and 
 that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, 
 really, and substantially the body and blood, together with the 
 soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that there is 
 made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the 
 body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which 
 conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. 
 
 " I confess also, that under either kind alone, whole and entire, 
 Christ, and a true sacrament is received. 
 
 " I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the 
 souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. 
 
 " LikcAvise that the saints reigning together with Christ are to 
 be honoured and invocated, that they offer prayers to God for us, 
 and that their relics are to be venerated. 
 
 " I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, and of the 
 IMother of God, ever Virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be 
 had and retained ; and that due honour and veneration are to be 
 given to them. 
 
 "I also afiirm, that the power of indulgences was left by 
 Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most whole- 
 some to Christian people. 
 
 " I acknowledge the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church, 
 the mother and mistress of all Churches ; and I pi'omise and swear 
 true obedience to the Roman Bishop, the successor of St. Peter, 
 Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things de- 
 livered, defined, and declared by the sacred Canons, and general 
 councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent ; and like- 
 wise I also condemn, reject, and anathematise all things contrary 
 thereto, and all heresies whatsoever, condemned and anathema- 
 tised by the Church. 
 
 "This true Catholic faith, out of which none can be saved.
 
 11 
 
 which I now freely profess, and truly hold, I, N., promise, vow, 
 and swear most constantly to hold and profess the same whole and 
 entire, with God's assistance, to the end of my life. Amen." 
 
 Surely this is sufficient to make us suspect that the 
 Church of Rome has ceased to be Catholic since the 
 year 1564. 
 
 It does seem to me the very height of inconsistency 
 for any man to express feelings of alarm about the 
 Catholicity of the Church of England, because the 
 Queen in Council will not permit Mr. Gorham to be 
 deprived of a living; and to assume without ques- 
 tioning the Catholicity of the Church of Rome. 
 
 And this brings me to the consideration of the 
 exaggerated view which is taken of our difficulties. 
 Let us see what our position really is, and how it is 
 affected by the judgment in the case of Gorham v. the 
 Bishop of Exeter. 
 
 Those who hold the doctrine of Baptismal Regene- 
 ration, believe that certain persons are predestinated 
 and elected, absolutely to grace, and conditionally to 
 glory. 
 
 The sign of their having been so predestinated and 
 elected by the sovereignty of God is not merely their 
 having been born in a Christian land, but the fact 
 of it having been pre-ordained that they should be 
 baptized into the Christian Church. 
 
 The guilt, but not the infection of original sin, is 
 at Baptism remitted : the means of grace are opened 
 to the baptized; and, on condition of their using 
 those means aright, in order to build themselves up 
 in godliness, they will be received into glory ; where-
 
 12 
 
 as, if they neglect so great salvation, a more awful 
 curse awaits them, than awaits the heathen, who has 
 given no heed to the voice of God speaking to him in 
 his natural conscience. 
 
 Now the question is. Whether those who hold this 
 doctrine are placed in a worse position than before, 
 by the decision of Her Majesty in Council on the 
 question of Gorham v, the Bishop of Exeter ? 
 
 The point in dispute was, Whether persons sub- 
 scribing to the article in the Creed, that there is " one 
 baptism for the remission of sins," but interpreting 
 the article in a non-natural sense, may hold prefer- 
 ment in the Church of England ? 
 
 It is notorious that they have done so for the last 
 three hundred years ; and Her Most Gracious Majesty 
 in Council has been pleased to rule that this their 
 liberty shall not be abridged. 
 
 Her Majesty in Council has not censured us, who 
 hold the article of the Creed referred to, in its plain, 
 literal, and obvious meaning. We may continue to 
 hold the orthodox doctrine as heretofore. So far 
 from being placed in a worse position than before, 
 we are even in a better position than we were. The 
 inference from the late discussion is, that ours is the 
 right doctrine, but that those who appear to us to 
 explain it away may still remain in the Church. 
 The followers of Mr. Gorham have urged the prin- 
 ciple advocated some years ago in the most celebrated 
 of the Oxford Tracts, No. XC, and have asserted 
 their right to place their own construction, upon the 
 formularies they have subscribed. 
 
 Let it be clearly understood that all that Mr. Gor-
 
 13 
 
 ham sought for, was toleration; and this, by the 
 decree of the Queen in Council, he has received. 
 
 This decision has not changed or interfered with 
 the doctrine which the Church of England has ever 
 held on the subject of Baptism in common with the 
 Church Universal from the earliest ages ; it only- 
 shows that the civil authorities will not assist the 
 ecclesiastical authorities in maintaining the truth : a 
 course of conduct which must, if persevered in, lead 
 to a separation between Church and State. 
 
 In anticipation of this, let us who love the Church 
 of England ; who believe her to be a true and living 
 member of " the Catholic body ; " who glory in our 
 Reformation, who receive the Articles and the Prayer- 
 book ; not the Prayer-book without the Articles, nor 
 the Articles without the Prayer-book; who regard 
 En2;land as the first and foremost nation in all this 
 world, and England's Church as the bulwark of the 
 Reformation, — let us endeavour to persuade men to 
 be of one mind in our Sion, and to come to an 
 agreement on this very article of Baptismal Regene- 
 ration. 
 
 Is this a hopeless case ? I think not. I will appeal 
 to your own case. You and I belong to different 
 schools or parties in the Church of England. We 
 still differ on some important points; and yet, though 
 I will not commit you to all that I have stated 
 with reference to Regeneration, or to my opinion of 
 the conduct of the advisers of Her Majesty, I know 
 that you have, by the prayerful study of Scripture, 
 arrived at the conclusion, that Regeneration is the 
 grace of Baptism.
 
 14 
 
 So had the late Mr. Simeon of Caml)ridge : I have 
 been accustomed to refer to his exposition of the 
 doctrine of the Church of England with respect to 
 the grace of Baptism, as a clear and scriptural expo- 
 sition of the doctrine. I hope that, in these days, 
 it will be extensively read. The following is to be 
 found in vol. ii. p. 259, of the works of the late 
 Mr. Simeon : — 
 
 " In the baptismal service, 7ve thank God for having regene- 
 rated the baptized infant hy his Holy Spirit Now from hence it 
 appears, that in the opinion of our Reformers, regeneration and 
 remissio7i of sins did accompany Baptism. But in what sense did 
 they hold this sentiment ? Did they maintain that there was no 
 need for the seed then sown in the heart of the baptized person 
 to grow up and to bring forth fruit ; or that he could be saved in 
 any other way than by a progressive renovation of his soul after the 
 divine image? Had they asserted any such doctrine as that, it would 
 have been impossible for any enlightened person to concur 'with. them. 
 But nothing can be conceived more repugnant to their sentiments 
 than such an idea as this ; so far from harbouring such a thought, 
 they have, and that too in this very prayer, taught us to look to 
 God for that total change both of heart and life which, long since 
 their days, has begun to be expressed by the tei-m Regeneration. 
 After thanking God for regenerating the infant by his Holy Spirit, 
 we are taught to pray ' that he being dead unto sin and living unto 
 ri"-hteousness may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the 
 whole body of sin;' and then declaring the total change to be the 
 necessary mean of his obtaining salvation, we add, ' so that finally, 
 with the residue of thy holy Church, he may be an inheritor of 
 thine everlasting kingdom.' Is there (I would ask) any person 
 that can require more than this ? or does God in his word re- 
 quire more ? There are two things to be noticed in reference to 
 this subject, the ter?n Regeneration and the thing. The term occurs 
 but twice in the Scriptures ; in one place it refers to Baptism, 
 and is distinguished from the renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which, 
 however, is represented as attendant on it : and in the other place 
 it has a totally distinct meaning unconnected with the subject. 
 Now the term they use as tiie Scripture uses it, and the thing
 
 they require as strongly as any person can require it. They do 
 not give us any reason to imagine that an adult person can be 
 saved without experiencing all that modern divines [ultra- Protes- 
 tant divines'] have included in the term Regeneration ; on the con- 
 trary, they do both there and in the Liturgy insist upon a radical 
 change of both heart and life. Here, then, the only question is, not 
 * Whether a baptized person can be saved by that ordinance with- 
 out sanctification,' but whether God does always accompany the 
 sign with the thing signified ? Here is certainly room for differ- 
 ence of opinion ; but it cannot he positively decided in the nega- 
 tive ; because we cannot know or even judge respecting it in any 
 case whatever, except by the fruits that follow ; and therefore 
 in all fairness it may be considered only as a doubtful point ; and 
 if he appeal, as he ought to do, to the holy Scriptures, they 
 certainly do, in a very remarkable way, accord with the expressions 
 in our Liturgy. St. Paul says, ' By one Spirit we are all bap- 
 tized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we 
 be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one 
 Spirit.' And this he says of all the visible members of Christ's 
 Body, (1 Cor. xii. 13,27.) Again ; speaking of the whole nation 
 of Israel, infants as well as adults, he says, ' They were all baptized 
 unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea ; and did all eat the same 
 spiritual meat ; and did all drink the same spix'itual drink ; for 
 they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them ; and that 
 Rock was Christ.^ (1 Cor. x. 1, 4.) Yet, behold, in the very 
 next verse he tells us that, ' with many of them, God was dis- 
 pleased, and overthrew them in the wilderness.' In another place 
 he speaks yet more strongly still: 'As many of you,' says he, 'as 
 are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.' Here we see what 
 is meant by the expression 'baptized into Christ :' it is precisely 
 the same expression as that before mentioned, of the Israelites 
 being ' baptized unto Moses : ' the preposition eIq is used in 
 both places ; it includes all that had been initiated into his religion 
 by the rite of baptism; and of them universally does the 
 Apostle say, ' they have put on Christ.' Now, I ask, have not the 
 persons, who scruple the use of that prayer in the baptismal ser- 
 vice, equal reason to scruple the use of these different expressions ? 
 " Again ; St. Peter says, ' Repent and be baptized every one of 
 yon for the remission of sins.* (Acts, ii. 38, 39.) And in another 
 place, 'Baptism doth now save us.' (1 Pet. iii. 21.) And speak-
 
 16 
 
 ing elsewhere of baptized persons who were unfruitful in the know- 
 ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, ' He hath forgotten that 
 he was purged from his old sins' (2 Pet. i. 9.) Does not this 
 very strongly countenance the idea WHicn our Refokmers en- 
 tertained, THAT THE REMISSION OF OUR SINS, AND THE REGENE- 
 RATION OF OUR SOULS, IS ATTENDANT ON THE BAPTISMAL RITE ? 
 
 Perhaps it will be said that the inspired writers spake of persons 
 who had been baptized at an adult age. But if they did so in 
 some places, they certainly did not in others ; and where they did 
 not, they must be understood as comprehending all, whether infants 
 or adults : and therefore the language of our Liturgy, which is not 
 a whit stronger than theirs, may be both subscribed and used 
 without any just occasion of offence. 
 
 " Let me, then, speak the truth before God : though I am no 
 Arminian, / do think the refinements of Calvin have done great 
 harm in the Church ; they have driven midtitudes from the plain 
 and popular tvay of speaking used by the inspired icriters, and 
 have made them unreasonably and unscripturally squeamish in 
 their modes of expression ; and I conceive that the less addicted 
 any person is to systematic accuracy, the more he will accord with 
 the inspired writers, and the more he will approve the views of 
 our Reformers. I do not mean, however, to say that a slight al- 
 teration in two or three instances would not be an improvement, 
 since it would take off a burthen from many minds, and supersede 
 the necessity of laboured explanations : but I do mean to say that 
 there is no such objection to these expressions aa to deter any 
 conscientious person from giving his unfeigned assent and consent 
 to the Liturgy altogethei', or from using the particular expressions 
 which we have been endeavouring to explain." — Simeon's Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 259. 
 
 Now, although there may be extreme men who 
 hold Mr. Gorham's views, yet I think that the ma- 
 jority of your friends will go mth you, when you 
 accept the exposition of Mr. Simeon. 
 
 And if so, is not our dispute a merely verbal dis- 
 pute ? especially when we repudiate on our side the 
 Romish view of the doctrine.
 
 17 
 
 That our doctrine is misunderstood by some of 
 your friends I feel confident ; and I would refer them 
 to Dr. Waterland and Bishop Bethell, if they desire 
 to see how carefully we guard against that abuse of 
 the doctrine which excites their fears, lest in asserting 
 the Grace of Baptism, we should not preach Con- 
 version and Renovation. Our case is thus stated by 
 the Bishop of Bangor : — 
 
 " 1. Grown persons coming to Baptism properly qualified, receive 
 at once the grace of Regeneration ; but however well prepared, 
 they are not regenerate without Baptism. Afterwards, renovation 
 grows more and more within them by the indwelling of the Spirit, 
 
 " 2. As to infants, their innocence and incapacity are to them 
 instead of repentance, which they do not want, and of actual faith, 
 which they cannot have ; and they are capable of being born again, 
 and adopted by God, because they bring no obstacle. They stipu- 
 late, and the Holy Spirit translates them out of a state of nature, 
 into a state of grace, favour, and acceptance. In their case, Rege- 
 neration precedes, and Renovation follows after, and they are the 
 temple of the Spirit, till they defile themselves tvith sin. 
 
 " 3. As to those who fall off after Regeneration, their covenant 
 state abides, but without any saving effect, because without present 
 renovation : but this saving effect may be repaired and recovered 
 by repentance. 
 
 " 4. With respect to those who receive Baptism in a state of 
 hjqpocrisy or impenitency, though this Sacrament can only increase 
 their condemnation, still pardon and grace are conditionally made 
 over to them, and the saving virtue of Regeneration, tchich had 
 been hitherto suspended, takes effect when they truly repent and 
 unfeignedly believe the gospel. 
 
 " This clear statement of the learned author, Dr. "Waterland, 
 contains an accurate repi-esentation of the grace conferred, and 
 the change which takes place in Baptism : and this is what is 
 meant by those Divines who maintain that Regeneration is, in the 
 strict sense of the word, the inward and spiritual grace of Baptism. 
 The identity, if I may so express myself, of Baptism and Rege- 
 neration, is a doctrine which manifestly pervades the wx'itings of 
 
 B
 
 18 
 
 the Fathers, It is moreover evident that they did not imagine that 
 Baptism produces any saving effect in adults without faith and re- 
 pentance, or, in other words, without some previous renewal of 
 the inward frame. Nor do the;/ appear to have supposed any 
 positive or active renewal of the soul takes place in infajits (which 
 is the doctrine of the Church of Rome). Hence it follows that 
 they must have maintained this distinction between Regeneration 
 and Renovation, or Conversion, which, in the present day, has been 
 styled, by a strange fatality, a novel contrivance. Sufficient proofs, 
 however, of a positive kind maybe collected from their own writings, 
 that they maintained this distinction." — Bp. Bethell on Regenera- 
 tion, pp. 14, 16. 
 
 If the decision of the Queen in Council shall lead 
 to mutual explanations among those who really love 
 the Church of England, and are equally opposed to 
 Eationalism and Romanism ; if it shall increase the 
 number of those who are determined to walk in the 
 via media, however much they may have hitherto 
 been biassed, by misunderstandings and misrepresen- 
 tations, to the one extreme or the other ; the decision 
 will have conduced indirectly to the strengthening of 
 the Church, and will have formed us into a band of 
 brothers prepared to speak the truth in love, and to 
 promote the glory of God by the salvation of man. 
 So be it. 
 
 Let it not, however, be supposed that those who 
 take this view of the case, and who hope that, by the 
 Providence of God, the judgment will be overruled 
 ibr the good of His Church, regard with any feelings 
 of approbation the line of conduct pursued by the 
 Members of the Priv^^ Council who were appointed 
 to act as Her Majesty's advisers. Her Majesty's
 
 19 
 
 advisers, appear to have acted as politicians rather 
 than as judges ; and to have decided, not according 
 to the merits of the case, but according to their 
 notions of what was expedient. The whole subject 
 has been perplexed, not so much by the judgment 
 they have advised Her Majesty to give, as by the 
 reasons they have assigned for the conclusions at 
 which they have arrived. But, at the same time, 
 these reasons, resting, as they do, on doctrines mis- 
 understood, and on the misquotations of authorities, 
 only serve to confirm us in the faith that Regene- 
 ration is the Grace of Baptism. 
 
 On these grounds, while I deny that the decision 
 of the Queen in Council damages our position as a 
 Church, while I maintain that if we were Catholic as 
 well as Protestant before, we remain both Catholic 
 and Protestant still, I am not precluded from uniting 
 with good men and true in seeking for a relief from 
 the grievous anomaly of having our final court of 
 appeal so constituted that none of those who are 
 appointed to advise Her Majesty, need be Churchmen 
 or even Christians. I would deprecate intemperate 
 expressions against the royal supremacy, but I think 
 we have a right to take precautions against its being- 
 exerted in a reckless and arbitrary manner. 
 
 Only let us be careful, while we maintain our 
 rights as Englishmen and Churchmen, not to Ro- 
 manize ; let us remember that if, by the existence of 
 the present court of appeal, we are suffering much 
 inconvenience, we may, in our struggles to extricate 
 
 b2
 
 20 
 
 ourselves, fall into a position still more painful. Let 
 U3 be persuaded that it is better 
 
 " To bear the ills we have, 
 
 Than fly to others that we know not of." 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 W. F. HOOK. 
 
 Leeds, March, 1850. 
 
 P.S. I send you a copy of the address to our 
 Diocesan, which has been signed by thirty-nine of the 
 clergy of Leeds : — 
 
 "To the Right Reverend Father in God, Charles Thomas, 
 Lord Bishop of Ripon. 
 
 "We, the undersigned Clergy of your Lordship's diocese, residing 
 in the deanery of Leeds, approach your Lordship with an ex- 
 pression of our affection and respect, and venture to seek your 
 paternal advice under the existing circumstances of the Church, 
 
 " The undersigned receive the Articles of the Creed and the 
 Formularies of the Church, on the subject of Baptism, in their 
 plain, literal, and obvious sense, — in the sense in which the words 
 have always been understood by the Church of England in common 
 with the Universal Church from the earliest ages. 
 
 " It may seem, therefore, that we are only remotely concerned 
 in the late decision of Her Majesty in Council, in the question 
 of Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter: a judgment which, in our 
 opinion, amounts only to this, — that persons receiving the Articles 
 of the Creed and the Formularies of the Church on the subject of 
 Baptism in a non-natural sense, shall not be disturbed in their 
 preferments. But we beg leave to call the attention of your 
 Lordship to the fact that the counsellors of Her Majesty, in advising 
 the judgment, have supported it, not only by arguments which 
 appear to us to be inconsistent with the spirit of the Church's 
 teaching, but by misquotations (unintentionally made) from the 
 writings of some of our standard divines, who are made to express 
 the very opinions, for the refutation of which those writings were 
 composed and given to the world.
 
 21 
 
 " This has caused perplexity in the minds of many of our pa- 
 rishioners ; and while we feel confident that your T>ordship and 
 your Right Reverend brethren w'ill seek a suitable occasion for 
 bringing these misstatements under the notice of Her Majesty, we 
 ask your Lordship's advice with respect to the proper course to be 
 pursued by us in satisfying the minds of our parishioners. 
 
 "Leeds, 25th March, 1850." 
 
 THK END. 
 
 London : 
 
 SPOTTiawoouKs and SllAW, 
 
 Ncw-8trei't-. Square.
 
 MR. MURRAY'S 
 LIST OF WORKS LATELY PUBLISHED. 
 
 THE BISTTOP OF EXETER'S LETTER to the Arch- 
 
 BISHOP OP Canterbury. Seventeenth Edition. Svo., S«. 6d. 
 
 GORHAM V. BISHOP OF EXETER. The Speech of Ed- 
 
 WARD Badei.ey, Esq., before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. 
 With a Preface on the Judgment. 8vo., 5s. 
 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. With 1000 Ornamental 
 
 Borders, Initials, Vignettes, SiC. New and smaller Edition, 8vo. 21s. 
 cloth. 31.<!. G(l. calf. 42s. morocco. 
 
 ADDRESSES AND CHARGES. By Edward Stanley, 
 
 D. D., late Bishop of Norwich. Preceded by a Memoir of his Life. By 
 the Rev. Arthur Penryhn Stanley, M.A. 8vo. (hi preparation.) 
 
 PARISH SERMONS; on the Lessons, the Gospel, or the 
 
 Epistle, for every Sunday in the Year. By £ishop IIeber. Sixth Edition. 
 2 vols, post 8vo., 16s. 
 
 SERMONS ON THE LEADING DOCTRINES AND 
 
 DUTIES TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 Preached in Cathedral Churches. By the Very Rev. Dean Pei.lfw. 
 2 vols. 8vo., 21s. 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, from the Birth of Chri.'^t to 
 
 the Extinction of Paganism in the Roman Empire. By the Very Rev. 
 Dean IMilman. 3 vols. 8vo., 36s. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TO THE STUDENT UNDER PRESENT 
 
 THEOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES. By the Very Rev. Dean Tait. 
 Post 8vo., ()S. 6d. 
 
 ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. By Archdeacon 
 
 Mannivo. Second Edition. 8vo., IDs. 6d. 
 
 ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION OF OUR 
 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST, in its Relation to Mankind and to the Clu.rch. 
 By Archdeacon Wilberkokcf. Third Edition. 8vo., 12s.
 
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