Thom

!1hg56 T3

L E T T E It S

AIjUIIKSSED BY

LARGE BODIES OF THE CLERGY *

MEMBERS OF CONVOCATION
WHO MET IN THE ' .'
. J*
COMMON ROOM OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE,
DURING THE CONTROVERSY OF 1836,
TOGETHER WITH THE ANSWERS RETURNED TO THE SAME.

ADDRESS FROM THE CLERGY
Of the Diocese of Canterbury p. 7
Of the Diocese of Rochester 13
Of the Archdeaconry of Exeter 18
Of the Deanery of Ripon 6
Of the Deanery of Stockton upon Tees 22
Of the Deanery of Furness 5
Of the Deanery of the Isle of Wight 26

OXFORD,
PRINTED BY W. BAXTER.
1842.

TO THE READER.

I have thought it right* upon the present
lamented revival of the Controversy of 1836, to
print the following Correspondence, which had
been left in my hands at the close of those pro
ceedings. It consists of those Letters of approval
which had been addressed by large bodies of the
Clergy to those Members of Convocation, who
were wont to meet in Corpus Common Room, to
take counsel upon that occasion, together with
the Answers which it belonged to my office as
Chairman to return to the same.
They are now printed with a view to relieve
the Controversy; as at present revived, from the
imputation unjustly cast upon it, that it origi
nates in party feeling, or personal dislike, or in
some circumstances of a local nature. The re
verse of which is the truth ; for the questions at
issue are Church questions, in which the whole
body of the Clergy is deeply concerned, facts
which may be said to be established by the con
current testimonies of this cloud of witnesses;
V. T;
Oa/ford, June 1, 1842.

Address from the Clergy of the Deanery of
Furness, in the Diocese of Chester.

To the Members of the Convocation of the University of
Oxford, assembled in the Common Room qf Corpus
Christi College. Ulverstone, March 10, 1836.
We, the undersigned Clergy of the Deanery of
Furness, in the Diocese of Chester and County of
Lancaster, feeling the deepest interest in the important
question now at issue in the University of Oxford, (in
which we consider the character of that University,
and the purity and soundness of our Christian Faith,
to be most awfully involved,) and being now assembled
for the purpose of signing a Petition to His Majesty on
the present state of our Ecclesiastical affairs, are un
willing to separate without availing ourselves of this
occasion to offer the assurance of our respectful gratitude
and admiration to those Resident Members of Convoca
tion who have, at such an important crisis, and under
circumstances of such painful but urgent necessity, so
nobly stood forward, with such exemplary courage and
perseverance, to rescue the character of the University,
and of the Church of England, from the imputation of

countenancing heretical and sceptical opinions, calculated
to unhinge the Faith of our people, and to destroy the
influence of Divine Truth on the minds of men.
John Stonard, D.D. Rector of Aldingham
J. Sunderland, M.A. Vicar of Pennington
John Taylor Allen, M.A. Bardsea
Thomas Ormandy, Curate of Aldingham
John Pattenson, Incumbent of Dendron
J. Park, Curate of Pennington
Richard Gwillym, M.A. Minister of Ulverstone
William Dodgson, B. A. Incumbent of Trinity Church,
Ulverstone
{With Ten other Clergymen, Incumbents, or Curates of Paris/ies.)
ST Answer mislaid.

Address from the Clergy of Ripon and its
Neighbourhood, in the County of York.
To the Members qf Convocation of the University of
Oxford, assembled in the Common Room cf Corpus;
Christi College. Ripon, March 30, 1836.
We, the undersigned Clergy of Ripon and its
neighbourhood, are desirous to express in the most
respectful manner the sense of our grateful obligations
to those Members of Convocation in Oxford, who,
during the important Question which is now at issue in
that University, have so powerfully stood forth in

Defence of those blessed Truths, on which the very
existence of Christianity depends.
We earnestly hope, that the temporary check which
has been given to these exertions, will only be the
occasion of redoubled activity and perseverance in this
sacred cause, and shall be anxious to cooperate in any
measure which may hereafter be adopted, to secure the
sound and orthodox instruction of those who may be
solemnly entrusted with the Ministry of Christ's holy
Word, and who thereby may contribute to preserve
that efficiency, which the Church of England, as an
instrument in the hand of God, has hitherto maintained
in Christendom by the purity of its Faith and the
integrity of its Practice.
James Webber, D.D. Dean of Ripon
John Wm. Whiteside, A.M. Incumbent of Trinity
Church, Ripon
George Holdsworth, A.M. Vicar of Aldborough
R- Jameson, Precentor of Ripon
W. Gray, Prebendary of Ripon and Vicar of BrafFerton
Thos. Collins, Incumbent Curate of Farnham
John Charge, Rector of Copgrove
Welberry Mitton, Curate of Aldborough
Thomas Horsfall, Curate of Kirkby on the Moor
J. Charnock, A.M. Fellow of Univ. Coll. Oxon. Ripon
Joseph Mitton, Curate of Kirkby Malzeard
E. Wood, Incumbent of Perpetual Curacy of Skelton
H. M. Hutchinson, Perpetual Curate of Middlesmoor
J. Charnock, A.M. Assistant Curate of Bp. Thornton
G. Str. Weidemann, Clerk, Ripon
John Charnock, x\.M. Clerk, Ripon
J. Holme, Perpetual Curate of Low Harrogate
Isaac Crakelt, Clerk, Skelton

s

G. H. Webber, Prebendary of Ripon
James Robertson, M.A. Curate of Burton Leonard
Henry Stocker, Incumbent Curate of Arkendale
R. Pool, jun. M.A. Vicar of the Collegiate Church, Ripon
W. C. M'Grath, A.M. Curate of Bainbridge
Andrew Cheap, Vicar of Knaresborough
William Mercer, Assistant Curate of Knaresborough
Joshua Hart, B.A. Curate of Knaresborough
William Barton, Clerk, Knaresborough
Aaron Manby, A.M. Vicar of Nidd
Richard Hartley, Rector of Staveley, Borough bridge
John Hartley, Incumbent of Boroughbridge
Thos. Jameson, Incumbent of High Harrogate
Robert Poole, Curate of Bishop of Monkton
W. Eedsin Lam!), M.A. Second Master of the Gram
mar School, Ripon

First Answer.
To the Rev. the Dean qf Ripon and the Clergy of the
Neigh hour hood. C. C. C. Aprils, 1836.
Rev. Sir and Gentlemen,
Many Members of Convocation are absent, but as
soon as they meet again, the important Document I
received from you shall be communicated ; in the mean
while I beg to assure you in the name and behalf of
the Committee, that we esteem very highlv such an

expression of Christian feeling and conviction upon the
momentous questions which lie involved in the business
we have in hand ; up to the present time, the University
has ever supported the character of Guardian of the
pure and unadulterated truths of the Gospel, and espe
cially of those great Trinitarian verities which heresy
made it necessary to set forth in formal propositions
against the gainsayers, who had successively contra
dicted them. Our Statute Book bears witness to the
solicitude of the University in this matter. The Academic
honours conferred upon Bull, the Earl of Nottingham,
Waterland, Burgh and Jones, allconcur in the same proof ;
and doubtless the University, mindful of its ancient con
stancy, will in a farther stage of this business act in a
manner worthy of its ancient fame, and established
character. I have the honour to be,
With the greatest respect,
Your most obedient and obliged Servant.
V. THOMAS.

Second Answer.
To the Rev. Dr. Webber, Dean of Ripon, and to the
Clergy of Ripon and its Neighbourhood, in the
County of York. C. C. C. April SO, 1836.
Gentlemen,
Upon tbe first Meeting of the Gentlemen of the
Committee after the Easter Vacation, I laid before

10
them the encouraging Testimonial which was trans
mitted to me by the Rev. the Dean of Ripon. I am
instructed in their name and on their behalf to express
the sense which they entertain of this mark of the
approbation of the Rev. the Dean and of the Clergy of
Ripon and its Neighbourhood. It is to all of us a
source of great satisfaction to find, that the principles
which have governed our conduct, and the great ends we
have been anxious to accomplish, are approved of by
our respected Brethren. These Principles of conduct
are, as we humbly hope, no other than those which
St. Paul has so strenuously pressed upon the observ
ance of the Ministers of Christ, when the Truths of
the Gospel are assailed : and as to the great ends we
have proposed to ourselves, they are the same with
those which have received the warranty of God's Holy
Word, and the sanction of the Church, the defence
and confirmation of the Gospel, and the driving away
all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's
Word. I am,
Rev. Sir and Gentlemen,
With the greatest respect,
Your most obedient and obliged Servant,
V. THOMAS.

11

Address from the Clergy of the Diocese of
Canterbury.
To the Rev. Vaughan Thomas, B.D. and the Members
qf Convocation of the University qf Oxford, assembled
in the Common Room of Corpus Christi College.
Canterbury, April 22, 1836.
We, the undersigned Clergy of the Diocese of Can
terbury, though not pretending to any jurisdiction in
matters connected with the Regulation of the Univer
sities, yet we cannot, as Ministers of the Established
Church, either regard with indifference the events which
have recently taken place at Oxford, nor can we be
satisfied that we shall have done our duty, so long as
we neglect to express our sympathy in that Godly jea
lousy, with which you have struggled to preserve the
channels of Theology pure and untainted. Deeply as
we regret that an occasion for the exercise of this jea
lousy should have arisen, we feel, that, under the cir
cumstances which called it into action, we owe to you,
to ourselves, and to the Church of which we are Minis
ters, a public profession, that we are not insensible to
the magnitude of the interests involved in the points at
issue, nor to the debt of gratitude due to you, for the
noble stand you have made in defence of sound doctrine.
Signed on behalf of the Clergy of the Diocese,
JAMES CROFT,
Archdeacon.

12

Answer.
To the Venerable the Archdeacon and the Reverend the
Clergy of the Diocese qf Canterbury.
C. C. C. April, 1836.
Gentlemen,
Your gratifying and encouraging Testimonial was
laid before the Members of Convocation assembled in
Corpus Common Room, on the first occasion of their
meeting after the Easter Vacation, it having been some
time before communicated to the Committee.
In the name and behalf of all, I have to express
our grateful sense of so distinguished a mark of your
approbation. Most truly does that important Document
speak of the magnitude'of the interests involved in the
points at issue. These interests are no other than the
interests of revealed truth and of our truly scriptural
and apostolical Church, which, under Divine Providence,
is in these i-ealms its appointed witness, keeper, and
defender. Most of the fundamental verities upon which (and
upon a right faith in them) it has pleased God to
make man's salvation to depend, have been in many
ways assailed by Dr. Hampden in his publications; but
in no way have they been so systematically impugned
as by the representation, that, as those verities are drawn
out and stated in our Creeds, they are the mere figments
of Scholasticism, although it is well known that some of the
most momentous of them, (I mean those holy, primitive,
anduniversal truths which heresies had made it necessary
for the first four General Councils to assert and vindi
cate,) had their existence as decrees of the universal

13
Church above TOO vears before Scholasticism as such
was known to the Christian world; whilst in addition
to these historical facts, it is equally well known,
as our Church has asserted and maintained, that they
may be proved bv most certain warrants of holv writ.
Connecting Dr. Hampden's opinions as set forth in
his Bampton Lectures, his causes of Religious Dissent,
and its Postscript, with his recent appointment, I have
been led to the conclusion, that some syncretistic or
Latitudinarian measure is contemplated by the powers
that be for the abolition of all tests of a true faith, all
articulations positively of what is true, or negatively
of what is false, and all those other criteria of sound
and unsound in doctrine, by which ;as by fences and
inclosures) the Lord's Vineyard and the labours of his
Workmen are protected from those who would bring
desolation upon the one, and interrupt and ill-treat tbe
other. I have the honour to be.
With the greatest respect.
Mr. Archdeacon and Gentlemen,
Your most obedient faithful servant.
V. THOMAS.

Address from the Clergy of the Diocese or
Rochester, and of the Peculiars therein.
To the Members qf Convocation vho have assembled in
Corpus Christi Common Room. Oxford.
Rochester, May 10, 1836.
We, the undersigned Clergy of the Diocese of
Rochester, and of the Peculiars within that Diocese.

14
desire to express our gratitude to those Members of
Convocation at Oxford, who on the late trying occasion
have, according to our judgment, advocated the com
mon cause of the whole Christian Church.
It has been with profound regret that we have seen
a person appointed King's Professor of Divinity, whose
published Works impugn the judgment of all Christian
Antiquity, and are more particularly at variance with
the Articles of the English Church. We are aware
how painful it has been to those who are bound to
Dr. Hampden by the ties of acquaintance or Academical
connection to forget personal considerations in defence
of the Faith. We admire the temper, as well as the
firmness, which their conduct has exhibited. And we
intreat them to persevere (and such by the help of GoD
we profess to be our own determination) in maintaining
the purity of that Apostolic system which we have
inherited from our fathers.
Francis J. Stapleton, Rector of Mereworth
Francis J. Noel, Vicar of Teston
Robert Isaac Wilberforce, Vicar of East Farleigh
George F. Bates, Vicar of West Mailing
Richard R. Warde, Curate of Yalding
Robert Moore, Rector of Hunton
W. F. Cobb, Curate of Nettlestead
Lambert B. Larking, Vicar of Ryarsh
Charles Page, Rector of Ley bourne
Frederick Money, Rector of Offham
W. Nevill, Vicar of Birling
H. Dampier Phelps, Rector of Snodlarid
H. Legge, Vicar of Lewisham
George Rasbleigh, Vicar of Horton Kirby
J. Drake, Vicar of Sf. Nicholas, Deptford

15
J. E. Tarleton, Rector of Chelsfield
Thomas J. Dallier, Minister of Shooters' Hill Chapel
Charles A. Bury, Assistant Curate of Beckenham
E. Morgan, Curate of Lewisham
William Thomas Myers, Curate of Eltham
T. Bowdler, Minister of St. Bartholomew's, Sydenham
L. Vernon Harcourt, Rector of Beckenham
Francis Bultanshaw, Curate of West Peckham
George F. J. Marsham, Rector of Allington
Richard Warde, Vicar of Yalding
R. Boys, Curate of Tudely and Capel
Weeden Butler, Curate of West Farleigh
William Stanier, B.D. Curate of Kemsing and Seal
Robert O. Leman, Curate of Brenchley
Stephen Woodgate, Vicar of Pembury
George Stephen Woodgate, Curate of Pembury
George A. Warde, Curate of Ditton
Robert Earle, Curate of Wateringbury
J. T. Wilgress, Vicar of Chalk
H. A. Woodgate, Minister of Tunbridge Wells Dis^-
trict Parish
James I. Monypenny, Curate of Hadlow
Charles Hardinge, Vicar of Tunbridge
Edward Allen, Rector of Hartley, Kent
W. T. Staines, Vicar of Aylesford
Richard Mayo, Curate of Wrotham
Thomas Curteis, Vicar of Sevenoaks
Edward Heawood, Grammar School, Sevenoaks
Thomas Harding, Vicar of Bexley, Kent
A. W. Burnside, Curate of Farningham, Kent
G. Thompson, Vicar of Meopham, Kent
William Townley, Vicar of Orpinton, Kent
John Cunningham Robertson, Curate of Orpinton
Samuel Sutton, Curate of Northfleet

16

Richard Keats, Vicar of Northfleet
G. Wakefield Marriott, Curate of Eynsford
Thomas John Hussey, Rector of Hayes

Answer.

To the Reverend the Clergy qf the Diocese qf Rochester,
and qf the Peculiars within that Diocese.
C. C. C. May 12, 1836.
Gentlemen,
In the name of those Members of Convocation, who
lately assembled in the Common Room of Corpus Christi
College, in this University, in the discharge of duties
imposed upon them by Ministerial as well as Academic
obligations, I have to return our grateful thanks, for
an expression of approbation so numerously signed, and
by those of our brethren, whose practical and parochial
knowledge has enabled them to perceive the fearful
bearings of the questions at issue in the present contro
versy, and also to appreciate the difficulty of contending
for the faith in such a temperate state of mind, as neither
to offend against the law of charity through an excess of
earnestness, nor against the claims of truth by an over-
studious complacency.
The cause in the support of which we have been (and
I fear must be still considered to be) engaged, is, as you
justly observe, " the cause of the whole Christian
Church." For amidst the many kinds and degrees of

17
error which have more or less deformed the national
Confessions of foreign Churches, their agreement in the
belief of the Trinitarian verities, (as set forth in the
three Creeds,) has hitherto served in some degree as a
bond of their Christian fellowship, as well as a note of
orthodox belief; and any thing written to degrade or dis
parage those ancient and universal foundation-truths,
is an attack upon the faith of the whole Christian world.
The constancy which you have been pleased to com
mend, will serve as a guarantee to you and to all our
brethren for our future perseverance ; and may He who
has given us grace by the confession of a true faith to
acknowledge the glory of the Eternal Trinity, and in
the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity,
ever keep us stedfast in that faith, and make us forward as
well as constant in affirming it against all sorts of depre
ciation and disparagement, as well as against the more
open assaults of the infidel, and the bolder scoffs of the
scorner. I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
With respect and gratitude,
Your most obedient faithful servant,
V. THOMAS.

18

Address from the Archdeacon and Clergy of the
Archdeaconry of Exeter.
To the Rev. Vaughan Thomas, B.D. and the other
Members qf the University who met in Corpus
College Common Room,. Exeter, May 10, 1836.
We, the Archdeacon and Clergy of the Archdeaconry
of Exeter, as Ministers of the Established Church,
assure you, that we have regarded with anxious interest
the events which have recently taken place at Oxford ;
and we are desirous to express to you our deep sympathy
in the jealous earnestness with which you have con
tended to maintain all sound doctrine in the education
of the Clergy, and to prevent any principles detrimental
to the Christian Faith from circulating uncondemned
under the sanction of the University.
In performing a task, involving very painful discus
sion, you exposed yourselves to many misapprehensions
and much obloquy. We feel ourselves bound there
fore, by a sense of duty to the nation, and to the
Church of which we are Ministers, to declare the debt
of gratitude we owe to you for the noble stand you
have made in the defence of Christian Truth ; and we
fervently trust, that the decision which you have
successfully obtained, will secure sound doctrine to the
students placed under your care, and maintain inviolate
the fundamental safeguards of the Church.
John Moore Stevens, Archdeacon
Charles Harwood, Vicar of St. Thomas

19
Charles H. Collyns, D.D. Rector of Stokeinteynhead
George Barnes, D.D. Rector of Sowton
George P. Cosserat, Rector of St. Martin
W. W. Scoresby, B.D. Queen's College, Cambridge
Richard Ellicombe, Rector of Alphington
C. E. Walkey, Rector of Clyst St. Lawrence
H. Ley, Rector of Kenn
George Terry Carwithen, Curate of Newton St. Cyres
Thomas Strong, Rector of Clyst St. Mary
Henry Marker, Aylesbeer
John M. Collyns, Rector of St. John
R. M. Tripp, Perpetual Curate of St. Sidwell
E. C. Harington, Incumbent of St. David
A. T. R. Vicary, Rector of St. Paul
William Powley, Perpetual Curate of Starcross
Joseph T. Toye, Curate of St. Stephen's
J. Fisher Turner, M.A. Rector of St. Mary Major
John Tothill, Rector of Hittisley
Charles Burne, Curate of St. Mary Arches, Exeter
Dacre Adams, Vicar of Pinhoe
Edward Fursdon, Curate of Cadbury
Charles Burne, Rector of Tedburn
Nicholas F. Lightfoot, Curate of Stockleigh Pomeroy
W. Pitman, Curate of Dunsford
C. Worthy, Assistant Chaplain to the Devon County
Prisons
Henry Nicholls, Vicar of Rockbeare
Wilham J. Good, Assistant Curate of Collumpton
S. H. Walker, Assistant Curate of Bampton
Rev. Thomas Putt
V. H. P. Somerset, Rector of Honiton
Edwin E. Coleridge, Vicar of Buckerell
Henry John Hutton, Curate of Sidmouth
J. Warry, Rector of Hemyock b -2

20

Thomas Wolston, Curate of Southleigh
R. Cutcliffe, Vicar of Seaton cum Beer
Henry Dowell, Curate of Membury
J. G. Copleston, Rector of Offwell
E. C. Forward, Rector of Combpyne
R. Greenwood, Vicar of Colaton Rawleigh
R. Lewis, Curate of Far way
George Tucker, Rector of Musbury
J. P. Cox, Curate of Wid worthy
George Smith, Vicar of Ottery St. Mary
W. Heberden, Vicar of Broadhembury
Marwood Tucker, Curate of Upottery
G. L. Guyon, Curate of Cuppit
F. Warre, Curate of Hemyock
R. P. Clarke, Curate of Churchstanton
Buckland Bluett, Rector of Churchstanton
J. Clarke, Rector of Clayhidon

Answer.

To the Venerable the Archdeacon and Clergy qf the
Archdeaconry qf Exeter.
C C. C. May 13, 1836.
Gentlemen,
In the name of the respected and distinguished Mem
bers of Convocation, who were recently led by a clear
judgment and an uncompromising resolution to vindi
cate the sacred truths which in their consciences they
believed to have been impugned and disparaged by

21
Dr. Hampden's writings, I return thanks for the honour
of your communication.
Ignorance in some few instances, but injustice for the
most part, has so misrepresented the origin, nature, and
object of our late Proceedings, as to render these
Testimonies of our Brethren in our behalf, not only
gratifying and encouraging as expressions of approbation,
but useful as means and instruments of defence. They
serve to silence the clamours of the ignorant, to counter
act the imputations of the unjust, and to undeceive
those who have been deluded, so as to enable them
rightly to perceive and understand the motives of our
opposition to Dr. Hampden's appointment, and the
grounds upon which we have condemned his doctrines.
But these numerously-signed attestations of our
Brethren on ¦ our behalf have a bearing and tendency
beyond their immediate uses and objects. They direct
the attention of the Ministers and Members of our
Church to the great characteristic doctrines of their
faith, and to the necessity of defending them against the
inroads of a concessory and latitudinarian Theology.
They serve to remind them of the danger of suffering
the conscience to be seduced from its rectitude by an
evil spirit of compliance, by a reckless desire of pleasing
men, by an unworthy love of peace, operating in its
excess against the love of truth, and even against the
duty and the desire of protecting it.
When the pacific principle puts forth such baneful
energies as these, and manifests its mischievous effects
in the surrender of Christian Truths and Doctrines, it
militates against all that the Almighty has been pleased
to reveal for the guidance of man's Faith and Charity, and
in the performance of the opposite but not irreconcileable
duties of controversy and conciliation. We are to

22
contend for the Faith, but without uncharitableness ;
we are to concede for the sake of peace, but without
giving place by subjection to any one principle of error,
and without betraying or endangering any one doctrine
of Revelation.
Such considerations have become necessary in an age
like the present, over-studious of secular ease and poli
tical accommodations in matters of Religion.
If we have discharged our pacific and controversial
duties on this occasion rightly, and to your satisfaction,
the praise is due to the Giver of every good gift : but
to you, Mr. Archdeacon, and to all our brethren, who
have approved of our earnestness in the maintenance of
sound Doctrine, and the stand which we have made in
the defence of Christian Truth, we present these acknow
ledgments of respect and gratitude. I am,
Mr. Archdeacon, and Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and faithful Servant,
V. THOMAS.

Address from the Clergy of the Deanery of
Stockton upon Tees, in the Diocese of Durham.
To the Members of Convocation who have assembled in
Corpus Christi Common Room, Oxford.
Stockton upon Tees, June 8, 1836.
We, whose names are underwritten, Clergymen of
the Deanery of Stockton upon Tees, in the County and

23
Diocese of Durham, desire to express our grateful ac
knowledgment to those Members of Convocation of the
University of Oxford, who have laudably and strenuously
laboured to sustain the pure doctrines of the Church of
Christ. We regret exceedingly the late appointment of the
Regius Professor of Divinity in an University so long
and so justly eminent for the profession of those sound
principles of Religion on which the Established Church
of these Dominions is founded. And we cannot but
admire the truly Christian spirit and uncompromising
firmness which have characterized the conduct of those
Members of Convocation, whose exertions, on a late
occasion, have contributed, under God, to vindicate and
maintain the stability of our invaluable Church.
John Brewster, Rector of Egglescliffe
George Newby, Vicar of Stockton
George Newby, jun. Curate of Stockton
John Parker, Curate of Stockton
Thomas Ewbank, Rector of Elton
John Snowdon, Curate of Greatham
W. P. Walker, Curate of Norton
Elisha White, Norton Grammar School, Clerk
James Allan Park, Rector of Elwick Hall
Rowland Webster, Vicar of Stratton
John Lawson, Perpetual Curate of Seaton Carew
John Brewster, jun. Vicar of Greatham
L. C. Clark, Perpetual Curate of Wolviston
W. Withers Ewbank, Vicar of Grindon
T. B. Holgate, Curate of Bishopton
Martin Wright, Curate of Redmarshall
James I. Cundill, Curate of Sedgefield
W. Ashley Shute, Curate of Sedgefield
W. Middleton, Clerk

24

Answer.
To the Clergy of the Deanery of Stockton upon Tees in
the Diocese of Durham. C. C. C. June 10, 1836.
Gentlemen,
In the name of those Members of Convocation, who,
mindful of the duties which academic oaths and minis
terial vows had imposed upon them, lately took counsel
in the Common Room of this College how they might
best be able to oppose the mischiefs arising out of Dr.
Hampden's recent appointment, I return you grateful
thanks for the great benefit of your approbation, for
when reckless calumny prints and reprints its falsehoods,
the calumniated are greatly benefitted by such testi
monies of regard.
The regret which you express at this appointment is
shared by every real friend of the Church and Univer
sity ; it is very extensively shared by those who sup
ported Dr. Hampden upon the academic question before
Convocation, and it is to practise a deceit upon the
public so to represent the sentiments of the majority and
minority upon that occasion, as to lead the ignorant to sup
pose, that the whole of the 94 who composed that minority
approved of Dr. Hampden's opinion? and appointment.
So far is this from being true, that of that minority, one
half at least may be said to have disapproved of both;
and that, upon the religious questions involved in this
controversy, they much more nearly agree in opinion with
the majority (484) than with those who belong to the
syncretistic School. And further, it is to be observed,

•>r>

that all the bitter things which have been said, written,
and depictured by the disciples of this School against
bigotry and illiberality, repercussively strike the
opinions of some of the most strenuous of those who
voted with them upon the particular measure brought
into Convocation. A better proof of this cannot be
found than that supplied by a Pamphlet entitled
" Reflections after a Visit to the University of Oxford."
By E. W. Grinfield, M.A. That learned Divine, the
Author of " The Connection between Natural and
Revealed Theology," (whose large and exact knowledge
of the Doctrine of Analogy, and extensive application of
that argument in 1822, makes me the more regret the
severity with which he has spoken of Dr. Hampden's
opponents,) has made so many and full admissions of
the doctrinal downfalls of him whose deprivation he op
posed, that he has scarcely left any interval between
his own opinion and ours, with respect to " the faults
of the School, and the errors of the Creed" of Dr.
Hampden, (see p. 7.) With the frankness which belongs
to the known integrity of his character, he tells us,
" that he honours the zeal of the Country Clergy who
hurried up to Oxford to support the side of Orthodoxy;
that he venerates that love for our Articles and Liturgy
which they so signally manifested on that occasion.''
He denies (p. 7.) that by voting for Dr. Hampden, he
meant to shew any approval of his Theological senti
ments. He admits (p. 8.) that Dr. Hampden " has
fallen into many grievous misstatements of Christian
Doctrine in his Bampton Lecture." That in attributing
Scholasticism to the Trinitarian and other verities
enunciated by the ancient Catholic Church, Dr. Hamp
den is " historically incorrect, and that his whole
argument is built 'upon the fallacy of non causa pro

26
causd. (p. 14.) We here see, that upon all the great
points of doctrinal error which deform the writings of
Dr. Hampden, there is almost an identity of opinion
between the 484, and him who certainly is one of the
most able and distinguished of Dr. Hampden's sup
porters. I am, Gentlemen,
With respect and gratitude,
Your obliged and faithful Servant,
V. THOMAS.

Address from the Clergy Resident in the Deanery
of the Isle of Wight and Diocese of Winchester.
To the Rev. Vaughan Thomas, B.D.
Newport, June 4, 1836.
Reverend Sir,
We, the Undersigned Clergy, Resident in the Deanery
of the Isle of Wight and Diocese of Winchester, desire
to express to yourself as Chairman, and through you to
the Committee and to the other Resident Members of
the University of Oxford who acted with you in the
recent transactions regarding the Regius Professor of
Divinity in that University, our high sense of the zeal,
temperance, and firmness with which you have acted in
your late painful but necessary proceedings; and we
thank you for thus coming forward to withstand the
spread of doctrines fatally at variance with the orthodox
faith of our apostolical communion ; and so we very
heartily bid you God speed.

27
J. Hill, Rector of Bonchurch and Shanklin, Rural
Dean
Samuel Wilberforce, Rector of Brighstone, Rural
Dean
Henry Worsley, Rector of St. Lawrence and Minister
of Newport
R Walter White, Rector of Wotton
C. F. Fenwick, Curate of Brooke
J. B. Atkinson, Perpetual Curate of Cowes
S. W. Dowell, Rector of Mottiston cum Shorwell
Robert Sherson, M.A. Rector of Yaverland
James William Arnold, M.A. Curate of Whippingham
Edward F. Arney, Vicar of Shalfleet
Thomas Vincent Forbery, Ryde
G. B. Godbold, M.A. Rector of Greatham
Augustus Hewill, late Curate of Binstead
John Craig, Rector of Fetcham, Surrey
William Moore, Minister of St. Thomas' Church,
Ryde, Isle of Wight
Henry Thompson, Curate of Brading
Frederick Graeme Middleton, Perpetual Curate of
Bembridge
William Young, D.C.L. Perpetual Curate of St.
Helen's
Andrew W. Gother, Rector of Chale
Richard Dixon, Rector of Niton
Henry Griffin, Curate of St. Lawrence
James Worsley, Vicar of Thorley
Thomas Woodrooffe, Rector of Calbourne
George Burrard, Rector of Yarmouth
Robert Little, Curate of Yarmouth
William W. Fowler, Swainston
R. Mason, Newport
W. Sneyd, Vicar of New Church

28
P. Hewett, Rector of Binstead
Ralph Wilde, Assistant Curate of Newport
Charles Worsley, Lecturer of Newport
Henry Worsley, D.D. Rector of Gatcombe
John Breeks, Vicar of Carisbrooke
Max. Geneste, Incumbent Minister of the Trinity
Chapel, West Cowes
Edward Dodd, Curate of Northwood
W. Hannah, Minister of East Cowes Chapel of Ease

Answer. C. C. C. June 8, 1836.
Gentlemen,
When in February last, upon the rumoured appoint
ment of Dr. Hampden to the royal chair of Divinity in
this University, we humbly addressed the King's most
excellent Majesty, we could not as loyal subjects and
faithful Ministers of the Gospel withhold the expression
of our apprehensions, that the most disastrous conse
quences would ultimately arise to the soundness of the
faith of our Students and to the Church itself, if
Dr. Hampden's opinions received the constructive sanc
tion of such an appointment ; and if by a more fortunate
concatenation of circumstances, it had so happened that
what we had written and signed with every sentiment of
loyal and devoted affection, had been presented to his
Majesty's gracious consideration, it is confidently be
lieved that it would have induced his Majesty to inter-

29
pose the offices of his paternal love, or the counsels of
his royal vigilance, or if necessary the constitutional
exercise of his personal authority on a matter of Religion,
and by such interposition to avert the dangers which we
foresaw, and prevent the appointment which we depre
cated. For it is not to be supposed at a time when
attention is so largely and so readily given to the
remonstrances of Dissenting Teachers of every denomi
nation, and upon every matter which however remotely
may refer to their respective Creeds and Disciplines,
that the like attention would not have been paid to the
representations of seventy-six Ministers of the Esta
blished Church, official Guardians and Instructors of
Academic Youth, and bound by the most sacred en
gagements to provide for the integrity of the Christian
instruction which was to be administered by him who was
to occupy the seat of Royal Professor of Theology.
Failing in our first hopes and applications, we were
obliged to have recourse to some of those protective
measures which are so variously suggested and supplied
by the Statutes of the University ; and if during these
four months of controversy, we have so steered our
course through the dangers and difficulties which have
surrounded us, as to have deserved the praise you have
been pleased to bestow upon our zeal, temperance, and
firmness, we have abundant reason to be thankful to
Him who enables the understanding to perceive, the
will to choose, arid the courage to persevere in that
straight and right line of conduct, which lies between
errors of excess and defect, both in the performance of
the controversial and the pacific duties.
The present age has much to learn and much to
unlearn upon these matters. — The times are fast ap
proaching, when the proper bounds of concession and

30
resistance will be forced upon the studies of all. For
I am led by my view and estimate of the present ap
pointment to conclude, that it is but the first of a series
of measures or methods intended to put down as by the
hand of Power all recognised distinctions between sound
and unsound, true and false, right and wrong in Doctrine,
and to amalgamate in the confusion and deformity of
one vast national syncretism all sorts of error with all
sorts of truth, all varieties of disagreement on matters
fundamental, with all varieties of disagreement on things
indifferent; in short, to pull down the walls of our Sion,
that her towers may be occupied by foes as well as
friends, by those who wish her well, and those who
would lay her in the dust.
I recognise with gratitude the comprehensive kind
ness of your concluding salutation. — None but those
who bring with them the doctrine of St. John are
entitled to the Apostolic " God's speed ;" the preacher
of universal love forbids us to give it to any but those
who teach the truths which it was his special appoint
ment to vindicate. With the same feelings and con
victions as to your devotion to those doctrines in my own
name, and in the name of the distinguished Academics
with whom it has been my happiness and honour to be
associated upon this occasion, I return to you the like
brotherly commendation to God's holy keeping and
speeding. I am,
Reverend Friends and Brethren,
Your faithful and obliged servant,
V. THOMAS.

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