Gorham. Whether his views were theologically correct or not, they
said, was not their business; it was their business to decide
whether the opinions under consideration were contrary or
repugnant to the doctrine of the Church of England as enjoined
upon the clergy by its Articles, Formularies, and Rubrics; and
they had come to the conclusion that they were not. The judgement
still holds good; and to this day, a clergyman of the Church of
England is quite at liberty to believe that Regeneration does not
invariably take place when an infant is baptised.
The blow fell upon no one with greater violence than upon
Manning. Not only was the supreme efficacy of the sign of the
cross upon a baby's forehead one of his favourite doctrines, but
up to that moment he had been convinced that the Royal Supremacy
was a mere accident--a temporary usurpation which left the
spiritual dominion of the Church essentially untouched. But now
the horrid reality rose up before him, crowned and triumphant; it
was all too clear that an Act of Parliament, passed by Jews,
Roman Catholics, and Dissenters, was the ultimate authority which
decided upon the momentous niceties of the Anglican faith. Mr.
Gladstone also, was deeply perturbed. It was absolutely
necessary, he wrote, to 'rescue and defend the conscience of the
Church from the present hideous system'.
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