INTRODUCTION lxxvii

the religious and ecclesiastical world, and which in one form or another have been renewed in every generation.

The doctrinal views which he combats or supports are sufficiently set forth in the Essay itself, but it may be well, in order to explain some references in it, to remind the reader of the views which, in the Gorham case, one Party had denounced as heretical. It would not have been a theological controversy if it were possible to formulate Gorham’s own views precisely, but the doctrine which the Privy Council extracted from his answers given to the Bishop was this:-

“That Baptism is a sacrament generally necessary to salvation, but that the grace of regeneration does not so necessarily accompany the act of Baptism that regeneration invariably takes place in Baptism; that the grace may be granted before, in, or after Baptism; that Baptism is an effectual sign of grace, by which God works invisibly in us, but only in such as worthily receive it-in them alone it has a wholesome effect; and that without reference to the qualification of the recipient it is not in itself an effectual sign of grace. That infants baptized, and dying before actual sin, are certainly saved; but that in no case is regeneration in Baptism unconditional.”¹

This Essay on Baptism, as also the Notes on Sheepfolds, illustrates very clearly Ruskin’s intimate acquaintance with the Bible. His diaries and MSS. are full of notes on the book-such as are described in Vol. X. p. xxxviii., and such as were utilised in his writings, as, for instance, in the discussion of the Book of Job in this volume (Lectures on Architecture and Painting, below, p. 105). Sometimes he studied the Bible book by book, jotting down all the passages which struck him; at other times he collected passages bearing on particular subjects, or illustrating the uses of particular words. But it is ever the hardest workers who are the least satisfied with their work, and in a passage in Ruskin’s diary for 1853 there is a note of self-reproach on the ground that his Bible studies were too desultory:-

“Sunday, 13 Nov., 1853.-... I read thoughtfully part of 1st Genesis, beginning a new course of Bible reading, with greater attention to the marginal readings and interpretations of names than I have attempted yet; this being chiefly in consequence of the wonderful lights thrown upon parts of the Revelations in some conversations I have had lately with a comparatively unlearned man, Mr. Beveridge,² from pure Bible reading; and in consequence also of the shame I

¹ The Gorham case figures largely in Memoirs dealing with the time; for fuller particulars see, for instance, the Life of Bishop Wilberforce, ii. pp. 34-45; Purcell’s Life of Manning, i. 517-521; and Morley’s Life of Gladstone, i. pp. 375-388.

² See Vol. XI. p. 183 n.

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