"a world lost and dead in trespasses and sins; lift aloft "the blazing torch of revelation, to scatter its rays over "them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and

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guide the footsteps of the benighted wanderer into the paths of life and peace.”

From a feeling of delicacy (it may be presumed), not any reference was made in argument to the writings of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. But as no such consideration is applicable here, and as there can be no more appropriate conclusion to these remarks, they are thus ended by a quotation from one of the Lectures on the 3d chapter of the Gospel by St. John, published by his Grace, when Bishop of Chester, in the year 1835.

More that is of a like spiritual and devotional character will be found in that volume, as in other works of the highly-honoured prelate-serus in Colum redeat.

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'Except," &c., "The kingdom of God is a kingdom of "holiness, and man is not holy, but corrupt. The Saviour "of the world has provided a way for his purification; "therefore, the entrance into his religion is by an em"blematic action, which indicates that man both needs "and desires to be renewed and purified: desires that as "water removes the defilement of the flesh, so the Spirit "of God may remove the corruption of the heart. If a man comes, like the Ethiopian, or like the Jews, of their

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own accord, and from personal conviction, and says: "See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized,' "he makes this acknowledgment for himself. If an in"fant is brought to Baptism, the same acknowledgment "is made by those who bring him. The parents, or "whoever take the parents' place, come with this avowal. "Their child is of a corrupt stock, sinful; but they de"sire that he may be born again, washed in the fountain opened for sin and for all uncleanness, and that a new

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"heart may be put within him, 'in the name of the Lord > "Jesus and by the Spirit of our God;' and thus they "enrol him as a member of God's kingdom. It were "well if every child which is presented in the temple "for the outward ceremony of Baptism were brought "with this intelligent conviction; with a sense of the necessity of this spiritual regeneration, with an earnest "desire and prayer that it might be obtained!

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"Lord approved of the zeal of those parents' who "brought their young children to him, that he might "touch them.' It was done in faith that he was a

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prophet; it was done in hope that a prophet's blessing might avail. It was done in earnestness and full pur"pose of heart; for when his disciples rebuked those "that brought them, they still persevered till Jesus laid "his hands upon them and blessed them.' And so "there is reason to believe that he will hear and favour "the prayers of all parents who come in like simplicity of "heart and faith: who feel that they have bestowed upon "their offspring an earthly corrupt nature, which would "lead not to life, but to death; for that which is born "of the flesh is flesh;' and who, therefore, present "their children to Him who can change and renew that nature, and make it like unto his own. For as in "Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made "alive.

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"Would to God, my brethren, that this truth were "better understood, and this primitive, this scriptural, "this reasonable Baptism, more generally practised. Then "we should not find so many who, though born of water, "as far as concerns the baptismal rite, are evidently "not made new creatures by the Spirit, who renews and "sanctifies the soul."

THE ARGUMENT, ETC.

MARCH 1, 1849.

A translation of the Latin Extracts will be found in the Appendix.

defendant. It is quite true that a monition was taken out on the part of Mr. Gorham, calling upon the Bishop of Exeter to shew cause why he refused Institution to this Living; yet, inasmuch as the Bishop, in his return to that monition, has charged Mr. Gorham with a Canonical offence-in that he holds and has maintained unsound doctrine in regard to the Sacrament of Baptism, (which, if he does, may no doubt be a sufficient justification for the refusal to institute); the matter has thereby assumed a different shape. The justification is the maintaining of a charge against Mr. Gorham; and, therefore, though it be true as to the mere technicality of the proceeding, that the Bishop of Exeter is in the situation of a defendant; the case, upon its merits, is widely different. On the part of the Bishop there is a grave charge against Mr. Gorham, of unsound doctrine,

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and that charge must be made out in the same way as any other-precisely as if the Bishop of Exeter were proceeding, in the first instance, against Mr. Gorham, and were promoting the office of the Judge. The Bishop must make out his case, by shewing what the unsound doctrine is that Mr. Gorham holds. The onus lies on the Bishop of Exeter to make good the charge which he has thought fit to bring against Mr. Gorham.

Having set that matter right, I must now beg leave again to advert to what I said on a former occasion, (when the consideration of the Canon was under the attention of the Court,) namely, that Mr. Gorham is a Bachelor of Divinity; that for thirty-six years he has been an ordained Clergyman; that he has resided in several Dioceses, and that there has never before been heard the whisper of an accusation against him for holding any unsound doctrine whatever. That is his position before the Court, and

This being so, what are the circumstances under which we enter upon the present inquiry? They are these:

In the month of January, 1846, Mr. Gorham was presented by the Crown, through the Lord Chancellor, to the Vicarage of St. Just, in Cornwall, a large Living at the extreme end of the Diocese of Exeter.

It is quite obvious that the Bishop of Exeter stands before this Court as a Prelate exercising more than ordinary care in regard to the soundness of doctrine maintained by the Clergy in his Diocese; because unquestionably the examination of Clerks for institution to Benefices is not of common occurrence. Archbishop Secker asserted the right in his first Charge, and thereby may be supposed to have been bringing before his Clergy that to which ordinarily their attention would not have been called. I admit that, in law, the right exists; but the only instances of its exercise, which have been brought forward, are one by Bishop Burnet, and some by the Bishop of Exeter himself: no other instances whatever

nave been adduced, though, as I have said, in point of law, the right unquestionably exists.

I say, then, we are to look at the Bishop of Exeter as a Prelate exercising more than ordinary care with respect to the soundness of doctrine maintained by the Clergy in his Diocese; and we must, therefore, take it for granted that when a Clergyman came from another Diocese into his own, to be placed in the important position which Mr. Gorham was to occupy as the Vicar of St. Just, the Bishop of Exeter did make sufficient inquiries to satisfy himself; and that he therefore knew perfectly who Mr. Gorham was, and that he had been a Clergyman for thirty-five years; that he knew the Dioceses in which he had officiated, and (which there would be no difficulty whatever in ascertaining) that he was acquainted with his general views, and the line that he had adopted on any matters of public interest in which he had taken part during that period. We must conclude, I say, that when Mr. Gorham first came into the Diocese of Exeter, those general inquiries respecting him were made; and that the Bishop was well satisfied with the result of them; because we do not find that there was any resort to an examination then. On the contrary, everything proceeded harmoniously, and Mr. Gorham was, without any hesitation, instituted to the Living of St. Just.

Again,-There has been no attempt to deprive Mr. Gorham of that Living since: consequently, I must take it that between the time when he was instituted to St. Just, and the period when he sought institution to the Living of Brampford Speke, nothing had occurred to render it necessary to take any proceedings against Mr. Gorham-nothing to call on the Bishop in any way to interfere on account of unsound doctrine alleged against him. Therefore we have the matter cleared up to this time.

But, when Mr. Gorham is to be transferred from a