GORHAM, CLERK, AGAINST THE BISHOP OF EXETER : SEELEYS, FLEET-STREET, AND HANOVER-STREET, HANOVER-SQUARE. PREFACE. CONSIDERING the length to which the discussion, which forms the subject of this Speech, has been extended, the novelty of the proceeding itself, the variety of topics embraced, and the multitude of books to which reference was made; it may be convenient that the general reader should be informed, how the question has arisen; and what is the nature of the particular charge of unsoundness in doctrine (in one word, Heresy) against which, as brought by the Bishop of Exeter, Mr. Gorham is here defended by one of his learned advocates. The facts lie in small compass. The Rev. George Cornelius Gorham, B.D., for many years Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, being the Incumbent of the vicarage of St. Just-in-Penwith, in the county of Cornwall and diocese of Exeter, was presented by the Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Crown, in the month of November, 1847, to the Living of Brampford Speke, in the same diocese. Instead of instituting him to that benefice, the Bishop of Exeter (who had previously made an ineffectual attempt to prevent the issuing of the presentation, by withholding his countersignature to a testimonial) thought fit to examine Mr. Gorham as to his opinions on the subject of Baptism. That Examination having been continued through many days, and extending to 149 questions, terminated in the Bishop's refusal to in |