Gorham, George Cornelius. Gleanings of A Few Scattered Ears, during the Period of the Reformation in England and of the Times immediately Succeeding; A.D. 1533 to A.D. 1588; Comprehending I. Engravings of Eleven Seals of Cranmer, Parkhurst, and Jewel. II. Letters, &c. (for a great part hitherto unpublished) of Martyr, Bishop Parkhurst, Sandys, &c. London: Bell and Daldy, 1857. First Edition. [5283]
Sometime recased in brown buckram, 8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches, ex library with card pocket at front, ink name stamps, light scuffing from removed spine label. (xx.), 515 pp. plus plates. 1857 inscription on tp, infrequent pencil marks, the plates have a tidemark in the bottom margin, the text pages are generally clean in that regard. Good. Hardcover.
This book consists of one hundred and eighty six documents and letters sent between the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, and, except for a very few, here first published and/or translated into English. The names of persons include Melancthon, Cranmer, Hoker, Bullinger, Martry, Bucer, A Lasco, Pellican, Calvin, Hardenberg, Fagius, Musculus, Grindal, Hooper, Jewel, &c.
George Cornelius Gorham (1787-1857), Anglican vicar and historian, the subject of what was known as the "Gorham Case," a case in law involving the Church of England as to baptismal regeneration. Gorham was almost denied ordination over his not embracing baptismal regeneration in the same was as understood in the Church of England, and after a long and successful career, when about to be installed as vicar of Brampford-Speke some thirty-six years later, the Bishop of Exeter insisted on examining him on the point before allowing him the vicarage. He was examined over six days, and the Bishop would not allow his placement. Gorham took the case to the civil courts, which reversed the Bishop's decision, and rejected the Bishop's appeals. Gorham was installed at Brampford-Speke; the legal maneuvering took two and a half years to run its course.
"Gorham's views were highly Calvinistic, and did not precisely agree with the teaching of either the high or low church party. He held that the divine grace was not of necessity given in baptism or in conversion, but that it might be conferred before baptism, in baptism, or at a later period in life...During the whole of this period the case had excited intense interest in the religious world, and upwards of fifty works were published treating on the subject. The doctrinal question originally raised was after all left unsettled." - DNB.