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Anecdotes of Dr. Priestley. 0SS
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Priestley; In A Letter ...
I happened , on a visit at Royston _^ to meet with a copy of the funeral sermon which had passed through a book-society id that town and neighbourhood . In p _* 37 _> among what the author allows himself to call " Authentic Anecdotes / ' he puts into his brother ' s mouth the following language respecting his conduct at Needham Market , where he first settled as- a minis' *
ter _, in 1765 , at the age of 32 . " I did all I could ; I s 6 farhidrny cloven _footj that I taught the Assembly ' s Catechism , and yet they found me out / 5 Understanding from a MS . note in the margin , signed by Mr . Fordham , that my friend was able to
dispute this representation on very respectable authority , I ap plied to him , and received the enclosed , which cannot be presery cd more suitably than in your Repository .
I am Sir _5 your ' s _, Clapton , Nov . 28 , 1807- J .. T . RUTT \
Anecdotes Of Dr. Priestley; In A Letter ...
Dear Sir , My reasons for being persuaded that the Rev _. T . Priestley must b * under a mistake , in _. an assertion which he makes at p _, 37 of the funeral sermon for his brother , are the following . I was _, as you well know , formerly a dissenting minister . Being in 1783 , settled at _Stow-market , only three miles from _Needhaiu Market , where the late Dr . Priestley had been settled as minister in the early part of his . life , I frequently attempted to gain information
respecting so distinguished a character , though with but little success _* I however recollect Mr . Spink _, a gentleman of my congregation _^ informing me that he attended upon Mr . Priestley ' s ministry , and though very young himself , lie well remembered that the freedom with which he delivered his opinions occasioned a general dissatisfaction ; but his opponents could not but commend him * , for the easy access all persons had who came to controvert them , and the calm patience with which he heard them .
Also being on a visit to the Rev-Mr .-Toms , of Hadleigh , ( who died Jan . _# , 1801 , aged 90 a most patriarchal and venerable minister of the _^ ospel _^ himself a moderate Calvinist _, at the time when Dr . Priestley V u History of the Corruptions of Christianity , " came out in 178 % , I expressed niy disapprobation of that work in pretty strong terras . The old gentleman replied— " My young friend Dr . Priestley _' s sen . timents are not mine . I hope they will never be _your _' s ; and 1 ant sorry they are his $ but from my acquaintance with him when at Needham Market , I shall always respect him for the openness and honesty of his character . "—Adding- — _" My first introduction to him was occasioned by my being requested to preach a funeral sermon for one of his congregation ; and when in the vestry , he said— _IYJr . Torus you are perfectly at liberty to attack any of my opinions which you deem _erroneous , and I hope you will not be offended at ray taking the * -tame liberty _withypu _, as I certakiiy intend doing should I think there is any occasion / '
Anecdotes Of Dr. Priestley. 0ss
Anecdotes of Dr . Priestley . 0 _SS
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1807, page 633, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121807/page/13/
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