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    currcd , as the effect of which , you ^ we re deprived of the instructions of a man to whose extraordinary merits ample justice will he done by the unbiassed ju < fo _ ment of posterity . Mr . Edwards found you accordingly , in new and very peculiar circumstances :

    iut he brought with him qualifi - cations , which in many respects

    were particularly calculated for the public and important station that he was now to fill . To the sinful fear of man he was a perfect stranger : his spirit was fervent in the discharge of the duties of his

    profession ; and his mode of address was for the most part , highly animated , and well fitted to make an impression upon a popular assembly . Nor were his exertions limited to the pulpit . On

    his obtaining the assistance of a co-pastor , he resumed in conjunction with him , those plans , of catechetical instruction whicji had been suspended in the summer

    of 1791 : and if he afterwards , in any measure laid them aside , it was only because th ~ e further execution of them was incompatible with the other labours which

    at length entirely devolved on him as so ^ e minister of the society During his residence at Birmingham , he was exceedingly assiduous in promoting the great ends of 4 iis office , and recommended

    himself especially to tire poor and distressed by affording them not merely religious consolation but also pecuniary relief , which he dispensed with a generosity and disinterestedness that will not readily be forgotten . In J 802 , his

    relation to this society was dissolved : and he removed to the house of one of his brothers in

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    the vicinity of the metropolis . He had been there "but a few months when he was again afflicted with . a grievous malady , the seeds of which appear to have been sown in his constitution . Happily his sickness was not of very long continuance . By the blessing of Providence on the skillr and

    kindness of his friends , he was enabled to renew his ministerial services , which were carried on partly at Edmonton , and partly in London , where he conducted during the

    winter season , a Sunday evening lecture ; in what spirit and with what ability , may be judged from an admirable sermon which , in

    the spring of 1804 , he preached and printed on occasion of Dr . Priestley ' s death . It was evident nevertheless , to the friends of Mr . Edwards , and he was . himself sensible , that the distracting scenes

    and engagements of the capital were less auspicious to his health than the air and quiet of the country . As the result of this conviction , he declined some very promising offers that were made

    to him , and ^ passed the two fol - lowing summers in the neighbourhood of the sea ; officiating through the latter , to a small but respectable society of General Baptists , at Newport , in , the Isle of Wight . Soon after his return to London .

    he was invited to be the minister of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Crediton in Devonshire , and on maturv deliberation ^ complied with their request :

    dividing his services however , for the first year , between that soeie-. ty and one of the same description at Moretonhampstead . His visual practice while in this connexion was to preach three times

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    694 ~ 3 fettioir 6 f ike Rev * John Edwards .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 694, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/2/