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told him , they were notes of a sermon on Cantiples v . 16 ., • He is altogether lovely * After some discourse had passed between Mr . O . and the clergyman , both he and the justice * iijl spite of their prejudice and bigotry , confessed that he was a learned young man , and could not conceal their concern that
such a person should be a dissenter . Yet after a long debate and hard usage , both Mr . O . and the person in whose house he preached were committed prisoners to C $ erwys gaol , and the rest of the company were Tbound over to the quarter-sessions . While in prison he met with much civility from the honest gaoler , and from several worthy clergymen who came to see and discourse with him on this occasion , but was otherwise
treated by some of his visitants . His very adversaries however were convinced of his great abilities , and scrupled not to speak honorably of them . He continued in this prison about three weeksj during which time he usually spent four or five hours every day in praying , preaching , and expounding the scripture
to his fellow prisoners ^ and such of the inhabitants of the towp . as came in . This , it seems , alarmed the neighbouring gentry , lest the prison should be converted into a conventicle , and the town and country be infected with the contagion , of fanaticism * information was speedily brought to Mr . Justice T —against the
gaoler and his prisoner . He took up the matter in earnest , and sent strict orders to keep the prison-doors locked , and suffer no persons whatever to come in to hear sermons ^ or join with the prisoners in acts of divine worship . The poor gaoler was obliged to obey . The people however were not terrified by these measures : they still to the last kept crowding about the window , at the usual times , to hear him preach .
When they despaired of obtaining their liberty , or having justice done them , Mr . John Evans of Wrexham ( the father of the Author of the Sermons on the Christian Temper , ) sent Mr . Owen ' s case to ad able and eminent lawyer , who gave his opinion that his imprisonment was false and illegal ^ and that the magistrate who committed him was punishable * This matter being brought before the justices at the quarter-sessions , they
cleared themselves froin having any hand in those arbitrary proceedings against the prisoners , so that the ocjium justly devolved upon Mr . Justice T — , by whom they had been senf to prison . This gentleman ( like the Philippian magistrates * Acts xvi . ) become sensible now of his danger , and rea ^ y t recant , gave immediate orders to the gaoler ^ without any furr
ther formalities * jo discharge the prisoners * Mr . O « was advised to prose&iate the unrij&Jteous magistrate , and assured he mi ght recover dajnages ; b $ s £ te declined it , choosing rather to leave his cause with God , tlie righteous and . supreme Judge .
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Biographical Sketched U 33
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vol . i . h h
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1806, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1724/page/9/
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