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siderable proficiency in the common branches of learning . Whilst an occasional preacher in and about London , It Is said that he was popular . He first settled as assistant to Mr . Goodwin , in kope-malters-alley , Moorfields , on whose
death he became sole pastor ; but for many years had an assistant , preaching himself only in the afternoon . The morning preacher for some years was the Rev . Baxter Cole , the editor of Lardner ' s works , afterwards an
assistant in a school at Peckham . The meeting rn Rope-mafcers-aliey being in an obscure situation , Mr . Towle prevailed upon his people to agree to the erection of a new one , in a more public and respectable place ; and he devised the following scheme for defraying the expense , which was not approved by all his Independent brethren . It was
customary in his , as well as an other congregations , to make an annual collection for the fund for relieving poor ministers of the Independent denomination . The money thus collected was laid by to accumulate with a view to the building of a new place of worship . After some time , Mr . T . was able to accomplish his purpose , and the new meeting-house was erected in London Wall—a neat
and commodious building , in an open and yet not noisy situation . When he removed hither , he took the whole service upon himself , relying for a congregation , perhaps , upon the building and the place ; but he soon found that the situation of a place of worship in London is nothing ; the talents and manner
of a preacher are every thing : for the . number of his hearers greatly declined . Within these few years , the Rev . Mr . Barber ' s congregation ( the lease of their meeting being out ) proposed to join Mr . TVs : the proposal was accepted , and both congregations united , formed a respectable society , under two pastors . But Mr . Towle was afflicted most
severely with a constitutional disorder , the stone , which frequently prevented his going through his part of the public service , and rendered him very infirm . For the last year or two he was totally laid aside , and was for many months
confined to his bed . He bore excessive pain with great patience . Hi ' s mental faculties , however , were observed to decay , yet he did not choose to resign the pastoral office ; his place was therefore supplied by occasional preachers . IIis diploma of B . D . Mr . Towic derived
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from Scotland Ly means of s ? : * i tVaf- » ker , of Bethnal-sjreen , who procured academical honours for a number of his brethren , and used often to joke with them upon the subject . Mr . T . wa a strenuous defender of all the Calvinitic point , eve * i * the highe t and most subtle < f them : the writer of this article has seen a let *
ter of his , m whih he seriously mairi * tains the eternal geaerution of the Soil . He was no lesr , rigid in hb . maintenance of all the minutise of the Independent discipline ; it Was a maxim with him , never to admit any of different sentiments in his pulpit . He was zealous , even to bitterness , against the Baptists
and Methodists . He was exceedinglyfond of controversy , which he is said to have managed with great dexterity and acuteness . He was a great reader of modern theological publications , and would often make very shrewd remarks upon them ; yet he published nothing * , except a few funeral orations for mini- sters and ordination-services . As a
preacher , he was methodical and systematic : his sermons sometimes seemed to consist only of a complex plan , without enlargement on any one idea—a skeleton without the clothing of illustration and ample argument . In a morning he expounded the Scriptures , and had gone through the whole of die Old
Testament , and begun the New , His exposition was critical , but dry . He spoke extempore . In prayer he was reckoned to have a good gift—his prayers were usually long . Mr . T . ' s zeal for the faith of th « Geneva demagogue led him to support on various occasions subscription to articles of belief . He was the
main opposer of an attempt which was once made to free the students of the Homerton Academy from subscription ; and his opposition so far succeeded as to bind the pupils in that seminary to bondage , even to this day . He was also one of thirteen whose names were signed to a
protest against application to Parliament for relief from subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles , and was supposed to have a chief hand in drawing it up . His politics corresponded with his faith ; he was always zealous on the side of Government . With all his severity v he was cheerful . His wit and humour will be
remembered with pleasure , even by tho ^ e that do not esteem his character Some 6 f h is favourite stories will be long repeated . He possessed an ample fortune . He has K-ft one son . He was for many yelrcft
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666 Obituary .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1806, page 666, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1731/page/50/
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