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    an advocate for the civil and religious rights of mankind , without being actuated by the narrow views of a party ; fifthly , that he should consider his parish not only as a place that is to procure such avr annual income , but asho as a place to which he owes a duty , and that of the highest nature ; and

    consequently , that he will do his utmost of himself , and not by any substitute , to introduce , maintain and cherish in it , whatever is virtuous and good ; sixthly , that as to his age , he be neither old nor young ; as to his person , that he be rather of an agreeable aspect ; and that he has a clear and sweet voice .

    * ' You know the living of is a year ; this income , to my idea , is a ; sufficient , nay , a handsome and ample provision for a clergyman , and may , if I may so say , command a good one . This being ; - the case , 1 shall expect

    of the person , whom I shall present , the following things : First , that he resigns all other livings that he may have , and content himself with this alone ; secondly , that he shall reside upon the living , and constantly serve it himself , except in case of sickness ;

    thirdly , that he shall promise before his being presented , verbally upon his honour , in the presence of some people of character , and in writing bv a letter to me , that if at any time hereafter he shall choose to accept any other living , sinecure , or church preferment , in that case he will

    directly resign back the living of \ I will venture to give you one other extract frotn a letter written to Mr . Hollis by one offering himself as a candidate for the living before mentioned ; the sentiments it contains are alike honourable to the patron and the writer , and deserve a more general

    diffusion . July 31 st , 1754 . " As I am sensible , Sir , it would he the highest presumption in any one to offer himself to you on such an occasion , whose principles and notions were such as you could not approve

    of , I would beg leave , therefore , here to declare , that as to my political sentiments , I am an entire friend to the liberties of my country , upon the principles of the last happy Revolution j and do believe , that the exercise of arbitrary and tyrannical power in a state is an infringement of the

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    natural rights of mankind , and productive of intolerable mischiefs and inconveniences . And as to points of religion , it is niy firm and settled opinion , that every man has an undoubted right to think and judge for

    himself , and ought to be tolerated in that way * of worship which in his own conscience he believes to be right ; and 1 look upon a spirit of persecution on account of differences of opinion in matters of religion , as odious , inhuman and unchristian , and as

    utterly unjustifiable upon any terms whatever . And whereas , Sir , I am informed that the living of is of considerable value , and may be deemed a very fair and ample provision for any one clergyman , without any

    additional preferment ; and also that the parish there , being of large extent , may well demand all the care and application of any one man ; upon these considerations I do think it my duty , and it is my sincere resolution ^ that if you shall vouchsafe to present

    me thereto , immediately to quit the living of ,.. « . "which I now enjoy , and that part of the cure of . . . . . in which I am now engaged ; and to apply myself wholly and solely to the care of the parish of . . . . . * , and if at any time hereafter I should

    think fit to accept of any other preferment that may offer , then upon the same considerations immediately to resign the living of , so that another person may be presented to it . It is , Sir , my further resolution , and I think it my duty , upon the

    motives aforesaid , if ever it shall happen that I am settled in so large and extensive a cure as that of ... •»„ # , to keep a constant residence upon it , and personally to attend the service of the church therein as long as it shall please God to enable me so to

    do . And that I might be more fully at liberty to attend so great a charge , I would engage myself in no other offices or employments whatever , whether ecclesiastical or civil ; nor in any school whether in rny house or

    elsewhere ; nor in receiving any sort of persons into my family as boarders , or in any other way which might foe thought in the least inconsistent with , or an hinderance to the duties of my function to which I should think it

    my duty entirely to devote myself *" I will only a < UL that on the deaUi

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    23 Mr . Hollis on the Qualifications of a Clergyman .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/28/