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speak to the subject , have no other means of expressing their opinion . " P . 127 . Mr . Foster liad been , for more than fif ty . years a respected " member of the Society of Friends , in which he was borp and educated . In his youth he perused the works of William Penn ,
by which he was led to adopt Unitarian sentiments . For several years he has been a subscriber to the London Unitarian Book-Society , with which he was made acquainted by the late William Rath bone , a member , as well as himself , of the Society of Friends .
In the Autumn of 1810 , he distributed some remarks on the Yearly-Meeting Epistle , which first appeared in our 5 th vol . pp . 490—494 . These circumstances were made the ground of an accusation against him , and in August , 1811 , he was visited by one of the overseers of Ratcliff Monthly
Meeting , of which he was a member . His visitor acknowledged that he knew not the nature of the Book-Societyr but " concluded their principles were very different from those of Friends . ' * This visit was followed by another from both of the overseers , and in their conference with Mr . Foster
they told him that they deemed it improper " for any member of the Society to promote , in any degree the ^ circulation of a paper which € vidently censured what had been approved by the Yearly Meeting" After a second conference , the overseers
expressed to Mr . Foster their intention of bringing the case before the Monthly Meeting- In a letter which he addressed to them immediately after , he urged upon them the
necessity of pointing out the rule of the Society' against which he had transgressed before they accused him , alleged that there was no such rule to be found , and justified his conduct
by an appeal to scripture in support of the ^ rights of private judgment . This appeal was in vain , arid soon after , Mr , Foster was charged before the Monthly Meeting with " having imbijbed and aided in the propagation of doctrines contrary to those of the Society . * This led to a little debate in the course of which Mr . Foster
requested to know his accusers , whom the overseers had before spoken of as being numerous , and who , probably in the capacity of his judges , formed a part of the meeting . This reasonable request Was refused . The Meeting
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concluded by appointing a committee to visit and examiiie Mr . Foster , o& the charges preferred against him and to make their report accordingl y * The first person named as proper for one of the Committee Was a member who throughout the meeting had shewn the Strongest spirit of opposition
to Mr . Foster . The m inute which was entered on the records of the Meeting was expressed in a loose and indefinite manner , simply stating that Mr . Foster " had imbibed and aided in propagating * doctrines contrary to the genuine principles of the Society , " without laying what those doctrines were . This
was remonstrated against both by Mr . Foster and one or two of the Friends , but without effect ; no specific charges were made , and the Committee appointed to visit him had so little sense of justice as to take advantage of this indefiniteness and to qwestian Mr .
Foster on several other subjects besides those which were the foundation of the original charges . Mr . Foster very properly refused to answer any such questions . In the course of the proceedings , several attempts of this kind
were made , and several new charges actually introduced , and the Committee insisted upon their right to inquire into any of Mr . Foster ' s sentiments which they deemed contrary to the principles of the Society . "
Another artifice which was resorted to , in order to make Mr . Foster appear as criminal as possible , was to leave out the word book in the second charge against him , and to represent him as having become a member of " the London Unitarian Society . "
The disingenuousness of such conduct was pointed out in an early stage of the business by Mr . Foster , but it was excused and repeated . * The Committee after visiting Mr . Foster twice , without " any satisfaction , ' at length made a report , and on this report was grounded a " testimony of denial / 1 or in other words , a public
disown men t . Mr . Foster defended himself in written addresses * ° * r | of the Monthly Meetings , and denied that his sentiments were different from those of the most approved early tmters amongst the Friends . At tne last Meeting he claimed the rig W ^
* One of the members of the-Quwr ^ g Meeting * fterwwr < l * argued , thftt ^ . Fo $ ttr bad become a memberof »»^ society lit could no longer lenour **
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$ 48 Meoiew . ' - —Fosters Narrative .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1815, page 248, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1759/page/48/
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