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which each Act might contain . In many Acts the expressions adopted were , tJtat no tolls should be required " from any persons ooiag t 0 > or returning- from their parochial church , chapel , or other place of divine worship . " Those words , toll-collectors and trustees , had often attempted to restrict to ' meeting-houses situate within the parishes wherein any persons claiming such
exem ption should reside . But a case decided at the Suffolk assizes , . had refuted that exposition , and had declared , that the persons were entitled to the exemption , on attending at any other places of worship , although situate without the limits
of their respective parishes . A case at MeZford , in Northamptonshire , introduced by the Rev . Benjamin Hobson , had required the interposition of the Committee , and that interposition had obtained for the deacrm of the congregation at that place speedy and satisfactory relief .
3 . TO THE DISTURBANCES OF PUBLIC worship and riotous and violent procedures . That those disturbances appeared to increase in number and degree would excite astonishment , but for the perception that all the augmented efforts made to promote universal instruction , to diffuse the
Holy Scriptures , and to evangelize neglected hamlets , peopled by the prejudiced and by the poor , would naturally generate augmented opposition . Eneouiag-ement afforded or discountenance withheld by clerical magistrates and other persons u dressed in a little brief authority-
promoted these results which the Committee bad endeavoured to repel . At Mortlake and Woodford , villages in the vicinity of the metropolis , where meeting-houses had been erected and were supplied l > y the useful , invaluable , and p ersevering "labours of The London Itinerant
Society , ' depredations had been committed in the chapels , and insults offered to thecongreg"at ; oiis , which had required the advice <> f the Society , and which they understood had subsequently ceased . At the populous and opulent Borough of Windsor , where the theatre had been converted into
a chapel , alarming- interruptions had occurred . —Iu January last , Thomas Smith , ' he door-keeper of tie chapel , wasassault-* % knocked down , and ill-treated det onaiing- halls were thrown into the cLa-F ° ^ mobs were collected around the doors
an d much alarm prevailed . A letter written by the Secretaries , had aided the apl' » caiions of tlie Rev . Mr . Redford , the ex cclU > nt minister of that place , bad stim ulated the mayor and magistrates < lewaed ly to interfere and to afford p rotection , n had thereby extinguished the sparks ° . evu which mio'ht otherwise have occasio
ned jvreat inconvenience and expense . ' . ' Canewdon , amidst . the wealds of Es-* > a small Baptist congregation had eeri collected by the gratuitous exertions
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of the Rev . Mr . Austen , and a determinate spirit of opposition had appeared . Mild remonstrances and cautionary expositions had been tried in vain . On September 11 th , William Whitweil and thirty other persons , collected without the meetinghouse , interrupted the devotions of the people by horrid noises and more horrid imprecations . On October 30 th , this
ringleader increased in boldness , and entered the place , insulted the minister , assaulted the people , and compelled them to discontinue the religious , service in which they were engaged . He was apprehended , but found bail ; boasted of his property , and defied all punishment . On the eve of the sessions , however , when he found that indictments were prepared , and that witnes - ses were collected to attend—his resolu
tion disappeared , he acknowledged his guilt , supplicated pardon , paid £ 5 to be distributed by Mr . Austen tn the poor of the parish , and £ 10 towards the charges incurred , and signed an apology , dictated by the secretaries , which was inserted iu two county papers for the encouragement of other ministers and for the terror of
other offenders . In the same county , and in the populous town of Braintree , a disturbance had been made at the chapel of the Rev . John Carter—whose intelligence and zeal , although the windows of his house had been broken , it was proper to notice and applaud . Samuel Smee 9 on November 6 , 3814 , threw a bJack cat from the gallery , on the heads of som ^
respectable females in a pew beneath . — The interruptions which had previously occurred , the contumacy with which the offender treated several applications , and the decided support which he derived ^ actually , even if unintentionally , from the justice , being the rector of the parish , induced the Committee to interpose . —They had indicted the offender at Chelmsford
Sessions for an assault ; the bill had been found contrary to the expectations and predictions of the magistrate ; the case had been removed to a higher . court , and remained until the next assizes to be tried ; and although the iinal result was , therefore , unascertained , it was satisfactory t < j
state that , since those proceedings have been adopted , the congregation has enjoyed more freedom from noise and disturhance than they had known during * several preceding * years . The Baptist cotz gregation at Fringes Risborouoh , inlhe county of Mucks , under the pastoral carf ^ of the llev . J . Hester , had also been
compelled to apply for aid . The church and minister have provided meeting-houses ii \ several contiguous villages . At Long wick , on Sunday evening-, November 20 , 1814 , the congregation was repeatedly alarmed , by bricks and stones thrown ag-ainst the door and windows of the meeting-house , and by external shouts and clamour i « t « r-
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Intelligence . —Protestant Society . 383
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 383, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/55/
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