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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
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Memoirs of John Itastrick , M . A , fFroni Richards ' s History of Lynn ^ pp . 1050—1068 . ] JOHN RASTRICK , MA . was born in \ 649 , at Heckington , near Sleaford , in Lincolnshire . Of the situation , or circumstances of his parents we are uninformed . They
probably ranked among the reputable yeomanry of that place . Their son , being designed for the ministry , may be supposed to be placed at a proper a < re at one of those seminaries in the country where youth are prepared for the university . Having acquired the
rudiments of classical learning , he was sent to Trinity College in Cambridge , where he finished his academical education and obtained the degree of M . A . He then went into orders ; but when that was , we have
not learnt . He probably officiated afterwards as curate for some time - , but that could not be Ion £ , for he became vicar of Kirkton , near Boston , in 1674 , when he was about twenty-five years of age . No sooner had he settled at Kirkton than he felt
the arduousness of the charge he had undertaken . His congregation was large , and the parish of great extent . How much his mind was impressed with these considerations , find how anxious he was lest he should fail in the due execution of his office , will
appear from his own testimony on * e subject , in a letter to a friend : "The number and distance of the inhabitants , ( says he ) gave me a very se nsible concern , and I was very un-^ y under the burden that lay upon me I knew not what to do for so
J ^ n y souls , that were also most of th so remote from my dwelling , nor how to discharge my duty in a Pace , that ( as a learned , pious and worthy clergyman , my friend , told me ) was aus large as some of the dioui tne
r ^? primitive church . Cate-IS 1 I \ S > and preaching to such as J ^ uld me under t y iemf was not au t ? < l to do . But I could not forbear ** " * concerned with such as would
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bring their children to baptism , or offer themselves to the Lord ' Table , how to carry it , and answer the Church ' s expectations , with satisfaction to my mind , and fidelity to my highest trust . In catechising and preaching , I could suit myself , my doctrine and discourse to the
condition of the people 3 r \ ut ( by the rules and orders of my public station ) in administering sacraments and applying the seals , ( especially baptism ) I saw I must treat them all alike . Yet
if catechising and preaching be to prepare men for sacraments for themselves or theirs , it undeniably supposeth , that the latter are not to be given to such in whom the former hath no effect , nor to their children .
Q ualifications for privileges I knew were necessary , but where those were wanting , it was impossible I should apply these without a relucting mind and therefore whatever I might have been in the capacity of a lecturer , or
bare preacher , yet as a pastor it could not be , that I should be unconcerned in acts of discipline and government , and in judging of my own ministerial performances of that kind . "—Such is his own account ; and there is no reason to doubt of its
correctness—Having carefully formed an idea of his line of duty , he set himself in good earnest upon acting up to it ; but here he met with insuperable difficulties , which troubled and plagued him
exceedingly , and forced him at last , to resign his living and quit the church of which lie had been many years a minister , and which he would probablv have continued still to be , had
he been permitted by his ecclesiastic cal superiors to act with honesty and a good conscience , which they however were no way disposed to allow him to do .
The loose livers , ( or — and rogues of the parish , as some would call them ) used to bring their bastard children to him to christen , or make them Christians , although they d 1 s £ covered no desire or inclination to
History And Biography.
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY .
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THE &C .
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No . CXVII 1 .- ] OCTOBER , 1815 . [ Vol . X .
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tol . X . 4 E
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/1/
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