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given in his first work , " A Short History of the Persecution of Christians by Jews , Heathens , and Christians . " A second edition is now before us , published by Johnson in 1794 . It is a brief manual , written with the " humble aim to instruct the common ranks of society into a practical use of the history of the church / ' It opposes the precepts of Christianity to the practices of all churches , which are developed and reprobated with perfect impartiality , and advocates the utmost extension of the rights of conscience .
We have been informed by an old friend of Mr . R . ' s , a professional gentleman , very competent to form an opinion on such a subject , that during his residence in Cumberland he printed and distributed in Wigton and the neighbourhood , a small pamphlet on " The Advantages of settling Disputes by Arbitration . " Dr . — writes , " The pamphlet was so excellent that it ought if possible to be preserved , for I never read so much sound sense and such strong reasoning , compressed into so small a compass , and so perfectly intelligible to any human
being . " This pamphlet was reprinted by Johnson . But of this , as well as of another little book , " Hints to Juries in Trials for Libels , " no copy has been found either at the publisher ' s or among Mr . R . ' s papers . * During his residence in the North , Mr . R . cultivated an acquaintance with Archdeacon Paley , of whom he used to say , that he was out of his place , and that he would have been as great a judge as his distinguished countryman , Lord Ellenborough .
The quiet pursuits in which Mr . R . indulged , were interrupted by the domestic calamities we have already mentioned . These led to an entire change in his views and plans of life . In the year 1796 , he came again to London to settle permanently in business . About the same period he united himself for a second time in marriage , with a young lady of a respectable Cumberland family , a Miss Lucock . He entered into business
as a sugar-refiner , in which he continued till his death , and in which , after the usual fluctuations of disappointment and success , he accumulated a handsome fortune .
? The gift or loan of a copy , communicated to the Editor of the Monthly Repository , or Mr . Hunter , St . Paul ' s Churchyard , wpuld be gratefully accepted .
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Obituary . —Anthony Robinson , Esq . 289
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and he consented to become their preacher , but the more solemn charge of the pastoral office he did not accept . His personal connexion witl ) his old friend and tutor remained unbroken . We have now before us an affectionate
letter from the Doctor to his former pupil , kindly lamenting the change in his opinions , rejoicing that he had " not sunk into Socim ' anism , which he thought ** less consistent than sober Deism ;" and gently hinting , that his young friend would do well to " fix in
Arianismthough far from the truth , " rather than be " thus ever learning , " and " kept fluctuating in the boundless ocean of speculation . " No advice was ever more unfortunately addressed , for it became the fixed opinion of Mr . R ., > that to be ever learning is both the duty and end of human existence .
Mr . Robinson ' s services in Wdrship Street were interrupted by an event which altogether changed his prospects iu life . By the death of an elder brother he inherited the paternal estate , which afforded a competent subsistence to a man of his humble wishes and simple habits , After
a connexion of little more than a year with the Worship-Street congregation , he returned into Cumberland , where he remained , occupying his own estate , about seven years . During those few years he became husband , father , childless and a widower . The domestic losses
which he sustained , deeply affected his spirits , for he had received from nature the perilous gifts of acute sensibility and very strong personal affections . During this period the interests of religion had not been disregarded by him . He took an active part in the erection of a Meeting-House at Wigton , iu 1788 ,
and was one of the largest pecuniary contributors . Here he preached , but as a locum tenens only , until a regular minister was appointed . That minister was the late Mr . Davis , of whom Mr . Robinson published an interesting account in a late Number of the Repository . * Mr . Davis was a decided Unitarian—a
circumstance which may assist us in conjecturing that M r . Robinson had profited little by the well-meant counsels t > f his old preceptor . Mr . R ., during this period , was an occasional preacher in the absence of his friend . The direction which Mr . Robinson ' s mind had taken on matters connected with religion , was fixed during his retirement in Cumberland . The result was
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* Vol . XX . p . 52 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 289, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/57/
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