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    cause furnished him , on one occasion in particularj with an opportunity of evincing and inspiring a liberality and kindness of feeling which is too rarely found ., ' admissible into the religious intercourse of Trinitarians with

    Unitarians . Being invited to preach on JLehaljLjrf ^ he _^^ Baptist Suntlay-school at Quorndon , Leicestershire , he gladly complied , determined , as he said , ' that no effort of mine shall ever be wanting to bring into closer communion the divided followers of our common Lord ; for I am persuaded that we all agree in the essential points of religion i and that we should love each other better if

    we knew each other more intimately . ' Certain parties at Derby soon after brought the question before a meeting of the confererice at Leicester , *' . whether there is not a manifest and great impropriety in Socinian ministers being invited , upon any occasion , whatever , to preach to General Baptist-churches ;' - andthething was

    authoritatiyely pronounced improper . The Quorndon congregation , understanding the allusion , addressed a letter of most cordial and flattering acknowledgment to Mr . Higginson , declaring- that ' they entirely disapproved of the conduct and vote of conference ; ' and proving their independence by adding , that they had since invited the Unitarian minister

    of Loughbro' to preach for them . The ,,, incident . ) s ,, npt .. Kiorei honourable to the Quorndon Baptists than it is appropriately illustrative of Mr . Higginson ' s catholicity o ( Christian sentiment . In reply to their letter , he

    said , * The , time , I doubt not , is rapidly advancing when the virtues of the heart will be held in higher esteem fliaxji"" ' Bjpecul ^ b tive opinions ; awl in ; the discriminating world of spirits we shall judge and be judged by a better and more correct standard than that of the

    reputed orthodoxy of our faith . Surely he hath now found his anticipation verified 1 In November , 1829 , Mr . Higginson married lus second wife , whom he has

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    left with an infant son . In the following November his first attack befell him . Sanguine hopes were entertained of his recovery when , in the spring of 1831 , he partially resumed his pulpit duties . But another attack ensued about the midsummer

    foliowiag , _ and ^ e ^ ney . er-jrelt _ adaqjLiate _ i . o _ appear in his place afterwards , but ; on the 12 th of November , announced his resignation of the office which he had held for nearly twenty-one years . The brief subsequent history of the rapidly succeeding attacks of his complaint has been told . His remains were interred in the

    burial ground attached to the Derby chapel , in the same grave which had received those of his mother and his wife . The summary of Tils character and life which follows was pronounced the Sunday after his interment by the Rev . John Williams of Mansfield , his well-known and esteemed friend .

    ' It is not mypractice to enter 4 ia to any minute description or eulogy of the character of those departed friends whose removal from this earthly scene may call for that regret and sorrow which is felt in the experience and .

    contemplation of our loss ; nor would any attempt to delineate the excellencies of your late pastor , if he had been consulted , or to estimate his just meed of praise , have been consonant to his feelings or to his wishes . He is now alike insensible to censure or .

    applause , who would have been the first ingenuously to acknowledge those imperfections and delinquencies with which frail and erring man is chargeable , which detract so much from human , virtue , and which all have so much reason to lament and deplore . It is our happiness to be assured , tUat He who will bring every work into judgment , ' knoweth our frame , ami remembereth we are but dust / and that he will not be strict to mark , or severe to punish them , if they be no $ wilful and repeated . It is meet , however , that we should steadily observe and endeavour to attain that

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    UNITABIAN CHRONICLE . 141

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1832, page 141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1817/page/13/