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    statute to be enacted ; for many of the most , eminent nonconformists of that age concurred in , his restoration , and wer >* active instruments in promoting it . Several of their ministers waited upon him when he was abroad , in order to testify their loyalty , and to exp , e s their wishes for hi return to the throne of his ancestors . It was not long however , before be recompensed their respectful and loyal attachment , ana the services they tendered him by this act ; an art no less unwise and unjust in its principle thar . detrimental to the church itself , and inii-p-i-. 'us to the nonconformists , in it on equences .

    Two thousand conscientious ministers were deprived by this severe statute of the means of their sub istence and of their opportunities of usefulness ; and the church lost some of its most learned , pious , upright , acceptable , and zealous preachers : so that for a considerable period , there was a lamentable deficiency of persons under the establishment , who were capable of conducting and aiding the devotions of their fellow Christians .

    The consequence , and such as might naturally be expected , was , that ignorance and depravity of morals ^ sanctioned alas ! by a licentious court , prevailed to a very deplorable degree ; and many of the pious laity , "who did not desert the church , made grievous complaints of their want of suitable instructors .

    Others however , cast their lot with their ministers , whom they loved and honoured ; determined to succour them as far as they were able , and to share with them in many deprivations and sufferings . It would be painful for me to recite £ nd for you to hear the various distresses they endured : cast on the wide world without bread for themselves and their

    families , and without the means of pro > - curing it . But from evil , under the government of a wL-e , righcebus , and benevolent Providence , good proceeds . The Dissenters of that period , trained in the school of indigence and distress , were led to examine diligently the principles

    on which they acted ; and the more ' they Examined theni , the more they approved and valvied them , and the more determined and zealous they were in retaining them . For many yfcars , and under one and another grievous measure * of \ governihe ' nfc , a cloud of oppression overshadowed their cause ; but the dawn of

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    deliverance brightened upon them with its chearing beams ; and at the glorious period of the Revolution , they obtained a toleration , or as it should be rathe called in the language of a late cele

    brated judge , an establishment ; such it was to all who couJd comply with the conditions , on which it was granted . These conditions though several legal disabilities still " remain , have been relaxed . and modified under the

    present reign . It was roon after the period to whfc we now refer , that our congregation fe * its rise . Mr . Edmund Calamy , ^ th . worthy son of Dr . Calamy , who was ejected from the church inv Aidermanbury , and who was himself one , of the ejected ^ ministers under the act of un iformity , laid the foundation of our

    society , by preaching , as often as the spies and myrmidon ^ of power would allqw , and frequently at the ii k of his own personal safety , in his own house , not far distant from his father ' s residence . Many of the pious and conscientious laity attended on such occasions ; and by degrees their mimber was ao greatly augmented , that their minister ' s house was too small for their accommodation .

    When the declaration of indulgence , intended more for the relief of others than for the advantage of protestant dissenters , took place in the year 167 % % which however , was soon recalled , Mr . Calamy opened a place of worship in

    Currier ' s Hall , near Cripplegate . Here he was assiduous in his labours ; and though he was eminently peaceful and candid in his own temper , and frequently declared his desire of a comprehension rather than a Separation , he shared with hi ? brethren- in the trouble and

    ex pence of those persecuting times . Mr . Calamy died in 1685 , and was succeeded by Mr . Samuel Borfet , who was also one of the ejected ministers . The congregation which had been gradually increasing , removed about this period , but I have not been able to ascertain the precise year , to a meetinghouse in this street , not far from the

    spot on which we are now assembled . The p lace sunk into decay , and the congregation increased under the eminent Mr . John Shower , well known by his popular sermons and tracts ; so that it became necessary to remove to a more spacious and commodious meeting-hous « t in the Old Jewry . Ourpredecessors were at a great expence in erecting that buildings and

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    Intelligence .-r-Dr . Rees ' s Address . 619

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 619, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/43/