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iii my reply to the communication from that meeting , that I should not hurry myselfi as stated in the Case , &c . It is true that I did , in the month of October , renounce the Unitarian d octrine , especially the opinion
maiutained by the Unitarians of the person of Christ ; and openly avowed my belief in his proper Deity , which belief I endeavoured to justify by arguments founded on the Holy Scriptures ; but I deny having on that occasion reviled my old friends . Nor were the evening lectures commenced till after the
violent measures adopted by the trustees , which lectures , with the attendance of Calvinists , &c . are represented in the Case , &c . as the ground of those measures to which they resorted . Immediately upon having made known my change of sentiments , and that I was a Baptist , a respectable minister of that denomination invited
me to come among them , encouraging me at the same time to hope that God would provide for me . I replied , that was ray wish , and I can truly say , it was the first object of my heart . About a fortnight afterwards , I had an interview with two of the most respectable ministers of the Baptist connexion ,
who treated me with the greatest kindness , pointed out to me a situation for a limited period , and assured me , that in the mean time they would look out for me a permanent station . I hoped then that I should be able to ieave the Unitarians , before the time they had allowed me to officiate should
expire . On the Saturday of the same week , the gentleman , by whom I had never been approved , came to my school-room , and requested me to give up immediately . I said , I was unwilling to do that , but informed him of the result of my visit to my friends , as above , and that I hoped I should be able to leave them in three weeks or
a month , with comfort to myself . This not satisfying him , he immediately intro duced persons with axes , bolts , locks and bars , and proceeded to adopt those ^ measures , to which it is said in the Case , &c , he was legally advised . ^ p ¦ ' - ^ j — ^ v ™ ^ w ^^ ¦ ^™ - ^^^ ^^ Q ^ k ™ v ^ m w m ^*— - ^ ^^ v ^^ V ^ B ^*« " ^^^^ ^^™ ^ w
Another of the trustees , who came in ^* th the carpenters , and who had always been nay friend , advised me to £ tve up the keys to them , or else , he said , they would never give me the ttioney that was due to me , and which « ad been withheld since the 1 st of
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May . I said I would comply , and left the school-room to fetch the keys ; but when I returned with them , 1 found my pupils expelled , and the door of the school-room fastened against them and myself , which ungenerous conduct determined me not immediately to
give every thing out of my own power . They put new locks and fastenings on the Chapel and vestry doors , and left , but returned some time in the night to make the premises more secure still . On the
ensuingsabbath , Mr . B . Mander , believing himself to be the only legal trustee , in the presence of the constables of Wolverhampton , gave me admission at the hour of public worship : but the disturbance and confusion of that
day was so extremely afflicting- to my mind , that on an early day I wrote a note , and sent it by a friend to the gentleman which I have had occasion frequently to allude to , proposing such terms as 1 thought might be complied with , at the same time expressing a wish to have the matter left to
arbitration , should the terms proposed be rejected : [ received in return a very insulting note . A short time after I went to the magistrate before whom Mander and others were taken , and requested him to act as mediator
between us , to which lie very kindly consented , and said the terms which 1 proposed , were such as the trustee and congregation ought to comply with : by him also I proposed to have the whole matter left to arbitration
should the terms I offered be refused . Instead of complying with them , or lining the magistrate as a mediator , they sent to me such conditions as I could not in justice to myself and
family accede to . 1 then addressed a letter to each of the trustees separately , saying , that 1 could not submit to their terms ; but , if they would only give me what 1 conceived to be mv due ,
and withdraw their recognizances for the prosecution of the Manders , &c , I would cheefully give up every thing * and if they would not , I again expressed my aiixious desire for an arbitration £ but in their answer they declared their refusal of my proposals , and their determination that matters should
have their course . In every arbitration I proposed , 1 nominated persons on my part , whom I knew lo be averse to any measures hostile to the
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Mr . Steward ' s Vindication . 667
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1817, page 667, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2470/page/27/
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