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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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gree atone * Though after a strict examination of his school by a committee , at which " the Reverend gentleman presided , " an " unwilling testimony was given to his success in
teaching ; " yet an opposite prejudice was still carefully cherished , 4 t the clerk running from one end of the parish to the other , declaring , that the boys could not learn from such a method , " and soon after a school was set
up against him at In / minge , adjoining to Elham , with the avowed design of having the children better taught . " The next kindness ( says Mr . H . ) attempted to be conferred on me , was to displace me , because I took boarders , which was deemed a
nuisance , as if I taught the boarders and neglected the charity children . This attempt failing , 1 was left in quiet possession of my school till — made hisnappearance among us . " The boys were soon called to repeat the Church Catechism before —_— , ¦ who observed , that it was
of the highest importance , and on hearing them , he was pleased to say that they really went through it with a great deal of propriety . Soon . after calling upon me , he found me engaged in reading 3 VTr . Lindsey on the Divine Government , which he appeared to notice , and came no more to my house , till he entered the school with his
brother , for no other apparent business except turning the books about , no doubt hoping to find some Unitarian tracts in the hands of the boys ; but this was not the case * I had always mo 3 t scrupulously observed the covenants of the will , because I would not violate the covenants of the dead . A
few minutes after he had left me , he sent his clerk for me to attend a meeting of the trustees ; I werat , and after some pause the Reverend gentleman said , c Mr . Herbert , 1 observed last Sunday you did not rise when I read the CreedsJ I own I was angry at
this abrupt attack , and immediately answered , that c I would not allow —— -, to dictate to me about Creeds / when he as hastily answered , 4 If you are not of the Church of England , I will immediately seek one who- is . * Conscious that I had not
violated the will * I > the next day , addressed a letter to on the threat 1 had received from him , and supported my faith in the Unitarian
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doctrine , of which I declared my firm conviction , but I defy him to point out an abusive word in it . When I afterwards asked ¦ for a sight of it , he pretended that it was burnt , though it appeared from the declaration of another gentleman in his presence , that it was sent to London , and was made the excuse for all the
cruel persecution with * which I have since been pursued . I wrote — a second letter , stating , that if he would point out any errors in my opinions , I was open to conviction ; the only reply he made was , that I was bound to believe the Athanasian
Creed , the miraculous conception and the deity of Christ , for their anti quity ^ owning , however , that he could not explain them ; my reply was , * who then is to blame , you who continually preach a doctrine you cannot explain , or I who , from the want of an
explication of the difficulty , cannot believe it ? ' Notwithstanding his * acknowledged inability to solve my difficulties , he proceeded to attack me in the most opprobrious terms from the pulpit , charging me with holding doctrines the most dangerous to our
happiness both here and hereafter , and calling on his congregation to beware of such a man ; at which they turned round to gape on me , with ap ^ parent abhorrence . The next day lie sent me a notice to quit my situation . The Sunday following the Rer . ¦
, from the same pulpit , insisted that I was not a Christian , but a Jew ; thus these Reverend gentlemen endeavoured to convince me of my * false reasonings ; ' not a word of cool argument , neither from them nor from the rector , who appeared on this
occasion after a five or six years absence ; no , nor from his Grace of Canterbury nor Lord Eldon , to whom I related my case , and only begged that I might either be convinced of my error , or allowed to keep my situation until I could find another for my family to move to . <« On \ s return , who , after
his pulpit attack upon me , had left Elham about three weeks , I waited on him , to endeavour to effect a reconciliation , but to no purpose . I was then called before the whole of the trustees , and *— - , Esq ., after
reading my first letter to — - *—— , containing a statement and defence of
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Case of Mr . Charles Herbert . 445
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1818, page 445, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2478/page/37/
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