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Chester , and being for that and other wicked and scandalous practices prosecuted in the Lord Bishop of Norwich ' s Consistory Court , has fled from justice - , all clergymen are to take notice liot to entertain the said Gill as a curate , or suffer him to perform any
holy office . And whoever gives notice of him , so as he ' may be prosecuted , either to Mr . Hugh James , Rector of Upwell , or to Mr . Rob . Clark , at the Consistory Court aforesaid , in Norwich , shall have a good reward for the
sume . " When the above advertisement appeared , Mr . Gill was on his way from Wilaey into Lincolnshire ,, and arriving at Boston on a thanksgiving day , went to the Dissenting meeting . Aftcr
service , Mr . Keeling , the minister , took him home to his house , and shewed him the Gazette . Mr . Gill , surprised as he well might be , immediately took horse , and leaving his family at Boston , went into Cambridgeshire , in order , if possible , to sift the matter to the bottom . He there found that one
Stephen Clifford , alias Gill , who had been committed to Derby jail for forging holy orders , and counterfeiting the coin , and had been convicted of both , had contrived to break jail , which coming to the ears of Parson James , he , with the assistance of his
attorney , Thomas Johnson , of Outwell , trumps up a plot in order to identify this person with Ab . Gill , and procured intelligence to be sent to the jailer at Derby that his prisoner was to be
found at Wilney , in Cambridgeshire . At the instigation of James , two men were sent thither to apprehend him ; but the jailer receiving intelligence of the plot , communicated it to Mr . Gill , as well as to his men . who returned
home without their prisoner . In order to further the scheme , an attempt was made to bring in the aid of perjury ; and one man was offered ten guineas to swear that Ab . Gill was the person who broke loose from prison . After this , Mr . Gill pursued his journey to Cambridge , where he went
about openly for fourteen days , when he was surprised by a notice from Dr . Cook , the Vice-Chancellor , to appear before him at Jesus College . Being there charged as the person described In the Gazette , he was committed to the Toibooth , and loaded with heavy irons . On his appearance at the
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Quarter Sessions , Dr . Cook told him he had no charge against him , but that he had received a letter from Mr : James , Rector of Upwell , charging him with various crimes , for which he must further commit him till the iiext
General Quarter Sessions . The manifest injustice of this proceeding caused such an outcry , that Dr . Cook released him upon bail . This barbarous usage of Mr . Gill , together with his known innocence , so wrought upon the inhabitants of tipwell , that they unanimously invited
him to come and preach to them as a Dissenting minister . Upon this he licensed a place in the Archdeacon ' s Court at Norwich , and duly qualified himself according to law . Mr . Gill having just reason to expect foul play if tried in that part of the country ,
removed his cause by certiorari to the Queen ' s Bench . His enemies , mortified at this , applied to Chief-Justice Holt for a habeas corpus to remove Mr . Gill to Norwich jail , wher ^ he was accordingl y taken under the serious charges of felony , forgery , trespass , contempt , and other high crimes and misdemeanours . There he remained
till the assizes , when nothing being proved against him , he was discharged . Upon this occasion Mr . James , and his curate , Mr . Lateward , received a severe reprimand from the Bishop of Norwich for their inhuman conduct , and threatened them with suspension . Mr . Gill being again restored to bis
people , the two persecuting parsons , James and Lateward , threatened him that if he did not remove , they would send him to prison again . How well they fulfilled their threat remains to be seen . On the 13 th of April , 1704 , Mr . Gill was served with a w ^ rra * *
requiring him to appear at Wisbeach on that day week . On his appearance he was accused of breeding great disturbances in the parish , by a conventicle , as was the case with sucb assemblies all over England . Mr . Gill admitted his preaching in a meeting , though not the charge of disturbance ,
and produced his legal warrant for so doing . This his enemies pronounced a forgery , upon whijjh * the justices committed him to the jail at Wisbeach , keeping possession of . his license . B ^ law and justice were notoriously Vef ' verted ; fof even if the charge alleged against him had been . illegal , the ot-
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74 De Foe ' s Narrative of Mr . Abraham Gill .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 74, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/10/
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