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r anyfe , who would make it their business to instruct those who are strangers to twir religion in the pure doctrine of Christianity , free from all human mixtures and corruptions : it seems to
me in this case , not at all improbable , that God would extraordinarily countenance such an attempt , by all fitting assistance , as he did the first publication of the gospel : for as the wisdom of God is not wont to do that which is
superfluous , so neither is it wanting in that which is necessary . And from what hath been said upon this argument , the necessity seems to be much the ^ ame that it was at first . —I would not be mistaken in what I have said
about this matter ; I do not deuver it as positive , but only as probable divinity , no wise contrary to Scripture , and very agreeable to reason /' The good Archbishop ' s " probable divinity" is certain verity at Roiaae ^ but I apprehend that it will occasion a smile every where else . The history of modern missions is not a tale of miracles , but a history of grammars and dictionaries . R . B .
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Sir , f 11 HE following narrative I copied JL some years ago from a scarce tract in Sir William Musgrave ' ^ Collection , in the British Museum . It is entitled " The Experiment ; or the shortest Way with the Dissex&ters exemplified : being the Case of Mr .
Abraham Gill , a Dissenting Minister in the Isle of Ely ; and a full Account of his being sen * for a Soldier , by Mr . Fern , an > Ecclesiastical Justice of the Peace , and other Conspivaftovs . To the eternal Honour € ) # the Temper and Moderation of High Church Principles . Humbldedicated to the 4 to
y Queen . " . 1705 . Though anonymous , it is well knowi * tia have been written by the celebrated Daniel De Foe , ana was intended as an illustration of the work for which , a year or two before , he was sentenced to the pillory . If it suits the design of the ** RejwsSfcory /* it is at your service .
W . W . Abraham GrlIi was born about IJhe year 1672 , at JXmngton , in Lancashire . He received hfe education partly amongst the IXssenters , but finished it at B * a « en-No&e College , Oxford , wh «* fe he commenced B . A . After
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spending some time in the family of Lord Willoughby , of Parham , as hfe chaplain , he conformed to the Church of England , and was admitted to what they call " holy orders /* by Nicholas , Bishop of Chester . His first preferment was to the curacy of Manev , i&
the Isle of Ely , about 12 miles from Wisbeach . Whilst he officiated in this place , he was well received , and beloved by his congregation ; and we find no complaint against him , save that he set an ill example to the
neighbouring clergy , by invading the custom of the country , and preaching twice a-day to his people . Having been two years at Maney , he received an invitation from the inhabitants of Wilney , a hamlet in the parish of Upwell , in the
same county , to preach in a certain privileged chapel of the parish , of which the inhabitants had the right to choose their own minister . After long and earnest solicitations , Mr . Gill , with the eonsent of his former hearers , agreed to remote , and accordingly settled with his family in the parsonage
or tenement belonging to the chapel at Wllney . Upon his settlement the inhabitants gave a feast , and invited their neighbour to bid him welcome . About a fortnight or three weeks afterwards , the Rev . Dr . Gregg , Rector of UpweU , paid him a visit of congrattrifr
tion , thanked him for coming , and saH he was glad the parishioners were likely to-be so well served . I » this chapel Mr . Gill continued about seven years , from 1695 to 1702 , preaching twice a-day , and conforming
in all respects to the usages of the Church of England . In process of tiaaae , however , he became dissatisfied with the Liturgy , and began to omit some parts af it , till his scruples increasing , he omitted it altogether , and confined himself t ® tiharseiroice of the
pulpit . As * the chapel he preached m was &' privileged place , and . wholly independent 01 ecclesiastical jimedic tv&n , he conceived : himself not watte the like obligation to conformity as it ' it had been a parish chuarch . D ?* Gregg r Rector of Upwell , hearing of his conduct ,, weot to remonstrate with him , and threatened to put in another that
curate 5 but Mr . Gill t ^ U him lie waa noi » nor evea ? liad been hie curate , and that it was not in his power to dispossess Him , at the same tintf shewing him \ m autftawity for holding
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72 De Foe ' s Narrative of Mr . Abraham GUI .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/8/
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