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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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the place . jto this the © octor was satisfied , anfliaeror v ^ fterwartis gave him any trouble . Dr . Gregg dyii g after a time , was succeeded flt the living by a Mr . Hub * bart , who % femg a ^ weakly man , and m
a deep cGnsuenap&on , put in one Mr . Hugh Janaies to officiate as his curate . This mah finding . Ms hearers flock after Mr . Gill , vented his displeasure in threatetii&g ? and malicious speeches ; but the incumbent being a pious and
peaceable man , would not suffer Mr . Gill to be molested during his life . This , however , did norlast long ; for in about a year and a half Mr . Hubbart died , and the living of Up well was given to his curate , -Mr . James . As this Mr . James was a man of a
different temper ; and character from his two predecessors , he resolved to strain his authority to the utmost , in order to dispossess Mr . Gill . His first step vras to go to Wilney on a Lord * s-day , and demand the pulpit for the moruiag , which was quietly granted ; but Mr . James bent the whole of his
discourse against Mi " . Gill , railing at him , and setting out the heinous sin of omitting the holy ceremonies . He told him that he ought to lie at the chapel door for three or four months in sackcloth , ndt daring to tread upon
that consecrated ground , begging the people to pray to God for him , to forgive him that sin ; to prove which he quoted several popish writers , but not one text of Scripture . His virulent
language at length occasioned several people to leave the chapel . In the afternoon there was no sermon ; for Mr . James gave notice to the people to meet him after dinner at an
alehouse , where he treated them with liquor , and , as a place more proper for the subject , preached the second part of his morning sermon . He desired the inhabitants to set their . hands to a petition to the bishop to turn out Mr . Gill ; butrthev ^ unaoiiinouslv refused .
Being disappointed in this quarter , Mr . James wefi ^ t to London , to lodge ws comjitelnt wi ^ 4 he Btehop * of Mm-^ ich ; but the ^ iabitaits of Wiiney ^ avin ^ ^ otseetttxrf his design , drew up petition to ' 4 & 0 > ' Bishop , signed by ^ jte y hto ^^ didfepatehed It forthwith . - < 2 W ' Mf . James ' s arrival be *« M «* afe ! f antictoaiea , the Bishop filing hto ^ tlia * the hadfeearii 4 good report ofJfeiGta fy < im Ins neighbour-VOL . XV ^ 1 ,
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hood , that by the light of the place the choice of minister was in the inhabitants ,, and j they testifying to his good behaviour , he could not disrates him , or credit the accusations 4 > f on& man against the unatrimcrus voice df the whole town .
Still foiled in his pm 5 ects ,. Mr . James applied to £ he S ^ britual Co ^ rt ; at Noiv wich , and about May 1702 procured a citation . This Mr . Gill obeyed , «^ 1 appearing at Norwich , retained one Mr . Batchelour as his proctor , to manage his defence . But Mr . James
did not then venture to proceed any further , and dropped the citation . He , however , renewed it the following August . Whilst it was depending , Mr . Gill had occasion to go to Cambridge , to vote for the election of- knights of the shire . There he fell into company
with Sir R . Jen—gs , who * pretending friendship to him , persuaded him to give up the chapel of Wilney , as not worth the contest , engaging at the same time , on behalf of Mr . James , that the suit against him in the Spiritual
Court should be dropped . To this Mr . Gill consented , though much against the wishes of the inhabitants of Wilney ; and , depending on the promise of Sir R . J * , omitted to notice the suit at Norwich , where , on his
non-appearance , the Court proceeded to pronounce the sentence of exconvmunication . Mr . Gill having quitted his charge , accepted a call from a Dissenting congregation in Lincolnshire , whither he removed with his family . In the mean
time his enemies were preparing against him a most malicious plot , of which he received sudden intelligence by the appealSfoiee of the following advertisement iii tile London Gazette of Nov . 22 , 4702 fr- " Whereas Abraham Gill ,
agedi , ' upwards of 30 years ,, middle statufced , ' . having some grey hairs , sometimes wearing a light wig , of a aanguine ^ eoiaftpi ^ aon , bold and confident in convention , of a strong voice and a north-eountry pronunciation , writing a tolerable clerk ' s hand , ( as
having been soihe time employediinder an attornev , ) but lately officiating' as curate at Wilney , in the Isle of Ely , belonging ^ to the rectory of * lJpwell in Norfolk , has been detected or fogging letters of orders uu&e £ thehWd and episcopal seal of the Right Rev . Father in God , Nichojaa , Lord Bishop of
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Be Foe * Narrative of Mr . Abraham Gill . 73
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 73, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/9/
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