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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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to them concerning me , but they both solemnly declared he had not ; and I do believe he did not , and that what Sandercock had thrown out proceeded merely from their own suspicion . They further said , that they knew nothing
certain about my Laving been examined , but yet they feared I had not ; that they had no distrust of my abilities , and that if I would , if only for form ' s sake , comply with the Assembly ' s rule , they would do me all the
service in their power ; that I should be examined how or by whom I pleased ; and that they would pawn their honour for my good usage . Upon the whole , they appeared extremely civil , and my father was of opinion that I should follow their advice . But I was not
fortunate enough then to have that way of thinking . I seemed fully convinced that the Assembly had assumed a power to which they had no right ; that this power was for the most part lodged with such as had never been examined themselves , and who generally were of low extraction , and who therefore seemed to me to have the
least right to it - that they exercised this power in a very crafty , arbitrary manner , under a pretence of maintaining order and decency ; that their method of examining candidates was not calculated to try their parts and learning , but to sift out their private opinions ; and that they had in a
manner tricked the people out of their right to choose their ministers , by persuading them that they only were judges * of their abilities . All this I thought was monstrous in a set of men who talked so much of liberty , and complained so heavily of the chains of the Church .
But this was not all I had against them . A faction was now forming against Mr . Peirce , of Exeter , on account of his notions about the Trinity . I had contracted some intimacy
with him , and for that reason was under the same suspicions , which alone was sufficient to oblige me to avoid an examination by such kind of people . However , I gave not this as a reason , but stood out on the reasons
mentioned above , and accordingly I wrote niy father that I on such accounts expected a very strong opposition , but , as I had preached at all hazards to oblige him , I hoped he would protect me under it . At my return I perceived my ac-
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quaintance with the ministers was at an end , for they all looked shy on me , and behaved strange . I took no notice of them nor said any thing to them . I had invitations to preach from several miaisters . I accepted them , and this enraged them the more , being-
interpreted as an high contempt of the Assembly , and of the Plymouth ministers in particular . I continued in this situation for several months , and was myself very well pleased , but at length some began to ask why I did not preach in Plymouth , and , as I heard afterwards , some made
reflections on the ministers for not asking me . My father , too , began to be uneasy again , for he wanted to have me make a figure at home , and to hear his flatterers tell him what a brave fellow I was . This gave me fresh disturbance , for I saw plainly that all I
had said and done to please him would go for nothing unless I gave up the main point , and submitted to an examination . . This was very hard and discouraging , but I was to make the best of it . I had then acquaintance with most of the leading men in the
Assembly . I told them my case honestly , and begged to know whether they could not get an order for examining me by such members of the Assembly as I should name . They seemed to make sure of this , imagining
that my application to the Assembly would be taken well , and that they would easily grant my request , it being for no more than what had long before been offered me by Sandercock , Enty , &c . But we were all mistaken .
In May 1717 , the thing was moved in the Assembly by my friend Mr . Withers , and his motion was seconded by a very good party who made sure of it , but Mr . Enty rose and called upon the Moderator , Mr . Harding , to order the minute to be read which
relates to candidates , which being done , he with great warmth told the Assembly that I had long acted in contempt of the said minute ; that several ministers then present , who had joined in making it , had encouraged me to do so by offering me their
pulpits ; that he and Mr , Harding had been reflected on for adhering to it , which he thought was very hard - that he knew no reason why it should be dispensed with on my account ; that it would be a bad precedent to do soj and that , though he had no manner of
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Memoirs ofHimself \ by Mr . JohhFoi . 197
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 197, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/5/
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