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It fell out as w&s expected , for no sooner had they Entered on Divinity , but the villain Edgiey ( for such he was on many other accounts ) immediately asked me what I thought of the Logos . I told him I thought he was God , and with God * as St . John describes him .
He was then proceeding to explications in order to entrap me , and would know whether I thought him equal with the Father , but Mr . Peiree interposed , and said I had given a plain answer , and insisted on saying no more on it ; this was seconded by both Mr . Withers and Cox , and so my examination was soon over . I was told that
they made a very handsome report to the Assembly concerning me , but I am certain their good opinion could never be founded on what I said at that time , for I very well remember I
was in the utmost confusion throughout the whole , and made nothing the figure that a young fellow did who was examined with me , who , I am certain , was on the whole a very great blockhead . I was introduced in the
Assembly by Mr . Withers , who was a great hater of priests and priestcraft , and a very worthy , learned man . I was complimented by several on both sides . Darticul&rlv bv Mr . Sandercock * sidesparticularly by Mr . Sandercock
, * who shook me by the hand , and said he was glad to see me thus far , Enty looked as if he was ready to return any compliment I should make him , but I had none for him : and I don't
remember that I ever spoke to him or ho to me After for the rest of his life . I had a text and a thesis given me to preach upon and to defend at Newton before such ministers as would attend ,
which was done the October following , where I received a certificate signed by six ministers to signify that I was a licensed candidate by order of the Assembly . And now my father began to make sure of my preaching at
Plymouth , but he did not consider that I stood on veiy bad terms both with Harding and Enty . It ivaa plain that the latter was heartily disgusted for the part I had acted at the Assembly , that all acquaintance between us was at an end , and that no compliment could be expected from that quarter : what the former would do was
uncertain , for though oa one hand external cwilitteg passed between us , as we had had no personal Quarrel , and as my rather was a payerto his meeting , yet there was no real friendship existing ,
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for he saw I hated the Assembly , aud suspected me to be ttot orthodox . For which reasons I myself expected tu > cotnpliment from him and was glad of it , because I seemed to have a dread and an aversion to preach in Plymouth However , after some time he had
thoughts of owning me a ** & brother , as he chose to express fcin&elf ^ and sent his assistant , Mr . Henry Brett , to ask me to give htm , not Mr . Hwrk ing , a sermon . This looked to mfc
rather like a permission than a friendly invitation , and as the pulpit was not Mr . Brett ' s I begged to be excused . He said he came with Mr . Harding ^ approbation ; I answered , that appeared to me no more than a bare leave or
liberty , which was no temptation to one who was far from fond of running into his pulpit . However , I said , if he really wanted a lift I would stipply any country minister ' s place that should preach for him , and I did so . Every
one knew I had preached for Mr . Brett , though I preached abroad , and wondered why I did not as well preach at home . This whisper obliged Mr . Harding to give out that he had asked me , but I had refused . I then told
the whole story to every body , and I told himself at an house where I accidentally met him , that he had used me ill , for what reason he best knew . I did preach at his meeting some time after , to the great satisfaction of my
father , but little of my own . I likewise preached once or twice at the Baptist meeting , and these were the only times I ever preached in Plymouth or that my father heard me , and this
1 record as a most grievous disappointment to him , considering to what shifts he had put me , and what steps I hud taken purely to gratify an invincible ,, enthusiastic passion . In the very next Assembly after this , Mr . Peirce ' s affair came to a crisis . The orthodox made
a public declaration of their faith in the Trinity , agreeable to the Articles and Creeds of the Church of England and to the Assembly ' s Catechism , and every body believed them . Mr . Peiree and his friends hastily set their names to a paper , in which they declared they were no Arians , and that they believed
thtf Scriptures * for which almost every body laughed at them , and said that they in a manner confessed the Assembly ' s charge , and assured the world of it under their hands . — I unluckily for pay private interest happehed to be
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Memoirs of Him&alfi by Mr . John Vow . 199
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 199, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/7/
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