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    from the pulpit and the press , was matter of astonishment and regret / tq | ifs nartisans . Of the spirit which they eviuced , the following quotation from ii pamphlet , pretending to hv the production of a-Quaker , is a fair specimen . The title of the piece is , " A Friendly Epistle

    to Neighbour John Taylor , of the City of Norwich , occasioned by his Sermon , preached at the Opening of his New Chapel . By M . Adamson . " "Be honest , open and free , my frieud , " says this writer , " but for shame call not thyself Christian . Thou and those ia

    thy way have the impudence of ten thousand harlots , while with brows of brass ye hold the Bible hi your hands , tell the world that contains your religion , and at the same time deny all its peculiar and distinguishing doctrines . This ! this ! is that which has filled the land with

    Atheists— -this is the cursed root of that infidelity now prevailing in the worldthis is the master-piece of the old . Serpents subtilty . —Thou art a very wise man , neighbour John , and hast gotten a Key , and a well wrought one too , to the

    apostolic writings . I wish thou would-< est be so honest as to use words us they are commonly understood , and do not any longer be so wicked as to use words and phrases with thy own meaning affixed to them : which meaning nobody

    thinks of bat thyself and those m thy way , nor ever thought of till thou , great genius , arose to enlighten the dark and benighted world . •—I can ' t conceive , friend John , why thou and thy friends have been at s . o great expense in procuring tlie noblest place of the kind for

    thee and those in tliy way to speak , in . 1 suppose in the city where thou dwellest , a place good enough for thee and them wight have f > een finished for £ 1500 ; what account then will ye give to your final Judge for the additional thousands sunk and wasted ? There are

    thousands and ten thousands in this kingdom , bad as it is , who hate thy principles almost as they hate Atheism itself , and , great as thou thinkest thyself , regard thee as Satan himself transformed into an angel of light /' The virulent and abusive language with which Dr . Taylor was assailed by

    his opponents is alluded to in a letter addressed to him at Warrington from his son , dated Norwich , June , 1758 . " Mr . Killmgworth , " says he , " has wrote against your last book . I

    suppose you will expect to be roughly handled . Indeed he is not ceremonious . This book refers the reader to some former writings of his for a full and more than sufficient confutation of what you advance , and contains only sixteen Wges , small close print , of bitter railing

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    and scurrility . " The Mr . Ktllingworth he | -e * fttjeiuicmed was a member of the General Baptist Church at Norwich , , Jouuded by Thomas Grantham . In additiou to his attack on Dr . Taylor , he engaged in controversy with his . colleague Mr . Bourn , with Mr . Whiston . Mr . Em *

    lyn , Dr . Benson and Dr . Leland . The scurrility with which this pamphlet aboutnls is the more indefensible , as it appears from the author ' s own admission that Dr . Taylor ' s conduct towards him was courteous and friendly . " Before Dr . Taylor printed his treatise on the Atonement 1 ' he he carried the

    , says , ' * manuscript to my lodgings , and left it there for me with this request , that I would look it over and make my remarks upon it / ' ( P . 11 . ) The above extracts are sufficient to shew the temper and spirit of Dr . Taylor ' s opponents ; but I think it right to make one more in Order

    to shew the sort of feeling which bigotry is capable of engendering in the human heart . Very soon after his death appeared a pamphlet called Ci The Arians * and Socinians' Monitor , being a Vision that a young Socinian Teacher lately had , in which he 8 aw , in the most exquisite Torment , his "Tutor , and had from his own Mouth the fearful Relation of what

    befel him after his Death / ' This young Teacher , after having informed his readers that he had been admitted to a sight of all the horrors of hell , thus proceeds to depict the situation in which he there beheld his former tutor , Dr . Taylor : " la the midst of all , 1 beheld one person who stood for some time on the

    sulphurous billows , surrounded by an enraged company , who with red-hot irons kept pushing against him . Deep despair and wild distraction lowered on his condemned countenance . He raved ! he foamed ! he wrestled ! and then sunk down in final despair , while the direful

    floods of omnipotent vengeance rolled upon him / ' ( P . 13 . ) This was the production of one Macgowan , and it is a piece which is still printed and circulated by Calvinists . The later editions are adorned with a plate in which the abore scene is delineated . Such was their

    treatment of a man whose delight it was to bring to the study , the elucidation and the defence of the Scriptures , the abundant stoies of learning which he possessed . lu the year 1757 , Dr . Taylor removed to Warrington , in order to take upon

    himself the office of Divinity Tutor at the Academy about to be orJeuetf ttere . His son Richard , whose marriage I have already mentioned , retuajtt ^ d at Norwich , where he carder ! on tfye b ^ s ? ri £ ss of a manufacturer . rTe h&d e ^ tirxhWdrcn , of whdtit tlxet eJUIest ^ pftiujp , atul

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    Obituary \ - ** Mr . John Tat / lor . 4 & 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 483, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/39/