Part 4

When I was in this situation, a neighbouring minister whose intimate friend had conformed to the church of England, talked to me on that subject. He himself, I perceived, had no great objection to it, but rejecting the proposal, as a thing that I could not think of, he never mentioned it to me any more.

To these difficulties, arising from the sentiments of my congregation, was added that of the failure of all remittances from my aunt, owing in part to the ill offices of my orthodox relations; but chiefly to her being exhausted by her liberality to others, and thinking that when I was settled in the world, I ought to be no longer burdensome to her. Together with me she had brought up a niece, who was almost her only companion, and being deformed, could not have subsisted without the greatest part, at least, of all she had to bequeath. In consequence of these circumstances, tho’ my aunt had always assured me that, if I chose to be a minister, she would leave me independent of the profession, I was satisfied she was not able to perform her promise, and freely consented to her leaving all she had to my cousin; I had only a silver tankard as a token of her remembrance. She had spared no expence in my education, and that was doing more for me than giving me an estate.

But what contributed greatly to my distress was the impediment in my speech, which had increased so much as to make preaching very painful, and took from me all chance of recommending myself to any better place. In this state, hearing of the proposal of one Mr. Angier to cure all defects of speech, I prevailed upon my aunt to enable me to pay his price, which was twenty guineas; and this was the first occasion of my visiting London. Accordingly, I attended him about a month, taking an oath not to reveal his method, and I received some temporary benefit; but soon relapsed again, and spoke worse than ever. When I went to London it was in company with Mr. Smithson, who was settled at Harlestown in Norfolk. By him I was introduced to Dr. Kippis and Dr. Benson, and by the latter to Dr. Price, but not at that time.

At Needham I felt the effect of a low despised situation, together with that arising from the want of popular talents. There were several vacancies in congregations in that neighbourhood, where my sentiments would have been no objection to me, but I was never thought of. Even my next neighbours, whose sentiments were as free as my own, and known to be so, declined making exchanges with me, which, when I left that part of the country, he acknowledged was not owing to any dislike his people had to me as heretical, but for other reasons, the more genteel part of his hearers always absenting themselves when they heard I was to preach for him. But visiting that country some years afterwards, when I had raised myself to some degree of notice in the world, and being invited to preach in that very pulpit, the same people crowded to hear me, though my elocution was not much improved, and they professed to admire one of the same discourses they had formerly despised.

Notwithstanding these unfavorable circumstances, I was far from being unhappy at Needham. I was boarded in a family from which I received much satisfaction, I firmly believed that a wise providence was disposing every thing for the best, and I applied with great assiduity to my studies, which were classical, mathematical and theological. These required but few books. As to Experimental Philosophy, I had always cultivated an acquaintance with it, but I had not the means of prosecuting it.

With respect to miscellaneous reading, I was pretty well supplied by means of a library belonging to Mr. S. Alexander, a quaker, to which I had the freest access. Here it was that I was first acquainted with any person of that persuasion; and I must acknowledge my obligation to many of them in every future stage of my life. I have met with the noblest instances of liberality of sentiment and the truest generosity among them.

QUAKERS. That instances of liberality of sentiment with respect to religious opinion are frequently to be found among the Quakers there can be no doubt, but this is certainly no part of their character as a Sect. Thomas Letchworth one of the most acute and ingenious of their preachers at Wandsworth near London, who from the writings of Dr. Priestley had become a firm convert to his Unitarian opinions, informed me that the expression of those opinions would be attended with certain expulsion from the Society. Very lately Hannah Bernard, a female public friend who went from America to England, was prohibited from preaching by the Society, on account of her Unitarian doctrines.

Thomas Letchworth has been dead many years. In the short contest on the question of liberty and necessity which was occasioned by Toplady’s life of Jerome Zanchius, he wrote a good defence of the doctrine of necessity signed Philaretes in answer to one from a disciple of Fletcher’s of Madely, under the signature of Philaleutheros. There is a trifling account of him containing no information, by one William Matthews.

T. C.

My studies however, were chiefly theological. Having left the academy, as I have observed, with a qualified belief of the doctrine of Atonement, such as is found in Mr. Tomkin’s book, entitled, Jesus Christ the Mediator, I was desirous of getting some more definite ideas on the subject, and with that view set myself to peruse the whole of the old and new testament, and to collect from them all the texts that appeared to me to have any relation to the subject. This I therefore did with the greatest care, arranging them under a great variety of heads. At the same time I did not fail to note such general considerations as occurred to me while I was thus employed. The consequence of this was, what I had no apprehension of when I began the work, viz. a full persuasion that the doctrine of Atonement, even in its most qualified sense, had no countenance either from scripture or reason. Satisfied of this, I proceeded to digest my observations into a regular treatise, which a friend of mine, without mentioning my name, submitted to the perusal of Dr. Fleming and Dr. Lardner. In consequence of this, I was urged by them to publish the greater part of what I had written. But being then about to leave Needham, I desired them to do whatever they thought proper with respect to it, and they published about half of my piece, under the title of the Doctrine of Remission, &c.

This circumstance introduced me to the acquaintance of Dr. Lardner, whom I always called upon when I visited London. The last time I saw him, which was little more than a year before his death, having by letter requested him to give me some assistance with respect to the history I then prepared to write of the Corruptions of Christianity, and especially that article of it, he took down a large bundle of pamphlets, and turning them over at length shewing me my own; said, “This contains my sentiments on the subject.” He had then forgot that I wrote it, and on my remarking it, he shook his head, and said that his memory began to fail him; and that he had taken me for another person. He was then at the advanced age of ninety one. This anecdote is trifling in itself, but it relates to a great and good man.

I have observed that Dr. Lardner only wished to publish a part of the treatise which my friend put into his hand. The other part of it contained remarks on the reasoning of the apostle of Paul, which he could not by any means approve. They were, therefore, omitted in this publication. But the attention which I gave to the writings of this apostle at the time that I examined them, in order to collect passages relating to the doctrine of atonement, satisfied me that his reasoning was in many places far from being conclusive; and in a separate work I examined every passage in which his reasoning appeared to me to be defective, or his conclusions ill supported; and I thought them to be pretty numerous.

At that time I had not read any commentary on the scriptures, except that of Mr. Henry when I was young. However, seeing so much reason to be dissatisfied with the apostle Paul as a reasoner, I read Dr. Taylor’s paraphrase on the epistle to the Romans; but it gave me no sort of satisfaction; and his general Key to the epistles still less. I therefore at that time wrote some remarks on it, which were a long time after published in the Theological Repository Vol. 4.

As I found that Dr. Lardner did not at all relish any of my observations on the imperfections of the sacred writers, I did not put this treatise into his hands; but I shewed it to some of my younger friends, and also to Dr. Kippis; and he advised me to publish it under the character of an unbeliever, in order to draw the more attention to it. This I did not chuse, having always had a great aversion to assume any character that was not my own, even so much as disputing for the sake of discovering truth. I cannot ever say that I was quite reconciled to the idea of writing to a fictitious person, as in my letters to a philosophical unbeliever, though nothing can be more innocent, or sometimes more proper; our Saviour’s parables implying a much greater departure from strict truth than those letters do. I therefore wrote the book with great freedom, indeed, but as a christian, and an admirer of the apostle Paul, as I always was in other respects.

When I was at Nantwich I sent this treatise to the press; but when nine sheets were printed off, Dr. Kippis dissuaded me from proceeding, or from publishing any thing of the kind, until I should be more known, and my character better established. I therefore desisted; but when I opened the theological Repository, I inserted in that work every thing that was of much consequence in the other, in order to its being submitted to the examination of learned christians. Accordingly these communications were particularly animadverted upon by Mr. Willet of Newcastle, under the signature of W. W. But I cannot say that his remarks gave me much satisfaction.

When I was at Needham I likewise drew up a treatise on the doctrine of divine influence, having collected a number of texts for that purpose, and arranged them under proper heads, as I had done those relating to the doctrine of atonement. But I published nothing relating to it until I made use of some of the observations in my sermon on that subject, delivered at an ordination, and published many years afterwards.

While I was in this retired situation, I had, in consequence of much pains and thought, become persuaded of the falsity of the doctrine of atonement, of the inspiration of the authors of the books of scripture as writers, and of all idea of supernatural influence, except for the purpose of miracles. But I was still an Arian, having never turned my attention to the Socinian doctrine, and contenting myself with seeing the absurdity of the trinitarian system.

Another task that I imposed on myself, and in part executed at Needham, was an accurate comparison of the Hebrew text of the hagiographa and the prophets with the version of the Septuagint, noting all the variations, &c. This I had about half finished before I left that place; and I never resumed it, except to do that occasionally for particular passages, which I then began, though with many disadvantages, with a design to go through the whole. I had no Polyglot Bible, and could have little help from the labours of others.

The most learned of my acquaintance in this situation was Mr. Scott of Ipswich, who was well versed in the Oriental languages, especially the Arabic. But though he was far from being Calvinistical, he gave me no encouragement in the very free enquiries which I then entered upon. Being excluded from all communication with the more orthodox ministers in that part of the country, all my acquaintance among the dissenting ministers, besides Mr. Scott, were Mr. Taylor of Stow-market, Mr. Dickinson of Diss, and Mr. Smithson of Harlestone; and it is rather remarkable, that we all left that country in the course of the same year; Mr. Taylor removing to Carter’s lane in London, Mr. Dickinson to Sheffield, and Mr. Smithson to Nottingham.

But I was very happy in a great degree of intimacy with Mr. Chauvet, the rector of Stow-market. He was descended of French parents; and I think was not born in England. Whilst he lived we were never long without seeing each other. But he was subject to great unevenness of spirits, sometimes the most chearful man living, and at other times most deplorably low. In one of these fits he at length put an end to his life. I heard afterwards that he had at one time been confined for insanity, and had even made the same attempt some time before.

Like most other young men of a liberal education, I had conceived a great aversion to the business of a schoolmaster, and had often said, that I would have recourse to any thing else for a maintenance in preference to it. But having no other resource, I was at length compelled by necessity to make some attempt in that way; and for this purpose I printed and distributed Proposals, but without any effect. Not that I was thought to be unqualified for this employment, but because I was not orthodox. I had proposed to teach the classics, mathematics, &c. for half a guinea per quarter, and to board the pupils in the house with myself for twelve guineas per annum.

Finding this scheme not to answer, I proposed to give lectures to grown persons in such branches of science as I could conveniently procure the means of doing; and I began with reading about twelve lectures on the use of the Globes, at half a guinea. I had one course of ten hearers, which did something more than pay for my globes; and I should have proceeded in this way, adding to my apparatus as I should have been able to afford it, if I had not left that place, which was in the following manner.

My situation being well known to my friends, Mr. Gill, a distant relation by my mother, who had taken much notice of me before I went to the academy, and had often lent me books, procured me an invitation to preach as a candidate at Sheffield, on the resignation of Mr. Wadsworth. Accordingly I did preach as a candidate, but though my opinions were no objection to me there, I was not approved. But Mr. Haynes, the other minister, perceiving that I had no chance at Sheffield, told me that he could recommend me to a congregation at Nantwich in Cheshire, where he himself had been settled; and as it was at a great distance from Needham, he would endeavour to procure me an invitation to preach there for a year certain. This he did, and I gladly accepting of it, removed from Needham, going thence to London by sea, to save expence. This was in 1758, after having been at Needham just three years.

It is about sixty miles from Needham to London, so that the roads must have been in a bad state to render a water passage more eligible than by land. The first turnpike in England was authorized by an act of Ch. II. 1663 but the system was not adopted with spirit until near the middle of the last century. The manufacturing inland towns of Great Britain, such as Manchester, Leeds, Halifax, &c. chiefly carried on their business through the medium of travelling pedlars, and afterwards on pack horses. The journey in this manner from Manchester to London occupied a fortnight; and it was not unusual for a trader going the first time himself on this expedition to take the prudent precaution of making his will. At present the mail stage performs the journey in about a day and a half. In the beginning of this century (as Dr. Aikin in his history of Manchester observes) it was thought a most arduous undertaking to make a public road over the hills that separate Yorkshire and Lancashire; now, they are pierced by three navigable canals. Indeed the prosperous state of British manufactures and commerce, seems to have originated and progressed with the adoption of turnpikes and canals. They facilitate not merely the carriage and interchange of heavy materials necessary to machinery, but they make personal intercourse cheap, speedy and universal; they thus furnish the means of seeing and communicating improvements, and of observing in what way one manufacture may be brought to bear upon another widely different in its kind. We are not yet sufficiently aware of their importance in America, even to the interests of agriculture.

T. C.

At Nantwich I found a good natured friendly people, with whom I lived three years very happily; and in this situation I heard nothing of those controversies which had been the topics of almost every conversation in Suffolk; and the consequence was that I gave little attention to them myself. Indeed it was hardly in my power to do it, on account of my engagement with a school, which I was soon able to establish, and to which I gave almost all my attention; and in this employment, contrary to my expectations, I found the greatest satisfaction, notwithstanding the confinement and labour attending it.

My school generally consisted of about thirty boys, and I had a separate room for about half a dozen young ladies. Thus I was employed from seven in the morning untill four in the afternoon, without any interval except one hour for dinner, and I never gave a holiday on any consideration, the red letter days, as they are called, excepted. Immediately after this employment in my own school rooms, I went to teach in the family of Mr. Tomkinson, an eminent attorney, and a man of large fortune, whose recommendation was of the greatest service to me; and here I continued until seven in the evening. I had therefore but little leisure for reading or for improving myself in any way, except what necessarily arose from my employment.

Being engaged in the business of a schoolmaster, I made it my study to regulate it in the best manner, and I think I may say with truth, that in no school was more business done, or with more satisfaction, either to the master, or the scholars, than in this of mine. Many of my scholars are probably living and I am confident that they will say that this is no vain boast.