1805.] Account of the late Edward Evanfov, A.M. 



479 



In tie following year (1778) Mr. Evanfon 

 publifhed the fermon which had fiven offence, 

 with an Epiltle Dedicatory, containing Re- 

 marks upon " A Narrative of" the Progrefs of 

 the Profecution which had been publi/hcd by 

 the Town-clerk." To the fermon was pre- 

 fixed a folemn affidavit that it contained the 

 whole of what had been preached by him on 

 Eafter-day, 1771. Thus did he exhibit 

 through the whole o? thi; bufinefs a manly 

 and cnnfiftent fortitude, becoming the grc„t 

 caufe in which, from the purefl: motives, he 

 iiad embarked. " It was well," fays the ve- 

 nerable and excellent Mr. Lindfey, " that 

 fucha ItorTi irllnot upon a weak or timorous 

 perfon, who might have funk under it ; but 

 upon one who had a manly fpirit of courage 

 to bear up againft ic, and was fo able to defend 

 himfelf in all points, efpecially by his writ- 

 ings."* As foon almoft as Mr- Evanfon be- 

 gan to entertain ferious doubts upon the doc- 

 trine of the Trinity, he wrote a letter to the 



they applied for a commiflion to examine 

 their evidence in this town, which was ac- 

 cordingly opened, with great parade, in our 

 churcii, on April 6, and continued by ad- 

 journment, at one of our public-houfes, till 

 the 16th. In order to prolong the time, and 

 make the Commiffion as expenfive as polTible, 

 upon the idea that if they obtain only a fen- 

 tence of adnionition againft me, the cofts will 

 fall upon me, they fwore twenty-fix witneifes, 

 who were only to prove the fame fadlt," &c. &c. 

 —From a third letter, dated April ig, 1775, 

 the following extract is taken : " My adver- 

 laries' prcftor at Glouceft^r happens to be a 

 tnoft zealous bigot to the orthodox fyftem, 

 asid both the. fecretarv and favourite of old 

 Warburton. His fituation therefore gave him 

 the greateft opportunity of leprefentmg mat- 

 ters in whatever light he pleafcJ : and he 

 made fo good a ufe of it to anfwer the ends of 

 his clients, that whilft the Bifhop was daily 

 liftening, through him, to the artful infmu- 

 ations.of my profecutors, he a<5lually became 

 a party againft me, refufed to admit me to 

 fpeak to him, futiered their advocate to di- 

 rect him how to give judgment j and though 

 he has not to thii hour heard one fy liable in 

 my defence, feveral weeks before the day 

 that was fixed for hearmg the merits of tlic 

 caufe, he had gone fo far as to allure my 

 adverlarics, that he was determined to 

 pafs fentencc of deprivation."— Through the 

 whole of this bufinefs Mr. Evanloii en- 

 joyed the legal affiftance of Mr. Vf^edder- 

 burn, then Solicitor General (afterwards 

 Lord Rofsiyn), free o( all expcnce. He 

 was alio allifted by a very able proftor of 

 the Commons, by whofc aid exceptions to 

 the proceedings were difcovercd, which proved 

 fatal to the caufe of the profecution. 



• See an Hiltorical View of tl>c State of 

 the l./nitarian Dodtrijie and V/oilhip; from 

 the Reformation to oui Times, &c if4, By 

 Thcophiiui Lif.dfcy, A.M. 1783, 



Archbilhop of Canterbury, bating the rife 

 of his firft fcruules, with, the grounds of 

 them, requaft'mj of his Grace to favour him, 

 by mt^ans of his fecretary, with any fatis- 

 faftory informatian.in his pov/er, as might af- 

 fift in removing thofe doubts, and enable him 

 to remain confcientioiidy in his office as a mi- 

 ni fter of the Gofpel, to which he was not 

 only, at tiiat time, very much attached by 

 inclination, but he had many other urgent 

 motives for fo doing, and particularly from 

 the well-founded expettations of powerful in« 

 tersft for his promotion in the church. To 

 that letter no anfwer was ever returned. 

 Till the year 1775, Mr. Evanfon continued, 

 in conjunftion with a curate, to perform the 

 churcli fervice alternately at Tewkeftiury and 

 Longdon. He then left his curate to fupply 

 at Tevvkefbury, and wenlj to rcfide at Long>- 

 don, where he continued to perform divine 

 fervice till 1778. The pavtiality of the con- 

 gregation at Longdon for their minifter wat 

 fo great, and their efteem for his virtues fo 

 ftrong, that they would willingly have kept 

 him among them, pcr.niitting him to make, as 

 he had been accuftcJmed, any alterations in 

 the church fervice th.it his own views of tiic 

 fuhjeft might have dictated. He, however, 

 refigned both his livings, and returned again 

 toivritcham, where he undertook the educa- 

 tion of a few pupils. In the year 1773, Mr. 

 Evanfon pyblillied, without his name, a tradl 

 entitled, " The Doctrines of a Trinity, and 

 the Incarnation of God, examined upon the 

 Principles of Reafon and common Senfe ; 

 with a prefatory Addrefs to the King, as firft 

 of ihe three legiflative Eft.itss of this King- 

 dom." In the body of this work the author 

 examines the Artichs of the Church of Eng- 

 land, the Nicene Creed, and th.it of St. .^tha- 

 naiius, with freedom and great earneftnefs. 

 By fome readers he will be thought, in a few 

 inftances, to have defcended, in bis argu- 

 ment, to a language rather beneath the dig- 

 nity of theological dllquifition and contro- 

 verfy. It is, however, very probable, that 

 the m';tli'jd adopted in this tnct may have 

 had its effect with many minds, upon Vt'hich a 

 diftcrent courfe of real'oning would have 

 been completely ineffettual. * During Mr. 

 Evanfon'g 



* That Mr. Evanfon never intended, in hit 

 controvtrfial wiitings, to orfend any perfon, 

 is evident fiom a letter which he wrote to 

 Mr. Spurrc!, of Shore-place, Hackney, who 

 for many years had been in the habits of 

 itri£l intimacj with him, and wlio had urged 

 the alteration or omillion of fome few paf- 

 fages in the " Difl'onaiici:," a work that will 

 be noticed hereafter.' In reply, Mr. Evan- 

 fon wriC'.-s, " Aj it is poffible 1 may live to 

 rcvifc another edition of the '< Dilfonance," 

 I ihall be mod fincerely thankful, if, where 

 you can find leifurc, Vou viill .have the good- 

 nufs, according to your prii.nil'-, topointout 

 tt tilt the piiHcuUr paibjjc: tlut r.- bhin^d 



