ad 
450 Memoirs of the late Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, 
were made in obtaining a licence. Some 
of his more eager friends wished Mr, 
Lindsey to proceed without waiting for a 
Jegal utle to assemble; but Mr. Lee, 
afterwards his Majesty’s solicitor general, 
who-was his most ardent friend, dis- 
suaded him from such a step; assuring 
him, at the same time, thatit, upon any 
pretence, a refusal was given by the ma- 
gistrates, he would move the court of 
King’s-bench for amandamus. Renewed 
applications were made, but without 
effect, till Mr. Lee himself went to. 
Hicks’s-hall. “He came,” says Mr. 
Lindsey, “like alion; desired to see the 
entry that had been given into court to 
licence a place of worship for a society 
of dissenters: he was sorry such unusual 
obstructions had been put to so legal a 
demand: he understood that it bad been 
said by some, that the justices had a dis- 
eretionary pswer in such caseS; they. 
were mistaken, they were merely official ; 
and if they refused, amandamus from the 
King’s-Beuch should compel them: he 
hoped, however, that the great Magna 
Charta of the religious liberries uf Eng- 
lishmen, was not now going to be at. 
tacked.” The justices admitted they 
had no discretionary power; but some- 
thing heing said * with regard to the doc- 
trine to be preached, and the minister-to 
officiate, “ he told them these were sub- 
sequent facts and matters of enquiry: 
that the house of worship was the object 
before them, and they were bound to~ 
make a record of it, To this they at 
Jength assented, aud the certificate was 
ordered to be delivered the next week, 
For this Mr. Lee did not think it neces- 
sary to wait, and on the followingSunday, 
April 17, 1774, the temporary chapel 
devoted to the worship of One God only, 
in Essex-street, was opened, by Mr. 
Lindsey. - The sermon preached on the 
occasion was immediately pubiished, to 
which was added an account of the re- 
formed liturgy, onthe plan of the late 
* Dr. Samuel Clarke, made use of in the 
chapel. The sermon, which may stil! be 
* had at the publishers, contained a sums 
mary of the reasons for separating from 
the church; and it is deserving of obser- 
vation, thatin opening this chapel, it was 
wholly with a view ‘of affording an op- 
portunity to persons who might hold sen- 
tithents similar to those of the preacher, 
of worshipping God alone : this he avowed 
thost explicitly, “far,” says he, page 21, 
“ will it be from my purpose, ever to treat 
of controversial matters from this place, 
though something in vindication of our 
present. conduct and sight of assembling 
M. 4.[ ye c “ab, - 
‘ » C 
ourselves here together, was judged peas 
per to be laid before you.” Shortly after, 
he found it necessary to abandon this. 
plan: he found himself as a city set 6n a 
hill, every eye. was upon him, and a thous 
sand charges brought against him as at- 
tempting to undermine real christianity 5 
he was obliged therefore to vindicate o¢ 
casionally from the pulpit, the principles 
which he had espoused, and to shew that 
those were the principles of his master 
Christ. To subvert established errors; 
he was under the necessity of pointing 
oat what was the truth, as professed by 
the first followers and apostles of Christ, 
Let not then this excellent man be 
charged with violating his word, by o¢s 
casionally delivering discourses on topics 
that he meant originally to discuss only 
through the medium of the press. - Cire 
cumstances which he did not foresee, and 
against which he could not provide, 
rendered it absolutely necessary that he 
should plead the cause of trath from the 
spot where his voice was, ever listened to 
with aflection and delight, 75 
Mr. Lindsey now felt all the satisfac; - 
tion in his new pursuits that he could. 
have anticipated; he speaks again an 
agaip with-rapture of the pleasure which 
he felt in being disentangled from human 
creeds: and in reference to. his success, 
he says, with that spirit of modesty which 
ever accompanied all that he said, and 
every effort which he made, “ [ have met 
with respect more than 1 could expect ot 
deserve, and friends who have contributed 
to defray the expences of fitting up, rent, 
&c. &c. of our chapel: much of this has 
been frony strangers, most of them dise 
senters,” {nthe same letter he writes, 
“* Tam now a dissenter myself, and so far 
more at liberty thaw Twas: and I ay 
happy in it; nay, 1 would say to a, t 
glory in it.” 
The extracts that have been transcris 
bed from Mr. Lindsey’s letters to his 
bosom friend, will exhibit, it is presumed, 
in a more striking manner than any des 
scription, the bent and tenour of hismind 
in the most trying scenes of his life. His 
way was now comparatively smooth, and, ° 
in the high estimaticn of friends, of the 
first rank in society, and of the _ first 
talents in the state and in literature, he 
might be said to begin to reap the fruits 
of his disinterestedness and integrity. 
We havenow only tonotice very briefly, 
the works which he has left behind him, 
His Apology was published soon, after his 
arrival in London; this we have already 
noticed, and shall only observe, that in 
the preface to the edition published in 
1782, 
* 
