Excerpt from Thoughts in Prison: The Imprisonment, the Retrospect, Public Punishment, the Trial, Futurity The first service in which he was engaged as a clergyman, was to assist the Reverend Mr. Wyatt, vicar 01 West Ham as his curate: thither he removed, and there he spent the happiest and more honourable moments of his life. His behaviour was proper, decent, and exemplary. It acquired him the respect, and secured him the favour of 'his parishioners so far, that, on the death of their lecturer in 1759, he was chosen to succeed him. His abilities had at this time every opportunity ot'being shown to advantage and his exertions were so properly di rected, that he soon became a favourite and popular preacher. Those who remember him at this period, will bear testimony to the indefatigable zeal which he exerted in his ministry, and the success which crowned his efforts. The follies of his youth seemed entirely extinguished, his friends viewed his conduct with the utmost satisfaction, and the world pro mised itself an example to hold out for the imitation of his brethren. At this early season of his life he entertained favourable sentiments of the doctrine of Mr. Hutchinson; and was sus pected to incline towards the opinions of the 1methodists. A more mature age, however, induced him to renounce the one, and to disclaim the other. In 1752 he was appointed Lecturer of St. James, Garlick-hill, which two years afterwards. He ex changed for the same post at Sr. Olave, Hart-street. About the same time he was appointed to preach Lady Moyer's Lectures at St. Paul's; where, from The Visit qf the, Three Angels to Abraham, and other similar passages from the Old Testament, he endeavoured to prove the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity. On the establishment of the Magdalen House, 1758, he was amongst. The first and most active promoters of that charitable institution, which received great advan tage from his zeal for its prosperity, and, even to the con elusion of his life, continued to be materially benefited by his labours. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.