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Rich, one of the
Lords of the
Admiralty, to his seat near Beccles in
Suffolk, and was induced by him to officiate as minister to a small dissenting congregation at Lowestoff, in that county.
Here he remained about a year and a half, though without formally undertaking the pastoral charge.
During his residence at Lowestoff he maintained a friendly intercourse with the clergyman of the place, accompanying him in making collections for the public charities, and occasionally attending with part of his congregation upon his public services.
This was conformable, as we have seen, to his practice while in
Ireland, and was by no means inconsistent with his principles; for he was not as yet a dissenter from the doctrines of the church, and he had too much liberality to make the minor matters of difference in discipline and ceremonial an insuperable bar to communion.
At this period, however, he also formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr. W. Manning, a worthy dissenting minister at Peasenhall, in his neighbourhood.
Their congenial habits and pursuits occasioned frequent meetings, and they engaged together in theological inquiries, mutually communicating to each other their respective sentiments and conclusions; in which, as it happened, they were both led to deviate widely from the opinions then generally prevalent.
The doctrine of the Trinity in particular they agreed, first in doubting, and at length in rejecting altogether.
Mr. Manning embraced the Socinian view, but could not prevail on his friend to concur with him, as he could not satisfy himself with the Socinian interpretation of the texts usually brought to prove the preexist-ence of our Saviour as the great Spirit or Logos
