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4 Memoirs of Dr . James Foster .
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into a still narrower compass . This was a consideration that never appears to have had weight with him to relax the vigour of his mind in the search after truth , nor in any degree to pervert the principle of integrity in acting up to his cotiviclions . It was not long before the steps which threatened to cast a darker cloud over his prospects , eventually opened his way to a more public and advantageous situation . Divine Providence raised him up a friend in Robert Houlton , Esq . who took him into his house as his chaplain , and treated him with kindness and respect . In the year 1724 , on the death of the learned Dr . Gale , he received an invitation to succeed him at
Barbican , in London , and , on the first of July , was ordained co-pastor with the Rev . Joseph Burroughs . In this situation , his pulpit talents became known . A Physician , of rank and eminence , held in great esteem in the city , happened to pass by the place of worship in which Mr . Foster was preaching , and , standing up for shelter from a shower of rain , was so charmed by a few sentences which caught his ear , that he went in and staid out the service . The report of this gentleman , who upon all occasions used to speak of him with emphatical esteem as a preacher gave him the first eclat , and
threw him on the wings of fame . To this may be imputed the institution of a Lord ' s-day Evening Lecture , in 1728 , which he carried on at the Old Jewry , for above twenty years , in the winter-season , with great popularity and applause , to a crowded auditory of every rank , station , and quality ; " wits , freethinkers , numbers of clergy—who , whilst they gratified their curiosity , had their prepossessions shaken , and their prejudices loosened . Of the usefulness and success of these lectures he had a large number of written testimonies , from unknown as well as known persons . The flowers of oratory , " says Dr . Fleming , c * here grew upon the plant of divine truth and rea- » son , from which his audience might gather fruit of the highest mental taste and moral complexion /'
They who hold the sentiments concerning baptism which Mr . Foster embraced , it is well known , have generally ( especially at that period ) , from a desire to adhere to the original order of the Christian institutions , in which baptism preceded the Lord ' s Supper , limited their communion to those who agree with them in sentiment ^ that immersion , on a profession of faith , was the only and true Christian baptism , and the initiatory ordinance of the Christian church . It was irre-r gular , in their opinion , for any to sit down at the Lord ' * Table , who had not first entered by the proper door into his church . Mr . Foster ' s views were different : he was an advocate for mixed communion , leaving others at full liberty to act
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1807, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2376/page/4/
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