“Since I have begun to write about myself, perhaps you will forgive my finishing the chapter by telling you how it happened that I fell, step by step, into my present position, after being so high a churchman that I never went to a dissenting place of worship, nor intimately knew a dissenter, except Bessy and Charlotte.[1]
“As I was pursuing my course in Dublin, preparatory to taking orders, I constantly went over, from time to time, as the terms occurred; and once, dearest B. accompanied me. From my first going to Dublin , many of my deep-rooted prejudices gave way. I saw those strongly marked distinctions that exist in England little regarded; the prevalence of the common enemy, Popery, joined all hands together.”
The details of many of the interesting events, which took place during this visit, have been supplied by Miss Paget. It was a very remarkable period in his history, and led to many important results. In the first place, he became acquainted with many sincere Christians, chiefly members of the Establishment, who, with him, desired to see more devotedness to Christ, and union among all the people of God. To promote these objects, they met continually for prayer and reading the word. Miss Paget remembers the occasion on which one of the party,
- ↑ These were the Misses Paget, of Exeter, two sisters, long known as eminent and devoted Christians; one has fallen asleep; the elder, who still lives, had, as it will be seen, a most powerful influence over Mr. Groves’s history, and continued to the end of his life his attached friend, and one to whom he was indebted much for spiritual counsel.
