nt which then pervaded the colonies,
limited in information and in the means of obtaining it, these
unorganized dissenters became bewildered by discordant opinions. Some of
them seemed to be verging toward antinomianism; and it came to be a
question among them whether it was right to pray, since prayer could not
alter the Divine purposes, and it might be impious to desire that it
should. At length, Morris and some of his associates were summoned to
appear before the governor and council at Williamsburg. Having discarded
the name of Lutherans, and not knowing what to call themselves, they
were filled with apprehensions in the prospect of the interview. One of
them making the journey to Williamsburg alone, met with, at a house on
the way, an old Scotch Presbyterian "Confession of Faith," which he
recognized as embodying his own creed. The book being given to him, upon
rejoining his friends at Williamsburg they examined it together, and
they determined to adopt it as their confession of faith. When called
before the governor and council and interrogated, they exhibited the
book as containing their creed. Gooch, being a Scotchman, and, as is
said, having been educated a Presbyterian, immediately remarked, on
seeing the book, "These men are Presbyterians," and recognized their
right to the privileges of the toleration act. The interview between the
governor and council and Morris and his friends, was interrupted by a
thunder-storm of extraordinary fury; the council was softened; and this
was one of a series of incidents which Morris and his companions looked
upon as providentially instrumental in bringing about the favorable
issue of this affair.

The Rev. William Robinson, a Presbyterian, was the first minister, not
of the Church of England, that preached in Hanover. The son of a Quaker
physician near Carlyle, in England, he emigrated to America, and (1743)
sent out by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, visited the frontier
settlements of Virginia and North Carolina. Near Winchester he was
apprehended by the sheriff, to be sent to the governor to answer for
preaching without license, but the sheriff soon released him. He
preached among the Scotch-Irish settlers of Charlotte, Prince Edward,
Campbell, and Albemarle, and in Charlotte established a congregation.
Overtaken at Rockfish Gap by a deputation from Hanover, he was induced
to return and visit that county, and he preached for some days to large
congregations, some of his