otwithstanding his great popularity, a discontent began to show itself in
certain members of the church. He foresaw that a storm was rising, and he
determined to prepare for it; not (to use his words) "by denying what I
had said, but by more fully examining, and determining for myself, whether
the sentiment was according to Scripture, or not. If I found it was not, I
was determined to retract; but if it was, to hold it fast, let the
consequences be what they might." Such was his truly Christian resolution.
He avowed his belief in the final happiness of all men.

A majority of the church were in his favor; but, being a man of remarkably
peaceful disposition, he did not urge them to press their claims to the
meeting-house; but they retired to the hall of the university, where they
held their meetings for about four years, until they purchased a place for
themselves. During the rest of his life, he is to be viewed as the public
advocate of universal restitution. There were several eminent men who
adhered to him, and among others, Dr. Redman, and the celebrated Dr.
Benjamin Rush, who remained his correspondent when he was in Europe. Added
to all his other troubles, his domestic afflictions were very great. At
the age of thirty-two, he had buried four wives. The fifth was a desperate
fury, who gave him great trouble as long as he lived. After preaching
about six years in Philadelphia, he was seized with an irresistible
impulse to visit England. No persuasions could divert him from the
purpose; and in September, 1787, he arrived, almost penniless, and a total
stranger, in the great metropolis of the British empire. He preached in
different parts of London, and, by his fervid eloquence and earnest
defence of the restoration, he soon gathered a congregation, who took for
him the chapel in Parliament Court, in which he held his meetings until
his departure for America. He spent six years and a half in this country,
laboring assiduously to bring men to the knowledge of the truth; and a
deep and wide impression was made by his labors. In consequence of the ill
treatment he experienced from his wife, he was obliged to leave her; and
he quitted England privately, and came home, filling the friends whom he
had left behind with amazement, being ignorant at first what had befallen
him. He arrived in Boston in July, 1794. Various were the speculations in
this country in regard to his return. But he commenced at once his labors
as a preach