on the basis of making Cronin the scapegoat, now appeared, and men began to breathe more freely.
The respite was short. On the very day of the Kennington act of excision, and of the wholesale excommunication by the Priory, the meeting in Ramsgate met to discuss the same burning question. Ramsgate was a stronghold of “New-lumpism,” and the great majority of the meeting were prepared to go all lengths with the Priory. The meeting was adjourned to the 22nd, by which time the Priory “bull” (as the moderate party called it) had come to hand. It was suggested that the terms of the resolution, apart from the clause disowning the Central Meeting, should be adopted by the Ramsgate Brethren. Only four Brothers dissented. As the four were immovable, all the rest withdrew one by one, saying, “I leave this assembly as now constituted”. In the end, there were two rival meetings in Ramsgate, each claiming to be the one only “expression” of the Church of God in the town. They were distinguished by the names of their several places of meeting, the seceders being known as Guildford Hall, and the others as Abbott’s Hill.
In very few quarrels is it more impossible to feel the slightest enthusiasm for either party. The manifestoes of both alike are destitute of any trace of a liberal sentiment or an enlarged view of the situation. It was even urged in the defence of Abbott’s Hill that it had been as severe as the seceding party in condemnation of Dr. Cronin, deeming that he ought to have been excluded at Kennington on his first return from Ryde. Indeed the demoralising effect of a long subjection of heart and conscience to an irresponsible and oppressive tribunal was for a long time painfully evident everywhere.
The Ramsgate question soon became the absorbing
