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    sionary ; and for which I beg" tlffe preseat Committee , tor themselves and their predecessors iu offipe , to accept nay sincere thanks and fervent vyiahes for the success of all their valuable exertions in the "cause . " This journey closed Mr . Wright ' s labours , as perpetual Missionary , in the

    service of the Unitarian Fund , he having in its progress tendered his resignation of that office on the ground of declining health and strength . Knowing , as the Committee did , that Mr . Wright had suffered much from over-exertion for some years ; that the repetition of such efforts would probably be attended with painful and serious consequences ; that his zeal in the cause of Truth , and his anxiety fully to discharge his engagements with the Fund , would constantly impel him to continue them - , and that , by the melancholy event which

    deprived the congregation at Trowbridge of Mr . Gisburne ' s services , an opportunity offered for his settlement as a stated minister , where he could also be employed to a considerable extent and with eminent utility in Village Preaching , they could not but , with whatever regret and reluctance , accept his resignation . The following communication , subsequently received , will be read with deep interest .

    € C I cannot close my correspondence as a perpetual Missionary , without some strong emotions . I have had the honour of being connected with the Fund ever since , it existed ; and shall ever rejoice that I was one of its first Missionaries . I felt myself so united with the society which supported it , and the few talents I possessed so connected with its plans , that what related to the Fund , its interest , and success , seemed my own concern ; all my powers and all I was capable of doing seemed to me its property . I had , before I

    felt any diminution of strength , hoped to live and die in its service ., I never thbught any exertion I was capable of making too great , nor any privations required worth much consideration , so that I might have the happiness of promoting its all-important objects . I felt thankful to God that he had inade me capable of enduring more hardness , and of making more incessant exertion , than some men are capable of , and that he had so fully disposed me to the work . A few years ago I had no thought but that I should , if life was continued , be able to go on in the office of a perpetual Missionary for many years longer . But for three or four years past I have felt a gradual decay of strength , and each summer ' s labour has seemed to diminish what remained , and to take much from the short portion of life which remains to me in this

    world $ until at length the conviction forced itself upon me that I was no longer the man I had been , either as to bodily strength or capability of mental exertion . I found 1 could not recover from fatigue , nor ward off the attacks of disease , as I had formerly done . I was compelled to admit to myself that either I must remit the incessant exertion I had been in the habit of

    making , sometimes for months together , or sink under it . Firmly p ersuaded that the objects of the Fund , in having a perpetual Missionary , could not long be pursued by me at any risk in the manner they ought ; and that either I must go on without doing it fully to my own satisfaction , by making all the exertion I had been wont to make , or relinquish the office of a perpetual Missionary , I deemed the latter the most honourable course , and the best for the

    cause , and , after deep consideration , acted accordingly . I confess I was most reluctant to come to such conclusions ; and cannot help feeling much regret at being incapable of going on in so honourable and pleasurable an office as I had formerly done . I must throw myself on the candour of the gentlemen of the Committee , and beg they will pardon one who has grown old and greyheaded in tlxeit service , while he on this occasion givefe Vent to his feelings ; and lays them open before them . They m & y find Missionaries who have more learning and superior talents j but they will forgive my egotism in say-

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    14

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1823, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1714/page/14/