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increasing participation of his divine nature ^ through all the successive periods of ete ¦ nal existence ^ by means of a progresiive improve " ment in intellect and i > irtue 9 as objects infinitely more momentous than any which this world can present . *
—r-This publication was not however attended with the beneficial consequences which its benevolent author wished . Instead of adopting- the ideas which he had endeavoured to inculcate , the society considered the work as derogatory to the character and injurious to the interests of their body , and proceedings were had
upon it , which terminated in his disunion from them as a religious community . These proceedings were afterwards published by Mr . Rathbone , under the title of ( i A , Memoir of the proceedings , of the Society called Quakers , t 5 * c . ( 8 vo . jfuhnsoiij pr . 2 s . 6 d . boards . ) In this work , is contained his defence ,
as transmitted to the society prior to his expulsion , in which he has ably vindicated his own opinions and conduct ; but rather with a view to justify himself in the judgment of the candid and impartial of all sects , than with that of averting the disunion with which he was threatened . In fact , the separation was become as necessary to him as to the society ; and as he could not prevail upon its members to approve of his sen-
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timents and adopt his recommendations he felt no regret , except what arose from his unalterable regard and friendship for the individuals of that body , at being deprived of all further connection with them . * It will perhaps be supposed that in times like the present , the political
discussions in which Mr . Rathbone had been engaged would excite no smalt share of resentment in those whose opinions and conduct he opposed . But whatever might be the animosity thus produced in the minds of others , it is certain that they occasioned no feelings of personal hostility and resentment in his own . On the contrary , the
philanthropy of his character induced him to feel a general affection for all mankind , and the generosity of his disposition led him to compensate those with whom he differed in opinion , for the opposition shewn to them , by an additional share of kindness and respect . In asserting his own sentiments he always did justice to the motives of those from whom he
differed , and as he was not conscious of , so he never expressed those angry feelings and that vindictive spirit which characterize the contests of the present day , whether literary , political , or religious . The same indulgence and toleration which were habitual to him , he
* The expulsion of IVIr . Rathbone in the year 1805 , was not the act of the Society in a collective capacity , but qf the particular meeting for discipline of which he was a member ; whose decision would most probably have been reversed , had JV ! r . Rathbone inclined to avail himself of the right of appeal , which is always allowed in cases which affect the civil or religious rights of individuals . But if the publication of so temperate , judicious and candid a work as his Narrative could not be tolerated by them , he had no motive for wishing to restrain their disposition to expel him , excepting the desire he felt and expressed , that they might not , by such an unwarranted act , wound their own reputation , and in
some measure that of the Society . Notwithstanding- this decision and some others which militate against the exercise of the -rights- of private judgment , that Christian liberty is , ivith some singular exceptions ^ as freely allowed to its menibers , in this , as in most other religious societies . Not that 1 attribute to this cause the continuance of Mr . Rathbone as an acknowledged member of the Society for the long period of thirteen years after his public profession of the Unitarian faith ; having been , ever since the year 1 792 , a member of the " London Unitarian Society for promoting Christian jkhowledge . and the practice of virtue by distributing books , ' * and his name ar , «
biially published as one of their members . And although he justly deemed it of little importance whether the early Quakers and their approved authors , clearly and explicitly stated and taught that gre ^ t and fundamental tenet of the primitive Christian faith ; it is well known he considered their works as generally in unison with -that infinitely important doctrine * and opposed to every received hypothesis of 3 distinction of persons in the .
Deity .
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236 Obituary .
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V . ' •¦ l > .
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. JMr . Rathhene .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1809, page 236, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1735/page/60/
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