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D but of very limited means for the support of a minister . sUpP Wm . Hassax , G . W . Elliott , Wm . Walker . Rochdale ^ May 8 th , 1815 . Richard Astley , Wm . Kershaw , Raw don Briggs , John Rhodes , J . R . Ralph , John Thomson , C . H . Dawson . Halifax , May 10 th , 1815 .
To this document , and to the testimonials j ) V which it is supported , I feel as if it were impertinent to add any thing-. A few word s of explanation , however , seem necessary . I am happy to say , that tlie trusts of Lady Hewley ' s Fund , at their Annual Meeting on Thursday , the 11 th inst . tod the kind consideration to answer the
prayer of the petition by a grant of 12 / . This , like the other grants from that Fund , will , it is presumed , he continued annually . The circumstances contained in the petition , cannot fail to excite a dpep and lively sympathy in the mind of the Unitarian body . Here is an ' nstance of a few
uneducated persons in the lower classes of society , having' become Unitarians by reading the scriptures , and by endeavouring | to understand those scriptures as by scripture and reason interpreted ; without any assistance from Unitarian writers or Unitarian preachers , without knowing- of the existence of any Unitarian book-society ,
without ever having * heard of the name Unitarian , or of the religious body to wliich it is applied . I understand that the number of hearers at Bethlehem Chapel in anafternoon is about 200 , in a morning not quite so many . Far be it from me not to acknowled ge the early obligations of this people to the late Mr ! Cooke . He led them
'" the way ; he " set them ja thinking-. " He was dead before I knew any thing- of ' ^ neighbourhood . He has always been ^ presented to ine as a very excellent and amiable man , and as possessed of great talents for preaching and for ministerial usetnlness . But he himself was not , I believe , d l J » rned man . He was not an Unitarian ; Mwi
- ue was only on his way to that goal , * nich some of his people after his death , jnd the Reli giOU 8 Society in Rossendale , 'cached . He was a travelling preacher amonpt the Wesleyan Methodists , and was ppelied by their Conference , for preachf ? i » doctrin » of " justification by * % and « the witness ' of the Spirit , " a way which they deemed heresy . * £ , Memoir of the- lale Mr . Joseph ail ? 2 u- ^ account of nis writing's , a nis expulsion from the Methodists
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But I forbear to enlarge and trespass farther on your limits on this part of the subject $ and it is the less necessary , as Mr . John Ashworth , the resident minister of the congregation at New-church , will , I believe , at his earliest leisure ., draw up a detailed
account of the rise and progress of their inquiry after scriptural truth ; and will give ail account of the manner and order in which the several doctrines of reputed orthodoxy , came to be questioned and discussed by them ; and of the arguments aud trains of thought which induced them
successively to reject them . Such « an account will form a curious and instructive pamphlet ; and I will take care that it shall , some way or other , find its way through the press . In the meantime , your readers have before them a short but
faithful account of an experiment , successfully conducted in the investigation of scripture truths 3 proving in its results that the Unitarian views of the gospel are level to the understanding's of the unlearned , and adapted to the religious wants and wishes of the poor .
But I cannot allow the conclusion to rest here . A dutv , I conceive , arises from the knowledge of these circumstances , which I shall endeavour to state and to enforce . It will be seen that the Rossendale Unitarian Chapel is encumbered with a debt of 350 / . I say encumbered ^ for it is a £ reat weight around their necks , and the interest of the debt consumes the means
which ought to he , and could otherwise be , directed to the support of their minister . The seat-rents amount to about " 261 . per annum upon an average ; out of this the interest of the 350 / . is paid ; from this , and I believe occasional collections , Mr . Ashworth has received , never more than 10 / . per annum ; and the residue from the
seatrents and from the collections , is applied to liquidate the principal of the debt . U pwards of 50 / . has been so liquidated . In , looking * at the smallness of I he seat-ventsthe condition of the congregation is to be considered . Every member of it , man and
woman , is obliged to work at some handicraft trade for daily bread , with the exception of one female who keeps a retail shop . The chapel is alternately supplied by the three ministers mentioned . in the memorial ; who also preach in rotation at Rochdale to a residue of Mr . Cooke ' s
flock , and hold meetings for prayer , preaching and religious conversation , at eight or nine different places in the neighbourhood of Rochdale and New-church : The following is the distribution of £ heir work for the first six months of the present year . could not fail to- be highly interesting and . useful .
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Intelligence . —Unitarian Church in Rossendale , Lancashire , S \ 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/51/
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