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connexion with the Assembly , were said to be of an unusually pleasing- and satisfactory nature : —the body generally appears to have received a new impulse ;—several Sunday schools have been established since the last annual meeting- ; and the means of reviving * the cause seem only to require being pointed out , in order to their being adopted and zealously pursued .
The Report of a Committee appointed by the last year ' s Assembly was read , approved and ordered to be printed , that it might be circulated among the churches . The report , however , consisted chiefly of extracts from letters which the Committee bad received in reply to their inquiries , addressed during * the year to some of the
most approved ministers in the connexion , requesting them to point out what they conceived chiefly to have contributed to the decline , and what where the most likely means to conduce to a revival and increase of the cause . In the report , the cause of the General Baptists and that of the Unitarians were identified . The
subject is thus introduced : —" Should you mean in yours ' by an open avowal of our sentiments , * preaching up Unitarian ism , I answer , the times will not yet bear it in common congregations . '— With deference to the respectable writer , your Committee thinks , facts are against his opinion ; for there are proofs almost innumerable , that under the divine blessing-, the virtuous lives and well-directed zeal of its
professors are amply sufficient to ensure ihe success of Unitarianism ^ which , with the exception of baptism , may surely be called the cause of the General Baptists . And even with respect to baptism itself , let it be remembered , that it cannot be admitted universally as an exception , for in Hiai \ y instances the General Baptists are
tobe ranked among * the most zealous supporters of Unitarianism . " In confirmation of the above statement it may be proper to > mention here , that all the Unitarian Missionaries , with the exception of the Students belonging to the New Academy , have been of the General Baptist denomination , ^ nd as far as the writer ' s knowledge
extends , all of them still continue Baptists . This is a fact perhaps not generally known among- Unitarians , who are therefore incapable of duly appreciating- their obligations to that venerable and respectable , though unobtrusive , denomination . But in reality , there is nothing- wonderful in
the General Baptists having- supplied all the Unitarian Missionaries , for their churches have long-, have indeed uniformly been sanctuaries of Teljgious liberty . In them every man has been taught to think , to judge for himself ; and as meetings for ihe discussion of religious subjects have Jong- beet * coiwaan among them , the lead-
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ing- doctrines or the Old General Baruitf have , with few exceptions , been Ye nearly the same as those now held bv u ? great body of Unitarians . The same Lsp will always produce the samn etfect e * amine the scriptures seriously , ' fearlessly * and with as little prejudice in favour of any opinion as is compatible with hitman frailty , and they will be generally thought to teach the same doctrines
But to return to the report . The Ian guage in many parts was peculiarl y strong the defects of the body as it respected their want of learning and zeal , were undisguisedly pointed out ; the means which were supposed likely to conduce to the
revival of the General Baptist cause were lafd before the meeting " , and after the report was read various resolutions embracing the substance of the topics contained in it , were agreed to unanimously
After the public business was concluded the ministers and their friends withdrew to the White Hart Inn , Bishopsgate , to dinner . In the course of the evening a number of toasts or sentiments was given from the Chair , of whjch the following were the principal . " The Preacher ; Civil and Religious Liberty all the world over ; Sunday Schools : The Memory of Michael
Servetus , Francis David , and other Baptist Worthies 5 Dr . Toulnain and the Principles of Dissent ; The Union of Zeal and Charity ; The Monthly Repository and Christian Reformer . " Several very animated and interesting
speeches were called forth by the giving of these sentiments , and the evening concluded to the apparent satisfaction of the whole company . In a word , it may perhaps be truly said , that this day promised to be jhe commencement of a new era among the General Baptists .
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$ 20 Intelligence . —Manchester XJdllege , York .
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Manchester College ^ York . The following benefactions have heen received on account of this Institution . Anonymous , by the hands oi the Rev . Thos . Belsham - 100 0 0
Rev . J . Bull Bristowe , Hinckley - - - - 1 - ¦ - 1 JJ £ 101 1 ° The following Congregational Collections have been likewise received .
Newcastle-on-Tyne , Rev . Wm . „ Turner --- -- - 1 * 18 3 Birmingham , Rev . Joshua Toul- . min , D . l > . - - - - - ^ JL-£ 42 IS 4 Geo . WM . Wood , Treasu rer . Manchester * May \ % 1815 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 320, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/56/
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