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spreading . Yourhandshave been strengthened and your efforts have not been in Tain . Yours has been a growing * cause . « It will be enlivening * to contrast its procress with the past efforts of former times . Look back and reeal to your recollection the testimony borne to what you deem pure
Christianity , by the excellent Biddle , that pious confessor and advocate for it in the seventeenth century ; patronized by the p hilanthropic Firmin , aided by the youth and vig * our of a pious Stuckey , and assisted by the publication of numerous Unitarian tracts , written with peculiar clearness , closeness of argument and energy : yet the
congregation raised under such favourable auspices soon became extinct , and Tailed of kindling the like zeal in other breasts . Go farther back , pass through the Continent of Europe and traverse the spacious regions of Poland : where are now the Polish brethren , who then ranked in judgment , and learning and talent , as the first
of scriptural critics ? Where are the remains of the labours of those many distinguished characters whose names , memoirs , and lists of their publications , fill the pages of Sandius' small and Bock ' s large and balky Bibliotheca ? Where are now any traces of the numerous churches formed
upon Unitarian principles , and instructed and enlightened by those great men whose names adorn the pages of these volumes ? Alas ! alas ! they are almost perished . "It is to us , however , a subject of great joy and sacred gratitude , that at the distance of almost two centuries , the light of divine truth , which so far back shone upon those regions , has of late burst forth with
a resplendent glory on this country , and jour Society has risen up under its invi-Wrating iniluence t . > give ifs beams a new and extensive direction . '" Ithas , I recollect , been objected to the polish brethren , that they paid court to f great men , to the nobles and the fa ™ e < l , to the politicians , of the day , and t 0 ° much , if not entirely passed by the
ra or maakind You , my friends , have ac 'ed on another principle , on the princ 'Pk upon which Christianity was first Rnted , that the gospel should be Preaclied to the poor ; . * —the principle *¦»<* has been applied , illustrated and a orced tn ^ morning , with singular pro-P '^ ty , animation and eloquence . It is a P inciple which anjru r * well for your design : > " have witnessed the good effects of it :
* congratulate jou , also , on the ciruuin ?* ^ ° f tll € tirne 8 > which P romise , for entlon a % indeed , to prepare the way Cf yoiu k missionaries , and to secure sucvarin Useful laboi » r 8 . I refer to the 4 omT 80 Cieties furmed through the king--'or circulating the scriptures , and for p T "lngr to read . The lower classes of the KMvhi £ ? thus finished with the Bible , "en is your appeal 5 and theywillbe
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enabled to search them , to * see whether the things - which your worth y , active and zealous missionaries advance , and teach , are so or not . You are thus
invited and assisted to create and multi ply , noble Bereans , who will do honour to your desSg-n and be trophies of its efficacy . " Let my fervent congratulations on these propitious circumstances , express my gratitude for the honour you have done me . "
During * the evening- a considerable accession of subscriptions was announced , both to the tTnitarian Fund and the Unitarian Academy . Amongst the new subscriptions to the former , was a two pound Bank of England note from a sailor at Portsmouth , and a one pound from an unknown friend , wha lamented , in a letter
inclosing * the subscription , the hard necessity that forced him to remain a silent contributor . The meeting * was throughout spirited , decorous and pleasant , and at the close of it , cordial thanks were given to the Stewards , who by their foresight and
activity had added so > much to the comfort of the numerous company : —in an earlier stage of the evening , the satne expression of esteem was made to the Chairman , by whose exertions the assembly was kept as one heart , one soul .
N . B . As the new List of Subscribers will be speedily printed ,, it is earnest " iy requested that the Receivers for the Society and the Corresponding- Members , having additions or corrections to report , will communicate them to the Secretary without delay .
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Intelligence *— Tj 7 iitarian Academy , 305
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Un itarian Ac a demy . The General Meeting" of the Governors ,, Subscribers and Friends to this Institution , was held on Wednesday , the 17 th inst ., in the chapel at Parliament-Court , Bishopsffate—Street , after the meeting : of the Vi \{ - tarian Fund , Mr . Thomas Hardy , ofWalworth , in the Chair . Reports were lnade by the Treasurer and CommitteC j and various resolutions adopted , all which will be speedily oiven to the public . It was resolved that the number of students o :-i the foundation for the next year , should nut be less than four , exclusive of one partky :
supported by an exhibition from another quarter ; and that the Committee should be empowered to enlarge the number , if the liberality of the public ( individuals or congregations ) should render such a measure prudent . Letters of acknowledgment wore read from the sev-eral students ' , and one , reporting the state of the Institution , ; is far as comes within his province , from the theological tutor . —It was understood that the Academy will close for the present session , on Saturday , the 24 th of June , and that the next will commence on Monday , the 4 th of September . Applications for the admission of divinity students must be made before the 12 th of June .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 325, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/61/
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