On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
See the Answer . ^ Highbury Place , Dec . 21 , 1785 . " IVI y dear Brother , ct I like the desiga and Rules of your little Society , and hope you will do good
to many . I will subscribe Three-pence per Week , and will g-ive you a Guinea on advanee , if you will call on me Saturday Morning-. "lam , " Your affected Brother , " J . WESLEY .
" T * Mr . John Gardner . " iC One reason of these Letters being * published , - is to shew , how much Good , or Evil , mav lie in a small compass ; as near , as is well possible : had this old Leader ( DEACON ) quenched the smoking flax , and strangled in the birth , one of the ¦
greatest blessings , of ihe last Century ! — For had . ' . Mr . P : first reached Mr . Wesley , and stated the case his own way , ( I being * then a strang- ' er ; and at that time , the infant Society , had little to
recommend itself ) there is great doubts , with me respecting' success . But , when properly stated , the penetrating * eye , of that great man , saw its rise , and going forth , with more than common discernment , therefore encouraged the design .
u The -first Penny , . a . Grain of Mustard Seed , have increased to more than £ 100 , 000 . and relieved above One Million of Poor !! ! iC P . S . Reader , see the last Report of one branch of this Society , in London , 1815 . No doubt there are 20 more such
branches . It is pleasing * , to find , that nearly all Dissenting Congregations 5 have adopted this plan . " The first Six Members : lc John and Margaret Gardner , c < Thomas and Mary Float , 44 William and Ann Biddies . " Oct . 25 t / u 1785 . "
- Sqch appears to have been the origin of the penny-a-week societies , the effects of which have been so powerful and extensive among the Methodists . A grain of sand is of no value in itself , but it is of such grains that a mound or embankment is formed , which may be able to say to the waves of the ocean itself , " Hitherto shall ye go and no Farther . " The liberal and
huviiaue spirit of Wesleian Methodism is apparent in almost ail the plans which they adopt ; and accordingly the first design of these societies seems to fyavfc been to relieve the temporal wants of those who had the greatest need of assistance , aiio * who were altogether neglected by the rest of their
Untitled Article
fellow-men . Such assistance , however , it is obvious , would have a very powerful tendency to promote the spread and influence of their religious creed . It would serve as a rich
manure to prepare the soil for the reception of what they conceive to be the seed of the word of God . Is not this , consideration worthy the attention of Unitarians , in addition to the common motives of humanity , urged in favour of the distressed in so peculiar a manner by their distinguishing tenets ? Does one similar societv for similar
purposes exist among them ? And if there were many such , would not this circumstance do as much credit to their wisdom and consistency , as to the humanity and benevolence which are the prominent characteristics of their principles ?
As the penny-a-vreek societies among the Methodists seem at present to have deviated , in part at least , from their original intention , and to have now other , though not more benevolent , objects , it would evidently be
useful as well as , I have no doubt , acceptable to your readers , if any person who has the necessary information , would favour them bv means of the Monthly Repository , with an account of the present state of these societies , their rules , the amount of
the sums subscribed by them , and the manner in which these sums are applied . I have now to send you an account of one more society of this kind , upon
a small scale , in addition to the many already established among Unitarians . Nearly two years ago I registered , for public religious services , a room in the house in which 1 lived , and we
have had such services regularly on a Sunday , boMi morning and evening * The society just mentioned has arisen out of the persons wlio have usually attended . The number of subscribers on the first evening of meeting was twenty-four , and there has been since some increase . As most of the rules
adopted by such societies are similar , it is unnecessary to send the greater part of ours for insertion . One of them , however , which is , no doubt , peculiar to this society , seems worthy of borne attention . All the subscribers
who choose to do so , meet once a month , not only to transact any business that may occur relative to the
Untitled Article
298 Mr . Moore on the Wesleian Penny-a-Week Societies , &e \
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 298, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/18/
-