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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.
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course , was to circulate the Holy Scriptures , and nothing beyond ; and yet , when a clergyman had been applied to to take the chair , he had made it an express condition that no Unitarian minister should be allowed to address the meeting . The rumour of this getting abroad , the Unitarians thought themselves called upon not to remain silent ;
and , accordingly , agreed on making a stand ; the consequence of which was , that no less than three Unitarians , of whom himself was one , had been appointed members of the committee ; and it remained with them , if the same clergyman should take the chair at any subsequent meeting , to let him know that they were Christians as well as he .
The Chairman begged to propose the health of their Treasurer , Mr . Christie ; and he felt great pleasure in the remembrance , that it was through his instrumentality that he ( the Chairman ) had become , about twenty years since , a member of that branch of the present Institution , the Unitarian Fund . Mr . Christie returned thanks . At
one time he had certainly devoted much time to the Society , but since a deputytreasurer had been appointed , tnat gentleman had engaged so actively in the Society ' s business , that his office was little more than a sinecure . The principles of Unitarianism had lately made a rapid progress . Twenty or thirty years ago they were scarcely able to get
together thirty gentlemen on an anniversary meeting , while now he saw around him six or eight times that number . In America the same rapid progress had taken place , and in Boston alone there were not at present less than twelve or thirteen Unitarian congregations ; and in India the same principles were daily obtaining fresh disciples ; much of which might be attributed to the Unitarian Society for
distributing books , and the Unitarian Fund . By the concentration of these societies , he trusted that additional good would be done , for there was now a wide field open for them to act in ; and with the work once set in motion , he hoped that they would not be obliged to make a pause from the want of funds . They had the advantage of a most judicious and discreet committee , and their exertions were such as to extend their
influence on all sides . To their present Chairman , likewise , they were much indebted , not only for his services on that occasion , but through a long aeries of years , during which he had advocated the cause of religious liberty and of the Unitarian doctrine .
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He , therefore , begged to propose the health of Mr . G . W . Wood , The Chairman said , that his services had been much overrated . He had been induced to take the Chair from a feeling which had been pointedly alluded to by a Reverend gentleman near him , that every Christian was bound to contribute his
talent , however humble , when called upon , in a Christian cause . As a stranger he had a claim upon their indulgence , and he trusted that in whatever respect he might be found wanting , it would be made up by their own zeal and energy . His own opinion was , that the straightforward path of prosperity was open
before them ; and though in former times much had been accomplished by individual exertions , it remained for the present age to see what could be effected by voluntary associations . He begged to propose , " The workmen and their work ; the health of Mr . Adam , and the other Missionaries at home and abroad . "
Mr . Arnott returned thanks in Mr . Adam ' s name , and said that he had lately received a letter from Calcutta , by which it appeared that Rammohun Roy had gained a litigation , in which he had long been engaged , and that consequently he would now be able to re-enter the field
with redoubled activity and zeal . Mr . Adam likewise was highly successful in his undertakings ; and with the efforts of such men as these , added to the goodness of the cause , it might be no vain thing for him to say , that he trusted no very long period of time would elapse before the truth of pure religion was established from the jungles of Bengal to the wilds of America .
Rev . Mr . Harding said , that the charitable objects of the Association rendered it worthy of support . For the last thirteen years he had laboured as a Missionary , through good report , but much oftener through ill report , towards the propagation of the true knowledge of Christianity .
Rev . Mr . Latham said , that theirs was the cause for which Whiston and Emlyn had contended , and that the present was no time to abandon that field in which those great men had fought for the sake of truth and for the glory of God . The Chairman then proposed to the company , that they should drink the health of the Secretary , the Bev . Mr . Aspland . The Rev . R . Aspland rose to return
thanks . He said , that he was always happy when he could render any service to the tJnitariau caune . though he had thought that
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Intelligent , —Brituh and Foreign Unitarian AuOQiatxon . £ 43
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 543, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/71/
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