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    ble they could fully understand .. He was attached to the Society he was thei * addressing , because it was frieudly fq liberty ; and should at any time consider it an honour to render i | in his profession any assistance in his power . Mr * R » Taylor said , he should not have risen if he had not thought that the Unitarian body had done less than any

    other for the London University . He considered this a great stigma upon them . When all classes , Jews and Christians , had laid aside their differences and animosities to carry on this design , it must be a cause of regret that Unitarians had done so little . He hoped every member of that body would lend his aid , and take shares in the Institution .

    The health of the Rev . Dr . Rees , the Book Secretary , was next proposed . The Rev . Dr . Rees returned thanks . He felt pleasure in holding in that institution the office he had so long held in the Unitarian Book Society before its junction with it . In the promulgation of their sentiments , he considered books as most valuable and important instruments . It was truly interesting : to observe , that there had always been an

    intimate connexion between the progress of literature and the progress of the Unitarian doctrine . The respected preacher , in his sermon before the Society that morning , had correctly ascribed the origin of the corruption of the Christian doctrine to its reception by Heathens , who were unacquainted with Jewish customs and ideas , and therefore incapable of correctly apprehending the language and allusions of the writers of the New

    Testament . These errors , Dr . Rees observed , hagl been confirmed by the ignorance of the dark ages which followed . On the revival of literature in Italy , the doctrine of the Divine Unity was recovered . While the Medici were with one hand holding out encouragement to the cultivation of letters , they were with the other sowing the seeds of religious truth ,

    which in their own days yielded a con - siderable crop , but afterwards produced an abundant harvest . Italy , with the revival of letters , had given birth to some of the earliest and ablest advocates of the Unitarian doctrine . These eminent men , driven from their own country , had carried their opinions first . to Switzerland , and afterwards to Poland and Transylvania . The revival of literature in

    Germany was nearly coeval with the Reformation ; and amongst the chief , and earliest productions of the literature of this period , were those numerous and masterly works on theology and biblical cri-

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    ticism , published by the Unitarians of Poland ; the progress of Unitarianisui keeping pace herewith the progress : of literature . The case had been the same in England . One of the first productions of the press in this country was TindaTs New Testament ; and one of the first distributors of this work was a lady of Kent , holding Unitarian sentiments , who ,

    against the remonstrances of the young King Edward , was dragged to the stake for her heresy , by Archbishop Cranmer . As English literature advanced , Unitarianism continued its progress . The middle of the 17 th century produced , among other advocates , John Milton , not more distinguished for his various literary talents , than for his able defence of the

    Unitarian doctrine . The same century produced also John Locke , and other men of eminence , holding the same opinions . And , indeed , what is called the Augustan age of English literature , was the Augustan age of Unitarianism , for it produced those admirable quarto tracts , which contain some of the best expositions and defences of Unitarian Chris ^

    tianity . After this followed the great names of Dr Samuel Clarke , Whiston r and many others , too numerous to men- , tion ; still confirming the fact , that literature and Unitarian truth advanced together . —He had to apologise for having gone over so wide a field , but it was one over which he had long been accustomed to roam with the greatest delight , which

    had on every hand yielded him the purest satisfaction , and presented to him prosspects the most splendid and animating . He then said , that as many were extolling the power of truth , and professing their zeal on its behalf , it was important for them to consider , that truth , like many other powers , required certain machinery to act upon , in order to produce its

    effects ; books formed a part of this machinery , and he recommended their general use . He thought that Unitarians had not done their duty in this respect * They had not sufficiently encouraged their own writers ; their best authors were frequently bearing pecuniary losses by their publications . He knew that this had proved a serious discouragement to

    them , and had deprived the public of many valuable books on . Unitarian sentiments . He would briefly advert in this connexion to the * Monthly Repository ; as tfris work was now in effect the property : of the Association , and the Committee were its responsible Conductors , there , could be n 6 violation of delicacy in his mentioning it thus publicly . He hoped they should * hear no complaints

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    546 Intelligence * - "British and Forngfr Unitarian , Aswciaplon

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 546, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/74/