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Scriptures , than I could do in preaching to a very small congregatiop , most of whom , as they are pious and moral people , ci-or » rl in little need of mv instruc-»~ - - »• -
jl ^ livt — j tion or admonition . Besides , I arn now ccrne to the evening of life ; and wearied nature craves some respite from continual toil . A period of twenty-seven years has elapsed , since the commencement of the Society of Unitarian Christians * at Montrose in
Scotland , iu August 1781 . During all which time ( with little interval ) I have been more or less actively engaged as a preacher in different places ; either in my own country , or in Virginia and
Pennsylvania . It may now be becoming , at least not inglorious , to leave the useful and necessary duty . of public speaking on the Lord ' s day to others , greener in years ? LTidJirmer in strength than I am , and to wish them success in
the nam * of the LORD * . In the place of worship of the Independent Society-of Unitarian Christians of this city before mentioned , were these Dissertations rehearsed for the third and last tinte , as a Lord's day evening service , which began on Sunday ,
* The Rev . Mr . Lindsey , of Essex Street Chapel , Strand , London , gave over preaching at seventy years of age , thou gh be was then in tolerable health , a » d living an the most agreeable footing wth his congregation 3 who regretted his resignat ion . My increasing infirmities , wit
h the various trials , reverses , and disasters , that I have experienced in human "fe , have probably made me as old ( if 1 toay so sp ^ ak ) at wea r sixty , as that £ < x > d tnan was at seventy . Add to this , ™ t I am under the constant necessity ot lalouring for a worldly subsistence for Jjyself and family . It is high time , { nerefore , as Horace says , that I should j * tonatum rude , « released from active
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November \ 59 1807 > and ended February 28 , 1808 , when the last Dissertation was delivered ;
though the evening service itself Was still continued bn the subject of the Prophecies of Daniel till May 8 th . A considerable number of hearers attended the recital
of the Dissertations at first ; but the audience gradually declined till near the close , when it was almost reduced to the proper members of the society .
The Author considers the publication of these Dissertations , as the most useful labour he was capable of performing for the glt > ry of God or the benefit of
mankind ; and as far exceeding any service he could render to religion or piety by his ordinary preaching to such small audiences as generally attended him . It is to be regretted that the effect of preaching is but tQO * often
momentary , and that good impressions wear off very soon ; but a printed work on an interesting and all-important subject , is calculated to have a permanent effect , and is always at hand to renew its first impressions * .
i he Author humbly trusts that these Dissertations' will continue to do good , and to promote the knowledge of the one God , and the one mediator between God
and men , the man Christ Jesus , when he shall sleep with his father s ^ and be numbered among the dead . Bat though the work should not have any considerable influence or effect , though it should even
be neglected and " despised ; yet none can deprive him of the accomplishment of one main object which he had in view by its publication . It has been a work lofig projected , of ardent wishes , and of many prayers ; and the author ,
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Account of Mr , William Christie . 199
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1811, page 199, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2415/page/7/
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