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and perused the Society ' s Tracts which he was commissioned to distribute on his missionary tour thither . He observed that if there
were one feature which more than another distinguished the improved state of the times it was this , that literary men were determined not to confine the results of their
investigations so as merely to minis , ter to their own enjoyment , but were ardently bent on diffusing useful knowledge amongst the lowest ranks and orders -of society . The next names from the chair were
Mr . Esdaile and Mr . Rees , the Treasurer and Secretary to the Christian Tnict Society . Mr , Rees returned thanks , in the absence of the Treasurer , and gave a flattering account of the prosperity of the Society—in respect
to the number of subscribers , to the excellence of the Tracts , and Jo the general diffusion of them . The funds , however , were inadequate to the supply of publica ^ iions with promptitude proportioned to the demand .
The Chairman observed , that lie wfte sorry to find that the gentleman whose health he was about
tb propose had been obliged to withdraw from indisposition . He regretted it on his own account , tbat i \ e had lost the opportunity of observing the gratifying manner in which his name would be
received , and fur the company that they had lost the benefit of his eloquence . He remarked that it 'Was an excellent trait in tbe liberality of the present tinieg that it could not with any fairness be ascribed to indifference . In the
reign of Charles II . and at other periods , profligacy and bigotry have been seen band in hand ,
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profaneness and persecution were inmates of the same house and the same bed ; and those who indulged the utmost libertinism in action would not allow thfc liberty of thought in others . In our own
day we find royalty and nobility promptly coming forward to grant liberty to differ in matters of opinion , and diffusing education and morals amongst the people at large . The gentleman whose
health he was to propose was engaged in training up others for the promulgation of truth : of his sincerity and ability and consequent success in this important duty there could be entertained no doubt . He
concluded by giving—The Hemltk of Mr . Aspland and Success to the Unitarian Academy * — Mr . Rutt thought it his duty to make acknowledgments for the respect with which the name of tbe
Unitarian Academy bad been introduced in connection with his absent friend , who was the life and soul of iu This institution had grown out of the Unitarian Ftind as that had been the result of the
Book Society . It was conceived that the combination of a certain degree of literary cultivation , connected with a popular mode of address , would be eminentl y con - ducive to tlie success of the cause .
But there were other labours of his friend which called for recoL lection , particularly his late advocacy of the character and designs of Unitarians against a shame
less attack from & clergyman whose opportunities of correct information , as well as his general character for kiridness ahd benevolence ^ would seem to have secured theni
from such an effusion of bigotry * He was aware that iri advertiiigfd that gentleman * * publication , h <*
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Intelligenc € »~ -Unitarian Society Anniversary * 305
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? ol » ir . 2 n
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1814, page 305, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2440/page/49/
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