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having also , at the request of the last Association , been drawn up hj Mr . Michael Kingsford , of Canterbury , was , by that gentleman , printed and laid before the meeting * . This plan , which had been carefully arranged , appeared to meet general approbation ; and particularly as it seems
( to use Mr . KtRgsford ' s own wotfds ) , * ' likely to prove to them ( its members ) a stimulus to early habits of industry and economy , and to promote in them a uniform attention to public worship , and an habitual
connexion with our churches , whose incumbent duty it will be to strengthen every good and virtuous disposition in them , and to watch over and guard them against any impropriety of conduct , the inexperience of youth may expose them to . *
The friends dined at the George Inn , and afterwards took tea with the ladies in the chapel , ' and harmony prevailed throughout the day . In the evening , a large party retired to the above inn to supper , and spend a little
time in friendly conversation . When the cloth was removed , it was suggested , as the most interesting mode of spending the time , to adopt a subject for general discussion , which appearing to meet the approbation of the company , the following question was proposed : —
Upon what principle can the cause of Christianity be injured by free , unlimited inquiry ? This subject called forth many-excellent
remarks from numerous speakers , when , after a discussion of more than two hours , the chairman in closing the debate remarked , that he was happy in recognising in th © sentiments of that company the characteristic of the Old Unitarian General
Baptist Body , which had so long and so nobly advocated the cause of free inquiry in matters of religion . Several gentlemen in the course of the debate were particularly anxious to impress the idea that , although inquiry ought to be free and unshackled , that yet it should be pursued with a prudent attention to times and circumstances . B . M .
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IwtetUgmee—Dudley DouMe Lecture * S 73
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Dudley Double Lecture . On Whit-Tiiesday , May 27 , 1817 , the Annual Meeting of Ministers , denominated , " The Dtoabfe Lecture , " toek place at Dudley- "Tine Rev . James Scott , © f Cradley , conducted the devotional service . Two
sermons were preached : the former by the Jfeev . John Kentish , of JBirBiing-hain , on the degree in vrhieh a Christian minister may lawfully conform to the sentiment * , the practices , the ofrcaoratances , f he prejudices * od the infirmities of those aroUnd Jrim : — fffem 1 -Cor . ite , £ 2 , * I wnimMfe all thing *
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to all men , that I might by all means save some : " the latter , in the absence of the gentleman who was to have officiated , by the Rev . James Hews Brans by , of Dudley , on the efficacy of the faithful preaching of the gospel , from 1 Thess . ii . 13- " For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing-, because when ye received the word of . God , which ye heard of us , ye received it not as the word of men , but ( as it is in truth ) die word of God : which effectually worketh also in you that believe . "
Mr . Kentish thus concluded his discourse : " The grand extremes against which , as Christian ministers , we must guard , in our deportment , are considerable seclusion from the world , and indiscriminate association with mankind : habitual singularity and habitual accommodation .
Our intelligent and affectionate hearers may well complain of us , if we shun their society as though it were pestilential : yet we shall as naturally and deservedly incur their censure , if we do not make a wise division of our time , between the retirement of the closet and the engagements of active life .
* ' We cannot , in the apostolic sense , & - come all things to all men , unless we be true , at the same time , to eur religions principles and character . Our situation requires , if I mistake not , a happy union of integrity and candour , of zeal and circumspection and benevolence . Even if we cannot wholly escape reproach from an ill-judging world , may this reproach ,
however , fall on us only in respect of the law of our God . Yet as knowledge and piety increase , every tendency to persecution will be discountenanced ; and the Protestant Dissenting- Minister , who , without sorrendering or coon promising * his secular rights , devotes himself entirely to his of&ee will not fail of possessing the esteem of those whose esteem is praise .
" Seldom have we perceived a man who exhibited , in a higher degree , a just superiority to the wo lid , while he mixed with various classes of its inhabitants , for their benefit , than an excellent « aiatster , * whose name and whos « memory we cannot but associate very intimately with the recurrence of this yearly lecture . His place
knoweth him no iuore : and tbqse anticipations of his dismissal from otitr earth , wbie . 1 ) , three years since be heve expressed ,-fhave been fully realized . Perhaps , however , it may not he bo gvene » raHy hnown that from this pulpit , and as on ibis day , he once ilfaistiwted Abe 'nature , and urged the claims of Ohriatiaoi -candour , in cftouim
? The Rev . Benjamin Carpenter , of OI 4 8 < vii » fordL f ££ e Monthly Repository , IK . 511 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1817, page 373, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2465/page/53/
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