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by Mr . Perry and Mr . ScargHL That of Thursday morning by Mr . Fullagar , Mr * Scargill and Mr . Madge . The Meeting was filled with attentive auditors , and it is hoped that all who heard the excellent discourses which
were delivered , went away with an increased knowledge and love of the genuine doctrines of the Gospel . After the morning service , the business of the Society was transacted . Thomas Robinson , Esq ., of Bury , in the Chair . It appeared by the Report , that the number of Tracts circulated in the
past year , exceeded that of any former one . The Committee having recommended to the different churches in the Association , the formation of Fellowship Funds , as a measure well calculated to unite the Uuitarian body , and to call its powers into easy and
active operation ; the meeting resolved , that the report be printed and generally circulated among the respective congregations in Norfolk and Suffolk , in order to prepare the way for the adoption of so beneficial a plan . The Treasurer ' s accounts were then laid
before the Society ,, and its funds appeared to be in a flourishing and improving state . Mr . J . L . Marsh and Mr . Edward Taylor were re-elected Treasurer and Secretary for the ensuing year , and the next yearly meeting was appointed to be held at Palgrave ,
on the last Wednesday and _ Thursday in June . Fifty-five gentlemen and ladies afterwards dined at the Crown Inn , George Watson , Esq ., of Saxlinghani in the chair . The assembling of such a number at so small and ( to
most of the subscribers ) distant a town as Framlingham , is a gratifying proof of the increasing interest that is felt in the objects of the society , and of the respect which is felt by all * for the amiable and excellent minister of
the place . When the sentiment , 4 Civil and Religious Liberty all over the World , " was given af ter dinner , Mr . Madge observed , that the declaration of such a wish must at all times be congenial to the mind of every Unitarian . It was to their honour that
they had uniformly shewn themselves consistent friends to both : civil and religious liberty were indeed so intirnHtely connected , that they must flourish or decay together . But in times like the prefeewjt , when the cry 4 t hetfeay and blasphemy was raited
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for the basest purposes , it behoved tr * to shew our attachment to the great cause of freedom by every possible exertion . If we slumbered , the enemy would sow tares , and the noxious and baneful weeds of bigotry and
persecution would choke and poison the pure doctrines of the Gospel . We must have o * ir loins always girded , and be ready to meet and repel every attack upon our religious privileges . He had understood that the disgraceful prosecution against Mr . Wright , of
Liverpool , would be persevered in , upon the ground that his sermon was calculated to bring the doctrines of the Established Church into contempt . If so , what Unitarian preacher could hope to escape persecution , provided he performed his duty ? He could not
speak of the Trinitarian doctrine , without saying it was self-contradictory , and contradictory to the language of Scripture . This might be called bringing the established religion into contempt . But he had no reason to doubt , whatever the event of this
prosecution might be , that his brethren wou ld * with therapostle , resolve to obey God rather than man , and not be deterred by * any unmanly fears from the fearless and open avowal of religious truth . The Chairman having given " the rtiemories of Emlyn ,
Mann ing and Barron , the fathers of Unitananism hi this district , "—Mr . Toms detailed several very interesting particulars relating to those venerable champions of the Unitarian faith . The health of ' * the Bishop ; of the Diocese ** having been given , Mr * Madge took occasion to pay his tribute of the sincerest esteem towards that excellent
man . He had bad the pleasure of receiving the most respectful attention from him , and he believed bo man living better understood , or more highly valued the * true principles of
religious liberty than the Bishop of Norwich . The Chairman then gave " ¦ May all our Dissenting brethren leara and love the liberty m which they stand , and resist every attempt from within and without to enslave
them . " Mr . Edward Taylor said , that our duty , when open attacks were made upon the rights of conscience by those without , had been so ably laid down by his friend Mr * Madge ^ that lie should confine himself to a few observations on . the other soft of at *
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600 I ^ Migence * - ~ Ea $ tern Unitarian Sfdeiety *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1817, page 500, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2467/page/52/
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