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conducted with great order , and have much conduced to the Comfort and encouragement of the ministers , cherished mutual affection , and animated them to more zealous exertions in the duties of their profession .
Were the Dissenting ministers , in every county , to form similar associations on their general principles , and if the transactions of these Assemblies were sent by deputies or by authenticated letters to a general Assembly of Dissenters , meeting at Dr . Williams ' s
Library , we should then have a general sympathy , as a body should have with its parts ; no member could be oppressed or injured without ^ exciting the concern and indignation of the whole , and tyranny and persecution "Would see , that in their first steps towards injustice and cruelty , they must
encounter a whole , body of people firmly united to each other and actuated by one general and noble principle . But it may be said , " Amidst the diversity of opinions and tastes which have prevailed among Protestalit Dissenters , from their first separation from the Established Church
to this day , it would be in vain to search for any one principle which all have admitted as the common ground of dissent and the common bond of union . " This is partially true . When this Assembly was formed , the nonconformists seem , in general , to have
had very contracted notions with respect to the right of private judgment , and little inclination to depart from the popular system of religious faith . They dissented from the Church of . England rather from a dislike of its rites and ceremonies , and an aversion
to every address to the senses in the forms of religion , than from enlarged principles of toleration or a liberal spirit of inquiry - Dr . Calamy ' s " Defence of Moderate Nonconformity *" published at the beginning of the last century , was probably the first publication which contained the merits of
th « cause ; and Mr . L . ocke assured the author , it was such a defence as could jiot be answered , and that on these principles he need not fear any anta-
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gonist . Mr * Tow good entered the same fifeld * and occupicfd the same ground With Dr . Calamy . His letters to Mr . White are composed with a strength of argument , acuteness of discussion , and animation of language , Which
entitle them to a distinguished rank amongst controversial writings , and will , most probably , continue to be read and be appealed to , as a complete and unanswerable vindication of the rights of private judgment , and a dissent from all human authority
whatever in matters of religion . Since these publications , the Dissenters have rested their dissent chiefly , on the natural right which every man possesses of framing his system of faith ,
and choosing ^ his form of religious worship for himself . Among all the diversity of opinion , here is an object which ought to form an inseparable bond of union amongst us , and engage us to a zealous attentoin to our
common interest . Were associations formed , throughout the kingdom , on these general principles , they would be attended , I am confident , with the most beneficial consequences . Such
Assemblies bring Protestant Dissenters Of each denomination acquainted with each other , soften the asperity which jarring interests are too apt to excite , deliver them from the sad effects of
their present divided , unconnected state , and give them that share of influence and weight in every affair of consequence , relative to themselves or the interests of their country to Which they are entitled .
Should this history of the Devon and Cornwall Assembly be proper for admission into your Repository , it will probably be followed with some extracts from the minutes of the Assembly . I have also in my possession a list of the students educated at the Academies of Taunton , Exeter and Tiverton , a copy of which shall be touch at your service . * J . MANNING . The communications bere promised will be thankfully received . Ed .
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64 S Mr . Manning ' s History of the Exeter Assembly .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1817, page 642, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2470/page/2/
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