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understand the English language , and became acquainted with many good authors in it on the subjects of history and religion . In their time , also , that part of the country enjoyed the
advantage of the eloquent and enlightened ministry of David Lloyd , of Llwyn-rhyd-owen , whom no man heard without improvement to his stock of information , or without being a more determined friend to truth
and virtue . The principal sources of D . J . Rees ' s early attainments , the causes of his love of knowledge , as well as of his future high attainments in benevolence
and virtue , are thus , it is thought , with strict truth , found in the encouragement and example of his uncle and aunt , and in the instructions of a minister ** whose name is sfill in the
churches . ' At his death he might be about seventeen years of age , and he has been often heard describing the strong impressions made on his youthful mind by the luminous argumentation of this " man of God / ' and by the
strong emotions of his soul , which manifested themselves by the big drops which coursed down his dignified and handsome countenance , and which he was ever at great pains to suppress and disguise , though in vain .
He had been , for many years , the object of rancorous obloquy from the orthodox , and was arraigned with a bitterness equal to that which assails the Unitarian of the present day . The first minister , in South Wales ,
who openly opposed the received doctrine , which arrogates to itself the title evangelical , was Jen kin Jones , who built , on his own estate , the chapel of Llwn-rhyd-owen . In a very few years , his nephew , David Lloyd , succeeded him , and died in 1779 *
having- triumphantly planted many churches , numerous in members , flourishing in reputation and in kriowledge , knowing , however , only the Arian and Arminian explication of the faith of Christ . Of David Lloyd a pretty long account appeared in the
Monthly Magazine for the year 1812 . As time advanced , and scriptural knowledge became more extended , through the efforts of Dr . Priestley and others who , haud passibus cequis , trod the same path , the mind of D . J . Rees received new impressions . Whe *
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ther he could yet read and understand the English language , there are now no means of ascertaining . Prepared by early thirst after knowledge , add a confirmed spirit of impartiality , which he could not fail to imbibe from the
sources already developed , it is certain that he availed himself of such opportunities as offered themselves to reconsider the principles which he had , at first , viewed as the perfection of unadulterated Christianity . Among the advantages of this kind , of which he availed himself with the utmost
diligence , was his acquaintance with that modest and learned man , the minister of the Unitarian congregation at Cullumpton , in Devonshire . The Rev . John Davis was born in his near neighbourhood ; and his academical education at Carmarthen , served to furnish his own mind with clearer
views of the doctrine of Christ , and to convey to his friend the lessons of wisdom which he had himself learned . Their intercourse continued occasionally during many years , and probably till the period of the decease of D . J .
Rees . The singular esteem in which the latter held the former , and the cordial intimacy which subsisted between them , furnished great efficacy to the instructions which the superior education of the one enabled him to
convey to the other . Had Mr . John Davis possessed no other merit , it would be enough to render his name illustrious , that he had the extraordinary felicity of giving a direction so noble and auspicious to such a mind as that of D . J . Rees . Sure I am ,
that , though his singularly unassumiug temper may wish to disclaim an honour of which he may scarcely be conscious , he sympathizes sincerely in the grief which dictates the present account of his friend , and will not be disposed to question the truth of that account 'which ascribes to him an
effect that he may not have considered as originating with himself . The fact is certain , and it would be unjust to the merit of both these enlightened friends not to state it distinctly . From this epoch , D . J . Rees may be considered as both a Necessarian and an Unitarian .
To an intellect so powerful as his , the difficulty of comprehending a metaphysical system which has baffled the faculties of so many , which those
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OhitHaty .- ~ ltfr * David Jenkin Rees . 741
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1817, page 741, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2471/page/45/
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