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must be attended to in preference to sacrifice , tie always arranged his ordinary business so as to be ready for the services of God's house . I hope and trust that you , my young friends , are careful to habituate yourselves to a < punctual
attendance on the public worship of God , that , when you go out into the world , you uiay be prepared to imitate in this respect , with ease and pleasure , the conduit of our excellent friend . He--. ne . vei : excused himself ( though who had a better right-. ? . ) on the plea of ' knowing more than his teachers /
or of being able to pray and read at home , ' or on any of the other frivolous excuses , which in general are nothing but ojere excuses , and are nevev practically acted upon , even up to their pal try extent ; nor was he led , by ambition or fashion , to join the popular religion at the expense of bis own established principles ; bnt ,
considering himself as upon the footing of his meanest fellow-Christian , in a concern in which all are equal , he was never ashamed to present himself before God in the company of the meanest , and to receive instructions , founded on the word of God , though given by the humblest of his Master ' s servants . - /¦ . ¦ ¦ .
( C But he did not limit his attachment to relig * ion to his discharge of its public duties ; he also approved and practised it in his family , and , no doubt , though that is an account now only to be settled between himself and his God , in its still more private offices . He possessed , besides , the
happy art of making its truths and precepts the matter of his familiar conversation ; and , when he saw an opportunity of doing it with propriety , could enter into the important subject with a glow of animation , which was highly delightful to all who were the witnesses of ifi-win
this respect casting shame upon the conduct of niany , who profess Christianity , and that in its purest ' form , who yet may be observed for days atid weeks together without our being able to discover whether
they have anj religion fct all ) by which thf ; influence of their example in favour of truths , . which yet they would feel offended not to be thought , to profess , is altogether lost .
^ I wish also to holcliip the character of Dr . Thomson to you , my young friends , as an example for yowr imitation , ( and , I repeat it , it isentirely w * th this view and foi * . yout benefit , that JO intrbd uce hint here at all , ! arid not from any vain expectation l > f adding to his honour by iny praise , ) ill his- readiness at all , times to take an &cfive part in any scheme of private or ¦ - " ¦ ' ? . - ^ - ^ r— ~ ——— * ' Sfee . Dr . Priestley ' s admirable tract , ntitled , " A free ^ Aijdlress tto Protestant Dissenters atf >* ucli f by a J > issei * terS '
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public benevolence ; or For the advance * meat , i « any way , of any important interest of his fellow-creatures . In the active discharge of his professional duties among the poor , he is known to have been particnlarly exeniplary ; in this great cause ^ he fell , alas ! an honourable but lamented sacrifice !* He was also a great * promoter of Bible Societies , and of Sarings v Banks .
At the very time of his death , I know , from having been engaged in correspondence with him upon the subject , he w&s endeavouring the establishment of a Philosophical Society in Leeds , on a scale well suited to the capacity a ^ d energy of his mind . This could scarcely have failed , ( may I not , surely , say , will not Jail ? for
can we suppose that the numerous friends in Leeds , whose esteem and high respect he had already gained , will not feel themselves as it Were bound to carry into full effect , as the most permanent and honourable monument to the memory of their friend , this hi * excellent purpose ?) to promote the knowledge , and consequent
respectability , of its more opulent classes . —In all similar cases , I hope that we shall always hear of ourr young friendia of fortune and influence , who have been educated in this seminary , being ready to take that leading part , in their respective places of abode , for which their education will , * we trust , have jso well pfepated them . ic
But the efrertibns pf our excellent friend , in bis character of member of a particular religious community , comes more appropriately to be noticed in an address to the greater number of the young * friends before ihe . " Under this character we always found
him taking 1 an active part in regulating the affairs , and stimulating the zeal of the particular societies with which he was successively connected , and thus eneouraging and strengthening' the hands of their respective ministers in the prosecution of ttteir wbrit . And how much this
contributes to ' ' . tie' coinifbrt and success of a minister , and to tfi f pjro ^ perity , ' harlndiiy and happiness of fhe people , thdSe only Who have liad the happiness of enjoying such friendship , and of contrasting their own good forWne , in tliia resp ^ ct ^ with the state of those societies where no such ' public . spirH is manifested , are competent to estimate in its full ex ten I . , ** "But how much of his valuafejc time
* It is a remarkable Ami riib . st affectingcircumstance , that Dr . John Gordon ' , ' of Edinburgh , Dr . Thomson ' s colleague in the presidency of the Royal Medical So-^ ietj ^ lbfie , - a mttn nlso bfj ^ r ^^ roVe % sional itnd literary ettutt ^ ttc ^ , Ittll tf * vicl ^ fei tcf the same fatal disea » e within less tbanM rhonth of his friend ' s death .
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464 Intelligence . —Manchester College , York *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1818, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2478/page/56/
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