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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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394 Experiment of a Third Unitarian Congregation , JbiverpooL
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is for from being clear t ) iat prejudice is not often most effectually silenced by their abandonment ; and this more particularly applies where the powers of Trustees interpose the crude notions of individual right contained in many of our old deeds of trust , often presenting an absolute barrier against all
improvement . I have before observed that much has been done , in a general way to disseminate theological instruction , and to call the attention of professing Christians to the importance and duty of openly attacking popular error 5 but
as example is often more efficacious than mere speculation , I conceive the cause of truth may be served by communicating , through the pages of the Repository , the result of ah experiment made in this place , which , though humble in its origin and unassuming
in its progress , has demonstrated in a considerable degree the fact , that the poorer and middling classes are neither inattentive spectators of the controversies which have agitated the most learned divines , nor unwilling to avail themselves of the means placed within
their reach for improving themselves in religious knowledge . Nearly two years since , a number of individuals conceived the idea of licensing a room in a populous part of this town , for the purpose of riving instruction in
rational theology . It was proposed to have public worship one evening in the week ; the service to be conducted in such a way as to be likely to be interesting to that class of persons for whom it was more immediately intended . A committee was formed to
superintend the concerns of the Society , and to insure regularity , especially with regard to the preachers who were appointed at a monthly meeting , and embraced respectable laymen , as well as the neighbouring ministers . The intent of the
undertaking was to see how far'it was possible to draw the attention of serious and thinking Christians to the doctrines of Unitarianism , and- for this purpose every degree of publicity was gitfen to the subject of the' weekly address . The
expenses of the room are defrayed by xneans of an annual subscription , many of the contributors . being persons in bumble circumstances , and it is a matter of some importance thpit the chief management is undertaken by
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young persons , who must thereby necessarily acquire habits of thinking and acting of unspeakable value to the ultimate spread of truth . It is evident that a place of this description , having no great pretensions , is better adapted
for the purpose required than the large chapels in our populous towns , where the plan I am detailing is most applicable . The poor feel less reluctance at giving their attendance , nor could meetings for religious conference be elsewhere held with so much
convenience and propriety . The attendance is frequently very numerous , embracing persons of the most opposite opinions , but the utmost decorum is observed , and many have been led to
make their appearance at the stated worship of the Unitarian chapels , who would not otherwise have thought of it . This , indeed , was one principal object from the beginning , for it is much to be feared that the refinement
of the generality of our preachers , however agreeable it may naturally be to their usual hearers , presents little attraction for those of other sects of less cultivated taste and understanding , who , unless their curiosity is previously excited , require a style of address more in unison with that to which they are elsewhere accustomed . If " to
the poor the gospel is preached , " something must be done to meet their prejudices , and at the same time to draw their attention to a purer system of Christianity , by plain , persuasive language , at the same time laying before them in undisguised terms our
peculiar views of the gospel . Unless our opulent congregations will condescend a little in these respects , it is evident that if we regard as we ought the improvement of the less refined classes , some separate means of instruction must be opened to them , and with this view is it not worth the
consideration of serious Unitarians in our large towns , how far some such plan as has been so successfully attempted here , is worthy of beings followed ? One advantage , of incalculable
importance , to be derived from * institutions such as I have described , is , the facility they afford for diffusingreligioiis knowledge by means of reading . A library has been raised by some liberal donations of books i . aad'tracts which are allowed to be r ^ ad jfrfratis , * b y any one making application after service . • "Nu-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1820, page 394, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2490/page/14/
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