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there were two sound divines that I could hear * m the following day . I keep Mf > the e 118 * 0 * 11 * though I have chan ge d my place of worship . As I
pass through Brenitwood , I regret to find aa interest lost to the Presbyteri aas , which might have been preserved had * the preachers explained to their bearers the truth as they embraced it item selves . This hath been the fault
with many teachers . How they can justify their conduct , must be left to their own consciences and to the great day of account . At the Hyde I see a residence where I have often thought a
temple should have been built to the One God . Dr . Disney ' s conduct in resigning his livings in the Establishment ; the station he had filled in Essex Street ; the ample fortune he had received from Mr . Hollis , would have
authorized the expectation that where Dr . Disney resided , there would have been an Unitarian place of worship This was the practice of the Puritans as to places of worship , and their example contributed to cherish the
principles of liberty , and to encourage men to serve Ood according to the dictates of their consciences . We their descendants shew too great conformity to the world . A noble example of a contrary
practice was furnished by Mr . Rutt when lie lived ia Essex . He opened a place of worship for himself and friends , and though ke was , like Wickliffe , a light s&ining m a dark place , and those around did not derive the benefit that
a subsequent period might have produced , yet it has been conjectured that the unprovoked and intemperate publication of the Dissenting minister of Withain , was occasioned by some poison we imagined to be left , or some heresy , meulcated by the Rutts or the Evansons , who
had resided in Mb neighbourhood , and which was only ( to be eradicated by an attack upon all those who dared to read the Improved Version , or to believe that , after the manner which tnis divine pronounces heresy , the Ood and Father of ail may be worshiped in
sincerity and truth . But the Withani < jiviae has received according to his fleecis , aad I can leara from the poet ™ spare and even pity the fallen . * rona WUfcam I p ^ ceed to Colcaester . I WeH remember die mixture XZ P *** *> and pain I u&ed to receive m vw * ftng that plaw , pleasure in
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hearing what I considered sound doctrine 5 pain in seeing the haughtiness of party spirit , and the stand-by selfsufficiency that prevailed in the congregation . The very buildings of the town seem to indicate the prevailing disposition of the inhabitants There
is an air of i « i posing consequence which marks the progress of wealth , not equally accompanied by mental improvement . There is something very warning in the conduct of the Colchester Independent Dissenters . They used to have two ministers . This occasioned a spirit of favouritism instead of union . Each minister had
ins particular admirers , and their approbation was marked by coolness to the other minister , and often by proceedings that extended beyond the ministers' usefulness , even to their
personal comfort . This was strengthened by contention for borough ascendancy , and squabbles proceeding from electioneering contests . Mr . Tierney and Mr . Thornton can give some account of these transactions before
they were entered upon by Mr . Harvey . Though I have long declined engaging in worship with the Independents , I was glad they had united in one minister ; one whose pecuniary importance and whose respectability of talent and character , raise him above the fear of
the impertinent interference of the purse-proud merchant , or the imaginary consequence of the self-created righteous member of a church . These facts have led me often to reflect on
the consequences to Dissenting societies of having among them some more wealthy than their neighbours ; but my design is not to dwell on these at the present . The circumstances , however , of Colchester , lead me to view an
interest of Unitarians in that place with peculiar pleasure and peculiar anxiety . A new class has risen there , the evangelical clergy ; these , with the jealousy of orthodoxy , the unpopularity of the system of the divine unity , render the station highly important . May the wisdom , the zeal , the knowledge of the
friends of our cause , give interest to the inquirer and encouragement to the believer ! Lectures—explaining the Scr iptures—catechising the young—a Fellowship Fund—a Vestry Library , should be added to exemplary conduct , and to regular observance of the services of the Lord ' s-day . Mr . Wright ' s
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Remarks of < m Unitarian Traveller . No . II . $ 3 }
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1820, page 531, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2492/page/31/
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