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above us the rivers that flow Into the Ohio , as the Miamies , the Sciots 9 &c . &c . interlock with those that flow into Lake Erie , therefore we are near the highest lands in the State . But I meant , Sir , to make you acquainted with our moral rather than our geographical situation .
We have withm two or three miles of us about twelve English families , chiefly farmers , who have arrived from England within two years past . None of them join the religious societies established here , and many of them I find unprejudiced and happv to receive the simple doctrines of Christianity nncorrupted by creeds or catechisms . I have lent amongst them what Unitarian books I had preserved until they are nearly worn out , and am gratified to find they have excited a spirit of inquiry that will not soon die away ;
for it is gone forth even among the New Lights and the Methodists , the most prevailing sects here , and three Methodists have lately been discarded their Society for reading them ! A Mr . Oxtoby , a very respectable farmer , my neighbour , has been the first to renounce his old creed . He was a
zealous Swedenborgian , and we have occasional meetings for religious conversation at his house . I have consented to give a course of familiar lectures on the doctrines of Uiiitarianism at our new School-House , which is now erecting , and will be completed by the 1 st
of April . I should have made but an ill use of the time I sat under your ministry , if I was not in some measure better qualified for this task than most of my fellow-countrymen who come to these distant regions ; but few have
had the same privijeges in hearing- , and very few have read more on theological subjects . Yet , Sir , I trust I am not influenced by vanity to say this , or to make the attempt I have undertaken . I have written you of this because I need all the assistance which
Unitarian Books can give me , not only for my own use , but for others . I find reading is more likely to do good here than preaching . The preacher may be incompetent or even an injury
to his cause , and by indiscretions arouse prejudices which books would not awaken . So well as the general mass of the population are informed upon political subjects in this country , they are most deplorably ignorant in
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theology . Their preachers are but little better informed ; they are compelled to know something of the trifling differences between themselves and their contemporary opponents ; but of biblical learning they know nothingof ecclesiastical history nothing ! The mass of preachers among the Methodists and New Lights are illiterate tradesmen , whose sermons are a mockery of public instruction , unstudied
and unpremeditated . The New Lights sprung up in Kentucky about 20 years ago among the Baptists , and were distinguished by their mad gesticulations and ridiculous noisy exercises . It is difficult to obtain a clear knowledge of their sentiments , for none that I have
conversed with know them themselves . They are , however , so far Unitarians as to believe the proper humanity of Jesus Christ , and to reject the doctrine of the Atonement ; but as they have no fixed or settled ministers , nor
any pecuniary aid given their preachers who are devoted wandering itinerants , they are considered as on the decline They are yet , however , very numerous in Ohio , Kentucky and Indiana , and as they are much less enthusiastic than
they were , and have escaped the great error concerning the person of Christ , I have hopes that preachers of talent will yet arise among them , and be the means of leading them still farther in the path of Christian , truth . We have
established a reading society here , but books are dear , and we have plenty of every thing but money . Booksellers will not take country produce in barter as most other tradesmen do . The purport of my letter , therefore , you will perceive , is to request your
assistance in this way as you have heretofore given it rne . Any works of esteemed Unitarian writers wilL be highly acceptable to us . I need not point out to you the most useful , 1 have yet by me all your works which you have presented me with , except the Life of Mr .
Lindsey , which I lost in England , and could not recover . For myself I should be thankful for any of the works of Lardner , Priestley or Lindsey , and if the Lectures you delivered at Essex
Street are in print , I should be very thankful for a copy , as they embraced those subjects I wish most to be well iiiforoied upon . It is a most overwhelming , melancholy consideration with me , that I can never have the
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348 Letter from Mr . Amphlett to the Rev . T . Belsham .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/24/
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