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which took place on Thursday the 26 th of September , at Ramsgate . " In adverting to the afflicting dispensation which has deprived the British
and Foreign Bible Society of the invaluable services of its late Secretary * the Committee cannot resist the impulse of duty and affection , thus to record their grateful testimony to his Zealand unwearied exertions .
" As no one was more deeply impressed with a sense of the great importance of the institution to the best interests of mankind , no one laboured more strenuously and effectually to promote its influence and prosperity . To this object , which was ever near to his heart , his time , his talents and his personal labours . Were unremittinclv devoted . The hoursWere unremittingly devoted . The
, correspondence which his official situation imposed on him , was alone sufficient to occupy the time which he could spare from his professional duties ; but the energies of a superior mind enabled him to extend his care and attention to every branch of the multifarious concerns of the Society , and to accomplish more than
could have been expected from individual efforts . ^ H is pen and his voice were incessantly employed in its cause . The former was frequently and vigorously exercised in elucidating the principles of the Institution , or in defending its character and conduct against misrepresentation or aggression . To his pen the work ! is indebted for a luminous and
authentic history of the origin of the British and Foreign 'Bible Society , and its progress during the first fifteen years of its exisfence ; in which the characters of truth and impartiality are throughout conspicuous : while his eloquence , so often and successfully displayed ki advocating the cause of the Institution , impressed on tris audiences that conviction of its
utility , which be himself so strongly felt , and which the progressive experience of eighteen years has now so amply confirmed . " But . hjs eloquence was entitled to a
higher praise ; it was the eiTusion of a heart in which candour and liberality ever predominated ; it was characterized by'that suavity of disposition which bad endeared him to the affectionate esteem , not Qnly of his colleagues and the Coin-
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708 Obituary . —Rev . John Xkvtn , A . M .
mittee , but of all who were in any way associated with him in transacting the business of the Society ; while his great and diversified talents commanded
general respect aad admiration , and never failed to produce in public meetings , an harmonious feeling of mutual regard among all who had the privilege of attending them .
" In the year 1818 , Mr . Owen , at the suggestion of the Committee , undertook a journey-to the Continent , principally with a view to the recovery of his health , which had materially suffered in the cause of the Institution ; but also for the purpose of visiting the Bible Societies in France and Switzerland .
" Of his conduct during this excursion , it is sufficient to say , that it tended to raise the reputation of the Institution of which he was the representative ; and to cement that happy union which had so long subsisted between the British
and Foreign Bible Society and its Continental associates ; and that his advice and -experience were eaaainentJy useful in forming arrangements for the establishment of new societies , or for rendering those already existing snore active and efficient .
" The Committee , while they deeply lament , individually and collectively , the loss which the Society has sustained ; cannot but devoutly express their gratitude to Almighty God , for having so long granted it the benefit of f ) i £ zeal and talents of their beloved associate : to the
indefatigable exertion of that zeal and those talents , the British and Foreign Bible Society , as far as regards human instrumentality , is essentially indebted for its present prosperous state ; while to the iame cause / must in great measure be ascribed that indisposition which has so fatally terminated .
" The Committee ., fully persuaded that all the members of the Institution will most cordially sympathise with them , oa an event so peculiarly calculated to affect their feelings , resolved that this brief memorial of the merits aud services of their late Secretary be published hi the Monthly Extracts of Correspondence . "
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1822, page 708, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2518/page/52/
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