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mind ; ipt if the lovely and captivating truths of the religion of Christ couW not support their owa assertions , it would be in vain to support them by force and tyranny , In speaking of religious liberty * it would be perceived , that he alluded particularly to some late prosecutions , in
which it had been attempted to put down discussion by punishments—* by punish * inents arbitrary and severe . For bis own part , he could oo ^ but express the greatest abhorrence of those proceedings , which he considered as calculated in the highest degree to disguise and disfigure the holy truths of religion ; be ?
sides which , truth could never be come at unless all sides were heard ; and how was it possible to decide which was true and which was false , if only one side of the question were heard ? The Honour * able Gentleman concluded by proposing ic Civil and Religious Liberty here and every where /*
The Chairman , on proposing The Christian Tract Society—Prosperity and Perpetuity to it , * ' tooH occasion to express the very high gratification he had derived from reading its publications . He thought them well calculated iQ beiiefit society ,
because they enforced the discharge / of all the great duties of life * without insisting on the peculiar opinions of any party * There was po ; sectarian spirit in them * bnjt tirey ' promote ^ zealously yet temperately the great cause-of Christianity in 3 , JJ its bearings . ;
The Secretory rose and begged to state * f < M tfie information of those gentlemen y * b ® had not beea present at the meeting for business , what h ^ d been done to carry into effect the objects of the Society since the , last Anniversary . He thea briefly recapitulated the leading topics of the Report , and observed , he was , happy
iu being able to state , that the Society met that day under more favourable circumstances than for some years past * TJiey were , it was true , indebted to their Treasurer ; but the outstanding debts of the Society exceeded the amount of what it owed . Since the last General Meeting there had been sent out from the store
nearly 33 , 000 of the , tracts , most of which had - been put into circulation , though some had been seat out on sale or return . The number circulated during the preceding year , had been rather more than 20 , 000 . It was therefore , manifest that the efforts of the friends of the institution had not relaxed , as a considerably increased demand had been made for the
tracts since the * last Anniyers&ry . Can * . dour , however , required him to say , that as fourteen months had elapsed since the last Meeting was held , all the Subscribers ' aJlQUwents . far 1823 , j * ud many of those
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for ^ 1324 , were included in the 32 * 96 $ copies actually issqed during that period j but he concaved that he wasJfMttified M fixing the nunibers circulated last year at 25 , 000 . He was fully aware thac this
would appear to be a very small number for a Society to have circulated during such & period * as there wer ^ some Socle * ties in England which issued In one year * aearly ^ many # s this Society had circulated since ¦ ; its establishment * But it
should be recollected that most if not . all of these Societies called in the aid of party feeling and sectarian zeal ; while the Christian Tmet , Society relied on neither . The grants made by the Committee
that space had not been numerous ; but their predecessors had forwarded the tracts to France , Holland , Piedmont , Russia , Spain and Portugal . What had been their fate in , the two last
countries he way . unable to say \ but he feared they might have been destroyed , for they breathed a ' spirit too free aud pure for those that now held the . reins of power there , as the presence of the distinguished individuals who support * ed the Chair too plainly proved . — - In
America , where every maw might avow his religious and political opinions with * out exposing himself to danger , the Society ' s Tracts had been cordially received , their merits duly appreciated , and efforts made for their general circulation . After the character given to these publications
by the Honourable Gentleman Who had that day condescended to nil the Chair * it was unnecessary for him to say auy thing respecting them . He , however , begged to state that it had been the object of . the Founders of the Society and of its successive officers to furnish the Poor and the
Young with such a course of reading , as might tend to excite and to strengthen that love of virtuous conduct , which when thrown out into practice dignified the character , and increased the sum of human happiness . The friends of the institution had only had in view to inculcate that
moral conduct , on the necessity of ; which the wise and good of all parties , were agreed ;—they sought not to disseminate the opinions of one party , but to second the benevolent efforts of all parties—to cherish goodwill towards - the whole hitman race , not to engender an unkind feeling towards any feliow- ^ creature * - ?—The
Secretary concluded with reminding the company tkat they had a Treasurer with , an exhausted Treasury , and with ex pressing a hope that such pecuniary aid would that day be afforded , as would enable the ( COnjinitteet : vigorously to prosecute the . objects of the Society * The Chairman then rose , and , aftqe s . oju £ . prefatory remarks , iiresepited the
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Intelligence . —Christian Tmet Sdtietn . 371
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1824, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2525/page/51/
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