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    British and Foreign Unitarian Association : and , under this new and more comprehensive character may , we hope , be capable of more extensive usefulness . As the name

    Unitarian Fund , though dear to many , will be soon nearly lost to the public , the period has arrived , when a short account of its Rise and Progress may appear interesting to many , if not to all your readers . I am speaking of an institution that has existed nearly

    twenty years , which has received the countenance and support of many of the wisest and best men amongst us ; an institution which , by its operation , has changed our character and

    circumstances as a religious denomination , and , by having succeeded far beyond all previous calculation , has proved eminently useful . The origin and progress of such an institution , whether viewed in its moral or its

    religious effects , can never be regarded by the lover of truth and of free inquiry with indifference . Bound up as we frankly confess our most interesting associations are with its history , it h not merely with a view to selfgratification , that this detail is here

    given , but also in the hope , that , by giving it a wider circulation , good /* nen in different parts of the world and in future times , may , from the example here presented , be induced to unite and to exert themselves for

    the promotion of truth and goodnessto do something towards promoting the happiness of man , and the honour of Almighty <* od . Though intending to confine myself simply to an historical sketch , yet I iind it impossible to do so without speaking of myself , and of others who

    were the principal fellow-actors , in a way which modesty and personal consideration would not choose . But , as I wish to place the facts on record for the good of future , rather than of the present times , I cannot in justice omit to mention those whose zealous exertions mainlv contributed

    to establish the Unitarian Fund . Acting as I believe I do from a higher motive than that of gratifying the personal vanity of any one , I dismiss all further apology and proceed to state that , for more than thirty years , I have been an Unitarian , and for many of the more early years of that period was zealous beyond many

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    others of mine equals . But bein # placed in very humble circumstances , having no advantages from education , and but little knowledge , I was enabled to turn my zeal to tittle account . What I could not do myself , I regretted , and sorelv regretted , to see

    unperformed by others who had all the means and requisite qualifications . At the time of which I am now speaking , 1794 or 1795 , with the exception of " The Unitarian Book Society , " there were no societies amongst Unitarians for the furtherance of their

    religious objects . Indeed , it must be confessed , that so unconnected , if not unconcerned , did they appear , that they seemed in a measure to justify their opponents , in the opprobrium

    with which they were constantly loading them for " their want of zeal , as having no regard for their own principles , &c . &c . They had no point of union , no united exertions for a

    common object . This state of things was seen and lamented by many worthy individuals , and often expressed publicly and privately ; still nothing was done . Something was wanting , but no one seemed to know what it was .

    There was the disposition to be doing , as subsequent events proved , when there should be a properly defined object . I make these observations to exculpate the body from the often-repeated charge of absolute indifference . It required no effort of genius to

    point out a remedy . A reflecting mind could readily perceive that the united efforts so successfully employed by other religious bodies , could not fail of being equally useful to us . The chief merit , I conceive , lay not so

    much in any great discovery of a remedy , as in pointing out the means of its efficient application : this will be more evident in the sequel . Many of our old Presbyterian congregations had gradually given up the Assembly ' * Catechism as their creed , and Lad

    silently become Avian , or , in a more restricted sense , Unitarian . Without being indifferent to the importance of divine revelation , they trusted that , by a practical and negative style of preaching , and by occasionally publishing sermons and tracts , calling in

    question , or giving a new view of established doctrines ; by commentaries and essays , in periodical publications , abounding with biblical research & " *

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    338 Mr . Eaton s Account of the Rise and Progress of the Unitarian Fund .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 338, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/18/