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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
fcvtoe « M ? wWte *®®**^ bowtes&fWd at , the )^ ,. ^ of ? August he ^ as so far recqv ^ i e 4 , a ? t 0 Jb ^/< H 3 ^> l ^ dtp attend , iti soone def 5 r ^^> ' *^ W ? u&u # l pursuit& . For several y < # r « ; bis sfcrengfch ^ seemed gradually to lcwn * and ; though we efteu saw that
Spcoi ' . viiJtu sitnixl&i , prpinit altora corde doiofem , / . ' L . ' yet we : had- abundant reason for ihankfujness that a life so honourable ^ so valual > it , was preserved , to his family and to society .
J ought not to omit mentioning a very flattering testimony of friendship which J > e received , in 1806 , from the Congregation of the Octagon Chapel at Norwich , in the presentation of a handsome silver waiter , with an inscription expressive of
their sense of his " many and valuable services . " Though wholly unlooked for , this mark of their regard was inost welcome to him ; and it must form another link in that chain which binds , and I hope will always bind , his desceudauts in ties of no common interest to that
Christian church . During the years 1810 , 1811 and 1812 , the unsettled state of the Society gave him very great uneasiuess . 1 know that he passed many sleepless and anxious nights on this account . The settlement of Mr . Madge , in the latter end of the year 1812 , brought peace again within its wails , and during the period that he continued our minister not a
circumstance of any kind occurred to lessen the prosperity or disturb the harmony of the Society . In 1813 , the Eastern Unitarian Society was formed . My father had for many years been a member of the London Unitarian Society ; aud , in conjunction with his respected frieud Mr . Isaac Marsh , who consented to fill the office of
Treasurer , he took a warm interest in the formal ion of a society having the same great object in view . He presided at the first meeting , which was held at Norwich . In the year 1814 , Dr . Eufield ' s collection of Hymns being out of print , the congregation determined upon making a new selection for their use . Sir James
Smith not only contributed his advice in the selection , but enriched it with some origiual Hymns , and my father also added to the number which he had written for the former selection . This year he again enjoyed the pleasure of seeing his elder brother ^ and of assembling under his roof
foity-four members of his family . M l » connexion with this meetiHg he says , The great Arbiter of life and death alone knows who among this band of brothers shall never more be permitted , this world , to join in these family w-stivitiue , which to-me . have ' ever been a source of the moat delightful feelings .
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I parted wuii my ^ ear , . t * rf tty $ r ffffh njjgre doubt as to a future ^ meeting ^^ pjever ; vet I , would indulge the J ^ qpi t * J ^ af- > , Ji / e and strength may permit the renewal of
such a pleasure . " He was , not very long after this , called upon , in common witl j every member oif his family , to a severe trial of Christian fortitude and resignation , in the loss of his son-in-law Dr . Reeve . Beloved for
the sweetness and respected for the integrity of his character , admired for his talents , and looked up to for his medical skill , it may be imagined how" severe a blow to the happiness of our domestic circle was the removal of such a man . The feeling of attachment between father and son was scarcely more strong than that which subsisted between them .
That unshaken reliance upon the goodness of God which never forsook my father , under all the bodily and mental sufferings he had to endure , supported him now , and directed his thoughts to that state where parting shall be known no moie . His health was so far
restored that he was enabled again to visit the metropolis , where four of his sons were uow settled ; and he resumed with his accustomed activity the discharge of his duties as a man of business and a citizen . In 1818 , at my particular
request , he consented to join me in the Coinraon Council . He had often been urged to enter the Corporation , but till now , had declined it . The Whig party was very low at this time in point of numbers ; aud I was anxious to have the weight of his character and the benefit of
his experience among the minority ^ of which I formed a part . His attachment to his native city , to her popular constitution , to her municipal rights , and to the marks not only of antiquity but of wisdom which many of her institutions
bore , was very strong ; and having once entered the Corporation , he was most regular in the discharge of tils duties as one of its members . It is scarcely necessary for me to remark , that he never prostituted a Christian ordinance to obtain admission .
In 1819 , he was once more allowed the pleasure of assembling around him many members of his family . The number collected on this occasion amounted to sixty-four . On this occasion he says , " If 1 parted from my dear brother Philip with feelings of doubt and auxiety as
to the future at our last meeting , how much more so uow that five years' are added to our lives ! These feejiftgs 1 strove to temper by reflecting o \ x r the kindueas of Providence , whicj * Jias permitted me again to- enjoy supX # # feasure , and that we h ^ ve W » t irotie " , by deaLh since our la % t meeting , in 18 H . "
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Ohitmry ^ MK rfoh n ^ jf /^/ % 4 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 489, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/45/
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