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    the members and friends of the congregation , to the number of 160 , sat down to an excellent dinner , provided by some active and praiseworthy individuals of the society , in the school-room connected with the meeting-house ; Richard Collins , Esq ., in the Chair . Among the persons present were the following : — Revds . H . Montgomery , J . R . Beard ,

    ( minister of the congregation , ) J . O . Robberds , J . J . Tayler , W . Gaskell , , \ V \ Johns , R . Smethurst , E . Higginson , W . Hawkes , E . Hawkes 3 J . Gaskell , W . WMtelegg , W . Harrison , J . Brooks , A . Dean , G . Buckland , J . Cropper , H . Green , R . B . Aspland , F . Howartb , J . Ragland , J . Taylor ; also , Sir Richard Phillips , and Messrs . G . W . Wood , R . Potter , and J . Darbishire .

    The evening was spent in the interchange of sentiments truly Christian and liberal , which were heard and uttered as involving matters of incalculable importance and pre-eminent interest . The friends assembled were iC of one heart and of one soul ; " but in nothing did

    they agree more than in testifying their anxiety for the speedy abolition of that monopoly of privileges which , in a kiugdom from which they were favoured with their able and eloquent guest , converts religion into an iniquitous and oppressive engine of state ; iuterposes between the Creator and the consciences of his

    creatures ; and excites and inflames the worst passions of the human breast . It is impossible to report all the excellent addresses that were delivered on the occasion , and we confine ourselves to those of the Rev . H . Montgomery , not so much out of compliment to him as a stranger

    in this part of the empire , as in testimony of our estimation of his qualities as a man , and his exertions as a minister , and iii the hope that his native land may receive benefit from his eloquent and impressive observations .

    On his health being given , with thanks for his attendance on the occasion , Mr . Montgomery rose and said , that strength of nerve had been said to be the characteristic of his countrymen , and was , perhaps , particularly his own characteriatic > but the manner in which he had been received in Manchester , and the manner in which this compliment was paid him , really overwhelmed him . Allusion had been made to the readiness with

    which he had acceded to their request to he preseut at this annual meeting , and expressions of gratification had been used , to which he felt he was not entitled . ( Cheers . ) The favour bad the advantage was conferred on him hi the invitation

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    with which he had been honoured , and to the acceptance of which he should always look back with pleasure . He had beard much of the wealth , the intelligence , the respectability , and the liberality , of the Dissenters of Manchester ; but the experience of the last few days had far outgone all his anticipations , highly

    as they had been raised . He had never sat in company with men of a more enlarged and enlightened liberality than those whom he had recently had the happiness of becoming known to in Manchester ; and he could not help comparing with triumph their present situation to that in which they were placed at no distant period , when an enactment on the

    statute-book made it penal to deny the doctrine of the Trinity ; when they were exposed to the outrageous violence of a mob for the crime of preaching the truth of God , the unity of the Divine Being . They had put down the clamour by which they \» ere assailed , by their numbers , their intelligence , and , above all , by that moral conduct which was the best test of the soundness of a religious creed . —

    ( Cheers . ) They were also much indebted to what in his native land , he feared , had beeu hitherto wanting , cordial unanimity , and co-operation in every thing . There , it had been the unhappy effect of a mischievous worldly policy to divide the people in all things ; but particularly in matters of religion . There , the Unitarians were a rope of sand . He believed there was a considerable shade of

    difference between some of the tenets held by the Unitarians of I re laud , and their brethren in England ; he regretted it ; but there were points on which , after the most careful examination , he was bound to differ from his Dissenting brothers : but he rejoiced they were not of such a moment as to prevent them all from being considered of the same household of faith—( Cheers )—and this he did

    hold , in this he did go with them , m his belief in the unrivalled unity and supremacy of the one God and Father of all . And where this great principle was recognized , all minor shades of difference must eventually be merged . If this foundation were well laid , there could not be much difficulty as to the superstructure . The unanimity which prevailed here , he was sorry to say , was banished from Ireland t and iu the zeal that was there

    felt for the propagation of religious dogmas , the main object of the improvement of the heart was entirely lost sight of . To judge from profession and outward appearance , you would imagine that no human passion , uo human interest , mix-

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    Intelligence . —Salford Chapel Anniversary . 135

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1829, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2569/page/63/