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Untitled Article
niary means necessary to enable them to extend their labours to the greatest advantage , and to secure the fruit of them , by enabling their converts among the poor to procure suitable places to meet in regularly , and to defray the expenses unavoidably incurred by keeping tip public worship and the ministry of the word , and , which is of much importance in new congregations , to support Sunday-schools and libraries among them . Whatever recent failures
we may have to lament , it cannot be denied that missionaries and missions have done much for the promotion of the Unitarian cause in Great Britain : they have been instrumental in raising new congregations in different parts of the island ; they have contributed something towards the revival and improvement of the cause in some old congregations ; they have introduced Unitarian ism , and given it a footing in some districts where it before had
no place . One important point through their means is decided by the evidence of facts , i . e . that Unitarianism is capable of becoming the religion of the poor and unlearned , and that the tenets we hold are not unfitted for proselytism even among them ; for some of our new congregations consist of the poor and unlearned . The low state some of them are in , owing to pecuniary circumstances , and their appeals to their richer friends for assistance , furnish proof of this .
After all , it may be hoped that the recent failure of some of our missionary plans may be more in appearance than in reality . Though some things which were attempted have been relinquished , and some disappointments have been experienced , it by no means follows that the labours of the missionaries have been in vain : the seed of the word which they have scattered , and which is incorruptible , may in some instances have fallen on good ground , and though the effects are not yet visible to us , it may be taking root , and
may spring up and bring forth fruit . I have known instances in which occasional labours in preaching , conversation , and the distribution of tracts , have produced important effects * of which the person who laboured had no knowledge until a considerable time afterwards ; and prior to his being informed of such unexpected fruit of his labours , he might conclude , for any
thing that appeared to the contrary , that he had in such instances laboured in vain . We should labour in season and out of season , and never be weary of well-doing , knowing that in due time we shall reap if we faint not . Let us keep in view the maxim , that no good effort well directed shall be ultimately lost , and that whether our exertions be successful or not , so far as they proceed from right motives , God will not let them go unrewarded .
What the Watchman states respecting the West of England can relate only to the lower parts of Somersetshire and the adjoining parts of Dorsetshire ; if meant of the West of England at large , it is altogether a misstatein ent ; for the missionary spirit was active , and two missionary associations were instituted in the West , before the late Mr . Wawne stirred in the
business ; and , so far as I know , the one formed at Exeter for Devonshire and Cornwall still exists , and its not having done more- may be fully accounted for without leaving the zeal of its members and friends in the least question-- able . The novelty of popular plans among Unitarians , and the extravagancies and absurdities connected with them , and discovered in th 6 manner of
conducting them , among some religious parties , may account for the fears and apprehensions , as to their adoption , of some of our respectable congregations , arid of well-educated and polite people ; though a considerable number of this class , and some of our best congregations , have never , that I know of , shewto themselves opposed to such plans , but have given them their
Untitled Article
12 Progress of Unitarianism in Grent Britain .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/12/
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