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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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will not stop till it has found rest in the principles of true Unitarian ism and genuine Christianity . < c Yours very sincerely and affectionately , " T . Belsham . " Daventry , Feb . 20 , 1789 . "
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t € Shall I hide from my friend the thing that I do ? I asked his advice , and he has been so very ready and so very frank in giving it , and his sentiments so nearl y concur with my own , that I think he wiJl have some reason to complain that I have not treated him with honour , if I do not let him know exactly how txiatters stand . " I had no doubt in my own mind as to the steps proper to be taken at the time that I wrote to ask your opinion . I had actually taken the most decisive measures , but I wished by sounding you to have your free , unbiassed opinion upon a question which you apprehended to be still in suspense .
• ' My mind has been gradually advancing to Unitarian principles ( N . B . I allow you to be a Unitarian as well as myself ) for some time past . My difficulties upon that subject have been gradually lessening ; and since I have been reading the lectures this session , my mind has been more and more confirmed in these views ; and the revolution which has taken place in my sentiments has been attended with so much reluctance and so many struggles , generally so contrary to rny expectations , almost to my inclinations , that I think it impossible that I should ever see the doctrine in a different light from what I now do . Vestigia nulla retrorsum , from the lion ' s den of
Unitananisjn . " I now consider myself as being , upon the one hand , totally different from wliat I was when Mr . Coward ' s Trustees chose me to the Academy ; and , upon the other , as disqualified from supplying the generality of Dissenting congregations who ought to be supplied from Mr . Coward ' s Academy with suitable ministers . I had no doubt , therefore , that honour and duty required that I should quit my present situation , and I determined to resign . This resolution I formed about October last . I did not mention a word of it
to any person in the world till the latter end of January , when I sent my letter of resignation to Mr . Coward's Trustees , at the same time assigning my reasons . The next week I received a very handsome letter from Mr . Paice , in which lie acquainted me , that my resignation was accepted . " Of this event there are no persons in the kingdom who have any knowledge at present , but Mr . C . * s Trustees , Mr . W . Smith , Mr . Pett , and yourself . " It is remarkable that the affairs both of the Congregation and the Academy are at this time peculiarly promising . Two or three new families of
Dissenters are come to live in the town , —the Sunday-school is thriving , —the young people have formed themselves into a society , and a considerable number of them are coming to the 1 / ord's table , and I do not know that we have any complaint or uneasiness . — -The members of my family are universally orderly , diligent , and well-behaved ; and though a considerable number are to leave the house this vacation , I have already the prospect of twelve or
fourteen new Students , which is a greater number than I have known of , at this time of the year , since I kept the Academy . " It is a little mortifying to give up every thing at a time when prospects are so very promising . It is still more mortifying to find , that the very pains I have taken to qualify myself for the station I ana in , have operated directly contrary to my intention and expectations . Had I contented myself with going over the old lectures in a slovenly way , I might have been Tutor at JDaveutry as long as I lived . I am eure I never could have changed my prin-
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& 0 On the Character and Writings of the Ret . T . Belsharh .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/8/
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