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power the nntid . I feel , Sir , the importance , the incalculable importance , of this meeting , being , as I trust it is , the first of a series of meetings of a similar description , the result of which will be to give to our cause an energy which it has never before possessed , and to send it forth " conquering and to conquer , " in our own and in other lands , with a
splendour which has never yet atteuded its its exertions . ( Cheers . ) Were it merely the sight of so many men of intelligence and of piety , whose hearts are all beating with one emotion , whose views are all directed to one common object , and who by this meeting are consecrating their minds and their powers to the most glorious work which God lias given men to
do—that of promotiug the well-being of their fellow-creatures—( cheers )—were I only to view the meeting as thus combined , its approbation were enough to overwhelm one ; and one's sympathy with its feelings were almost strong enough to prevent a connected utterance . ( Great applause ) I see before me many of the young who have been so judiciously , so
kindly appealed to , by my friend at the other end of the room ( Dr . Carpenter ) ; and I see many fathers in Christ , men who have borne the toils , and heat , and burden of the day , through many a revolving year , " rich in the spoils of vanquished time , " and enjoying the fruits
of their early exertions , the realization of more than their youthful anticipations . 1 see also around me all classes , from the wealthy merchant of Manchester , to the more humble , but not less worthy and honourable operative of Padiham and Rossendale . ( Cheers . ) 1 see many who are unaccustomed to come so far
south as the meetings which I am in the habit of attending , but I look upon them as so many proofs that l < Souls are ripen'd in this northern sky , " and that they can achieve equal , or even greater , triumphs than we can boast of . I see , too , gentlemen coming or deputed from Ireland and America , and inspiring the hope of our seeing the time when
our meetings shall be attended by deputies from France and Spain , and even from Hindostan . ( Loud cheers . ) But , Sir , I apprehend and receive the honour so liberally bestowed by this meeting , as rendered not so much to the individual , as to that cause of which I am one of the humble advocates ; and I take it as a solemn pledge of devotion to our common cause , and of a determination to support it and act oti its principles , and
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to extend its interests in connexion with that institution whose anniversary has brought us together ; and thus to hasten the time when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth , as the waters cover the channels of the great deep . That institution , I feel , does deserve the best aid of this numerous and respectable assembly . It does deserve all the enthusiasm which has been manifested , and all the exertions that have been or shall be
made on us behalf , for it is identified with the cause of Unitarian Christianity , that is , with the cause of the gospel and of humanity . The comprehensiveness of the objects of this institution , and the nature and variety of the means it employs , are such as to recommend it to our cordial approbation and best support . It speaks ia all those ways most adapted to impress mankind . Now it sends forth its missionaries , after the apostolic
example , declaring truth to wilhug or unwilling ears ; and now it appears among congregations at home , extricating them from difficulties and shielding- them from dangers . Now it appeals to the Legislature of the country , by petitions for the preservation or extension of our civil , riglits ; and now it speaks to the people of our country , and appeals in behalf of the truth and power of our religious principles . It summons up even the mighty dead , and makes them missionaries in our
cause , and sends them forth m ttie writiugs of Milton , Locke , and Newton , to cooperate with our living advocates in the enlightenment of the world . ( Cheers , ) Sir , I enter with my whole heart and soul into the measures of the Society , because it was my lot , especially in early life , to know , partly by experience and partly by observation , something of the
extent of the evil which we had to overcome ; something of the magnitude of the nuisance which we would remove ; something of the virulence of the plague which we would stay ; and I trust that those who have been educated in another and a better age , and in a purer faith , and whose religious life has flowed on clear and unruffled under the sunshine of divine truth , I trust that they will
excuse what may seem intemperance of language in those who , like me , have had painful demonstration of tiie mischiefs produced by Calvinism , in the name of Christianity . Recollections of thia description are on my mind , which can never be erased . I have seen the auxious mother stand by the cradle of her sick and suffering child , and doubt the salvation of her own infant if it expired . I have seen men who believed that their
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Intelligence . — Unitarian Association . S 67
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 567, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/63/
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