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the duties which devolve upon us as members of this Society , in the close investigation of every subject which comes under its notice—that each having first cast out the beam out of his own eye , may see clearly to cast out the mote out of his brother ' s eve .
Of the utility of association in a common cause , none can doubt . Man is a social being , and feels his heart lightened of its apprehensions , and his hand strengthened to vigorous exertion , when he exchanges the animating look of sympathy and resolution with his fellow . But it is too frequently the case , that while the end for which association is
employed is urged forward by the joint impulse of the crowd , the man is lost in the mass , the individual merges in the multitude , and ceasiug to possess that self-determining and self-acting principle which it is one great end of religion to induce , he becomes the passive echo of others' minds , and the passive agent of others' wills : but while we derive the
support aud encouragement which the principle of association is calculated to afford , let us never cease to remember , that it is as individuals we possess the right of investigation , and that it is as individuals we are responsible for the duties which its possession involves . *
In February , 1830 , circular letters were received by some of your present members , from a number of gentlemen in Dublin , whose purpose was the formation of an Irish Unitarian Christian Society , in order that , by the more general diffusion of Christian liberty , the
domination of human authority in matters of faith might be brought to a conclusion , and the many errors in religious belief which have arisen from that fruitful source , be gradually dispelled . As a mode of rendering more extensive the benefits of this institution , it was recommended that Provincial Branch Societies
should be formed , to communicate with the parent association , and be entitled to certain privileges on subscribing to its support . Acting on this suggestion , a meeting was held on the 25 th of February , at which Mr . James Lane presided , when the formation of such a Branch Society was resolved upon , and on Monday evening , March the lat , your
Soci-* These ideas upon Association have been suggested by an excellent essay on that subject , in the 34 th number of the Araericau Christian Examiner—from the pen of the Rev . William Ellery Channiug , D . D .
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ety ' s first meeting took place , on , which occasion resolutions declaratory of the objects which it contemplates were unanimously adopted . Those objects are : " To endeavour to produce a more full and general conviction of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures , as the sole rule of Faith and Practice .
• ' To maintain the right and promote the exercise of Free Inquiry and Individual Judgment on religious subjects , as being alike the privilege and the duty of all . " To confirm in its members , and universally to promote belief in the
fundamental doctrine of the Bible , that there is but One God , the Father;—a doctrine thus unequivocally expressed by our Saviour , in prayer to his Father p . nd our Father , his God and our God , — ' This is life eternal , that they might know Thee , the only true God , and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent . '
" To extend the influence of the devotional and practical parts of Revelation , that men may be ' doers of the word and not hearers only , ' ' knowing , that as the body without the spirit is dead , so faith without works is dead also . ' " One of the means by which the attainment of those objects was aimed at , was holding monthly meetings for scripture
and other religious reading , conversation , and prayer ; and your Committee consider the wishes expressed by the Members of the Society for greater frequency in its meetings , [ in accordance with which it was resolved , on the J 4 th of June , that they should take place once a
fortnight , and , on a subsequent occasion , once every week , ] as affording some evidence , as well of the adaptation of your Society to the purposes of Scriptural investigation , as of the increasing desire of its members for mutual improvement ; and your Committee trust , that the zeal which has thus been manifested in the
acquisition and dissemination of pure Christianity , may continue steadily to advance , removing in its onwafd course every obstacle to just conceptions of the attributes of the Great Being whom we worship—of the powers and capacities with which he has endowed us—and of the responsibility which attaches to us , as . their possessors .
Your Committee desire to notice one feature in the constitution and practice of your Society , which is , that as " the adventitious distinctions of rank aud station form no bar to admission , " so when you meet to receive from the revelation of that Being , who is no respecter
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554 Intelligence — Cork Unitarian Christian Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 354, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/66/
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