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SaviourISnd Teachefr , and to witness your zealous exertions in behalf of what we believe simple Christianity . Continue to profess , and to spread as you are able , by precept and example , the gladtidings . Continue , ye who minister at God ' s altar , to plead his cause with persuasive power ; trust him , ye lovers of pure doctrine , in his orrtt time to give full effect to your endeavours to refine his religion from human corruptions . The Rev . W . J . Fox . —The motion which devolves , upon we to present to the meeting is one which has never been surpassed by any proposition that has been made to thds Association , or to the various Unitarian Societies by whose combination this Association has been
formed , for the simplicity and truth of the principle on which it is foundedfor the benignity of the spirit by which it is animated , or for the importance of the results of which its adoption may be productive . It Is a resolution which directs our views , not to the rich , the great , or the learned , but which turns our attention to the great mass of society ?
which reminds us that the gospel of Christ was originally preached to the poor . That benevolent spirit which sought out the poor for the purpose of relieving the my is the spirit by which , through all ages and countries , its professors should be animated * ,, and which calls on this meeting forthwith to put into operation an experiment of this kind ; according
to the example that has been set us by our American brethren , and by the labours of Dr . Tucfcerman , which have succeeded in establishing domestic missions for the instruction and relief of the poor of that country . I will now read the motion , that the assembly may be m possession of the object at which I am aiming in the remarks which I am about
to submit to you . It is , " That the gospel was . originally , by Its blessed Author and his apostles , preached to the poor ; that its spirit requires of its professors , through all ages and in all countries , a zealous employment of the best means for improving both the temporal and spiritual condition of the great mass
of mankind ; and that by the establishment as soon , and as far as shall be practicable , of Domestic Missions , whose object shall be , in conformity with the plan stated in the Circular addressed to the Unitarian public by the late Committee , to relieve their wants , enlighten their minds , and purify their characters , this Association will best shew the identity of Utiitarlautem , as a religion of
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love and merey , with pure and undefined Christianity . "—The plan which has been marked out by the Committee in the Circular addressed to the members of the Association , is described so clearly and briefly , that I cannot do better than read to you the few sentences that are devoted to that purpose . ( See Monthly Repository for May , pp . 315 , 316 . ) It must be evident to those who have paid attention to the formation of such institutions , that this proposition differs materially from any that is now in existence in this country : in fact , it is the creation of a new class of Christian
ministers—of a set of evangelical teachers , whose duty it will be to carry the gospel into those abodes of vice , wretchedness , and misery , where the regular preacher , owing to the nature of his labours , cannot be expected to penetrate , and where , without some such mode of instruction , it never can be hoped that Christianity will make its way . It will not be the business of such men as are to be
employed on this mission to enter on the subject of particular tenets ; it will not be their business to trouble the minds of those whom they shall have to Instruct with the niceties of theological disquisition . It will be enough that , if information is asked , it shail be given—if doubts are entertained , that they shall be explained and made clear . Their
mission , like that of the Apostle , is not to baptize or to sect ^ rianize , but to preach glad-tidings to the poor . It differs from other missions , inasmuch as it is no part of its object to establish congregations : on the contrary , its object is to seek those many of whom cannot , from the nature of
the case , become members of a congregation . They will have to go to those who , from their condition of abject want , cannot with decency shew themselves within the walls Of a place of worship : they will have to seek out the sick , the aged , and the bedridden : to take them that instruction and consolation for which
they cannot come . It will not be desirable for such a missionary to form a congregation , for the charge of a congregation would require an occupation of * time which will be inconsistent with his ' devotion to that work which is peculiarly marked out for him . Nor will it be like '
those institutions , the object of which Ss to visit and relieve the sick , for which employment agents of inferior intelligence are found * to be sufficient : We contemplate * finding agents worthy of so God-like a work—men of such kuovvledge of the World that they shall be competent to work with judgment the
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hifeWigerice . — Unitarian Association ^ . 4 § 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1831, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2598/page/63/
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