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Untitled Article
Caleb . You cannot surely mean to discountenance their object altogether . You , who know what persecution for opinion is , and have learned through that persecution what is tTUth , cannot but be eager to extend protection , and aid , and sympathy , to those who are now suffering as our fathers suffered a century ago . Where on earth shall our struggling brethren of Ireland look for help if not to us ?
Ebion Adamson . And let them not look in vain . They deserve tljat our labours for their consolation and support should be as strenuous as their struggles for freedom , and as generous as their relinquishment of ease and competence . There is no doubt as to our obligation to assist ; the only question is as to the mode . My main objection is to the establishment of a permanent fund , and it rests on the same ground as my disapprobation of all charitable bequests *
Elhanan . There is much to be said in favour of your peculiar views respecting the tenure of property : but is the present exactly the time and the occasion to enforce them ?
Ebion Adamson . My objection is wholly independent of the views you allude to . What I mean is , that we presume too much upon our foresight when we attempt to calculate upon the circumstances of a future age : and that we are too thrifty of our resources when we divide among two or more generations the bounty which is needed to its utmost extent by the present . When we look round and see how much more waits to be done than we have means
to effect , we may be well assured that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof , and are perfectly justified in leaving it to a future age to provide against its own bigotry . Elhanan . But will not many be roused by the present appeal to sympathize and admire and give , who would otherwise never have bestowed a glance on Ireland ?
Ebion Adamson * I hope there are none among us so dull of ear and slow of heart as to be ignorant or careless of the merits of the Remonstrant Synod ; and if their sympathies stir them up to give , I would urge that they should provide that noblest bequest , —the example of ministering without reserve to the aid of
the sufferers of their own day . They would thus be establishing a " permanent fund , " which would yield as abundantly and substantially as that which they are now providing ; while the present generation would , at the same time , have the benefit of all the resources they can spare . It is no compliment to our principles to suppose that those who will be more fami-
Untitled Article
662 Ebion Adamson and his Friends .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1831, page 662, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2602/page/10/
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