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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), February 1833, Edition 1 of 1, Page 51, NORWICH OCTAGON CHAPEL BROTHERLY SOCIETY.

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    • NORWICH OCTAGON CHAPEL BROTHERLY SOCIETY.
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      which has been life to Unitarian Christianity in the New World ? Here is an answer to those who , estimating p rinciples by numbering- adherents , hav boldly and arrogantly decried our sentiments , on the ground of their alleged unpopularity . It has been long known by

      persons who could look with an unprejudiced eye on the members of our community , that while generally the intelligence and morality of the Unitarian body in this kingdom would su ffer in comparison with no other religious connexion , more than a proportional share of moral and intellectual : distinction existed amongst us in an unobtrusive , yet not inert nor useless form . Whatever doubt

      could be entertained of . this a few weeks since , the calm arid deliberate judgment of our countrymen has removed for ever in the choice which , in instances more than our relative numbers would justify us in expecting , they have spontaneously made of members of our bady to represent and maintain their interests in the great council of the nation . And

      independently of the honourable testimony thus borne to the eminence of Unitarians in moral worth and mental power , is there not in the fact to which I have adverted a promise of better things to come , and a ground of encouragement ? Is not our social position improved since we , who not many

      years ago bore th e brand-of th elaw and the brand of society , are adr mitted to an honourable participation in making the law through th © high estimation in which we are held by society ? And in this improvement of our social position , who . does not see that our sQciaLJnJuenfie . is . increased ? Both to encounter prejudice

      and disarm opposition , to renovate what is worn out , and to extend what is sound and vigorous , we have received an increase of power to which every passing 1 year will , in my ' opinion , bring great accessions . Nor can I disbelieve , that principles which have thus triumphed in civil policy will be de «

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      feated in the warfare of religious truth , but rather must I think that our countrymen , by adopting our political opinions , have given us a , real though silent pledge , that at no distant day they will signify attachment to our religious creed .

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      UNITARIAN CHRONICLE . 51

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      Sir , —In the hope that it may be interesting to some of your readers , and stimulate them to adopt or improve upon the plan developed , I subjoin a brief history of the rise and progress of a society , which has

      gradually acquired considerable importance in connexion with the above chapel . I fear it is too true that the Unitarians of Norwich have rather lagged behind their brethren elsewhere , in the establishment of useful institutions for the education and improvement of their poorer

      members . Tnere has been an excellent endowed day-school , under the direction of trustees belonging to the Octagon Congregation , for more than a century ; but this circumstance rather tended to retard , than to forward the establishment of a Sunday-school , until the year 1822 , when one was at

      length formed under the especial auspices of the late Dr . Thomas Martineau ; which , there being so good a day-school to commence operations upon , soon -became firmly and respectably established , and has since gradually extended itself to about seventy boys and as many givls .

      Jn the following year , 1823 , and under the same auspices , a Vestry Library was set on foot , which , by means of several valuable . donations , soon comprised the collective works of Lardaer , Priestley , Paley , Lindsey , Jebb , Belsham , and others , besides all the most esteemed books

      and tracts on Unitarian theology and Christian morals , and the current Unitarian periodicals of England , Scotland , and America , amounting to about 60 Q volumes ,

      Norwich Octagon Chapel Brotherly Society.

      NORWICH OCTAGON CHAPEL BROTHERLY SOCIETY .

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  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1833, page 51, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2607/page/19/