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second series. Besides the Annual Report and Dr Tuckerman's Tenth Report, twelve tracts of the first series and four of the second have been published, and twelve tracts of former years have been reprinted, making an aggregate of 72,500 pamphlets, and of nearly 2,000,000 pages. The Account of the Agents

shows that these tracts are not accumulated on their shelves; 68,500 copies having been sent from the Depository within the last twelve months.

The increase of activity which has been given to this branch of our operations may be learned from a comparison of successive periods. The Association has been in existence six years, in which time it has issued fortyeight 12mo. tracts of the first series, and ten 18mo. tracts of the second series, besides ten reports of the minister at large, and five reports of the Executive Committee; or seventythree separate publications. Of these, eighteen have been published since the last anniversary; in the previous year fourteen were published; and if the remaining fortyone be divided between the first four years, it will give an average of ten and a fraction annually. The multiplication of new tracts has not driven those of an earlier date out of use; twentyfour of the tracts of the Association have been reprinted, six of them have passed through a third edition, and of one six editions have been printed. It may be added, that the first edition of each tract has with one exception consisted of three thousand, and in many instances of five thousand copies. In view of these facts, the Committee deem their confidence in the utility of this department of their exertions perfectly just, and they can only anticipate a constant enlargement of its efficiency and beneficial operation.

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They have in several instances authorized the distribution of tracts by their missionaries, and have made gratuities, when circumstances seemed to justify such an appropriation.

The ministry to the poor in Boston, under the care of this Association, has been prosecuted with a like spirit in him who fills this office, and with as clear. evidence of satisfaction and benefit on the part of those whom he visits, as have distinguished this ministry in former years, and has been supported with even greater liberality by the inhabitants of this city, from. whom the funds for this mission are wholly derived. Dr Tuckerman's health is inadequate to the discharge of all the duties for which there is opportunity in such an employment, and a strong desire has been felt both by him and by the Executive Committee, to obtain the services of another, who might at once share and extend the labors of this important function. They have not found the means of gratifying this desire, but they trust that in the Divine Providence some one will be raised to preach the gospel in its simplicity to the poor. The worship of the Chapel connected with this ministry has been conducted through the last winter and spring principally by clergymen of this city. The good of which Dr Tuckerman's service is the occasion has not been confined to Boston, nor to this side of the Atlantic. His Reports have awakened an interest in the subject of moral and religious instruction for the poor in other places, both in our own country and in Great Britain. The Committee are so well satisfied respecting this fact, that they have determined to publish the future Reports of the 'Minister at large' in their first series of tracts.

Since the last meeting, the connexion which then existed between this Association and the Boston Sunday School Society has been dissolved. Friendly relations are still maintained between the two societies; and it gives us much pleasure to advert to the proofs furnished in the last Annual Reports of the Sunday School Society, that it has been an instrument of great good to the community, by the impulse it has communicated to the sacred cause of religious education.

Within the last year, appropriations have been made for the support of preaching in Maine, in Vermont and New Hampshire, in Connecticut, in New York, and in the Western States. The demand for Unitarian preaching continues and increases. The congregations in Massachusetts which maintain this faith have been steadfast in the regular use of the ordinances of worship, and, we may hope, have been enriched with the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind; while the churches which are scattered at wide intervals throughout other parts of our land, the lights and guardians of truth, have been strengthened inwardly and outwardly, having had experience of comfort and joy, and having also enlarged the boundaries of their influence. To the church in Washington, which was oppressed by a heavy debt, * the Committee, in view of the great exertions made by its members to relieve themselves from this embarrassment, voted two hundred dollars; and they rejoice with those faithful adherents to a cause beset and almost shut in with difficulties, in the termination of their trials. Through the liberality of their friends here and elsewhere, added to their own large contributions, they have discharged the debt, and have settled a minister,

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under whom they reasonably expect to enjoy satisfaction and growth, both in spiritual and temporal things. The society in Augusta, Geo., has enjoyed signal prosperity through the last year. The church in Cincinnati, Ohio, has received increase of ability and confidence; and judging from its present situation, is destined to extend an influence over a wide region. In Western Pennsylvania, Unitarian preaching has been regularly maintained in two or three important places.. In one of the towns that line the North River, our faith has been preached for some time to attentive hearers. In Hartford, Conn., our brethren will probably erect in the course of the next year a house of worship. Such evidence have we, in circumstances, addressed to the senses, of the spread and efficacy of our views of the gospel.

The Executive Committee proposed, the last autumn, to hold public meetings for the benefit of the Association in some of the shire towns of this commonwealth. The suggestion has been carried into effect in one instance; and so far as we have been able to learn, is recommended by the approbation of public sentiment and by the good effects of the meeting. By request of the county auxiliary, a deputation from the officers of the General Association attended a meeting in Worcester on the 14th of April, when addresses were made to a highly respectable audience, of such a nature as would promote an intelligent love of the principles to which we are devoted. Meetings of this kind, we think, will be useful to the community and advantageous to the Association. The public celebration of our anniversary in this city is an occasion which excites much

interest; and by the communication of sympathy and encouragement is felt to a great distance.

The condition of the various instruments for diffusing a knowledge of our opinions, and for bringing them into more powerful action upon our own hearts, of which a sketch was given in the last Report, remains essentially the same. The number of our periodical works has been increased within the last year. Dover in New Hampshire, Meadville in Pennsylvania, and Augusta in Georgia, is each the seat of a publication devoted to the support of our faith. The Christian's Manual has been discontinued, but its place will be supplied by another publication from the same press.

We are naturally led, from the part which this Association has taken in the distribution of religious light, to a notice of prominent circumstances in the religious history of the past year. They merit our attention, as indications of the state both of sentiment and of action, which prevails on the subject in which we are most deeply interested — the momentous subject of christian improvement. The last year, we may observe, has been one of great prosperity throughout our land. Various branches of industry which had previously languished have revived, and from every part of the Atlantic shore, but particularly from this city, has the voice of busy and profitable enterprise risen to swell the sound of our national happiness, which is stirring the hearts of men in the old world to desire and obtain a similar condition of freedom and prosperity. At the same time the nature of our civil institutions has allowed and occasioned, as it probably ever will produce, an

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