[p. 80] offered the following supplement to their paper as then read:
The Committee hope it will be distinctly understood, that they did not intend to interfere with the letter which the
Church received from their beloved Pastor.
They consider that Letter indeed as the basis of their report.
They only wished to enlarge and to make the plan of the Library a little more general than it was at first contemplated.
The words of that Letter are: “That the Library should only comprise books of a strictly Christian and practical,—not of a sectarian and controversial nature.”
Your Committee humbly conceive that the books they have recommended will not be inconsistent with this character.
If they are unchristian or impractical, if they are sectarian or carry with them the spirit of controversy,—they ought to be excluded, and it is to be hoped that we shall have no subscriber who will wish to see them introduced.
For the
Committee,
After the reading of the above, two or three of the brethren expressed their minds, and a seeming readiness prevailed to accept the report; but it was concluded to defer a final decision thereon to the next Sabbath, after the second public service, when a fuller meeting of the brethren was expected.
Sept. 4, 1825.
In Church meeting, the Report of the Committee to whom had been referred the proposed subject of a Library was again read, along with the supplement thereto;—and the Brethren unanimously voted to approve and accept the same.
A preamble that had been prepared for a subscription paper was also read and approved of.
It was voted that a Committee of five Brethren of the Church and six members of the congregation be chosen to raise subscriptions of money and collections of books,
