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seeming contradiction , however , may be defended on the ground of complete tolerance . Our congregation is in majority rational , and in minority Methodist . It was argued here , that in every assemblage of Christians the minority as well as the majority must
be-rapresented-b-y-a-. spe . ciaLminis . tei : M . Guizot , the deputy member of the consistory , contended with great warmth , and quite in the doctrinaire Style , that in religious affairs there was in fact no majority , in a rational point of view , meaning that , while in civil and judicial matters the vote of a majority must of course always
overpower the minority , it was quite different in religious affairs ; that , in these , a majority ' s vote is no law for a minority ; that each fraction of a congregation has equal rights of conscience ; and that a majority ought never to deprive a minority of an adequate representation in public worship .
This is certainly very enlightened tolerance . But with methodism in France , the question is to decide how any congregation can live in peace with two orders of ministers ; the one considering that dogmatical differences do not exclude from the pale of the Christian church , the other dealing excommunication and damnation on
all those who do not think in all tenets like themselves . This is the great question ; and I doubt not , that , on the first fair opportunity , we shall have open warfare between the two parties . Our rational party can be safely deemed that of the Unitarians ; for the question of the Trinity is the most prominent object of dissent .
It is probable that hostilities will begin at our first annual meetings of religious societies , Bible Society , & c . These meetings are often here little more than an exhibition for
Methodism , which cherishes particularly our ridiculous missionary society , which goes on sending to the Cape of Good Hope , to convert the Hottentots , poor young men , sons of Protestant peasants of the south , who can hardly
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speak good French . However , all these societies , including the Bible Society , are declining . This I foresaw long ago . A new system of rational Christianity will alone succeed in France . In the philosophical point of view , we have no great news to
communicate : only , there has lately appeared a very able pamphlet , written by M . Olgger , on metaphysical questions , and addressed to M . Montalivet , then Ministre des Cultes . M . Olgger is a man of ardent mind and independent principles , late first vicar of the cathedral church of Paris , who quitted this fine station to renounce the errors
of the Church of Rome . He declared Protestant , over-hit the mark , and turned rather a decided Swedenborgian . He was named since July Professor of Philosophy in the college of Villefranehe , in Britanny , and there he professed his own philosophical ideas , and exposed , among the rest , the absurdity and cruelty of the notion of eternal torments . The
clergy raised a violent outcry against such a scandalous heresy , and the government , siding with bigotry , deprived the professor of his seat . M . Olgger ' s letter is an explanation and justification of his general opinions . You are aware , that among other follies of Louis Philip's government , we must reckon in the foreground , his fear and
complaisance of priests : they of course feel very little obligation , an $ are making every effort in their power to overturn the present state of things . In fact , the course of Louis Philip is so unpopular among the patriots , that I begin to think seriously that we are sailing pretty fast towards a republic , which however will not be bloody and disastrous as the ' first .
Our St . Simonians are always en retraite : we have three divisions of them , —and even four . The main branch , those of the Globe , are retired , near Paris , in a large house , or convent , where they live on amor nastic rule—except that they work a great deal ; they are , I hear , pie *
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9 9 UNITARIAN CHRONICLE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1832, page 92, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1717/page/12/
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