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To the Editor . Sir , Liverpool , July 3 , 1827 . Several of my friends having been much interested by the account which I have given them of my intercourse with the clergy of Geneva , I have been led to think that a paper on the subject will not be unacceptable to the readers of the Repository .
In the autumn of last year , I spent ten weeks at Geneva , and during that time became acquainted with many of the clergy of that city and canton . One of them , M . Bouvier , I bad seen , a year or two before , at my own chapel at Kenilworth . When I called upon him at Geneva , he received me in the most kind and hospitable manner , and soon introduced me to many of his brethren . I found them to be clever and well-informed men , * animated and eloquent in their preaching , and extremely desirous of gaining
information on all theological topics . In their opinions they are not altogether what we are , but they are not many degrees removed from us . I asked one of them , what , in general , were the sentiments of his church respecting the person of Christ . He replied , " You will find among us a few Trinitarians and many Arians . " He professed himself to be much inclined to the sentiments of the latter ; and declared , that although , for the sake of conformity , he read the Apostles' Creed in the public service , he should prefer to profess
his belief simply in the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit . The candidates for holy orders , he told me , are only required to profess their belief in the Bible—not in any particular creed ; and , indeed , there is among the Protestants of Geneva , ( and , I may add , of some others of the principal towns in Switzerland , ) an increasing disposition , to refer simply to the words of Scripture for the terms of belief—to avoid all sectarian names—and to adopt only the very general and comprehensive appellation of Evange'liques i ? eformh . f
Your readers will recollect the controversy in the Repository between Dr . J . P . Smith and Mr . Bakewell , respecting M . Malan and his church of orthodox Seceders . I am happy to say that the Genevese have too much good sense to give him much encouragement . I attended his service one Sunday morning , and there certainly were not two hundred persons present , exclusive of the catechumens . His cause does not flourish at all ; nor do I believe that it ever will , in such a soil , though it were under the auspices of
* In proof both of the learning and the eloquence of one at least of the Geneva clergy , I need only refer to the following work : —De l'Origine Authentique et Divine , de TAncien Testament . Discours , acconipagne * de DeVeloppemens et de Notes . Par J . E . Cellerier Ms , Ancien Pasteur , Professeur de'H 6 breu , de Critique et d ' Antiquite * s Sacre " es , a PAcade mie de Geneve . Geneve , Cherbuliez , Libraire ; Paris , Servier , rue de FOratoire . 1826 .
It is to be hoped that some one will take the trouble to make this work known to the English reader . It is well worth translating . The edition of the Geneva Bible , published in 1805 , 3 Vols . 8 vo ., is out of print ; but a committee of the pastors is employed on a new one . They are also preparing a corrected edition of their Liturgy .
• f The term Protestant is one which they do not like . They consider it as belonging only to those who protested against the errors of Popery , in the time of Luther . They prefer the term Re * form < 5 ; and they complain that we English have spoiled the term evangelical , its simple and proper meaning being , " those who profess to found their belief on the gospel / ' It is ia this sense that tiiey adopt it for themselves .
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THE GENEVA CLERGY .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 641, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/9/
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