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1 CoR ; xvi . 9 . —• A great door is opened to me ahd there ar £ many adversaries . ' * After having enlarged on the energetic and useful character of the apostle Paul , he states that these words are applicable to the present time in this country . *
You will contradict me , my brethren , if I misjudge the time in which we live ; you will set me right , my colleagues , if 1 ill understand our task ; but it seems to me that this short but striking picture of the church at Ephesus , is a just representation of the reformed church of our days . In order to fulfil our ministry with effect , we have to remember , that we live in the nineteenth
century , in a state of society which we must study closely in order to appreciate it , on its coming out from political commotions the most violent that ever were ; and upon this territory of France , the most productive and fertile , in which , as everywhere else in this world , the tares spring up among the wheat . I hope , therefore , to promote the object of this holy solemnity , by enquiring what religious aspect our country presents to us . This examination will lead us , I think , to say , each of his own church , a great door is open to m& 9 but there are many adversaries . 1 . A great door is open to us . —The thought expressed in this noble and simple image leaves us in no doubt : it is found often in profane authors , and always used by them in the same sense as by the sacred writers . A happy occasion is presented to us of spreading the gospel . I know , my brethren , that some minds , skilful in slander , and accustomed to darken , take in evil part all that the present generation is doing , and despair of good to this
generation . Modern society , " * they say , * is fallen into dissolution ; it has no longer any tie , nor bridle , nor faith ; ' and when (they seek the power that reigns , they find nothing but self-interest : This alone is powerful in our time ; it stifles modesty , it discolours true glory , it breaks the charm of all pure affection ;
and it is because we are a nation who seek only self-interest , that we have so much difficulty in becoming true citizens in the state , and true believers in the church : it is because we worship ourselves with so much ardour , that we worship God so coldly . * These reproaches are familiar to you , without doubt , for they now find a place in all our conversations and in all our books ; and the accusation , it must be confessed , is not destitute of
foundation . Our people , for forty years , have been tossed from rock to rock , and from storm to storm ; and you know that self-preservation easily takes the lead in the midst of the tempest : when a man is awaiting a shipwreck , he seldom thinks of any but himself . Men of great minds , Christians of deep conviction , alone remain masters of their feelings , and make charity to triumph at the sight of danger . But whatever leaven of interest the perpetual fluctuations of our destiny have caused to rise in our minds , I think I can perceive , in the midst of the keen efforts which carry
Untitled Article
Reformed Church hi France . 4 l %
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/57/
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