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another , "—John xiii . 35 , and who gave no other symbol to distinguish his disciples , ) than a Catechism which teaches the concord and union of Christian Churches of all denominations , saying , ( p , 1 O 8 , ) that " as they all acknowledge
Jesus Christ as their head , they each form a part of the Catholic Church" ? Can such a Catechism be a departure from the doctrines of Christianity , which treats of sacred history , of the truths and of the duties of the
Christian religion , in 54 sections , each being the text of an hour ' s lecture , given by a minister to Catechumens , according to the discipline of the Church of Geneva ? The second fact The Herald ' s Correspondent gives as a proof of his
assertion , is , that " in 1805 the Company of Pastors introduced into the dfiurches of Geneva a new version of the Bibler But such an argument could be produced also against the first
reformers , — every body knows that Luther , Calvin and others , published new versions of the Bible , — every body knows that it was in having recourse to the originals , that the reformers dissipated so many errors , which had crept into the Christian Church , And this is an inestimable
coincidence of the present Pastors of Geneva , with their ever celebrated predecessors the reformers , that they gave a much-improved version of the Bible . Twelve years have now elapsed since the publication of this admirable work , and it has not been in the power
of any member of the Bible Society to prove against me , that any of the improved passages that I have pointed out to the English public ( or any other improved passages whatsoever , ) in the Geneva Bible , were not defective in the correlative passages of the obsolete
French version , to which they have given their preference . It is a curious way to " depart from the doctrines of Christianity" to give a more faithful version of the Bible , more perfect , more conformable to the originals , nearer to the fountain head !
The third fact by which The Herald ' s Correspondent pretends to prove that " the Pastors of Geneva utterly exclude from their Churches the peculiar doctrines of Christianity , " is , that * ' by a rule of their Company passed by them so recently as May 3 ,
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1817 , all candidates for Holy Orderg are required solemnly to promise 9 that they will abstain from preaching in the Churches of the Canton of Geneva on the following subjects . — 1 . On the manner in which the Divine Nature is united in the Person of Jesus Christ .
2 . On Original Sin . S . On the manner in which Grace operates , or on efficacious Grace . 4 . On Predestination . "
But who has ever read any of these four " peculiar doctrines of Christianity ' in the gospel among the instructions issued from the mouth of Christ ? In what chapter , in what verse are they to be found >
I am not in possession of any copy of this j * ule of the venerable company of the Pastors of Geneva , passed the 3 d of May . But I am able to inform the Correspondent that the magistrates of Geneva had already prohibited the ministers , from preaching those doctrines in the year 1552 . Therefore , there is no innovation in the rule of
the 3 d of May ; it is only a due submission of the pastors to their magistrates , and to an ancient salutary law of the republic . Farther , the present Church of Gt *
neva has departed so little from the doctrines of ' itspredecessors , that Calvin himself , in a preface which he annexed to the Sornme de TMologie of Melancthon , 1551 , says of the discussions upon those doctrines , that ** elles sont
perplexes et confuses ^ et qu'il nen revient mat fruit de bonne instruction . "Again , the Pastors and Professors of Geneva , in the year 157 < 3 , entirely suppressed for tolerance' sake , the
confession of faith , containing , I suppose , the peculiar doctrines of Christianity alluded to , which they used to have rehearsed by the students , before they were admitted into the University , that Roman Catholics and Lutherans might
also be admitted into it . But as I was not at Geneva the 20 th Sept . 1817 , ( the date of the letter of The Herald ' s Correspondent , ) I b ^ you will insert the copy of the following letter , dated from Geneva ,
Oct . 7 , 1817 : — " Your English newspapers are ludicrous indeed ! Happy symp tom <» the situation of EurojJe that their Editors should have recourse to a despicable squabble ( bisbille ) in a lituc
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71 & Umtarianism at Geneva ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1817, page 712, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2471/page/16/
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