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REVIEW. u Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid lo blame.*'—Pop*.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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2 \ nr . L——Considerations sur la Divi niti de Jesus-Christ , addressees A Messieurs les Etndians de VAuditoire de Thiologie de VEglise de Gren&ve . Par Henri-Louis Em pay tan Genevois . Ff . 6 s . 1816 . YOUNG Minister , who has A been educated at Geneva * is the
author of these Considerations . His object in addressing his " dear colleagues" is , to warn them of the dangerous heresies of their professors and pastors , and bring them back to the faith of Calvin . The pamphlet contains nothing new in argument , exhibits no proofs of uncommon talent , and is written in the same detestable
spirit which dragged the unhappy Servetus to a stake , erected by the Protestant patriarch of the author ' s native city * An English reader , acquainted with the state of the Trinitarian controversy , will be surprised tit the author ' s ignorance , and shocked
at his presumption . He calls hi tnself a Protestant ; but he is so , evidently by accident , as he might have been a Catholic or a Mahometan . Forgetting the two first principles of the Reformation , that the Bible only is the foundation of revealed religion ,
and that every man possesses the right of private judgment accountable only to God , —he cites * the venerable Company of Pastors" before the tribunal of human authority . Instead of asking , " What say the original Scriptures' * ? he quotes a number of
disputed and even exploded translations , takes it for granted that the truth of the divinity of the Saviour «* can no longer be doubtful , after eightteeb centuries of evangelical preaching
and belief ; " and having convicted the pastors , not only of doubting , but of disbelieving the doctrine , notwithstanding their learning , which he allows to be extensive , and their character which he declares to be
estimable , he condemns them as «* innovators , " u Soeimans , ** " unbelievcte /* and M impious blasphemers ;** say a * that according to " Hie frightful » ect of the knpious Socinus , " the doctrine of the gospel is only " a shameful mixture of impiety , impudence and
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folly ; " that « Christianity is only a new species of idolatry j" that u the death of Christ is without object ; ' and . invites Socinians " to complete their blasphemy by confounding the Saviour with other impostors , who have attempted to deceive the world . " Such is the spirit of this Protestant divine I Such the manner in which
he proposes to convince and persuade the victims of error , and win souls to Christ I Yet this same writer speaks of those who have not learnt 4 t to measure the depth and the breadth of the wound which ignorance has made in their souls ; " he " trusts that hw Considerations will be read in the
same spirit which has dictated them , and " he dares call God to witness that his heart has been accessible to no other feeling 6 , but those of love and zeal , for truth , for the welfare of his country , and for the glory and edification of the Genevan Church . "
We are aware that the grand precept of antiquity , know thyself ^ is of extremely difficult application ! but the above passages betray an ignorance of self , almost too great to be
accounted for on common principles * We have , therefore , sought a solution in the personal history of the author , and we learn from good authority , that , though at present he is preaching at Geneva to a small Dissenting congregation , under the surveillance of the police , at the time of writing this pamphlet , he was travelling as a friend and assistant of Madame
Krudener , a prophetess of the Continent . It is not then the superior respectability of the author , nor the intrinsic worth of his Considerations , which leada us to submit them to the notice of our readers ; but because they pr 6 ve that the great controversy of England begins to excite attention on the
Continent , and especially because they cast additional light on the state of the Church at Geneva : a church which , by the general suffrage of Protestant
Europe , has received the venerable appellation of " Mather of the Reformation , Va title which , we confidently trust , events Will justify and confirm in ibis instance .
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Review. U Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid Lo Blame.*'—Pop*.
REVIEW . u Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid lo blame . *'—Pop * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1818, page 394, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2477/page/50/
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