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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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• were thrown open , and we were permitted fe > rcteunae < wr * good offices in favour of the virtuctiis pirirwirch : we had the satisfaction to see hiaa restored to liberty by the estimable Perrin des Vosges , who w $$ sent into the Gard to repair the incalculable evils of his predecessor ; in Jfeet , he < JJd uli the good that it was in his power to do . Before his death , Paul Rabaut had
the satisfaction of beholding his long ^ - formed hopes realized : the religious worship to whiqh he was devoted , and for the sake of which he had suffered so much , was sanctyoned by the laws . He resolved to celebrate the establish
meat of that religion by a circumstantial discourse ; such a discourse , delivered at the end of his suffering career , enabled him to reeal so many noble and touching recollections , that his audience melted into tears . Feeling the approach of death , he exhorted his
fellow-worshiper 3 to persevere in their faith , and to remain loyal to acknowledged authority : he bade them farewell in the tenderest and most affecting manner , and then caused the song of Simeon to be sung . He died the 4 th of fend&miairey in the year 3 , at the age of 76 . The termination of his existence was
less attributable to the weight of years than to the sufferings of his youth , to his imprisonment , to the anxieties of his old age , and , lastly , to a chronic malady , the asthma , with which he had been long afflicted . His iUness was protracted : his death was that of
a wise man , accompanied with the tranquillity which never forsakes a virtuous soul ; a soul which , like his , appeared to have been united to a bochr only that it might have the power of displaying every human excellence . . Paul Rabaut was of small stature :
his complexion was dark ; his physi-Qgnmnjr gentle ; his deportment dignified , but void of that austerity which
too often gives a repulsive air to diffnity $ > his manners were affable , simple and patriarchal . ^ He was remarkably abstemious . His patience , exercised by many trials , wan admirable . TT * e w wtyfering ; and , fourdy life he had been
comtmm to . lead in his youth , in oon $ e 4 ugnce of having devoted himself *<* an office wMcft was proscribed , had gi ^ P strength to his constitution ^ fcut ; he gwoe himuetf so entirely to ttee service of his 6 tHM ^ mm ^ m ^^ s
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his bodily powers , and suffered for hu great exertions in his old age . Men of the greatest geaiius W jh * soundest mind have their weak sifo ; this was apparent jn the immortal Fe ^ nelon , who received the doctrine Of Quietism ; in Paul Rabaut , who greatly inclined to the opinion of the Millena rianS i if he did nofcrdecadedly adopt it . A prediction which he made , from a study of the prophecies , deserves to be ^ recorded for its singularity , audits coincidence with fact : fae asserted that the prophets announced important events , which were to take place at the
period during which , in fact , the French Revolution and its accompanying and subsequent wars took place . He par ticularly spoke of the prophecy , that at the begnining of the 19 th century , a deliverer should appear , whom he called an embryo prtnc& > who should have been born in one of the
mediterranean islands : this place be believed to be either Sardinia or Gorsica , because those islands are near to Rome , but Corsica appeared to him most clearly described by the prophet , probably because it best answered the description of a rock rising out of the
sea . This prince , he declared , would be raised up for the performance « f great actions . This interpretation of prophecy would not be unworthy of the attention of the' philosopher , if it seemed to Be any thin ^ more than a singular chance combined with the words of the sacred text . Rabaut was
dead long' before it could be foreseen that Bonaparte would be called to fulfil the high destiny which now renders him the instrument of so much happiness and gforjMo France . Paid Rabaut ! ' The regrets of thy country , and of alt by whom thou wast knAwfc , followed thee to ffe
tomb $ yet thy wtues have not yw received a public homage ! Untif an abler . pen shall discharge the < fe&t which thy eontemt > orarie < $ owe tlice , accept , venbratile sh ^ de , from the higt abode i ^ whkh thou art doubtte ** enjoying thttt hAp ^ toesB yimh hi 1 » e reward ( tithe virttt 6 ii&of all religions ,
th ^ imperfect tribtite of i ^ ei ^<; tf flrom one who is def ^ lpif Pt ^ P $ * F presents not Ih ^ i iiiceiise # flatt ^ j anf whj ^ tiiffrSffa W ^ ; , «< fM [ tm m ^] i ^^^^^^^ ' ' : ' l 0
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135 Biographical Notice of Paul Rabaut ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/8/
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