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Ibid . € * Pictet ' s Chapter coneerning the Trinity / ' Probably a chapter in a work on Christian Theology , published in Latin > in 3 vols ., 4 to , by Benedict Pictet , a native of Geneva , where he became a celebrated divine , and died in 1724 , aged 69 . He had travelled into Holland and England . A Catholic
biographer thus commends the exemplary mildness of this Protestant theologian : " Ce ministre avoit beaucoup de douceur et de franchise . Le systeme de la tolerance 6 tolt tres-conforme a son caractere : il le soutenoit et le
pratiquoit . " ( Nouv . Diet . Hist . 1772 , IV . 1036 . ) [ A brief notice of M . Pictet , by the late Dr . Toulmin , may be found , Mon . Repos . II . 349 . Ed . J P . 132 , col . 1 . €€ Schism Act . " Mr . Fox , recollecting the passages of his early life , probably after an interval of
many years , is here very excusably incorrect . There was in 1712 , no Act of that description . The process against Mr . Gilling was , I suppose , grounded on the 17 th of Car . II ., which forbade any who had not " declared their assent and consent to the Book of Common
Prayer , " &c , and who did not " frequent divine service , as established by law , to teach school , or take boarders or tablers that are taught by himself or any other , in pain of £ AQ" and < tf to be committed for siv months , by two justices , without bail or mainprize . " It is obvious that Mr . Gilling ,
if he had not qualified accordin g to the provisions of the Toleration Act , by subscribing 35 J of the 39 Articles , was thus liable ; and he had , probably , the same scruples as his friend Mr . Fox . The " Act to prevent the Growth of Schism" passed in 1 * 714 , and was to take place August 1 st that year , on which day Queen Anne died ; . —a
coincidence which the fond distributors of divine retributions could not overlook . Even such a writer as Dr . Benson can thus comment on the circumstance , in his Sermon , entitled " The Glorious First of August , " preached at Saltera ' Hall , in 1758 :
" On the very day that the Schism Act was to take place , " says the preacher , " God once more appeared tor us , in the most remarkable and
distinguishinff manner ; took away the life of that Princesse , who had so far been seducecL as causelessly to seek our destruction ; and introduced King William ' s legacy , the amiable and
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illustrious House of Hanover . ' ( Serm . p . 22 . ) * ' The amiable and illustrious House " who were come , as they at first imperfectly expressed their new language , for the nation ' s goods , could apprehend
nothing but a more powerful advocacy of their royal interests , from the literary attainments of the Nonconformists , whom they had , indeed , courted during the life of the Queen , as appears by their Resident's application to Sir Thomas Abney , mentioned in Mon .
Repos . XIV . 723 . The Schism Bill would , therefore , immediately become a dead letter , as it probably remained till its repeal in the 5 th of Geo . I . Certainly no court-lawyer would enforce its penalties . Such lawyers , we
too well know , are indeed ever on the alert to * cry havoc" soon as " the sovereign frowns ; " yet they are disciplined to expect a signal for the attack , or , as Johnson says of " the train of state" on the fall of Wolsey , they
Mark the keen glance and watch the sign to hate . " The " Act to prevent the Growth of Schism" very unjustly prohibited all who should " willingly resort to a conventicle or Jacobite meeting , " or who where not practical conformists t (
to the Liturgy of the Church of England , " from teaching the classics or the higher branches of philosophy , under the penalty of being " committed to the common gaok—for three months , without bail . " They were , however , free to " instruct youth in reading ,
writing , anthmetick , or other mathematical learning , so far as it relates to any mechanical art only , and it be taught in the English tongue . " Thus , amidst all its injustice and absurdity , this Act was liberality itself compared to a project of the Long- Parliament , who , in 1642 , demanded of Charles I .,
as one of their 19 Propositions , " that his Majesty would consent to such a Bill as should be drawn , for the education of the children of Papists by Protestants , in the Protestant religion . " CParl . Hist . XI . 132 . ) The able and
honest Republican historian , Ludlow , quotes this among the 19 Propositions ( Mem . I . 35 ) without the slightest hint of disapprobation ; and it may be fairly questioned whether Dr . Benson or any of his contemporary Nonconformists ever thought of censuring such
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Notes on the Memoirs of Mr . «/ . Fow . 221
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 221, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/29/
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