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is h&n ; & in England , in Holland , in Germany , in France ; and has even reached the astonished ears of the
inhabitants of the new world . Why this outcry ? Why this tumult ? Because the people of Geneva have not consented , and will not consent , to become Methodists .
First Symptoms of Perturbation , In the month of March 1810 , a period at which a vigorous arm gave equal protection to every form of worship throughout the vast empire of France , the Consistory of the
Genevese Church received , an anonymous writing proposing the re-establishment of some religious ceremonies suppressed by the Reformation , and complaining of the extreme simplicity of the Protestant worship . About the same time it was known that a small
number of congregations existed in the city , whose leaders were connected with the Moravians , and who had always holden exclusive opinions ; it was known likewise that some theological students occasionally attended . It was thought proper to look on in silence .
On the 13 th of December , however , in the same year , the Consistory appointed a commission to inquire whether the Protestant religion were not incurring danger , and to watch over those theological students who occasioned uneasiness , and who met secretly at the house of one of the
pastors , ( never the friend of his clerical brethren , ) who instilled into their minds prejudices against his colleagues , and taught them obscure and puerile dogmas . It was decided that no public notice should be taken of these proceedings , and that there was no cause for apprehension .
Stronger alarm was again excited in the year 1813 : Madame de Krudener came to Geneva , collected assemblies , and placed at their head JVI . Ecnpaytar , a young student who had frequented the former meetings . It was , indeed , asserted that the object
of these assemblies was merely to worship God and to afford opportunities of attending divine service in the evening to those persons who , occupied throughout the day , were unable to frequent the public religious assemblies ; invitations were given , likewise , to some of the pastors to be
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present at these evening services ; but could they without impropriety have sanctioned them by their presence , and have gone to receive instruction from the mouth of a young man just
commencing his theological career ; whose studies they were appointed to conduct , and whose improvement they were to report ? . They were aw&re also that pains were taken to inspire doubts respecting the purity of their faith and to prejudice young
catechumens against them . The consistonai commission did not consider it right to lay . any restraint on the persons frequenting these assemblies , but they thought it necessary to attend to the
conduct of the theological students , who were subjected to their immediate inspection , and destined to become the instructors of the church ; those young men could npt be at once ministers of the Church of Geneva and
of another church dissenting from it . M . Empaytar had several conversations with his pastor , to whom he gave a promise of not attaching himself to any sect ; and as he seemed resolved to continue the religious services he was in the habit of
conducting , he was required to attend in the Salle des Seances of the body of the clergy , that he might give some account of his proceedings and unfold his motives . Arguments were then
pressed on his attention to convince him of the bad consequences which might result from his meetings , and some weeks subsequently , on the J 9 th of November 1813 , when he was
again sent for , he declared that the considerations enforced upon him had made him resolve to separate himself from those religious assemblies , which , he now considered likely to endanger the unity and peace of the Church .
The Consistory was informed of the precautions taken by the pastors , and learning that the petit Conseil at B&le , had , under similar circumstances , prepared a formulary by which the clergy bound themselves to avoid all
sectarianism , to occasion no schism , and to frequent no religious assembly subject to foreign direction , they made the following regulation , for the guidance of all the theological students ( Dec . 24 , 18 J 3 : ) 1 st . Any student who , after being dehorted by the pastors from attending a religious meeting not established
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2 Professor Chenevidre * s Summary of the late
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1824, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2520/page/2/
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