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the preliminary considerations which explained its otyect and spirit . It is remarkable th&t the first copies of i it whicl * were spread abroad were tlie first draught , of the committee : by 5 vhoin it was composed , not
containing the . corrections , made by the body when it was adopted by them : this circumstance cle&rly proves the quarter whence proceeded this indiscretion > since none but the persons appointed to . deliberate on the subject saw the regulation before it was modified and
finally decreed . . All the ? theological students submitted to it , with the exception of M . Guers 5 ¦ as . he had not attained the
age required by law for ordination , no dispensation was asked from the magistrate , and he was allowed a twelvemonth for reflection . A few days subsequently the pastors enjoined the rule on all their own members , and
on the young ministers . The , wishes of the enemies of the pastors were , however , realized and * their , efforts successful : the regulation illrUiwierstood and unexplained occasioned a violent outcry . At this time Mr . John Owen , one of the Secretaries of
the British and Foreign Bible-Society , came to Geneva ; as . he sought for truth and was desirous of hearing all parties , I had the honour of conversing with him during some hours ; . at the commencement of our interview he
acknowledged to me that the regulation of the 3 rd of May was the true cause of complaint against the Genevan Church . He had received false impressions on the subject , and the
opponents of the clergy with whom he had conversed had carefully prevented him from viewing it in its just light ; but after I had explained to him the origin , spirit , tendency and limits of the regulation , he expressed his satisfaction at having \ "his opinions rectified , and promised to give just information on the subject whenever an opportunity occurred . This interview took place in the presence of a magistrate , a man of respectability , who would doubtless feel no objection to confirm my testimony .
Our opponents then pretended that the regulation was so obscure , so ambiguous , that ev (* n its framers attributed various meanings to it ; that it was susceptible of thirty different interpretations , that it consequently
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: meant nothing and served no purpose but to shew the inclination" of ; the < Genevan Clergy to get rid of orthodoxy < . Now I would ask every silH cere man who has attentively peruse 4
that writing , whether he does not clearly see that the object of the Regulation of the 3 rd of May was to prevent the renewal of disputes in the Christian pulpit ? It may be added ,- — this object it attained . ?
Successive Attacks on the Pastors of Geneva , , x These attacks were so multiplied that I shall do little more than enumerate , without entering into the details of them . I shall pass over in silence the covert intrigues , the stab > given in the dark ; I shall say nothing of false brethren and concealed ene-,
mies ; I shall mention only open attacks . , If the gospel forbid doing evil that good , may come , how , much more strojngly does it forbid doing evil for the attainment of a bad object 1 Yet
such has been the qanwet ; of the , antagonists of the Genevan pastors ; every means has ? appeared to them , justifiable ,, the most daring imputations , the most odious calumnies have been lavished to blacken the
characters of the clergy , to deprive them of the confidence of their parishioners and of the esteem of Europe . It is needless , I think , to remark that we are far from classing all these assailants together , or considering their intentions and means of attack
equally bad . We have seen that M . Empaytar was the first among the Reformed to enter the lists * Secondly , the Counsellor Jaques Grenus , with the vehemence peculiar to him , followed in the steps of M . Empaytar and soon went beyond him . He was reckless what language , what
accusations , what insults he vented ; aged , infirm , on the point of going to render an account of his contemptible and turbulent life , he laughed triumphantly ia his bed of sickness , when informed of the scandal occasioned by his attack ^ 3 these he renewed three several times- ^—in his
Fragments of Ecclesiastical History ^ at the commencement of the I 9 t ^ century j in a , Sequel ; to " those Fi * 9 # - mejits , and ia his correspondence ) wtfli a Genevan Professor * : ;; Suffice : it ta
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1 $ Professor Chenem $ ve * s Summary of tfalate
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1824, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2520/page/6/
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