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Untitled Article
« vtithi £ his name to communion-tick-&k 3 given to several young ladies ; thus making them suppose that he wts invested with a character and a power which , it * our Canton , cannot be assumed and exercised till after the
election 6 f the body of the clergy , confirmed by your Lordships , and approved by the flock . ** We have ascertained that daring several years , both in his writings and in what lie calls his chapel , he has
frequently railed at the members of the National Church , denying them the precious and honourable appellation of Christians , and appropriating it to himself and those who are his
humble auditors . 4 c « \ vg iiave ascertained that in various ways M . Mai an strikes at the pastoral authority * He has robbed the pastors of the confidence of many of their parishioners , by representing them as the blind who are leading the blind ;
he speaks contemptuously of our religious assemblies ; he makes a distinction between those pastors whom he calls evangelical , ( whom he has offered to name to the Consistory , ) and those from whom he Withholds that epithet ; exhorting his adherents to absent themselves from the public worship
when the officiating * pastor is not what he terms evangelical . In short , he does every thing" in his power to inonopolize the confidence and pastoral authority , of which he unjustly deprives those who have been his instructors , and who are his superiors , acfcordijig to the order of the Church . €€ * Most Honourable Lords !
Although several doctrinal points taught by M . Malan are not contained in the Sacred Writings ; although the doctrine , in particular , of the influences of the Spirit on the minds of individuals , on which he has been so fond of expatiating , is attended with
incalculable danger , in the first instance exciting pride , and afterwards urging on to the excesses of fanaticism , yet it is not of this we complain ; in fact , he has taught it publicly during four years , in the midst of us , and we
have not made the slightest remonstrance ; but we complain of the violation of order , of the infraction of rules , of the substitution of a new aiqd arbitrary discipline , for the discipline which your Lordships have made us swear to maintain . We took no
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cognizance of M . Malan until we were compelled to do it by the offensiveness of his conduct , and by the fears and remonstrances of numerous members of our Church , and until we found the pastoral authority , with Which you have entrusted us , questioned , ana by
a natural consequence the very existence of our Church endangered . Our pastors already feel the effects of conduct hitherto unknown in this country : when , they find it needful to enforce the observance of rules established by ecclesiastical authority , for the spiritual benefit of the people ; for exam *
pie , when they consider that catechumens are neither old enough nor sufficiently well-instructed to participate worthily of the Lord ' s Supper , and feel it right mildly to resist the impatience of the relatives of those youngpersons , the latter reply by declaring that they will go elsewhere . €€ €
Elected , as they are , to preserve or re-establish peace and good order in families , our pastors see their advice contemned by those whose minds have been poisoned against them ; and
it is a minister of the gospel who is interrupting , and threatening still more grievously to interrupt , our harmony ; lie violates our regulations , and with self-complacency hesitates not to declare in the face of the whole
Consistory , that what he has done he will persevere in doing . " * Most Honourable Lords f Adhering to our rules , obeying the imperative voice of duty , considering what is required of us by the religion of which we are the ministers , what is due to the flock entrusted to our
charge , and what is due to ourselves , we have determined to suspend M . Malan from his sacred functions ; we , therefore , deprive him of the rights which we had conferred upon him for the promotion of unity , and which he has made use of to cause division .
" * Pursuant to the rules which we have submitted to your Lordships' notice , we have resolved to keep our deliberations and our determination secret , till that determination , which we are ordered to communicate to
your Lordships , shall have been confirmed by you . * ° Notwithstanding the force of the considerations aad the evidence of the facts produced in the foregoing address , the Council of State replied to
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Theological Controversies at Geneva * w
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 69, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/5/
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