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table , more Christian feelings ; you We entreated by your superiors in the Church and the state ; you are untreated by your country ; the Lord himself invites you to return ; listen to his voice and he will bless you , and ,
to indemnify you for all that you relinquish , you will have the peace of God which passeth understanding . " After this address , the Moderator put several minute questions to M .
Malan , which altogether amounted to the inquiry , whether in future he would engage to adhere to order , and to submit to ecclesiastical discipline , as all his colleagues , as the pastors themselves were accustomed to
submit to it . He replied that he could not enter into any engagement ; that he had not violated any regulations , but that they had been violated in the conduct that was observed towards him ; that he had been refused the
privilege of being heard ; that he had beeji repulsed ; that he had been deprived of the office of R&gent by an iniquitous judgment ; that he had not withdrawn , but had been rejected .
After having heard . M . Malan pronounce this answer with energy , and in the tone of one who sat in the seat of Judgment rather than of one who was accused , the Moderator added : " Sir , this Consistory gives you
a week for reflection on the questions which have been addressed to you through me ; it will re-assemble on Tuesday next , to ascertain whether you pejrsist in the replies you have givea to ^ lay .
" Consider well the circumstances in which you are placed . Remember that the Master whom we serve has taught you , by his words and by his example , that you should be meek and lowly of heart . Behold the , evil
which you have done , and that which you are liable to do , and make a serious resolution to be , what you ought ever to have been , a minister of peace and charity , a modest and humble servant of him who for our
sake humbled himself even unto the death pfthe cross . Our prayers shall ascend to heaven , that the Lord may give you a right disposition . " M . Malan received in - writipg - the questions which had beep put to him , and he was authorized to give his answers in writing . During the following week , tine body
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of die clergy united their efforts itf those of the Consistory , urging M . Malan to give categorical and satisfactory answers to the questions . On Tuesday , the 15 th of Jul y * S 23 , M . Malan , appearing in the hall of the Consistory , read a memorial in which he recapitulated the observations , the reproaches , the exhortations which had been addressed to
him ; declared that he rejoiced and was thankful to God that he was free from the guilt of any reprehensible actions ; that he had not been actuated by a spirit of pride and of enmity to his superiors in the Church .
He disowned the appellation of sectary and of schismatic ; he referred to his four letters to the clergy , to which no answers had been returned , and he asserted that it was in consequence of having been treated with contempt
and rejected that lie had first thought of ^ exercising his ministry , and had built the house of prayer , in whicFi he had constantly preached the doc * trines of the gospel . "It is true , Gentlemen , " said he , " that in acting thus I have suffered much : it is an
evil of no small magnitude to have been suddenly repulsed by those whom my heart had ever regarded as fathers and brethren ; amongst whom it would have been far more easy and more
delightful to fulfil a ministry of peace , than to enter alone a thorny path with the conviction of giving them constant pain * Believe not , Gentlemen , that because I hare suffered so
many repulses * from you during more than five years , I ever have forgotten , or shall ever be able to forget that in you I behold those who watched over my early life , and during man y years gave me testimonies of affection . I treasure in my heart the remembrance
of that period , and it is the gratitude claimed by those early benefits which renders it so painful to fulfil the obligation imposed on me by faithfulness to God and to his word , to appear to act in opposition to you and thus to incur your disapprobation *
" It is this painful necessity which may have given me the appearance of presumption and self-esteem , against ? We have seen what these pretended repulses were , at the time in which repeated efforts were made to restore him to ordere
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£ 2 Prgfe $ s 0 rXJhene % i £ reU Summary of the late
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/8/
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