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those which , in my humble opinion , spring out of , and are nourished by , the frame and texture of all secular establishments of religion . This class of circumstances embraces a
fundamentally wrong view of the proper ground of authority in religion , an attachment to the established system from civil and political motives , the idea of religion as consisting of a certain routine of outward actions , and the regarding of the Christian
ministry as a genteel and agreeable profession for youths of a studious turn and a love for letters , apart from a supreme deference to its peculiar nature and proper qualifications * On this last I may be permitted to lay the greatest stress , convinced that , where
it is suffered to prevail , it has been , and ever will be , the bane of real religion . But , in civil establishments of religion , this is the natural tendency and the usual course of things : the
rank of the clergy is , in a great and regular measure , filled by the sons of the clergy , so devoted even from their infancy , or selected from a regard , not to religious qualifications , but to predilection , literary taste , connexion , or family interest .
6 . That all these causes have had their unrestrained scope of operation in the Presbyterian Church of Geneva , must be evident to all who will reflect upon the obvious facts of the case-Besides these , peculiar causes have had their effect . Among these I reckon the compactness of the little State-Church , the facility of its
management , the promptitude of its movements , its having its eyes and its hands almost literally in every family , and its being , till the present time , nearly if not entirely a stranger to the existence of Dissenters from its communion .
7 . I appeal to M . Chenevifere himself , and to all who will inquire into the history of Geneva , whether it is not an undeniable fact , that the relaxation of manners among all ranks of his fellow-citizens has increased and
spread , in proportion to the departure irom the old theology and the prevalence of that which was privily brought in , cautiously and artfully to supplant it . Is it not a fact , that open infidels and immoral persons have exceedingly multiplied ; that such characters , perfectl y notorious for infidelity and vice ,
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come regularly to the holy communion , whenever the routine requires it , without remonstrance of the srdallest impediment ; and that profligacy and blasphemy among the lower
orders have increased at a fearful rate , without ( till just now and by the influence of the persons whom M . C » reviles ) any counterbalancing increase of pious , humble , sober , and virtuous Christians ? .
I have been led into this digression , because it seemed incumbent upon roe to shew the reasons why a measure , in itself just and laudable , has utterly failed to produce the good effects which would have comported
with its own proper tendency . I return to my course of argument , and I lay down this position : That , by the lettet and spirit of the act for abolishing' subscription , any and every Genevese minister had , and ever has
the same right to retain or revive 9 and to defend and propagate , the old faith of their own Church , which any other Genevese minister had or has to deny and oppose it . I will not affront your readers by attempting to prove this position . I even think that M . Cheneviere himself will not controvert it . If it be
admitted , I ask , with what face of consistency or of common sense do M . C . and his majority in the Venerable Company outrage , calumniate , and , as far as in them lies , persecute ( I use these words advisedly )
members of their Church , or separatists from it , for no other offence than their holding and teaching the very doctrines which were held and taught by the fathers and founders of that Church ? Were the ministers of
Geneva freed from the authority of a known , clear , and intelligible Confession of Faith , in order to receive the far heavier yoke of the indefinable and mutable opinions of those who , from time to time , might form the majority in the Company ? Yet this gross absurdity is the soul of M . C . ' s
reag . I have intimated above that the majority in the Company have shewn a disposition to persecute those who differ from them . That , in saying this , I do them no wrong , I need no farther evidence than M . C / s own shewing . His statements ia your Number for February ^ stripped of
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on the late Tkeologicbl Cmtrovtrsies at Geneva . 323
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1824, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2525/page/3/
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