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greatly impaired , M . Malan labours lfldfcfatigably in the work of his M aster attd Saviaur : but , if he cannot stagport himself by his exertions as a ttfttm the success of which is *
neeessarily precarious , severe poverty must be hfe portion . Such , then , are " the gates of fortune opened before him /* VL M . Chenevi&re has indulged Himself in lavish accusations of those whom he calls Methodists , for osten ~ tattoiiy hypocrisy * fanatioimrt ' , women and girls indecorously obtruding their Bibles and their admonitions : and
other assertions atw insinuations of this opprobrious kind he plentifully scatters through his paragraphs . To these general accusations it is iimpossible to reply . If M . C would adduce
any specific facts , the persons on the spot might investigate thenrv . But I appeal to you , Sir , whether the entire strain of these reproaches does not ' carry with it its own refutation * y whether it is not the servile imitation
of the calumnies which the earliest Christians * the Waldenses , the Hugoriots , the Puritans and Nonconformists , and honest Reformers in every age and country , had to sustain from their Heathen , Popish , and High-Church persecutors . Fiwn the opinions which ray knowledge of the
leading persons warrants me to entertain , I am fully satisfied that either these charges are made with shameful exaggerations , or they are the pure inventions of vulgar malignity . T * he principles and proceedings of M , C . would equally cover with insult and contempt some whom the New Testament has embalmed with immortal
honour , such as Fh «* be and Prisellla , Mary , Tryphaena , Tryphosa , and ** the beloved Persia , who laboured much in the Lord /* and tc thQse women who laboured with" the apostle in the gospel / ' ( Rom . xvi . ; Phil . iv . 3 . )
VII . In the concluding part of his lucubrations , M . C- has dressed up a hideous monster , which he would rain have his readers to believe is a true representation of the doctrines of M& ~ tJiadism * It would require many chapters , ^> r eve n volume ^ to follow £ * nrt « n > cover his shameful misirepresentataOtiB . If he believes that his
stateme&trs ane agreeable to tr » th , he is indeed to be pdtied for -the profundity of Ms ignorance : Iwat haw , on tMs supposition , can he justify to himself
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tlie writing and ' publishing of flippant assertions on a subject wfticK he must be conscious that he has taken no honest pains to understand ? On the
other band , if he is better informed , if he has read to the smallest competent extent the published writings of those whom he asperses , he compels me to declare that he can be no other
than a fovP and base calumniator . I ean imagine no method for bis escaping this- alternative , except the publication , from the writings of - ' ttyofee whom he holds up to reprobatSoir , of passages fairlty e&fractea &nd given in
the seme manifestly intended by their authors , and which directly affirm ; or evidently imply the impious * immoral , and ridiculous tenets which he so boldly imputes . Let him justify * his descriptions by sueh citations from the
writing's o # those whose personal exertions have coni ^ buted to bring about the effects which have given him offence ; , Dr . Mason , Mr . Haldane , Mr . Erskine , and MM . Gausseu , Malan , Empaytaz , Guer 3 , Chavannes , and
Rochat . Let him know , also , that he must go farther back , and include in Bis materials the works of Calvin and ? the Reformers generally , of Beza , Diodati , the Spanheims , the Pictets , and the elder Turrettihs . When he
has done this , he may ask to be acquitted of ignorance lfttle creditable in a Professor of Divinity , or of the heavier charge of malignant and wilful misrepresentation .
i respectfully thank tlie Editor of the Monthly Repository far the opportunity which he has afforded of vindicating truth and innocence . My remarks have extended much farther
than I proposed ; yet , for the 3 ake of avoiding tediousness , I have suppressed maay thijags which mi ^ ht have been pertinent . I must solicit the flavour of admission for a few
pages m the next Number , chiefly in reference to the character and proceedings of those persons whom M . Oheneviere has denounced by name . J . PYE SMITH . July
15-P . S , I request to modify an alluaion to Servetus , in the preceding letter : for , in looking into Syon ' s History or Geneva , \ have hadt t \ te pain of finding that , in 1632 , Nicole Affrtoine , a pool * initn unquestionably
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408 Dr . J Pye Smith in Reply m Professor Cheneviere .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1824, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2526/page/24/
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