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V ' i $ n the lat&Uteotogic&I Controversies € ttGef ^ v ^ 0 $
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cording to their pvm conscientious persuasion ,-fo use all feir and open means of ^ op ^^ mgi themiby sole mnizing divine worship , teaching in private or plttblic , difl&ising books , and
recommending religious inquiry 5 and to cliopse any plaee which they think suitable , ag the scene or centre of their operations ; In doing so * they obey the ^ express commands of our Divine Master ; and" they invade the just province of no government , nor the rights ever sabred and unaliemble
of any man ' s private judgment . Men of all sects and denominations h ^ ve , by the law of nature , reason and Cliristianity , this equal right to lay tlieir claims before the world $ and , qfter the fair proposal , unbiassed on the one band and unobstructed on the
other , of sentiments and arguments , " great is thb trcth , and it ivill prevail . " But I assure M . C . ( and I chink that I have the means of know * ledge ) of mf full belief that no such concerted scheme as he assumes ever
existed- ; and : !; further inform him that , notwithstanding ail the contemptuous , offensive aim calumnious declarations which he ; has made , he is profoundly , ignorant of 1 > oth Methodism and * Methodists , The different persons whom he wishes to stigmatize were visitants to Geneva , in v
consequence of the general curiosity and love of foreign travel , which were so extensively felt upon the removal of the harriers which for so many years had kept Englishmen from the most interesting parts of the continent . They acted under no arrangement . Some of them were not even known
to the others . Though agreed in the great essentials of religion , they were of different , outward denominations ; —members of the Church of England ; Presbyterians of the Scots Church , of the Associate Reformed Church of
the United States of America , and of the Dutch Reformed Church } Con-^ regationalists , who ( I must say it to « ave M ; C « froij ) further mistakes ) are often , hut i les #% roperly , called Independents ; Antit > 3 edobapti 8 t 8 ; and ; I
believe , I ibay also add Lutherans and members of the Society of Friends ; but , so far % s my knowledge extends , none of them belonged to either of those respectably aim useful bodies , the Calvimatic M ^ ethQaiste , ai * d the
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Wesleiati or Arminian Methodists . Their visits to Geneva were more ^ r less casual , and were longer or shorter , according to circumstances ; and their religious conduct was induced by the occurrences , for the most part
altogether unexpected , which at the moment presented themselves . To gi& £ the most firanK exposure in niy po&ep of the opinions entertained by at least some of those persons , I beg leave to introduce an extract from the private journal of pie , WI | ic > V belonged to a parly which yisiteid ( 5 eneyi in July
and August , Imp , who was very de- » sirous of ascertaining the state of religion in that interesting city , and who Avas honoured wit& a kind reception from soine of the H ^ enerable Pastors , in whose society he met M . Chen evifere . Thfej passage shews the impressions made upon the wratei ^ s mind by all that he could , in so short a time , see
BXkd hear . It is here copied without ; the slightest alteration , \ f * Geneva , considered under a religious respect , j ^^ ears to me to present a melancholy instance of decayed religion and a fallen church . The relaxation of religious principles un ^ ej :
% tytfc plauswe iiifljieiice of Alphonsus IHrrettin , the teiMfencies to formality in a civU establishment of i ^ ligipn / the corporation spirit of a body of pri vileged clergy , enjoying here every facility for its exercise , the extravagant
respect entertained far Rousseau because he was a feitow-countryman , the seducing eflfect of his writings , the long-continued residence of the daemon of infidelity at Ferney , and the contamination of false philosophy and lax manners received from the worst part
of the French nation;—these have been the causes and occasions of the effects so visible and deplorable . A regard to the essential truths of the gospel is scarcely to be found , . and where it is not entirely extinct it is
feeble and injudicious , like the languid and incorrect sensation of a dying man * The Lord's-day is publicly profaned , by work , merchandise and pleasure , almost as much as in France and Italy . Their political restoration seems to have raised their ideas of
self-iinjiortance and their pride of patriotic feeling , and to have encouraged tlie Laodicean spirit , — * I am rich , and 1 am in abundance , and I have
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vol .. xix . 3 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 465, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/17/
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