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« 7 » Dm * h Pye SmithmBep iy ^ € m erita operum , damnat ChristUs . i St eriim dicendum est opera esse inu- i tilia , ^^ qiiitxir neeessario quod non sint i JwstitJa ^ tiec valeant ad vitam seternam , ] ^ ed ' sftit vilra et nibili prorsus .-: Igitur i
omnis fiducia , justitia , sapientia , et quicquidest operum , rejieitur . ) Mart * JLuttheri Cornm . in Genesim , Tom . IX , fol . 209 ; ed , Noritnb . 1550 . Little irmst Mi C . be acquainted with the > faculty m which he is Professor , if he does ndt kriour that this wa $ the
doctrine upon which ' not only ^ Lutberi bat alt the chiefs of the Reformation most cordially united ^ and m ade it the theme of their warmest glorying . Indeed M . C . hirasdf , with strange inconsistency , has admitted- the very doetrine , if his words are to be
understood in their proper sense ; for he Bays that * ' the insufficiency of good works for procuring salvation , is a doctrine professed by all Christian ministers . " He cannot but know that
this is , in fact , the sentiment of those -whom he would cover with reproach ; ^ nd that to accuse them of teaching " the absolute inutility of good works /* is pure defamation . O that he would seriously consider that he has aimed
his poisoned arrows , not against The Refuse or Mi > . Huldane or M . MalaH alone , not against the Puritans ot Methodists or M 6 miers merely ; but against Luther and Melanctbon , Cal-Yin , Zuinglius and Cranmer ; yea , against the high and holy dictates of inspiration itself !
To return t ; o Mr . Haldane . H £ came to Geneva about the autumn , I believe , of 1816 ; on a continental tour , and without any intention of staying more than a few days . - But
circumstances brought him into some intercourse with the clergy and the theological students in the College . Ways of attempted usefulness opened before him , and he availed himself of them in a manner which entitles him
to the lasting gratitude of the people t ) f Geneva . He soon discovered that irreligion in practice , and schemes of doctrine widely alien from the gospel of Christk had a dominion almost uni ~ Versal and unrestrained : and that this
lamentable prostration of all sound piety and Christian obedience was , in a very great measure , supported by an extreme neglect and ignorance of the Scriptures . His first aim was to recommend the impartial and serious
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-M f * * G / W $ on \ Ghe %€ W&e 9 study o £ the Bible , ^ 3 the only source of religious' tenth . , His circle t > f ac * quaintance becciTTie * so enlarged , that he was obliged to appropriate certain days and hours ^ at which he weleo ^ fi ^ J all who chose to came to his house , for the purpose of reading the Scrip *
tares and religious conversation . Whe ^ ther in any of these meetings 4 M& $ of ivorship were introduced , t do not kiio ^ . I have Men informed that Mr * H .: *» characteristic method was to be reserved in giving- his * ^ wn interp re ?
tations and arguments ; but earnestly to urge a continued and patient &earch > ing o ? the diyme oracles , disregariiiog all the authorities and theories of men , as the legitimate way x > f answering the queries and resolving the difficult ties of hi ^ visitors . The effect of tliia
course was very important . A eon ? siderabie number , both students and others , became convinced of the scripr turar fevidfetffce and the holy tendency of the doctrines called Galvinisfcie ; Of these some coritinuedia the Clmreh
of Geneva ; others became ministers of French churches in remoter par ts © f Europe 5 two at least ( Messrs * Cpers and ( Jonthier ) declared thei ^ sjErlve ^ Dissenters , and joined with other persona in forming a church upon the congregational principle , but upon the most liberal terms of Christian
communion ; and one , of whom we must say more hereafter , being in circumstances which put him more completely under the absolute * and arbitrary power of the clergy , was selected to be the victim o what I cannot but call an inhuman , relentless ^ and most iniquitous persecution .
A serious and diligent attention to religious truth , extraneously to official routine , was a novel and surprising thing at Geneva . It excited great attention : and , as it is so much the deplorable custom of the continental governments to pry into and meddle
with £ tU the exercises of religion , private and public , the notice of the supreme authorities of the Republic was directed to Mr , H . and his proceedings . In my former letter I said that he was summarily expelled the Canton ; but
a friend has since told me tfaat" he believes 1 was mistaken , and that Mr . H . pursued his journey into the South of France either upon redeiying a private intimation from th ^\ Government , : or because he imde&stootl that
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 470, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/22/
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