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524 Dr . J . Pye Smith In Reply to Professor Chenevtere ,
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means which operated a gradual , but at length very decided , change in his religious sentin > ents and affections , and in his entire character . This change , of necessity , was indicated by
his preaching ; and the impression , favourable and unfavourable , which it made upon the public mind was very great . Other events coincided to increase that impression . The declining of MM . Gonthier and Guers to
continue in the Establishment , when they had finished most honourably their academical course ; the formation of the Dissenting Church ; the various other circumstances detailed in these
papers ; and the rekindled vigour of a respectable minority in the pastorate , in preaching the doctrines of the New Testament ; all concurred to stimulate the feelings of all classes . The citizens of Geneva may be called one
family . They almost universally know , and take a lively interest in , the affairs of each other . Neutrality is difficult and hardly possible . It scarcely needs to be said that opponents were far more numerous than favourites
and triends . The lowest vulgar shewed their propensities by assaults and horrid outcries . The paragraph-writers for the Paris newspapers sent flippant statements , full of that
misrepresentation which is produced by ignorance when coupled with malevolence . The majority of the clergy acted as Lord Clarendon says that description of persons usually do act , when thrown into critical and delicate
conjunctures of affairs ; with great bustle , but with very little moderation o-r wisdom . The Supreme Authorities of the Republic , during this difficult and anxious period , appear to have conducted themselves in a manner
which entitles them to much praise . If , in two or three instances , they yielded too much to the importunities of the powerful and vindictive party , great consideration is due to the perplexing and untried circumstances in which they were placed . But , all things considered , they acted with prudence and some liberality .
The Company then published their Regulation of May 3 , 181 7 , ( see p . 5 , of this voL , ) in oi * e point of view an artful snare ; in another , a flagrant invasion of ? natural right , of common sense , of justice , and of religion . M . Malau loflg declined to submit to this
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preposterous requirement . At lasf , by importunities and softening explications , he was prevailed upon to sign it ; for which he afterwards severely
blamed himself . M . C . charges him with insincerity in this action . ( P . 66 . ) The facts of the case , even according to M . C / s own representation , do not appear to me to sustain this accusation . Had M . Malan acted from such
a motive , the probability is , that he would have quietly sat down and enjoyed the fruits of duplicity . Abundant examples and venerable sanction for such conduct were not far for him to seek . But I believe , upon satisfactory grounds , that , unnerved in
the first place by parental and by still more tender pleadings , he was induced by persons who , perhaps , felt more for his temporal interests than he himself did , to confide in the Company ' s admitting such an explication of the Reglement as would only
prohibit discussions on abstruse points , which he had never any inclination to bring into the pulpit ; and that his characteristic style of awakening addresses , on the necessity of faith , repentance and holiness , would not be construed into a violation of the
engagement . I think this the more probable , a 9 the copy of the Reglement which I received about that time differs from that given by M . C . precisely in this very way . I could preach ,
fully and freely , my Calvinistic sentiments , without intrenching upon what might seem to be the sense of the first and third restrictions , as first published . M . C . tells us how this
difference happened ( Mon . Repos . pp . 5 and 6 of this vol . ) : and also says that the Regulation " did not oppose the publication of theological doctrines , either in writing , without reserve ; or in the pulpit y if there
explained briefly and mildly , and when the subject led to them . " It does not appear , however , that the Venerable Company gave to those for whom they legislated , any instrument for measuring the quantity and quality of the
said explications . M . Malan soon found , to his cost , that the allowance was subject to no definite rule , and thut the whole was a trap which arbitrary power could use at its pleasure . In consequence of his subscription , he was allowed to preach . He delivered , I think , two sermons : and then the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1824, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2528/page/12/
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