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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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vn the late Theological Controversies at Geneva * 521
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. xix . 3 x
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merit , all meetings for religious worship or instruction other than those of tlie Established Church . On the following day , a circular letter was issued to the officers of government throughout the Canton , enjoining a rigorous enforcement of the cruel and iletestable decree . This document , in
the true style of Jesuitical hypocrisy , declares , that the Council does not at all pretend to enter into theological discussions , or to disturb men's consciences , or to meddle with the religious opinions of individuals , or " to restrain the liberty of thinking" ( ni de gener la liberty de la pens £ e ) .
This has been followed by another decree , in May , which denounces fines , imprisonment , or banishment , upon the most private kind of religious assembly , or even the admission of a single visitor to family worship . Dean Curtat is known to be a primary mover in these almost incredible measures .
I feel no disinclination to commend him to the tender mercies of Professor Chenev&re . VIIJ . M . Pierre M&janel . I esteem it an honour to call this Christian
minister my friend . He is a native of the South of Prance , where his father is the pastor of a Protestant church . He was educated in the Colleges of Montauban and Lausanne , and was , in due time ,
appointed either assistant minister or copastor in the church at the former place . Upon the second restoration of Louis XVIII . he was ejected ( destituk ) from his station . I never
thought it advisable to inquire into the reason of this act of the royal and paternal government , not doubting but that both the act and the motive were worthy of a son of St . Louis . Some other Protestant ministers in
France , at the same time , received similar kind messages . It was sufficient for my satisfaction , that I could not perceive that this circumstance , though it deprived my friend of his means of temporal subsistence , at all diminished the apparent esteem and cordiality of the most respectable
Pro-I vol testants , in Paris and other places . Neither , am still more happy to say , has this part of his history prevented his officiating very frequently , as an occasional minister , in many parts of France . But he has been appointed to no other pastoral charge . In the Protesta nt churches , the people elect ,
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or the consistory nominate ; but the confirmation of the appointment lies with the king-. M . M . spent half a year at Geneva , in 1817 and 1818 , discharging the public and private duties of a Christian minister , in connexion with the
Dissenting congregation to be mentioned in the next article . In January 1818 , he was verbally directed by the Lieutenant of Police to quit the Canton , after a few days which would be granted him for his personal conveniehcy . He requested to know the reasons of this mandate , and the law
upon which it was founded . This was refused him , and the same evening he received a written and formal order to quit the territory of the Republic in twenty-four hours . Imprudently , as I humbly think , he wrote a letter of
remonstrance to the Lieutenant of Police , and declaring- that he would yield only to a forcible expulsion . Yet I cannot but admire the simplicity and integrity of his mind , in this proceeding . He said , in his letter , 4 € Ever since I came to Geneva , my occupation since i came to ueneva , my occupation
has been to preach the word of God ; to exhort children to obedience , grown men to temperance , righteousness and piety , the aged to patience , the dyingto the hope of heaven , and all to faith in Christ /* Notwithstanding this rather irritating conduct , the Government ; shewed more forbearance than
could have been reasonably expected . They suffered three or four days to elapse , and then sent M . M . to the frontier , under an escort of srensd '
armes . M . C . makes no allusion to these facts : a pretty strong proof that M . M . ' s conduct , during the few months of his residence at Geneva , was both morally and legally irreproachable . The general opinion was that tjie clergy were besieging the government with
complaints and solicitations ; and that it was judged advisable to gratify them by expelling an alien , while it was determined ^ but not yet clearly avowed , to protect their own citizens in the measures of peaceable dissent . M . C / s charges against JVt . M . are three . ( Mon- Repos . p 8 . )
1 . That " m 1818 he wrote against the Pastors . "—M . M ., with his characteristic openness , very soon after his arrival at Geneva , printed and &enb round to the Pastors a letter of five
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1824, page 521, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2528/page/9/
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