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594 Mr . Bahewell on the State of Morals and Religion in Geneva ,
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of other cities ; are scarcely known m Geneva . The lower classes are sober ; industrious , and regular in their deportment , the number of criminals is small , and those are chiefly
foreigners . If there be any vice or immorality in Geneva , and what city in the worid was ever entirely frfce ? I belief it will be found , that by far the greatest portion occurs among those inhabitants who are not members of the
Gerieyese Church , M . Simond cites an instance in proof of the powerful influence of religion over the minds of the Geiieve ^ epeople : from what period does he take this instance ? From the golden age of orthodoxy ?
No—but fifty years after they had left the faith off Calvin , and , according to Dr . Smith , were given up to deadly indifference atid itifidelity . Such is the account of Geneva , by persons who have resided a considerable time
there , and who have no interest in misrepresenting facts . Dr . Smith , looking at Geneva from his easy chair at Homerton , tells us " that it is a well-known fact that among the Genevese , indifference and contempt 6 f alt serious religion , bold infidelity ,
and open flagitiousness , have been fearfully increasing , in proportion to the departure from the ancient doctrines : iiifidelity has spread tremendously and rapidly , and dissolute manners kept pace with it . " To this accusation I might / Were I not restrained by courtesy , reply in Dr .
Smith ' s own words : it would scarcely be possible to select any forms of expression more appropriate : €€ It is truly painful to have undertaken the examination of such a writer as this Professor of Divinity , who can thus bid defiance to conscience and truth ; the utmost stretch of charitable construction will not enable me in this
-and other instances to acquit him of wilful and deliberate falsehood . " No , I will not mete' to Dr . Smith * his own measure / I will not believe that he was aware when he wrote the above
character ^ of the Genevese , that he was penning a most false accusation . In the fervour of composition and his eagerness to attack the reputation of the Genevese heretics , he forgot every
of the city of Geneva forming about onehalf . Tlje Catholic population is about bne-thirtk : Ii dp not know the number of Lutherans in the Cautoiu
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The extreiiie bitterness of Dr * Smith ' s entity to M ^ Ch&nert ^^ the GenevSse Pastors * wfcteh is so apparent in his letters ^ manifestly indisposes him to see th § strath t he seems to feel that in leaving the doctrines of Calvin , ^ heyHave become
other consideration , even tbfe respect due from himself to his own character . The bees in their attacks , yield their own lives with their , stin ts , animas in vulnere ponunt 9 ; but the point of Br , Smith ' s weapon being untetnper ^ d by truth , he has ejected his virus against the Genevese without hurting any one but
himselfthe " enemies of thfe Lord ; ^ an d ^ therefore , like David * he « iay ** iiate them with perfect hatred ?? but such feelings . reflect no honour on a Chtistian divine . The word apgef occurs nearly two hundred times in the Old Testament , but it is found only three times in the New : and in the books
of the latter , the word hatred occurs only once . * Even the style of M . Ghenevifere and v 5 * the cloudiness of his reasoning" are made the subject of complaint ; but I believe it is the clearness and not the cloudiness of his
statements , which is so particularly offensive t 6 JE ) r . Sn # te Ttie style , seen through the meflmm of a translation , jyill not suflfer ^ r a comparison with Dri Smith ' s ; it H true we do not
find in M , C / s lepers such phrases as € t ruthless corffi $ @r < it € sS * wilful and deliberate falsehood ^ " M . Malan , that good many 9 " that excellent man nor any of those figiares of rhetoric , which remind us of the
mixture of coarse abuse and canjt , that adorn the pages of the theologians of the . OHvefian age . By far the most important assertion in Dr . Smithes third letter respecting Geneva is the following : —After boldly describing the gross immorality 9 open flagitiousness , and dissolute manners
in that city , he says , * The substitute for despised Calvinism has proved its insufficiency to stem the tide of moral corruption in Geneva . ' * This , if words have any meaning , implies that Geneva is more morally corrupt than other cities and communities , which )* ave retained the sweet preserving influences of Calvinism : if this be * Cruden ' s Concordance .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 594, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/18/
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