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    day , a consecration at Montivilliers , Seine Inferieure ( Normandy ) , or rather the reception of a young" minister , Sohier , as pastor of the church . Now in these ceremonies , there is always a clash between the two parties on the ground of the oath to be taken by the new miirrsteT 7 ^ " 0 Tir ~ ancient-forms ~ inost-de

    cidedly provide that each pastor , on his reception , must swear strict and complete adherence to our confession de foij which is nothing less than high Calvinism . This oath a great number of our young ministers will not take . In order then to

    evade the difficulty , our rational party caused long since to be adopted the Genevese form of oath , which is that the received pastor swears that he will preach the doctrine as it is contained in the books of the Old and New Testament . This mode , allowing a complete freedom of inquiry ,

    our saints loudly exclaim against for the simple reason , that , according to them , there is no true doctrine in the revelation but that one which , Roman like , they have determined themselves , and drawn up in the shape of articles . However , till now , our saints had been obliged to

    submit , and they had failed m the tyrannical attempt of imposing their own particular scheme of mysticism and absurdity . But at Montivilliers , owing , in part , to the dogmatical interference of two ministers , De Felice , of Bolbec , and Palmier , of Rouen , both half Methodists , a series

    of articles were drawn up , and tendered to the new minister . They included , of course , the Calvinistic views of the trinity , of expiation , and ot justification by faith ; the young man took the blind oath , contrary to the opinion of Reville ,

    minister at Dieppe , and Alegre , at the Havre , two pious and enlightened pastors . One of the principles of us liberals in religion is , that in any case no minister ought to be compelled or even demanded to swear his adherence to any dogma whatever ,

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    and that the only engagement ^ hlen ' he can take in accordance with Christian liberty is that of preaching the gospel » as he understands it . Then > if his views are not those of the congregation , of course he must resign .-But a new question presented itself at Montivilliers : the new minister

    consented-to-t&ke— th e-oath , —and-even insisted on taking it . Yet , we maintain ,, that even in that case , the assembled pastors had no right to demand , or even to accept , the engagement , which is , in any case , null and void . For the only authority , competent in this case , was not

    consulted , —I mean the congregation at large . If , observed very justlv , " Le Protestant , which took up this view of the casej the majority of the flock choose a Qalviriistic pastor , then vvell and good ; but , as long as the members have not decided on that point ,

    no assembly of divines , synod , meeting , or any other , has a right to bind down the opinions of a minister of Christrand to receive his declaration that-he will only preach the gospel in a certain way to a- church which has been consulted . Such is

    the opinion that friends of religious inquiry adopt here . 1 considered , for my part , the conduct of the consecrators at Montivilliers , as arrogant and tyrannical ; and had I been a member of the church , I Would have

    entered a formal protest against the tendering of such an oath , oh the ground that the majority of the church is not Calvinisfeical . We hope that the congregation at large will come to a decision of the kind .

    We have had a nomination lately that will produce some impression among our Protestants ; Mr . Matter , ex-professor of history in ^ the academy of Strasbourg-, Lutheran pastor , has been removed to Paris , and

    named to the hig h station of Inspecteur-ghtxkral deVUnwersitk . Mr . Matter has been lately entrusted by the minister , Guizot , with the publication of a periodical , in order to favour the progress of "• elementary ijn-

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    18 UNITARIAN CHRONICLE .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 1, 1833, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2605/page/18/