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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    RELIGIOUS L^ERTY AT GENEVA.

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    Untitled Article

    ' That * Our tracts are valued by those to whom they are given , we have strong and frequent evidence ; the ackno wledginents of their merit corrie to us freely arid spontaneously $ and as to the assertion that we have recourse to any * forced means ' for bringing them into notice , I

    boldly challeng ~ e your correspondent to adduce his proof . Even if the circulation Were smaller than it is , we Would scorn to have recourse to any such means of increasing it . We are satisfied with knowing that our tracts are perpetually applied for by those who have learnt how to

    estimate them ; and in the few instances in which we have given them unasked , we have had every reason to believe that the gift was acceptable . To the affairs of thir Society I have myself devoted many hours of labour , aiid I shall continue to do so . in the

    firm , though humble persuasion , that I am thus contributing to extend the kingdom o £ CJjrigt ,-and- toimpart the light and comfort of the gospel to many , who might otherwise perish in the bewildering darkness of sin and ignorance ., S . Wood .

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    Sir , —May I be permitted to venture a few observations on an article in the * Unitarian Chronicle' for October , which furnishes your readers with a narrative of certain proceeding ^ at Geneva , in the case of M . Gaussen , and adds some original remarks ? With the narrative I have jiothing to do ; I believe it faithful , and pass

    on to the consideration of several of the remarks , jfrorn ^ . Jb ejspirit of which I doubt not nine-tenths of your readers must entirely dissent . For aught I know , the pastors of the Consistory at Geneva may have acted in perfect accordance with the princi ples of their body , in expelling M , Gaussen , but I feel very well assured that their acts have been a contradiction to our maxims ; and it

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    is in those parts * of the article % which your writer identifies himself with the principles which have determined the Consistory , that I beg to offer him my glove . After detailing the charges against M . Gaussen , and concluding with the statement of the offender ' s expulsion ,

    your author gravely exclaims { page 182)— 'In all this we see no infringement of the grea ^) sincip , l , eg . bf religious liberty . ' I have not the happiness of being acquainted with , this gentleman ' s definition of religious liberty ; but I verily believe , whatever it is , it is so singularly his own , that he will not find its

    transcript in any second mind among us . This I will unhesitatingly take upon me to pronounce , that it is more nearly allielii to the politics of earth than those of heaven . Here is a man , a minister of a national church , who happens , in the course of his studies , to frame sentiments in

    opposition to the ideas of those in power about him . His thoughts , as ' all honest thoughts should , compel his actions ;—he begins by rejecting a Catechism ( the work of men like himself ) , and finally he conceives it his duty to denounce his fellowpastors , and distinctly to oppose their system by every means within his reach . I see nothing insupportably

    wrong in all this . He is a fanatic —granted . He is presumptuous ^—grant ^ dV- / ^ His ^ . £ a 9 taphysic 9 .,., ar 6 J ..-ar'h ' i surd ^ granted ; but all this is swalr lowed up in the consideration that he is sincere . Your writer will say - —* Why not , then , retire from a connexion which appears hateful to him ? ' To this there are numerous

    replies :- —perhaps the eloquent plea of interest detaiBs : him ^ ^ . perhaps " a sublimer affection for his flock , and theirs for him ; with many minor persuasives . If we call him obstinate , we only accuse him of a virtue ^ for obstinacy combined with sin * cerity is but stedfastness . The resort , then , by the majority in tjuch a case , from the force of argument &o

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    UNltATlIAN CHRONICI / E ; ' 5

    Religious L^Erty At Geneva.

    RELIGIOUS L ^ ERTY AT GENEVA .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 1, 1833, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2605/page/5/