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    CORRESPONDENCE ; 283

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    and in general we reject all modes of acting , which have been introduced for the service of God without the authority of the word , such as are all the ceremonies of popery ; and we detest the yoke of tyranny with which poor souls have been oppressed * such as the law of confession , prohibition olmamdagLe ^ and-th e-like . JL- ^ - ~—~—

    -On Jane 3 d , 1576 , seven years after the founding of the public schools , the church of Geneva was established ' according to the ecclesiastical ordinances passed , and reviewed in the general council . ' The chief articles respecting the qualifications and , duties of pastors , are the two following : — ' In order to know whether the proposed pastor be fit to

    teach , it will be necessary that he be heard by the rninisiers , treating of the doctrine of tne Lord , upon passages which shall be' assigned ; and also that he be interrogated on the principal points of doctrine : and in order to " avoid all danger , and that hewho is to be admitted ^ hold' not any bad doctrine , it is required , that he declare that he holds the doctrine of

    the holy prophets and apostles , as it is contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments , of which doctrine we have 3 . summary in our Catechism , ' ( that is Calvin ' s , ) By Article 16 th , the candidate was required to say , ' Finally , I promise to be subject to the polity , and to the states of the city and republic , and

    to show good example of obedience to all others , rendering myself , for my part , subject and obedient to the law , and to the magistrate , as far as this ministry comports with it ; that is to say , without prejudice to 'the liberty which we ought to have , to teach ^ aci ? o . rJing ,. asjGracI commandsat ,

    and to perform the things which pertain to our charge according to bis word : and this I promise , so to serve the civil authority and the people , as that I be not thereby iri any way hindered in rendering to ' God the service which I owe . him in my vocation . ' Many years elapsed before

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    Geneva resolved to throw off the yoke of confessions of faith imposed by human authority , and to place the church " establishment on the broad base of the sole authority of the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments , conceding to every man the right of

    examining for himself , and interpreting-a-r * ter-his-best 7 u ^ gineTrrfh e ¦ sacred writings . On June 25 th , 1706 , a signal victory was obtained on the parfc of the friends of freedom ; and nineteeW ' years afterwards , on June 1 st , 1725 , the church of Geneva was released from the fetters of the

    Helvetian Confession . ' Nearly a century later , a ,- 18 O 5 ' > the custom of requiring her clergy to subscribe a , common confession of faith was finally rejected . There is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth , than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance . Ecclesiastical establishments

    answerinothe latter description might be sought in vain ; but - the church of Geneva not only was tEe first to repent of sanguinary persecutions , but it is nobly distinguished among the Protestant churches of Christendom by setting the example of a national church , deliberately placing itself on the true Protestant principle of the Bible , and the Bible only as a rule of faith .

    Some of the Calvhiistic Dissenters ( here called Methodists ) perhaps regarding a revival of the old Helvetian confession as a Bopeless attempt , haye lately united with the political enemies of all national churches in an effort to destroy that of Geneva . Wev are informed by the * Protestant

    de Genhve , ' January , 1833 , that a motion has been made by a member ' of the-representative council to suppress that article in the Constitu- < tion , which acknowledges the Protestant religion as dominant in the canton . The editor remarks , that the manner in which this new

    attempt against the national church was received , shows that that church exista not merely upon paper , in the

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 1, 1833, page 283, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2621/page/26/