they would naturally wish to meet together for the public worship of God. If, after a time, an edict were to come forth from the king of Spain forbidding them to meet again, would it not be an act of glaring injustice, for which it will not be easy to give an account to the great Sovereign of the Christian church? But when any other government deprives its peaceable subjects of the pleasure and advantages of social worship, is not their conduct equally unjust? Should it be pleaded, that such an assembly is forbidden by the laws, what is this but to say that the laws are unrighteous, directly in the teeth of justice, and that the legislators have, with daring impiety, set themselves against the Lord, and against his anointed?

"But will not the safety of the state be endangered by the exercise of such unbounded liberty?" What but disorder and civil commotion can be expected as the natural consequence of extensive indulgence? Religious animosities will soon set the country in a flame." Though this objection is commonly urged, it certainly does not come from the lips of a man who is intimately acquainted with the annals of the nations, and at the same time possesses a candid and liberal mind. He must be either grossly ignorant, or deeply prejudiced. The severest evils which any country has suffered on an ecclesiastical account, have arisen from disturbances created by the clergy of the established religion, when they were displeased with the conduct of the civil rulers. The greatest injuries next to these, have had their origin in the discontents of untolerated sects, groaning under the envenomed scourge of persecution and oppression. Where full liberty of worship was given, no a See Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, passim.

injury has been sustained: but a refusal to grant it has brought the heaviest calamities on the land.

The history of our own country is fully sufficient, from the number and kind of the examples which it furnishes to us, to enable a person to make up his mind on this important subject in favour of religious liberty. England has felt a convulsion connected with dissentions about religion. But was it when granting a free toleration to all; or when refusing it to every one who would not subscribe to the established creed? The stern intolerance of the reign of Charles the first, was (though not the chief, for that was civil oppression) one cause of the miseries both of England and Scotland. At present, while under the benign government of George the third, there is universal toleration, can any country enjoy greater internal peace; and do not all feel an equal interest and concern for its welfare? However much they may differ on theological points, all agree in this. Were they all of one communion, their harmony could not be more complete. America presents us with a similar example of this pleasing kind. There are no restraints on religious liberty; but every man may publicly profess his faith without suffering the slightest civil disability on that account. The government finds no trouble from their theological strife.

But ought not the magistrate to be acquainted with the opinions of a person, or sect, before liberty of worship be granted, as they may prove injurious to the peace and welfare of the community. This precaution has been often suggested, and much alarm has been roused concerning the danger of tolerating religious opinions. But governments appear to have been guided by their prejudices, and to have felt a

causeless dread of every system which was different from their own. For near two centuries England refused to tolerate Roman catholics, because their tenets were hostile to England's peace. In France the government professed that the protestant religion was dangerous to the state. Scotland was, for a season, unwilling to tolerate episcopalians, as inimical to the established presbyterian faith. And England for a considerable time would not allow liberty of worship to the presbyterians, because they were said to be enemies both to church and state. With such examples in view, little regard is due to the pretended fears. Were inquiry to be made concerning every preacher's faith in England, a board of various-members and subdivisions would be necessary for the purpose. And if there was such a board, they might think that by allowing one, refusing another, warning a third, and giving sage counsel to a fourth, they did wonders, and prevented a world of evil and danger to the state: and but for their precautions, the country would be undone. But how useless they would be, to say nothing worse, the quiet spirit of the people of these congregations sufficiently declares. Among such a variety of sects, the grossest absurdities may be supposed to be held by some individual preachers, and opinions which are calculated to do no good at least, to society. But the effect is counteracted by the operation of more powerful causes: and their opinions are in themselves far more harmless than ten thousand conversations which take place in taverns every week, and their congregations are better off than the millions who frequent no place of public worship at all. It would be difficult to alter things in this respect for the better. Religious liberty is

enjoyed the government does not officiously pry into the people's religious sentiments: and the active vigilance of the magistrate punishes every offence against the laws of the land, the powerful guardians of public morals and public peace.

The church is that body of which Christ is the head. The view of it, as presented in the sacred Scriptures, furnishes another part of the foundation on which I build my system of dissent. It is the declaration of the Saviour," my kingdom is not of this world." The design of its existence is not to impart to men riches or honours, or earthly pleasures. It is not to convey worldly dominion, or to invest its members with any kind of temporal power. The Redeemer's purpose is to make the subjects of his kingdom wise unto salvation. The various institutions are intended to instruct mankind in the principles of the Gospel; to form them to holy dispositions and virtuous conduct; to lead them to the performance of every duty to God, their neighbours and themselves; to introduce them to communion with God, and the consolations of religion; and to prepare them for a state of eternal blessedness in heaven.

These are the great objects which the different ordinances of the Christian church were appointed to accomplish. The reading of the Scriptures, the preaching of the word, prayer, praise, baptism, and the Lord's supper are the moral instruments of the Mediator for the establishment of his dominion, and have no connexion with the world, no interference with temporal authority, but are all simple institutions of a spiritual nature, the tendency of which is to illuminate the minds of men with the knowledge of divine things,

to purify the heart, and communicate spiritual delight.

Such is

The members of the church are persons who, professing to believe the Gospel, and to regulate their life by its dictates, unite in the observance of Christ's institutions for their spiritual improvement, the honour of God, and the benefit of others. the definition given of their character in the nineteenth article of the church of England. "The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly administered according to Christ's ordinance."

In the epistles to Timothy, and Titus, the gifts and graces, the acquirements and qualifications of the ministers of the church of Christ are amply described. In civil affairs, they have no concern: and in virtue of their office they have no temporal dominion, no power over men's bodies or estates. They are introduced into their vocation in the church by the

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voluntary choice of its members: their mutual approbation and consent form that relation which takes place between them, and lay the foundation for those duties which they owe to each other. Some relations in life arise out of our very existence; such is that of parents to children, and children to parents. There are others which spring from choice and compact: those of husband and wife, of master and servant are of this kind. To the latter class, belongs the relation between a minister and his flock.

The pastors of the church being thus invested with their office, their whole business is to attend to the spiritual edification of their people; to endeavour, by the dispensation of the ordinances of the Gospel, to promote their improvement in knowledge, in faith,