vant girl espied me, and was so frightened at my aspect that she took me for the devil. My beard was then very long, I had on a long black robe, my face was emaciated, and my eyes sparkling with rage and despair, the girl screamed so loud that the master of the house ran up. He was not less frightened than her when he discovered me; but I begged him to fear nothing; and on closer inspection found him to be a French doctor, who had once cured me of a severe fit of sickness. The honest fellow shook my hand cordially, whilst the tear of sympathy trickled down his cheek. He conducted me to his closet, where I gave him a short narrative of what had happened to me. He blamed me for my want of prudence in disclosing my sentiments to the friars; advised me to beware of priests of any denomination; and having furnished me with a disguise, he presented me with fifty dollars, desiring me to write to him as soon as I should be out of the reach of the inquisition. I set sail next morning for England, resolved never more to set foot on the inhospitable shores of Spain.

An Address from a Friend to Christianity, to his Brethren.

ACTUATED by a fervent desire for your

present and eternal welfare, a friend to the relig

fon you profess, begs your attention whilst he lays before you some observations for your se rious consideration.

Although reason is justly called the great dis tinguishing faculty of man, who is there that is not convinced of its insufficiency to insure happiness, by restraining the passions and reducing to order the evil propensities of our nature? Something more than mere reason seems necessary to promote the happiness of man, even in this life, and the Supreme Governor of the Universe has placed within our reach a complete remedy for this defect of our fallen nature, by offering up his holy begotten Son as a ransom for us.

This divine Saviour hath by example, as well as precept, left for our instruction a system of Religion which may secure to us not only happiness in this world, but also the pos session of eternal felicity in another. As this great truth meets with universal acknowledg ment throughout the christian world, how comes it, that instead of" Peace on earth and good will to men," which was the triumphant song of angels, the history of Christendom is blackened by a long catalogue of persecutions, crimes, and murders, committed in the name of the divine author of our religion? The answer is easy;christianity was promulgated at a time when the great ones of the earth had by fraud, or force established themselves in power, and trampled with impunity on the rights of their fellow men, who, sunk by the hard gripe of oppression, to the state of beasts of burthen, were not sensible of their inherent privileges, or, if known, they

remembered only to moan their sorrows, as the power and cruelty of their oppressors left them without hope of escaping their ignominious shackles. But when the light of the gospel was spread abroad; when the lust of power and the pride of dominion was attacked; when these great ones were called to look on all men as their brethren, they stood amazed and dismayed, and could not bear truths so humiliating to hu man grandeur: and they impiously combined together to crucify the author of doctrines so contrary to their worldly interests.

But unable by their cruelty and persecution to oppose truths so salutary, and of such heavenly. origin,they cunningly contrived to ingraft religion, or pretended religion, on the old stock of their usurped governments, and by their union of church and state, once more rode triumphantly secure in persecution, revenge and murder. He who reads the bloody history of church and state persecutions, turns sickened and disgusted from so horrible a display of the fiend-like disposition of his fellow men, glutting to the full of every evil propensity of his nature, and impiously calling on the prince of peace to sanction crimes, the very recital of which makes us tremble. This union of church and state, and the imposing cry of "Religion, Government, and order," was the cloak which tyranny so closely wrapped round itself that the ignorant, although they felt the evil, where unable to say were it originated; and if an observing individual discovered the imposture, terror kept him silent;

or if he ventured to unmask the cheat, fire and faggots were his inevitable portion.

If then the sincere professors of christianity for so many hundred years, suffered for con science sake, reviling, stripes, persecutions, and death, how great should be our rejoicing, that in this favored land the chains that have hitherto been entwined round the brethren, are broken asunder, and all are left in complete liberty to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences? Precious inestimable privil eges! How ought we to cherish them; how carefully guard and preserve them, lest ambition should again exalt itself and deprive us of so great a blessing! Fully aware of the evil of church and state union, a monster that had destroyed so many millions of innocent victims to its lust of power-the people of America wisely and gloriously cut asunder the bands with which they were united, and in the great charter of their liberties have declared, "That no religous test should be required of our citizens," thus leaving, in the true spirit of christianity, all descriptions, of men to the enjoyment of their own opinions, and their errors to the chastisement of that great Being who has declared Vengeance is mine: I will repay saith the Lord."

6.6

A FRIEND TO CHRISTIANITY.

119

SELECTED SCRIPTURES.

CHAP. I.

The Benevolence of God.

HE that loveth not, knoweth not God: for, God is love. (a) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us; God is love and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. (b) For, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. (c) And JEHOVAH passed by before him (Moses,) and proclaimed JEHOVAH, JEHOVAH God, merciful and gracious,long-suffering, & abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and sin, that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (a) Know, therefore, that JEHOVAH thy God, he is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep

(a) I John, iv. 8. (b) 1 John, iv. 16. (c) St. John, iii. 15 (d) Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7,,`and xx. 5. and Deut. v. 9, 10.