teachers. The latter I suppose to be the true one, for I know that both he and his friend A. have done every thing in their power to vilify and degrade the Freethinking Christians in private, while in all their writings they affect to treat them with silent contempt. But to prevent all doubt, and to give the public a fair opportunity of judging and determining whether they are worthy of being considered a denomination of Christians, especially in a book where Shakers and Roman Catholics are esteemed such, I request that you will publish in your work the Statement which the Freethinking Christians published of their principles; a statement which I know the Reverend Mr. A. and Mr. E. have both read.

In commenting on this statement in favor of religious liberty, in which it is stated that the Dissenters were equally interested with them, Mr. A. insidiously seeks to encourage the civil power to go on with its persecution, by stating that the Dissenters do not feel any particular sympathy with one debating society more than another-with a society that debates on Sunday more than one that debates on Monday-with one that debates theology more than one that debates politics.

Now, Sir, the public will have facts before them; let them judge if you are Christians; and if you are so in their opinion, they will also determine whether these men are deserving of the same title. Your's, &c.

AN ENEMY TO IMPOSTORS. "A brief Statement of certain public Transactions that have taken place relative to the Church of God denominated Freethinking Christians, to distinguish them from the unthinking Christians of the present Day.

The society of Freethinking Christians having excited so much attention, through the recent interference of the Bishop and Lord Mayor of London, we have thought it our duty to lay before the public the following narrative, and also to state some of the principal circumstances which led to our present sentiments and practice. Most of us had formerly belonged to a Baptist church, but bending our minds to the examination of the Scriptures, we observed a striking difference between the doctrines and practices of what were called Christian churches, and those taught by Jesus and his apostles; and finding that Christianity had been wholly subverted by Popery; that every attempt to reform had been partial, and governed by party and interested motives; that the Church of England had formed her system on the same principle; and that Dissenters in general were not far removed; we concluded, that we would renounce all former opinions and practices, and simply go to the Scriptures to find the true principle on which a Christian church should be built, before we formed

ourselves into an organized body. In consequence of this determination, we employed ourselves one whole year in the enquiry; and when we had discovered what appeared to us to be the primitive plan of church union and order, we formed ourselves into a church of God, determining to examine every doctrine with the utmost freedom, and to receive none but what had the sanction of Scripture and reason.

The result of our enquiries has proved, that what is now called Christianity, whether in the Establishment or among Dissenters, is as unlike that taught by Jesus and his apostles, as Paganism ever was, and seemed to us as though it had been invented for the most corrupt purposes, or to bring Christianity into contempt. We saw that all had pretended to reform the Christian church, but none to restore it to its genuine purity; we discovered that the Christian religion was simple, founded on the alone belief, that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God, and by it demonstrated to be a messenger of the Most High, the harbinger of pardon and peace to the penitent, and of a general resurrection to a future life; that whoever believed these important facts, and united himself to the church of God, leading a correspondent life, was a Christian; that Christianity had nothing to do with the anti-christian hierarchy of popes, archbishops, lord bishops, and priests, or with the order of men called preachers, it having no mysteries to explain, or public worship and ordinances to administer; but that it was the duty of individuals to exhort, admonish, and build up each other in their most holy faith; that the Christian church was one body, founded on the equality of its members, and that he who was ambitious of being the greatest, was to be the ser→ vant (not the lord and plunderer) of all; and that whoever as serted any authority over the church of God was anti-christ, whether in the cathedral or conventicle; and of course that all the present prevailing systems, whether founded by Henry the Eighth, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Socinus, Arius, Arminius, George Fox, Joseph Priestley, or John Wesley, &c. were anti-christian (see 1 Cor. i. 12, 13, and iii. 1-7.), and the intoxicated children of Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, having drank too freely of the cup of her fornications; we therefore thought it our duty to attend to the admonition so solemnly given in the Revelations" Come out from her, oh my people! that ye be not partakers of her sins and of her plagues." In obedience to this command we have acted, in bearing our testimony against every anti-christian doctrine and practice; and feeling the happy effects to ourselves, we earnestly invite all others to partake of our benefits, and flee from the wrath to come; being fully convinced that the Christian religion, rightly understood, is the best gift the Deity ever bestowed on his creature man i

and that it is calculated to make us wise and happy here and hereafter.

We are fully persuaded that the religion of Jesus is the religion of the mind, in an entire devotedness to the will of God; that our prayers ought to be private; for they that worship the Father, must worship him in spirit and in truth; we therefore reject all public prayer and singing, all pulpit preaching, all observance of sabbaths, holy days, and outward ordinances, believing them to be inventions of priestcraft and popery; and calculated to keep the multitude in ignorance, in a dependance on outward forms, to the entire neglect of the religion of the mind, and are absolutely forbidden by Jesus and his apostles, and contrary to the spirit of his religion. It is possible we may yet be mistaken in many points, yet we trust our church is built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus the Messiah being the chief corner stone; and as virtue, not sentiment, is the bond of our union, and the utmost freedom of enquiry is admitted and exercised, trifling, or indeed the most important, mistakes, cannot be of great consequence, as we hope, under the favor and protection of the Most High God whom we serve, by honest perseverance, finally to attain that truth, which has been only rendered difficult by the rubbish heaped on it by its pretended friends. We are assured that such dispositions and practices as we profess to exercise, must be matter of real joy and approbation to every sincere Christian, and that whoever would prevent or persecute us for them, will shew that they are enemies to truth and Christianity (which exhorts its followers to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good), and must expose themselves to the judgments denounced against persecutors.

We conclude by observing, that though we are a small body, with inconsiderable talents, professing to be governed, as every Christian ought to be, by the laws of God, as made known by Jesus and his apostles (and not by kings, parliaments, popes, prelates, priests, or councils) in matters of religion, we stand forward as advocates for the Unity of the Deity against TRINITARIAN IDOLATRY, for the universality of his love, for rational religion and free enquiry, acknowledging Jesus ALONE as the head and lawgiver in the Church of God. We do not condemn any for differing from us, though we freely examine their sentiments and practice; but claiming the right of private judg ment for ourselves, we presume not to deny it to others; if their sentiments are erroneous, we pity them, and leave them to that God who is the only lord of conscience, and best able to appreciate the circumstances that tend to the rejection of, as well as to determine what is, truth; we regret they do not enjoy the advantages which we think we do, by having what appears to us to be the truth; but have no doubt there are virtuous

characters among every reiigious sect, whether of Christians, Deists, Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans; and believe, that with God, there is no respect of persons, but in every nation' he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him; that they will find acceptance if they have, to the best of their powers, endeavoured to know his will, but have only failed for want of opportunity of knowing better; for in the present day, we conceive it is not he that believeth not, but he that with candour and sincerity, to the best of his abilities and opportunities, examines not, will be condemned.

Before we enter into a relation of the circumstances that have lately taken place relative to our society, which circumstances are of the first importance to the dissenting interest of Great Britain, we deem it of consequence to state the ground of our actions, and to shew, that, however our sentiments may differ from those of other societies, our difference arises solely from our principles, which are the avowed foundation from which our persecutors should act consistently, and establish other principles as fit ground of their persecution, than those they now profess; for if they maintain that their present principles are right, then every Christian society ought to protect us, as a society of Christians, who, fearless of consequences, dare to act up to what all prefer, and believe to be the sole ground of a Christian's practice, namely-That in acts of outward religion, God must give the command before man ought to act.

On this foundation, rule, or principle of action, we would observe That the Scriptures, containing the revealed will of God, make, when collected, but a small book, and that the New Testament is by far the smallest part of it; still it appears that notwithstanding so many are appointed as teachers, to elucidate this small book, it remains in many respects, unintelligible to Christians at large-otherwise how could there possibly exist in the dominions of Great Britain three opposing church establishments? viz. the Catholics in Canada, the Episcopal in England, and the Presbytery in Scotland : independently of almost innumerable other sects of Christians, all professing, in opposition to each other, to be better versed in Scripture truth and doctrines, than those who differ from them. The claims of all are professedly founded on the revealed will of God, as expressed in the Scriptures. How then are we to reconcile so many jarring opinions, all professing to arise from the same accessible source, and that source admitted by all to be truth?

It was upon the principle we have before stated-That in acts of outward religion, God must give the command, before man ought to act-that the Catholic church, corrupted as was from primitive Christianity, in the days of Constantine,

overturned the superstitions of Paganism, by a simple demand to produce the revealed authority on which the Pagan rites are founded. They contended that religious actions, to be approved of by God, must be appointed by him. They produced the Scriptures as the revealed authority for their religion, and Paganism, which was forced into the contest, failed for want of evidence. In a similar way the reformers attacked and overturned the establishments of Popery. Their reasoning was, "Man has not authority to act in religion when Scripture is silent, but he must have express command for every religious duty we demand divine authority for your mass book, your image worship, your priesthood, your monasteries, your nunneries, and all the external paraphernalia of your human and traditional rites; without this authority being produced, we dissent from these practices, and protest against their performance as anti-christian." The Protestant establishments are, upon the same principle, attacked by the Dissenters of every denomination, who demand authority for uniting the kingdoms of God with the kingdoms of this world. Thus it appears that the Scriptures are, by common assent, allowed to be the law of judgment; and not any sect has the least right to complain of being judged by them, as long as common sense sits in judgment, and the law is not perverted. "To the law, and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because light is not in them." Isaiah viii. 20.

It was with a full determination to act upon this principle, lead us wherever it might, that we, as Christians, assembled at No. 38, Old Change, from the year 1798 to December last, holding not sentiment, but virtue, and the will of God, made known in the Scriptures, as we became acquainted with it, for the sole bond of our union we met regularly every first day morning, from eleven till twelve, and in the evening from six till eight, for the purpose of "proving every doctrine, that we might hold fast those only which were excellent;" and, notwithstanding the freedom of our investigations, frequently in the presence of dissenting teachers, and occasionally before those of the establishment, yet in so many years, we have not knowingly given offence to the civil magistrate, or been favoured with ecclesiastical interference. About Christmas last, we removed from the Old Change to a room at No. 5, Cateaton Street, late the Paul's Head Tavern. Courting an examination of every sentiment we uttered, that we might prepare the minds of our audience to weigh with attention our arguments upon the important subjects on which we treated, we printed the following paper preparatory to taking possession of

our new room :

The society of Freethinking Christians, removed from No. 38, Old Change, to No. 5, Cateaton Street, late the Paul's