so to do. And is it become a matter of indifference to British Christians, whether they will be taught by a Protestant clergyman, or submit to the teaching of a semi-Papist priest, that may well be likened to the priests of Baal; will they like slaves tamely submit to the yoke of that harlot, whose whoredom, if not quite so monstrous, is still quite apparent; and her despotism daily becoming more like to her sister's of Rome?

Are not Christians Christ's free men? Let us assert, then, our freedom, and maintain our liberty; let us burst the fetters of the harlot, or be content to forfeit our name of Christians and be numbered amongst the legions of Antichrist. Let us not believe the monstrous assumptions of those teachers who will tell us it is not possible to be saved without the pale of the Established Church; consigning all others to the uncovenanted mercies of God. Let us read the Bible for ourselves, and judge if it be not far less likely that we can be saved within it than without it; if a Church be out of the covenant, if I understand my Bible aright, it is one that commits spiritual fornication, and thus goes a whoring from God. But then they will tell us, we must not judge for ourselves, and without their interpretation we cannot understand it aright.

How preposterous! God Himself says we can, and which shall we believe, God or man? Who hath given understanding to the heart, God or man? and to whom are we responsible for the exercise of that understanding, to God or man? We should not take the judgment of the Pope of Rome, nor all the Cardinals, as to the value of a shilling, though all should tell us it was a good one, if in our own judgment we were not convinced we should not take it; if, then, we could not trust them in the least, how much less ought we to trust themin that which is greatest, the salvation of our souls; though they might possibly teach us aright, if our own judgment is not convinced, our religion will avail us nothing. Now let us see what God says in this matter; He says, "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; if thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; if thou cry after knowledge, and lift up thy

voice for understanding; if thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find out the knowledge of God." "For it is He that giveth wisdom, and out of His mouth cometh understanding; He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous, and is a buckler to them that walk uprightly; He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of His saints." If we attend to these things, "then shall we understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, and every good path." And though we may be comparatively fools with reference to human learning if we are wayfaring men, that is, if really desirous of knowing the will of God, we shall not err therein. But then these priests of modern Baal will tell us they are the successors of the Apostles, and therefore we must believe them, and not trust to ourselves. If they were in reality the successors of the Apostles, they would not seek to exercise such lordship over our faith, for none of the Apostles ever did so.

Thus the Pope would suppress the Bible, and keep it from the hands of the common people, and semi-popes tell us we cannot comprehend it without their interpretation, that it is a sealed book, except to the learned; but blessed be God he has not left us to the tender mercies of such men ; the truth is, he speaks far too plainly in it for priestcraft, and therefore they would suppress it. But if the Bible be a sealed book, it is only so to those who have no desire to understand it, and to those who would turn and twist its doctrines, to answer some sinister design. But to those who are really desirous of being made wise unto salvation by it, though many things are hidden, yet in all things essential thereto, it will become plain as the alphabet of their own language. "I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." Popery is not confined to Rome, or to the Church of England, or to other state Churches, but I fear there is a tendency thereto, even amongst Dissenters themselves, and therefore at the risk of being called a heretic, or deluded, I would tell the Pope, and all semi-popes, and all demi-semi-popes of every denomination, that would propagate such a doctrine, or any thing approaching thereto, that if the

Bible be a sealed book, while they continue in such a state of mind, notwithstanding all their human learning, it will be so to them, and they will only serve as a further illustration of its truth, "that the world by wisdom knows not God;" such teachers are the heretics, ecclesiastical tyrants, and spiritual despots, that seek to lord it over faith, and their doctrine is the heresy that ought to be shunned as the plague. When will Christian men and Englishmen grow wise, and renounce a system that disenables them from getting rid of such teachers. Come out of them, my people, saith the Lord.

From the conclusions I have drawn with reference to Mystic Babylon, that she is composed of the impure blending of Church and State interests of every kind in the world, and that the cities of the nations are composed of their own particular form of Apostacy in connexion with the states to which they respectively belong, and that she includes all these; and seeing that all these cities or systems have been formed or built by Cain, and his Apostate descendants, and have been maintained by the sword of Esau or secular despotism: as peace principles prevail, of course all such systems must fall; and it is this great revolution in the minds of men, with reference to these things that I believe will constitute the apocalyptic earthquake; the great ones of the earth will doubtless do all they can to oppose it; nevertheless, I believe that not only will there be shortly kindled such a flame in England, that shall never be forgotten, but the whole of Europe will be shaken to its centre, and the Pope, who has been exulting in the idea of again bringing into bondage the noble sons of Britain, will be made to tremble, to turn pale, and to totter upon his throne. For men's eyes are beginning to be opened, to see how they have been deceiving themselves, and have been deceived by the Great Scarlet Whore. And seeing God has made of one blood, all nations to dwell upon the face of the earth, it is high time peace principles did prevail, and that men began to look upon each other as brethren, instead of being thus deceived, instead of murdering one another, and feasting her, and making her drunk with the blood of their slain.

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And from the principles I have laid down, it will also be readily perceived I am a man of peace, and could not lift up my hand against my brother. And if the children of darkness (for the children of light cannot do so) will come and unlawfully smite me on my check, I will turn to them the other also; and if they will come and unlawfully take my coat, they must have my cloak also; if I cannot prevent them by moral influence, still, I should not deem it unlawful to seek redress from the civil power for such a grievance-seeing, that it is the ordinance of God for the punishment of such evil doers; and that, I believe, is the utmost extent to which the civil power can, consistently with the word of God, draw the sword; its province being simply the protection of person and property ; and when it is found interfering further than this, even if it be to put down false or blasphemous creeds, so long as the expression of them does not affect the temporal interest of men, and is not intended to stir them up to the use of physical force, I believe it will be found trenching upon the prerogative of God. For I have before shown that no power on earth has a right to inflict punishment for what is simply moral evil; the Church of Christ itself is not authorized so to do, any further than to cut men off from her communion or fellowship; or, as the Apostle expresses it, "deliver them over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Professing Christians have no more right to persecute the infidel or unbeliever-than they have to persecute them-God alone is the avenger of all such. And Satan cares little how he deceives m en, so that he can deceive them, and set them either persecuting or fighting one against another, by raising factions or what not in a country. It strengthens his kingdom; and if the children of darkness, or those who are led captive by him at his will, will fight with each other, Christians or the children of light must not be partakers of their evil deeds. And as no government should punish moral evil, so, on the other hand, I believe no government, however bad, should be resisted by force; men should seek redress by moral means alone; and learn to restrain their passions, lest those passions break out into open violence, and in their eagerness to remove existing evils, the remedy they

seek to apply, prove worse than the disease, by bringing about a state of lawless anarchy and confusion.

I am aware an objection may be raised to this effect; what! if a faction arise, or our enemies invade our country, may we not join in the defence thereof? Doubtless, those who acknowledge the God of this world will do so; and let them if they like it; but Christians must not, and they must bear their testimony to the world that they ought not. Many a weak Christian, under such circumstances, would doubtless be ready to take up the language of the servant of the man of God, and say, "alas! master, what must we do." Do! my weak brother, why, anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, and then thou wilt presently see the mountains round about thee covered with horses and chariots of fire: for "more are they that are for us than, any that can be against us." We must refuse to fight; remonstrate with our enemies, commit our cause to God, and he will protect us and avenge our cause. Christians! do you doubt it? O ye of little faith! wherefore do you doubt? Let me ask you a few questions by way of removing your doubts. Was it ever known that the Jews of old were invaded by their enemies, (by whom they were surrounded on every side,) when, at the command of God, all their males, above a certain age, went up to Jesusalem three times in the year; and apparently left their country in a defenceless state? was it known that any of the Christians perished, when they also obeyed the command of God by fleeing out of Jerusalem previous to the destruction of that city? And, coming down to modern times, when Penn acted upon the peace principles I have been advocating, by making a treaty with the Indians of America, was it known that they were ever attacked until that principle was departed from? And there are also many signal deliverances recorded, which may be found in the tracts of the Peace Society, of many of the Society of Friends, during the Rebellion in Ireland, who lived in those towns that were successively taken and retaken by the contending armies, although they would not fight for either, it fared much better with them than with those who drew the sword. Are not these instances sufficient to shew that God is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;"