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    & 6 On the Iteithodzst Excommunication at Flushing .

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    words . These I should have quo . ted could I have had easy -access to the document . That man of superlative piety and devotion , the Rev , J . Fletcher , gives a decided testimony to the possibility of an Unitarian

    being in a state of grace . In his € i Portraiture of St . Paul / ' though he laments the Unitarians , on account of the faint light in the peculiarities of the gospel system they possess ; yet allows that they may be in one of what he calls 66 the saving dispensations , " and therefore ought not to be treated with contempt and rigour , but borne with and gently led on to

    that state of light and purity which he denominates the dispensation of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . So the fathers of Methodism thought ; are their sons degenerated , or are they wiser than they Will it be said that the discarded Unitarians fell under the ecclesiastical Jaws , not so much because

    they held erroneous opinions , as because they did not keep them to themselves , but endeavoured to propagate them amongst their brethren ? On this ground of defence , I would inquire of Mr . A .

    Seekerson , the legate apostolical , and of those by whom he was commissioned ^ whether it be an indispensible term of holding communion with the Methodists , that the members of society should

    refrain from instructing each other , and by removing what they apprehend to he false or imperfect views of sacred facts and doctrines ,

    to build each other up in divine and scriptural knowledge ? Or , whether they are required not to move the sixteenth of an inch out of the magic circle which Mr . Wesley ' s eight volumes of sermons

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    and his notes on the New Testd * ment , and Mr . Fletcrh ' ei ' s wor k * have drawn around them ? If such terms of fellowship exist , ? * ill not a defence of Chribfian liberty come very awkwardly from our methodistical leaders , and will it not

    be with an ill grace that any of thern ^ condemn the pretensions to infallibilitv of the Church of Rome ? Should it be said , as a dernier resort , that those members

    of the Methodist society , who do not approve of its restraints on this head are not ~ deprived of Christian liberty , because they have the power of quitting it whenever they please , —1 would ask whether the

    same plea might not be made use of to justify the most despotic states on earth ? The subjects of these might possibly have it in their power to escape from their bondage by flight , but does that

    circumsianceextinguish the charge of despotism ; or do they who live in such states enjoy the advantagesofone which is politically free ? If any of the advocates of methodistical disownment or

    excommunication , will condescend to take notice of these remarks , I presume , Sir , that you will not refuse them the privilege of conveying their sentiments in your miscellany . If they should bring

    forward any thing that has the shew of reason and argument I shall not be backward in paying it all due respect * In the mean time , I exhort the expelled brethren contentedly

    to leave their quondam associates to eat their own supper , " whilst they themselves thankfully and joyfully partake of the rich and wholesome provision furnished them by ihe feast of reason and pure religion . lam , Sir , yours , &c . SABRINUS .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1813, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2424/page/36/