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    On the day that Mr . Stone was making bis defence , a very great assembly was collected at St . Bride ' s church , of ministers of the church of England and dissenting ministers , chiefly of the me > thodist persuasion , the majority being dissenters . The occasion of the meeting was to hear a sermon on the subject of sending missionaries to the heathen countries , for which purpose a society

    has been formed , and a very great subscription raised . The design is doubtless laudable , provided the missionaries carry with them the pure spirit and truth of the gospel : but it becomes them , and the society also to consider > whether they are carrying into heathen countries , the word of God , or the

    traditions of man . One way to secure them from the errors , into which European Christians have fallen , is not to admit a single word in their preaching or teaching , which is not in the scriptures . If they carry' the scriptures only

    without any explanation , they are doing service . The union of . dissenters with churchmen proves , that the disputes about discipline , which so much agitated former times , have in a great degree subsided , and every true

    Christian must rejoice in every prospect of peace and union in any one respect , taking place of that discord . and animosity against each other , which , has been so peculiar a mark of Christian

    . But this age is far from being the en - lightened age , which flattery so often paints in , glittering colours ; and the Christians of all sects have enough to do , before they ca ; n jwrove themselves worth y of the holy name , by which they are called . One coukl hardly imagine , that within sixty miles of Lorkipn , the belief of witchcraft should produce

    « ny serious consequences : yet so i % is , and the missionary society , instead of "wasting its strength in foreign nations , will fiqd sufficient employment a £ home , mj rooting out prejudice , and bringing * nen to the pure knowledge of Christ , ^ ot long ago two young women of a

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    village m Huntingdonshire , thought themselves to be bewitched by a poor old woman , living near them , and $ O her they ascribed the convulsion fits , which frequently seized them . Under this persuasion they " got three young men to . break open the door of the ppoi ? woman ' s cottage , about ten o ' clock at

    night * , when shi was in bed with her ? husband , and to force her out of bedt into the yard , where the young womea with . pins and their nails drew blood from her , and , as they said , recovered ^ immediately . The notion of the effect of witches' blood is prevalent among the lower classes in that district , who are

    still so merged in ignorance , as to believe in witchcraft , l&owev . er , some are exempt from this horrid folly and superstition ; and in consequence the three young men were apprehended , and carried before the bench of justices , sitting a , t Huntingdon , on the 14 th of May , and by them are ; bound over to take their trial at the next assizes .

    How prone , is the mind of man to fotty , when not , enlightened by the pure principles of the gospel ! and how thankful ought the true Qhristian to be , tha he is under the ^ gentle yoke of Christy by which he is made superior to all such idle notions , as occupy the mind vyitb . vain terrors , and bring it into subjecr tion to the strangest conceits—conceits

    creating various objects o £ religious adoration or superstitious dread . From al ^ these the mind is free , which helievcsu that there is one onl y God , the God and Father © f ; our Lord Jesus Christ : who / does not" permit the disciples of GKrist

    to be duped by those fables , which were : current in the heathen world , and kept up by the delusions of heathen priests . We must pity the unfortunate women , who are enslaved under such horrible bondage ; as we must all those in sti }

    higher rariks , who pay adoration to any person or being except Him , to whom we are ordered by our Saviour to offer up our prayers , and to address under the title of his Father and our Father his God and our God *

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    State of Public Affairs . % 7 ?

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    vot . itu 2 o

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1808, page 277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2392/page/49/