TO THE REVEREND MINISTERS, AND TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DISSENTING CHURCHES, ASSEMBLED AT OLDBURY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1817, THESE DISCOURSES, PRINTED AT THEIR REQUEST, ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THEIR OBLIGED SERVANTS, THE AUTHORS. ERRATUM. Page 17, Note. Mr. Turton, after his ejectment from Rowley, was the Minister of the Old Meeting, in Birmingham. The first pastor of the Congregation which assembled in Deritend (denominated then, as its successors are at present, the New Meeting Society,) was Mr. Sill toe, who died early in life. See Dr. Toulmin's Life of Bourn, p. 26. SERMON, &c. &c. GALATIANS v. 1. Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free*. THE Churches in Galatia, a province of Asia Minor, embraced the Christian faith under the ministry of the apostle Paul. Soon after his departure from them, some Judaizing teachers exerted their utmost endeavours to bring them into subjection to the ceremonial law; * Some passages are now introduced into this discourse, which were omitted, for the sake of brevity, when it was de livered. B and many of the Galatians were perverted from the simplicity of the gospel. This is manifest from the letter addressed to them by the apostle, about the year of our Lord 52, in which he endeavours to convince them of their error by a train of just reasoning, and in the language of affectionate remonstrance. After contrasting, in a suitable allegory, the bondage of the ceremonial law with the more liberal spirit of the christian dispensation, he adds, in the words of our text, "Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The Liberty which Paul asserted and defended, on this, and several other occasions, is opposed to all human impositions in matters of religion: it implies a liberty to judge and to act as reason and conscience, enlightened by divine revelation, may direct; to serve and worship God according to the rule prescribed by Christ and his apostles. And they who attentively look into this perfect law of liberty, and conform their practice to it, will experience freedom from the dominion of prejudice and error, and from the slavery of sin; whilst every pure, every generous, every excellent principle and disposition will expand itself and flourish in their minds. In the sequel of this discourse, I would more particularly invite your attention to the noble stand made in favour of religious liberty by the ministers who, in the year 1662, resigned their livings in the established church, because they could not conscientiously conform to requisitions which they deemed unreasonable, and inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel. There may be a peculiar propriety in referring to this event on the present occasion, as this Lecture is said to have been instituted in commemoration of it; and as the contemplation of their principles and sufferings, and the consequences |