- THE  SPALDING  RESEARCH  PROJECT -



A Spalding Saga Resource

The Halcyon Inspiration: A. M. Sargent & Sol. Spalding   |   Abel M. Sargent Chronology
excerpt: 1853 Finley bio.   |   excerpt: 1849 Marietta Physicians   |   excerpt: 1923 Ohio Universalists
excerpt: 1895 "Universalism"   |   Abel M. Sargent Genealogy   |   Concluding Comments

The Published Writings
of Rev. Abel M. Sargent

(under construction)

Universal (1798)   |   The Urim (1801)   |   The Little Book (1801)   |   Hymn Book (1811)


 



==> "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God."

----= * =----

THE

URIM,

OR

HALCYON  CABALA;

CONTAINING THE

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

OF THE

Halcyon Church of Christ in Columbia;

OTHERWISE CALLED

THE

COLUMBIAN CHURCH,

In defence of the Genuine Christianity

AND

IN OPPOSITION TO

"LO HERE, AND LO THERE;"

CONSISTING OF

ONE SUPREME OBJECT

AND

SEVEN LEADING TOPICKS.

----= * =----

There is one God, and there is none other but he. Mark xii. 32.

For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. Zech. iv. 10, 7. Zech. iii. 9. Revelations iv.5 and v. 6.

==> "Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua." "And the stone that smote the Image, became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.:

_______________________

-- CINCINNATI --

FROM THE PRESS OF CARPENTER & FINDLAY.
M,DCCC,I.



 

[2]





==> "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts." Haggai ii. 23.

"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his hands shall also finish it." Zech. iv. 9.



==> "And one man among them was clothed with linen, and with a writer's Inkhorn by his side." Ezek. ix. 2. Daniel, xii. 6, 7. Mark xiv. 51, 52. Mark xvi, 5.



 

                                            THE URIM.                                             3.


Hear ye the rod (or sharp threshing instrument) and who hath appointed it.

==> TRUTH IS INVINCIBLE.

PART FIRST.

Of the one Supreme Object.

In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one (not three but one.) Zechariah xiv. 9.


No. 1. By the one supreme object, we mean the one God, the only true Deity, who is comprehended in all his fulness, in the one person and under the one character of FATHER, beside whom there is no Deity or Divinity: whose eternal God-head, is simply one and indivisible; who only ought to be chosen and received as the object supreme, in the affection of every rational intelligence; which supreme object, in his original abstract, was simply one indivisible and invisible spirit; and like as LIFE in the abstract, cannot be seen by mortal eyes, but by its diverse operations in various bodies, even so this supreme object could not be beheld, conceived of, or known by finite beings, but only by the manifestations of himself in some visible form (or body) familiar unto them.

"To men and angels out of Christ,
The God head is unknown."


No. 2. In order, therefore, to effect a familiar communication of himself to his intelligent creation, God was pleased to assume personality; first, by expressing himself in Angelic nature and form; which expression was called (in the Greek) the Logos. Second, in the fallen human nature and form; which expression was called the Emmanuel. Third, in the human nature and form restored from the fall and made spiritual, divine, immortal and blessed, by the resurrection from the dead; which expression was called in the Saxon tongue, Al hael, which signifieth all health, and so this supreme object became the Logos; the Emmanuel; the Al hael and the Exordium in the speech of God to his intelligent creation.

 

4.                                             THE URIM.                                            


No. 3. This glorious object we conceive to be the grand object of all true religion, and the only proper object of all spiritual worship and adoration for every rational intelligence, both in earth and heaven.

No. 4. The unity (or one-ness) of the eternal God-head, therefore, we conceive to be the first grand premise and foundation stone on which the divine law, the moral government, the genuine gospel church, and all true evangelical religion is founded; and if so, then every deviation from this most sacred and fundamental principle in faith, must equally be a departure from the first and most sacred principles of divine truth, and can amount to nothing short of detestable idolatry, which the genuine disciples of Jesus Christ may not receive, or fellowship.

No. 5. Moreover we conceive, that whatever name, phrase or thing may be found, supported, nourished, or countenanced in the church of Christ, the native tendencies whereof communicateth to the strong or weak mind an idea of any more objects of spiritual worship, than simply one, should be considered by every christian, as an evil root in the garden of God; which in its nature is strictly idolatrous, and of course, subversive of the pure worship of the one living and true God.

No. 6. That, therefore, it is the duty of all christian churches to explode polytheism, and to bear public testimony against every polytheist principle.

 

                                            THE URIM.                                             5.




PART SECOND.

OF THE SEVEN LEADING TOPICS,

OR

Grand standard of Divine Truth.

"When thou lightest the lamp, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick." Numb. viii. 2. Zechariah, iv. 2.

==> TRUTH IS INVINCIBLE.

"Upon one stone shall be seven eyes." Zech. iii. 9. Rev. v. 6.

No. 1. By the seven leading topics, we mean the seven grand branches in the great speech of God to his intelligent creation, which make the seven fundamental articles of the genuine christian religion, and of the true and pure theology, which in themselves are familiarly and self-evidently exhibited and unfolded in the several branches of divine revelation, and in all the works of nature, as the grand standard of divine truth, and only proper key of all spiritual knowledge; by which the holy scriptures may be expounded; by which all the mysteries in divinity may be defined, and by which the truth or falsehood of every system and doctrine proposed.ay, with satisfaction, be determined; which seven are exhibited as aforesaid, for the free, private and public perusal and investigation of every sincere enquirer after divine truth, both of anegls and men.

No. 2. Those seven are the seven communicable attributes of Deity, namely these followimg/

1. Love, 1st Topic.
2. Wisdom, 2nd Topic.
3. Power, 3d Topic.
4. Holiness, 4th Topic.
5. Justice, 5th Topic.
6. Goodness, 6th Topic.
7. Truth, 7th Topic.

 

6.                                             THE URIM.                                            


No. 3. These in their nature, each and every of them are self existent, eternal, unchangeable and infinite; and these are all communicable attributes, which God doth communicate unto his children, who live and walk in divine order.

No. 4. But then he communicateth these unto his children, in such proportion only, as they are found in conformity to his divine economy. John vii. 17.

No. 5. When we say these attributes are self existent, we mean that these or any of them, are in no sense or degree dependent on any cause but themselves alone, for their existence or being.

No. 6. That they are what they are without variation, because it is their nature in themselves, independent of any other cause, and without beginning to be such. Nor can it be consistent with their nature, in any degree, ever to alter from what they were in themselves, essentially from eternity.

No. 7. When we say these attributes are eternal, we mean that they and each one of them were without beginning; that they exist in the same manner and in the same fulness now, as they did from eternity; and that such is their invariable nature, that they must so continue to exist without end.

No. 8. That as there could be no cause for the commencement of their existence, even so there can be no cause to effect in any degree a cessation of their existence.

No. 9. When we say that those attributes are unchangeable, we mean that each and every of them remain as long as God remains God, invariably the same without alteration or shadow of turning.

No. 10. That nothing which may be beheld or seen by the allseeing eye of Jehovah, either past, present or to come, can ever in any degree have effect on any of these attributes, so as in any manner to change, alter, or vary them from what they were essentially in themselves from all eternity.

No. 11. When we say these attributes are infinite, we mean that no just limits can be affixed to any of them, as touching the duration or extent of their existence, but that in their nature they are beyond the reach of finite conception and without bounds.

 

                                            THE URIM.                                             7.


No. 12. These seven we receive as the fundamental principles on which all our other doctrines and faith are founded, and with which they must be found consistent.

No. 13. Now there is a certain divine sphere in which those attributes are always extended, or in which they always flow as an incessant stream through its channel.

No. 14. Wherever therefore a receipient is found in that sphere, there such receipient never faileth to receive of the divine nature therein communicated. And the higher we ascend in that sphere, the more we receive and enjoy of that divine communication.

No. 15, We hold and believe, that whatever system or doctrines are contrary, or repugnant, to the nature or properties of those seven, or any of them, are equally opposed to the nature of God; are unfound, and contrary to the divine system of evangelical truth, and of divine government.

No. 16. Every departure from these, therefore, in doctrine, we hold to be a departure from God, and a corruption of the true theology of God's genuine church.

17. To these seven in their nature, all our faith and principles must yield submission, as to a divine standard, of which God himself is the author, and by which only can be determined the due distinction between that system of faith and principles which is truly genuine, and that which is really spurious.

 

8.                                             THE URIM.                                            


"The Lord's voice unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name." Micah, vi. 9:

PART THIRD.

Of the sacred Pattern, or Hilicom.

==> TRUTH IS INVINCIBLE.

Hebr. viii. 5. Exod. xxv. 40, Acts. vii. 44. Hebr. x. 19, 20.

"For see (saith he) that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."


No. 1. Whereas we believe, that the great Jehovah alone as manifested in divine order familiarized to man, ought to be received as the supreme object, in the affections of every rational intelligent; even so also we believe, that there is but ONE person only in the eternal & indivisible Godhead; that this glorious person is the one only source of all life, light and happiness, and the only grand fountain of order, or immortality, and of every true and living pleasure; and that it is the pleasure of God to grant the knowledge and communications of this inestimable object unto man, through a display of his divine attributes and moral perfections, which are exhibited in divine order as the only proper object of our imitation; a practical imitation of which is true religion.

No. 2. The clearest and richest exhibitions of these, are afforded where he was pleased to assume personality, even in our Lord Jesus Christ; whose form (or body) was the temple of the Immortal God; in which temple only the Deity can be properly known and worshipped by angels and men.

No. 3. We therefore conceive the doctrine of three persons in the God-head, as taught in the Athanasian Creed and adopted by almost every religious sect throughout christendom (as the fundamental principle on which their several systems of religion are founded) to be replete with idolatry, and that therefore every system founded thereon, must be an idolatrous system, and unworthy of the christian name.

No. 4. We nevertheless firmly believe in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.

No. 5. But when we speak of the Father, we mean the Deity or divine nature in all its fulness, who in his being and

 

                                            THE URIM.                                             9.


personality is one and indivisible and who filleth immensity with his presence.

No. 6. When we speak of the word, or Son, we mean that corporal form which always occupieth space in some local situation, who is called the Logos and the Emmanuel, where the divine nature assumed personality, in which the fulness of Deity is expressed and rendered familiarly communicable to finite intelligences.

No. 7. ==> That nature therefore, which was called Son, in the abstract, we believe to be no part of Deity, and if so, the same could not be a person in the God-head.

No. 8. When we speak of the Holy Ghost, we mean not a person, but the extraordinary illuminations, rays, or outgoings of the Divine Nature, estended from the Father thro' the Son into the minds of God's children.

No. 9. This is the trinity in which we believe, and these three form one glorious person in the Lord Jesus Christ, out of whom, to men and Angels, the God-head is unknown.

No. 10. This is the object of our worship and the only Saviour we confess.

No. 11. We moreover hold and believe, that those seven preceding Topicks in the Urim or Halcyon Cabals unfolded, are the foundation principles of the ancient theology, and the only true premises whereon [all] the true doctrines of the genuine christian church are founded, and that these together make up the only proper basis of the spiritual temple, or tabernacle, and of the divine government.

No. 12. That these together compose the spiritual plummet * in the hand of Zerubbabel + the true balances of the sanctuary, and the grand precedent (or pattern) in the Mount Zion, of all true moral and spiritual virtue; which is displayed as seven great lights, exhibited in one glorious body to the world, shining forth through and from the glorious person of Emmanuel displaying Al-hael to view in Divine Order, and which seven, displayed in the body of the Logos, clothed in humanity are set forth for man to see by and copy after in his pursuit of Heaven and immortality.

* See Zech. iv. 10.
+ Zerubbabel signifies a disperser of confusion.

 

10.                                             THE URIM.                                            


No. 13. These as seven lamps trimmed are illustrated in the gospel; by which men in the spiritual family is lighted and directed in the way back to God in Divine Order again, where he may repartake of immortality with all the accompanying blessings of the spiritual and immortal world.

No. 14. Those VII compose the grand standard and foundation of evangelical religion. Whatever doctrine or point therefore, is found to be repugnant to these or any of them must be equally repugnant to Divine Truth, and there is no system of religion held by any sect professing faith in Christ or in God, but what every article of their faith must have immediate referrence to the one or the other of those seven, that is to say, every point of doctrine in every religion under the sun, must either be consistent with or repugnant to this Divine Standard, and therefore, it must be the only proper one in the world by which to determine the distinction between a spurious and genuine religion. For this cause were those seven so familiarly exhibited in Christ, that in all our searches after Divine Truth easy access might be had to the proper standard, the true Urim consisting of seven lights, which together form the genuine Cabala (or doctrine received) of every real christian, even so, AMEN.

To Ammishaddai, by the
Hand of the two Cherubims.

This is the only system of principles yet found, that will bear due investigation, or that is sufficient to withstand the inspection of just criticism. Nor will it admit of an objection, without a direct opposition to, and denial of, the Divine character, which can amount to nothing short of open and professed infidelity.

---= * =---

AN EXTRACT FROM THE HALCYON PRECEPTOR.

True Religion

Consists in a practical imitation of the Moral character of God, as the same is exhibited in the Man Christ. A genuine acquaintance with the imitable perfections of God, i. e. with the Moral character of Deity, therefore, is a necessary

 

                                            THE URIM.                                             11.


and essential qualification in order to the possession of true religion or genuine virtue.

Short of such qualification (a) no man can be capable of the genuine practice of moral truth, (b).

(a) Such qualification

Is attainable for every man by a dilligent attention to, and due improvement of the means of spiritual information; for thereby he may ascertain and become persuaded of the propriety and certainty of what truth expresses, so as to be enabled to act faith on the same.

A refusal or neglect of such diligent attention to, and due improvement of the means of spiritual information in every man, is wilful rebellion against the dictates and conviction of Divine light.

(b) Moral truth

Is a correct and genuine expression, report and description of the Moral character, disposition and conduct of the Deity, by a proper understanding of which, man is brought into the possession of true religion in the life and power thereof, and so is qualified to perform Evangelical obedience, (c). Properly to understand this expression, this report and this description, is the grand leading object which God has made the duty of all men to pursue; a full conviction of which duty is afforded unto every man by that light, which is the candle of the Lord, placed in the centre of those faculties, which together, compose the rational soul and lighteth every man who cometh into the world; so that all are without excuse.

(c) Evangelical obedience before God,

Does not consist in the rectitude of the form or manner of any action, but in the rectitude of the design or intentions; in other words, in the rectitude of the principle which actuates in conformity to the heavenly doctrines which the holy scriptures (d) contain.

(d) The holy scriptures

Are, together with the light of nature, a divine help handed us from heaven to assist our reason in forming just ideas of the divine character and of divine things; but to...

(remainder of text not transcribed)





 



THE  VOICE  OF  THE  MIDNIGHT  CRY.

--------------=== * ===--------------

==> "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."

==> "And the STONE that smote the image became a great
MOUNTAIN, and filled the whole earth"
______________________________________________________

THE

L I T T L E   B O O K

THE

A R C A N U M   O P E N E D:

CONTAINING  THE  FUNDAMENTALS

OF  THE

PURE  AND  MOST  ANCIENT

T H E O L O G Y

=======================================
And he had in his hand a LITTLE BOOK OPEN; and
"he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on
"the earth, and cryed with a loud voice as when a lion
"roareth; and when he had cried, seven thunders
"UTTERED their VOICES."   Rev. x. 2, 3.
=======================================

-- C I N C I N N A T I --

FROM THE PRESS OF CARPENTER & FINDLAY.
M,DCCC,I.

 

                                            [ 2 ]                                            


==> "And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and
        "there was seen in his temple the Ark of his Testament:
        "and there were lightenings, and voices,
        "and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great
        "hail"   Rev. xi. 19, and xv. 5.

------=== * ===------

==> "And Moses answered and said, but behold, they will
        "not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they
        "will say, 'the Lord hath not appeared unto thee;'
        "and the Lord said unto him, 'what is that in thine
        "hand?' and he said a rod. And he said, 'cast
        "it on the ground' and he cast it on the ground, and it
        "became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. --
        "and the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand,
        "and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand
        "and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand." --
        Exodus, iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

------=== * ===------

==> "And one man among them was clothed with linnen,
        "and with a writer's inkhorn by his side." Ezek. ix. x.
        Daniel, xii. 6, 7.


 

                                            [ 3 ]                                            


THE

U R I M,

OR,

H A L C Y O N   C A B A L A.

CONTAINING  THE  PLATFORM

OF  THE

SPIRITUAL  TABERNACLE  REBUILT:

COMPOSED  OF

ONE  GRAND  SUBSTANTIVE,

AND

SEVEN  EXCELLENT  TOPICKS,

IN  OPPOSITION  TO  SPURIOUS  CHRISTIANITY.

====================

"For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua;
"upon ONE stone shall be seven eyes." Zech. iii. 9.
"And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and
"of the four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders,
"stood a lamb as it had been slain, having SEVEN
"horns (or rays or beams) and SEVEN eyes which
"are the SEVEN spirits of God, sent forth into all the
"earth." Rev. v. 6.
 

                                            [ 4 ]                                            


==> "And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing
        "of those things that are shaken, as of things that
        "are made, that those things which cannot be shaken
        "may remain." Heb. xii. 27
See Hag. ii. 5, 6, 7. Eph. iii. 9, 10.

------=== * ===------

A  KEY  FOR  THE  REVELATIONS.

1. The Beast is Monarchy in general.

2. The seat of the Beast is the false Church, or spiritual Babylon.

3. The four Beasts are the four Monarchies or Monarchy in its four different periods and forms.

4. The false Prophet is the carnal and false ministry (or barren and fruitless fig tree.)

5. The temple opened in heaven, is the Halcyon or Millennium church, opened in the old church.

6. The various judgments and out pourings of divine wrath, are the subduing of these to prepare the way for the ushering in of the pure Halcyon church and divine government.

7. This is the true Millennium; the new Heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, or pure Halcyon church and divine government.


To John Baily, Minister of the gospel of Christ, and servant of the church of God in Kentucky, the above is, with submission, humbly inscribed,     SOCIUS.


 

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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

   ==> "The LORD'S VOICE crieth unto the city, and the Man
            of wisdom shall see thy name. Hear ye the ROD and who
            hath appointed it" Micah vi. 9."

==============================================
MEGAS ----- PHONE ----- MEGIDDO.
==============================================

THE

URIM,  OR  HALCYON  CABALA,  &c.

----=== * ===----

PART  FIRST.

Of the ONE grand SUBSTANTIVE.

Jer. xxxi, 21.
Isai. xiv, 5. 6. Isai. xvii, 6. 7.

No. 1. WE are to understand, by the One grand Substantive, that there is ONE only immortal and true GOD; whose godhead is simply ONE and indivisible; who by taking to himself a Divine FORM (or body) in order to render himself visible (or manifest) unto all other Intelligences, assumed Personality, and so became the LOGOS (or true REASON displayed) the EMMANUEL, the AL-HAEL, * and the exordium in the Divine Speech; and that as GOD is ONE and Indivisible, even so is his Government.

No. 2. That there is but ONE person only in the eternal God-Head, and that this Person is the only source of all Life, Light and Happiness, and the only Grand Fountain of Order; of immortality, and of every true and living pleasure.
_______________
* AL-HAEL is the Saxon term for our Saviour, & signifies all-health.


 

6                                     THE  URIM,  OR                                    

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                              HALCYON  CABALA.                               7

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8                                     THE  URIM,  OR                                    

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                              HALCYON  CABALA.                               9

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10                                     THE  URIM,  OR                                    


divine order again; where he may re-partake of immortality with all the accompanying blessings of the spiritual and immortal world.     Amen.

6th September, 1799.

To Ammishaddai, by the hand of the two Cherubims.
(Signed)
                            ANSELM.

See Exo. xxv, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Rev. xi, 3, 4, 11, 12, 13. Dan. viii, 13. Dan xii, 6, 7. Ezek. ix, 2, 11. Zech. iv, 14.

                ATTEST,
ZERUBBABEL.








 

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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

JUST  CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE

C A B A L A.

Isai. xxvii. 5, 6, 13. Isai. xxviii. 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 26.

Q U E S T I O N   I.

How are we to conceive of the CABALA?

A N S W E R.

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This is what in the Gospel is called the key of knowledge.

----=== * ===----

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12                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


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                                OF  THE  CABALA.                                 13


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14                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


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16                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


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                                OF  THE  CABALA.                                 17


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18                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


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                                OF  THE  CABALA.                                 19


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20                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


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                                OF  THE  CABALA.                                 21


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22                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS                                


unto us in the conferring of his benefits, common and special, upon even the most unworthy and hell-deserving of those who have rebelled against his sovereignty.

We are to conceive of divine goodness as being an attribute in the eternal and indivisible God-head; which in its nature, like all the other attributes, is self-existent, eternal, unchangeable, and infinite; and is such as always delighteth in extending its benefits unto all, even unto the most vile on the earth; so that the evil and the good, the just and the unjust are made partakers of God's favours, so far as is possible for his bounties to be extended, without violating the principles of divine order; yea, the goodness of God is extended even unto his most vile enemies, and to his most ungrateful foes. Even such as despise his benefits; condemn his favours and trample on his mercies, live daily on his bounties.

So unbounded, unconfined, and impartial is the nature of his goodness, that it extendeth itself unto all, and his tender mercies are over all the works of his hands.

He who owes five hundred pence, as well as he who owes fifty, when he is convinced of his poverty, and is humbled under a sense of his inability to pay, is frankly forgiven

He who had a legion of devils, and a thief on the cross, are considered as objects of his beneficence; and the woman taken in adultery, as well as those who pierced the son of God with a spear, are taken into view as objects of pity and divine benevolence.

We may consider this Topic as the sixth lesson in the Gospel, wherein we are taught the true principles and nature of goodness, and in which is clearly set forth another glorious attribute of the divine character for our imitation; still shewing us more fully what God is, and what we ought to be.

"For see (saith he) that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Heb. viii, 5.




 

                                OF  THE  CABALA.                                 23


(this page not yet transcribed)




 

24                                 JUST  CONCEPTIONS  &c.                                


Those seven preceeding Attributes, shining forth together, by their several displays in the person of Emmanuel, form the glorious object of our imitation and only true pattern (Numb. viii, 4.) of all moral and spiritual virtue; which as Seven bright shining lamps are given us of God for the enlightening of a dark world.

These, together, make that glorious word (Zech. iv, 2. 6.) and that spiritual light, (Exo. xxx, 7, and xxv, 37, and xxxvii, 23. Num. viii, 2. Zech. iv, 2. Rev. iv, 5.) by a due attention, unto which our souls may be guided and our feet directed in the immortal path, to the beatific ocean of divine pleasures, and to the object of supreme excellence; in whose presence there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand we may obtain seats of everlasting FELICITY.

----=== * ===----

E X P L A N A T I O N S.

LOGOS -- i. e. the word, or Speech of God, or purse reason displayed, or the mind and nature of Jehovah expressed in Angelic nature.

CABALA -- i. e. a doctrine received; a secret science, by which the most ancient Jewish divines ascertained and unfolded the deep mysteries of the ancient theology.

URIM -- i. e. the Lights. It was preserved in the ancient tabernacle in Hieroglyphic characters, as a spiritual key for the opening of the most sacred mysteries of divine truth, and as a divine criterion by which to ascertain the proper distinction between truth and error; but when the Jews, by disobedience, became dispossessed of the divine oracle, they lost this spiritual key; and so have ever since wandered in darkness; but in the latter days it must, thro' Elias (or the spiritual Zarubabel) be restored to them again, and so will they be restored to all their promised previleges, and God will own them for his people, and they shall own him for their God. But then they must first receive this divine or sacred key, before they can be thus restored.

This Urim spiritual, is that same little book which was foreshewen unto John in the vision, which by Christ is called the key of knowledge, and containeth the true divine science by which truth shall again be restored to the world and error be defeated; -- so as error shall triumph no more.







[i.]


THE


NEW HYMN-BOOK

FOR  USE  OF  THE


FREE  CHURCH.


_____________________

By A.  M.  SARJENT.
_____________________

As well the singers as the players on instruments
shall be there. Psalm lxxxvii. 7.

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.
Psalm cl. 4, 5, 6.

The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.
Psalm xcvii. 1.

____________


NEW-YORK:

PRINTED  FOR  A.  M.  SARJENT,

And sold at E. RILEY's music and book store,
No. 17 Chatham-street, and by the several
ministers of the Halcyon Church
on the waters of the Ohio.
-----
1811.




[ii.]


District of New-York, ss. L.S.
  BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the sixteenth day of July, in the thirty-sixth year of the Independence of the United States of America, ABEL M. SARJENT of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the rights whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words and figures following, to wit:

"The New Hymn-Book, for the use of the Free Church, by A. M. Sarjent. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. Psalm lxxxvii. 7. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Psalm cl. 4, 5, 6. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice. Psalm xcvii. 1."

In conformity to the act of congress, entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an act, entitled "An act, supplementary to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."
CHARLES CLINTON.
Clerk of the District of New-York.




[iii.]

THEOLOGY, V.S. MYTHOLOGY;

In Vindication of Genuine Christianity.

In the solemn exercise of divine worship we ought, at all times and in all cases, carefully to preserve the distinction between the common prevailing Mythology, (falsely called Theology, Revealed Religion, and Genuine Christianity) and the true religion of the gospel; remembering, that whatever corruptions may be erroneously connected with or attached to any part of the worship of God, or genuine christianity, tend not only to contaminate or defile and weaken that worship or religion, but also to disgrace it, and equally to strengthen and support infidelity in the rejection of it; as also to furnish the infidel with weapons and to arm him in opposition to it.

The many corruptions of christianity, or antichristian corruptions, which together compose the common prevailing mythology, or counterfeit theology, not only prevent the pure worship of the one indivisible and unchanging God, wherever these corruptions prevail, but are equally calculated to set up,




iv.

promote, and confirm a false worship, and a false religion, in place of the true; and notwithstanding it may be as offensive and wounding to the advocates and disciples of Antichrist, to call in question their infalibility, to disapprove of their false worship, and to bear public and open testimony against their manifest corruptions, as the plain dealings of Jesus Christ was to the religious and superstitious Jews; this will not alter the fact; nor justify or excuse a Messenger of God in doing the work of the Lord deceitfully, or in avoiding a faithful testimony against corruption and falsehood, and in vindication of truth and right.

The following hymns are designed for the public worship of God: we have, therefore, found it essentially necessary in the following composition and selection, in order to preserve this worship pure among us, carefully to guard against the many prevailing anti-christian corruptions belonging to the common mythology of the old and false church; so as that while we are engaged in singing the parises of Emmanuel, our only God and




v.

Saviour, we may be enabled to sing in the Spirit and with the Understanding.

We have, by the light of heaven, found that what is generally called theology, revealed religion, and christianity, is rather a mythology; a counterfeit; calculated to misrepresent, counteract and oppose the true theology and all true revealed religion; and of course, is not genuine christianity, but a perversion of it; and strictly anti-christianity.


Our principal doctrines are the following;

1. We firmly believe in the Unity of God. -- that God is simply one and indivisible; and that this God was manifested to men in Christ, who is the divine word made flesh. We therefore worship God in Christ, and we worship no other God.

2. We firmly believe that the only rule of all moral obligations, otherwise called the royal law, was not made; but did exist without beginning in and coeval with God, by natural and eternal necessity; that, in the nature of things, it was impossible, even with God, ever to add unto or diminish from this eternal and immutable law. That this law is




vi.

the only rule of God's conduct, and that it is impossible with God, in any case, to act contrary to this holy rule.

3. That this is the only eternal, original and unalterable rule and standard by which, strictly and properly to distinguish between right and wrong before God among creatures.

4. That Man was originally a subject of this very law, and must be inwardly conformed unto the true spirit of it, before he can be a proper subject of the kingdom of God, or strictly justified as an individual before God.

5. That God annexed no penalty to this self-existent and unalterable law.

6. That moral obligations do not arise out of any made or written law, but that all moral obligations arise out of the original nature, the eternal fitness and unchanging consistency of things, as they exist with and in God.

7. That all moral obligations are unalterable and perpetual; and that therefore, the work of Christ was not to make void a single moral obligation, but rather to illustrate and enforce the whole, and to make




vii.

void only the rituals of the Jewish law; by which no flesh could be justified.

8. That misery and death, present or future, being contrary to the nature of divine love and friendship, and equally repugnant to all moral obligations, did not, nor could they originate in or proceed from God; nor did he annex or inflict them by way of penalty on the transgressor; but the whole injury and distress of the sinner originates in, and proceeds from the very nature of sin itself, and is strictly the production of sin; sin alone being the original cause, and the whole of the injury and distress being the native and inevitable effects originating in, and proceeding from this very and only original cause

9. That there is a first and a second death: that the first death is before the resurrection; brought on all men by the sin of Adam; that the salvation from this death is an universal salvation, wrought of God in and by Christ, equally alike for every soul of Adam's posterity, by virtue whereof all shall be raised from the dead: that the second death is after the resurrection,




viii.

brought on every subject thereof by his own individual disobedience to the word of life; by which the disobedient shall be separated from God and excluded from that endless life and immortality which is in Christ equally alike free for every man.

10. That the love and friendship of God to man in Christ, is free, universal, unbounded and unchanging; that all enmity is of the devil, and contrary to the nature of God; nor is it possible for any thing to originate in or proceed from the immutable divinity, the unalterable fountain of love, which, in its nature, is inimical, or injurious to man the creature.

11. We firmly believe that the doctrine of an immortal hell, of an immortal devil, and an immortal death is absurd in the extreme, and that Eternity is the habitation of God and upright ones only. See Isa. lvii. 15.

12. That whereas sin, misery, and death, are not founded in or supported by eternal principles -- are not founded in or supported by the eternal and immutable divinity, they cannot be eternal, of eternal continuance,




ix.

or endless in duration: -- but whereas righteousness, happiness, and life, are founded in and supported by pure and immutable divinity, they must of necessity be eternal, -- of eternal continuance, and endless in duration; -- that all immortality is divine and holy, and the gift of God through Jesus Christ to the obedient only.

In behalf of the Free Church.
A. MORGAN SARJENT.           
NEW-YORK, 12th July, 1811.



Of Slavish and Free Worship.

"Constrained or slavish worship is corporeal, inanimate, obscure and gloomy; corporeal, because it is of the body; inanimate, because there is no life in it; obscure, because there is no understanding in it; and gloomy because there is no delight of heaven in it. But unconstrained or free worship, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, lucid, and joyful; spiritual, because there is spirit from the Lord in it; living, because there is life from the Lord in it; lucid, because there is wisdom




x.

from the Lord in it; and joyful, because there is heaven from the Lord in it." See A. W. No. 137. Constrained or slavish worship, proceeding from fear, may be found with those who are in worship from the fear of infernal torment and its fire; true worship cannot be forced or constrained by this kind of fear, it is excited and constrained by love, and by the fear of losing it; the fear of God in a genuine sense is nothing else. The fear of an immortal hell, of an immortal devil, and of an immortal death, and of endless tortures proceeding from a revengeful God, is a fear founded in corruption and falsehood, and of course can produce no good effects.






[xi.]

THE

NEW  HYMN-BOOK

FOR  THE  USE  OF  THE

FREE  CHURCH.

______

HYMN I. 7's.

Praise to our Father, King, and Redeemer.

1. Hail thou great immortal Sire,
  Source of ev'ry good we know;
Hearts enflam'd by sacred fire,
  Join in songs thy praise to show.

2. Fount of love, celestial theme:
  Spring of life and angel's joy!
Saints with angels chant thy name!
  Pleasing notes that never cloy.

3. Sinners sav'd, thy kindness sing;
  Grateful hearts will all unite;
Praise to our immortal King,
  Praise be echo'd with delight.

4. Souls by Christ and truth made free,
  Join to celebrate the day,
Sweet the chorus, "liberty"
  Wisdom shews a pleasant way.



xii.

(remainder of hymns not transcribed)











[217]


CIRCULAR

EPISTLE

FROM  THE

9th Concilium

OF  THE

HALCYON CHURCH.

---- * ----

Publish and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken, her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces -- They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten, Jer, L 2. 5. -- One post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, Jer. LI 31. -- GOOD NEWS. See Prov. xxv. 25.




[218]

CIRCULAR  EPISTLE, &c.

______

The Ninth Concilium of the Halcyon Church, (more properly termed "THE FREE CHURCH" and visible kingdom of God.) To the subjects of the Fifth Empire throughout the world, greeting:

Brethren, and fellow-citizens;

No. 1. We are happy to embrace the present opportunity of communicating to you, through the medium of this epistle, the most pleasing intelligence and good news from Zion, which we have received through the medium of our present Concilium; as well as the information necessary, relative to the existence and proceedings of our present Anniversary.

No. 2. Our meeting opened, agreeably to the appointment of last year, on Saturday the 20th of October, 1810, and was continued at the house of Brother John White, on the waters of Indian Short Creek, in Belmont county, and state of Ohio, until about 10 o'clock in the evening of the Monday following; the whole business being conducted, from first to last, with the utmost affection and harmony without a real dissenting vote, to the entire satisfaction of all the members present.




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No. 3. This Church commenced its visible existence, in its present visible form, in Kenhawa county, (now Mason county) in the state of Virginia, on the 11th day of July, 1802, consisting only of fifteen members, in its first constitution; eight of whom were baptized in the river Ohio that same day.

No. 4. At this Constitution it was unanimously agreed, that, as all men are fallible, and as the best see but in part, while here below, a mere error in opinion (without being accompanied with disorderly, or vicious conduct) should never be considered as a bar of fellowship in this church; but that free enquiry, free investigation, and the free exercise of opinion, accompanied with a regular, virtuous, and orderly life and conversation, should ever be vindicated and maintained herein.

No. 5. It was, moreover, unanimously agreed that the unity of God, as unveiled in Christ, being received as the principal and leading doctrine of this church; the URIM, (which is the true character of the indivisible and immutable God displayed, and the only divinity of the Holy Scriptures) should forever hereafter be received and acknowledged as the grand and only infallible standard of all truth and right in this church; that every departure therefrom should ever be considered as a departure from truth and right; and that every denial of the true nature of those glorious properties and heavenly attributes, which compose the divine character; and every doctrine which is immediately calculated to




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misrepresent or deny these, should ever be considered as a denial of the true nature and being of God. That therefore, the URIM, or true character of the one indivisible and immutable divinity, as unveiled in Christ should be received as the true basis and only standard of this church, even by which to determine the true internal sense and meaning of the Sacred Scriptures.

No. 6. At our fifth Concilium, which was held at the house of brother William Droddy, on the bank of the river Ohio, in Mason county, Virginia; this church had increased upwards of 20 branches and 440 regular members, besides 2200 warm friends and open advocates of the doctrines and cause espiused and vindicated in and by this church. Eighteen ministers have engaged publicly in the good cause (though some have since revolted) and although the cause has met with a public wound, by the base conduct of some of our young ministers, this wound is now nearly healed, and the church and cause generally on the rise, and progressing again with great rapidity in many parts of our happy country; idolatry and infidelity are losing ground, and the kingdom of our God prevailing; new ministers are rising up in the church, and the present prospect is pleasing.

No. 7. But, to return again to our present meeting; on Saturday brother Lot Leonard delivered an agreeable and energetic discourse from Psalm cxix 165. Great peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend




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them. -- after which the business opens, and brother A. M. Sarjent is chosen to continue as president of this Church, and brother Jonathan Parkinson secretary. Brother Sarjent is appointed to deliver the Concilium sermon tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 o'clock. Brothers Sarjent, Parkinson, and Piper are appointed as a Committee to arrange the business before this meeting. At evening, by candle, brother Parkinson delivers a discourse from the scriptures in general, to the satisfaction of the members.

No. 8. Sunday, 21st. October 1810, at 11 o'clock, brother Sarjent delivers the Concilium sermon before a large and attentive auditory; from Luke iv. 5, 6, 7, shewing and proving from scripture, in connection with history, how, from the time that men refused the reign of God over them, and chose an earthly potentate in preference to an heavenly, and revolted from the rightful sovereignty and government of God, the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them (the original property of the Lord) through the medium and agency of the false Church, under the influence and direction of a false faith, (which first gave birth to false authority, false dominion, and false government among men) had been delivered unto Satan; who, agreeably to the text, gave them to whomsoever he would, even to monarchs and tyrants, who became his active agents in oppressing and murdering the human family. As also equally shewing and proving from scripture and reason, how these,




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through the medium and agency of the true Church, under the influence and directions of a right faith, in process of time, in the opening of the third age, are to be rescued from Satan's power and from the dominion of his tyrannical agents and again placed under the lawful dominion of Christ; who is the only true visible, supreme, political head of all nations, and whose original right is to reign over the whole earth.

No. 9. In this sermon it was made evident that there is no other way possible for men to be obedient and loyal to God, but by being obedient and loyal to his authority, dominion and government, as exhibited under the kingly administration of Christ, the manifestation of God; and that there is no other way possible for men to be disobedient and disloyal to the authority, dominion, and government of God, as administered by Christ.

No. 10. That men cannot serve two masters; because, while they are yielding obedience and loyalty to carnal and unlawful authority and dominion, they cannot be equally obedient and loyal to divine authority, and to the lawful and righteous dominion of Christ.

No. 11. That since it has been openly declared and made known to the Church, by Christ himself, that all power in heaven and in the earth (that is, all authority in Church and state) is given into his hands, it is unlawful, in the sight of God, for the saints to acknowledge any other visible political head;




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inasmuch as to acknowledge any authority, besides the authority of Christ, is to acknowledge another Master besides him; and to refuse the reign of Christ and authority of heaven.

No. 12. That all other dominions and pretended governments but his alone, are strictly unlawful and equally sinful before God; being a daring encroachment on the original rights of God; the tyranny of hell, in opposition to the authority and dominion of the Lord.

No. 13. That the great work of Christ, in the flesh, was to magnify and vindicate the original and unalterable dignity of genuine law; and that every thing contrary to this, must be without proper authority, arbitrary, unlawful, and strictly tyrannical.

No. 14. After the conclusion of the sermon, and a short intermission, brother Parkinson occupied the evening in the delivery of a discourse from Dan. ii. 44, to the professed satisfaction of the members, and the exercise of this day closed; appointing to meet, on business, to-marrow morning by sun-rise.

No. 15. Monday morning early, 22d of October 1810, met agreeably to adjournment, and proceeded to examine the letters, and ascertain the number of regular members, &c. and found from Branch No. 1, in Mason County, Virginia, and Gallia County, Ohio; Elder ABEL M. SARJENT. From Branch No. 3, in Fleming County, Kentucky; and No. 21, in Nicholas County, Kentucky; Elder HENRY BURRIS. From Branch No. 7, Dille's Bottom; Brother EDWARD PIPER. From




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Branch No. 8, Belmont County, Ohio; Elder EARL P. GEER. From Branch No. 13, Green County, Pennsylvania; Elder LOT LEONARD. From Branch No. 15, Washington county, Pennsylvania; brother JOHN SUPLER. From Branch No. 18, Crabb-tree, Pennsylvania; Elder JONATHAN PARKINSON. From Branch No. 22, in Belmont county, Ohio; Elder MATTHIAS CROY, Junr. -- and brother EBER TERRIL.

No. 16. Besides these regular members, there are a number of other brethren and sisters present, from various parts, who are invited to take a seat with us in the present council; who accordingly accept the invitation, &c. and we proceed to business. Through these we receive intelligence from several other Branches, who have omitted to send messengers to the present Concilium, as well as pleasing intelligence from different parts of the country; where no branches are yet established, but where, notwithstanding, the glorious cause of the Fifth Empire is now prevailing, and rapidly increasing.

No. 17. There are several Branches from which we have no intelligence.

No. 18. Theophilus Cotton in connection with Branch No. 5, excepting two sisters in that Branch, as the deluded disciples and accomplices of Rhoda Fordyce, by reason of base conduct, after having been regularly cited to answer certain charges against them, and refusing to attend, &c. are now considered as having publicly excluded themselves from all the privileges of this community, and they are




225

by this church declared to be publicly excluded, until due concessions and return; and the members of this Church throughout the Union are warned against them and their accomplices; among whom are to be numbered, as characters publicly injurious and disgraceful to the Church and cause of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as being a part of Korah's company, the following revolters, viz. John Parker, John Fordyce, (son of said Rhoda) John Gates, and Nathan M'Intosh; who are still publicly engaged in trying to injure and split the Church to pieces, (though their influence is chiefly done.) Two of our young ministers have become deistical, and will be publicly exposed if they do not, by the next Concilium, either return or hand in their written Credentials to the Church.

No. 19. It is ordered by this Concilium, that a concise specimen of the fundamentals of this Church, be as speedily as possible published; shewing wherein the faith of this Church essentially differs from the prevailing doctrines of the day; as also a remonstrance, shewing the absurdity and corruption of certain doctrines held and maintained, among almost all sects, which this church cannot fellowship --- Brother A. M. SARJENT is appointed by an unanimous voice, to attend the same; as also to attend the revisal of our Discipline by our next Concilium.

No. 20. The appointment of a Moderator and Watchman in this Concilium is discontinued, and the appointment of Presiding Elder,




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otherwise termed PRESIDENT, adopted in place thereof. Brother A. M. SARJENT is appoinyed by the Church to fill that place, and to be so continued until the Church shall find cause to revoke the appointment, or make a new appointment; and brother JONATHAN PARKINSON in like manner is so to be continued Secretary. (His, Elder Jonathan Parkinson's place of residence is near Waynesburgh, Green county, Pennsylvania.)

No. 21. The situation of the Church being strictly enquired into, it is found, that, although of late there has been but few formal additions, the divine cause, in which this Church is engaged, now and for the space of one or two years past, has been and still is greatly progressing and increasing in almost all places where the people have the means of due information.

No. 22. Several of our ministering brethren who, of late have travelled considerably through various parts of the country, declare that from what they have seen and heard, they verily believe, that at this time, there are at least ten real advocates in many places where there was but one two years ago; and that the principles of the fifth empire are gaining ground beyond all expectations, in almost every part of the country, where they have been made duly public; and that they are well assured that within the bounds of their acquaintance, there are several thousands who at this time, in real sentiments, acknowledge Chist as the only true King of nations




227

and political head of the world. Many begin to think that the establishment if the Visible kingdom and reign of Christ on earth is a temporal and political work, and will be effected by temporal and political means; that all true religion is founded in original government, and simply consists in righteousness; or, in other words, due obedience and loyalty to genuine law, proceeding from love and fidelity to God and our neighbor; and that this is the only religion requisite for the human family. But that nothing short of a right faith can possibly give birth to this religion; that a false faith is the only thing that can prevent the rise and progress of it, and that the whole of it is simply natural and strictly rational.

No. 23. Brother Jonathan Parkinson was ordained at this Concilium, and four members added to the Church; -- Brother Lot Leonard licensed; and brother Leonard and Parkinson appointed to visit the destitute Branches and members, especially in Kentucky.

No. 24. A number of our brethren under the sanction of the Concilium, propose forming a settlement as soon as may be convenient, and to have a printing office of their own established among them, and several have subscribed liberally towards the printing-office, as they believe much public good may be done through this channel. Brothers Sarjent and Parkinson are appointed to spy out a convenient situation, and to draw up the




228

principles by which to regulate the said settlement.

No. 25. We received a friendly and valuable letter from a Prtesbyterian brother in Kentucky, highly approving and recommending the principles and publications lately published among us, on the important subject of the Fifth Empire and divine government; we find it to be the opinion of a number of the most knowing men in our country, that it is a thing really practicable, to bring the same into visible operation; though it yet remains a mistery to many.

No. 26. Mr. Elias E. Ellmaker, a man of eminent learning, Master of Arts and Counsellor at law, is now engaged in a most masterly work on that subject; entitled "THE REVELATION OF RIGHTS." The first part of this work is now at press. Several of our ministers have heard it read, and declare it to be a most invincible performance on that head; and, no doubt, the same will cause much smoke to come out of the "bottomless pit," (false government) when it comes forth in public.

No. 27. Dear brethren, although the perfidity and revolt of several of our ministers have given public occasion for adversaries to blaspheme, have greatly injured the confidence and union of this Church, for a moment, and have caused a great sifting among the members; and although, for a while, the same has proved a fiery trial and severe wound to those who remained faithful, inasmuch as,




229

through the treachery of those revolters and fallen Angels, the city of God has been trodden under foot now forty and two months [since summer of 1807], and his name and cause and true temple defamed by the adversaries of immutable truth and right, and by the Angels of the Dragon, who have gloried not a little in our affliction: we have now great reason to be thankful to our God, and to rejoice on finding that like as it was with those who withstood Moses, and who perished in the gainsaying of Core, even so, these traitors have sunk into infamy and obscurity, so that their power of doing any further injury is ended; and they, characteristicly, with their influence, are cut off and destroyed; -- the Church, which had by them been sorely wounded, is now again universally on the rise.

No. 28. We have found, of a certainty, that the fall of these traitors, these men of corrupt and reprobate minds, will at length prove the salvation of the church; inasmuch as their fall will at length prove the destruction of sundry gross errors and corruptions, the seeds of which we have discovered had been received in their reprobate minds, and through them were secretly increasing in the Church long before their perfidity was manifest; and which corruptions, had they not been detected in an early stage, might at length have done much greater injury to the city of God than their downfall can do.

No. 29. We have reason therefore to believe that through their fall salvation is come




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to the church, and through the Church will at length come to the world. Moreover, this perfidious combination, with their smutty religion, molten calf, counterfeit cross, and boasted garb of feigned humility, with the old polluted Rhoda (a modern Jezebel) and her infamous gallant Theophilus Cotton at their head, will now be an example, a warning; and will afford a lesson of important instruction to the church through future generations, to the end of time; for as light increases, and the true Church progresses, the perfidity, indignity and baseness of this vile conspiracy will still more evidently appear on record, as an everlasting warning of the true ministry and church of God.

No. 30. By these it has been made evident, that all delusion is but the wicked perversion of truth, and that the more light and knowledge of truth men have the more capable they are of such perversion, when they once depart from the faith, and through carnal motives, become traitors to the cause of heaven and church of God.

No. 31. The channel which God has ordained through which to communicate light to the world, he will preserve for his own name's sake, in opposition to every adversary; nor can any weapon stand that may attempt to rise against this channel; but every such weapon must fall, and all who may rise to oppose the channel, only thereby exclude themselves from the light, and will bring on themselves condemnation, darkness, and infamy.




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No. 32. Truth may be hindered and the church of God oppressed for a moment, by traitors and open adversaries, but rectitude will at length prevail and subjugate every opponent, notwithstanding all the malice, envyings, jealousies and gnashings.

No. 33. This Church, while her views of divine truth were less perfect, had agreed to disagree; but at this Concilium we have aggreed to agree; having found that the visible Church of God is a divine confederation, united in a divine covenant, possessing no authority separate from the authority of Christ, and regulated by a divine Discipline only; which is the government of Christ. That none can be brought into this covenant but by a right faith, and that the several members duly uniting in covenant with each other equally, thereby, enter into covenant with God, their covenant of Union being the Lord's everlasting covenant.

No. 34. Nothing short of being duly brought into this covenant, under this covenant head, can possibly constitute any person a true member of the visible church of God. In this divine covenant there can be no disagreement.

No. 35. We have discovered that the great design of the visible church of God among men, is to expose all manner of error and corruption, and to magnify, promulgate, and confirm truth and right in the earth; in order to which, it is requisite that unity and uniformity should be carefully preserved, and that she




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should keep herself unspotted before the world, as well as before God.

No. 36. In this Concilium it is held as a sacred truth that true government and pure religion are inseparably connected, and that these must rise or fall together; that the promulgation of true government and universal justice, and that the true government was not designed to make men free to create rights for them, nor yet to give rights unto them; but rather to protect their natural freedom and vindicate their original rights; and that therefore a defensive resistance is lawful before God.

No. 37. He who wilfully invades my rights (as this is the only way I can be injured) not only thereby declares himself to be my enemy, but equally wages open war with me; and in all such cases a defensive resistance must be lawful, until my natural freedom and original rights are duly secured.

No. 38. Dear brethren, it woild be well for us, in all cases, carefully to observe and preserve the important distinction between the common Mythology, falsely called Christianity, and that which is strictly the true revealed religion of the Bible.

No. 39. We have many things to observe more than can be conveniently expressed in this Epistle, but must hasten to a conclusion. We have appointed our next Concilium to be held in Virginia, and in Kentucky; commencing at the house of brother ABEL M.




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SARJENT, in Mason County, Virginia, near the Ohio; on the Saturday preceding the first Sunday in October, 1811. And then, to be removed to Kentucky, commencing at the house of brother William Jackson, Junr. in Fleming County, Kentucky; on the Saturday preceding the 3d Sunday in the same month.

No. 40. On Minday evening, the 22d October, 1810, brother EARL P. GEER, delivered an energetic discourse from James iv. 7, 8, after which brother Sarjent made a few observations, and opened a door for the reception of members, and the four before mentioned came forward, was approved and received, and the Concilium closed at about 10 o'clock in the evening.

No. 41. On Tuesday morning early, met at brother White's, and after making some necessary arrangements, preparatory to the work of the ensuing year, and preparatory to the next Concilium; and after committing ourselves to the Lord, we took our leave of each other.

No. 42. Brethren, farewell; -- and that the light, and love, and peace of God, may be with all those who are willing duly to acknowledge the great Redeemer in all the fulness of his official character, is the fervent prayer of yours in gospel union. Signed by order of the Concilium this 23d day of October, 1810.

      Attest.       ABEL M. SARJENT,   President.

JONATHAN PARKINSON, Secretary.




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INTELLIGENCE  SINCE  THE  CONCILIUM.

Dear brethren, and members of the Free Church.

As it was not in our our power to have the circular epistle printed before now, I thought it might not be amiss to add the present note.

Since I have been engaged in the work of the Lord in this city, I have received information from various parts of the country round about; and find that mere names do not alter principles.

The same good cause and work, which has for eight or nine years past been prevailing in the Western countries, on the waters of the great river Ohio, under the name of the "HALCYON CHURCH and doctrines," more properly termed the "Free Church" and "Visible kingdom of God;" has found its way in the Eastern states, and for several years past has been there prevailing under the name of the "CHRISTIAN CHURCH, and doctrines;" first promulgated in the Eastern states, chiefly by the instrumentality of Elder ELIAS SMITH, formerly a very highly esteemed Baptist preacher, who is now settling with his family in the city of Philadelphia. Several ministers are now publicly engaged in the work in the Eastern states, and more just engaging. On Sunday last, being the 11th of August, 1811, after delivering a discourse on the occasion, in the Franklin school-house, James's-street, New-York, from 2. Tim. ii. 15, I attended the ordination of brother Hosea Dodge of this




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city, now one of our preachers. In less than three hours after the ordination he baptized a sister in the North River, adjoining the city. The ordinance was administered by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, with becoming decency and good order, in the presence of a respectable auditory.

The good cause of the Lord is now opening and prevailing in the city of Philadelphia, and round about thither, and from thence on, through different parts of the country, quite into Virginia; and so on towards Carolina as well as in and round about New-York. I am informed that brother Smith, in Ohiladelphia, has, not long since, attended the ordination of two or three ministers there. Brother Elias Smith has established a paper by subscription, entitled "THE HERALD OF GOSPEL LIBERTY," in vindication of his glorious cause. His religious enemies (the clergy and their dupes, in connection with all rigid sectarians) who consider themselves highly interested in the destruction of his influence, and in his downfall, envy, revile, and caluminate him not a little, and do all they can to injure him; but at last can only howl at the prospect of the downfall of Babylon. Knowing the Lord to be his sufficiency and defence, he goes on with undaunted courage and great success, in the midst of surrounding opposition and clerical anathema's, and doubtless will succeed.

The ministers of the Free Church, now in regular and good standing, publicly engaged




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in the cause of Christ on the waters of the River OHIO, (besides brother Robert Ellrod, a highly esteemed Baptist preacher in Kentucky, who has lately espoused the cause in which we are engaged) are the following, viz. John Davis, formerly a Baptist preacher; William Allum, formerly a Baptist preacher; Lot Leonard, formerly I think a Methodist preacher; Jonathan Parkinson; James Corpus, formerly a Methodist preacher; Earl P. Geer, and Matthias Croy, Junr. A number of valuable characters are publicly engaged, I am informed, in the eastern and southern states, whose names I cannot now ascertain.
I am, dear brethren, yours, &c.

            ABEL M. SARJENT.
  New-York, 13th August, 1811.






[237]


Western Messenger;

TO  THE

SAINTS

THROUGHOUT  THE

WORLD

________

And Moses answered and said, but, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, "the Lord hath not appeared unto thee."

I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant.

Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. Exod. iv. 1, 10, 14.




[238]





This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law, Acts xviii. 13.

These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another KING, one JESUS.






[239]

WESTERN MESSENGER, &c.
_____

The second age is consumated, and the opening of the third Age has actually commenced. -- At Midnight the cry is made.

          In the name and by the directions and
          authority of the immortal and immutable
          God; who is simply ONE and indivisible. --- AMEN.

                     The Messengerof GOD and servant
                     of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

To all the sincere votaries of Truth and Right, to all who are disposed to give due credit to the testimony of God, as contained in the sacred Scriptures, and to all who wait, in himble expectation, for the second coming of the LORD, throughout the world; Greeting.

Fellow mean and brethren, of every
nation and complexion on the face
of the whole earth.
No. 1. BEHOLD, the long promised, long expected, and much desired period has at length arrived; for the kingly office, kingly glories, and official prerogatives, of the great and only true Potentate of all nations, to be openly declared, and made evident to the human family at large, and publicly vindicated; for the authority and government of Immanuel to be brought into visible operation; for Satan




240

(the universal oppressor) to be bound, and for spiritual Babylon to be demolished; for the many predictions in sacred writ, concerning the fifth empire, (or universal visible dominion of the Lord) to be fulfilled, and the great work belonging to his kingly office accomplished; for the agency, (viz. the saints) by whom the Lord will rectify, control and regulate the world, in the last age, to be called into action; for the Lord's sanctuary to be cleansed, and for the true Zion to be exhibited in clearness, the perfection of beauty and joy of the whole earth; for the oppressors of the earth to be destroyed, the grievances of the poor and oppressed redressed, and the world emancipated; for the man of sin to be revealed and exposed, his power suppressed, him in [sic - and?] his agents chained, and his influence and reign ended; for a certain space, &c. for the visible kingdom of God to come, for the message of the third age to be delivered, for the Lord of glory in all the fulness of his true character, in connection with the royal government, by the opening of the internal sense of the sacred book, and removing of the vail, to be correctly and universally revealed; for the last age of time to be fully and clearly opened, and for the universal visible empire of God to be maintained throughout earth.

No. 2. But, truly the Lord cometh and the Son of man is revealed, at a moment, and in a way that men think not; and now when he cometh, shall he find a correct faith on the




241

earth? Surely the false faith now taught in common, and the mythology now universally prevalent in the world, with but a few exceptions, are calculated to hinder and prevent the proper influences and instructions of divine light, and the Spirit of the immortal God; and of course are equally calculated to prepare the public mind not to receive the Lord at his second coming, or in the opening of his second advent, but rather to reject him and the message belonging to that favoured age; when he shall be duly exhibited in his kingly glories by the correct unfoldings of the internal sense of the sacred pages, and removing of the veil.

No. 3. However, as the Lord hath said, he cometh as a thief in the night; and as himself hath also declared, even so we shall now find it --- "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man; they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." See Luke xvii. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. The antitypical Lot will then go out of the spiritual Sodom!!!

The only religion requisite to prepare men for that day is strict Justice; in the Lord's acceptation




242

of the term; * for the Lord will then "sever the wicked from among the JUST."

No. 4. All who are strictly just, will, in the opening of this glorious age, be willing to receive Christ in the fulness of his official character, in connection with his righteous government, and so have him to reign over them; but the unjust will not be willing to know or receive him as their king or political head, nor yet his equitable government --- Their language is -- "We will not have this man to reign over us." "Art thou come hither to torment (or destroy) us before the time?" -- "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built, Haggai i. 2."

No. 5. It is always too soon for them to know the truth or do right; and therefore, they are disposed not even, impartially and humbly, to listen, until, "a more convenient season." The Lord, in his special dispensations always comes too soon for the wicked. The carnal man always saith, "It is not yet!" -- It is not yet! -- The great work of the last age, now opening before us, is as yet, carried on principally in the intellectual world;
________________________________
* True justice, though severe, is not in any degree cruel; but, in all its principles, strictly benign; vindicating, without partiality, the equal rights of all. All genuine religion simply consists in the proper exercise of due gratitude to God, and benevolence to men; from a principle of loyality and obedience to the royal government.




243

and therefore the carnal eye cannot behold it, or in any degree discern the operations of God. The great work will soon appear more evident in the visible world, and the envious tongues of many mighty and ekoquent adversaries and great opponents will be sienced, and publick shame shall cover their faces.

No. 6. Time has been long pregnant, and is now bursting forth with one of the greatest events that ever happened among me, (the man-child will shortly be exhibited) and it is the greatness of this very event, in the intellectual world, having an unseen influence on the minds of men in the visible or animal world, that has produced such ectraordinary agitations of different kinds, political and religious, as of late has prevailed in almost every part of the inhabited earth; for all great events have their beginnings in the spiritual and then in the intellectual world, at first, for a time, even in the commencement of their openings among men of the earth, invisible to those in the animal world; and the more sensual men are, the less capable they are of discerning them; yea, even when they are opened in the visible world.

No. 7. The visible kingdom of Christ was not of the first age, nor of the second, bit is of the third; and therefore, with propriety could he say, even in the opening of the second age, "If my kingdom were of this age (as in the original) then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews &c."

No. 8. In the first age (which was the




244

prophetic age) the Church was exhibited only fair as the moon; in the second age (which was the priestly age) the Church was exhibited clear as the sun); in the third age (which is the Kingly age) the true Church of God shall be exhibited, as the scripture hath said, terrible as an army with banners, completely triumphant over all her enemies; each of the preceding ages leading regularly on to a more perfect state, where and when the empire of Christ, or visible kingdom of God, should be more fully opened. This visible and glorious kingdom is now about to be exhibited.

In the third and last age the great work of ADONAI will be, by the agency of his saints, to judge the visible world; for God, saith the apostle, has appointed a day (an age) wherein he will judge the world, (control, regulate, and order it) in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead; and again the apostle saith, "The saints shall judge the world." See also Daniel vii. 18, 27.

No. 9. It is the order of heaven, that each of these ages should have its own certain work, that each should be opened in its own proper season, by a new revelation from God; and that some human agency should be prepared and called into public action, as the organ or instrumentality in the hand of God, through whom to hand, as well as to make such revelation to the world. However, the new revelation thus given and handed to the




245

world does by no means contradict the old; nor will it be found in any degree contrary to the true spirtit of the old; but is effected only by an increase, or greater measure of the same light, communicated through the channel of a correct faith; being in all respects calculated more fully to confirm the old, inasmuch as it brings objects perfectly into view, which the old one only darkly and imperfectly pointed at, opening clearly that which before was a mystery, and shewing the complete accomplishment of things which were only predicted in the old.

No. 10. Thus faith is turned into sight and hope, with anticipation, into real enjoyment.

No. 11. All the predictions contained in holy writ must be fulfilled abd completely accomplished in time; the most important of which relate to the Lord in his second Advent, and are peculiar to the third and last age.

No. 12. The reader will doubtless enquire "Who does the writer profess to be? and where is the evidence of his mission? -- Answer -- first, he professes to be that very character pointed at in holy writ, and foreshewn in vision unto the prophet Ezekiel, chap. ix verses 2. 3. 4, 11, under the similitude of a Man clothed in linen with a writer's Inkhorn by this side and a slaughter weapon in his hand; at this time standing in the blaze of gospel light, Rev. xix 17 with whom five more are now engaged, under Christ, in a certain work speedily to be accomplished * * * * * * Secondly, a public and undeniable




246

evidence of the divinity of his mission and authority, is contained and will be given to the world in the message which he delivers, and in the final victory of the cause in which he is engaged.

No. 13. He does not profess infallibility as a man; nor yet to be any thing more, in himself, than a mere man, in possession and under the influence and directions of divine light and the fundamentals of a correct faith; notwithstanding, as a man, still encompassed about (as all the servants and messengers of Christ were in ages past) with all the weaknesses and many of the infirmities common to human nature in the fleshly sphere, and a man of like passions with others; nor yet does he profess to be a prophet, nay! far from it --- Prophecy belonged to the figurative age -- a greater work than prophecy, and the grand substance and end of all prophecy is now to be effected; nor does he profess to be possessed of the power of working external miracles; all external miracles were but figures of more important things, and significative of greater works to be accomplished in the third and last age; which is the age of true science.

No. 14. He professes to be the messenger of God, and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, specially and divinely authorised to deliver the message of Christ to the world, and to proclaim the opening of the third and last age. He also professes to enjoy the special privilege of divine revelation, so far as it is necessary to qualify him for and direct and




247

(under construction)






248

(under construction)






249

(remainder of text under construction)




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