AT the earnest request of many enquiring minds, I have undertaken to present to the public the m [...]ter, form, and manner of a new and strange religion, that has lately taken place among many people in the Commonwealth of Massachuset's, and of New York: and in pursuing my purpose, I shall take the following method:—

IN the first place—I will present to view, the leaders and teachers of this new and strange religion.

2. I will shew their manner of address.

3. I will shew their doctrine, with the scripture evi­dence they bring to prove it.

4. I will shew their manner of worship.

5. I shall shew the directions which they give to those that come to them to be instructed.

6. I will shew the power and effect of their instructions on their adherents.

7. I shall shew what this new religion is, as pointed out by scripture testimony.

8. I shall give some reasons for my knowledge in this new religion, not by mere speculation, but by sor­rowful experience.

9. I shall close the whole, by a word of advice to mi­nisters and people.

To return therefore according to my promise, in the first place, to present to public view, the leaders and teach­ers of this new and strange religion.

The whole number consists of five males and seven fe­males; three of the males and two females profess to be perfect, or to have attained a state of perfection; the other seven not perfect yet, but very far advanced. This peo­ple are Europeans, a part of which came from England to [Page 3]New York in the year 1774, and lived at New York and Albany, and places adjacent, two years—and in the year 1776, the rest came to Philadelphia, and travelled through Pennsylvania, to New-York, where the whole twelve came together and directly went and made a purchase of land in a place called Nisqueunia, about nine or ten miles northwest from Albany, where they immediately settled, and went to clearing their land, and following their several occupations of blacksmithing, weaving and shoe making, and were un­known and unnoticed, unless by a few of their neighbours, until the 17th day of April 1780; at which time, one Talmage Bishop brought tidings into New Lebanon, of a number of strange and wonderful Christians; the people, like the Athenians of old, were filled with desire to see new things, and run to see them. This brings me to shew,

2d. Their manner of address —

When any person goes to see them, they all meet him with many smiles, and seeming great gladness; they bid him welcome, and directly tell him they knew of his com­ing yesterday. This sets the person a wondering at their knowledge, and presently they get the person some victu­als; then they sit down and have a spell of singing; they sing odd tunes, and British marches, sometimes without words, and sometimes with a m [...]ure of words known and unknown. After singing they fall to shaking their heads in a very extraordinary manner with their eyes shut and face up; then a woman about forty years old sits & makes a fare of prayer, chiefly in an unknown tongue, (if I may so call it) then one of the men comes to the person and pretends to interpret the woman's prayer; after which they tell the person he has come to the light place to be instructed; they inquire the person's name, and ever after call him by his Christian name; they use no compliments, but their language is, yea and nay. If the person have long hair, or a club, they bring the bible, and read to him [...] cor. xith chap and 14th verse, then telling him if he intends to be instructed, he must first have his hair cut short; telling of him that he wears the mark of the beast. If he consents to have his hair cut, after it is done, they [Page 4]come round him and touch him with their fingers here and there and give him a sly cross, and in a very loving way put their hands on his head and then begin to preach their doctrine to him. But this leads me to enter on the third thing proposed viz.

3 To shew their doctrine, with the scripture evidence they bring to prove it.

They introduce their doctrine with a multitude of good words; saying, we must hate sin, love GOD, take up our cross &c. Then proceed to say, in the first place, that there is a new dispensation taking place, in which the saints shall reign a thousand years with Christ, and that in that state the sains shall be perfect, and that they have entered into it and that they are the only church in the world; telling the person or hearer, that they have all the apostolic gifts that were ever given; then they tell the person that he has come to the right place for instruction, for they only are able to teach; then they pause a while to see how the person receives it, if they find he listens, and seems to be coming, they proceed and say, all the churches now in the world are antichrist, and false churches, and that there is not one person born again among them all, and that there has not one gone to heaven for these twelve hundred years, no, not since the apostolic age. If the person makes any objections, they tell him he must not dispute, his business is to hear and receive instruction, and all hands will fall to confirming the truth of what is declared: This puts the person to silence, & then they proceed, with a great laugh, and tell him they have many things to say to him, which he is not yet able to bear; this is to engage the person to hear. Then, secondly, they proceed to say, that all exter­nal ordinances, especially baptism and the Lord's supper, ceased in the apostolic age; and that GOD has never sent one man to preach, since the apostles days, until they en­tered into the new dispensation, and were sent by GOD from Great Britain, to call in GOD's elect; and to confirm the truth of what the teacher has said, he (the teacher) falls a trembling, and will say he feels the blood of Christ, now running down his thigh and leg. Then they tell the per­son [Page 5]he can't bear any more now, but he must come again very soon and they will tell him more; and thus they with many fawning embraces, part with him for that time.

3 When he comes again then meet him with great joy, clasp him in their arms, and tell him they have the great love of Gon; and after things are a little settled, they be­gin with him again, telling him that he must confess his fins to them, from his childhood, that they may take his case, and travail for him, that he may be born again. If he be a professor of godliness, and pleads that he hopes his fins are forgiven, and wash'd away by the blood of Christ; they tell him nay, they are not forgiven. They tell him whatsoever is done in secret, must be revealed on the house top: And that they being the church, are the house top. Then one takes him alone, and if he confesses his fin to him, then he tells it to the rest: But if it be suspected that he keeps back part of his fin, he must confess the whole, all being present.

4. They tell him that they see angels, and converse with them, and hear them sing, and sing with them; and the spirits of just men made perfect, they also freely converse with. They further tell him, the song that they sing, is the song of the hundred and forty and four thousand, which no man can learn, but only those that are redeemed from the earth. Then tell him, they have got a mother; pointing to a woman, one of their company: And that she speaks seventy two tongues, and that when she speaks in unknown tongues, the living people cannot understand her; yet the dead understand her, for she talks to them.

5. They proceed and say, the judgment is set, the books are opened, and the dead are now rising, and coming to judgment, and they are set to judge the world: Quoting 1 Cor. vi. chap. 2 verse. They tell the person, that the great tribunal is that church, and that the dead are co­ming before them every day to be judged. They go on to say all that have died in an imperfect state, have gone to hell, or to a prison state; and there to pay the debt to di­vine justice, by suffering; and that there are degrees of punishment, which they are to pass through; great fins, a [Page 6]great degree of hell, small fins, a small hell; And after passing through the several degrees of punishment, & pay­ing the whole debt, out they come, and stand before us, (say they) and are acquitted, and go home to heaven; they quote for proof, Psal. xvi. 10. Psal. lxviii. 18. Eze­kiel xvi. 44—61. 1 Peter, iii 18, 19, 20. 1 Peter, iv. 6.

They comment on those texts thus: Did Christ go to hell? Yes. When? Why when he was crucified. What did he go there for? Why, to preach to the spirits in pri­son. What did he preach [...] them? Why the gospel. Why did he preach the gospel to the old world, or to the dead? Why that they might be judged as unconverted sinners, but finally live, according to GOD in the spirit, after they have paid the debt in suffering.

6. They say, that the forecited woman, about forty years of age, is the woman spoken of in the xiith chapter of the Revelations of John, who was clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and that she has travail'd and bro't forth the man child. Further, that she is the mother of all the elect; and that she travails for the whole world; and that no blessing can come to any person, but only by and through her; and that in the way of her being possessed of their sins, by their confessing of them, and repenting of the fame, one by one, according to her direction.

7. They hold themselves so far immortal, that they shall never die, but shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and go from this to the upper regions; and that now, they are above all temptations and sufferings, and can nei­ther be lifted up or cast down; only as they suffer in tra­vail for the elect. I might still proceed much further on this head; but as it will necessarily fall into their instruc­tions to their adherents, I pass by it for the present, and shall proceed,

4. To shew their manner of worship (if it may be so called)

The manner and form of their worship is entirely new, and different from all others: It differs but little on the Sabbath from any other day: They begin by sitting down [Page 7]and shocking their heads in a violent manner, turning their heads half round, so that their face looks over each shoul­der, their eyes being shut; while they are thus shaking, one will begin to sing some odd tune, without words or rule; after a while another will strike in; and then ano­ther; and after a while they all fall in and make a strange charm:—Some singing without words, and some with an unknown tongue, or mutter, and some with a mixture of English: The mother, so called, minds to strike such notes as makes a concord, and so form the charm. When they leave off singing, they drop off, one by one, as oddly as they come on; in the best part of their worship, every one acts for himself, and almost every one different from the other; one will stand with his arms extended acting over odd postures, which they call signs; another will be danc­ing, and sometimes hopping on one leg about the floor; another will fall to turning round so swift, that if it be a woman, her clothes will be so filled with the wind, as tho' they ware kept out by a hoop; another will be prostrate on the floor; another will be talking with somebody; and some fitting by smoaking their pipes; some groaning most dismally; some trembling extremely; others acting as tho' all their nerves were convuls'd; others swinging their arms with all vigour, as though they were turning a wheel, &c. Then all break off and have a spell of smoaking, and some­times great fits of laughter.—They have several such ex­ercises in a day especially on the Sabbath. When they go to eat, they fit down, and have a spell of singing and shaking the head at the table, before they eat; sometimes they kneel down, shake their heads and groan, say nothing, and then fall to eating, and will be very merry and airy. If one has done eating before the rest, he kneels down, shakes his head a spell, and off he goes and leaves the rest eating; so each one dismisses the table for himself: But it is impossible to point out any exact form; for they vary and differ, and seldom act the some form exactly over a­gain. They chuse so to do, to be singular, lest, as they say, they should be connected with Babylon. Every day their worship is similar to what has been observed. They [Page 8]have no public prayer, no preaching, and but little read­ing. Their actions in worship is according to the dictates of the spirit that governs them; then they profess, faying, they are in a spiritual dispensation.

Having thus sh [...]wn as far as may be, their manner of worship, I proceed 5thly, to show the directions which they give to those that come to them to be instructed.

When any person goes to them to be instructed, they enquire of him, whether he has given his vote and money for the defence of the country, and presently tell him it is contrary to the gospel to bear arms, saying Christ's kingdom has not of this world; they labor to convince him that it is a great error to have any thing to do with war and fighting: they directly tell him, he is not born a­gain, and that he must observe their instructions in order that he may attain to the new birth — Then they tell him, he must confess his sin to them; for if he hides his sin, they can do nothing for him: They further tell him, if he refuses, they can tell him all his sin that he ever committed; and pretend that he can keep nothing hid from them; and when they have frightened him to a confession then they further tell him, he must renounce and abstain from all the works of the flesh; telling him, that the first fall of our first parents, was carnal copula­tion, and that this ruined the world; and that every one that has any thing to do with man or women in the work of generation, is acting Adam and Eve's sin over again: They tell the man to abstain from his wife, the woman from her husband, and that if the wife doth not agree to it, the husband must put her away; and if the husband will not agree to it, the wife must leave her hus­band; and for an example, the mother, so cal [...]ed, did tell how she left her husband, in New York and [...] the men, how he left his wife in England. They [...] young men and young women if they marry, and [...]ve any thing to do with the works or lu [...]ts of the flesh they can never be born again: They shew the necessity of re­ceiving this instruction, by quoting Rev. iii. 3. 4. 5. They dwell more on this part of their instructions than [Page 9]all the rest. They tell their adherents, if they conform to their instructions in this point, there is no sear of their being born again; but if they disobey they certainly will be damned. While they are thus instructing their adhe­rents, they sometimes use great severity, and sometimes, great flattery, to frighten on the one hand and allure on the other; and while they are thus at work with a per­son, they come round him, touch him with their singers in different places, cress him here and there, get their hand on his head, and prophecy, that great blessings are [...]aid up for him: They presently make him believe them, and as soon as they see the spirit begin to operate on him, then they tell him, that now he has received the Holy Ghost, and now if he disobeys, it is a gone case with him: They tell him, if he had never come to see them, and had died in his ignorance without receiving the Holy Ghost, he would have gone to hell or a prison state, and suffered a while, and then come out and gone to heaven; but now, if he turns back, there is no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor that which is to come; They quote for proof. Matt. xii .32. This is to terrify the person, and bring him into an absolute dependence on them: Then they tell him, he must come often to them to be instructed, or he will be in danger of being taken by evil spirits and bed wrong; and that he must not think he can understand the bible, or know in any respect how to act, but only as he receives instruction from them: They tell him they have many things for him, which he is not yet able to [...] but as fast as he is able to receive it, they shall instruct him [...] Thus the person is kept in constant expectation of some­thing new. If the person seems to be sober, then one takes him by the hand, and round the floor with him, and make him run and skip about, and laugh heartily at him, and will tell him he must not be melancholy; and when they get him merry with them, then let him go: Then they tell the person, for his admiration, that since he has been present they have had many of the dead come before them to be judged; and make him believe they know his that's, and know suture events, and nothing can be hid from them; telling how people are together, and talking about [Page 10]them, and what they say, &c. Then they tell the person that they shall never die, and also all those that obey them, and get to be perfect, shall never die, but be changed in a moment, and go home body and soul: But all the bodies of more than are in their sins, shall never rise.—They fur­ther tell him, that the hundred and forty and four thou­sand, which were sealed; twelve thousand out of each tribe, is a work yet to be done; and that they are of the tribe of Benjamin, though the youngest tribe, and last in the account, yet first in the order of being sealed; and that they are the first fruits of that tribe; and that all that are to be brought in in America, will belong to that tribe: And thus, the last is to be first, and the first last.

I might still proceed, on this head; but it would be endless to repeat all their instructions to their adherents, as they are ever studying new things to keep up the de­pendence and admiration of their disciples. I shall there­fore pass on:

6thly, To shew the power and effect of their instructi­ons on their adherents.

There is a very extraordinary and uncommon power attends their instructions; in the first place, a total blind­ness, as to all their former views, of religion and the bi­ble, on the instructed, takes place; and then a [...] in­fatuation of the mind, to believe all their teachers say.—Presently, a strange power begins to come on, and takes place in the body, or human frame, which sets the person a gaping and stretching; and soon se [...] him a twitching, as though his nerves were all in a convulsion. I can com­pare it to nothing nearer in its feelings than the operation of an clecterising machine; the person believes it is the power of GOD, and therefore dare not resist, but wholly gives way to it.—Thus the power comes on, more and more; and as the power increases, so their [...] increases, in their teachers. If any body opposes them it brings on the power quick, strong and violent; and they cry out, on the opposer, that he will be damn'd for opposing the power of GOD; and fall to twitching and trembling as though they had an extreme fit of the ague. This power as it increases, brings on, many times, extreme weakness [Page 11]of body, so that their limbs fail them, and they fall to the floor, or on the ground, and lie helpless: At other times, it brings on great shakings—and shrugging of the shoul­ders—and tramping about with the feet—dismal groans and out cries—and perhaps may issue, for that time, in great laughter and lightness. And in the time of inter­vals, they grow very dum, and say but little; and as the power has its fits on them so it grows more powerful, till it leads on to what they call signs. The power will take their hand, stretch it up, pull the other down, they inter­pret it—the hand up, it a sign of mercy, the hand down, of judgment: Sometimes their hand is stretched out for­ward, then away they run after it; if it leads to some person, they lay their hand on his head,—then cross their arms, one across the other,—then say he must take up his cross, and renounce the works of the flesh,—then they stretch both hands behind them, and say he must leave the world behind him: Sometimes their hands will be cramp'd up, one finger stretched out strait, another down into their hand, and their hand all out of common shape: Sometimes their hand will stretch out, and after it they run—through woods—cross lots—over sences—swamps—or whatever, till they come to a house; perhaps they will be stopt several times in their course, and their head turn them round, as though they had lost their way; then take a new set off and run again; perhaps, when they get to the house, they will lie down on the ground—make a round ring with their finger, among the dirt—puther about in it—then start up—double their fist at it—run away from it—come at it again—show the looks of vengeance at it—threaten it with postures—then run and jump into it, and stamp it all to pieces—This sign they interpret to be the old heavens, which are to pass away with a great noise—When he goes into the house, he flatters round with his hands flying, and hissing as if he intended to drive all the fl [...]s out of the room— [...]ut this, he says, is to hunt all the evil spirits out, which the house is full of.

After he has done his [...], he follows his hand off, without asking how they do, or bidding them farewell.—Wi [...]a they meet together for their worship, they fall a [Page 12]groaning and trembling, and every one acts alone for him­self; one will fall prostrate on the floor, another on his knees and his head in his hands, on the floor; another will be muttering over articulate sounds, which neither they or any body else understand. Some will be singing, each one his own tune; some without words in an Indian tone, some sing jig tunes, some tunes of their own making in an unknown mutter, which they call new tongues; some will be dancing and others stand laughing heartily and loudly; others will be a drumming on the floor with their feet, as though a pair of drum sticks were beating a ruff on a drum head; others will be agonizing, as though they were in great pain; others jumping up and down; others fluttering over somebody, and talking to them; others will be shooing and hissing evil spirits out of the house, till the different tunes, groaning jumping, dancing, drum­ming, laughing, talking and fluttering, shooing and his­sing makes a perfect bedlam; this they call the worship of GOD. They speak highly of their teachers, and say those men at Nisqueunia are the angels of GOD, sent forth to gather in GOD's elect. Some of them say, that the woman called the mother, has the fulness of the God-Head bodily dwelling in her, and that she is the Queen of Heaven, Christ's wife; and that all GOD's elect must be born through her; yea, that Christ through her is born the second time. They say that that church (as they call it) has power to shut the Heaven that it rain not, and to bring on all manner of plagues, as often as they will — They prophecy that this gospel (as they call it) must be preached to all the world, and all those that do not fall in with it will be damn'd. If any body opposes them, they get round him, threaten him with damnation, storm and stamp at him, stare open their eyes, pucker up their mouths and cry oh! oh! oh! at him, and act all the postures of vengeance, which is enough to frighten a Her­cules out of his wits.

Every one as soon as they fall in with this new religion, immediately throw down their arms, and cry out against the means of defence made use of against the common ene­my, and appear the most obstinate against all the proceed­ings [Page 13]of the country. I have heard some of them say, that all our authority, civil and military, is from Hell, and would go there again. The effect of this scheme is such, that men and their wives have parted, children ran away from their parents, and society entirely broke up in neigh­bourhoods; it makes children deny and disown their pa­rents, and say they are full of devils. They are continu­ally throwing out their curses on all that do not fall in with them; prophecying the destruction of the country; declaring they belong to the kingdom of GOD, and at the same time, if they were asked whether they are born again, they will say nay. If any person goes to reason with them, they immediately put their fingers in their ears, or run off out of hearing, or else drown [...]ir [...] with clamour, noise and curses: And as their teachers advise and order children to run away from their parents, and men to shut thin doors against their own brethren, by blood, and [...] them any admission into their houses; all their order are punctually obeyed.

They make great dependance on their fr [...]ns, and say it is the power of GOD, and GOD has taken that way to preach by them: One of them had a sign, that a certain man had committed murder, and charged him with it, which the man denied; he again had a sign, that a cer­tain man intended to kill two children and their mother, on a certain night; then he had a sign for two of his associ­ates to go and lay all night behind the house, and watch for him, and when they heard the children cry, to rush in, take the man and bind him, and bring the man to him; the two men obeyed his orders, believing in his sign: about break of day he had a sign, that they catched the man and bound him; however, in the morning, the two men returned, having not seen the man. Thus their signs in general prove false; however they got out this way, that the sign is true, but they made a false interpretation. I knew another, who under the operation of the spirit pro­phesied, that at the end of two weeks, New London would be destroyed, and at the end of four weeks, Albany would be burnt a [...] the next day the world would be at an end; all which proved false. Another had a sign, that a cer­tain [Page 14]man, on such a day, would kill him, and on the third day be should rise again into line and action; which like­wise proved false. One of their postures which increase among them is, turning round very swift for an hour, and sometimes for two hours at a time, till they are all wet with sweat; this they say, is to shew the great power of GOD.

They meet together in the night, and have been heard two miles by the people, in the dead of the night; some­times a company of them will run away to some house, get into it, raise a bedlam, wake up all in the house, and the neighbours round about for a mile: They run about in the woods and elsewhere, hooting and tooting like owls; some of them have stripped naked in the woods, and tho't they were angels, and invisible and could go about among men and not be seen, and have lost their cloaths, and ne­ver found them again. Sometimes while eating at the table, they say their dead parents and brethren come on the table and set on a pye, and they see them, &c.

At one of their meetings, they hung a woman by the neck, but took her down before she was dead, to shew as a sign, how they were to be persecuted: and now while I am writing, I am informed by good authority, that two men in the scheme have murdered themselves, one cut his throat, the other stabbed himself, after he had tried twice to kill his wife, &c.

I might proceed much further, but it is as impossible to fully set forth the power and effects of this new religion, as to trace the airy road of the meteor: I therefore pro­ceed, 7thly, to shew what this new religion is, as pointed out by scripture testimony.

In opening this proposition it will be necessary to ob­serve, on the great purposes of GOD, which will termi­nate in two grand events; find, the deliverance of his peo­ple, and fulfilling his promises to them; Secondly, the de­struction of the man of sin. These events will conclude and finish the reign of Antichrist: And the work of GOD in general, has a special respect both in his providence and grace, to the grand conclusion.

[Page 15] Every age of the church have had their trials and combats, with the great enemy of GOD and his people; and as GOD's work and designs have advanced forward to the power of the enemy has increased; and it is very evi­dent, that the last struggles of the enemy will be the most powerful and dangerous; this GOD saw, and in his great goodness has advertised his people of the delusions a [...] er­rors that would take place in the last days; knowing that the crafty serpent would act over again his subtle wiles, in the highest pretentions of the greatest good. We are in­formed by our Lord in Matt. xxiv 24. that false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and sh [...] shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect

This matter is more fully opened and illustrated by the great apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Thessalonians, ii. 3-12, he gives advice not to be deceived; for the day of Christ shall not come before there come first a falling away; and that the man of sin be revealed, whom he calls the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing that he is God;—he shews in the 7th verse, that it is the great mystery of iniquity, whose coming shall be after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs and lying wonders, with all de­ceivableness of unrighteousness, &c. As this great delusion is to take place in the last days before the coming of Christ, we are charged by our Lord to watch, we are therefore to watch the signs of his coming, and to watch the motions of the mystery of iniquity, which if well attended to, it will appear most evident, that this is the day in which we may expect to see Satan in the hightest and most delusive machi­nations, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. Rev xii 12. And while men are looking for the [...]r [...]at revolution, or change of times to take place, when Christ shall reign in and with his church a thousand years;—Satan finds in the most fit season to present a coun­terfeit, drest in the highest colours of sanctity and holiness; and a [...] many expect to see new things take place in the mil­le [...]i [...]m state; so Satan improves his advantage on such, by [Page 16]presenting new religion, new laws, new modes and forms, new churches, new preaching, new doctrine, new views, new discoveries, new spirit, new bibles, or seen in a new light, new heaven and new glory.—And that all old things are to pass away, no more old religion, no more old modes and forms, old churches, old preaching, and doctrine are to cease; old views, old experiences, and old conversion to be rejected; old friendship, old relations, and old love to be known no more. And while the pleasing picture by the arch enemy is presented to view, it finds many admirers.

It is very evident, that this is the very day in which this work of Satan is on the wheel: And notwithstanding, it may appear unaccountable to every rational mind, that any of the human specie should fall in with so diabolical a scheme; yet when we consider i [...]s fine dress of perfection, and the spirit of infatuation, and witchcrast, that attends it, it may form our minds into a belief, that it can be and really is so.

It is further evident, that Antichrist cannot appear in any other light or path, but only that which Christ and his Apostles have marked out for it.—I will therefore compare the works and character of Antichrist with this new and strange religion, as it is delineated and set forth.

The apostle Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, iii. 1-9 points out this very people, in this new religion, and shew they were to appear in the last day, bearing the character of GOD's enemies. Again, in 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3. The Holy Ghost points out the doctrines of this new reli­gion, and calls them the doctrines of devils, which are taught them by seducing spirits. Again, 2 Pet. ii 1, 2, 3. Their heresies are spoken of, and of their denying the Lord that bought them. Nothing is more evident then, that the apostle points out this very people, for they throw away their conversion and begin to repent of their sin which they committed in their childhood; and thus to atone and make satisfaction, and [...] the [...] own works into a state of perfection; but if [...]ea [...]h should overtake them before they get to be perfect, then down to hell they must go, to pay the remainder in suffering and when they have paid the debt and are born again in hell, [Page 17]then to come out and go to heaven; will they thank Christ, as the great mediator, and adore him, for his atoning blood and righteousness? No, not at all; Oh, dreadful scheme, that stands opposed to the glorious plan of redemption by Christ! Well might Peter and Jude say of them, wells without water clouds without rain, twice dead pluck'd up by the roots, wondering stars; for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Again,

I find gospel religion says, being justified by faith, Rom. v. i. but this new religion says by works—To decide this matter, I shall attend to the apostle, in Rom. iv. 4 5. where he says, "To him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" The true christian sees by faith, lives by faith, walks by faith, fights the good fight of faith, and gets the victory by faith: But the peo­ple in this new religion, do not so much as talk about faith in Christ; but they place their whole knowledge in their religion, on their pretended visions, prophesies and signs. Another thing which proves this new religion to be false, is what follows—The apostle James, in his epistle i. 5. says. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of GOD, who giveth liberally." But this people go to Nisqueunia, to ask of a number of Europeans, what they shall do?—who tell them, agreeable to what I find 2d Peter, ii. 18 19. They speak great swelling words of vanity, and allure thro' their much wantonness, those that were clean esca­ped from them who live in error; and while they promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corrup­tion.—And further, instead of attending to the worthy in­structions of our Godly teachers, they are burning all the books of divinity and learning, they come at.—In this new religion, is the whole magazine of error, treasured up in the great mystery of iniquity, in which is found all the power of delusive witchcraft, to blindfold souls and lead them to hell. I might cite a multitude of scripture i [...] proof of this point, but shall only say, the whole cannon of [Page 18]GOD's word is levelled against this new religion, and [...]oth and will [...]arnally condemn it, and all its propagators shall not be able to stand the trial; with which I close this head and proceed,

8thly, To give some reasons for my knowledge in this new religion, not by mere speculation, but sorrowful ex­perience.

On the 13th day of May last, I received a request from a church at Stillwater, above Albany to attend on a con­ferrence, the 25th day of the same month; and being dis­posed to go, two of my brethren offered to bear me com­pany, provided I would return back by the way of Nisque­unia with them to see a new & strange people living there. I consented to their proposition, in consequence of their company in my journey, and on the 26th of said May we arrived at Nisqueunia: The Europeans though strangers, received us very kindly, and presently told us they knew of our coming the day before: this set me a wondering at their knowledge. After they had got us some victuals, one of them came and sit down by me and begun to speak many good words, saying, I must hate sin have GOD and take up my cross &c. then went on to tell about a new dispensation, and that they had got into it; [...]is words seemed to be so well placed, that I heard them with atten­tion: Mean while a man, out of their company, stands up before me, and began to stretch and bend and extend his arms up and down, and to act all manner of postures, and turn his eyes almost inside out; I had never seen or heard of such actions before, and it set me a wondering what he meant. By this time my mind was much engaged, attend­ing to one that spoke good words and to the other that acted so oddly Mean while, he that spoke drew near to me and very little while would touch me with his finger; but I thought it was that I might mind well what he said; he likewise would give me sspans and put his hand on my head or about me, which took not much notice of. The mother, so called, looked very smiling came and sat down, and began to sing a strange [...] with a mystical voice, in a mixture of words known and unknown, which seemed to be a perfect charm.

[Page 19] After they had been the object of attention for some time, I turned my thoughts on my former views of religi­on, and found, to my admiration, my mind was turned wholly upside down; and began to think I had been all my life in a dream about religion—After a further disco­very of their worship, I felt greatly shocked and confound­ed; yet a secret belief kept prevailing, that they were the people of GOD. I tarried all night, but sat up, hearing and seeing those strange things 'till the break of day, in which time they gave me a hint of their purgatory scheme, which greatly shocked my mind: In this tumult of tho't I left them in the morning, about eight o'clock, and re­turned home.

In a very short time I found a power come on me, diffe­rent from what ever I had felt before, and made me feel very weak and maugre, and in a little time it so affected my nerves, that they gave a twitch, as sudden as a flash of lightning; a [...] first I thought, what can that be? But immediately the answer was ready; it is the power of GOD: This made me give way to it, during not to re [...] it, and immediately it gave me another twitch; it had this effect on me to make me attend to the power, and in so doing I tho't I attended on GOD: It never bro't me to what they call signs & to so great a shaking as some have; however, I fully believed it was the work of GOD, and yet I found great difficulties to get along; to give up my old experience, appeared a great thing, and to hold them was contrary to the scheme. However, I reconciled my difficulties as well as I could, by concluding, that in the new dispensation, new things would appear, and greater light would shine, and whatever was wanting in my old experience would now appear; yet so far as they were they might be good; yet many told me. I would ever be weak in the new, 'till I threw away all the old.

I went again to Nisqueunia and received further instruc­tion from the Europeans, and seemed to be more confirm­ed. Having given them a relation of my life, they made me many large promises of very great blessings, and still I remained under the operation of the spirit.—But in a little time the effect of this new work in many, appeared so [Page 20]wild, that it troubled me much, and I thought it my duty to sever between the precious and the vile; which when I began to do, they rose upon me with a dismal hiss, and had a sign to stop me; however, I went through against their signs; and as the work went on, more incosisten­cies and fa [...]shoods appeared which made me repeat a re­jection of such things, and made mention of some imper­fections I had seen in their teachers; this made them rise in such a clamour, hiss and uproar, as though the infernal den had broke loose: This gave me such a shock, that I could go no further, till I had examined the schemo over again. For this purpose I attended to my Bible more carefully, and my eyes began to be opened, and the power on me began to decrease; but had great threatnings sent to me from the teachers and others; telling me if I turn­ed back, domnation was my portion — Their prophesies and their signs appeared more and more false, which still opened my eyes, and gave me great jealousy, that this new religion was led by a false spirit, and in a little time the operation wholly left me; my eyes were wide open, and I was as though I had come out of a dark cellar, into the brighten beams of the noon day sun.

I am very sensible, that the spirit which leads on this new scheme, is the spirit of witchcraft, and is the most powerful of any delusion I ever heard or read of except what I find in Acts viii. 9, 10, 11. If I have been in any measure a means of leading any person into this wicked and dreadful delusion, I am very sorry, and as I heartily rep [...] of my folly, I ask the forgiveness of all, especially those, that like myself, have been attending to creatures, instead of looking to GOD.

Having thus given a short, but true relation of this new religion in it, several parts together with my real and absolute knowledge of the same, by sorrowful experience, I pass on to the 9th and last proposition, viz. To close the whole by a word of advice to ministers and people.