The leading principle of nonconformity, as the term is now generally employed, to signify a continued separation from the national church of England, is, the _sole_ authority of Jesus Christ as the head and lawgiver of his people. This exclusive right he is alleged to have claimed, when he cautioned his disciples against the assumption of ecclesiastical power, emphatically reminding them that _One_ was their master, “even Christ.” {3} A sentiment, which, from the peculiar form of its announcement, he appears to have intended that they should adopt as a principle and quote as an axiom of his government. All that _he_ taught them, they were bound to obey; all that _he_ enjoined, they were to practise; and he discharged them, by that brief and memorable sentence, from all spiritual allegiance to each other, and to their fellow-men, however exalted or wise. Reason, persuasion, the evidence of the sacred writings, “the effectual fervent prayer,” and the eloquence of a holy life, these were the weapons he put into their hands, the only weapons adapted to the genius of his religion and to the nature of man. {4} From this view of Christ’s authority is derived another principle scarcely less momentous,—the absolute sufficiency of the sacred Scriptures, “the word of Christ,” to prescribe the faith and regulate the practice of his followers. A revelation inadequate to these purposes, it is generally admitted, would be at once derogatory to God, and a cruel mockery of erring man. Nor can the perplexity arising out of contending human powers, and conflicting articles of faith and rules of practice, be avoided, but by submitting all to one criterion,—“to the law and to the testimony,”—and by the consideration that “if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” {5}