authority and his spirit, and are disposed to “leave him alone with his glory.” A considerable portion of Mr. Perowne’s pamphlet, consists of vituperations against the Dissenters. Dissent, it is well known, is a relative term, and is applied to such persons, in this country, as profess to derive their doctrines and forms of church government from the Scriptures, rather than from the liturgy and canons of the Church of England. They believe that the Scriptures are sufficient to direct them in these matters; and they believe that their allegiance to Jesus Christ requires them to submit to his supreme dominion as the only head of the church, and to reject the ecclesiastical authority which either Protestants or Papists may claim, but which Christ alone possesses. On this great principle they dissent from all establishments of religion by the civil power; and they desire to stand quite independent of state endowments, and of state interference in their spiritual concerns, so as to constitute a “kingdom which is not of this world.” Dissent therefore can only be found in those countries where some particular form of religion is established by the civil power. There is no dissent in America, because there is no Established Church there. The government of that country protects all denominations of Christians in the profession of their religion, but it does not elevate one denomination above the rest, nor does it prescribe to any denomination what forms of prayer they shall adopt, what doctrines they shall believe, or what bishops or pastors they shall choose. Viewing the term, dissent, chronologically, there are in this country two classes of Dissenters. The first class includes the Church of England, which some time ago dissented from the Church of Rome, which had been, for several centuries established in this country; and the other class is composed of those who have gone still farther from the Church of Rome, and have dissented from the Church of England. In Scotland, the Established Church is not Episcopalian, as in this country, but Presbyterian; so that when Dr. Chalmers, who belongs to the Established Church in Scotland, comes into England, he is a Dissenter during his stay, and is not permitted to preach in any of the pulpits of the church; and if Mr. Perowne were to cross the Tweed, he would instantly become a Dissenter, and might find it necessary to defend himself against the attacks of the “Apostolical Establishment” {15} of that country, which binds all her sons “to root out and destroy all prelacy.” Using the term dissent in its general acceptation, Mr. Perowne says, “the only doctrine in which all Dissenters agree is that of dissenting from the church.” Now whether “dissenting from the church” be a “doctrine” or a practice is not of much consequence, nor is it a very wonderful discovery, that all Dissenters should agree to dissent. But Mr. Perowne is not aware that he has brought the same argument against