That no man is accountable to another for his religious belief, and that every man has a right to worship in the way which he may believe most acceptable to his Creator, are undeniable truths; but as the different Christian sects have congregated on account of a unity in their religious tenets, and assemble together for the purpose of uniting in divine worship, they have a right, and, (if they are firm in their belief,) it is their duty, to establish such rules and regulations as will best preserve their religion in, what they believe to be, its greatest purity; and in an especial manner to prevent the preaching of doctrines adverse to it. And this is no infringement of the liberty of conscience; for any man who dissents from their doctrines may separate himself from them; he may unite himself with any other sect; or if, in his career, his spiritual knowledge has set him above all ordinances, he may erect his own standard, and, unrestrained by forms and unfettered by creeds, he may give the utmost strain to his imagination, and perhaps become himself the head of a sect. But no casuistry can justify, or pretence excuse a man, who continues to be ostensibly the member of a religious community, for the purpose of undermining its principles or destroying the belief in its tenets. Let him believe them erroneous and the substitutes he offers unquestionably true; it alters not the case. The source will be impure, and the waters which flow from it, tainted. If the mind can be brought to conceive the possibility of the existence of a society formed according to your rules and orders of discipline, it must present itself to the imagination in all the sublime confusion of another chaos--you may offer yourself to explain the word of God, and you will be reminded that this is all in the letter: you may tell them that the Scriptures may be read to advantage, when all things in them have been previously revealed;[21] and they may reply, that reading them will then be quite unnecessary--you may exhort them to assemble together for the purpose of divine worship, "for that then we should be instructed what to do, and how to bring our offerings, to be handed over to the priest, so that they may be made acquainted with our state, and may preach the true gospel to us;"[22] and they may tell you "that such assemblies are not the places to gather spiritual food."[23] If you are asked why you waste so much time in preaching, you will tell them "the reason is plain; that although the letter directs us to the law, and nothing else can teach us, yet we flee from it; and therefore outward instruments are raised up and clothed with power:"[24] and they may reply that this is also the letter, and "that the Lord is too kind to send them away for instruction; and that he is always present, a schoolmaster to every soul."[25] If you explain to them your own growth and experience in spiritual knowledge, they will ask you of what use it