This is a term which has been applied to a considerable number of persons in various parts of the Northern States, principally in New England, who have recently _come out_ of the various religious denominations with which they were connected;—hence the name. They have not themselves assumed any distinctive name, not regarding themselves as a sect, as they have not formed, and do not contemplate forming, any religious organization. They have no creed, believing that every one should be left free to hold such _opinions_ on religious subjects as he pleases, without being held accountable for the same to any human authority. Hence, as might be expected, they hold a diversity of opinions on many points of belief upon which agreement is considered essential by the generality of professing Christians. Amongst other subjects upon which they differ is that of the authority of the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, some among them holding the prevailing belief of their divine inspiration, whilst others regard them as mere human compositions, and subject them to the same rules of criticism as they do any other book, attaching to them no authority any further than they find evidence of their truth. They believe the commonly-received opinion of the plenary inspiration of the writers of those books to be unfounded, not claimed by the writers themselves, and therefore _unscriptural_, as well as unreasonable. Whilst, then, they believe the authors of the Gospels to have been fallible men, liable to err both in relation to matters of fact and opinion, they believe they find in their writings abundant evidence of their honesty. Therefore they consider their testimony satisfactory as regards the main facts there stated of the life of Jesus Christ, at least so far, that there can be no difficulty in deducing therefrom the great principles of the religion which he taught. They _all_ believe him to have been a divinely-inspired teacher, and his religion, therefore, to be a revelation of eternal truth. They regard him as the only authorized expositor of his own religion, and believe that to apply in practice its principles as promulgated by him, and as exemplified in his life, is all that is essential to constitute a Christian, according to his testimony, (Matt. 7:24,)—“_Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock,_” &c. Hence they believe that to make it essential to Christianity to assent to all the opinions expressed by certain men, good men though they were, who wrote either before or after his time, involves a denial of the words of Christ. They believe that, according to his teachings, true religion consists in purity of heart, holiness of life, and not in opinions; that _Christianity, as it existed in the mind of Christ, is a life rather than a belief_.