October  2,  1762,  I  find  the  following  note:

"  Whereas  John  Taylor  has  now  a  third  time  contra-
dicted his  baptismal  vows  of  repentance  and  holiness  by
relapsing  to  the  sin  of  drunkenness;  and  has  moreover,
absconded  from  his  master  [he  was  evidently  an  apprentice]
whereby  he  has  defrauded  his  Master  of  about  a  year's
servitude,  We  hold  ourselves  bound  to  cut  him  off  from
the  Church,  erase  his  name  out  of  the  church  book,  and
deliver  him  up  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh  that
the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and
accordingly  he  is  hereby  excommunicated.  And  God
have  mercy  on  his  soul.  Amen."

I  find  also  not  a  few — and  I  am  sorry  to  say  again,
many  women — suspended  or  excluded  for  profanity.
Not  only,  however,  were  members  disciplined  for  intoxi-
cation and  profanity,  but  for  far  worse  offenses.  The  num-
ber of  cases  of  immorality  was  very  large.  Especially
when  we  consider  the  small    membership    in  these  early


BI-CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION.  177

days,  I  feel  quite  convinced  that,  though  the  church  of  the
present  day  in  the  matter  of  dogma  is  less  strenuous,  in
the  matter  of  morals  and  manners  we  have  made  immense
progress.  Christianity  now  is  less  of  a  belief  and  more  of
a  life;  less  insistent  on  unimportant  matters  of  a  Creed  or
a  Confession  of  Faith,  such  as  the  Imposition  of  Hands,
and  more  insistent  on  a  pure  life  filled  with  love  to  God
and  charity  to  man.
