THE HISTORY OF DISSENTERS, FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE YEAR 1808. BY DAVID BOGUE, D.D. AND JAMES BENNETT. SECOND EDITION. BY JAMES BENNETT, D.D. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: FREDERICK WESTLEY AND A. H. DAVIS, 10, STATIONERS' COURT, AND AVE-MARIA LANE. MDCCCXXXIII. PREFACE. IF to most readers ecclesiastical is less interesting than civil history, a Christian should attach the highest value to the records of the Church, which is the empire of minds and of religion; and though a particular section of the Christian pale may appear to Christians in general of inferior moment, those who belong to that section must read its annals with peculiar interest. To Dissenters themselves, therefore, their own history can need no recommendation. The review of a century and a half of quiet enjoyment of privileges for which their forefathers laboured and struggled, suffered and bled, cannot fail to interest every one who, having adopted their principles, inherits their spirit. Their enemies ventured to predict, that the Non-conformist |