As it hath pleased the Lord in these latter days, by his spirit and power, to gather a people to himself; and, releasing them from the impositions and teachings of men, to inspire them with degrees of the same universal love and good will by which the dispensation of the gospel was ushered in,-these have been engaged to meet together for the worship of God in Spirit, according to the direction of the holy Lawgiver; as also for the exercise of a tender care over each other, that all may be preserved in unity of faith and practice, answerable to the description which He the ever-blessed Shepherd gave of his flock, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John xiii. 35. For this important end, and as an exterior hedge of preservation to us, against the many temptations and dangers, to which our situation in this world exposes us, the following rules have been occasionally adopted by the Society, and now form our code of discipline. In the exercise whereof it is to be observed, that if any member be found in a conduct subversive of its order, or repugnant to the testimonies which we believe we are intrusted with for the promotion of Truth in the earth, it becomes our indispensable duty to treat with such, in meekness and |