The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-06-14 00:00:00

of the plaintiff in this case was one. of three rich
sisters who were decoyed to. this Abode of Love,
and were prevailed upon by successive " revela-
tions'! to marrkthree "brothers," find in each case
the question of settlement was overruled, "in
obedience to the declared purposes of GOD." The
letter written on this subject to one of these ladies
by "Brother TIEOMXS," and which we have already
published, may be pronounced the most unblush-
ing piece of impudence recorded in the annals of
religious imposture. The lady, whose money is
the subject of the suit, had expressed her belief

" that PRINCE was GOD ALMIGHTY, and that he
had the power of conferring immortality upon her."
The transfer of stock was effected immediately
after the lady's release from a lunatic asylum.
The female disciples of " Brother PRINCE "
evidently regarded him as " the Tabernacle of
GOD upon earth ;" but it is only fair to add, that
they seem to have been spinsters who had reached
that safe but susceptible period of life, hovering
between the age of hope and despair, which is
generally supposed to be glad enough to join " a
new dispensation" at any price, and ready to
accept any " covenant with flesh," or to take
refuge in any " Tabernacle," rather than continue
" blooming alone," or " wasting their fragrance
in the desert air."

That the transference in question was obtained
by PRINCE from a lady who was in a state of
religious delusion may be very true; but we all
know that we do not need to enter the Agape-
moue to find female imaginations possessed with
illimitable faith in " spiritual guides." No doubt
the case in hand is an extreme " development" of
the weakness, and Brother PRINCE and Brother
THOMAS cannot be too widely exposed and -de-
nounced ; but, in this free country, it is our boast
that we may do what we like with our own, and
it is not the province even of the Vice-Chancellor's
Court to say when " spiritual ascendancy " be,
comes "an undue influence," or to prescribe
the limits of " religious delusion." With-
out trenching upon the outskirts of perfect
toleration, a court of law cannot lay down
1 the limits, or restrict the manifestations, of
religious enthusiasm, so long as it keeps within
the laws, pays taxes, and honours the QUEEN.
These eccentricities are best left to themselves,

and they are sure tn work their qwn cure far

more effectually than if they were unwisely sub-
jected to the stimulus of "religious persecution,"
or the fostering influences of martyrdom."
To save silly women of a perilous age and
temperament from the " undue influence "
of any " spiritual ascendancy" they may select, is
not the province of the law. In a country and in
an age which believes, in toleration, and permits
every diversity of religious opinion, we must
leave the refutation of false doctrine to reason
and public discussion ; and the detection and
punishment of false prophets to the unerring
power of time and the progressive enlightenment
of the people. We will not be suspected of any
sympathy for Agapemonism ; and we need
scarcely say that we do not wish to anticipate
the judgment of the court in this case, so far as
it is properly confined to a point of equity or a
question of legal rights and claims between indi-
viduals. We direct attention to it only in so far
as it involves a. moral bearing which, in the
interests of general truth and of the public, ought
to be carefully examined and deliberately pro-
nounced upon.