needless To iââustrate the matter if a Servant has bound himself to a Master he need not go to make new Covenants to carry it dutifully to the Mistress lovingly to the Children faithfully to the fellow Servants this being all contained in the Masters Covenant So if a Person marry a Husband she has no need to make a new Covenant with his Father that he shall be her Father or that his Brothers Sisters or other Relations shall become hers this being all âmplyed in the Mâââiâgâ Covenant The respective Duties must be performed but there is no need of new agreements or covenants to be entered into Mr. Burroughs as quoted by the Reverend Author expresses this well They are bound in Conscâince to give an account of the wayes to Churches about them or to any other who shall reqâirâ it and this not in an Aâbitraââ way âât as a Duty they owe to God and Man The united Bâethâeâ in London speak yet more fully in the Chapter of Communion oâ Câurââes â 1. We agree that particular Churches ought not to walk so distââct and seperate from each other as oâ to have care and tenderness to one another But their Pastors ought to have frequent Meeting together that by mutual advice support encouragement and bâotâââly intercourse they may strengthen the âearts and hands of each other in the ways of the Lord. We may add here the whole Chapter of occasional Meetings of Ministers and so dismiss this Question Qu. 11. May the Brethren in Churches and not the Pastors only be sent unto and have their Voice in Ecclesiastical Councils It is to be observed that by this means the Brethren in a Synod will surpass the Elders in Number and by a Cabal may easily out vote them Wherefore we can never believe that our Lord Jesus Christ has left every private Brother an equal Vote with any of his Officers in ruling oâââââagiâg his Church It will be granted that the advantage is of the Elders side as to Learning Prudence Parââ Piety Zeal and Devotion at least taking the whole Synod together yet that men of mean Parts no Education nor under the awe of an Office that obliges to the care of Souls peculiarly should be equalled to the former in all Decisions tho' not Debates whereof they are uncapable is very unaccountable Indeed had our Lord in his Word positively required this we might expect that his Spirit of Counsel would more abundantly reside on the weaker Vessels but otherwise to fill a Council from the Plough and the ââall is a tempting Christ and betraying the Church Neither are we ignorant what Tools they are in the hands of any one designing Man of a Reverend and August Name let his Opinions be what they will these are Biggââs and the Man is himself a Synod We coâsâss such a Man would be tempted to stand up for the Brethrens Authority which is his own support and the mean while the Church is like to be well govern'd But what is a further Outrage to the sacred Office the Author will not let Ministers fit as Officers of Christ or as Persons authorized by him for thus he expresses himself pag. 80 It s not their Office but the Churches Delegation that gâvâââ Power to th ãâ¦ã Members of Syââââ the specificating Act in which Synod all Power and so the rigââ oâ a decisive Vote âââoânded is tâe Churches Delegation And to prove this he instancetâ iâ the first Synod that ever sate as âe terms that Acts 15. a Copy and Samplar left to all succeding Generations But how Comical is this as if that was so constituted or its Members delegated by particular Churches Or how long had this inspired Synod sat before that case was brought before them or were they summoned upon this single occasion Truly the Author begâ the whole and proves nothing of it Indeed the Reverend Author tells us in the same page That of these Delegates from the Churches the âlâers oâgât to be the principal or principally concerned A mighty grace ineed yet even this cannot be allowed and he consistent with himself for in the next page he tells us There are some Brethren in the Churches whose Gifts and Abilities are beyond their Pastors and some again are more Noble and Honourable Now if they are alike delegated and those can act no more in the Name of Christ than the other pray why should they be the principal Why may not a ârother of equal Authority asâume and arrogate the first place to himself which if he chance to do we leave the Author to be catechized by him and to do Pennance patiently by his own Principles Qu. 12. Doth the Essence of a Ministers Call consist in his being Ordained with the imposition of hands by other Ministers Qu. 13. May a Men be ordained a Pastor except to a particular ãâ¦ã ana in the presence oâ that Church We joyn these two together partly because they are of near affinity and partly because some things the Reverend Author asserts under one of them may indifferently be referred to the other Our chief Exceptions may be reduced to these five ãâ¦ã That he asserts she essence of a Ministers Call consists in a mutual election between him and his People pag 91. If we underâtand the Author he means that a person cannot be a Minister without his mutual Election and that with it he may and is He had just before noâed that some think the essence of the Ministry to he in Orai ãâ¦ã on others in its being done by a Bishop Which last Noââoâââts off saith ââ mâst of the Ministers in France Switzerland Denmark ãâ¦ã d Scotland c. But to retort you words Sir we think that your assertion cuts off more both for Number and for Eminence It cuts off the Prophets the Apostles and Evangelists It cuts off all the Bishops that are and have been And though these in general may signifie lââtie with our Reverend Author yet some of them he mentions as great and eminent Lights He cuts off Thousands of Presbyters famous Ministers who apprehending the Essence of their Ministerial Call to âie in their being ordained and sent of God do whoây wave this mutual Election as a little thing The Scipture speaks âery highly and honourably of the Ministerial Calling They are âaâed Ministers of God of Christ of the New Testament of the Gospeâ Ministers in the Lord Ambassadors for Christ Angels Lights Stewards of the Mysteries of God c. All whiââ thâws that not only the âââencâ but the Excellency of the Ministry conââsts in their Relation to God and our Lord Jesus Christ and to that seperate and sacred Work that the holy Ghost has called them unto Acts â3 2. But what scripture inâiââtes to us That their Essence or Emmency lies in their Relation to this or that particular People The Prophets of old never pleaded their Election by Man but that they were called sent ordained and commissioned by God The Authors chief
enough to set us down resolved against any such thing if we can say there is a silence about it in the Scripture that God has no where commanded it in his word either expresly or by just and necessary consequence it s no Order of his devising Scripture silence about any Tradition gives a full condemnation what ever âleas men may bring for it as That it is profitable many have been edified by it it is a prudent way to secure the Interest of Religion many wise holy learned Men have pleaded for it and practised it that there is much of decency in it and the thing it self is no waye harmâuâ Aâl this is fully answered with that one word God has spoke nothing about it Heb. 7. 4. It never entered into his hâart to enjoyn it Jer. 7. 31. Thus he This being publickly practised and printed so long a go by so eminent a Minister and never since contradicted we take it for granted that none have any thing to say against it And we are thankful to him for furnishing us with a Doctrine so fully laid down to bear off the Institutions Traditions and Impositions that men would lay upon us But it is high time now to consider the Questions which the Reverend Author propounds and the Answer he gives to each of them In which attempt we shall offer no other Apology for our brevity save that our Author himself ãâ¦ã ight have been as brief and yet full as clear and ãâ¦ã ivâ Gospel Order Revived c. THe two first Questions might have been wholy spared yet may serve as a good Introduction to others of aââ ill aspect Quest 1. Whether particular Churches ought to consist of Saints and true Believers in Christ It is granted that the matter of a particular Church for the Question is not stated with reference to the Catholick is visible Saints And tho' the Answer is not given in the words yet we would charitably hope his sense is the same with the united Ministers in London That none shall be admitted as members in order to Communion in all the special Ordinances of the Gospel but such as are knowing and sound in the fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion without scandal in their Lives and to a judgment regulated by the word of God are Persons of visible Godliness and honesty credibly professing cordial subjection to Jesus Christ Had our Reverend Author only said thus much and indeed more is needless he had saved us the labour of any Reflections on this part of his Essay But there is one passage in p. 15 which we cannot but except against A Scripture saith he which has respect in the times of the Gospel severely rebukes those Ministers which shall bring men that are uncircumcised in bearâ unregenerate persons into the sanctuary into the Church of God to eat the Bread and drink the Blood which ãâ¦ã y that are there partake oâ Ezek. 44. 7 9. A hard saying and wâo can âear it The Text is here mangled and the principal things left out What God has joyned our Reverend Author has seperated to drive on his design The Text saith Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh but here we have it only uncircumcise in heaât interpreted unregenerate persons What a rebuke is this to the best of Ministers because forsooth they are not heart searchers and dare not invade the prerogative of God Did the Reverend Author or the Church with him never admit any un ãâ¦ã âerate Person to communion with them He will not dare to pretend to it and therefore the rebuke is to himself We know our Lord Jesus Christ admitted Judas uncircumcised in heart an unregenerate Person to holy things and in the purest Ages of the Church there were Hypocrites crept in many of whom turned Apostates Nay our Author is so sensible of this that p. 19. he quotes the opinion of the Reverend M. Coâton That its better to admit diverse Hypocrites than to keep out one sincere Child of God It is obvious then that Hypocrites may be admitted and yet the Minister incur neither the rebukes of Conscience or of this Scripture nay he may be approved of God as doing his Duty though Hypocrisie may too well consist with sufficient Knowledge found belief a blameless Life a credible Profession c. To conclude It s very observeable the Reverend Author closes this first Enquiry by saying That the Churches here are free to admit those into their communion who are thus qualified We marvel then his Zeal is not stirred to rebuke them afresh But what will the Reader think if we should make an Apology after all for the Reverend Author and assure him he means no more than that Ministers ought not to admit known Infidels or Prophane for for his part he pretends not to know mens hearts We only can intreat the Reader not to rebuke the Author too severely for his inconsistency for he may mean well and all parties are agreed Unless he should imagine himself attacqued by the Reverend Author of the Doctrine of instituted Churches Q 2. Whether there ought not to be a Tryal of Persons concerning their qualifications and fitness for Church communion before they are admitted thereunto We shall not here examine the force of the Authors arguments whether they unresistably conclude or not and whether the consequence is good from the tryal of the Apostles the Porters at the Temple or the 12 Angels at the Gates of the Mystical Jerusalem to the tryal of Church Members It suffices that the Reverend Author has modestly stated this Truth and cited us to a merciful Bar the judgment seat of a rational Charity where the Judge avoids severity and the tryal is managed with abundant tenderness the bruised Reed is not broken nor the smoaking flax quenched the tender Lambs find the kind Shepherds Arms to fold them and a gentle carriage in his bosom This is indeed the part of the good shepherd and we could now gladly commit our selves to the Reverend Authors Pastoral care So many good words remove all jealousie of a rigid Tryal But alas the Clouds return upon us and a black doubt is started as follows Q 3 Whether are not the Brethren and not the Elders of the Church only to judge concerning the qualifications and fitness of those who art admitted into their Communion The Reverend Author allows there may be a difference of apprehension as to this point and yet no breach of Union We think so too and therefore as we continue to honour the Person though we expose his opinion so we âoââ the negative will not deleâve the popular cry Oh Apostacy Apostacy The difference as the Reverend Author tells us is between the Brethren of the Presbyterian and the Congregational way the former giving this power only to the Eldership the latter joyning the fraternity with them He takes up for the latter but whether he proves it the world may see when we have considered his
Arguments In the fore-going Chapter when he would prove there ought to be a tryal of Persons he tells us of the Porters that were set ut the gates of the Temple 2 Chron. 23. 19 but those Porters were Officers 1 Coron â6 1. so he Instances in the Twelve Angels at the Gates of the Mystic ãâ¦ã Jerusalem which tho' it may imply that the Gââes were kept yet not that the fraternity were the keepers He instances also in Phillip and John the Baptist which if it argues any thing is applicable only to the Officers and not in the Brother-hood But to examine his strength in this Chapter what he calls argument may more truly be stiled dogmatical affirming or a more mean begging the Question Till pag. 24 25. he quotes a cripture or two in proof of his assertions ââiâ 1 Corinth 5. 12. 2 Cor. 2. 6. in both which places the Apostle is writing to the Church at Corinth about excommunicating the lâcestuouâ Person to hâââân and the restoring him again upon his Repentance And w ãâ¦ã t the Reverend Author to the same holy Apostiâ for an ââswer ãâ¦ã t is that known place 1 Corinth 1â chap. where he compares the Church to a mans Body and shows the distinct offices and operations of the respective Members as the Eye and Ear the Hand and Foot And to render the allusion the more intelligible he names the Officers God had set over his Church as more immediately referred to v. 28. God has set some in his Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and in the close of the 14. chap. he adds Let all things be done decently and in order The result of all is this The Apostle would have every one to keep his proper place and sphere and do his own work soil in the Censure of the faulty Person the Eldership were to do theirs the Brotherhood not to usu ãâ¦ã or arrogate any thing above their Province For as the Apostle queries v. 19 are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers i. e. in a govern'd Body we cannot expect all should be Governors vid. Pool's Annot. There is another Text also produced to prove the power of the Brethren scil Mat. 18. 17. and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church This Text has been often brought on this account and sometimes on other accounts and as often answered yet here brought again but it will not answer the end The Context supposes an Offender and the wronged party proceeding against him and here are three steps the dissatisfied Person is directed to take in order to heal the wound given 1. To tell the Offender his fault in private 2 To tell him before 2 or 3 witnesses and if the end be not obtained 3. To tell it to the Church Suppose now a Person acting according to this Rule as we could give instances if need were when the first step did not gain his Brother nor the second answer the end at last the dissatisfied Person carried the case to the Pastor and now he reckened he had told it to the Church The Pastor sending so the Offendor presently convinced him brought him to Repentance and to give satisfaction and the thing was issued Here the Rule was attended the Church told the offendor healed the wronged Person satisfied and the matter issued when the Brotherhood all this while knew nothing of it It is evident from the next verse that by the Church must be meant those who had Power to bind and loose which Power Christ had given to the Apostles Moreover let the sense be that the Offence is to be told to the Rulers first and then by then to the multitude not for the multitude to judge of it but for their warning and example for their prayers for the offendor and their approbacion of the Elders Censure and that they might take care to avoid the familiarity of such an insectious sinner vid. Pools Annot. But if Scripture will not prove the Power of the Brethren possibly some venerable Maxim may do the feat Quod âangie omnes debet ab omnibus approbari But alas this Maxim gives so much to the Sisters as to the Brethren Surely it is no divine Oracle it neither came from Heaven nor is it according to the manners of men upon Earth If a master of a family take in a soâouânor or a servant all are concerned but their vote is not asked If a Captain list a Souldier all the Company is concerned but it is done by his Authority without asking their leave And pray carry this mâxâm to the Colledge and see if the President and fellows will stand by it in their admissions If it be objected that even in all these cases if there be any sufficient reasons presented by those concerned a prudent Ruler will yield to it we easily grant it and therefore it s not unfit that men be proposed to the Congregation if there be any thing to object against their lives c. Another argument for the Brethrens Power in admission is lest the whole Power should sometimes reside in the hands of a single Minister and that this is unreasonable we have a Speech quoted from the Presbiterian Ministers in London But it is strangely perverted from their true meanning as appears not only from the whole series and scope of the Book but also from what is expressed in the page quoted p. 71. where they say That the Power cannot be placed in the whole Church collectively taken The Scripture makes an exact distinction between Rulers and ruled They only plead that there should be more Rulers in a Church then one or that when there are more then the Power belongs to the whole meaning the ruling Elders as well as the Teaching And what is that to the Power of the Brethren One officer has Power in plain cases to act in the Kings name Indeed our Saviour did frequently send forth his Disciples two and two But yet Phillip was sent alone to baptize the Ethiopian Eunuc ãâ¦ã It will not excuse a Minister in the neglect of Christs work because he has no fellow labourers with him But the strongest argument comes last The way to keep Popery our of the World saith our Author is for the fraternity to assert and maintain that Power which does of right belong to them In answer to which we need only blot out the word fraternity and in its room write the word Elaârship An excellent argument that will equally prove either way and by the change of a word serve also to answer Doctor Owens long Speech which ends that Chapter In short all Power is firstly in Christs âaâds and our Reverend Author produces no commission or order from Christ for the ârethren ââ ma ãâ¦ã ge the affairs oâ his House in his name for he has appointed Officers of his own to that end Q. 4. Whether is it necessary tâat Persons at their admission into the Church should make a publick
no Wife is a Husband This is worn thred-bare and answered long ago by the Assembly at London and others and sometimes by the Author himself A Minister may be considered under a double Notion as a Minister of C ãâ¦ã t or of this or that particular Church In this latter sence they are Relate Correlate and no otherwise Hence if he leaves them he ceases to be their Minister and they cease to be his Flock but still he may be a Minister of Christ and they a Church of Christ And thus in that little Book that is enâitâled The judgment of several Divines of the Congregational way concerning a Pastors Power occasionally to exeât Ministerial acts in another Church besides that which is his particular Flock the Reverend Author expresses himself after this manner pag. 1. The Ministerial Power which a Pastor has received from the Lord Jesus Christ ââ not so âoâfined to his particular Flock as that he shall cease to be a Minister when he shall act in the Name of the Lord else where And a little after I am as to this particular fully of the same judgment with the learned Dr. J. Owen in ãâã judicious Treatise concerning a Gospel Church Pag. 100 101 where he has these words Although we have no concerâââus in the sigâent of an indelible Character accompanying sacred Orders yet we do not think the Pastoral Office is such a thing as a man must leave beâând him every time he goes from home for my own part â I did not think my self bâând to preach as a Minister authorized in all places and ââ all occasions when I am called thereunto I think I should never preach more in this World Thus Dr. Owen We see then that our Reverend Author and the famous Dr. Owen plainly hold that though there be a Relation to a particular flock yet a Minister is so auâhroâzed by Jesus Christ that he is capable in his Name to perform Ministerial Acts in other places and upon all occasions And were not our Author sincerely of this Opinion we cannot but think he would highly condemn any Minister that should be absent from his Flock four years together upon any service whatsoever âure if he be no way capable to act as a Minister of Jesus Christ he is all that while but as a stray Bird idly wandering from its Nest Yet at this time our Author would bear the World in hand that a Minister has no power to act as such but to his particular Flock and therefore quotes the words of the Plat-form chap. 9. sect 7. He that is clearly loosed from his Office Relation to that Church whereof he was a Minister cannot be looked on as an Officer nor perform any act of O ãâ¦ã e in any other Church unless he be again called unto Office But a more eminent Assembly of Divines at London have quoted this very Paragraph pag 1â5 and severely but justly answered it as a great âbsârdity and contrary to sound Doctrine The answer to the other part of the Question Whether a Minister should be ordained only in the presence of that Church where he is ââserve â Will result from what has been already laid down The presence of Christ must be supposed when ever a person is seperated to his Ministry but seeing our Lord Commissions none immediately such must be present as have Power to authorize Commission and give the charge in his Name When ever a Call is given received and accepted whether it be by Words Message or letter both Minister and People are conceived as present face to face But the Circumstances of Times Places Persons Distance c. must determine this matter which as they mââ fall out may sometimes render it both prodent regular and necessarâ then its the Voice of Providence for a Min ãâ¦ã to be ordained on one Land and to serve in another Q. 14. Is the Practice of the Churches of New-England in granting Letters of Dismission or Recommendation from one Church to another according to Scripture and the Example of other Churches The Reverend Author refers to many Scriptures to prove the Affirmative but not one of them reaches the Question or proves ââ dismission for this end soil to take a person off from being a Member of one Church to be made a Member of another The Epistles or Letters he refers to are all Apoâtaââcal or Ministerial not the Letters of one Church to another some only excepted which is mentioned as writ by the Brethren but Apolââ on whole behalf they wrote was not a Member of their Church nor do they write to those in Achaia to receive him as a Member but rather as a Minister or as a Christian of eminence and singular goodness Indeed there may be a good use of Letters of Recommendation and especially among strangers and where a Member removes from one Church to another a mutual satisfaction may be laboured after But we cannot but think such Letters frivilous when in the same Town and at two streets distance a Person known over all the Town for an exemplary Conversation prefers anothers Ministry Civility will constrain such persons to acquaint then Ministers of their purposes and the same Christian Civility obliges such a Minister to acquaint the other Pastor if need be to whose Ministry they repair that they have carried themselves well in his Communion and that he hopes they may prove blessings in all other But as for the Brethren We need not go to them to make a second Speech now to ask leave to with-draw and to render an account to every impertinent Talker who thinks the man Married to him and that his bed is broke into or that there 's no just reason for a divorce Moreover some people are forever dissatisfied neither conveniencies of Habitation liking the others Ministry profiting under it or dislike of some Customs and Practices which he would willingly be rid of the light of can satisfy And what must the grieved person do further in this case Why truly he has done his duty and may hear and communicate where God and his own sober Conscience directs him Noâ ought any Minister of Christ to reject his claim to the Lords Table with him To say no more our Reverend Author having in a former Treatise proved that persons baptized are thereby subjects of Discipline We think they all ought to be accountable to the Society where they are there persons being dismissed by the Providence of God whether they have letters of dismission or not Else by their principles an ordained Minister in London formerly of Communion with a Church in Boston being called to Office in a particular Church and having accepted the Pastoral Care thereof must first send over a Pacquet to New-England for a Letter of dismission And don't you think he would be well imployed Qu. 15 Is not the asserting that a Pastor may administer the Sacrament to another Church besides his own particular Church at the aâfire
Advertisement THe Reader is desired to take Notice that the Press in Boston is so much under the aw of the Reverend Author whom we answer and his Friends that we could not obtain of the Printer there to print the following Sheets which is the only true Reason why we have sent the Copy so far for its impression GOSPEL ORDER Revived Being an Answer to a Book lately set forth by the Reverend Mr Increase Mather President of Harvard Colledge c. ENTITULED The Order of the Gospel c. Dedicated to the Churches of Christ in New-England By sundry Ministers of the Gospel in New-England Prov. 18. 17. He that is first in his own Cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh and searcheth him Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them Printed in the Year 1700. ERRATA ADvert l. ult r. it is Printed Ep. Ded. side 3 l. 29. r. ground S. 4 l. 7 r. wills l. 10. r. impose one l. 19. r. Anti-Synodalia S. 5 l. 3. r. voluminous S. 6 l. 6 r. banner S. 7 l. 5. r. sell l. 22 r. inartificial S. 8 l. 13. r. publickly Preached Gosp Ord. p. 9 l. 3 r that when p. 9 l. 16. r. invention p. 10 l. 9. r. notions p. 15 l. 33. r. stumble p. 17 l. 14. r altogether l. 32 that at p. 21 l. 11 r. of their ways p. 22 l. 14. r. Synodical l. 33. r. we leave the Author to be chastized p. 23 l. 10. r. without this p. 28 l. 27. r. Apostolical l. 28. r. one only excepted p. 29 l. 25. r. their persons p. 32 l. ult r. we 'l for once give our p. 34 l. 14 r. his book l. 16. r. were greater p. 37 l. antep r. ferre p. 40 l. 10. r. ââ Exemplary The Epistle Dedicatory To the Churches of Christ in N. England IT can incur no just Censure that we address our selves to the Churches of Christ here in the following Sheets inasmuch as they are but a Reply to a Book lately dedicated unto them Nor does our zeal we hope for Truth the Honour of God the Safety Peace Flourishing of these Churches come short of what our Reverend Author may be inspired with in his performance We make the same glorious Pretence with him to maintain defend the Order of the Gospel altho' we cannot allow what is suggested in the Title page That every Principle so strenuously contended for in that Treatise is either professed or practised by the Churches of Christ in New-England One part at least therefore of his Book the Reverend Author ought to have published in his own Name and not have obtruded it on the Churches here whose Practise never gave grounds to suspect them leavened with so gross thoughts as particularly his Doctrine of the Ordination of Ministers is We will not guess at the Authors secret aim or whom in particular he raises his Batteries against We'd charitably hope he has no private Interest to bribe him in this Affair and we hope for a like favourable and candid Construction of this Reply Indeed the Name prefix't to that faulty Treatise may be presumed with a multitude of prejudiced People to weigh down all the Reasons and Arguments which can possibly be brought for their Conviction And we have no such advantage to boast of yet are happy in this that we are not over-awed by any Name and the Truth we know is greater and more venerable than all things It s well known how liberal some men are of the odious brand of Apostates for every one who cannot digest the late published Orders but without arrogance ãâ¦ã sume as more due the Title of Proficients and doubt not to make it out that our dissent from many of them is so far from a going back from any Gospel Truth or Order that it is rather a making progress and advancing in the Evangelical Discipline It is a groundless Calumny which is suggested That a latitude beyond what our Author contends for is but a betraying the liberties and priviledges which our Lord Jesus Christ has given to his Church or the Brethren of the Church These we profess to prize and stand for and would by no means lose But wherein do they consist not in the Brethrens challenging any part of the Ministerial Work Not in imposing upon others any thing which Christ has not imposed which is but a debarring Christians of the Priviledges they have a right to But they consist as we conceive in such things as these That our Consciences be not imposed on by Men or their Traditions Christ being the alone Lord of the Conscience 1 Cor. 7. 23. That Believers are through Christ freed from the guilt and dominion of Sin from the curse of the Law and from the sting and terror of Death That we have the liberties of Gods House and Ordinances therein communion with God That we may have the benefit of the gifts of his Ministers for edification and such like according to the Apostles Doctrine 1 Cor. 3. 22. Nor is that Objection less frivolous when if we appear less Rigid than others of the Reverend Authors severity we are reflected on as casting dishonour on our Parents their pious design in the first settlement of this Land No we reverence our Ancestors and the Memory of their divine Zeal and Constancy and would derive it as a Truth sacred to our Posterity that it was a religious Interest which carried them through all the amazing Difficulties Discouragements in that Undertaking But yet the particular design or end has been some-what differently conveyed unto us Some have carried it as if the great end were the Conversion of the Heathen and there have been great Complaints by some of late how this has been neglected and contradicted and another course taken up whereby instead of bringing the Heathen into the Church of God many whose Fathers and themselves were once of the visible Church are now strangely left out scarce any face of Religion remaining among them As for this we bewail it and look upon it as a Reproach to the Land and would therefore countenance no such Principles or Practices as have any tendency to such Apostacy Again some have made this the great Design to be freed from the Impositions of Men in the Worship of God wherewith they were sometimes burthened and as they sought freedom for themselves we cannot suppose they design'd to impose upon others In this we are risen up to make good their grounds The Reverend Mr. Willard in his Sermon of the sinfulness of Worshipping God with Mens Institutions p. 27. gives this as the errand of our fore-Fathers into this Wilderness namely to sequester themselves into a quiet corner of the World where they might enjoy Christs unmixt Institutions and leave them uncorrupted to Posterity and the gain-saying or counter working this is as he intimates to cast
Reverend Author that the Scriptures are read in Churches audibly and intelligibly Nor can we guess what Dumb reading should mean unless when men sleep over their Books and in charity to the Author we wish he had been a sleep when this unlucky word droât from his Pen. We are further beholden to the Author for his judgment that the reading of one Chapter with a brief explication wiââ edifie the Congregation more than the bare reading of twenty Chapters But this is only his single Opinion and as it will not weigh against the daily experience of thousands of People who must judge for themselves so neither does it favour of modesty to think any one of his Sermons oâ short Comments can edifie more than the reading of twenty Chapters We would not charge on the Reverend Author all the hard consequences of his own words or we should say that it is audacious so vilely to disparage the Inspirations of God Alas Sir the Scripture wants nothing of ours to make it Perfect We have the Confessions of many who have come to hear the Word read with prejudice that God gives it authority from the lips of the Minister And we know that as all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God so it is in it self profitable without any help or advantage from us for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness âo perfect the Man of God the Minister as well as his People and if it were not so in it self it could not be so by being explained Here let our Confession of Faith speak for us chap. 1. Sect. 7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselues nor alike clear unto all yet those things w ãâ¦ã are necessary to be known believed and observed for Salvation are so clearly propounded opened in some place oâ Scripture or other that not only the learned but the unlearned in a due use of the ordinary means may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them There is one Argument in pagâ 47 48 brought by the Reverend Author against this Dumb Reading but so picious a stuââble so miserable an inconâequence that we are loath to name iâ To issue this Head we are more and more confirmed that the reading Gods Word in the great Congregation is so far from being offensive to God that it is the greatest Reverence and Honour we can do it and the most suitable acknowledgment we can make to him who in mercy has given us his Word and will judge the World by it at the great Day Qu. 7. Is Baptism to be administred to all Children whom any professing Christians shall engage to see educated in the Christian Religion The Reverend Author according to his wonted Bounty aâ first dash concedes to us that he will not oppose the adoptive right We then declare our selves satisfied and crave no more for we do not conceive that any man can engage or undertake for the Education of a Child in the Christian Religion unless he has the Authority of a Parent devolved on him for the government of the Child Nor would any conscientious Minister accept the engagement of one who has no power or ability to perform his Vows So that this engagement necessarily implyes the care and authority of a Father and consequently there is an adoptive Right to Baptism But the Author stumbles at the phrase professed Christians and seems to think that the Question if carried in the Affirmative would conclude for Papists Socinians and the groslest Hereticks as also for the most notorious Prostigates and prophane Persons as if it ever entered into the heart of a Protestant Divine to accept the Engagement of some lewd Debauchce or professed Papist to institute his Child for the Devil or Popery Our complaint here is the same that the Reverend Mr. How once made of his Adversaries That âe gravely falls a combating with his own Man of Straw and so we are to be tortured in Effigie But to pacific him we would inform him what a charitable Man would understand by a professed Christian viâ the sâme that our Catechism does when it instructs us That Baptism is not to be administred to any till they profess their Faith in Christ and obedience to him We leave our Author therefore to fight it out with that Reverend Assembly for truly his Argument is formâdable against them in as much as Papists Socinians Heretick the Prophane c. do all profess their Faith in Christ and Obedience to him Such is the Power of Interest Faction Passion and personal Opposition that it blinds a Man on a suddain to fight with those Truths which he has learned and reverenced from his Infancy Qu. 8. Is Baptism in a private House where there is no Church Assembly allowable The Question seems to grant there may be a Church Assembly in a private House as we read Rom. 16. 5. Phil. 2. so there may be a publick place and no Assembly We agree with the Reverend Author that Baptism is a part of the publick Ministry nor may it be administred by one who is not called to the publick Ministry neither should it usually and oââinaââly be administred but in a full Congregation and in the most publick manner nor would we drop a word to discourage so pious a Practice Yet let the Congregation be never so great if the Administrator be not a publick Minister commissioned by our Lord Jesus Christ it may be called private Baptism and altogether unallowable and if the number of people be small and the place otherwise private yet if the Administrator be a publick Officer and Minister of Christ the Baptism may in a sense be called Publick and in some cases as that of dangerous sickness not only allowable but necessary and a duty When a Justice of the Peace acts in his Office though but few are present yet they are acts of publick Authority as truly as those done in higher Courts and with greater solemnity Altho among us where Churches are orderly settled there is little occasion either for private preaching or Baptism it being certain the more publick both are the more God and his Ordinances are honoured thâ general profit of his people consulted But yet as was hinted before there are some cases of necessity wherein it s ones duty to seek a more private Baptism the providence of God not permitting a more publick attendance and no Minister ought to refuse their desire As for instance in apparent danger of death it would be cruelty to deny such a request if privacy be the only Objection We need not suggest that all what we call private Baptism there may be a competent number of people present the neighbourhood being called in and notice given to some of the Brethren of the Church We observe a good Medium herein between the two dangerous extreams We avoid all unnecessary common Baptizing in private for which our Brethren in England are so very faulty and we would
correct our own defects here at home in refusing to Baptise in private be the extremity never so great or life never so âazardous Not that we are at all tiâged with the error of St. Austin namely a peâswasion of the absolute necessity of Baptism to Salvation âut we âââeem iâ the most publick owning of God which the state of the person admits of or the providence of God aâ present allows and ãâ¦ã good to âe found in the way of blessing and we may expect that ãâ¦ã his own Institâtions ãâ¦ã the lawfulness of private Baptism in cases of necessity abundantly appears from that One instance of the Goaler Acts 15. 33. To âââch our Author answers St. Paul was an extraordinary Officer But by his leave that is nothing to the purpose for the ordinary Ministers of the Gospel succeed the Apostles in those thing in taâe of an ordinary and standing nature in the Church as baptism iâ ândeed his other reason is good that it was difficult if noâ impossible to get a Congregation of Christians and therefore necessity was put upon the Apostle to Baptize the Goaler and family in private which plainly holds forth thus much that in like cases of necessity as in times of persecution danger of Death c. the same practice is allowable and a duty wherein we have the promise of Christs gracious Presence with us as well as when it iâ administred in a larger Congregation Mat. 18. 20. For where two oâ thââe are gathered together in any Name there aâ I in the midst of them Q. 9 Oâght all that contribute towards the maintenance to have the privileage of voting in the Election of a Pastor The Reverand Author in the very first line of his answer to this question târâsts in a most ââkind inâânuation and not altogether free from Calumny as if the affirmative could not be maintained but the change of Simony must be incurred We therefore once for al profess that we abhor as much as he pretend to do the thought that Money should purchase us Church priviledges but this is so wide a Ramble that it is not worth while to say more to it All the Authors arguments under this head infer only that it is the Churches priviledge to chuse their own Minister And ââder his 4th argument he tells us that nothing is more evident then that in the first Ages of the Church Pastors were chosen by all and only their flocks Which we verily believe noâ could he have expressed the truth in more apt words For long since he has caught us I âas adult baptized Persons are of the Church and ãâã proved it in his Treatise annixed to the first Principles of New England under which denomination they claim the priviledge of voting in the election of a Minister Indeed there is one argument at first blush seems pretty plausible p. 68. for them who have no rigââ to the Lordâ Supper themselves âo apâonât âââ shall be the Dispencer oâ that Ordinance to others is âigâly irrational We Answer The administration of the Lords Supper is but one part of a Ministers work and but a little part compared with all the rest Let us turn the argument then and say For some few to appoint who shall be the Preacher to the whole Congregation is as highly irrational Suppose we what is frequent in this Country thirty or forty Communicants and it may be two hundred to be admitted in convenient time is it not every whiâ as absurd that not one of these who are to be examined prepared and admitted to this holy Ordinance shall have liberty to chuse the Person who shall do this Work for tâem but the Person must be altogether chose by others whââ he has not this Work to do for A hopeful argument that will help both sides The Reverend Author calls it A priviledge purchased for the Communicants Only by the Blood of Christ but he gives no proof aâ all of any such Appropriation and leaves ââ yet in the firm belief that the Priviledge is purchased for the whole Flock who had need stand for their own We might here borrow of the Author the Maxim he gave us in another case Quod tangit omnes ââbât aâ oâââbâs app ãâ¦ã arâ It was exploded in the other case but if he will give uâ leave to put in Aequaliter Quod tangit omneâ aequaliter c. then ât would suit the casâ and afford him some conviction The Reverend Author also gives us another Maxim in pag. 87. with this Elogium That it has its foundation in Nature and Reason though we are sure it makes strongly against him here namely That which Pertains to all is not valid if some of all sorts have not a consent in it for some places have no Communicants and there all grant this Right and Priviledge belongs to the whole if afterwards they come to have some Communicants by what Rule or Reason do they take away that Priviledge which belonged to others before In short let our Author find one Text that limits or confines it to the Communicants alone and then deprive the Majority But since Scripture fails him he has another Refuge viz. the Authority of the Synod and the Law of the Land The last of these we think excepts Boston and of both we need only say that as they were done by men so they may be altered and undone by the same men when they please It is also hinted That this may prove fatal to the Churches But there is no danger Truth does no harm and we rather think it may be retorted on the Author and his Practice There was lately a grievous Complaint made by a principal Man of Swanzy before some Ministers and others That the Law which gives the Power to the Communicants only to call a Minister is like to ruin them and their Posterity forever by excluding them from an able and orthodox Ministry and the Ordinances for the Baptists taking advantage thereby have set up a gifted Brother and spoil the place of the publick Ministry Qu. 10. Is it expedient that Churches should enter into a Consâciation or Agreement that matters of more than ordinary âââortance such as the gathering a new Church the Ordination Deposition or Translation of a Pastor be done with common consent The Reverend Author answers That it is both expedient and necessary though he had answered as well had he said It is altogether needless But leât we be mis-understood in this matter let the Reader carefully observe We do not mean that the Communion or Fellowship or Prayer or Assistance or Duties that the Church or People of God owe to one another are needless But for particular Churches that are parts and result from the Catholick and are united to the Head and in Covenant with him and bound to perform all Duties both to the Head to all the Members respectively for such to talk of entering into an agreement on this account seems very idle and
of that other Church a declension from the first principles of New-England and of the Congregational way The Reverend Author Answers No not at all Had the Question been whether this be a deciââsion from the Truââ we had fully joyned with him in the Answer It being true Doctrine that a Minister upon desire may as well Minister to another Church as to âââ own both being Churches of Christ and he a Minister of Christ there being but one Faith one Body one Baptism But had we been of the Authors Principles which he pleads for in this Book we must have answered that ââ is a great Aââstacy and Declension And when the Reverend Author first put out this in the year 1693 some of the old men and women did express themselves after this Rate That it was not thus from the beginning and that he had pull'a such a Pin out of the good ole âay as would in a little wâile bring the whole abriâk to the ground Noâ was this complaint without reason for if particular Churches are specifically distinââ if Pastor and Flock are Relate âââ Correlate that give being to one another as Husband and Wife if the âssence of a Ministers Call lie in a muâââl Election between the Church and him then we can by no means allow the Authors assertion That a Pastor may administer c Tââ in vain to plead I were may be at well commuââââ of Officers as of Members for these Principles will not allow so much as a Member of one Church to communicate in another Hence the acââe Mr. Hooker ââ the Author ãâ¦ã iles him could never get over that difficulty but looks upon it as unwarrantable or private Members to communicate in another Church Neither can Dr. Oven or Dr. Goodwin whom he ãâ¦ã pillars among the Congregational though they twist and squeze and strain hard maintain this ãâ¦ã on these Principles noâ satisfy a âational mind about it Tho' they plead they are transient Members for that time yet this no more excuses it than if an Aâultâââs âo hi ãâ¦ã âââ shame and folly should excuse it by saying She made the Man her Husband for that turn and act For if we run it to the narrow the Administrator must deliver the Sacrament as an Officer or not there is no Medium If as an Officer then he his Power from Christ as such to administer the Sacrament where he iâ occasionally called And then down go the Authors Principles at once of the Churches being specifically distinct of the Essence of the Ministerial Call lying in the mutual Election of Minister and People of Pastor and Flock being Relate and Correlate so as to give being to each other as such or else on the other hand it must be said That a Minister when he administers to another Flock acts not as an Officer but as a private Man and this lays all in common and destroys the Ministerial Power at once And to attempt to reconcile it with our New-England Platform will be but as Mr. Hooker has the expression to make the Plat-form to speak Daggers and Contradictions Neither can it be pretended that the generality of the Ministers in New-England were of that mind in the beginning In the Answer of the Elders of several Churches in N. England unto the Nine Positions it is said Position 8. If you mean by a Ministerial Act such an act of Authority and Power in dispensing Gods Ordinances as a Minister does perform to the Church whereunto ââ is called to be a Minister then we aâny that he can perform any Ministerial Act to any other Church but his own because his Office extends no farther tâaâ his Call And now we appeal to the Reader if the Reverend Author must not either Renounce these his darling Principles or own himself guilty of that Declension from the first Principles of New-England which in another he would call Apostacy And indeed we know well enough that a few years ago no young man could have escaped that odious Brand that durst have printed such a Principle But all is well that we do our selves and every other Congregational Tenet had been laudably rejected had some men the doing of it Let another presume he is a Backââiâer an Aposâaââ âââuâ âaâb Contemptuous and Despisââ of his Fathers The same thing to aâude to the Authors words pag. 71. in one man is a modest inoffensive Dissent in another a daring Contradiction to Synods Qu. 16. Is it a Duty for Christians in their Prayers to make use of the words of that which is commonly called the Lords Prayer Though the Authors answer hereto be very large yet we shall say very little to it or against it He yeilds and allows it may be lawfully used as well as other Prayers and Passages in Scripture in our Addresses to Heaven That it has been used in antient Times he does not deny and we know that it is most frequently used by the most famous Divines in these days And he gives us an instance of Mr. Jeâ Burroughs which we thank him for having never heard it before That it has been abused to Superstition and the Tryal of Witch-craft we also know but the abuse of a thing does not take away the proper lawful Use of it nor is it fit so far to gratifie those that made it a Charm as âoââhât reason to ââârain to use it But verily the Author would have us more superstitious that we are willing to be for he quarrels ââ the varying but of one word or clause in this excellent form of Prayer If instead of Debts or Sinâ we say Trespasses it is a fearful Crime For why says the Author It smells rank of the Liâââgy its leâân'd âââ of the Common-Prayer Book He might have said rather That we learn first to read ââ so in our Horn-Books and are mis-taught from our infancy But truly we account this difference of Translation a petty thing And if instead of Hallowed the Author would say sanctified and instead of daily Bread he would chuse to say convenient Food we should not full foul on him No says the Author pag. 123. why then you give up the Cause In truth then the Author has no adversary in the world where the Lords Prayer is used in any Language beside the Greek for who bindâ himself to a Translation as to an Original but the Author's meaning is apparent he would insinuate into the heedless Reader That whoever useth the Lords Prayer ought not to vary one word from the words Christ gave it in and truly then they must like Barbarians to the People tone it in the Original Greek We would offer here one Query more Does the Author mean in stating this Question to enquire whether it be an indispensible Duty to use the words of the Lords Prayer in all our Addresses to God so that as often as we bow our Knees in Prayer we should think it necessary to repeat this Form Here again he would have no
think themselves âantered As to his Query Whether the embodying into a Church state be not a mighty matter We must needs profess we want some better account what that is before we can so esteem it We read nothing in Scripture of gathering a Church or embodying it into a Church state unless it refers to the converting and baptizing of Heathen and then administring the Ordinances of the Gospel in a stated way to competent Numbers whose convenience will permit them to meet constantly at one and the same place of Worship All further Solemnity in this matter is ex abundantâ and therefore the matter seems not so very weighty VVE now humbly take leave of the Author and his Book wishing there had been no occasion for these Reflections and accounting it a sufficient Apology that we have been contending for what we apprehend to be the Truth and it became the more necessary to vindicate it lest it should suffer more by the Reverend Author's Name and Authority than by ãâã arguments So far is the Presidency of the Colledge from being a Protection that it is the lo ãâ¦ã est argument in on ãâã for a zealous us Conâuââtion Not can the Reverend Author much resent this our search after Truth if he remembers the liberty that the humble and hoây Mr. Baxter once Pray'd him to take in ãâã and reâuting any Errors he should find in his Books or should the Author ãâã angry it would but cause us to suspect what a bundance of people have ãâã obstinately believed that the contest for his part is more for Lordship and Dominion than for Truth 'T is possible some good people may blame us for carrying on the Cââtââtion wherein as one saith though there be but little Truth gain'd yet a great deal of Charity may be ãâã We hope the best as to both these but however it happens we are willing to promise the Reader that scarce any thing shall provoke us further to concern our selves in these disputes no not so much as to make any Return should a Thousand pretended Answers be published for we love not to be contentions b ãâ¦ã s the Reverend Author is wont to say in like cases it suffices that ãâã have born our Testimony And here we must do justice also to those who have first openly asserted and practised those Truths among us They deserve well of the Churches of Christ and though at present decryed as Apostates and backâââders the generations to come will bless them So a score of years or more pâst the Enlargement of Baptism was cryed out upon as a woful declension but the present generation feels the happy effects of it and rising up at the Reformers names do call them blessed To concluds all it is the Answerers sincere desire and design if it be possible and as far as in them is to live peaceably with all men ãâ¦ã is then prayer that God would grant peace and Truth in our dayes rebuke the evil Spirit of pride uncharitableness co ãâ¦ã on and contempt of others and pour forth on us all his Spirit of Grace and Love And now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen Postscript IT is strange that our Review should be assaulted before it can be P ãâ¦ã Yet so it happens in a late Pam ãâ¦ã en ãâ¦ã A âoât Answer to the Do ãâ¦ã o instituted Churches Let them can it soft who have loââ their feeling For thâ ' t is confessed there are no very âârd Arguments yet Jealousie Censures Contempts there are which greate hard enough In pag. 12. the Reverend Authors seem jealous of some Injurious Treatment in this our Review whereas their soft Treatise is in ãâ¦ã us not to us only but to whole Synods and Nations of Presbyterians They dare to say that their Gospel Order which is here answered is vindicated in every point from the Concessions of the Reforming Presbyterians beyond Sea and that not only from particular Authors of great fame among them but W ãâ¦ã le Synods Whole Nations of them O injury to Truth and Modesty Tell us Sirs we beseech you what Synods what Nations of Presbyterians do oppose reading Gods Word in publick Worship âoâ the using the Lords Prayer that excellent perfect and most comprehensive Foâm That limit the Right of chusing a Minister to a particular Church Covenant That say the âssence of the Ministerial Caâ coâfistâ not in the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery or that the Brethren may lay on hands or that there shou'd be no Ordination but to a particular Church You reasonably add Optimus ille qui âurre novit injurias plarimââ Though the best men in the world ãâã hard bear all this Could ãâã Authors perswade us to believe this we would obey him and name our selvââ no more Presbyterians We appeal in our Authors words pag. 16. To all the Presbyterians in the World say O ye Men of God and of Order What Reparation can our Authors make you for this Wrong in making your Name the Vmbrage of these their Errors We are moreover oblig'd to the Reverend Authors for their Ci ãâ¦ã ies pag 7 ' ãâã a gââding unstudyed unstable Generation full of ââvity bleating and loâiâg Anâiâaââ Raw âoutâ pag. 15. They me ãâ¦ã foââoâth this contempt for calling themselves Presbyterians but even let the Calf be known by its bleating Too late that ãâã came to mind pag. 50. Being reviled we bless being defamed we entreat In pag. 14. the Authors complain That we pay not due Deference to the Classis of the Pastors in the Vicinity and yet they assume not any Power of a Classis any further than to forbid us to be Presbyterians We highly approve of many particulars in pag. 17. That the Proponant for the Lords âable be examined of his Baptismal Vow his sense of spiritual Wants Sinfulness and Wretchedness his Hope Faith Experiences Resolutions through the Grace of God But then come two words Covenant and Brethren in Capital Letters as a Lyon Rampant insulting a couching Classis a bleeding Presbytery But if we look over the Answer to the last Question in The young Mans claim to the Sacrament whereto these words in our Author do refer we shall find that the Proponant promises nothing more than to be subject to the censures administred unto him by the Poster of the Church and its Officers So Sirs the Brethren are dropt wittingly no doubt by the quick-sighted Author And indeed for the Brethren to be named in the Question and neglected in the Answer is a fair Negative on them The Proponant promises no subjection to them and the Reverend Authors sagacity is wonderful in that Answer for the Question takes the
Congregational Brother the Answer satisfies a Presbyterian It seems also that the Adversaries of this Gospel Order multiply a pace for in pag. 22. They are meerly a few gentlemen at Boston and New-York But by that time you come to pag 30. our Brethren of Connecticut exceed all the rest of New-England in proclaiming their Indisposition to it And by the following Exclamation O Timââ and Manners ât seems that Cicero must be called from the Grave to iââââgh against these Raw-Yoâââs thâse licentious Caâalâes We can't pass over pag. 61. without a Remark The Apostacy of our Young Men say our Authors is great before the Lord. The Apostacy it seem respects the Examination and Qualifications of Commââââânts at the Lords Table which is suggested to be in dâââying the Necessity of mens coming to the holy Table with Repentance Fait and Love God forbid we should so accuse or not vindicate our Brethren This is to aâledg a Crime abhorred by the Generation ãâã Well but they zealously disperse unhappy Pamphlets If the Doctrine of Instituted Churches ââ referred to that is but one and what other the Reverend Authors mean we cannot guess and that Trâatiââ in most parts is a Mine of Gold and a rich Treasury of right Thoughts The next Surmize is a meer Defamation That Goâge Roberts Dolittles Books must be hââs'd back to Europe again A preâââ device to praise the Gentlemen beyond Sea and at the same time condemn those here that conform to their constant Practice Had the Attestation in pag 63 been only to recommend the following Treatise of the excellent Mr. Quick's to our perusal and Practice no Minister in New England that câââs himself a Presbyterian but would chearfully subscribe it but we believe few would confederate in its Reflections on the Reverend Mr. Sââddard or favour that worse Report That under the Vmbrage of the Name of Presbyterians some would bring in Innovations ruinous to our Churches and contrary to the Doctrine and Spirit of Mr. Quick'â Book And to add one Guess hâre It s twenty to one if any one of the Attestators knew what a soft Answer was to be prefixed to their Attestation For this would not be the first time that men have subscribed a Paper which had they known would have been placed to such advantage as to the less discerning Râadââ to seem an Attestation to the whole Book they would have refused their Names with Indignation What remains is to Recommend that Treatise The Young Man's Claim to the Sacrament to the serious and diligent perusal of our Youth A Performance for its kind very perfect and highly profitable But the Reverend Author and his Treatise are both abused in this impression Mr. Quick is here betrayed in a specious show of Reverence and Friendship while his Name is used to Combate those very men and their Principles which he most values and honours And were Mr. Quick here among us and should continue what is his stated Practice in the Worship of God he would be decryed among the Presbyterian Formalists in pag 9. as much as he is now magnified for a Reformer For our parts we do sincerely believe him to be our Exemplary Reformer and wiâh our Reverend Authors would credit their Character of him and follow his Example for he is conscientious to have the Scriptures reed âvery Sabbath in the publick Worship of God together with ãâã Ten Commandments and he as often uses the Lords Prayer Nay ãâ¦ã few years since this Reverend and holy Person took leave of a reverend Minister returning to us in words to this effect Sir ãâã our Reverend Brethren in New-England that they must come over to the Presbyteriââ Government if they would perserve their Churches And would it not now provoke a just Indignation to see People so deluded and a Gentlemans Name so dear and venerable as it is with us advanced against his own Principles And will it not turn unto us for a Testimony to use the Authors words pag 5ââ not only that we have endeavoured to vindicate the Truth but also to do ãâã Quick justice FINIS