says To tolerate unruly and vain Talkers and Deceivers who vent their idle fancies to corrupt and withdraw others from the simplicity of the Truth be an Indication of more cruelty than to Tollerate so many Thieves and Murtherers upon publick Roades and Highways This Answerer is by no means to be tollerated having manifested himself so unruly and vain a Talker and Deceiver as he hath done Query XXVII Whether can any think That they who Persecute Christ in his Members despoiling them of their goods and Imprisoning their Persons and that too for their faithful adhering to the plain and undoubted commands of their Heavenly Soveraign will speed better at the great day of account than those whom Christ himself hath told us shall be then rejected but for not visiting and relieving his poor Members when in want in sickness or any other Adversity Reply to the Answer to this Query INstead of Answering this Query 'T is very judiciously objected It hath many things questionable in it And with as great Judgement and to as little purpose he likewise tell us That none are true Members of Christ besides those that are Vnited to his Church for that Christ is the Head and his Church his Body and as he also judiciously observes no one can be a Member belonging to the Head unless he be some way or other Vnited to the Body But sure our Answerer is the first pretended Christian that ever questioned the soundness of Christs Body the Holy Catholick Church or that a Christians joyning to it might endanger his internal Vnion to Christ who is Hâ—â—d And wherefore doth he here tell us what the Query neither denies nor questions That the Church of England is a sound part of the Catholick Church unless to manifest his Dialectick Art in proving That whoever in any thing withdraw themselves from any part of Christs Body cut themselves off from Christ the Head and therefore they who withdraw Communion from the Church of England though but in the least minute Circumstances or Ceremonies belong not unto Christ. So that it seems with this Learned and Judicious Answerer out of the Ceremonial Pale of the Church of England there is no Salvation and if any are punisht for so cuting themselves off from Christ the Head their punishment is no persecution Quod erat demonstrandum Great wits according to the Proverb have short memories he could not else have so soon forgotten which he but now reprov'd the Independants for viz. Their evaâ—uating one main Article of the Christian Creed Faith in one Catholick Church For that as he said They restrained it to themselves whereas he so restrains it to the Church of England as that he allows of none withdrawing themselves from her Communion to belong unto Christ the one main Article therefore of his Christian Creed Faith in one Catholick Church is it seems Faith in the Church of England or rather Faith in whatever Church is uppermost And though out of her there is no Salvation yet for Arguments sake he will suppose That those who separate from her Communion even in her very Ceremonies are notwithstanding such their separation real Members of Christs mystical body yet none of them he says are persecuted for their faithful adhering unto Christ or the undoubted and plain commands of their Heavenly Soveraign nor does the Query say they are But supposing as he supposeth That any should be punisht for assembling together to Pray or partake of the Ordinances of the Gospel which Christ hath Instituted and requires the observation of would not such be persecuted for their faithful adhering unto Christ and to the plain and undoubted commands of their Heavenly Soveraign But says our Answerer Let the Gentleman produce one Person that ever suffer'd for performing any essential duty of Christian Religion We know not what he may esteem an essential duty of Christian Religion who is one with him who declares the outward worship of God to be no part of Religion But if he will allow Praying Preaching and Administring the Sacraments to be essential duties of the Christian Religion as by all good Christians they have hitherto been esteemed He need not go beyond his own Parish to meet with those who have suffer'd and deeply suffer'd even by his Instigation for the performance of those duties But he tells us 'T is not for the performance of those duties but for the disorderly and Irregular way of performing them that they are punisht Very good By what Rule then does he judge the way of their performance Disorderly and Irregular all order consisting in the due observation of some Rule Now if he will tell us of any Rule they therein transgress which he will abide by he hath said something to the purpose He tells us indeed They are punisht for not doing them in that due manner as is enjoyn'd them by their Superiours yet does not say The injunction of Superiours is the Rule whereby they are to be perform'd Nay he says If the Governours of the Church did command a worship that were Idolatrous or superstitious or did appoint vain foolish and ridiculous Ceremonies they were not therein to be complyed with So that the Injunctions or Commands of Superiours are not by his own confession this Rule But he tells us They are punisht for being disorderly in their Stations and Callings and for being disobedient to Government and Laws If by being disorderly in their Stations and Callings he means as he elsewhere says Their Vsurping the Office of Bishops as well as of the Inferiour Clergy He hath thereon already had the Judgement of as Learned and Judicious a Divine as most the Church of England can boast of And for their being disobedient though he hath advised us to resign up our selves unto the Fathers of the Church He hath not yet told us they are to be obeyed in whatever they shall or may command us So that neither can the commands of Governours nor Laws of Superiours be this Rule nor indeed ought else but the will of God revealed in his word To the Law and to the Testimony was the old Rule and the Divine Institution is still the only Rule to judge of the Orderly and Disorderly performance of all Religious duties â— by and if the manner of their performance be not according unto this Rule it is indeed Disorderly and Irregular and suffering upon that account may be esteemed a punishment rather then a persecution as may likewise their sufferings who are disobedient to the Laws and Governments of men in all civil and secular matters and concerns and theirs also who censure the Actions of Authority Vsurp the Office of the Ministry endanger the peace of the State and violate the Vnity of the Church Nor are there greater violaters of the Churches Unity than they who impose on Christs Disciples other conditions of Church-fellowship and Communion than Christ or his Apostles ever enjoyned or required And so far I agree with
understand that agreement in those ought to be more effectual to joyn them in one Communion I mean saith he In a common profession of those Articles of Faith wherein all Consent A joynt Worship of God after such a way as all esteem lawful And a Mutual performance of all those works of Charity which Christians owe one to another But whilst every one hath a Confession a Form of Worship a Church and its Authority which must be imposed on all others we may look and with for Peace Moderation and Vnity but are never like to meet with them on these Terms Those whom Experience will not convince of the vanity of endeavouring to bring Christians to Vnity of Communion by Secular Force or Compulsion and of the great Miseries Persecutions and Sufferings such Methods have in all Ages brought upon the Churches and People of God with the little or no advantage that at any time hath thereby accrued to Religion will never be Convinced thereof by the clearest Evidences or Demonstrations of Reason And though it cannot be denyed but that there have been and still are many good and holy men who contend earnestly for Secular Force and Compulsion in Religion yet it must withall be said 't is a preposterous and blind zeal in them to endeavour to promote the Truth of Gospel contrary to the Laws of the Gospel But for the generality of its Advocats nothing is more evident then that it is not for the Interest of Religion but for some Carnal Interest or Secular advantage they receive by it 'T is strange that any not wholly ignorant of the State of Christendom or most Christian States not to speak of the Civil Powers in other parts of the World should think that the Exercise of Secular Force or Compulsion in Religion can be for the Interest of the Truth when the Generality of them are Ignorant of it if not enemies to it But we are told where the Truth is once own'd and profest every Error and Heresy that riseth up against it ought to be Supprest and Extirpated by the Civil Sword Will these men then tell us what Sect or Society not of Christians only but of Jews Turks or Heathens believe not themselves alone possest of the Truth So that this Method of preserving and propagating Religion prevailing as it doth too much through the Power and Influence of the God of this World whose Kingdom of darkness could not otherwise long stand against the light and power of Truth What I say doth or can follow upon it but perhaps the Profession of Truth in one place and the Oppression of it in an hundred Do not they who deny unto such as Dissent from the Religion Establisht here the Exercise of their Religion upon the same ground deny it also to all the Reformed Churches in all Popish Countrys of Europe To talk of Truth and Error here is Ridiculous For as we were but now told If Force in Religion may be justly used in any place by those that have Power and think they have Truth it cannot with reason be denyed but that it may be used in every place by those who have Power as well as they and think they have Truth too as well as they But were the same mind in us thaâ— was in our Lord and Master Christ Jesus the same frame of Spirit that was in his Blessed Apostles we would do to others as we would be done unto and not mete unto any what we would not should be meted unto us again But whilst some men make their Judgments or Opinions the Rule or Standard of Truth and Error forcing others to embrace or renounce that as such which they shall so call or judge whatever it appears to them by the Rule whereby they are commanded to try and prove it what Truth or Peace can from thence be expected or hoped for Well therefore might the Judicious Mr. Chillingworth cry out Let those leave claiming Infallibility that have no Title to it and let those that in their Words disclaim it disclaim it likewise in their them under pretence of Religion nor yet a Liberty for any to Preach or Teach Doctrines Destructive or Prejudicial to the Peace and Quiet of Civil Societies but a Liberty of Worship only under the Magistrates inspection And that such a Liberty is the Natural and Common Right of all Nations and Persons hath been so fully prov'd by many Eminent and Learned men even of the Church of England and particularly by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Jeremy Taylor late Bishop of Downe and Conough in his Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying it would be but Actum agere to say more And it argues great Ignorance or Impudence in those who persist Declaiming against Liberty of Religion without offering at the least answer to what hath been said for it by this and other Learned and Judicious Divines of the Church of England as well as by most of the Ancient and Orthodox Fathers of the Church As for that other Objection against Liberty of Religion that it will cause Disturbance in the State It is not only against Reason but the Experience of all Ages and Places no Instance being to be given that ever Liberty of Religion gave Disturbance to any Civil State But the contrary the denying Christians their just Liberty therein hath been the unhappy occasion of the greatest Troubles Miseries and Desolations that have befallen most of the States and Common-wealths of Christendom But to conclude this Point The Liberty pleaded for is no more in Substance then what by His Majesties late Declaration of Indulgence to Dissenters was Allowed and Approved of by him a much better and Competenter Judge of what is for the Nations Peace and Interest then they who object this Nor was the Parliaments Exception to the Indulgence granted but the manner of granting it which they judg'd might be of ill and dangerous Consequence It is therefore to be hoped they will in due time take it into Consideration and make such provision for the preventing and punishing Seditious Conventicles as wicked and ungodly men may not take occasion from to Molest and Disturb the Assemblies of Peaceable and Pious People for the performance only of the Worship and Service of God in such a way as none can with reason say to be against the Rule and Order of the Gospel much less to be guilty of any Moral Evil or Impiety That the Word of the Lord may have a free Course and his Name be Glorified in the midst of us The Answer to the Answerers Preface IT will I doubt not be equally difficult for this Answerer to shew what Truth he hath Vindicated as what Truth these Queries oppose How far any have been satisfied with his performances is best known unto themselves But how little he hath Complyed with the Gentlemans desire in returning a Candid and Christian Resolution to them is left to the Judgment of every Judicious and Intelligent Reader Had he
guided by such as are fallible but to be guided by such against their own Light and Reason As for a man to follow one who tells him He will guide him the next way from York to London though he leads him still Northward when he knows the way thither to lye Southward But could I believe my guide Infallible I might renounce my own Reason and disbelieve my very senses to follow him which way soever he lead me but till then shall think it absurd in any to force me so to do which is but the genuine import of this Query But our Answerer tells us A man may act infallibly in his station though he be not himself infallible For he he says does so who acts and proceeds by infallible unerring Rule Yet with his good leave he may herein be again mistaken For though the Rule he acts and proceeds by be streight yet if the Agent be not infallible he may through error or inability draw crooked lines by it and so cannot be said to act infallibly And indeed if what he here says were true instead of our infallible Pope he hath set up Thousands of Infallible Priests who pretend to Act and precede by an Infallible unerring Rule the Infallible and unerring word of God But to proceed by what Logick doth he frame an Argument from this Query against punishing an Atheist Does it say as he would have it that none ought to be punisht who are not Infallibly convic't or any thing to that purpose why then doth he entertain his Readers with these impertinences Yet hath Truth so far prevailed on him that he here acknowledges All Doctrines ought to be tryed and examined by their proper measures and standards c. But what he means by his mean between this and for men to be allowed a Liberty to deal with their Religion and the Truths of God as they do with their Cloathes which they put on and off and change as their fancies prompt them or as the weather or fashion alters we are yet to learn For whether are the more likely to change their Religion they who use their Reason in the choice and continuance thereof or they who therein blindly follow the guidance of their Teachers since the first are as fixt and stedfast therein as the nature of man upon the best and surest foundation is capable off while the latter whose Religion depends on the guidance of his Teacher or Leader is liable to change the one as oft as he happens to change the other Yet we do not say as this Answerer would have us That a man ought only to be guided by his own light But we do say and affirm that in the concerns of Eternity a man ought not to be forc't against his own light to be guided by others who are not Infallible and defie him to prove the contrary The instances of this Age which he says are innumerable of those who so soon as they seperate from their Mother Church know not where to abide and fix c. Are the objections of an elder Mother Church against those who forsake and separate from her But such as are United unto that Church which is the Mother of us all will not be to seek where to abide and fix though separated from all the Mother Churches in the World They are not the rational and diligent enquirers into the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion but the blind followers of their perhaps blind guides that commonly take sanctuary in Popery Query XIX Whether at the great day of account it will excuse false worshippers to say They therein followed the guidance of those who pretended to have Authority to Conduct and Govern them in the duties of Religion And whether if the blind lead the blind they will not both fall into the Ditch Reply to the Answer to this Query WE have not from him the least Answer to this Query which is no more then whether false worshippers will at the great day of account be excus'd in following the guidance of those who pretended to have Authority to Conduct and Govern them in the Duties of Religion But instead thereof are told with many unhandsom and undue reflections That by false worshippers are meant either those who serve God according to the Liturgy of the Church of England or some other Assemblies of Christians if the former the Gentleman that propâ—ses it is extreamly uncharitable if the latter the Query is impertinent But why uncharitable or impertinent is it so improbable or unreasonable to think there should be false worshippers in any of those Assemblies of Christians who serve God either with or without the Liturgy of the Church of England If it be not the Gentleman may neither be uncharitable nor the Query impertinent This Answerer therefore must either have so good an opinion of all Dissenters from the Church of England as well as of those who serve God according to her Liturgy as to esteem it impertinent to doubt of the Truth of their worship or to enquire concerning the future state and condition of such of them as may be therein misled or he will approve himself to be the uncharitable person he speaks of against all Ingenuity and Reason to apply what was indefinitely spoken to the Church of England when it is more applicable unto others And I shall be bold to tell him in his own Language It is as great an untruth as ever came from the Father of Lyes to say that this or any of these Queries obtrude that which is false and slanderous upon any or that they were chiefly designed for the unwary Country-man who is not the Person that imposes upon others in things of Divine and Supernatural Revelation or persecutes any on the account of Religion And now though it be still nothing to the present Question he tells us what false-worship is viz. Mens drawing nigh to God with their lips and putting him far away from their hearts And how does this Query charge this upon the Church of England who is neither said nor intended in it to Teach any so to do and yet there are those of her Communion who Teach Preach and Print that mens Practices even in the duties of Religion whether conformable or not to their apprehensions are the Subject of Laws And that where Truth and Authority draw contrary ways we are to follow Truth with our Soulâ— and Authority with our Bodies So that with these men Divisum Imperium cum Jove Caesar habâ—t But I would gladly know of them or of this Answerer whether what is not of Faith be not Sin Or whether it be not false-worship in any to worship God otherwise then they are perswaded he will or ought to be worshipt or whether following the guidance of these or the like though they pretend Authority to Conduct and Govern them in the duties of Religion will at the last day excuse those who shall be thus misled by them and yet we
charge not this on the Church of England nor have we said That they who serve God according to her Liturgy were false-worshippers These are but the uncharitable Inferences and Surmises of a strangely ignorant or immeasurably malitious Person who wanting strength of Reason or Argument to oppose the Truths he likes not thus loads them with Reproach and Calumny And to what purpose does he tell us it being nothing still to this Query That there is no Congregated Independent Congregation in England but the respective Pastor of it assumes to himself more Power and Authority to Govern and Conduct the sworn Members of it in the ways and duties of Religion then the greatest Prelate in our Church does in his Province or Diocess unless to manifest how difficult it is for him to write one true Period there being amongst them no such sworn Members as he mentions and whether of them exercise most Power and Authority to Conduct and Govern their respective Members in the ways and duties of Religion let those concern'd determine But this he says He will not prove from their Practices the thing being apparent from the very Principles of Independency which aim at little else but Tvranny and Pre eminence as appears by the Independant Pastors excluding whom they please from the means of Salvation and making that a condition of their Communion which is impossible I hope he does not mean here that in making the conditions of their Communion impossible they exclude whom they please from the means of Salvation as if there were no Salvation out of their Communion and yet I know not what else he means by it and if that be his meaning they do not yet exclude any from the means of Salvation in making that a condition of their Communion which is impossible for if the condition were impossible the Communion which depended on it would be so too but the contrary is very well known and so in good time will the credit of this Reporter likewise be But as a farther instance of their Tyranny and Praeâ—eminence he tells us They pry into the very secrets of mens Souls Lives and Actions by severe Scrutinies and Examinations If they do it is not by the Oath c. we have heard much talk of But they will not he says admit of any to be Members of their gather'd Churches till they have satisfied the curiosity of their guides That is they will perhaps have no Communion with unbelievers nor Fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness a great Crime and worthy this Answerer's rebuke But is it more then probable as he politickly observes That this and not meanness of Trade impoverishes City and Country or supposing they who having been made partakers of their Spiritual things should according to duty administer unto them in carnal things How should this occasion the Nations poverty What do they receive which they give not again Or which of them hath such plenty as to enable them to hoard up any thing No no we are told by a wiser and more pious Politician That a fruitfull Land is turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein And the Holy Prophet tells us The Land mourns and the Herbs of every field wither not for Peoples meeting together to pray for a blessing upon themselves their Governours and the Land of their Nativity but for the wickedness still of them that dwell therein thus we see how persons differ in Judgement according to the diversity of their spirits and passions But to return to the Query charged in the Rear with blind Leaders and Followers he wishes the Gentleman would not make such sly and unworthy reflections upon the conformable Laity and Clergy of this Kingdom And the Gentleman wishes likewise this Answerer would also forbear applying to particulars what is indefinitely spoken and was not by him intended to one party more than another But 't is a shrew'd sign of some very sore place in the Ass that kicks and winches upon every approach before he is touch't Query XX. Whether it be not most unreasonable in the concerns of Eternity to tie men by Temporal penalties to fallible guides whom to follow may be their Eternal to forsake their Temporal Ruine Reply to the Answer to this Query HE hath nothing it seems to say against it and therefore very advisedly sends his Reader he knows not whither for satisfaction in he knows not what Query XXI Whether the main inlet of all the Distractions Persecutions and Divisions in the Christian World hath not been by adding and requiring other conditions of Church-Fellowship and Communion than Christ or his Apostles did Reply to the Answer to this Query THe enquiry here is only into the original of the Distractions Persecutions and Divisions which have been in the Christian world i. e. among Christians or such as have made profession of Christianity not of the Persecutions raised against them by Heathens and Infidels The Ten Persecutions therefore against the Primitive Christians and the Inroads of the Goths and Vandals into Italy come not within this enquiry But says this Answerer If it be understood in this sense there are very great mistakes in it for that severe proceedings of Christian Emperours against Hereticks and of Hereticks against the Orthodox Christians were not for Innovations brought into the Church as conditions of Christian Communion but for the Truths of Christ c. That 's the Query and wherein â—y the great mistakes in asking it But he may be pardon'd this for so ingeniously professing himself Ignorant of any Distractions Persecutions and Divisions that were ever raised in the Christian World upon the account of adding and requiring new or unheard of conditions of Church Fellowship unless it were the difference between the Western and Eastern Churches about the Observation of Easter So that it seems he is ignorant of the Persecutions and Divisions that were amongst Christians in the Reigns of Constantine Constantius and some following Emperours upon the imposition of differing if not contradictory Creeds For it was not the Doctrine of the Trinity Three Persons and one God as exprest in Scripture that caus'd the breach of Communion and Church-Fellowship between the Arians and the Orthodox Christians but the Orthodox forcing the Arians to subscribe to their newly invented Homoousian as did afterwards the Arians where they prevailed requiring the Orthodox to subscribe to their Homoiousian whereas as a Learned Prelate hath well observ'd had both parties acquiesced in the very Scripture expressions without their own additions they might have lived peacably and quietly together and the Arian Heresie probably have soon expired Error divested of Secular Force and Support not being long able to withstand the â—ower of Truth He is it seems likewise Ignorant of the great Divisions which after arose in the Church about the Procession of the Holy Ghost whereas as the said Learned person likewise observes had they acquiesced also in what the
Rule of Practice as to himself and must direct him with whom to joyn and not to joyn in the performance of all Religious duties nor may he therein do ought against his Light But what means he in saying here They will submit to no Law nor admit of any Discipline but what is erected and Executed by themselves a thing never known for Criminals to make choice of their own Punishment For do they not submit to the Laws of the Land in all civil things and concerns and what Law of the Gospel submit they not to in the duties of Religion but to talk here of Criminals making choice of their own Punishment is very extravagant And lastly they will he says have no publick Acts pass among them without the free consent of all as satisfied in Conscience that what is decreed is Gods will And is it for this he elsewhere so boldly avers There is no Congregated Independent Communion in England but the respective Pastor of it assumes to himself more Power and Authority to Govern and Conduct the sworn Members of it in the ways and duties of Religion then the greatest Prelate in our Church does in his Province or Diocess or is this one of the principles of Independent Tyranny But some are said to have need of good memories and our Answerer seems to be of them Yet he would be thought to have reason for what he here says telling us The thing is impossible in nature for if all are satisfied they are not men there being among all men difference in Judgement How unreasonable then is it to require of any such an Assent or Consent as must render them either Beasts or not men But so it seems it is and must be for he tells us In the enacting of all Laws the lesser part is determin'd by the greater which is true in all civil things and concerns which are in a man's choice and at his own disposal and it is for the publick good and benefit it should be so But 't is otherwise in matters of duty and obedience unto God in which every man ought to be satisfied that what is Decreed is the will of God for that none may follow a multitude to do evil nor in the neglect or omission of the least known duty Whether the Church of Eâ—gland or Dissenters are the Schismaticks I shall nowise take upon me to Determine but leave it as he doth to the Rational Reader to judge and only take leave to say That what his eminent Prelate says proves not Dissenters to be Schismaticks If there be any who as he says account the King and Parliament or Clergy of England Hereticks and Schismaticks for maintaing the Essentials of Christianity and doing what they can to hinder and diswade men from offering the most insufferable affronts to Gods Being and Majesty They ought not certainly to be tolerated much less countenanced in a Christian Commonwealth Query XXIV Whether they who in the exercise of Church Discipline never cease calling on the civil Magistrate to assist them with his Secular Force do not therein give an evident sign and token that all true Ministerial and Spiritual Power is dead in them Reply to the Answer to this Query THâ— Question here is not whether these or those give the greater evidence that all true Ministerial and Spiritual Power is dead in them But whether such practices in any be not an evident sign and token of it And had all Orthodox Bishops in all Ages of the Church relied upon the Spiritual means by 〈◊〉 appointed in the Gospel for the suppressing and â—ooting out of Heresies and 〈◊〉 withâ—ut applying themselves to the 〈…〉 for his assistance therein Christian◠〈…〉 had not suffer'd as it afterward◠〈…〉 Hâ—reticks using the same means for 〈…〉 faith And yet we say not But 〈…〉 and ought to call upon the 〈…〉 do his duty in the Protection 〈…〉 by supporting and 〈…〉 in the due exercises thereof 〈…〉 of wâ—â—ked and unreason◠〈…〉 not faith Neither do we 〈…〉 or extinction of the function of Bishops if they use all due and proper means to accomplish and bring about lawfull and charitable ends nor that any end can be more generous and Christian than to secure People in the performance of their duty to God to man and to themselves But we do say that Secular Force and Compulsion are not the proper and due means to effect all these And whatever sense some may have of Moral Honesty and Justice or of Piety and Religion the Civil Magistrate ought not certainly to permit them to express or declare their scorn or contempt of either I will not say with this Answerer That 't is since men have assumed so great a liberty in Religion as not well understanding what he thereby means but agree with him There is less regard had to those externall Rules of right and wrong Vertue and Vice by some persons who make high pretences to Christianity than hath been observ'd in many Pagan Nations but who those Persons are their Professions and Practices will best declare But he tells us 'T is Presumption and not Faith for the Clergy of England as things are now amongst us to expect Gods miraculous concurrence with them in the management and exercise of their Ministerial Office when there are ordinary means at hand c. What may this Answerer mean here by Gods miraculous concurrence with them His continual presence with the assistance of his holy Spirit he hath promised unto them who observe his commands unto the worlds end as the ordinary means to render their Ministry effectual for the Conversion of sinners and the calling of those who are yet Aliens and Strangers to the Covenant of Grace And our Blessed Saviour when he ascended up on High gave Gifts unto men for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the Body of Christ. But if this Answerer who is of the Clergy be conscious that things are now so amongst them that the presence of God and assistance of his holy Spirit are to be lookt upon as miraculous concurrences with them in the management and exercise of their Ministeririal Office he is to be excused for having recourse unto other means to render his labours so considerable as to make him see some fruits of the Travel of his Soul though possibly it may prove but bitter fruit in the end The Gentleman I can assure him never thought as he intimates That the Peoples forsaking of any Assemblies was a certain Prognostick that the Ministerial Power was quite extinguisht in all that were so forsaken as knowing there are and may be defects and faults on all sides But this the Gentleman thinks That where-ever any People manifest a desire and thirst after knowledge in the things and ways of God as God be thanked very many within these Nations at this dâ—y do and after trial and experience of the Ministerial Power of any do yet