IT is known to those few in the World, who have any knowledge of so obscure & inconsiderable a Person as I am, that in my Judgment I am for the Congregational Church-Discipline, as it is in the New-England Platform declared. Which is no Abatement unto my great Esteem & Honour, for our Brethren of the Presbyterian Persuasion; among whom I know, there have been as Pious and Learned Persons, not only in England & Scotland, but also in Holland, France, Geneva, & Switzerland, & elsewhere, as any whom the World hath known. When the Divine Providence ordered my Residing at London for about Four Years, I did my utmost to promote an UNION between those of the Presbyterian & Congregational Persuasion; and have received Thanks from the most Eminent of them, for those my Endeavours, which thro' the Blessing of GOD, were not without Success. They have been since known by the Name of, United Brethren. But I am far from Approving Morellianism, or Brownism, or Independency, which is disclaimed, not only by our Renowned Hooker, but also in our Platform of Church-Discipline. My declaring for the Decisive Power of Councils, is not upon a Notion lately Espoused by me; my Learned Tutor Mr. Norton, from whom I received Principles of Truth in my Youth, not to be forgotten in Old Age, has Judiciously handled that Question in his Answer to ⟨image ?⟩Apollonius, a Dutch Presbyterian. Dr. Hornbeck, sometimes a famous Professor in Leiden, gives the preference to that Book, unto any that he had seen Written in Defence of the Congregational Discipline.
IT is known to those few in the World, who have any knowledge of so obscure & inconsiderable a Person as I am, that in my Judgment I am for the Congregational Church-Discipline, as it is in the New-England Platform declared. Which is no Abatement unto my great Esteem & Honour, for our Brethren of the Presbyterian Peswasion; among whom I know, there have been as Pious and Learned Persons, not only in England & Scotland, but also in Holland, France, Geneva, & Switzerland, & elsewhere, as any whom the World hath known. When the Divine Providence ordered my Residing at London for about Four Years, I did my utmost to promote an UNION between those of the Presbyterian & Congregational Perswasion; and have received Thanks from the most Eminent of them, for those my Endeavours, which thro' the Blessing of GOD, were not without Success. They have been since known by the Name of, United Brethren. But I am far from Approving Morellianism, or Brownism, or Independency, which is disclaimed, not only by our Renowned Hooker, but also in our Platform of Church-Discipline. My declaring for the Decisive Power of Councils, is not upon a Notion lately Espoused by me; my Learned Tutor Mr. Norton, from whom I received Principles of Truth in my Youth, not to be forgotten in Old Age, has Judiciously handled that Question in his Answer to ⟨image ?⟩Apollonius, a Dutch Presbyterian. Dr. Hornbeck, sometimes a famous Professor in Leyden, gives the preference to that Book, unto any that he had seen Written in Defence of the Congregational Discipline.
