Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in…

In the Name of the Churches who have done me the Honour, to employ me in expressing their Sentiments on the present Occasion, I now declare, That we have an abundant Satisfaction ⟨p. 35⟩in the Choice which this Church has made of the Pastor whom we have now seen ordained; And that we shall be ready to Assist and Strengthen this Holy Flock of the Lord, and this their Shepherd, unto the best of our Capacity, on all Occasions. I declare that we Accept the Person thus ordained, as one regularly brought into the Pastoral Character; one that has the Legitimate Vocation and Investiture of a Minister of the Gospel. And since the Scriptures of the New-Testament, have so evidently asserted, the Validity of an Ordination by the Hands of the Presbytery, and informed us of no Order in the Church superior to it; since the Catalogus Testium Veritatis, as I may call it, or the Testimony of the Faithful in all Ages, has afforded such a Cloud of Witnesses unto the Truth of this Assertion; and since I cannot understand, that there are any Churches in the whole Continent of Europe, I say, I know not of any Protestant and Reformed Churches in all the Continent of Europe, which do not subsist upon an Ordination, from an Order not superior unto that of our Pastors; I know not why we should be so Unwise, not to say, profane, as to confess the least shadow of a Reason, Why the Validity of our Ordination should be questioned. But then, I am to declare what we Desire for, and what we Expect from the Person, whose Ordination to the Evangelical Ministry has been thus far proceeded in. Sir, 'Tis our Hope, that you will in the Discharge of your Ministry, study to Approve yourself a Workman that need not be ashamed; Be ⟨p. 36⟩an hard Student at home, and a good Steward abroad; that you will have such a Delight in your Work, as an excellent Person once unjustly silenced from his Work, had for his, when he could say, No King ever swayed a Royal Sceptre with such Pleasure, as I have in Preaching the Gospel of my Glorious Lord: But then, That you will carry on your Work in such a Holy, Devout, Experimental Manner, as has been observed of several famous Ministers of whom 'tis recorded, That they never durst Preach any Sermon unto others, until they had first sensibly got some good by it themselves. May you, Sir, particularly receive your Burdens (as the Camels do) upon your Knees;

In the Name of the Churches who have done me the Honour, to employ me in expressing their Sentiments on the present Occasion, I now declare, That we have an abundant Satisfaction