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

The Churches of New-England have not so learned CHRIST. They make the most public Recognitions, of their Obligations to that plain and just Law of CHRIST, They which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel. And a Decree of a National Synod of the Reformed Churches in France, has been considered among them; which ran in those Terms; All the Churches shall be desired to shun Ingratitude unto their Ministers, a Sin too rife among us; and take special Care, that they be more respected and their Labours better rewarded: Not to enrich and fatten them, but to give them a becoming and sufficient Maintenance.

The Churches of New-England have not so learned CHRIST. They make the most publick Recognitions, of their Obligations to that plain and just Law of CHRIST, They which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel. And a Decree of a National Synod of the Reformed Churches in France, has been considered among them; which ran in those Terms; All the Churches shall be desired to shun Ingratitude unto their Ministers, a Sin too rife among us; and take special Care, that they be more respected and their Labours better rewarded: Not to enrich and fatten them, but to give them a becoming and sufficient Maintenance.

In some Churches, the Salary of the Minister is raised by a Voluntary Contribution; especially in populous Places, and where many Strangers resort; But in others, a Tax is levied for it; there being too much Truth in Luther's Words^*. The Ministers of the Gospel would have a poor Time of it, if they must rely on a free Contribution of the People for their Maintenance. In those (which are almost all) Parts of the Country, where the Stipend of the Minister is raised by a Tax upon the People, the Case is thus. The Laws of the Province, having had the Royal Approbation to ratify them; they are, The Kings Laws. By these Laws, it is Enacted, That there shall be a Public Worship of ⟨p. 21⟩GOD in every Plantation; That the Person Elected by the Majority of the Inhabitants to be so, shall be looked upon as, The Minister of the Place: That the Salary for him, which they shall agree upon, shall be levied by a Rate upon all the Inhabitants. In Consequence of this, the Minister thus Chosen by the People, is (not only CHRIST's, but also) in Reality, The Kings Minister. And the Salary raised for him, is raised in the Kings Name, and is the Kings Allowance unto him. If the most of the Inhabitants in a Plantation, are Episcopalians, they will have a Minister of their own Persuasion. And the Dissenters, if there be any, in the Place, must pay their Proportion of the Tax, for the Support of this Legal Minister. In a few of the Towns, a few of the People, in Hope, of being released from the Tax for the Legal Minister, sometimes profess themselves Episcopalians. But when they plead This for their Exemption, their Neighbours tell them, They know in their Conscience, they do not as they would be done unto. And if a Governor, go by his Arbitrary Power, to supersede the Execution of the Law, and require the Justices and Constables to leave the Episcopalians out of the Tax, the People wonder, he is not aware, that he is all this while, forbidding, That the King should have his Dues paid unto him; and forbidding the Kings Minister to receive what the King has given him. However, the generous Condescensions that have been sometimes made in this Matter, are such, that the People of New-England have therein Exemplarily, adorned the Doctrine of GOD their SAVIOUR, and have done