A letter to the author of the pamphlet called An answer [sic] to the…A letter to the author of the pamphlet called An answeer [sic] to the…

and therefore for any to suppose that the Composers of the Platform did not by this intend to direct Churches where to go when they consulted other Churches, is to reflect upon them as tho' they were ignorant of the Nature of Language, and did not understand what they said.—But then you add further, that We can't suppose that the Compilers of the Platform always meant by neighbour Churches those that were situated next to one another, but Churches in Communion one with another, by professing the same Faith and Order of the Gospel, so situated that they could and would afford Assistance to one another, as the same should be needed and desired. This we conceive is a Signification of the Expression of neighbour Churches of your own finding out: If we should speak of a Family and neighbouring Families, or an House and neighbouring Houses, would it be agreeable to the common Use of such Phrases, to mean a House in the Middle of Boston and a Parcel of Houses in Cambridge? And what English would it be, if we should speak of a certain Town and the neighbouring Towns thereof, to mean Springfield and the Towns in the County of Suffolk? The Legislators of the Province have often Occasion to speak of neighbouring Towns, and did they understand themselves, or does any Body else understand them, in such a Kind of Sense as this? They speak sometimes of the Advice of neighbouring Ministers, as in Case of improving a School Master, and other Cases. ⟨p. 18⟩And did ever any Lawyer plead that they were to be understood in such a Sense as this? We read in our Translation of the Bible, that GOD overthrew Sodom and the neighbour Cities thereof; the Translators certainly should have used some other Word, if this don't determine but that Sodom was at one End of the Land of Canaan and the other Cities intended at the other; for this is doubtless quite diverse from the Mind of the Original.

and therefore for any to suppose that the Composers of the Platform did not by this intend to direct Churches where to go when they consulted other Churches, is to reflect upon them as tho' they were ignorant of the Nature of Language, and did not understand what they said.—But then you add further, that We can't suppose that the Compilers of the Platform always meant by neighbour Churches those that were scituated next to one another, but Churches in Communion one with another, by professing the same Faith and Order of the Gospel, so scituated that they could and would afford Assistance to one another, as the same should be needed and desired. This we conceive is a Signification of the Expression of neighbour Churches of your own finding out: If we should speak of a Family and neighbouring Families, or an House and neighbouring Houses, would it be agreeable to the common Use of such Phrases, to mean a House in the Middle of Boston and a Parcel of Houses in Cambridge? And what English would it be, if we should speak of a certain Town and the neighbouring Towns thereof, to mean Springfield and the Towns in the County of Suffolk? The Legislators of the Province have often Occasion to speak of neighbouring Towns, and did they understand themselves, or does any Body else understand them, in such a Kind of Sense as this? They speak sometimes of the Advice of neighbouring Ministers, as in Case of improving a School Master, and other Cases.