PAKT II. ReteréndMr. Richard Baktet: ,' 179` al to Rich as by Diftance or Numbers were uncapable of fuch perfonal Com- munion. 4, Thus was either an ambulatory Evangelift, to go about as the Apostles, ga- thering and Setling Churches ( as I think ); dr if fixed, he was an Archbilhnp, who wasto fettle Bithops under him in every City ( as Dr. Hammond judged ). It followeth not that a meer Billtop may have a Multitude of Churches, becaufe an Archbifhop may, who hath many Bithops under him. t. As the Magnitude of human Body, fo alfo of a particular Church, hath its Limitation faked to its Ends: Communion by Delegates or Officers only is the Cafe of many Churches affociated::But Perfonal Communion in Doetrine, . Wòr- thip, Converfation and Difèipline is the End ofeach particular Church, and if you extend the Form to more than are capable of that End, even to many filch Soci cries, by fo doing the Species is changed. § ;8. About this time a reverend learned Brother, Mr. Martin Yobnfon, being of the Judgment of Dr. Hammond and Dr. Gunning, and yet a Lover of all honefl, peaceable Men, and confiant at our Meetings, Leétures, and Difputations; was pleafed to write to me about the Necellityof Epifcopal Ordination : I maintain- ed that it was not neceffary ad effe Eeelefæ, and that he might be a true Minif er who was ordained by Presbyters, and that in Cafes of Necety itwas a Duty to take Ordination from them : He oppofed this ( with Modefty and Judgment, be- ing a very good Logician) till at laft heyielded to the Truth. Thefe Letters with their Anfwersare Added in the Appendix. g 39. A little after this an Accident fell out that hindered our Concord with the Epifcopal Parry, and is pretended at this Day by many to juftifie the Silencing of all the Minifters that were afterward put out. Oliver Cromwell, who then ,ufurped the Government, being defired by fome ro forbid all Minifters ofall Parties what- foever to officiate , who were notorioufly infufficient or fcandalous, taketh hence Occafion to put in with the reft all Mote that took part with the King againft the Parliament, and fo by offending them, hindred our Agreement with them ; which provoked me then to pbotetl againft it, and publith my Judgment againit the hindering of any Man to preach the Gofpel upon the Ground of filch Civil Controverfies as thofe, § 40. And about the fame time, Experience in my Paftoral Charge convinced me that publickPIcaching is not all the ordinary Work of a faithful Minifter, and that perfonal Conference with every one about the Pardon the tediouf- State of their own Souls, together with Catechifing, is 'a Work of Hers of three or .four very great Neceflìty : For the Cuftom in England is onlyrto catechife Sections, which repeat the younger fort, and that but by teaching them the Words of the forne of tdhatt which was Catechifm in the Liturgy, which we thought ( betides the Doctrine caute it is here put in as of the Sacrament) had little more explicatory than the Words them- part of my Pacificatory felves of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Decalogue : ThereforeI pro- "Endeavours only. pounded the Bulinefs to the Minifters, and they all ( upon Debate ) confented that I thould turn our brief Confefiion into a- Catechifm, and draw up a Form of Agreement for the Praíìifing of that Duty :I drew up the Catechifm ín" Two leaves in 8vo.' comprehending as much as isneceffary to be believed, confenredto and praEIifed; in as narrow a room, and juft a Methodas I thought agreeable to the Peoples Underflandings : And I propofed a Form of Agreement for the Pra- ¿lice, which might engage the more remifs to go through with the Work : And when I brought it in, it was confented to and fubfcribed; and many neighbour- ing Minifters of other Countries defired to join with us ; and we printed the Ca- techifm and Agreement together. g 40- Of all the Works that ever I'attempted, this yielded me moll Comfort in the praetice of it. All Men thought that the People efpecially the ancienter fort, would neverhave fubmitted to thisCourfe, and fo that it would have come to no- thing : But God gave nie a traétable willing People, and gave me alfo'intereft in them ; and when Ihad begun, andMy People had givena good Example to other Parilhes and efpecially the Minifters fo unanimouflyconcurring, that none gain. Dyed us, it prevailed much with the.Parifhes about: I fet"two Days a Week apart for this Employment ; my (faithfulunwearied) Affiliant and my felf, took fourteen Families every Week ; thofe in the -Town came to as to our Idoufes ; thofe in the Parifh my Affrftant went to, to their Houles ( betides what a Curate did at a Chappelry) : Frft they recited the Catechifm to us (a Family only be- ing prefent at a time, and nó Stranger admitted) ; after that I firl} helpt them A a. 2 to
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