PENRY. 55 this mean estate for the Lord's sacred truth. The question should not so much be, where we meet, as what we do at our meetings; whether our meetings and doings be warranted by the wordof God, and what constraineth us to meet in those places. F. We will speak of your unlawful assemblies afterwards. What calling have you to preach ? Were you never made a minister according to the order of this land ? P. Had I been willing, I might have been made either deacon or priest; but, I thank the Lord, I ever disliked those popish orders : and, if I had taken them, I would utterly refuse them. I have taught publicly in the church of Scotland, being thereunto earnestly desired, and called by the order of that church. I never had any charge ; and, therefore, I never bare any office, either there or in any other church. F. Did you not preach in these your secret meetings ? What warrant had you so to do, if you never had any public office inyour church ? P. Whether I did or not, I do not at present tell you. But this, I say, that if the same poor congregation desired to have the'use of my small gifts, for edification and conso- lation, I would, being thereunto prepared, most willingly bestow my poor talent for their mutual edification and mine. F. And may you teach publicly in the church, havingno public office therein ? P. I may, because I am a member thereof, and requested thereunto by the church, and judged tobe, in some measure, endowed with suitable gifts for handling the word of God. The church or body of Christ,, ought to have the use of all the gifts that are in any of its members, and the member cannot deny unto the body the use of those graces with which it is furnished, without breaking the laws and order of the body, and thus become unnatural : As, Rom. 1 Cor. xii. lo Mr. Penrywas a member of the church of Brownies, meeting about' London, sometimes in the fields and woods in the dead of the night, to avoid the fury of the prelates. During his confinement in prison, he wrote .amost pious, affectionate, and encouraging letter, to Mr. Francis Johnson, the pastor, and the rest of the brethren, It is addressed 0 To the distressed and faithful Congregation of Christ in London, and all the Members thereof, whether in bonds or at liberty." And he concludes by subscribing himself " Their loving brother, in the patience and sufferings of the gospel, Jinni PESRV. A witness of Christ in this life, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." .examinations of Barrow, GriOnse°4 *toci Penry, p. 46-48,
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