Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. III

As for my part, I don't believe they have been duly and lawfully elected, & I have laid the Reasons of it in two long Memorials that I have prepared upon this, and which, perhaps, will be produced one day or another. This being supposed, it is not just nor reasonable that I should be forced and constrained in my Opinion, or that I should declare any thing contrary to what I think of it. Nay suppose it was an Error or Obstinacy in me, thej ought to let the People alone in their Error or Obstj-

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nacyj without pretending to constrain or compel them, or Tynuiize tliem for their Thonglits.

Upon the second Article, I say, That tho' I have desired, by Letter, a Copy of that Act of the Confirmation or Reception of the Elders, yet I have not had the favour of it. Wherefore, to say, that I will sign it before I see it, cannot be expected: Eut if it contains nothing But Truth, I am ready to sign it; or if it shoul'l contain what is not, I am ready to testifie, by my Subscription, all that I know to be Truth concerning that Affair, the chief of which is, That the Elders were chosen by the Majority of the Voices of the Consistory, and with my Opposition .

Upon the Third Article, I consent to hold my self inviolably attached to the Discipline and to the Constitution of our Churches, which I have always here-to-fore been, and as much as can be in this Country, where we have not the means which w^e have in France, to Regulate our Affairs. But I hope, that they themselves will hold them also attached to this Discipline and this Constitution ; for if they don't, they have no reason to hold another to it.