Reply to Rutherford, Treatise
To the Christian Reader.
IN the yeare 1643. there came forth a Treatiſe againſt Independency, under the name of my Reverend and learned Brother Mr. Charles Herle, the Paſtor of Winwick in Lancaſhire. This Treatiſe, becauſe it ſeemed to bee written with ſuch a Candid and peaceable ſpirit as might witneſſe for its Author that the thing he aymed at therein was meerly the diſquiſition of the Truth; and becauſe the Author thereof was many yeares agoe of my Reverend brother Mr. Tompſons acquaintance and mine; therefore we thought it might not be in vaine if we ſhould lovingly communicate to the learned Author ſuch apprehenſions of ours, whereby wee were detained from concurring with his judgement in the principall Queſtion diſputed in the ſaid Treatiſe. And therefore in the latter end of the ſame yeare, there came forth a ſmall Script under our Name in way of a brotherly Anſwer to that his loving and learned Treatiſe. Againſt this Anſwer Mr. Samuell Rutherford a learned writer of the Church of Scotland, hath alledged and publiſhed many Objections. Exceptions, and Anſwers, in his Booke entituled The due right of Presbyteries: I may call them many, becauſe in that Treatiſe of his there are no leſſe then 24 or 25 ſeverall places, wherein he bring up by name the ſaid Anſwer, diſputing againſt ſundry paſſages therein as if they were not ſound; which paſſages if they be indeed erronious and unſound, are a great many to bee contained and found in ſo ſmall a Work the whole Booke as it is now printed containing in it 30. leaves: So that the leaves in the Booke are not much more then the places therein which this learned Writer doth object againſt; which being conſidered, I thought it therefore needfull to peruſe and weigh as the Lord ſhould helpe, the ſeverall places of his fore-mentioned Treatiſe, wherein he deales againſt the ſaid Anſwer: And having ſo done, I here preſent my apprehentions to publike view, leaving the Prudent and judicious Reader to conſider and judge; whether this Reverend and learned Brother have ſufficiently overthrowne or weak'ned the ſaid Anſwer, or whether the ſame doe not ſtill remaine agreable to the rule of Truth, notwithſtanding his Objections againſt the ſame, or ſuch Anſwers as he doth returne to ſeverall paſſages therein.