3. The sense of the church, and all its members, is to be judged of by their public professions, and not by such words of a minister which are his own, and never had their consent. I am by profession a christian, and the Scripture is the professed rule of my religion; and when I go to the assemblies, I profess to worship God according to that rule: I profess myself a hearer of a minister of the gospel, that is to preach the word of God, and that hath promised in his ordination, out of the holy Scriptures to instruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing (as required of necessity to eternal salvation) but that which he shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture. This he professed when he was ordained, and I profess by my presence, only to hear such a preacher of the gospel, and worship God with him in those ordinances of worship, which God hath appointed. Now if this man shall drop in any mistake in preaching, or modify his prayers or administrations amiss, and do his part weakly and disorderly, the hearers are no way guilty of it by their presence. For if I must run away from God's public worship because of men's misperformance, 1. I should join with none on earth; for a small sin may no more be wilfully done or owned than a greater. 2. And then another man's weakness may disoblige me and discharge me from my duty. To order and word his prayers and preaching aright, is part of the minister's own work, and not the people's; and if he do it well, it is no commendation to me that am present, but to himself; and therefore if he do it amiss, it is no fault of mine or dispraise to me, but to himself. If the common-council of London, or the court of aldermen, agree to petition the king for the renewing of their charter, and commit the expressing of their request to their recorder, in their presence; if he petition for something else instead of that which he was intrusted with, and so betray them in the substance of his business, they are openly to contradict him and disown his treachery or mistake; but if he deliver the same petition which he undertook with stammering, disorder, defectiveness, and perhaps some mixture of untruths in his additional reasons and discourse, this is his failing in the personal performance of his duty, and no way imputable to them that sent him, and are present with him, though (in modesty) they are silent and speak not to disown it; for how can it be their fault that a man is wanting in his personal sufficiency and duty (unless it be that they choose not a better). And whether he speak _ex tempore_ or more deliberately, in a written form or without, in words that other men taught him or wrote for him, or in words of his own devising, it altereth not their case. [Sidenote: Of imposed defective liturgies.]