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"Thanks be to our blessed Lord, for all that experience he has given you of his love and faithfulness. Trust in him at all times; none that trust

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and Deacons, chosen from time to time by the majority of the Elders and Deacons of the said Churches respectively, and Ministers present, without the voices of the other members of the same churches.

"4th. That the Dutch Churches in this country, antecedent to the said surrender, were governed in a manner conformable to the practice and usage of the national established Churches of the United Provinces in Europe, and the offices and places of the Elders and Deacons of the same have always been, upon every vacancy and avoidance, supplied by the election, nomination and appointment of the majority of the Elders and Deacons in office, without the voices of the other members of the same.

"5th. That the same government, usage, and practice, was continued from the said surrender, in the Dutch Church of the city of New-York, until the same was incorporated by the letters patent above-mentioned.

"6th. That for above sixty years past, after the grant of the said letters patent of incorporation, there had been a constant succession of Elders and Deacons in the said Church, so incorporated, chosen by the majority of the Elders and Deacons of the same Church for the time being, without the voices of any of the other members of the same, in the nomination and appointment of Elders and Deacons.

"7th. And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do farther find the articles of capitulation at the surrender of this province in the year 1664 — prout;

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in Him shall be ashamed. I am truly glad you have settled at Utrecht, and that you find Professor Bonnet a gentleman so much to your mind. I had

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"8th. And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do farther say, that, according to the constitution and directions of the Reformed Churches in Holland, approved and instituted by the national Synod of Dort, the Elders and Deacons of the said Churches do, with the Ministers present, annually nominate and appoint the next succeeding Elders and Deacons, without the consent, approbation, voice or election, of any of the other members of the said Churches, then had in the said nomination and appointment.

"9th. And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do farther say, that the plaintiff in this action, since the date of the said charter, has been nominated and appointed three several times to the respective offices of Elder and Deacon of the said Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the city of New-York, by the then present Elders and Deacons of the said Church, without the consent, approbation, voice, or election of any of the other members of the said Church, then had in the said nomination and appointment, which respective offices he did accept of, and act in the execution of; and that he has, since the date of the said charter or letters patent, at three several times nominated and appointed, together with the Elders and Deacons of the said church, then in office with him, and without such consent, approbation, voice or election as aforesaid of the other members of the said church to succeed in said respective offices.

"10th. And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do farther say, that it was the practice, usage, and custom of the