The Reasons Presented by the Dissenting Brethren Against Certain Propositions Concerning Presbyterial Government. And the Proofs of them Voted by the Assembly of Divines, sitting by authority of Parliament, at Westminster. Together With the Answer of the Assembly of Divines to those Reasons of Dissent (1648)

It is interesting to note, as Hetherington points out in his History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (p. 220), that, "(i)n their answer, the Assembly Divines seem almost to have been ashamed to analyze and expose the weak sophistry of the Dissenting Brethren's argument... but by availing themselves of the concessions made by the Independents in the course of their own illustrations, they completely overthrow the whole Congregational theory."

Regarding the book itself Hetherington writes, "These reasons of Dissent, and the Answers by the Assembly, occupied the attention of that venerable body during the conclusion of the year 1644, and the early part of the year 1645; and when fully completed, both the reasons and the answers were submitted to the consideration of the Parliament for a considerable time, and when the discussions of the Assembly had terminated, an order was issued by the House of Lords, on the 24th of January 1648 (or 1647, according to their style), that these reasons and answers should be printed from the papers in the hands of Adoniram Byfield, one of the Assembly's scribes, after having been inspected by Messrs Goodwin and Whittaker, to secure their genuineness and authenticity; and they were published in the same year... In the year 1652, the same publication received a new title-page, and was called The Grand Debate concerning Presbytery and Independency, by the Assembly of Divines convened at Westminster by authority of Parliament" (History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, pp. 221-222).

In short, this is a definitive answer to the best the Independents had to offer. This download is taken from what had previously been Samuel Miller's personal copy of this title.