The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things…

§ 40. And to the objections they say, I. As to Appeals and Government of Inferiors, 1. That the last appeals have ever been made to General Councils: And how they went when ever the ⟨p. 290⟩Prince did but countenance error, (as in the days of Constantius and Valens, many great Councils that were for the Arians, and in Theodosius Juniors time, for the Eutychians &c.) is too sad to think on. And is it not far more dangerous for many hundred in a Council to bear down a whole Empire or Kingdom, and raise persecution, and there be no appeal from them, than for a poor Priest to put a man from the Sacrament in his own Parish Church? How many Councils have been against Images in Churches, and how many for them, condemning one another's acts? What good will appeals do to such, 2. In doctrinal cases the consent of many tends to concord: But in cases of personal practice, are they fit judges to appeal to, that dwell many hundred miles off, and know none of the persons; suppose a poor man in England is put from the Communion by a Parish-Priest (yea, perhaps an hundred or many hundred in some parishes) because he findeth some to be utterly ignorant some to be drunkards, fornicators, heretical, &c. If these appeal but to a Diocesan which dwelleth 20. miles from some, 40, or 60, or 100 miles from others, the remedy is worse than the disease: For if the Priest must travel so far, and bring his witnesses and plead the cause with men that never saw the party before, (where neighbourhood giveth a surer knowledge than any such examination of strangers can do, and a strange Chancellor or Diocesan knoweth not which witnesses are most credible) and all this while his Pastoral Charge (perhaps many thousand souls) must be neglected, while the Minister is prosecuting these appealing sinners; will not the evil of this be greater than the benefit? But how much more if ⟨p. 291⟩every sinner must appeal to a Patriarch many hundred miles off? A sober mind will be ashamed to think of the process of such a suit. If you say that it is not in the case of such sinners as these whereof every Parish abounds, that you would have appeals, at least not to Patriarchs, so far off; I answer, 1. Then answer your own objection: What remedy shall they have if the Bishop wrong them? 2. What is the case than that you suppose such supraordinations of power necessary for?

§ 40. And to the objections they say, I. As to Appeals and Government of Inferiors, 1. That the last appeals have ever been made to General Councils: And how they went when ever the