A97353:657
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their…
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their principles about civil and ecclesiastical authority and obedience ... : mostly written many years past, and now published to save our lives and the kingdoms peace, from the false and bloody plotters ... / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Hancock, 1680
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
26. Councils or Synods and that stated as to time and place are very useful among good Pastors, for concord, Counsel and correspondence: but the major part are not the Governors of the minor, nor of their absent brethren: nor are stated Synods absolutely necessary; nor convenient when, 1. they are degenerating into the Church Tyranny of a major Vote, 2. or are displeasing to Rulers and inconsistent with liberty or peace.
27. Therefore we take not a National Church to be a Body Politic of Divine Institution, either headed by one Bishop, or by a National Assembly, as a proper constitutive Governing part. But we hold that the King is the Governor of all the Churches in his Kingdoms, as far as they must be governed by the Sword: and that National Synods and others inferior to them are fit means for the said Council and concord among the several Pastors.
27. Therefore we take not a National Church to be a Body Politick of Divine Institution, either headed by one Bishop, or by a National Assembly, as a proper constitutive Governing part. But we hold that the King is the Governor of all the Churches in his Kingdoms, as far as they must be governed by the Sword: and that National Synods and others inferior to them are fit means for the said Council and concord among the several Pastors.
28. Whether one in each Synod shall be Moderator, and that pro tempore or durante vitâ as oft as there are Synods? and whether one shall be trusted to summon such Synods, and how he shall preside to preserve peace and order, are matters prudently to be determined, as the edification of the Church requireth, so that Church Tyranny be not introduced.