N00779:144
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in…
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard College in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1700
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.
6. The most Famous Synods which have been in the world have consisted not of Elders only. That in the next Ages to the Apostles others besides Pastors were Member• of Ecclesiastical Councils, our Divines in the•• writings against the Papists have proved. I• the Council of Calcedon there were Seven Earls and ten noble Senators, and not Ecclesiastic•• only. Since the Reformation, the Churches of Sweveland (r)Petitioned that there might be a Council called of every degree and sta•• consisting of the best Learned and most Godly men whom the Province did afford. In the famous Synod of Dort, there were besides Pastors, Professors of Divinity, and many Seniors or Ruling Elders who were not ordained Officers. In the Assembly at Westminster which met July 1. 1643. There were not only Pastors of Churches, but several noble men, ⟨p. 89⟩e. g. The Earl of Pembroke, the Lord say, the Lord Wharton (who told me Eight […] •goe, that he was the only person of that Assembly then living) and several others of the Nobility, and some Gentlemen, of the House of Commons, Mr. S••den, Mr. Rouse, Mr. Wh•• lock and others: Also Commissioners […] Scotland were joined with them, e. g. The Earl of Lothian, Lord W•rristone, Lord La• derdale, besides Ministers from that Kingdom. So then it is not an Independent Phansy, that Assemblies met to consult about Ecclesiastical and Religious Controversies should consist of other Persons besides Ecclesiastics.
6. The most Famous Synods which have been in the world have consisted not of Elders only. That in the next Ages to the Apostles others besides Pastors were Member• of Ecclesiastical Councils, our Divines in the•• writings against the Papists have proved. I the Council of Calcedon there were Seven Earles and ten noble Senators, and not Ecclesiastic only. Since the Reformation, the Churches of Sweveland