N01544:29
A disquisition concerning ecclesiastical councils. Proving, that not only pastors, but brethren delegated by…
A disquisition concerning ecclesiastical councils. Proving, that not only pastors, but brethren delegated by the churches, have equally a right to a decisive vote in such assemblies. : To which is added, proposals concerning consociation of churches, agreed upon by a synod, which convened at Boston, in New-England. : With a preface, containing a further vindication of the Congregational discipline. / By Increase Mather. D.D. ; [Ten lines of quotations]
Boston: printed for N. Boone, 1716
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
And the four Ecumenical Councils (although' as Calvin, and many others have observed( we cannot say that any one of them was ⟨p. 4⟩altogether free from Error in some lesser points, were blessed for the Suppressing of the Heresies, which did infest the Church in those Ages. The Nicene Synod, in which there were 318 Bishops, or Pastors, besides a numerous Company of Elders, and others whom the Emperor himself, the great Constantine honoured with his Presence, Condemned the Heresy of Arius. This has been Esteemed the most Celebrious Synod that ever was in the World. 2. The first General Council at Constantinople, in which there were an hundred and fifty Pastors, Condemned the Heresy of Macedonius. 3. In the great Ephesine Synod, there were two hundred Pastors, in which the Heresy of Nestorius, who maintained that Christ is two Persons, was Condemned. This Synod Convened, A. D. 431. In this very City of Ephesus, there was another Synod, though not a general one) held but nineteen years after the first; in which an Heretical Error on the other Extreme was Established, and several Members of the Synod Compelled by Tortures to Subscribe the Decrees of the Majority. In ⟨p. 5⟩so short a time have Synods in the same place, greatly varied from one another. 4. In the General Synod at Chalcedon, A. D. 451. there was 630 Pastors, besides Presbyters and Laymen, as they are called: This Synod was of great use in Confuting and Condemning the Heresy of Entyches, who held that there was but one Nature belonging to our Saviour Christ; it appears by these mentioned, that notwithstanding Councils are not infallible, nevertheless, they have been very helpful to discover the Truth, and settle the Churches in the profession of it. They are necessary, tho' not absolutely to the Being, yet to the Well-being of Churches. I have said nothing of the Synods which have been among the Reformed, in these latter Ages, in France and Holland, and in other Countries, by some of which the Interest of the true Religion has been a great gainer. It has been Objected by some, Where have we an Institution for Synods? We answer, that the Light of Nature directs unto it: Plus vident Oculi, quam Oculus. Many Eyes see more than one. The Scripture says, Where no Counsel is the ⟨p. 6⟩People fall, but in the multitude of Counsellors there is safety.