The Churches of New-England cannot easily have their Sense better expressed, than in the Terms, of the famous Festus Hommius, who tho' he pleads for the Political Binding Power of Synodical Decrees, as far as a Protestant can do so, yet after all shows himself a MAN, in these Reasonable Words. †The Decrees of Councils ought not ⟨p. 174⟩to be propounded unto or obtruded upon, the Churches, as Praetorian Sayings or Persian Decrees, but the Acts of the Council ought to be sent unto all the Churches, that they may examine them by the Rule of the Word of GOD; and that if they be found to agree with it, they may be approved, and so at length may be willingly and unanimously, not unwillingly and by Compulsion, received by the Churches approving them. For the Churches have not bound their Consciences to the Judgment of those whom they send to the Synod; nor have they given them an Absolute Power of Decreeing what they List, in their Names: But their Consciences are always tied only to the Word of GOD; whereto if they find the Acts and Decrees of their Messengers conformed, then at length the Churches ought to establish and approve them.
The Churches of New-England cannot easily have their Sense better express'd, than in the Terms, of the famous Festus Hommius, who tho' he pleads for the Political Binding Power of Synodical Decrees, as far as a Protestant can do so, yet after all shows himself a MAN, in these Reasonable Words. †The Decrees of Councils ought not ⟨p. 174⟩to be propounded unto or obtruded upon, the Churches, as Praetorian Sayings or Persian Decrees, but the Acts of the Council ought to be sent unto all the Churches, that they may examine them by the Rule of the Word of GOD; and that if they be found to agree with it, they may be approved, and so at length may be willingly and unanimously, not unwillingly and by Compulsion, received by the Churches approving them. For the Churches have not bound their Consciences to the Judgment of those whom they send to the Synod; nor have they given them an Absolute Power of Decreeing what they List, in their Names: But their Consciences are always tied only to the Word of GOD; whereto if they find the Acts and Decrees of their Messengers conformed, then at length the Churches ought to establish and approve them.
- †'Tis pity but this Manly Talk should be read in its Original. Decreta Conciliornm Ecclesiis non debent proponi aut obtruai, tanquam dicta quaedam Fretoria. aut Decreta Persica; sed mitti debent Acta habiti Concilii ad omnes Ecclesias, ut ab iisdem a• •musiim Verbi Divini Examinentur, et si cum ea consentire fuerint comperta, approbentur, at que ita tandem ab Ecclesiis approbantibus voluntarie et unanimiter, hand sane invite aut coacte, recipiantur. Ecclesiae enim Conscientias suas Delegatorum suorum ad Synodum Judicio non alligarunt, nec eis absolutissimam quidvis ipsorum Nomine statuendi Folestatem concesserunt: Sed Conscientiae soli Verbo DEI semper manent al• ga•: cui si Conformia compere•int Delegatorum Acta ac Decreta, tum demum Ecclesiae ea rata […] atque approbare debent. F•st. Hem. Disp. 18. De Autor. Concil. Thes. 4.'Tis pity but this Manly Talk should be read in its Original. Decreta Conciliornm Ecclesiis non debent proponi aut obtruai, tanquam dicta quaedam Fretoria. aut Decreta Persica; sed mitti debent Acta habiti Concilii ad omnes Ecclesias, ut ab iisdem a• •musiim Verbi Divini Examinentur, et si cum ea consentire fuerint comperta, approbentur, at que ita tandem ab Ecclesiis approbantibus voluntarie et unanimiter, hand sane invite aut coacte, recipiantur. Ecclesiae enim Conscientias suas Delegatorum suorum ad Synodum Judicio non alligarunt, nec eis absolutissimam quidvis ipsorum Nomine statuendi Folestatem concesserunt: Sed Conscientiae soli Verbo DEI semper manent al• ga•: cui si Conformia compere•int Delegatorum Acta ac Decreta, tum demum Ecclesiae ea rata 〈…〉 atque approbare debent. F•st. Hem. Disp. 18. De Autor. Concil. Thes. 4.
