and consent unto and confess the truth of them Which way of manifesting his will unto many other gracious priviledges which it had above that which in after ages came in place of it had this added that it brought with it unto the man to whom it was made a preservation against all doubt and hesitancy a full assurance both who the author was and how far his intent and meaning reacht We that are their ofspring ought as St. Chrysostome tell us so to have demeand our selves that it might have been with us as it was with them that we might have had no need of writing no other teacher but the spirit no other books but our hearts no other means to have been taught the things of God Nisi inspirationis divinae internam suaviorémque doctrinam ubi sine sonis sermonum sine elementis literarum eo dulciùs quo secretiùs veritas loquitur as saith Fulgentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pelusiota for it is a great argument of our shame and imperfection that the holy things are written in books For as God in anger tells the Jews that he himself would not go before them asâ—â— hitherto he had done to conduct them into the promised land but would leave his Angel with them as his deputy so hath he dealt with us the unhappy posterity degenerated from the antient purity of our forefathers When himself refused to speak unto our hearts because of the hardness of them he then began to put his laws in writing Which thing for a long time amongst his own people seems not to have brought with it any sensible inconvenience For amongst all those acts of the Jews which God in his book hath registred for our instruction there is not one concerning any pretended ambiguitie or obscurity of the Text and Letter of their Law which might draw them into faction and schisme the Devil belike having other sufficient advantages on which he wrought But ever since the Gospel was committed to writing what age what monument of the Churches acts is not full of debate and strife concerning the force and meaning of those writings which the holy Ghost hath left us to be the law and rule of faith St. Paul one of the first penmen of the Holy Ghost who in Paradise heard words which it was not lawful for man to utter hath left us words in writing which it is not safe for any man to be too busie to interpret No sooner had he laid down his pen almost ere the ink was dry were there found Syllabarum aucupes such as St. Ambrose spake of qui nescire aliquid erubescunt per occasionem obscuritatis tendunt laqueos deceptionis who thought there could be no greater disparagement unto them then to seem to be ignorant of any thing and under pretence of interpreting obscure places laid gins to entrap the uncautelous who taking advantage of the obscurity of St. Pauls text made the letter of the Gospel of life and peace the most-forcible instrument of mortal quarrel and contention The growth of which the Holy Ghost by the Ministery of St. Peter hath endeavoured to cut up in the bud and to strangle in the womb in this short admonition which but now hath sounded in your eares Which the unlearned c. In which words for our more orderly proceeding we will consider First the sin it self that is here reprehended wresting of Scripture where we will briefly consider what it is and what causes and motioners it findes in our corrupt understandings Secondly the persons guilty of this offence discipher'd unto us in two Epithets unlearned unstable Last of all the danger in the last words unto their own damnation And first of the sin it self together with some of the special causes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wrest They deal with Scripture as Chimicks deal with natural bodies torturing them to extract that out of them which God and nature never put in them Scripture is a rule which will not fit it self to the obliquity of our conceits but our perverse and crooked discourse must fit it self to the straightness of that rule A learned writer in the age of our fathers commenting upon Scripture spake most truly when he said that his Comments gave no light unto the text the text gave light unto his Comments Other expositions may give rules and directions for understanding their authors but Scripture gives rules to exposition it self and interprets the interpreter Wherefore when we made in Scripture non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum as St. Austine speaks sed pro nostra ita dimicantes ut tan velimus Scripturarum esse quae nostra est When we strive to give unto it and not to receive from it the sense when we factiously contend to fasten our conceits upon God and like the Harlot in the book of Kings take our dead and putrified fancies and lay them in the bosome of Scripture as of a mother then are we guilty of this great sin of wresting of Scripture The nature of which will the better appear if we consider a little some of those motioners which drive us upon it One very potent and strong mean is the exceeding affection and love unto our own opinions and conceits For grown we are unro extremities on both hands we cannot with patience either admit of other mens opinions or endure that our own should be withstood As it was in the Lacedaemonian army almost all were Captains so in these disputes all will be leaders and we take our selves to be much discountenanced if others think not as we do So that the complaint which one makes concerning the dissention of Physicians about the diseases of our bodies is true likewise in these disputes which concern the cure of our souls hincillae circa aegros miserae sententiarum concertationes nullo idem censente ne videatur accessio alterius From hence have sprong those miserable contentions about the distemper of our souls singularity alone and that we will not seem to stand as cyphers to make up the summe of other mens opinions being cause enough to make us disagree A fault anciently amongst the Christians so apparant that it needed not an Apostolical spirit to discover it the very heathen themselves to our shame and confusion have justly judiciously and sharply taxt us for it Ammianus Marcellinus passing his censure upon Constantius the Emperour Christianam religionem absolutam simplicem saith he and they are words very well worth your marking Christianam religionem absolutam simplicem anili superstitione confudit In qua scrutanda perplexiùs quà m componenda gratiùs excitavit dissidia pluriâ—â—a quae progressa fusiùs aluit concertatione verborum dum ritum omnem ad suum trahere conatur arbitrium The Christian religion a religion of great simplicity and perfection he troubled with dotage and superstition For going about rather perplexedly to search the
it like the Prophets of God with quietness and moderation and not in the violence of passion as if we were possest rather then inspir'd Again what equity or indifferency can we look for in the carriage of that cause that falls into the handling of these men Quis conferre duces meminit qui pendere causas Quâ stetit inde favet what man overtaken with passion remembers impartially to compare cause with cause and right with right Quâ stetit inde favet on what cause he happens that is he resolute to maintain ut gladiator in arenam as a Fencer to the Stage so comes he to write not upon conscience of quarrel but because he proposes to contend yea so potently hath this humor prevail'd with men that have undertaken to maintain a faction that it hath broken out to the tempting of God and the dishonour of Martyrdom Two Fryers in Florence in the action of Savonoralla voluntarily in the open view of the City offer'd to enter the fire so to put an end to the controversie that he might be judged to have the right who like one of the three children in Babylon should pass untouch't through the fire But I hasten to visit one weak person more and so an end He whom we now are to visit is a man weak through heretical and erring Faith now whether or no we have any receit for him it may be doubtful For S. Paul advises us to avoid the man that is a maker of Sects knowing him to be damned yet if as we spake of not admitting to us the notorious sinner no not to eat so we teach of this that it is delivered respectively to the weaker sort as justly for the same reasons we may do we shall have a Recipe here for the man that erres in faith and rejoyceth in making of Sects which we shall the better do if we can but gently draw him on to a moderation to think of his conceits only as of opinions for it is not the variety of opinions but our own perverse wills who think it meet that all should be conceited as our selves are which hath so inconvenienced the Church were we not so ready to anathematize each other where we concur not in opinion we might in hearts be united though in our tongues we were divided and that with singular profit to all sides It is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and not Identitie of conceit which the Holy Ghost requires at the hands of Christians I will give you one instance in which at this day our Churches are at variance The will of God and his manner of proceeding in predestination is undiscernable and shall so remain until that day wherein all knowledge shall be made perfect yet some there are who with probability of Scripture teach that the true cause of the final miscarriage of them that perish is that original corruption that befell them at the beginning increased through the neglect or refusal of grace offered Others with no less favourable countenance of Scripture make the cause of reprobation only the will of God determining freely of his own work as himself pleases without respect to any second cause whatsoever Were we not ambitiously minded familiam ducere every one to be Lord of a Sect each of these tenents might be profitably taught and heard and matter of singular exhortation drawn from either for on the one part doubtless it is a pious and religious intent to endeavour to free God from all imputation of unnecessary rigour his justice from seeming unjustice incongruity on the other side it is a noble resolution so to humble our selves under the hand of Almighty God as that we can with patience hear yea think it an honour that so base creatures as our selves should become the instruments of the glory of so great a majesty whether it be by eternal life or by eternal death though for no other reason but for Gods good will and pleasure sake The authors of these conceits might both freely if peaceably speak their mindes and both singularly profit the Church for since it is impossible where Scripture is ambiguous that all conceits should run alike it remains that we seek out a way not so much to establish an unity of opinion in the mindes of all which I take to be a thing likewise impossible as to provide that multiplicity of conceit trouble not the Churches peace A better way my conceit cannot reach unto then that we would be willing to think that these things which with some shew of probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but our opinions for this peremptory manner of setting down our own conclusions under this high commanding form of necessary truths is generally one of the greatest causes which keeps the Churches this day so far asunder when as a gracious receiving of each other by mutual forbearance in this kinde might peradventure in time bring them nearer together This peradventure may some man say may content us in case of opinion indifferent out of which no great inconvenience by necessary and evident proof is concluded but what Recipe have we for him that is fallen into some known and desperate Heresie Even the same with the former And therefore anciently Heretical and Orthodox Christians many times even in publick holy exercise converst together without offence It 's noted in the Ecclesiastick stories that the Arrians and Right believers so communicated together in holy prayers that you could not distinguish them till they came to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gloria patri which the Arrians used with some difference from other Christians But those were times quorum lectionem habemus virtutem non habemus we read of them in our books but we have lost the practise of their patience Some prejudice was done unto the Church by those who first began to intermingle with publick Ecclesiastical duties things respective unto private conceits For those Christian offices in the Church ought as much as possibly they may be common unto all and not to descend to the differences of particular opinions Severity against and separation from heretical companies took its beginning from the Hereticks themselves and if we search the stories we shall finde that the Church did not at their first arising thrust them from her themselves went out and as for severity that which the Donatists sometimes spake in their own defence Illam esse veram Ecclesiam quae prosecutionem patitur non quae facit she was the true Church not which raised but which suffered persecution was de facto true for a great space For when heresies and schismes first arose in the Church all kind of violence were used by the erring factions but the Church seem'd not for a long time to have known any use of a sword but only of a buckler and when she began to use the sword some of her best and chiefest Captains much misliked it The first law
Parents but granting this I take it to be impossible to judge of what strength it is and deny that it is any such cause why we should take it to be so strong as that we should stand in fear to encounter it and overcome it For we can never come to discover how far our nature is necessarily weak For whilest we are in our infancy and as yet not altred a puris naturalibus from that which God and nature made us none of us understand our selves and ere we can come to be of years to be able to discover it or define any thing concerning the nature of it custom or education either good hath much abated or evil hath much improved the force of it so that for any thing we know the strength of it may be much less then we suppose and that it is but a fear that makes it seem so great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome It is the nature of timerous and fearful men evermore to be framing to themselves causless fears I confess it is a strange thing and it hath many times much amazed me to see how ripe to sin many children are in their young and tender years and ere they understand what the name of Sin and evil means they are unexpectedly and no man knows by what means wonderfully prompt and witty to villany and wickedness as if they had gone to school to it in their mothers womb I know not to what cause to impute this thing but I verily suppose I might quit original sin from the guilt of it For it is a ruled case and concluded by the general consent of the Schools that original sin is alike in all and S. Paul seems to me to speak to that purpose when he saith that God hath alike concluded all under sin and that all are alike deprived of the glory of God Were therefore Original sin the cause of this strange exorbitancy in some young children they should all be so a thing which our own experience teaches us to be false For we see many times even in young children many good and gracious things which being followed with good education must needs come to excellent effect In pueris elucet spes plurimorum saith Quintilian quae ubi emoritur aetate manifestum est non defecisse naturam sed curam In children many times an hope of excellent things appears which in riper age for want of cherishing fades and withers away A certain sign that nature is not so weak as Parents and Tutors are negligent whence then comes this difference Certainly not from our Nature which is one in all but from some other cause As for Original sin of what strength it is I will not discuss only thus much I will say there is none of us all but is much more wicked then the strength of any Primitive corruption can constrain Again let us take heed that we abuse not our selves that we use not the names of original weakness as a stale or stalking-horse as a pretence to choak and cover somewhat else For oftentimes when evil education wicked examples long custome and continuance in sin hath bred in us an habit and necessity of sinning presently Original sin and the weaknes of mans nature bear the blame Ubi per secordiam vires tempus ingenium defluxere nature infirmitas accusatur When through floath and idleness luxurie and distemper our time is lost our bodies decay'd our wits dull'd we cast all the fault on the weakness of our nature That Law of sin in our members of which S. Paul spake and which some take to be original corruption S. Austine once pronounced of it whether he meant to stand to it I know not but so he once pronounced of it Lex peccati est violentia consuetudinis That Law of sin that carries us against our wills to sin is nothing else but the force and violence of long custome and continuance in sin I know that by the error of our first Parents the Devil hath blinded and bound us more then ever the Philistines did Samson Yet this needs not to make us thus stand in fear of Original weakness For blinde and bound as we are let the Devil build never so strong yet if our hair be grown if Christ do strengthen us we shall be able Samson-like to bear his strongest pillars and pull down his house about his ears Thirdly is it the Devil that we think so strong an adversary Let us a little consider his strength he may be considered either as an inward enemy suggesting unto us sinful thoughts or as an outward enemy lying in wait to afflict us in body in goods or the like First against us inwardly he hath no force of his own From our selves it is that he borrows this strength to overthrow us In Paradice he borrowed the Serpent to abuse us but now every Man is that Serpent by which himself is abused For as Hannibal having overthrown the Romans took their armour and fought against them with their own weapons So the Devil arms himself against us with our own strength our senses our will our appetite with these weapons he fights against us and uses us against our selves Let us but recover our own again and the Devil will be disarm'd Think you that the Devil is an immediate stickler in every sin that is committed I know ye do But take heed least this be but an excuse to unload your faults upon the Devil and to build them upon his back For S. Chrysostome thought otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Devils hand says he is not in every fault many are done meerly by our own carelessness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A negligent carelesse person sins though the Devill never tempt him Let the truth of this lie where it will I think I may safely speak thus much that if we would but shut up our wills and use that grace of God which is offered I doubt not but a great part of this suggesting power of his would fall to nothing as for that other force of his by which he lies in wait to annoy us outwardly why should we so dread that Are there not more with us both in multitude and strengthâ—â— to preserve us The Angel of the Lord saith the Psalmist pitches his tents round about those that fear him to deliver them And the Apostle assures us that the Angels are ministring Spirits sent forth for those that shall be heirs of Salvation shall we think that the strength of those to preserve is less then that of the evil Angels to destroy One Garcaeus writing upon the Meteors told me long since that whereas many times before great tempests there is wont to be heard in the aire above us great noise and rushing the cause of this was the banding of good and evil Angels the one striving to annoy us with tempests the other striving to preserve us from the danger of it And I doubt not but
they saw further into the Cause then their Brethren they might have leave to exhibit their minde in writing to the Synod Provided First that they had leave of the Synod so to do Secondly that they did not seek any frivolous delayes Thirdly that they promis'd to submit themselves to the Decree of the Synod and last of all that the Church Censures respectively pass'd on Grevinchovius and Goulartius be not prejudiced but stand still in their full force and vertue This Decree was consented unto by the whole Synod Here the Praeses admonisht those of Utrecht to provide themselves and resolve what they would do whether they would profess themselves parties for the Remonstrants or keep their places and sit as Judges if they would express as parties then must they cease to be accounted part of the Synod and be accounted as Episcopius and the rest that were cited They requir'd that time might be given them to deliberate The Praeses eagerly urged them to give their resolute answer They replyed it was a greater matter then might so soon be dispatch't So far they went that at length they fell on some warm words For when two of the Remonstrants Deputies by chance spake both at once the Praeses admonisht them to speak modestiùs ornatiùs For men here speak one by one and not by pairs But here the Secular Deputies strook in and thought fit they should have time of respite till the morrow yet so that in the mean time the Synod should proceed Then were the Remonstrants call'd in and the Decree of the States concerning Grevinchovius and Goulartius read unto them Episcopius standing up requir'd that a little time might be granted to them to speak and forthwith uttered an Oration acrem sanè animosam and about which by reason of some particulars in it there will grow some stirre The effect of the Oration was this THat Religion was the chiefest note of a man and we were more distinguished by it from other Creatures then by our Reason That their apparence before the Synod was ut illam etiam Spartam ornarent that they might endeavour something for the preservation of the Purity of Religion That Religion was nothing else but a right Conceit and Worship of God That the Conceits concerning God are of two sorts some absolutely necessary which were the grounds of all true Worship in these to erre might finally endanger a man Some not absolutely necessary and in these sometimes without great danger men might mistake That they defcryed many conceits passing in our Churches which could not stand with the Goodness and Justice of God with the use of the Sacramenâ—â—s with the Duties of Christian men These had given occasion to the Adversaries abroad to accuse our Churches and lay upon them many strange imputations That therefore their endeavour had been none other but to remove these imputations and to provide as much as in them lay that the Conceits of some few might not pass for the general Doctrine of our Churches But this their endeavour had hitherunto had but ill success And as in a diseased body many times when Physick is administred the humours which before were quiet are now stirred and hence the body proves more distempered so their endeavours to cure the Church had caused greater disorder yet in this had they not offended For they labour'd to none other end but that the Church might not be traduced by reason of the private conceâ—â—s of some of her Ministers That in this behalf the world had been exceedingly incensed against them but this Envy they esteemed their Gloriam Palmarium That for this they did not mean to forsake their Cause and were it so that they should lose the day yet would they joy in it and think it glory enough magnis ausis excedisse That this their stirring was not de lana capâ—â—ina of small frivolous and worthless matters of mere quiâ—â—ks of Wit as many of the common sort were perswaded that out of this conceit it was that they had been so exceedingly roughly dealt withall yea they might say soevitum fuisse against them as against unnecessary Innovavators in the Church First matters were handled against them clancularâ—â—ly and by stealth after this they brake out into open but false accusations and after this into wrath into scoffing and bitterness till at length effractis moderationis repagulis every one came with open mouth against them tanquam in publici odii victimas Here followed a grave and serious invocation of Christ as a witness to the truth of what they said True indeed it was that in their Books many things were to be found amisse For a very hard matter they thought it for mindes exasperated semper rectum clavem tenere That for the setling of these things there could but three courses be thought of either a National Synod or a mutual Tolleration of each others Opinions or the Cession and Resignation of their Calling and place in the Church To quit them of their calling and to fly this were a note of the Hireling as for a Synod which they much desired remorabantur qui minime debebant and it was pretended that the condition of the Times would not suffer it There remains only a mutual Tolleration of the possibility of which alone they had hope And for this end they did exceedingly approve of the Decreeof the States of Holland and West-fryzeland which they thought confirmed by the examples of Beza's dealing with some of their own dealing with the Lutherans of the Advice of the King of Great Brittain But all this was labour lost for there was a buzze and jealousie spread in the heads of men that under this larve this whifling Suit of Tolleration there lay personated more dangerous designes that behinde this tanquam post siparium there lay intents of opening a way to the Profession of all the ancient Heresies and that the Remonstrants could pro tempore Conscientiaesuae imperare quod volunt upon this began mens minds to be alienated from them which thing at length brake forth into Schism and open Separation Now began their books to be more narrowly inquir'd into every line every phrase every word and tittle to be stretcht to the uttermost to prove them Hereticks Witness that late work intituled Specimen Controversiarum Belgicarum whose Authors credit and good dealing had already in part appeared and hereafter farther would appear That all Fundamental points of Divinity they had preserved untouched For they knew that there were many things of which it is not lawful to dispute and they abhorr'd from that conceit of many men who would believe nothing but what they were able to give a Reason of That what they questioned was only such a matter which for a long time had been without danger both pro and contra disputed of They thought it sufficient if the chief points of Religion remain unshaken That there had been always sundry Opinions even amongst the Fathers
Professor of the Forraigners enjoined by the Praeses to do The intent of his discourse at that time was to overthrow certain distinctions framed by the Remonstrants for the maintenance of their positions and evasion from the Contraremonstrants Arguments The Remonstrants usually distinguish upon Election and divide it into definitam indefinitam revocabilem irrevocabilem peremptoriam non peremptoriam mutabilem immuâ—â—abilem and the like For the refutation of which distinctions he first set down the definition of election brought by the Contraremonstrant and at large confirmed it secondly he brought the definition of election agreed on by the Remonstrant and Argued against it and thirdly he directly oppugned these forecited distinctions all which he did learnedly and fully When Dr. Davenant had spoken the Auditory was commanded to depart For having a purpose that others should speake at the same time and fearing that some diversity of opinion might rise and occasion some dissention it was thought fit that things should be transacted as privately as might be Many more of the Forreigners deliver'd themselves that night and amongst the rest Martinius of Breme proposed again his former doubts unto the Synod concerning the sense in which Christ is said to be fundamentum electionis requested to be resolved But D. Gomarus at this time was somewhat better advised thought it best to hold his peace This day will there be a private meeting wherein every company will give up their judgments in writing upon the first Article and to morrow I understand they will go on unto the second and proceed in it accordingly as they have done in the former As for any Decisive Sentence they will give none till they have thus gone through all the five In this I suppose they do very discreetly For since the Articles are mutually linked together it is most convenient they should first go through them all since a predetermination in the former might bind them to some inconvenience in the later there being no place left to look back but stand they must to what they have once concluded For avoiding of this it is thought best to determine of all at once And this is all the news that here is currant wherefore Commending Your Honour to Gods good protection I humbly take my leave Dort this 18 28 of January 1619. Your Honors Chaplain and Bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord UPon Munday the 18 28 of January in the Evening the Synod being met Scultetus spake at large de Certitudine gratiae salvtis that it was necessary for every man to be assured of his Salvation The manner of his discourse was oratoriall the same that he uses in his Sermons not scholasticall and according to the fashion of disputation and Schools For this cause the question was neither deeply searcht into nor strongly proved And this is all was done that night I spake with Mr. Dr. Goad concerning Mr. Brent who answer'd me that he heard nothing at all of him and that he will shortly write unto My Lord Archbishops Secretary to be informed farther concerning him My Lord Bishop of late hath taken some pains with Martinius of Brente to bring him from his opinion of Vniversall Grace By chance I came to see his Letter writen to Martinius in which he expounded that place in the third of John So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Sâ—â—on c. which is the strongest ground upon which Martinius rests himself Beyond this here is no news worth the relating and therfore till farther occasion offer it self I humbly take my leave Dort this 19 29 of January 1618. Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord. UPon Thursday the 24 31 of January in the Evening the Synod met privately and as they had done in the first so did they in the second Article For the speedier Direction to finde the places in the Remonstrants Books where the particulars concerning Vniversall Grace are discust there was a kinde of Index or Concordance drawn of the severall passages in their writings touching that subject The next Day following that is the first of February Stylo novo Mr. Balcanquall and Cruciger of Hassia made entrance upon the second Article Mr. Balcanquall spake above an hour and did very well acquit himself When they had done the Praeses enjoin'd Steinius of Hassia upon Tuesday next in the Evening at what time will be the next open Session to speak of the fourth Article for of the third there is no question and to sound whether the Grace of God converting us be resiâ—â—tible as the Remonstrants would have it This hast chat is made in this suddain passing from one Article to another is much mervail'd at by our English Divines for the Colledges yet have not all given up their opinion upon the first and besides that the Remonstrants upon Wednesday last were willed to give in their Arguments upon the first Article For notwithstanding they be excluded from personall appearance in the Synod yet are they Commanded to Exhibit to the Synod whatsoever they shall please to command Now some time will be required for the Examining of those reasons if they be of late invention and such as yet have had nothing said to them But what the reason of this hast is will appear hereafter I lately writ unto Mr. Collwall to know what Order was to be taken for the discharge of my lodging whether your Honor were to answer it or the publick purse I would willingly be resolved of it because I have a desire to returne to the Hague first because the Synod proceeding as it both I do not see that it is opere pretium for me here to abide and then because I have sundry private occasions that call upon me to return For notwithstanding this hast of which I but now spake it will be long ere the Synod will come to determine any thing and about that time if your Honor shall be so pleased I shall be ready to come back to Dort And so remembring my service unto your Honor I humbly take my leave Dort this first of Febr. 1619. stylo novo Your Honors Chaplain and bounden in all Duty and Service Jo. Hales Right Honourable and my very good Lord OUr Synod goes on like a watch the main Wheels upon which the whole business turnes are least in sight For all things of moment are acted in private Sessions what is done in publick is onely for thew and entertainment Upon Munday last the 4th of February stylo novâ—â— the Deputies met privately in the Evening where the first thing that came upon the Stage was that old impertinent business concerning the Campenses at what time Scotlerus a Remonstrant Minister who had been formerly cited to appear before the Synod having not appeared at time appointed pretended sickness and for that cause he required the Synods patient forbearance After