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truth_n	scripture_n	speak_v	word_n	9,140	5	4.5911	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42357	Protesters no subverters, and presbyterie no papacie; or, A vindication of the protesting brethren, and of the government of the kirk of Scotland from the aspersions unjustly cast upon them, in a late pamphlet of some of the resolution-party, entituled, A declaration, &c. With a discovery of the insufficiency, inequality and iniquity of the things propounded in that pamphlet, as overtures of union and peace. Especially, of the iniquity of that absolute and unlimited submission to the sentences of church-judicatories that is holden forth therein, and most unjustly pleaded to belong to the being and essence of presbyterial government. By some witnesses to the way of the protestation.	Guthrie, James, 1612?-1661, attributed name.	1658 (1658)	Wing G2264; ESTC R221886	66,607	126

thou preach not the Gospel and hath commanded him to eat of His body and drink of His bloud and not to forsake the assembling himself with the Saints of God yet because men pro arbitratu imperio yea because of his adhering to the Truth of God which they have rejected and condemned hath forbidden him so to do That be shall not obey God this is a hard saying who can receive it It is also contary to clear Scripture precedents Ieremiah was often commanded by the Authority both Ecclesiastick and Civil to forbear speaking of the Word of the Lord yet did he give no subjection to the sentence either of the one or of the other but went on in his Ministrie notwithstanding of all the Inhibitions and Censures past against him Chap. 26. ch. 32. ch. 37. and ch. 38. Amos was commanded by Amaziah the Priest to prophesie no more at Bethel because it was the Kings Chappell and the Kings Court yet he did not submit but did counteract that commandment and did continue to prophesie in the Name of the Lord Amos 5. 13 14 15 16. Daniel was commanded to make no petition to any God or Man for thirtie dayes save to King Darius yet did he not submit but counteract by going into his house and opening his Chamber-window towards Ierusalem and kneeling on his knees three times a day and praying and giving thanks before His God as he did aforetime Dan. 6 6 7 8 9 10. The Iews did agree that if any man did confesse that Jesus was the Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue yet did the poor man whose eyes He had opened confesse Him openly and though he was actually cast out for doing of it yet did he not submit but went on to confesse Him still Joh. 9. 22 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38. The Apostles were commanded once and again by the Council at Ierusalem not to speak nor teach any more in the Name of JESUS but they told them that they could not but speak the things which they had seen and heard and that they ought to obey God rather then men and notwithstanding they were first threatened and afterwards imprisoned and thirdly beaten by them for so doing yet did they not submit nor forbear but daily in the Temple and from house to house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ Act. 4. 19 20 21. Act. 5. 17 18 29 40 42. Paul being accused first before Festus and afterwards before Felix the Roman Deputies That he was a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition amongst the Iews throughout the world and a ring-leader of the Sect of the Nazarens who also had gone about to profane the Temple Did not only appeal to Cesar but went on in his course and preached the Gospel and preached that the Iews killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and persecuted the Apostles and pleased not God and were contrary to all men Act. 24. 5 6. Act. 25. 7 8 9 10. 1 Thess. 2. 15. 3. This submission dethroneth Jesus Christ who only hath power over the consciences of men to bind them by His Authority by attributing such a Power and Authority to Church-Judicatorics as doth bind mens consciences upon their meer arbitrement and pleasure for we must be subject because they will have it so though the reason why they command this subjection to wit our supposed delinquencie be a meer non ens and such as hath no foundation in truth and equity If it be told us that the conscience is not bound because the judgement is still left free and the outward acts only restrained We would have our Brethren to remember that some of themselves and others who did oppose conformity to the Ceremonies did tell the Prelats and their party when they used this defence against the argument taken from binding the conscience to wit That if the bare Authority of an Ecclesiasticall Law without any other reason then the will and pleasure of men be made to restrain us in the use of things which are in themselves indifferent then is Christian liberty taken away and if so in things indifferent how much more is it so in things necessary such as keeping fellowship with the Assembly of the Saints in publick Prayers and Praises and eating and drinking at the Table of the Lord and preaching the Gospel c the practice whereof are things commanded of God unto persons duely qualified and instructed thereunto If it be said That these things cease to be obliging duties to such a person hic nunc and that the sentence of the Church commanding him to abstain looseth him from the obedience that he doth otherwise owe unto the Commandment of God we desire a warrant from the Scripture of Truth for such Doctrine as that which preferreth the Commandments of men unto the Commandments of God and say That it is better to obey men than God Shall the sole will and meer pleasures of men loose a man from the obligation he oweth unto the Commandments of God If so let us no more blame the Pope for dispensing with divine Laws I cannot abstain from taking Christ's body and bloud or from preaching the Gospel saith the innocent man unjustly sentenced because I am thereunto called and commanded of God But saith the Synod or Kirk-judicatory We have commanded you to abstain and therefore you should abstain and may be satisfied in your conscience so to do because our Command looseth you from the Commandment of God Hence a fourth Argument 4. This submission concludeth a man under a necessity of sinning against God by omitting those necessary duties that are commanded him of God upon a non-relevant reason to wit the meer will and pleasure of men to whom God hath given no power against the Truth but for the Truth no power to destruction but to edification 5. If such a submission be due to the Judicatories of the Kirk in matters of Discipline and Government We do not see how it is not also due unto them in matters of Doctrine and Worship The authoritative and juridical power belonging to Classes and Synods is threefold Dogmatick Diatactick and Critick Dogmatick in reference to matters of Faith and Rules of Worship which God hath laid down and prescribed to us in His Word and the inconsistency of heresies errors and corruptions therewith Diatactick in reference to external order and policy in matters circumstantial relating to time place and persons the conveniency whereof is determinable by the light of Nature and Christian prudence and the general Rules of the Word such as these That we should do all to the glory of God to the edification of the Church and in order and decency c. Critick in reference to the repressing of Scandal Error Heresie Schism Obstinacie and Contempt and preserving of the Purity of the Truth and Holinesse of Conversation and Unity of Judgment and Affection in the Church of God by exercising the spiritual

though we cannot say that they are or ought to be so self-denied that they would not have wished it to have been so yet did they never expect such a Commission as should wholly consist of men according to their mind nor was that ever any of their Propositions to his Highness directly or indirectly Yea their Propositions did not contain that qualification as to any of them And we can also say That though they had been mostly or wholly of that mind there would have been room and encouragement for men of our Brethrens judgement both to continue and enter into the Ministrie Thus now have we answered that first and great prejudice wherewith our Brethrens Paper and it seemeth their spirits are fraughted against the protesting Brethren to wit That they do not only dissent from but also that they have it in their thoughts and design to subvert and destroy the established Government of the Kirk of Scotland by Presbyteries and Synods and that their practices do manifestly tend thereunto And in this we have been the larger not only because we have more then probable ground to look upon it as the great scope of our Brethrens Paper to fill and possess this Church and the Churches abroad with this opinion of these Brethren that they are indeed such a shrewd party as they describe them to be that so they may acquit and justifie the resolution Brethren in all that they have hitherto done or shall hereafter do against them but also because if there be any remnants of real inclinations in our Brethrens bosoms to a Peace approven of God and tending to edification we did conceive it necessary to endeavor though with much weaknesse to roll out of their way that great rock of offence which they have by their own mistakes so long and so much stumbled upon unto the making of them halt more and more day by day in their affections towards the protesting Brethren There be yet two prejudices more which we find in their Declaration that we shall more briefly speak unto one is That they have begun a needlesse rent in the Church upon a question so extrinseck to our Doctrine Worship and Government so they speak in the fourth page of their Declaration and in the third page they call it a tossing about a debate now so far removed out of our way To which we answer first Whatever be the nature of the Question about the publick Resolutions it is certain and manifest that the Rent thereupon was begun by the resolution Brethren because they did in a surreptitious meeting of some of the Commissioners of the General Assembly without giving timous and due warning to others in the year 1651. suddenly take these Resolutions when the whole Church of Scotland was in possession of and by solemn Covenants and Vows engaged to the Truths to which these Resolutions are contrary and destructive 2. This Question is not so extrinsick to our Doctrine Worship and Government as our Brethren would make the world believe it doth involve a portion of the precious Truth of God which he hath been pleased to reveal and hold forth in His Word for the edification of His Church and People that they may know what they ought to do and what they ought not to do in the case of intrusting of known wicked malignant men enemies to Truth and Godlinesse with the interests of the Lords Work and People And this Truth as it hath all along since the Reformation from Popery been taught and holden forth by the Kirk of Scotland so hath the preservation and practice thereof been judged necessary for preserving the rest of the Doctrine and the Worship and Government in their purity and from the pollutions and corruptions which evil men use to bring in or give way unto yea this very thing as our Brethren do well know was no small part of the controversie all along from the year 1638. betwixt the wel-affected and the Popish and Prelaticall and Malignant party they may take One instance of many to wit the desires of the Commission of the General Assembly in Anno 1648. concerning the unlawfull Engagement amongst which that about the qualification of instruments was one of the chief We desire them to remember what spirit that man would have beenjudged of who in the Assembly Anno 1650. should have pleaded that to be a question much extrinsick to our Doctrine Worship and Government and that it would furnish just ground of complaint against the Assembly if they should because thereof divide from the Parliament which carried on that unlawfull Engagement in war against England 3. If our Brethren do indeed judge this question to be so extrinsick to our Doctrine Worship and Government How cometh it to passe that they are so tenacious of the determinations of their Assemblies about it If Doctrine and Worship and Government may be preserved intire without it may they not for the Peace of the Church condescend to take course that these Determinations shall not be looked upon as the definitive judgement of this Kirk or any of the Judicatories thereof in these matters And how cometh it to passe that upon a question so extrinsick they did make and still keep up against Ministers Elders Expectants and Professours Acts imporrting so severe censures against those who do not submit to the Determinations of their Assemblies concerning these things Next If the question be so extrinsick how cometh it that they sometime place the standing or falling of this Church therein and now again they would make it of no moment But further we say The subject matter of these debates is not so far removed out of the way as our Brethren do talk but do still continue in many respects 1. In regard of the sin and guilt thereof which hath not been taken-with nor repented-of till this day And as the resolution Brethren judge it hard for the protesting Brethren to be satisfied with nothing unlesse they do repent of that as a sin which in their consciences they judge to be a duty So they must give leave to the protesting Brethren to judge it hard that the Church of which they are Members and Ministers should lye under the guilt of a publick transgression and under great and sore wrath because thereof and they in the mean while not be permitted to discover her iniquity therein that her captivity may be turned away especially when they are engaged by Covenant so to do 2. These Resolutions do continue in regard of the Synodicall approbation and tye thereof upon all the Members of this Kirk 3. They do continue in regard of the Acts which were made for carrying on thereof to wit those which appoint censures against all the Members of this Kirk who do not approve of the Authority of that Assembly at Saint Andrews and Dundee and submit to the Acts and Constitutions thereof 4. They do continue in regard of the publick Warnings Remonstrances and Declarations of the Commission

iniquity whereof we shall afterward discover But leaving these generall considerations we shall take notice of the insufficiencie inequality and iniquity of their proposals for Union and Peace First They are insufficient because 1. There is no remedie unlesse it be a mock-remedie holden forth therein as to the matter of the publick Resolutions and the corrupt constitution of the two pretended Assemblies at Saint Andrews and Dundee and Edinburgh for preventing the like corrupt constitution for the time to come which things they know to be two great grounds of the protesting Brethren their grievances These Brethren do in the conference at Edinburgh Novemb 8. 1655. propound and desire That the Acts of the Commission of the General Assembly 1650. concerning the publick Resolutions and their Declarations and Warnings and Acts resulting thereupon and the Declarations and Acts of the two late contraverted Assemblies of Dundee and Edinburgh and all other Declarations and Acts in Presbyteries and Synods that are the results thereof be rendered of none effect in order to censure past or to come and also so far as they do import or may be alleaged as the publick definitive judgement of this Kirk or of any of the Iudicatories thereof anent the matters contained therein and that they be not re-acted in any time hereafter Next that it be declared That the two controverted Assemblies at Saint Andrews and Dundee and Edinburgh shall be as to their constitution in the things protested and excepted against no precedent nor prejudice to the constitution of future Generall Assemblies Of all that is contained in these desires they do only proffer a cessation from the execution of these Acts whereby a barr is laid in the way to keep men who are not of their judgement from the Ministerie and that they shall agree that they be made void and null by the next Generall Assembly If it be said that they do also agree that the matter concerning the publick Resolutions be remitted to the Determination of a Generall Assembly It is true they do so and that is the mock-remedie we spoke of conceiving we have just reason to call it so not only because in the same place they will have it an Assembly according to the established order which being expounded according to the Acts of their two late Assemblies importeth an admitting of such only to be Members who do acknowledge the constitution and submit to the Acts of these Assemblies that ratified these Resolutions and the things relating thereunto all others by their established order being incapable to be chosen Members but also because they are sure to have an Assembly according to their mind the plurality of Presbyteries being of that judgement and the protesting Brethren being as they call them but a small number in comparison of these who are for the publick Resolutions But haply some will say That the resolution Brethren cannot without quitting of their judgement condescend that the publick Resolutions shall not hereafter be looked upon or acknowledged as the publick definitive judgement of the Kirk of Scotland We know that themselves do so say but of this we could never hear a satisfying reason from them and we believe men of more piercing judgements then we are shall hardly reach it Is the repealing of one Act of that Assembly to which they did vote and which they do still in their judgements approve as just and equitable upon the matter a quitting of their judgements more then the repealing of another to which they did also vote and do still approve of They are content for the peace of the Church to repeal these Acts that do relate to the censuring of such as do oppose these Resolutions and this they can do without condemning or quitting of their judgement And may they not also without condemning or quitting of their judgement for the peace of the Church repeal these Acts that declare these Resolutions to be the definitive sentence of the Kirk of Scotland this would not be a quitting or altering their judgments concerning the things themselves but only the taking-off the Synodicall or Juridicall tye not because of any error in the things themselves but upon other extrinsick considerations a thing very ordinary in Judicatories both Civil and Ecclesiastick And we believe unbyassed men will think that our Brethren who professe and publish the matter of the publick Resolutions to be a question so extrinsick to our Doctrine Worship and Government and a debate now so far removed out of our way are bound the rather so to do because our Doctrine Worship and Government can receive no prejudice by taking-off a Synodicall tye in matters of opinion that are so extrinsick thereto If our resolution Brethren do indeed judge them so extrinsick and yet will not herein condescend they give more then cause even to indifferent men to apprehend that all their professions for and pretensions unto Peace are but professious and pretensious or else that they mean to hold up the tottering foundations of these rotten Resolutions in order to some new fabrick that they intend to build thereupon when opportunity shall serve unto the producing of the like or worse divisions and persecutions in the Church then they have formerly brought forth Secondly These Proposals of theirs are unsufficient because they do contain or hold forth no effectuall means for purging of the Lords House of insufficient and scandalous and corrupt Ministers and Elders which is one of the main desires propounded by the protesting Brethren and one of the most necessary duties that lyeth upon the Church at this time there being so many of that sort in the Land they do in this particular give them a number of good words but when they are compared with their practices and performances they shall be found but words and no more they tell them that they do not contravert with them in this businesse having often professed their willingnesse to go about that work in the most strict way according to justice and the common rules of Church-Iudicatories in such cases and that they have not only often intreated them to unite upon this very account that the work of purging might be carried-on more effectually but have upon all occasions of any report of scandall or insufficiencie laid forth themselves to the utmost to try and examine the truth thereof and have not been wanting in inflicting due censure for any thing that at any time was found When we read these words our spirits were filled with astonishment and grief and what answer to return to such asseverations we do not know unlesse it be to commit the cause unto God who knoweth their way in these matters and whether they have made conscience of the work of purging these seven years past or have neglected and obstructed the same yea have in a great measure undone what was formerly done therein How few insufficient scandalous Ministers since the birth of these publick Resolutions to this day have been removed

thereunto in the literall and genuine sense and meaning thereof which were propounded by the Brethren for the Protestation in the Conference at Edinburgh November 1655. as conducible and fit means to the making up of a solid Union and well-grounded Peace In the next place we desire it to be considered Whether these Overtures of Union and Peace propounded by these Brethren be not very unequall It hath been and is their manner to professe and print that they are willing to offer very equall tearms of Peace So in the ninth page of this Declaration That they have already offered that t●…ough they hold fast their own judgment yet they will not impose upon the Protesting Brethren their judgments in the matter of their first difference But these professions notwithstanding they do in sundry particulars impose upon their judgment As first in the matter of the Protestation They do require that these Brethren do declare that their Protestations against the two late controverted Assemblies and their Resolutions and Acts therunto relating shall not hereafter be made use of in any Judicatory of this Kirk for continuing as they are pleased to expresse it or holding up debates about the matter of our present differences So in their Paper of the sixteenth of November 1655. in the Conference at Edinburgh which in another Paper of the 24. of November at that Conference they expound thus That their meaning is that they shall not make use of these Protestations in any Judicatory to call in question and anul the Constitution and Authority of these two late Assemblies which if the protesting Brethren should consent unto would upon the matter make them to condemn their own judgement and infer their passing from and renouncing of these Protestations in so far as they might be a remedie against the corrupt Constitution of these two Assemblies in order to which they did conceive themselves bound in duty and conscience to make them yea it should with their consent make way to establish for the future the Constitution and Authority of these two Assemblies because it should with their own consent take out of the way all the legall barr that is standing against that Constitution and Authority Secondly What greater imposing can there be upon their judgements or what more unequal conditions of Peace can be propounded unto them then to require that they should engage themselves to an absolute and unlimited submission to the Sentences of the Kirk-judicatories especially when the Resolution Brethren are not only the plurality in most of the Judicatories but when many of them are not such for qualification and carriage as they ought to be What were this but to give-up their judgments and consciences unto the meer arbitriment and will of men to be imposed upon by them and ruled at their pleasure Thirdly How unequal a Proposal is it that the matters in difference shall be referred and submitted to the determination of the next General Assembly when most of the Ministers of the Land of whom that Assembly is in all probability to be made up how contrary to the Covenant and many Acts and Declarations of former uncontroverted Assemblies is already declared have engaged themselves many wayes for these Resolutions which are the ground of the difference These few particulars may make it appear that the Resolution Brethren do not walk with an equal and even ●…oot in their Proposals We mean they do not offer such tearms of Peace as are equally free of imposing upon either party or do equally ye●…ld as much as they require which we do not take notice of as if this were a commendable and approven way in the things of God we judge it but the effect of the wisdom of the flesh and to smell rankly of a carnal poltick spirit to half and divide the thiugs of God for making Peace amongst men But to discover that our Brethren do not walk up to their own professions in the matter of Union and Peace and that whilest they would make the Nation and the World believe that they offer equal Conditions and do not desire in any thing to impose upon their Brethren yet their Conditions are very unequal and that they would highly impose upon them But if the Overtures for Union and Peace propounded by these Brethren were insufficient and unequall only though upon these two branches there be just ground for the Protesting Brethren to deny them entertainment yet were they more tolerable if they did not involve injustice and iniquity which might be shewed in sundry particulars But this Answer having drawn to a greater length then was at first intended we shall now only speak to that one in which these Brethren assert the essence and being of Presbyteriall Government to consist and for denying of which they hold forth the Protesting Brethren as men that have receded from their former principles and have in their judgments and practises turned adversaries to the very being of the Government to wit That arbitary and unlimited submission to the Sentences of the Church-judicatories in matters of Discipline and Government which is required by these Brethren We have already spoke unto the state of the question and have shewed how far submission to the Sentences of the Judicatories of the Kirk is condescended and y●…lded unto by the Protesting Brethren as also how far it is urged and required by the Brethren for the Resolutions and what Reasons and Grounds they do bring for their judgement in that particular to which we have answered It now remaineth that we should bring these Reasons that seem to plead the unwarrantableness and iniquity of that Submission required by them that if they can conveniently satisfie therein they may be receded from or if otherwise that they may cease to urge that matter any further or at least that indifferent persons may know that it is not refused but upon weighty reasons Before we propound our Argument we shall premise some common and known truths concerning Church Judicatories and their Decrees and Sentences As 1. That to express it in Calvins words in the eight chap. of the fourth book of his Institutions whatsoever reverence or dignity is by the Spirit of God in the Scriptures given whether to the Priests o●… Prophets or Apostles or their successors all of it is given not properly to men themselves but to the Ministery wherewhtih they are clothed or to speak more expeditly to the Word the Ministery wherof is committed unto them Exod. 3. 4. Exod. 14. 31. Deut. 17. ●… Mal. 2. 46. Deut. 17. 10. Ezek. 3. 17. Ier. 23. 28. Ier. 1. 6. Matth. 28. 19. Acts 15. 10 c. 2. That as their Authority is founded upon and wholy derived from the Word of God so in the administration and exercise thereof thy are in all things to walk according to this rule Isa. 8. 19 20. Mal. 2. 6 7. Matth. 28. 19. 3. That Church-power is not a Lordly and Magisterialpower but a Lowly and Ministerial-power not

censures of Admonition Suspension from the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper Excommunication and Suspension and Deposition from the Ministery Now all these Powers being authoritative and in their determinations and exercise confined unto and circumscribed within the bounds of the Word of God for their rule and being given to the Church for edification and not for destruction We would desire from our Brethren a Reason why the Critick-power should be more binding than the other or why submission is due to an unjust sentence proceeding from the Critick-power whilest it is not due to any erroneous or corrupt Decree proceeding from the Dogmatick or Diatactick power Hath God put more honour and respect upon the last than upon the two first Or hath He given greater latitude in the exercise of the last nor of the two first or is the last binding by th●… meer will and arbitrement of men whil●…st the two fi●…st bind only when agreeable to the Word of God If our Brethren do so judge We desire to know where these foundations of difference betwixt these powers are written or what they do bring for them from the Book of God or how in reason they can consist when the last shall be contrary to the two first And if this submission be equally due to the judicatories of the Kirk in all the three then if they shall determine that Justification by Faith alone is an error That Communion under both kinds is not necessary That kneeling is a necessary gesture at the Sacrament That it is necessary to forbear working on Yuleday and to keep it holy and such like We are bound not to professe nor preach nor act con●…rary to these their determinations which were to be ashamed of and to deny the Lord Jesus and His Word before men and to bring upon our souls the dreadfull Gospel-curse of His denying and being ashamed of us before His Father and the Angels which are in Heaven Matth. 10. 33. Mark 8. 38. Luke 26. 6. But upon supposal that this submission were not due to the Decrees of the Church in matters of Doctrine Worship and external Order by vertue of the Dogmatick and Diatactick power in themselves yet the asserting of it in matters of Discipline shall also necessarily infer the asserting of it in matters of Doctrine and Worship and external Order The Commissioners of the Gen. Assembly 1650. did declare That a great company and faction of wicked men sons of Belial being subjects may and ought in the case of necessity be imployed in a Christian Army and Covenanted Nation for the defence of Religion and the Country And the Assembly at St. Andrews and Dundee in anno 1651. do by vertue of their Dogmatick-power approve of and ratifie this Doctrine and Declaration and do withall by their Critick-power appoint and ordain That whosoever will not submit to this Determination but shall oppose by professing or preaching otherwise shall be proceeded against with the censures of the Kirk We ask whether these censures being put in execution by suspension from the Sacrament against these who professe otherwise or by Suspension or Deposition from the Ministery against those who preach otherwise if this submission which is required being given to these censures will not necessarily infer that they must not continue to profess or preach any more so And if this by necessary consequence be not an absolute submission to the Dogmatick-power aswell as to the Critick Or let us take it in the case of Athanasius who was deposed and excommunicated for professing and preaching and pleading Jesus Christ to be the consubstantial Son of God or in the case of a person suspended from the Sacrament or deposed from the Ministery because of their professing and preaching against kneeling at the Communion Will not such submission to these sentences as excludes all counteracting unlesse it be to appeal necessarily infer submission to the Decrees themselves so as the person censured must be silenced and not professe nor preach nor plead any more for the one Truth nor against the other Error 7. To wave a little that which concerneth private and particular persons We offer it to consideration whether inferiour Kirk-judicatories are subordinate to the greater and superiour simply and absolutely because they are greater and superiour or because the inferiour have no intrinsical power given them by Jesus Christ but in and wi●…h subordination to the greater because greater If so it would seem that all the inferiour Judicatories of the Kirk Congregational-Elderships Presbyteries and Provincial Synods must befenced and act in the name and by vertue of the authority derived from the General Assembly as all those Civil Courts that have no intrinsick power in themselves but in and with subordination to the supream Civil Magistrate are fenced in his Name and act by vertue of his Authority Inferiour Kirk-judicatories being Ordinances of Jesus Christ have the promise made to them when they meet in His Name and do adhere to His Truth Mat. 18 18 19. And if so shall the sentence of the superiour Judicatory when wrong upon the matter oblige them to submission If a Presbyterie or a Synod with the consent of the Presbyterie do in an orderly way of procedure cast-out an heterodox and scandalous Minister Must they because the Synod or General Assembly doth sustain his unjust appeal be obliged in conscience again to receive him as a member of the Presbyterie or Synod and acknowledge him for a lawfull Minister of the Gospel or if they have in an orderly way of procedure admitted an able orthodoxe godly man to the Ministrie Must they because the superiour Judicatory commands them so to do cease to acknowledge him or own him for one of their number or as a Minister of the Gospel if so it seemeth to be an ill-grounded Truth that is commonly delivered by some Divines writing of Synods That the power of Synods is not corruptive privative or destructive to the power of Classical Presbyteries or single Congregations but perfective acumulative and conservative thereunto 8. What is denyed jure to oecomenick Councels and so lawfully called Prophets and Ministers of the Gospel to Nathan to David to Paul to an Angel from heaven Gal. 1. 8. cannot warrantably be given to General Assemblies If oecomenick Counsels lawfully called Ministers if Nathan if Samuel if Paul if an Angel teach or decree but according to the Word of the Lord we are to counteract and to contradict Gal. 1. 8. But though we or an Angel from heaven preach to you {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} beside what we have preached let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. Therefore c. 9. What is proprium quarto modo to the Scripture of Truth it cannot warrantably be given to the Judicatories of the Kirk but not to be counteracted nor contradicted is proprium quarto modo to the Scriptures of Truth these being the only infallible rule in matters of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government Isa. 8.