And further, they assert, that the office-bearers of the Lord's house,
are, according to the command, and in the name and authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only Lawgiver and King of his church, and by virtue of
the church's intrinsic power derived from Christ, to assemble,
constitute and adjourn these several courts of his house, nominate the
fixed or occasional times of their subsequent meetings, as the church's
condition or exigencies require; although they grant that the Christian
magistrate may, in extraordinary cases, or otherwise, call together a
synod of ministers, and ether fit persons, for consultation and advice
in religious matters: but in which they have no power to judge or
determine in matters of faith; but only discretively to examine, whether
the synod's determinations and decisions be consonant and agreeable to
scripture, and accordingly to acquiesce therein; Isa. ix, 6, 7; Ezek.
xliii, 10, 11; Acts xv, 2, 4, 6; 1 Tim. v, 17; Heb. xiii, 17; 2 Chron.
xix, 8-11; Acts xvii, 11; Confess, chap.
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