Page:Man of Dunse.pdf/25

Rh as I promised, to consider Mr Frazer's Hobby-horse, which I shall shew he means no more by than a Child does by his Rattle.

Mr Frazer's Hobby-horse is a Church Judicatory, or an Ecclesiastic Court. This is the Thing he plays with through the whole of his Discovery: But honest Soul, he means nothing; I mean his Words have no Meaning. Daniel takes care to shew his Intention by stripping every Church Member of his Conscience; now let once a Man part with the exercise of his Conscience, and it will appear plain that every thing else will be a perfect Hobby-horse. What use is the Word of God or any other Book for, to a Person who makes no Conscience in enquiring into its Meaning, or observing its Dictates: Mr Frazer quotes a Passage from an old Book, where the Rights of Conscience are lodged, in the Hands of the Gentlemen of the Black Cloth. "For Synods and Councils have a Right, ministerially, to determine Matters of Faith and Cases of Conscience." I would not trust a Synod of Angels with that Charge; but to shew that Daniel means nothing by that Quotation, he has taken it on the Word of the Composers; for there is not a Passage in all the New Testament which says any such thing. Solomon says, If thou be wise, thou shall be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it—and Paul says, Have thou Faith, have it for thyself before God—There is not one Word of a Synod determining what any Man