" But,
what was the Synod itself more than human authority? The oath was not
tendered to the Remonstrants; it was declined by the Swiss.
[Sidenote: The Synod of Dort.]
The _24th Session_ was consumed in debates: _on the 25th_,
Episcopius read a long document, and afterwards presented it to the
Synod. He protested in it against the authority of the Synod, and asked
the searching question, whether the Calvinists would "submit to a Synod
of Lutherans?" To this question, no answer was given: an angry
discussion followed.
It continued during _the 27th and 28th Sessions_.
On _the 29th_, the opinions of foreign divines were produced in
favour of the authority of the Synod: those of the English divines, and
the divines of Bremen, were expressed with more moderation than the
others. The divines of Geneva stated, that, "if a person obstinately
refused to submit to the just decisions of the church, he might be
proceeded against in two ways; the _magistrate_ might coerce him,
and the _church_ might publicly excommunicate him as a violator of
the law of God.
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