quid minus, itaque quae ab ecclesia proficiscuntur, admonitiones potius et hortationes dici debent, quam leges._ And after, he says of ecclesiastical authority, _tenetur reddere paerscripti rationem._ “I grant (saith Paybody(148)) it is unlawful to do, in God’s worship, anything upon the mere pleasure of man.” Chemnitius(149) taketh the Tridentine fathers for not expounding _rationes decreti._ Junius observeth,(150) that in the council of the apostles, mention was made of the reason of their decree. And a learned historian observeth(151) of the ancient councils, that there were in them, reasonings, colloquies, discussions, disputes, yea, that whatsoever was done or spoken, was called the acts of the council, and all was given unto all. _Caeterum_ (saith Danaeus(152)) _quoniam ut ait Tertullianus in Apologetico, iniqua lex est quae se examinari non patitur; non tam vi cogere homines ad obsequium quam ratione persuadere debent cae leges, quae scribuntur à pio nomotheta. Ergo fere sunt duae cujusvis legis partes, quemadmodum etiam Plato,_ lib. 4, _de legibus scribit, nimirum praefacio __ et lex ipsa,_ _i.e._ _jussio lege comprehensa. Praefatio causam affert, cur hominum negotiis sic prospiciatur._ Ecclesiastical authority should prescribe what it thinks fit, _Magis docendo, quam jubendo; magis monendo, quam minando,_ as Augustine speaketh.(153) _Non oportet vi vel necessitate constringere, sed ratione et vitae exemplis suadere,_ saith Gregory Nazianzen,(154) speaking of ecclesiastical regiment. They, therefore, who give their will for a law, and their authority for a reason, and answer all the arguments of opponents, by bearing them down with the force of a public constitution and the judgment of superiors, to which theirs must be conformed, do rule the Lord’s flock “with force and with cruelty,” Ezek. xxxiv. 4; “as lords over God’s heritage,” 1 Pet. v. 3.