A42757:1152
Aaron's rod blossoming, or, The divine ordinance of church-government vindicated so as the present…Aarons rod blossoming, or, The divine ordinance of church-government vindicated so as the present…
Aaron's rod blossoming, or, The divine ordinance of church-government vindicated so as the present Erastian controversy concerning the distinction of civill and ecclesiastical government, excommunication, and suspension, is fully debated and discussed, from the holy scripture, from the Jewish and Christian antiquities, from the consent of latter writers, from the true nature and rights of magistracy, and from the groundlessness of the chief objections made against the Presbyterial government in point of a domineering arbitrary unlimited power / by George Gillespie ...Aarons rod blossoming, or, The divine ordinance of church-government vindicated so as the present Erastian controversie concerning the distinction of civill and ecclesiasticall government, excommunication, and suspension, is fully debated and discussed, from the holy scripture, from the Jewish and Christian antiquities, from the consent of latter writers, from the true nature and rights of magistracy, and from the groundlesnesse of the chief objections made against the Presbyteriall government in point of a domineering arbitrary unlimited power / by George Gillespie ...
London: printed by E.G. for Richard Whitaker, 1646
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Fourthly, the suffering of a mixture of known wicked persons among the godly in the Church, doth sometime defile us with sin, sometime not. It doth not defile us, when we use all lawful and possible remedies against it, and namely, when we exercise the Discipline of Excommunication, and other Church censures, saith Augustine, lib. contra Donatistas, post collationem, cap. 4. Tom. 7. But it doth defile us, and we do incur sin and wrath, when the means of redressing such known evils are neglected, indisciplinata patientia (it is Augustine's word) so to bear with wicked men, as not to execute discipline against them, that certainly makes us partakers of their sin. I mean in a reformed and well constituted Church, where the thing is feasible. But where it cannot be done, because of persecution, or because of the invincible opposition either of authority, or of a prevalent profane multitude, in that case we have only this comfort left us, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; and, in magnis voluisse sat est.
Fourthly, the suffering of a mixture of known wicked persons among the godly in the Church, doth sometime defile us with sin, sometime not. It doth not defile us, when we use all lawful and possible remedies against it, and namely, when we exercise the Discipline of Excommunication, and other Churchcensures, saith Augustine, lib. contra Donatistas, post collationem, cap. 4. Tom. 7. But it doth defile us, and we do incur sin and wrath, when the means of redressing such known evils are neglected, indisciplinata patientia (it is Augustines word) so to bear with wicked men, as not to execute discipline against them, that certainly makes us partakers of their sin. I mean in a reformed and well constituted Church, where the thing is feasible. But where it cannot be done, because of persecution, or because of the invincible opposition either of authority, or of a prevalent profane multitude, in that case we have onely this comfort left us, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse; and, in magnis voluisse sat est.
Fifthly, neither doth this Question concerning the pollution or profanation, or abuse of the Sacrament, concern those peccata quotidianae incursionis, such sins of infirmity as all the godly, or at least the generality of the godly, are subject unto and guilty of, as long as they are in the world (for then the Sacrament should be polluted to all; for, Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sins?) but only gross and scandalous sins, such as make the Name of God and the profession of Religion to be evil spoken of and reproached, those roots of bitterness which spring up, whereby many are like to be defiled; those that are guilty of such sins, and have given no evidence of