A42757:172
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.
for it followeth in that same Story, • Chro. 28. 1. And David assembled all the Princes of Israel, the Princes of the Tribes, and the Captains of the Companies that ministered to the King by course, & the Captains over the thousands, &c. Nor yet will any man say, that the Levites were Officers over the charge, and Judges of the same kind, in the same manner, or for the same ends, with the civill Rulers and Judges, or the military Commanders; or that there was no distinction between the ruling power of the Princes, and the ruling power of the Levites. Where then shall the difference lie, if not in this, that there was an Ecclesiastical Government, besides the Civill and Military? I grant those Levites did rule and judge not only in all the business of the Lord, but also in the service of the King, 1 Chro. 26. 30, 32. But the reason was, because the Jews had no other civill Law, but Gods own Law, which the Priests and Levites were to expound. So that it was proper for that time, and there is not the like reason that the Ministers of Jesus Christ in the New Testament should judge or rule in civill affairs: (nay it were contrary to the rule of Christ and his Apostles for us to do so) yet the Levites their judging and governing in all the business of the Lord, is a pattern left for the entrusting of Church officers in the New Testament with a power of Church government: there being no such reason for it, as to make it peculiar to the old Testament, and not common to the New.
for it followeth in that same Story, • Chro. 28. 1. And David assembled all the Princes of Israel, the Princes of the Tribes, and the Captains of the Companies that ministred to the King by course, & the Captains over the thousands, &c. Nor yet wil any man say, that the Levites were Officers over the charge, and Judges of the same kind, in the same manner, or for the same ends, with the civill Rulers and Judges, or the military Commanders; or that there was no distinction between the ruling power of the Princes, and the ruling power of the Levites. Where then shall the difference lie, if not in this, that there was an Ecclesiasticall Government, besides the Civill and Military? I grant those Levites did rule and judge not onely in all the businesse of the Lord, but also in the service of the King, 1 Chro. 26. 30, 32