A42757:178
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.
5. This Court had an Ecclesiastical Prolocutor or moderator, V. 11. Amariah the chief Priest is over you in all matters of the Lord: Whereas Zebadiah the Ruler of the house of Judah, was Speaker in the civill Sanhedrin for all the Kings matters. Amariah and Zebadiah were not only with the Sanhedrin, as members, or as Councillors, but over them as Presidents. Eis summos Magistratus ([Greek or Hebrew]) ex amicorum numero praeposuit, Amasiam Sacerdotem, & ex Judae tribu Zebadiam, saith Josephus antiq. l. 9. cap. 1. Erastus confesseth pag. 273. that both of them were Presidents set over the Sanhedrin. and pag. 275. Si Sacerdotem in Dei nomine, Zebadiam autem Regis praesedisse affirmetur, non refragabor. He confesseth also, that the one was more especially to take care of the Lords matters, the other of the Kings matters. What then? He saith they were Presidents both of them to the whole Sanhedrin, not the one to one number, and the other to another. Yet in this he yieldeth also p. 273. Quanquam non peccet forte, qui Senatores hos per officia distributos di•at, ut alii magis haec, alii magis illa negotia tractarint. Whosoever denieth that that place proveth two distinct Courts, he may be convinced from this one reason, and I shall say to him in the words of Bildad, Jo• […]. 8. Enquire I pray thee of the former age, and prepare thy self to the s•arch of their fathers: and in the Prophets words, Jerem. 2. 10. Pass over the Isles of Chittim, and see, and send unto Kedar and consider diligently: and see if there be such a thing. Where was it ever heard of, that a Priest was President of a Cou•t, and that in sacred things and causes; that a civill Magistrate was president of a Court, and that in civill causes: and yet not two Courts, but one Court? If both Courts had materially consisted of the same members, of the same Priests, and of the same fathers of Israel, (which yet cannot be proved) this very diversification of the Presidents, and of the subject ⟨p. 18⟩matter, (if there were no more) will prove two Courts formally distinct. Even as now among our selves the same men may be members of two, or three, or four, or more Courts, but the distinction of Presidents, and of the subject matter, maketh the Court distinct.