A42757:184
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.
Seventhly, consider another place, Ezech. 7. 26. Then shall they seek a vision of the Prophet: but the Law shall perish from the Priest, and counsel from the ancients. Here again, these are to be looked upon collectively and conjunctly, (not di•tributively and severally) and this I prove from the Text it self, not only because the counsel here sought for, was not to be given by one ancient, but by the ancients, yea i• was a principal part of the curse or judgement, that counsel could not be had from an assembly of ancients or Elders, suppose it might be had from some individual Elders here or there:) but also because the Antithesis in the Text intimateth a disappointment in that thing which was sought after. They shall seek a vision from the Prophet, or (as the Chaldee hath it) discipline from the Scribe. This they shall not find, and why? because the Law shall perish from the Priest, and counsel from the Ancients. It was therefore Consistorial or Synedricall counsel, Judgement, or Discipline, which should be sought, but should not be found. So that though a Prophet of the Lord shall peradventure be found, who can reveal the counsel of the Lord, in a time of general defection, like Micaiah contradicting the 400 Prophets, yet an Ecclesiastical council of Prophets, Scribes, Priests, and Elders, sometime Israels glory, shall turn to be Israels shame, ⟨p. 23⟩and that assembly which did sometime respondere d• jure, and pronounce righteous judgement, and give light in difficult cases, shall do so no more: the very light of Israel shall be darkness; the law and counsel shall perish from them; that is, they shall not find counsel, nor the understanding of the law, saith Sanctius. Polanus upon the place draweth an Argument against the infallibility of counsels, because the law and counsel did perish not only (saith he) from the Priests here and there in the Cities, but also from the high Priest, and the other Priests and Elders, who were together at Jerusalem. If this Text be rightly applied by him (and so it is by other Protestant Writers) to prove against Papists that Councils may err, then here was an Ecclesiastical council.