A42757:219
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.
When I make mention of any particular heads, either of the Jewish Discipline, or of the ancient Christian discipline, let no man understand me, as if I intended the like Strictness of Discipline in these days. My meaning is only, to prove Ecclesiastical censures, and an Ecclesiastical Government. And let this be remembered upon all like occasions; though it be not everywhere expressed. And so much for the causes.
When I make mention of any particular heads, either of the Jewish Discipline, or of the ancient Christian discipline, let no man understand me, as if I intended the like Strictnesse of Discipline in these dayes. My meaning is onely, to prove Ecclesiasticall censures, and an Ecclesiasticall Government. And let this be remembred upon all like occasions; though it be not everywhere expressed. And so much for the causes.
The degrees of the Jewish excommunication, were [Greek or Hebrew] Niddui, [Greek or Hebrew] Cherem, [Greek or Hebrew] Schammata. Elijah in Tisbite, saith plainly that there were three kinds of excommunication, Niddui, Cherem, and Schammata. Niddui is […] out; but if he be not converted, they smite him with Cherem; and if neither so he repent, they schammatize him. These three Doctor Buxtorf thus distinguisheth, not only out of Elijah, the common sentence of the but Hebrew Doctors. The first and smallest excommunication is Niddui, which is a simple separation for a certain time. The greater excommunication is Cherem, which▪ is a separation with imprecations and curses. The greatest of all is Schammata, a final excommunication, without hope of returning to the Church. So likewise Hen. Uorstius animad. in Pirke pag. 230. And answerably hereunto some Divines have distinguished Excommunicatio Minor, Major, and Maxima. The first is suspension from the Sacrament. The second is a casting out ⟨p. 45⟩of the Church, and a delivering over to Satan: which yet is a medicinal excommunication for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. The third is Anathema Maranatha, an accursing of a man to the coming of Christ, without hope of mercy; which is excommunicatio exterminativa, and cannot be done, without a prophetical Spirit. Corn. Bertramus de repub. Ebraeor cap. 7. saith that our suspension from the Sacrament answereth to their Niddui: our Excommunication to their Cherem. And for their Schammata, he thinks it was an adjudging of one to eternal death; whereunto answereth the Apostles Anathema, and the Churches devoting of Julian the Apostate, as one to be no more prayed for, but to be prayed against. Munsterus will have Schammata to be the same with Niddui. Wherein Master Selden agreeth with him, still holding a difference between Niddui, and Cherem, as between the lesser, and the greater excommunication: de Jure nat. & Gentium, l. 4. c. 8. Of the same opinion is Jo. Coch, Annot. in Exc. Gem. Sanhedrin. p. 149. But Constantinus l' Empereur annot. in rempub. Jud. tells us, that the Talmudists in divers places, do distinguish the three degrees of Excommunication, as Bertramus doth; and that Schammata was the highest Excommunication, greater then either Niddui or Cherem, he proves not only by the Epitheton adonai added by the Chaldee paraphrase Num.