A42757:413
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.
First, the Law Deut. 23. being read to the people Nebem. 13. 3. upon the hearing of that law they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. It is not to be imagined that all this mixed multitude was married to Jews, much less that they were all Magistrates, Rulers, or members of Courts and Judicatures in Israel. But by the mixed multitude are meant all such as were in Israel but not of Israel, or such as conversed and dwelt among the Jews and had civill fellowship with them, but had no part nor portion (by right) in Church-membership and Communion: in which sense also the mixed multitude is mentioned Exod. 12. 38. Num. 11. 4. Secondly, that this separation from Israel is to be understood in a spiritual and ecclesiastical sense, it appeareth by the instance and application immediately added Neb. 13. 4. to vers. 10. And before this, that is, before this separation, Eliashih the Priest being allied unto Tobiah had prepared for him a chamber in the Courts of the house of God, but now when the separation of the mixed multitude was made; Nehemiah did east out the stuff of Tobiah, and commanded to cleanse the chambers of the Temple which had been defiled by Tobiah. Behold an instance of the separation in reference to the Temple or holy place, not to any civill Court. Thirdly, the Chaldee paraphrase helpeth me Deut. 23. 1, 2, 3. for instead of these words, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, Onkelos readeth shall not be clean to enter into the congregation of the Lord; having respect to the law which did forbid unclean persons to enter into the Temple. Ita isti mundi reputabantur; ⟨p. 151⟩so likewise were these (Ammonites, Moabites, bastards, &c.) esteemed as unclean, saith Tostatus in Deut. 23. quaest. 1. Fourthly, Edomites and Egyptians might enter into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation Deut. 22. 7, 8. Was the meaning, that Edomites and Egyptians should in the third generation marry with the Jews, or be Magistrates in Israel, members of the Sanhedrin, or Judges? He that will think so, will hardly prove that it was so. To me it is not at all probable, that God would allow his people either to marry with the Edomites and Egyptians, or to prefer them to be Magistrates and Judges in Israel, no not in the third generation.