A42757:457
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.
The fifth shall be this: 'Tis far from our meaning, that the Christian Magistrate should not meddle with matters of Religion, or things and causes Ecclesiastical, and that he is to take care of the Common-wealth, but not of the Church. Certainly there is much power and Authority which by the Word of God, and by the Confessions of Faith of the Reformed Churches, doth belong to the Christian Magistrate in matters of Religion. Which I do but now touch by the way, so far as is necessary to wipe off the aspersion cast upon ⟨p. 182⟩Presbyterial Government. The particulars I refer to Chapter 8.
Our sixth Concession is, That in extraordinary cases, when Church-government doth degenerate into tyranny, ambition, and avarice; and they who have the managing of the Ecclesiastical power, make defection and fall into manifest Heresy, Impiety, or Injustice, (as under Popery and Prelacy it was for the most part:) then, and in such cases (which we pray and hope we shall never see again) the Christian Magistrate may and ought to do diverse things in and for Religion, and interpose his Authority diverse ways, so as doth not properly belong to his cognizance, decision, and administration, ordinarily, and in a Reformed and well constituted Church. For extraordinary diseases must have extraordinary remedies. More of this before.
Our sixth Concession is, That in extraordinary cases, when Church-government doth degenerate into tyranny, ambition, and avarice; and they who have the managing of the Ecclesiastical power, make defection and fall into manifest Heresy, Impiety, or Injustice, (as under Popery and Prelacy it was for the most part:) then, and in such cases (which we pray and hope we shall never see again) the Christian Magistrate may and ought to do diverse things in and for Religion, and interpose his Authority diverse wayes, so as doth not properly belong to his cognizance, decision, and administration, ordinarily, and in a Reformed and well constituted Church. For extraordinary diseases must have extraordinary remedies. More of this before.