A42757:470
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.
Now the subordinate end of all Ecclesiastical power, is, that all who are of the Church, whether Officers or members, may live godly, righteously, and soberly in this present world, be kept within the bounds of obedience to the Gospel, void of all known offence toward God, and toward man, and be made to walk according to the rules delivered to us by Christ and his Apostles. The subordinate end of the Civil power is, that all public sins committed presumptuously against the moral Law, may be exemplarly punished, and that peace, justice, and good order may be preserved and maintained in the Commonwealth, which doth greatly redound to the comfort and good of the Church, and to the promoting of the course of the Gospel▪ For this end the Apostle bids us pray for Kings, and all who are in Authority (though they be Pagans, much more if they be Christians) that we may live under them a peaceable and quiet life, in all Godliness and Honesty: 1▪ Tim. 2. 2. He saith not simply, that we may live in Godliness and Honesty, but that we may both live peaceably and quietly, and also live godly and honestly: which is the very same that we commonly say of the Magistrate, that he is Custos utriusque Tabulae. He is to take special care that all his Subjects be made to observe the Law of God, and live not only in moral honesty, but in Godliness, and that so living, they may also enjoy peace and quietness. More particularly; the end of Church censures is, that men may be ashamed, humbled, reduced to repentance, that their spirit may ⟨p. 189⟩be saved in the day of the Lord. The end of civil punishments inflicted by the Magistrate is, That justice may be done according to Law, and that peace and good order may be maintained in the Common-wealth, as hath been said. The end of delivering Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan, was, that they may learn not to blaspheme, 1 Tim. 1. 20. Erastus yields to Beza, pag. 239. that the Apostle doth not say Ut non possint blasphemare, that henceforth they may not be able to sin as they did before (which yet he acknowledgeth to be the end of civil punishments,) but that they may learn not to blaspheme. Wherefore when he expounds [Greek or Hebrew], to no other sense but this, That the Apostle had delivered those two to be killed by Satan, Ut non possint, that they may not be able to blaspheme so any more;