A42757:472
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 difference between the Civil and Ecclesiastical powers, is in respect of the effects. The effects of the Civil power are Civil Laws, Civil punishments, Civil rewards. The effects of the Ecclesiastical power, are Determinations of Controversies of Faith, Canons concerning Order and Decency in the Church, Ordination or Deposition of Church-Officers, Suspension from the Sacrament, and Excommunication. The powers being distinct in their nature and causes, the effects must needs be distinct, which flow from the actuating and putting in execution of the powers. I do not here speak of the effects of the Ecclesiastical power of Order, the dispensing of the ⟨p. 190⟩Word and Sacraments; but of the effects of the power of Jurisdiction or Government, of which only the Controversy is.
The fifth difference between the Civil and Ecclesiastical powers, is in respect of the effects. The effects of the Civil power are Civil Laws, Civil punishments, Civil rewards. The effects of the Ecclesiastical power, are Determinations of Controversies of Faith, Canons concerning Order and Decency in the Church, Ordination or Deposition of Church-Officers, Suspension from the Sacrament, and Excommunication. The powers being distinct in their nature and causes, the effects must needs be distinct, which flow from the actuating and putting in execution of the powers. I do not here speak of the effects of the Ecclesiastical power of Order, the dispensing of the ⟨p. 190⟩Word and Sacraments; but of the effects of the power of Jurisdiction or Government, of which onely the Controversic is.
Sixthly: The Civil power hath for the object of it [Greek or Hebrew], the things of this life, matters of Peace, War, Justice, the Kings matters, and the Country-matters, those things that belong to the external man: But the Ecclesiastical power hath for the object of it, things pertaining to God, the Lords matters, as they are distinct from Civil matters, and things belonging to the inward man, distinct from the things belonging to the outward man. This difference Protestant Writers do put between the Civil and Ecclesiastical powers. Fr. Junius Ecclesiast. lib. 3. cap. 4. saith thus: We have put into our definition humane things to be the subject of Civil administration: but the subject of Ecclesiastical administration, we have taught to be things Divine and Sacred. Things Divine and Sacred we call both those which God commandeth for the sanctification of our mind and conscience, as things necessary; and also those which the decency and order of the Church requireth to be ordained and observed, for the profitable and convenient use of the things which are necessary: For example, Prayers, the administration of the Word and Sacraments, Ecclesiastical censure, are things necessary and essentially belonging to the Communion of Saints: but set days, set hours, set places, fasts and the like, belong to the decency and order of the Church &c. But humane things we call such as touch the life, the body goods and good name, as they are expounded in the second Table of the Decalogue; for these are the things in which the whole Civil administration standeth. Tilen, Synt. part. 2. disp. 32. tells us to the same purpose, That Civil Government or Magistracy versatur circa res terrenas & hominem externum. Magistratus, saith Danavi Pol. Christ. lib. 6. cap. 1. instituti sunt à Deo rerum humanarum quae hominum societati necessariae sunt, respectu, & ad earum curam.