A42757:474
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.
If it be objected, How can these things agree with that which hath been before by us acknowledged, that the Civil Magistrate ought to take special care of Religion, of the conservation and purgation thereof, of the abolishing idolatry and superstition; and ought to be Custos utriusque Tabulae, of the ⟨p. 191⟩first, as well as second Table? I answer, That Magistrates are appointed, not only for Civil Policy, but for the conservation and purgation of Religion▪ as is expressed in the Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, before cited, we firmly believe, as a most undoubted truth. But when Divines make the object of Magistracy to be only such things as belong to this life and to humane society, they do not mean the object of the Magistrates Care (as if he were not to take care of Religion;) but the object of his Operation. The Magistrate himself may not assume the administration of the keys, nor the dispensing of Church-censures; he can but punish the external man with external punishments. Of which more afterwards.
If it be objected, How can these things agree with that which hath been before by us acknowledged, that the Civil Magistrate ought to take special care of Religion, of the conservation and purgation thereof, of the abolishing idolatry and superstition; and ought to be Custos utriusque Tabulae, of the ⟨p. 191⟩first, as well as second Table? I answer, That Magistrates are appointed, not onely for Civil Policy, but for the conservation and purgation of Religion▪ as is expressed in the Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, before cited, we firmly beleeve, as a most undoubted truth. But when Divines make the object of Magistracy to be onely such things as belong to this life and to humane society, they do not mean the object of the Magistrates Care (as if he were not to take care of Religion;) but the object of his Operation. The Magistrate himself may not assume the administration of the keys, nor the dispensing of Church-censures; he can but punish the external man with external punishments. Of which more afterwards.