A42757:481
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 Controversy draweth deeper then he is aware of: for Socinians and Photinians finding themselves puzzled with those arguments which (to prove the eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ) were drawn from such Scriptures as call him God, Lord, the Son of God; also from such Scriptures as ascribe Worship and Adoration to him; and from the Texts which ascribe to him a Supreme Lordship, Dominion, and Kingdom over all things: (For this hath been used as one Argument for the Godhead of Jesus Christ and his consubstantiality with the Father. The Father reigns, the Son reigns, the holy Ghost raigns. Vide lib. Isaaci Clari Hispani adversus Varimadum Arianum:) Thereupon they devised this answer▪ That Jesus Christ in respect of his Kingly Office, and as Mediator, is called God, and Lord, and the Son of God, (of which see Fest. Honnij Specimen Controv. Belgic. pag. 24. Jonas Schlichtingius contra Meisnerum pag. 436.) and that in the same respect he is worshipped, that in the same respect he is King, and that the Kingdom which the Scripture ascribeth to Jesus Christ, is only as Mediator and Head of the Church, and that he hath no such Universal Dominion over all things as can prove him to be the eternal Son of God. This gave occasion to Orthodox-Protestant-Writers, more fully and distinctly to assert the great difference between that which the Scripture saith of Christ, as he is the eternal Son of God; and that which it saith of him, as he is Mediator: and particularly to assert a twofold Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and to prove from Scripture, that besides that Kingdom which Christ hath as Mediator, he hath another Kingdom over all things which belongs to him only as he is the eternal Son of God. This the Socinians to this day do contradict, and stiffly hold that Christ hath but one Kingdom, which he exerciseth as Mediator over the Church, and in some respect over all things; but by no means they admit that Christ as God ⟨p. 196⟩reigneth over all things: But our Writers still hold up against them the distinction of that twofold Kingdom of Jesus Christ. See Stagmanni Photinianismus Disp. 27. quaest. 6. The same distinction of the twofold Kingdom of Christ, as God, and as Mediator, is frequently to be found in Protestant Writers. See Synops. purr. Theol. Disp. 26. thes. 53. Gomarus in Obad. vers. ult. The late English Annotations on 1 Cor. 15. 24. and many others.