A42757:567
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.
But to the matter. I will here endeavour to make these two things appear. 1. That no administration formally and properly Ecclesiastical (and namely the dispensing of Church censures) doth belong unto the Magistrate, nor may (according to the word of God) be assumed and exercised by him, 2. That Christ hath not made the Magistrate head of the Church, to receive appeals (properly so called) from all Ecclesiastical Assemblies. Touching the first of these, it is no other than is held forth in the Irish Articles of Faith (famous among Orthodox and Learned men in these Kingdoms) which do plainly exclude the Magistrate from the administration of the Word and Sacraments, and from the power of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the unhappiness of this time that this and other truths formerly out of controversy, should be so much stuck at and doubted of by some.
But to the matter. I will here endeavour to make these two things appear. 1. That no administration formally and properly Ecclesiasticall (and namely the dispencing of Church censures) doth belong unto the Magistrate, nor may (according to the word of God) be assumed and exercised by him, 2. That Christ hath not made the Magistrate head of the Church, to receive appeals (properly so called) from all Ecclesiasticall Assemblies. Touching the first of these, it is no other than is held forth in the Irish Articles of Faith (famous among Orthodox and Learned men in these Kingdoms) which do plainly exclude the Magistrate from the administration of the Word and Sacraments, and from the power of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the unhappinesse of this time that this and other truths formerly out of controversie, should be so much stuck at and doubted of by some.
Now that the corrective part of Church-Government, or the censure of scandalous persons in reference to the purging of the Church, and keeping pure of the ordinances, is no part of the Magistrates office, but is a distinct charge belonging of right to Ministers and Elders; as it may fully appear by the Arguments brought afterwards to prove a government in the Church distinct from Magistracy: (which Arguments will necessarily carry the power of Church censures and the administration of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven into other hands then the Magistrates;) so I shall here strengthen it by these confirmations.