A42757:573
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.
Fourthly, The power of Church discipline is intrinsical to the Church, that is, both they who censure, and they who ⟨p. 250⟩are censured, must be of the Church, 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. They must be of one and the same Corporation, the one must not be in the body, and the other out of the body. But if this power were in the Magistrate, it were extrinsical to the Church. For the Magistrate quatenus a Magistrate, is not so much as a Church-member; far less can the magistrate as magistrate have jurisdiction over Church-members, as Church members, even as the minister as minister is not a member of the Commonwealth or State, far less can he, as minister, exercise jurisdiction over the Subjects, as Subjects.
Fourthly, The power of Church discipline is intrinsecall to the Church, that is, both they who censure, and they who ⟨p. 250⟩are censured, must be of the Church, 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. They must be of one and the same Corporation, the one must not be in the body, and the other out of the body. But if this power were in the Magistrate, it were extrinsecall to the Church. For the Magistrate quatenus a Magistrate, is not so much as a Church-member; far lesse can the magistrate as magistrate have jurisdiction over Church-members, as Church members, even as the minister as minister is not a member of the Commonwealth or State, far lesse can he, as minister, exercise jurisdiction over the Subjects, as Subjects.
The Christian magistrate in England is not a member of the Church as a magistrate, but as a Christian. And the minister of Jesus Christ in England, is not subject to the magistrate as he is a minister of Christ, but as he is a member of the Commonwealth of England He was both a learned man and a great Royalist in Scotland, who held that all Kings, Infidel as well as Christian, have equal authority and jurisdiction in the Church, though all be not alike qualified or able to exercise it. Jo. Wemius, de Reg. primat. pag. 123. Let our opposites loose this knot among themselves; for they are not of one opinion about it.