A42757:693
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
Book 2 › Chapter 10: Some Objections m•de against Ecclesiastical Government a•d Discipline answered.
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.
Secondly, Church-Government is reckoned among such things as had an Institution, and which God did set in the Church, 1 Cor. 12. 28. It is a good Argument for the Institution of Pastors and Teachers, that God set them in the Church, as we read in that place, and Christ gave them to the Church, Ephes. 4. 11. Will not this then hold as well for the Institution of a Government in the Church? That the Governments mentioned 1 Cor. 12. 28. are Ecclesiastical and distinct from civil, is already proved, Chap. 6.
Thirdly, If it be the will and commandment of God, that we be subject and obedient to Church-Governors, as those who are over us in the Lord, as well as to civil Governors, then it is the will of God that there be a rule and Government in the Church, distinct from the civil. For Relata see mut•o ponunt vel tollunt. If we be obliged by the fifth commandment to ⟨p. 317⟩honour Magistrates as Fathers, then it is the will of God that there be such Fathers. So when we are commanded to know them which are over us in the Lord, and to esteem them highly, 1 Thess. 5. 12. to honour doubly Elders that rule well, 1 Tim. 5. 17. to be subject and obedient unto Ecclesiastical Rulers, Heb. 13. 17. with verse 7. 24. doth not this intimate the will of God, that Pastors and Elders be over us in the Lord, and rule us Ecclesiastically?
Thirdly, If it be the will and commandement of God, that we be subject and obedient to Church-Governors, as those who are over us in the Lord, as well as to civil Governors, then it is the will of God that there be a rule and Government in the Church, distinct from the civil. For Relata se muto ponunt vel tollunt. If we be obliged by the fifth commandement to