A42757:716
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.
Twelfthly, the power of binding and loosing, is not a temporary but a perpetual power, that is, appointed by Christ to continue in his Church always unto the end. Now this power is given only to Church-officers, and Christ hath not given the keys of discipline and the power of binding and loosing (of which else-where) to the Magistrate, nay not to the Christian Magistrate, more then to the Infidel Magistrate. Let the least hint be found in Scripture, where Christ hath given any such power to the Christian Magistrate, and I yield the cause.
Twelfthly, the power of binding and loosing, is not a temporary but a perpetual power, that is, appointed by Christ to continue in his Church alwaies unto the end. Now this power is given onely to Church-officers, and Christ hath not given the keyes of discipline and the power of binding and loosing (of which else-where) to the Magistrate, nay not to the Christian Magistrate, more then to the Infidel Magistrate. Let the least hint be found in Scripture, where Christ hath given any such power to the Christian Magistrate, and I yeeld the cause.
Thirteenthly, The new Testament holdeth out as little of the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments under a Christian Magistrate, as it doth of a Church-government under a Christian Magistrate. Shall this therefore strengthen the Socinian Tenet, That Baptism is not a perpetual Ordinance in the Church, and that we are not obliged by that commission ⟨p. 327⟩which the Apostles had to baptize? God forbid.
Thirteenthly, The new Testament holdeth out as little of the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments under a Chrīstian Magistrate, as it doth of a Church-government under a Christian Magistrate. Shall this therefore strengthen the Socinian Tenent, That Baptisme is not a perpetual Ordinance in the Church, and that we are not obliged by that commission ⟨p. 327⟩which the Apostles had to baptize? God forbid.