A42757:804
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.
And if the Jews had not been free to keep civill company with Heathens or Infidels, yet Christians are expressly allowed to do so. 1 Cor. 10. 27. If any of them that believe not, bid you to a Feast, and ye be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake; and Ch. 5. 10. 11. 12. the Apostle permitteth Christians to company and eat with Fornicators, Covetous, Extortioners, or Idolaters, who are no ChurchMembers, but by no means with scandalous Brethren. I do not dispute whether any more liberty of this kind is granted to Christians, then peradventure was granted to the Jews. Yet I am sure a great measure of the liberty of civill fellowship with Heathens was granted to the Jews also.
And if the Jewes had not been free to keep civill company with Heathens or Infidells, yet Christians are expressely allowed to do so. 1 Cor. 10. 27. If any of them that beleeve not, bid you to a Feast, aud ye be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake; and Ch. 5. 10. 11. 12. the Apostle permitteth Christians to company and eat with Fornicators, Covetous, Extortioners, or Idolaters, who are no ChurchMembers, but by no meanes with scandalous Brethren. I doe not dispute whether any more liberty of this kind is granted to Christians, then peradventure was granted to the Jewes. Yet I am sure a great measure of the liberty of civill fellowship with Heathens was granted to the Jewes also.
It must needs follow from that which hath been said, that, Let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican, is not a casting out from mere civill fellowship and company, but from religious and Church-fellowship. This agreeth well with that passage in Josephus contra Appionem lib. 2. Whoever (of the Gentiles) are willing to come and live under our Law, it doth freely receive them esteeming Communion to consist not only in origination or descent, but also in choice of life. But as for those (of the Gentiles) who come occasionally among us, our Law doth not admit them into our solemn or sacred Assemblies, but it appointeth to communicate unto them all such things as they need, as fire, water meat, also to show them the way, and to let none of them be unburied. (So likewise Publicans noted for impiety and injustice were permitted to be City Members, but not owned for Church-Members) Grotius de Jure Belli ac pacis lib. 2. c. 15. Sect. 9. holds that it was lawful for the Jews, not only to have company and commerce with Heathens, but to do them good and to enter in League and Covenant with them, such only excepted as the Law did accurse, namely the seven Nations in Canaan, the Amalekites, Ammonites and Moabites. He brings among other things the example of the Asmonites, who as they were themselves skilled in the Law, so with the approbation both of Priests and People, they made a Covenant with the Lacedaemonians and Romans: yea publicly prayed for them. Learned