A42758:220
An assertion of the government of the Church of Scotland in the points of…
An assertion of the government of the Church of Scotland in the points of ruling-elders and of the authority of presbyteries and synods with a postscript in answer to a treatise lately published against presbyterial government.An assertion of the government of the Church of Scotland in the points of ruling-elders and of the authority of presbyteries and synods with a postscript in answer to a treatise lately published against presbyteriall government.
Edinburgh: printed for James Bryson, 1641Edinburgh: printed for Iames Bryson, 1641
Part 2 › Chapter 2: Of the independencies of the Elderships of particular Congregations.
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.
The second distinction is betwixt Congregations, ⟨p. 125⟩which have a competent and well-qualified Eldership, & small Congregations, who have but few office-bearers, and those (it may be) not sufficiently able for Church-government. In this case of insufficiency, a Congregation may not independently, by it self, exercise jurisdiction, and not in re propria, saith Parker.
The second distinction is betwixt Congregations, ⟨p. 125⟩which have a competent and well-qualified Eldership, & small Congregations, who have but few office-bearers, and those (it may be) not sufficiently able for Church-government. In this case of insufficiencie, a Congregation may not independently, by it selfe, exercise jurisdiction, and not in re propria, saith Parker.
3. He distinguisheth betwixt the case of right administration, and the case of aberration: whatsoever liberty, a Congregation hath in the former case, surely in the latter it must needs be subject and subordinate. If particular Elderships do rightly manage their own matters of Church-government, the greater Presbytery shall not need for a long time (it may be for some years) to intermeddle in any of their matters, which we know by experience in our own Churches.
3. He distinguisheth betwixt the case of right administration, and the case of aberration: whatsoever liberty, a Congregation hath in the former case, surely in the latter it must needs be subject and subordinate. If particular Elderships doe rightly manage their owne matters of Church-government, the greater Presbytery shall not need for a long time (it may be for some yeares) to intermeddle in any of their matters, which wee know by experience in our owne Churches.