A42758:310
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 11: Objections made against the authority of Synods, 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.
Answ. Every Christian congregation is a complete Church or body of Christ metaphysically; that is, hath the complete Essence of a true visible Church; yet every such congregation is not a complete Ecclesiastical Republic, except in some certain cases whereof we have spoken, Chap. 2. And further, we answer, that this objection is alleged to prove, that 2 or 3 gathered together in the name of Christ, have immediately under Christ the full power of Ecclesiastical ⟨p. 200⟩Jurisdiction; but sure I am, that two or three gathered together in the name of Christ, are not a complete Ecclesiastical body, having all the members and officers which Christ hath instituted, for they themselves hold that in every Christian congregation by Christs institution there ought to be at least five Officers, and when those five shall be had, there must be also a certain number of Christian people to be governed and served by them. So that their Argument doth not conclude that which they propose to prove.
Answ. Every Christian congregation is a compleate Church or body of Christ metaphysically; that is, hath the compleate Essence of a true visible Church; yet every such congregation is not a compleate Ecclesiasticall Republicke, except in some certaine cases whereof wee have spoken, Chap. 2. And further, we answer, that this objection is alledged to prove, that 2 or 3 gathered together in the name of Christ, have immediately under Christ the full power of Ecclesiasticall ⟨p. 200⟩Jurisdiction; but sure I am, that two or three gathered together in the name of Christ, are not a compleate Ecclesiasticall body, having all the members and officers which Christ hath instituted, for they themselves hold that in every Christian congregation by Christs institution there ought to be at least five Officers, and when those five shall be had, there must bee also a certaine number of Christian people to bee governed and served by them. So that their Argument doth not conclude that which they propose to prove.