A42758:73
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 1 › Chapter 1: Of the words Elder, Lay Elder, Ruling Elder.
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.
CHAP. I. Of the words Elder, Lay Elder, Ruling Elder.
THE word Elder answereth to Zaken in the Hebrew, & [Greek or Hebrew] in the Greek. It hath four different significations, 1. It noteth Age. 2▪ Antiquity. 3. Venerability. 4. An office. In the first signification, Elder is opposed to younger, as 1 Tim. 5.1. Rebuke not an ⟨p. 2⟩Elder, but entreat him as a father, & the younger men as brethren, 1 Pet. 5.5. Likewise ye younger submit your selves unto the Elder. In this sense was the Apostle John called the Elder, because he outlived the other Apostles, 2 John 1. and 3. vers. 1. In the second signification Elder is opposed to Modern, Mat. 15.2. Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders. That is, of them of old time, Mat. 5.21. In the third signification we find the word, Isa. 3. where the Lord saith, that he would take away from Israel the prudent and the ancient, vezaken; that is, the worthies among them, and such as were respected for wisdom. The same word, (and peradventure in the same sense) is turned Elder, Exod. 2.16. Eth-zikne Israel, the Elders of Israel. So the Spanish Seijor, the French Seigneur, the Italian Signore, all coming from the Latin Senior, signify a man of respect, or one venerable for dignity, gifts, prudence, or piety. Contrariwise, men of no worth, nor wisdom, men despicable for lack of gifts and understanding, are called Children,