A92138:1125
The divine right of church-government and excommunication
The divine right of church-government and excommunication: or a peaceable dispute for the perfection of the holy scripture in point of ceremonies and church government; in which the removal of the Service-book is justified, the six books of Tho: Erastus against excommunication are briefly examined; with a vindication of that eminent divine Theod: Beza against the aspersions of Erastus, the arguments of Mr. William Pryn, Rich: Hooker, Dr. Morton, Dr. Jackson, Dr. John Forbes, and the doctors of Aberdeen; touching will-worship, ceremonies, imagery, idolatry, things indifferent, an ambulatory government; the due and just powers of the magistrate in matters of religion, and the arguments of Mr. Pryn, in so far as they side with Erastus, are modestly discussed. To which is added, a brief tractate of scandal ... / By Samuel Rutherfurd, Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Published by authority.The divine right of church-government and excommunication: or a peacable dispute for the perfection of the holy scripture in point of ceremonies and church government; in which the removal of the Service-book is justifi'd, the six books of Tho: Erastus against excommunication are briefly examin'd; with a vindication of that eminent divine Theod: Beza against the aspersions of Erastus, the arguments of Mr. William Pryn, Rich: Hooker, Dr. Morton, Dr. Jackson, Dr. John Forbes, and the doctors of Aberdeen; touching will-worship, ceremonies, imagery, idolatry, things indifferent, an ambulatory government; the due and just powers of the magistrate in matters of religion, and the arguments of Mr. Pryn, in so far as they side with Erastus, are modestly discussed. To which is added, a brief tractate of scandal ... / By Samuel Rutherfurd, Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Published by authority.
London: printed by John Field for Christopher Meredith, 1646
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Ans. This interpretation is fully refuted: Zebadiah is in the Text, excluded from judging Ecclesiastically, in the matters of God, as a Priest, Levite or Elder. For if he must judge so, he must either ⟨p. 413⟩judge as a Priest or Levite, which he was not, or as a Civill Judge; if as a Civill Judge, then is he no less over the people in the matters of God, then in the Kings matters: Now the Text could not exclude him from these things which belongeth to his office, and put him in another Sphere, in the business of the King, and put such a wide difference between the object of the two men, as the Kings matters, and the matters of the King of Kings. The like I say of Amariah. 2. The King Deut. 17. as King, is to Judge according to the Book of the Law, that he may be a godly King, and fear God, and keep the words of the Law; Ergo, he is to teach the people no less then the Priest, and to judge between the clean and unclean, and that as King: This no way followeth.
Ans. This interpretation is fully refuted: Zebadiah is in the Text, excluded from judging Ecclesiastically, in the matters of God, as a Priest, Levite or Elder. For if he must judge so, he must either ⟨p. 413⟩judge as a Priest or Levite, which he was not, or as a Civill Iudge; if as a Civill Iudge, then is he no lesse over the people in the matters of God, then in the Kings matters: Now the Text could not exclude him from these things which belongeth to his office, and put him in another Sphere, in the businesse of the King, and put such a wide difference between the object of the two men, as the Kings matters, and the matters of the King of Kings. The like I say of Amariah. 2. The King Deut. 17. as King, is to Iudge according to the Book of the Law, that he may be a godly King, and fear God, and keep the words of the Law; Ergo, he is to teach the people no lesse then the Priest, and to judge between the clean and unclean, and that as King: This no way followeth.