A92138:1433
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.
Hence the adversaries clearly contradict themselves by confounding those two, a Magistrate and a Christian Magistrate, one while they give supreme power over the Church to the Magistrate as the Magistrate, sometime to the Magistrate as Christian. So Utenbogard in his book De officio, & authoritate supremi Magistratus Christiani in rebus Ecclesiasticis p. 7. and p. 8. hoc addo, ut intelligatur Magistratum, cum religionē Christianam amplectitur, non acquirere novam authoritatem, sed quod eam authoritatem, quam ante etiam in rebus religi•nis & •ultus divini, habebat authoritatē,—rectè utitur: If the Magistrate when he becometh a Christian, acquireth no new authority as a Magistrate, but only useth well his old Authority, in matters of Religion and of Gods worship, which he had before, while he was Heathen, as he saith, then the Heathen Magistrate as a ⟨p. 541⟩Magistrate hath a supreme power in Church matters, and yet in the same place he draweth the state of the question to a Christian Magistrate. De solo Christiano Magistratu acturus. The Arminians in their Apology, fol. 297. (as saith their Declaration) speak only of the Christian Magistrate, and yet page 298. potestati enim supremae, sive Architectonicae, qua potestas suprema est, jus hoc ut competat, ratio ordinis, sive boni Regiminis, natura sua postulat,—si Magistratui qua tali jus hoo competit, ergo multo magis competit Magistratui Christiano. Sure, if the Magistrate, in general▪ and as the Magistrate, have a supreme Authority in the Government of the Church, such as the Adversaries contend for, then the Christian Magistrate far more must be Head of the Church, and so the Magistrate as the Magistrate must be supreme Governor, and judge in all Ecclesiastical causes, and in these same causes, he must not be Judge as a Magistrate, but as a Christian.
Hence the adversaries clearly contradict themselves by confounding those two, a Magistrate and a Christian Magistrate, one while they give supream power over the Church to the Magistrate as the Magistrate, sometime to the Magistrate as Christian. So Vtenbogard in his book De officio, & authoritate supremi Magistratus Christiani in rebus Ecclesiasticis p. 7. and p. 8. hoc addo, ut intelligatur Magistratum, cum religionē Christianam amplectitur, non acquirere novam authoritatem, sed quod eam authoritatem, quam ante etiam in rebus religinis & ultus divini, habebat authoritatē,—rectè utitur: If the Magistrate when he becommeth a Christian, acquireth no new authority as a Magistrate, but onely useth well his old Authority, in matters of Religion and of Gods worship, which he had before, while he was Heathen, as he saith, then the Heathen Magistrate as a