A92138:1921
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.
And the reason is, because in the doctrine of scandal, which is more intricate and obscure then every1 Divine conceives, God placeth acts of providential necessity as emergent significations of his approving will, which are so to us, in place of a divine Commandment of Gods revealed will, and these providential acts of necessity do no less oblige us to moral obedience, then any of the express written Commandments of God. I clear it thus. There is an express law. It is s•• and unlawful for David, or any man, who is not one of the Lords Priests, to eat show-bread. But God cometh in, and putteth David in such a posture of divine providence, that if he eat not show-bread, he shall be sinfully guilty of violating a higher moral law of God, who saith, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Then David shall be cruel to his own life, and sin against the sixth Commandment. Thou shalt do no murder. If he eat not, for not to eat, when you are in a providential condition of starving, if you may have it, is to kill your self, and this providential condition doth no less oblige you to the Moral obedience of the sixth Command, then if God in the letter of the Law should command you to eat. This fact of David was not done by any extraordinary impulsion of the Spirit, but by a constant channel that Providence ordinarily runneth in, according to which I, or any Professor must be obliged to prefer a work of Mercy to Sacrifice, that is, by which we are to give obedience to the sixth Command, which is not to kill, even as without extraordinary impulsion, I may absent my self from hearing the Word, when I find going to Church may endanger my life, for non-obedience to affirmatives, in a greater necessity▪ is ordinary. And therefore Christian prudence, with which the Wisdom of God keeps house, Prov. 8. 12. doth determine ⟨p. 82⟩many things of scandal: And prudence is a virtue commanded in the word of God, for a wise man observes times, and so will he observe all other circumstances, yet there be rules here which standeth always, and they be these. 1. Comparing a physical 2and merely natural necessity with a moral necessity if we yield to the physical necessity, and neglect the moral, we sin against God, and may lay a stumbling block before others;