A92138:554
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.
QUEST. 1.
That Christ hath a spiritual Kingdom, not only in the power of preaching the word, but also in the power of the keys by discipline.
That Christ hath a spirituall Kingdom, not only in the power of preaching the word, but also in the power of the keys by discipline.
Concerning the Christian Magistrate we are to consider two1 heads, the one negative, what he cannot do in the matters of Christs Kingdom: 2. Positive, What he ought to do, for the opening of the former: We are to clear whether or no all external scandals Ecclesiastical, as well as civill, are to be punished by the Civill Magistrate; and that as in Civill scandals, that disturbeth the peace of the Common-wealth, the Magistrate hath a twofold power, one to command what is good and just, another to reward and punish; so the Lord Jesus in his Kingdom, hath not only a directive power to teach and forbid, but also a power, by way of Discipline, upon the external man ecclesiastically to reward and punish, to bind and loose, in an external Court on earth. It is granted by the Adversaries, that Christ as King hath a power of binding and loosing, but merely internal, purely spiritual, in regard of the Conscience, by the Preaching of the Word; but for any external power to take in and cast out of the Visible Kingdom of Jesus Christ his Visible Church, This they deny, and so refuse all external Ecclesiastical censures of receiving into the bosom of the Church, and casting out by rebukes, or Excommunication; and therefore that there is no external Court in the Church to punish Ecclesiastical scandals, all scandals and external offences of the Church, are to be punished by the Christian Magistrate only: In opposition to which error, I say,