A92138:560
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.
Yea, I may, being a Pastor of Jesus Christ, dispense rebukes and comforts by way of Preaching, against ⟨p. 222⟩the will and mind of the whole flock: But a rebuke, and a forgiving by many, cannot be dispensed, except these many convene together in the Name of the Lord Jesus in a Church way and consent. 2. If the convened Church must be heard and obeyed when she rebuketh a Brother, for a fault done between Brother and Brother, and that upon the Testimony of two or three witnesses, then is the Church a Court that is to rebuke an offender, and so to convene him before her: and that is some other censure then by way of Preaching; but the former is true, Matth. 18. 16, 17. 3. If the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, convened in a Synod, do give forth an Ecclesiastical rebuke on false Teachers, as those that troubled the Churches, and perverted their Souls with false Doctrine; then is there rebuking of offenders by a Church or Churches, beside a Pastoral rebuking by one single Brother or Pastor: But the former is true, Act. 15. ver. 24, 25. The Proposition is clear, in that a select company of Apostles, Elders and Brethren, doth not only Doctrinally conclude against their error who did hold the necessity of Circumcision, but also against the Persons, and their Schismatical way, of troubling the Church by a [Greek or Hebrew] in making a side and Faction in the Church, ver. 2. 24. And this not any one single man could do in an ordinary way, except we say that it was an idle and unnecessary remedy which the Apostles used to quench the sire, as if any one man might have done all this, or as if they had rebuked these men publicly, not having heard and convinced them by the Word of God; or as if an offence touching conversation and against the second Table, had risen between Church and Church, no less then in the present case of an offence in matter of doctrine, that the Apostles would not have taken the same course, all which are not to be imagined. And in very deed this was not a point of mere doctrine, but also of peace and charity, violated by a Faction, ver. 2. And a scandal in eating things strangled, was raised in the Churches, Acts 15. 24. 1 Cor. 10. 28, 29