A92138:780
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. 1. Its most false, that all the precepts of the Decalogue are1 all of them spoken to all and every man: Honour thy Father and mother that begat thee, is one of the Commandments; and it is not spoken to those that are only Parents themselves, and have their natural parents dead: but doth it follow that that Command doth enjoin private obedience, and forbid only private, not public disobedience to natural Parents: So the sixth Command saith, If thy brother fall in a Lyons den to the hazard of his life, pull him out; if thou cannot rescue him thy self alone, take three with thee and assay it; if thou cannot so rescue him, tell it to twenty: The man is not to rescue every brother here, but only the brother that is in danger to be devoured with the Lyon: will any say the Law of the sixth Commandment is given here, to one private man to help another in a private danger? This (rebuke thy brother) is the Law of nature, and it is under this, Levit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: And if I rebuke him not for sin, any sin, and the most public, and so most offensive and scandalous to many; I hate him; nay, I am not so much to rebuke him and gain his soul, because the sin is an injury done to me, as because it is done against the Majesty of God, and destructive to the offenders soul, and I must labour to gain his soul. 2. Erastus dreams that that is a private sin, which is done to one man, or one rank of men; to a Magistrate, ⟨p. 295⟩not a subject; he is beguiled, an offence and public stumbling-block may be laid before one man, and it is often a public sin. 3. The speaking of it in the second person is nothing, for, If thou believe thou art saved, Rom. 10. 9. is as public and universal, as John 3. 16. Whosoever believeth he is saved. The second person in all precepts of Law and Gospel (and this, rebuke an offending brother, is both,) is as broad as the third person, and as large in extent, except you say the verse John 3. 16. comprehendeth some more believers that are saved, then