A92138:972
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. Reverend Beza saith these two were by-past benefits remembered1 in that Sacrament: But we have the Holy Ghost expounding that •he putting away of leavened bread, did typify the purging out of the incestuous men, and other scandalous persons out of the Church, which is our point, otherwise let Erastus show us what is meant by [Greek or Hebrew] the whole Mass and lump, for it signifieth either one single man; Or 2. The Mass and body of the visible Church, of which the incestuous man was a Member; or some third thing, which Erastus and his2 followers must teach us. Now the whole lump can neither signify the incestuous man, nor any other single member of the Church. Not the incestuous man, 1. He was not the whole lump in danger to be leavened, for he was the leaven, then he was not the lump in danger to be leavened; for the one is the agent infecting, the other ⟨p. 353⟩the patient infected. The whole lump was the thing out of which the leaven was to be removed, the terminus à quo, the incestuous man was to be purged out, therefore the leaven cannot signify wickedness in abstracto, as Erastus saith, but the wicked man in concreto; for the leaven must signify that which is cast out, [Greek or Hebrew], out of the midst of them, v. 2. Now this was not incest, but the man that had his fathers wife, and had done that deed. 2. Again, the leaven was the person to be delivered to Satan, that had a soul to be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. But wickedness in abstracto is not delivered to Satan, nor hath it a Spirit to be saved in the day of the Lord. 3. The leaven is such a one as is to be judged, as is within the Church, v. 12. and is called a brother, with whom we are not to eat, v. 11. now this cannot be said of wickedness in abstracto. But neither can the whole lump be one single man; 1. One single man needed not the solemn convening of the Church in the Name and power of the Lord Jesus, for his personal purging, for his personal purging is not a Church-act, but an act of a mans daily conversation and Christian walking. 2. The purging out, and the casting out is [Greek or Hebrew], v. 2 out of the midst of them, then there was a society to be purged; Ergo, not a single man only. Much more I said before, which cannot but mist Erastus, or any his followers, except they expound this whole lump to be the body of the visible Church of Corinth. 2.