Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici

cppmai3.jpgJus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici, or The Divine Right of Church Government, by sundry Ministers of London (c. 1646). First published in 1995, a new critical edition was undertaken for the NPSE series and is in print and available at Reformation Heritage Books.

A Pastoral Work on Church Government. According to many historians this well written and well reasoned work was the Westminster Assembly’s defense of Presbyterianism. Part One of Jus Divinum establishes the nature of a divine right, and the different ways things may be accounted as having a divine right according to the Scriptures. Part Two takes up what form of church government is established by Scripture to be of divine right. The book espouses jus divinum Presbyterianism.The Southern Presbyterian Thomas Smyth, called this book, “a work of admirable and overpowering argument.” James Bannerman in The Church of Christ says this “work contains an extremely able, thorough, and satisfactory discussion of most of the points relating to the nature of Church government as a Divine institution, and to the power or authority of the Church, its seat and exercise.” Church sessions would profit much from studying through this work together.

Extract Review of the 1995 edition.