The Divine Right of Church Government: Wherein It is Proved That the Presbyterian Government, by Preaching and Ruling Elders, in Sessional, Presbyterial and Synodical Assemblies, May Lay the Only Lawful Claim to a Divine Right, According to the Holy Scriptures

In the upheaval of 1640s England, as civil war fractures the nation and the ancient order crumbles, a group of London ministers undertake an urgent theological project: proving that Presbyterian church government possesses divine authority, ordained by Christ himself. Written during the height of the Westminster Assembly's deliberations, this treatise argues that sessions, presbyteries, and synods, governed by preaching and ruling elders, represent not one option among many but the sole scriptural model for Christ's church. The authors defend their position with relentless biblical scholarship, distinguishing Presbyterian government from episcopal hierarchies and the emerging independents they viewed as dangerous rivals. This is intellectual warfare conducted in the name of truth, a passionate defense of what the authors believed to be the only lawful form of church order. First published in 1647, it helped shape not only English religious life but the entire trajectory of Presbyterianism in Scotland and colonial America.