some Power to punish all those who do disturb the good Order thereof by a false Faith or corrupt Worship or by dissolute Manners and if our Lord had not intrusted the Church with such a Power Reason and Necessity would have compelled the Rulers of the Church to have assumed it because the Church cannot subsist without it No man can so much as govern one Family in the Capacity of a Father or Master unless he be invested with power to let in and turn out of his Family such as he sees fit and to dispense or withhold the Benefits belonging to his Family as he sees Occasion much less can a larger Society be maintained in Peace and Safety without the exercise of such a Power And as the Father or Master may and doth exercise this Authority within his own Family though it be a part of the Commonwealth without damage to the Prince's Power So in this Society of the Church since the ends of it are different from that of the Civil Government the Ecclesiastical Governours may exercise their Power and Authority without incroachment upon the Prince's Sovereignty The ends of Temporal Princes being to preserve their People in outward Peace and Plenty in the enjoyment of their Temporal Rights and Priviledges while they live upon Earth But the ends of the Spiritual Governours are to make Christians holy here and happy hereafter and their Rules and Punishments are both suted to this end The Rules are Precepts of Piety and Charity and the Penalties are proportionable viz. not Corporal (a) Nullum ibi discrimen sanguinis sub incruentâ disciplinâ timebatur Aug. ad Maced ep 54. but Spiritual that is the depriving them of all the comfort and benefit of Church-communion at present and the declaring them to be worthy of Divine vengeance unless they repent So that the Rulers of the World need have no jealousie for their Authority on the account of this Spiritual Jurisdiction from his Servants who declares His Kingdom is not of this World (b) Joh. xviii 36. Audite Judaei Genteâ— non impediam dominationem vestram in hoc mundo Aug. in loc They are to watch for mens Souls to make them inwardly good to reform their Manners and fit them for a blessed Eternity And they govern as Fathers by Arguments and Perswasion by Spiritual Promises and Threatnings by the Rod of Church Censures not by the Sword as the Civil Magistrate doth Yet as the Prince takes care of the Lives and worldly concerns of his Subjects and punisheth those who injure them in either of these so doth the Spiritual Governour in his proper way punish those who act contrary to the welfare of their own or others Souls whether by teaching false Doctrine or setting a bad Example And as there are three ends of outward and civil Punishments First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instruction to the Offender to repent and amend Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Warning to others not to follow so bad an Example and Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vindication of the Society from the Scandal which might be cast upon it for suffering evil Acts to be done (c) Vidend Aul. Gellius noct Attie lib. 6. c. 14. Clem. Alexandr Strom. 4. So also the Spiritual Penalties aim at the same ends viz. To reform the Offender To warn others not to follow the ill Example And to clear the Church from that Scandal which the acts of evil Men professing themselves Christians may bring on it if they be not punished All which ends are obtained by this Spiritual Penalty of Excommunication duly inflicted by the Church and humbly submitted to by the Offender which doth clearly shew that it is necessary to the being and the well-being of this Spiritual Society the Church even upon Principles of Natural Reason that its Governours should have this Power And that none may doubt whether Natural Reason doth teach this we will shew that the very Gentiles who had no other Guide but the Light of Natural Reason did frequently use this kind of excluding all those from their Society especially from joyning in their Sacrifices who were unfit and unworthy And though there were no Law to turn such Persons out by violence yet their Order was obeyed by all to the shame of those pretended Christians who despise the Commands and deride the Authority of our Lords Ministers in the like Case § II. Among the Grecians Draco was one of their most ancient Lawgivers and he decreed That Murtherers should be excluded from the Drink-Offerings and Festivals from the Temples and Publick Assemblies (d) Demosth Orat. in Leptin And the Scholiast on Aristophanes speaks of this as of an old Custom That no Manslayer should partake of their Sacrifices (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Aristoph And agreeable to this is that Edict of Oedipus in Sophocles concerning a Parricide That none of his Subjects should receive him into their House nor speak to him nor communicate with him in Prayers or Sacrifices to the Gods nor wash their hands with him (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophoc in Oedip. Whence it appears That both Civil and Sacred Commerce was forbid to these Criminals and though those who had slain their Mother in Euripides mention only their being excluded at Argis from all Mens houses and conversations (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Oreste Yet we may infer they were much more uncapable of coming to the Sacrifices Plato also ordains that such as strike their Parents should be expelled from their Cities and their Temples and that whoever had any conversation with them should be excluded from the Assemblies and Sacrifices till they were purged (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato de leg 9. fol. 881. And if it be enquired whose office it was to do this we may learn that from Julius Pollux who tells us there was one at Athens called the King of the Sacrifices whose office was To proclaim that the contumacious or rather the unholy who were of contrary disposition to the holy Rites should abstain from the Mysteries and other established Rites (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poll. Onomastic lib. 8. cap. 9. pag. 397. And Alcibiades for having revealed the Mysteries of Ceres which ought to have been kept secret was devoted to Divine Vengeance by the Priests in all their several ways of Religion (k) Se Dâ—is per omnium Sacerdetum religiones devotum cognovit Justin Hist lib. 5. Where note that this sort of Excommunication was attended with solemn Curses which was a delivering them to the Divine Justice and we may further observe that this penalty was not inflicted only for Murther but for any great offence either against Religion as here or against good manners As in that remark concerning the Cercetae now called the Circassians who used to forbid all that did any injustice to come into their Temples (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stobae Serm. 165. And that Example
Men suppose that Enoch did thus excommunicate the wicked Wretches of his Generation when he could not convert them by his Preaching for his Prophecy begins with Maran-atha (z) Jude ver 14. vide Bertram de R. P. Juda. cap. 2. Molinaei Vates From all that hath been said we may now conclude That from the Divine Precedents and from the most early Examples the Jews did exercise this Power of Excommunication as a Spiritual Punishment upon scandalous Offenders the Power residing commonly in the Sacerdotal Colledge of old and of later times in the Rabbi who is the Master of the Synagogue and that such as were under this Censure were believed to be out of the Divine Favour and unworthy of Human Conversation till they were restored by those who had sentenced them And the general dread the Jews had of this Censure together with their Aversation to those who were under it plainly declares they did believe it was of Divine Original and was of great Efficacy Which being the general Notion of the Jewish Nation in our Saviour's time this Opinion did make way for the receiving of this Institution as Christ was to set it up in the Christian Church of which we are next to treat § IV. The third ground of Excommunication and to us the principal is Our blessed Saviour's positive Institution of it for which we have divers clear places of Holy Scripture And yet the Learned Grotius thinks if there were no express Precept for it it must be supposed since when the Society of the Church is once constituted by Christ all those things must be supposed to be commanded without which that Society cannot preserve it self pure (a) Grot. in Luc. vi 22. p. 379. But we need not fly to that refuge for none can deny but that our Lord appointed his Apostles to call and convert a Society out of the World and that he made them the Governours of this Society giving them Rules to govern it by and promising to be with them and their Successors to the end of the World Matth. xxviii 20. And since he conferred this Office on them we must enquire what Power he communicated to them to enable them to perform it First therefore When Peter had in the name of all the Apostles confessed Christ to be the Son of God Matth. xvi 15 16. our Lord declares that he had made good his Name of Peter signifying a Rock in laying this sure Foundation and assures him he would build his Church upon this Rock that is this Confession of Faith in Christ the Rock of Ages (b) Super hanc Petram firmae fidei Epiphan haer Cathar p. 224. Super hanc Confessionis Petram Hilarius vid. Aug. Retract lib. 1. cap. 21. Isidor Peleus l. 1. ep 235. So that it should stand for ever in despite of all the opposition Hell could make against it ver 18. And since so well-grounded and durable a House ought to have some to Rule it our Lord shews in the next verse who shall have the Government of it saying And I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven ver 19. Here the Metaphor is continued and the Church being compared to a House its usual emblem 1 Tim. iii. 15. Ephes ii 20. the power of ruling this House is set forth by giving the Keys which are given to those who are chief Stewards and Managers of the Family So when God would express his committing the Government of the House of David to Eltakim he saith And the Key of the House of David will I lay upon his shoulder Isai xxii 21 22. And our Lord 's having the Keys of Death and Hell Revel i. 18. is to manifest his Power to Condemn thither or to Save from thence And these Keys here granted are called The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as well because the Church and Kingdom of Grace on Earth is called by that Name Matth. iii. 2. as because the Church is the Gate to the Kingdom of Glory and we cannot regularly come into the Kingdom of Heaven above but by and through this Gate of the Church on Earth and so by Consequence the Power of the Keys of the Church contain in them the right to admit Men into this houshold of God by Baptism and so making them Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and to exclude men out of this houshold by Excommunication for notorious and scandalous Offences and consequently to deprive them of the Priviledges which belonged to them while they were regular Members of God's Family And as a Prince when he makes a Deputy or Vice-Roy usually declares in his Commission That what he doth in such a Province in his Name and by his Power the Prince will ratifie and confirm So our Saviour here tells Peter and in him the rest of the Apostles that whatever he binds or looses on Earth shall be bound or loosed in Heaven meaning that he will hold their Judicial Acts for good and valid so long as they keep to the Laws and Rules which he hath left them to govern by And if any think the change of the Metaphor from Keys which are to open and shut to binding and loosing be somewhat harsh the Exposition of S. Chrysostom doth well reconcile that difference for he supposes the Power of a Vice-Roy to be here signified (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in loc and as he can Lock up Men in Prison or Release them according as they deserve and hath the Power of the Keys committed to him to separate the Innocent from the mischievous So Christ here gives his Apostles like Authority in order to the well governing of his Church only this is no Temporal Coercive Power as many other Texts of the New Testament do declare but a Spiritual Power suitable to the nature and ends of this Sacred Society This being therefore the plain and natural Sense of the place it is clear that our Lord did here give his Apostles a Commission as well to exclude notorious Criminals out of his Church by Excommunication as to readmit them upon their Repentance promising to confirm their Acts so long as they judged by his Rules and this may well be reckoned a proof that Excommunication is of Divine Institution I confess this Text hath been strained too high by the Romanists who though they cannot easily prove themselves Peter's Successors yet would gladly ground their unjust claim to a Universal Monarchy over the whole Church upon this weak pretence That Peter himself is the Rock on which Christ was to build his Church and that this Priviledge of the Keys is granted only to him and his Successors at Rome which others have largely and learnedly confuted And I need only say That some of their own Communion a few Ages since did confess This Power was given
greater wonder if this Custom should prove that Bishops had not the power of Binding and Loosing by Divine Right since it was so generally believed they had this right in that Age wherein it is said this Custom was in use Wherefore it must be observed first that Mr. Selden Confesses it was a Pagan rite mentioned in Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus for Kings to give a sort of Absolution to involuntary Slayers of Men by admitting them to their Table And this Custom was in France before the Kings became Christian as seems probable by that example of King Guntram's receiving a Bishop to his Favour that had been Excommunicated for suspicion of Treason upon which he was without any Judgment of a Synod restored to his Bishoprick (e) Circa An. 580. Greg. Turon lib. 5. cap. 19. lib. 7. cap. 16. soon after those Kings had forsaken Paganism So that it is probable enough those Princes after their Conversion might retain this Barbarous Custom and that whether the Bishops would or no in which case there can no good Argument be drawn from a Heathen Custom obstinately retained by a People lately Barbarous to invalidate the Law of Christ But we need not fly to that refuge For these Culpati Offenders here mentioned are not all Excommunicate Persons but only such as were Excommunicated for Treason To prove which we must observe that in the fourth Council of Toledo the Bishops began to pronounce most dreadful Anathema's against such as broke their Oath of Allegiance and Rebelled against their King (f) An. 633. Concil 4. Tolet. Can. 75. Bin. Tom. II. par 2. pag. 357. Which kind of Anathema or Sentence of Greater Excommunication was also used afterwards in the Eastern Empire (g) An. 1026. vid. Seld. pag. 212. against Rebels and Seditious these therefore were the Culpati Offenders whom the Bishops were to absolve if the King forgave them who was the party principally offended And to prove this we need go no further than the third Canon of the Twelfth Council of Toledo out of which this Law of the Capitulars is verbatim transcribed and of which it is an Abbreviation the words of which are We see with grief some of the offenders Ex numero Culpatorum received into the Princes favour but remaining Banished by the College of Priests which evil is caused by the liberty Princes take to oblige others to what themselves will not observe so that they will eat and converse with those which they have caused to be separated from the Church But because the remission of those things they do against the King and Country is by the former Canons (h) An. 636. Concil 5. Tolet. Can. 8. Bin. Tom. II. par 2. pag. 336. reserved to the Prince alone against whom they have offended therefore hereafter in this Case no Priest shall forbear Communion with them but those whom the King receives to his favour or admits to his Table c. just in the words of the Capitular cited above (i) An. 681. Concil XII Tolet Can. 3. Bin. Tom. III. par 1. pag. 272. Whence we may observe that these offenders were only Rebels and if the King would pardon these there was no reason the Church should keep them Excommunicated when they had satisfied the party offended this being no more than what is granted to a private Person whose complaint causes any Man to be Censured by the Church to whom if the offender make satisfaction the Church will withdraw the Sentence And one thing more is plain by this Canon that the Bishops by a Canon of a former Council had granted the Kings this priviledge to acquit such as offended against their Crown so that the power in the Prince was by Delegation from the Bishops at first and therefore this can never prove the Bishops acted by Delegation from the King in the Case of Excommunicating and Absolving And if any do wonder the Bishops should give the King this Priviledge they must consider that every Excommunicate Person ought to be absolved when he gives good Evidence of his Repentance and because a Rebel can give no greater Testimony of his Repentance than so to carry himself as to get the Kings Pardon therefore on this Evidence the Offender was to be absolved yet so as by this Canon it appears the Bishops Absolution was to follow the Kings Pardon before the Criminal could enjoy the liberty of Ecclesiastical Communion These are all the Objections which Mr. Selden can meet with in Antiquity to oppose our Assertion all which we have fully considered and now we should also examine those which he brings for later times out of the Laws Statutes and Usages of Modern Kingdoms within the last 500 or 600 years But before we answer these Allegations we will premise a few things First That if Christ granted and the Church enjoyed this power for above 1000 years together the Laws and Usages of particular Countries afterwards cannot deprive the Clergy of this right though they should expresly decree it Secondly That the Roman Church in these later times did so abuse this Sacred Censure prostituting it to serve the ends of Avarice and Ambition and making it a Secular Engine to advance themselves into Temporal Power and Possessions yea and disturbing the Governments of all Nations with their ill management of this once Divine Sentence that it is no wonder if Princes did use all means to remedy this evil and for their own safety and the quiet of their Kingdoms committed to them by God did frequently prohibit these proceedings Thirdly that in so doing they did not oppose Christs Institution but only the gross abuse of it to ends for which our Lord never did design it So that they did not meddle with that part of Excommunication which purely aimed at the Conversion of Criminals and the Reformation of Manners they did not oppose or check the Bishops in the Spiritual part of their Office in doing as the Primitive Pastors did but only when they used their power for Secular ends And commonly all the difference between the Empire and the Priesthood was concerning some outward Appendixes to Excommunication annexed by the favour of devout Princes which being abused by the Ecclesiasticks Princes would have taken away again or limited so as they might not be a grievance to them and their Subjects But the power it self as Christ gave it no King ever attempted to take away and therefore these instances will not much concern my Opinion who am pleading only for the Primitive sort of Excommunication attended with those modern circumstances as it is exercised in the reformed Church of England where it never did disturb the Government but is rather very useful to it De Marca hath well observed there is a deep silence among the Ancients about the Churches invading the jurisdiction of the Prince for the ancient Bishops only minded to keep up the Canonical discipline (k) De Marca de concordia Tom. I. l. 4.
And when the Deacons have turned him out they are to return and beg of the Bishop to admit him to Repentance (h) Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 19. And a little after it is said If they do not separate a Wicked Man from the Church they make Gods House a Den of Thieves (i) Idem ibid. In the next Chapter The Bishop ought to remember his Dignity because he hath received power both to bind and to loose (k) Idem lib. 2. cap. 20. Afterwards the Bishop is directed to admonish him twice according to Christs precept who hath offended and if he be still obdurate then he is to declare his Obstinacy to the Church and after that to account him as a Heathen and a Publican and not to admit him into the Church as a Christian but to avoid him as a Heathen (l) Idem lib. 2. cap. 41. cap. 42. Finally There is reckoned up the several sorts of Offenders who are to be Excommunicated or to be utterly rejected (m) Idem lib. 8. cap. 38. Adulterers and all that minister to unlawful Lusts such as make Idols and live by the Stage those that use Divination and follow the Jewish or Gentile Superstitions all these are to be Excommunicated till they forsake their evil ways But upon their repentance to be received Which evidently proves That Excommunication was then believed to be the Bishops Office and that this power was derived from Christ and founded upon those Words of the Gospel which we have cited before It were endless to cite all the Councils which mention this Sacred punishment because it is mentioned in every one But it may be worth observing That in the famous General Council of Chalcedon which was confirmed by the Emperors Authority there are Decrees for Excommunicating some Offenders and for Anathematizing others (n) An. 450. Concil Chalced. Can. 2 4 7 8 15 16 20. 27. And this Canonical punishment is particularly ordered to be inflicted on any belonging to the Church who forsake the Judgment of their own Bishop and fly to secular Tribunals (o) Ibid. Can. 9. So that the Bishops did determine what Offences were thus to be punished and the Emperors were so far from hindring them that they confirmed all their Determinations so that such as were obstinate durst not but submit to them in regard the Civil Powers gave them the force of Laws and by Temporal Penalties compelled Men to obey the Canons which is one great end of Christian Magistrates as Mr. Selden confesseth out of Isidore The Magistrates would not be necessary in the Church but only that what the Priest cannot effect by the Word and Doctrine the Magistrate may cause to be done by the Terror of his Discipline (o) Isidor Hispal Sent. l. 3. cap. 53. But to proceed It was a manifest Sign that these Ages did believe Excommunication had its effect upon Mens Souls and not only excluded them out of the Society of Christians upon Earth but also put them into extream danger of Damnation in the next World because in all the Old Councils such care is taken that none who had submitted to Penitence should dye without being absolved and admitted to the Holy Communion for their restoring to the Communion of the Visible Church could signifie little to them who were never like to walk abroad again or to come to the Church any more wherefore this was intended to prevent the sad effects which this Sentence unreversed might have upon them in another World as being laid on by the Authority of Christ The old Canons which take this care may be seen together in Albaspinaeus But the same Proviso was made in the Councils of this Age also viz. That such as were Excommunicated and fell into Mortal Sickness should have the Sacrament before they died (p) An. 524. Concil Ilerd can 2. Can. 5. Item An. 540. Concil 3. Aurel. Can. 6. Can. 16. Cum multis alijs And here also I must note That about this time there was a Custom Annually to Excommunicate some kind of Notorious Offenders which is mentioned in the third Council of Orleance (q) An. 540. Concil 3. Aurel. Can. 13. Can. 30. though some would pretend it to be a Custom of later times only As to the Condition of Persons Excommunicate the Ancient Discipline was still observed They were to put on the habit of Mourners (r) An. 506. Concil Agathens Can. 15. none were to eat with them (s) An. 507. Concil I. Aurel. Can. 13. For which the Apostles words are quoted (t) An. 524. Concil Ilerd Can. 4. They were to be deprived of all Conversation and discourse with the Faithful (u) An. 531. Concil 2. Tole tan Can. 3. And finally whosoever did either Pray with these or Eat or Converse with them were also to be Excommunicated (w) Concil Bracar l. Can. 33. An. 563. An. 590. Concil Antissid Can. 38 39. So that we may see the Ancient Discipline was still in force until the year 600 after Christ and that with little or no Variation unless in the dealing more gently with Penitents because the World could scarce bear those ancient severities so many years together After this we may observe out of Gregory the Great that it was then the General Opinion That Bishops held the place of the Apostles and they who had obtained this Degreee for Government had received the power of Binding and Loosing Yea that whether the Pastor laid on this Bond justly or no it was to be dreaded by those of his Flock (x) An. 600. Greg. M. hom 26. in Evang. Tom. II. pag. 129. And in his Epistles which passed for Law through divers Ages there are many Instances of the exercise of this Power which S. Gregory would not have any Bishop use rashly nor to revenge his private wrongs because it was designed for more Spiritual ends (y) Greg. M. Epist lib. 2. ind XI ep 45. Item ibid. ind c. X. Ep. 34. And it seems the Pope did not then pretend a General Commission to Absolve all that other Bishops Excommunicated for he gives this reason why he Absolves one of Milan because the Bishop who censured him was dead and no Successor chosen (z) Ibid. ind XI epist 65. And in the Instructions he gives to Augustine the Monk for the right Governing the newly Converted English Saxons he doth allow him in some Cases to Excommunicate (a) Greg. resp ad interrog August Cap. 7. Spelm. p. 98. though since it was a new planted Church he adviseth him to proceed gently However it is certain that the use of this Censure came into this Nation with their Christianity And that Almighty God did shew his Judgments upon those who despised this Sentence which was pronounced in his Name may be seen in that memorable Example related by Beda who tells us That S. Chad Bishop of the East-Saxons Excommunicated one of King Sigebert's Earls for an
A DISCOURSE Concerning EXCOMMUNICATION By THOMAS COMBER DD. Precentor of York LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock at the West end of St. Paul's Church THE INTRODUCTION THE notorious increase of Atheism Faction and Debauchery in this and the last Age is too evident to be denied and too mischievous to be mentioned without sad reflexions But while many express their Piety in bewailing the Matter of Fact few do exercise their Consideration either in searching after the Causes of this deplorable Evil or enquiring into the proper Remedies for it 'T is true there may be many Causes of so complicated and spreading a Contagion and divers Methods contrived for its Cure But there is one great and eminent occasion of this universal Corruption that seems to be peculiar to our Times and the Mother or the Nurse to most of those Vices and Errors which are the Reproach of this Age viz. The contempt of Excommunication For this being the only means that the Church hath to punish these Crimes which the Secular Tribunals seldom or never take Cognizance of If Men by Ignorance or Evil Principles can arrive at Impudence enough to despise this Sacred and Salutary Penalty they have nothing left to restrain them from committing and openly abetting these Offences which by this means are grown so general and so daring that they are the Scandal of our Reformation the Ruin of many thousand poor Souls and cry to Heaven for that Judgment which upon Earth they never meet withal It is manifest that the Schismaticks and the Prophane the Atheistical and those who are of most profligate Conversations do all conspire to make the Churches Discipline contemptible weak and ineffectual and all strive to deprive her of that Power which they know she would use for the Cure of those Vices which they indulge and resolve to continue in But it is a mighty Charity to these our Enemies to undeceive them and let them see that Excommunication is not really less dreadful because some men for vile ends do falsly represent it as Brutum Fulmen And it may be a happy means of reforming the Age to manifest the Divine Original the Sacred Authority and the Fatal Efficacy of these Church Censures which if they were rightly understood reverenced as they deserve and prudently dispensed would contribute extreamly toward the rooting out of evil Principles and wicked Practices and prevent the Damnation of many great Offenders who dye in their Sins because they despise their Remedy and trample on the means of their Reformation If men truly discerned the terrible Consequences of living and dying under a deserved Excommunication they would carefully avoid those Sins which pull it on their guilty Heads or if unwarily they did offend and fall under this Censure they would as of old in the Primitive Church never rest till by Prayers and Fasting Charity and Mortification they had made their Peace with God and by a due Submission to some Salutary Penance obtained the Absolution of their Spiritual Governour and how far this would go toward the preventing or healing these damnable and destructive Offences every man may discern Impunity is the great incentive to Sin and while the Punishments of the next World are invisible and distant and those which Christ Authorized the Church to inflict in this are falsly thought insignificant Faction and Impiety must grow and increase without remedy or redress and the multitude of Offenders and frequency of the Crimes will harden the bad and infect the better sort to the utter ruin of Religion it self If indeed these bold and merry Sinners who are under the Church Censures for their real Crimes were as safe as they are secure it would be less necessary to give them the trouble of Conviction but alas the Sentence is as weighty and more fatal when it is despised as when it is revered and shall finally fall more heavy on these arrogant Wretches because the Contempt of a Divine Institution is added to all their other Iniquities and the slighting of that Remedy which God himself appointed for their Cure comes in as well for a Reason as an Occasion of their Condemnation I am sure all Ages and Places all Religions and Countries have reverenced this Sacred Rite and why we alone should trample on it no Reason can be given but what will import us to be worse than Jews Turks or Pagans Nor can any man in his Wits imagin that there is more liberty left to Sin or that the Penalties inflicted for it are of less weight to Christians than under those exploded and false Religions and therefore if Excommunication be dreaded there and all the Crimes which cause it is it fit that either the Faults or the Punishment should be lightly regarded here Whoever is of this temper hath taken his Measures from false Guides whose Interest it was to disparage this Holy Institution because they had done some Crimes to deserve it and it is their Duty and for their Souls health to rectifie this dangerous Mistake in order whereunto we will clearly plainly and impartially shew First The Divine Original of it Secondly The Universal Practice of it Thirdly The Ends for which it was Instituted which will give all unprejudiced Persons a right Notion of this useful and weighty matter A DISCOURSE Concerning EXCOMMUNICATION CHAP. I. Of the Original of Excommunication § I. ALthough we consider Excommunication as it is now used in the Christian Church yet because it was not first practised there we must dig deeper to discover the Foundation thereof and it will add much to the Veneration of it to shew That it was ever reverenced as well by the Jews as the Gentiles before it was adopted into Christianity by our blessed Saviour Wherefore we will demonstrate that this Sacred Rite hath its Original from these three things First From the Light of Natural Reason and the Practice of the Gentiles who had no other Guide Secondly From the Custom of the Jews before our Lord's Incarnation Thirdly From the express Institution of Christ in the New Testament First The Light of Natural Reason shews us That no Society ever did or can subsist without Governours nor can those Governours do their duty or preserve the Society committed to their Care without a Power to punish such as break the Rules of this Society and commit Offences tending to the Subversion of it for otherwise the Society it self must be precarious and would soon come to ruin as wanting sufficient Means to preserve it self Now since it is certain that Jesus hath instituted a Society which is called the Church and which is really distinct from the Civil State being appointed for other Ends and governed by other Measures ruled by distinct Officers and guided by peculiar Laws a Society which did subsist when the Civil State opposed it and must continue whatever changes Human Governments suffer unto the end of the World Therefore the Rulers of this Society the Church must have
they might retain his Sins that is declare him unsit for and unworthy of pardon and consequently of the Churches Communion wherein forgiveness is to be obtained and while the Offender remains impenitent Christ declares his Guilt remains on him and his Sin shall not be pardoned But if the party submit and repent so that the Governours of the Church judge him sincere and take off this Sentence by declaring him penitent then his Sin shall be forgiven in Heaven as well as his Censure is reversed on Earth Which promise no doubt our Saviour makes good as often as these his Stewards do judge by the Rules and Measures he hath given them And since Christ gave his Apostles and their Successors no Temporal Power nor any other way to punish Offenders but this they who would rob them of this Power do what they can to strip them of all Authority and bring the Church by Anarchy into Confusion 'T is true these words are repeated to every Priest in his Ordination and the Power is committed to him so far as may enable him to serve the necessities of single Persons whose faults are made known to him by private complaint or voluntary confession But for orders sake where the Offence is publick and the Scandal evident there the Bishop only exercises this Power of remitting and retaining and it is this latter Power which only concerns Excommunication and which was given originally to the Apostles as Governours of the Church And while there are Offences and Offenders in the Church as there will be to the Worlds end this Power must remain in the Church Governours for the preservation of this holy Society which as Jesus did found so he hath we see taken care to endue those he set over it with such kind of Coercive Power as is necessary for the good ordering thereof CHAP. II. Of the Practice of Excommunication § I. SInce our blessed Saviour had thus in as clear words as could be spoken given his Apostles this Power of Excluding Offenders out of that Christian Church which they were to plant and rule it is plain they had Authority to exercise this Discipline by Divine Right and therefore it must be a gross Error in the Learned Mr. Selden to affirm their Right was derived partly from the Jews and partly from the Roman Emperours Edicts which allowed the Jews liberty to observe their own Rites (n) Selden Syned c. 8. p. 120. For though we grant that the Christians did for some few years after our Lord's Resurrection observe some of the Jewish Ceremonies and were by the Gentile Writers grosly mistaken for a Sect of the same Religion many years after yet they had a distinct Name within Ten years after Christ's Resurrection (o) Baron Annal Eccles An. 43. and were long before that Excommunicated and persecuted by the Jews Acts viii 1. Chap. ix 2. and the Synod at Jerusalem had declared that the Gentile Converts need not observe the Ceremonial Law So that the Christians were a distinct Society and had Officers of their own and Assemblies proper to themselves and these Officers did exercise a Jurisdiction over them and openly declared they derived their Power not from the Jews but from Christ 2 Cor. x. 8. 1 Cor. v. 4. So that it is ridiculous to assert That the right of Apostolical Excommunication was from the Jews there is a vast difference between their imitating some of the Jewish Forms or Customs in the exercise of these Censures and their deriving a right from them even as the Church of England doth imitate some of the Forms of the Roman Church in her Excommunications but it doth not follow therefore that she derives her Right to excommunicate from the Pope or the Church of Rome And for the Edicts of the Emperours which were made in favour of the Jews there is no proof that ever the Christians claimed any benefit by them yet if they did these Edicts gave them no right to Govern a Society set up on purpose to abrogate the whole Worship and Ceremonies peculiar to the Jews and though they might give them a liberty from Secular Compulsion in the exercise of that right which Christ had given them yet they did not convey that right to them So that these are meer Subterfuges contrived to escape the force and strong evidence of a Divine Right which is so clear not only from our Saviour's Institution but the Apostolick practice grounded thereon to which we shall now proceed The Apostles principal work was to bring Converts into the Church and yet when need required they also exercised that other Power of Casting notorious Offenders out of it S. Peter to whom Christ directed his first promise of this Authority was the first who exercised it and the first Sin which he retained was the Sacriledge of Ananias and Saphira which was joyned with a hope to deceive the Holy Ghost which dwelt in the blessed Apostle and that our Lord might make his Officers Rebukes more dreadful an immediate Judgment followed the Censure for Ananias and his Wife were struck with sudden death and the effect of this was That great fear came upon all the Church Acts v. 11. And though Christ had given no Secular Power to his Apostles this great Example did make the Christians reverence the Persons and fear the just Reproofs of those he had set over them The next Instance was that of Simon Magus who had pretended to believe and was baptized Acts viii 13. but it seems he had dissembled with God and Men and only designed to make a gain of the Power of Miracles which he vilely offered Money for as if it had been only an Art which might be bought and sold whereupon S. Peter declares him accursed ver 20. saying His Money and he should perish together By which Phrase he intimates he was as the Jews speak under Cherem and that he might separate him from the Church he declares ver 21. Thou hast neither part nor lot with us in this matter which are the very words of the Tribes beyond Jordan who express their fear of their Posterity's being rejected from Communion with the other Tribes because of their distance by this very Phrase They will say unto them Ye have no part in the Lord (p) Josh xxii 5. Cal. Par. Non estis inter quos est verbi divini Communitas LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in the like form of Speech the Bond of Society in Civil Matters was declared void 2 Sam. xix 1. 1 Kings xii 16. Yea our Lord thus threatens to reject S. Peter if he would not admit his washing saying If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me John xiii 8. And further as a Reason of this destruction denounced and this Separation inflicted on Simon Magus the Apostle shews he is still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Bond of his Sin which by this Declaration was retained according to the Power given by Christ yet
the Church was to judge them and its Members were to avoid them then Excommunication was practised as it is now in the main even in the Apostles days and their Rules and Actions are our Warrant for it But since Christ gave his Apostles not only a power to retain but also to remit Sins we have a further account in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians That this Incestuous Person for of him the Fathers generally agree S. Paul speaks 2 Corinth ii 6. (x) Origen in Psal xxxvii Ambros Hieron Theoph. in loc who had grieved the Church of Corinth was exceedingly grieved himself and in danger to be swallowed up of too much sorrow wherefore S. Paul desires his Censure may be taken off declaring that this publick Reproof and severe Sentence (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. ii 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocantur Poenae Canonicae in Act. Consiliorum ap Chrysost de Sacerd. Grot. in the presence of the whole Congregation having brought him to Repentance was a sufficient Penalty and now he requires them to forgive him and grant him Absolution ver 7. expecting they should obey him in all his Orders as well the former for censuring as these for absolving ver 9. First Because in all his Orders he had respect unto their good And secondly Because he commanded them by the Authority and as the Ambassador of Christ who in all these Judicial Acts of Excommunicating and Absolving did represent the Person of Christ himself (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 10. Non in mea persona sed Christi qui dixit Quaecunque solveritis in terra erant soluta in Coelo Hieron Ut factum Apostoli factum sit Christi Ambros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. who had given this Commission to his Apostles That whatsoever they should bind on Earth should be bound in Heaven So the Fathers expound this Phrase in the Person of Christ And we may observe That as S. Paul did Cast him out of the Church not by their common Suffrages as S. Ambrose speaks but with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ that is by his Authority and Sentence whose Ambassador on Earth the Apostle was (a) Ambros Comment in 1 Cor. v. p. 358. So he restores him again upon his Repentance not by any Suffrage of the Church Members but by Christ's Authority and as his Representative which shews that the People are meerly witnesses in this Case but the Governours of the Church only act by Authority The Peoples presence tends to the Solemnity not to the validity of Excommunication or Absolution which in this Instance are both plainly founded by S. Paul upon a Divine Authority and deduced from that Commission granted by Christ to his Apostles and consequently to their Successors I have been the larger on this because it is a fair Precedent drawn by the Hand of an Apostle of the Practice of these two great Points of Jurisdiction and a clear Commentary upon our Saviour's Commission as well as a strong Proof that Church Censures are of Divine Right Many other Expressions there are in these Epistles relating to this Matter which we will only briefly remark viz. all those which speak of S. Paul's coming to them in sorrow (b) 2 Cor. ii 1 2 3 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. and making them sorry that is by ordering Offenders to be censured which Act was alway done with sorrow as the receiving them in again was with joy So he saith He fears when he comes again God will humble him among them and that he shall bewail many who have sinned already and have not repented (c) 2 Cor. xii 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teoph Eugere dicitur pro excommunicare Grot. in 3 Cor. v. 2. which the Ancients expound of Excommunicating them And in that sense we are to understand those places where S. Paul speaks of making them sorry with an Epistle 2 Cor. vii 8. and of the godly sorrow which worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be repented of ver 10. Again To this belongeth that Authority which made him ready to revenge all disobedience 2 Cor. x. 6. which he calls The Authority which the Lord had given him for edification and not for destruction ver 8. For whereas the Temporal Sword destroys the Criminals these Spiritual Censures are designed to bring Offenders to Repentance and Salvation and therefore the Apostle useth this Phrase again Chap. xiii 10. where having as our Saviour directed Matth. xviii 15 16. admonished them twice by his Epistles he assures them that when he comes which would be the third Application made to them He will not spare the Impenitent 1 Cor. xiii 2. but would use sharpness or severity ver 10. (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid Tit. i. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. that is proceed immediately to Excommunicate them according to that Power wherewith Christ had invested him for edification and not for destruction For which cause they ought not to think much at this Power which Christ had given the Governours of his Church because the end of it was not the destruction but the reformation of Offenders And if they would amend without it our Spiritual Fathers would be much better pleased Further we may note That not only for wicked practices but for Heretical Opinions and false Doctrines also the Apostles used Excommunication as in that place If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be Anathema or Accursed Galat. i. 8. And to shew this was no rash but a deliberate Judicial Act he repeats it ver 9. And here it will be seasonable to enquire into the Sense of this word Anathema so often used concerning Excommunication (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 87. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophâ—e Chrysost Abominabilis sit Hieron Condemnatus devotus detestabilis Aug. The Ancients explain it Accursed Excommunicated Separated Alienated Abominable Detestable and Devoted all which respect Persons Excommunicated And the LXX do generally thus translate the Hebrew Cherem (f) Josh vii 1. Deut. vii 26. alibi the name of one Species of Excommunication among the Jews 'T is true it sometimes signifies a thing dedicated to God The reason of which different Senses S. Chrysostom thus gives As no man dares touch a Gift offered and devoted to God so no man dares touch one that is Anathematized but this is done for different reasons None will come near the holy Gift because it is Consecrated to God but all men separate from the Excommunicated as being unholy and alienated from God (g) ap Theoph. in Rom. ix 3. ipse Chrysost hom 16. in 9. Rom. ita etiam Theodor. in loc And Theodoret notes that Anathema signifies not only that which is offered to God but that which is alienated from him and in the latter Sense he applies it to
Justinians which Mr. Selden saith was a Law made by him as the supreme Arbiter of Excommunication (p) Seld. de Syned p. 172. And a little after he cites it at large and speaks very great things of it (q) Ibid. p. 191. as if the Bishops by this Law might not Excommunicate otherwise than by the rules he prescribed And lest we should seem to fear this terrible Law we will transcribe it also the words are these We forbid all Bishops and Priests to exclude any person from the holy Communion before the cause be shewed for which the Ecclesiastical Canons command it to be done And if any do exclude any one from the holy Communion on other accounts he that is unjustly Excommunicated shall be absolved and admitted to the Communion by a greater Priest And he that presumed to Excommunicate him shall by his superior Priest be deprived of the Communion so as his Superior sees fit that what he hath done unjustly he may suffer (r) Justin Authent Collat. 9. tit 6. Nov. 123. Cap. xi p. 171. Et Basilic Tit. 9. cap. 9. p. 124. Et Photij Nomocan p. 124 125. Now for answer to this Objection I might reply that this Law comes too late to wrest this Divine Right out of the Bishops hands for if Justinian had attempted to take this power from them after 550 years Possession and an Original title from Christ and the Apostles it had signified no great matter But if we review the Law we shall find no such thing was designed by it For we see he doth not hinder Bishops to Excommunicate for any offences which the Canons had made liable to that Penalty And that was all Heresies and all sorts of Impiety and Immorality as might easily be proved if need were And these Canons were made by the Bishops in all Ages So that this was no abridging of their Liberty nor were they tyed to any other rules than those of their own and their Predecessors making By which rules Hereticks Schismaticks Murtherers Adulterers perjured Persons the malicious the profane and all sorts of scandalous offenders were to be Excommunicated and to say they must censure none but these is to give them all the liberty Christ had allowed them or their Predecessors used And though it be said the cause must be first shewed This doth not mean it must be shewed to the Emperor or any Secular Magistrate only the Bishop must proceed regularly and first warn the Criminal as Christ himself directs Matth. xviii and then convict him of the offence So that the Person Excommunicated may know what fault he is punished for which is so just and reasonable a temperament that he deserves not to be trusted with any power of judging by God or Man who will not observe this Nor can Excommunication attain the end which Christ appointed it for even the conversion of the Sinner unless the Bishop do thus proceed so that Christ as well as the Emperor requires this which implies no more than that this weighty Censure ought not to be rashly and unjustly laid on contrary to the rules of Christ who was the Author of it and to the practice of the Ancient Church And for the Emperor to make such a Law doth no more disprove the Clergies Divine Right to Excommunicate than our English Laws That the Clergy shall Pray at such times and in such Gestures and Habits and by such a Form agreeable to Gods Word And that they shall Preach in such certain places or on such days and not vent any Heresie or Sedition in their Sermons do prove that our Clergy have not Authority from God to Pray and Preach and the like may be said of the Sacraments No doubt the Supream Powers ought to see that all Men of all ranks do that duty which God requires of them orderly uniformly and so as may be for the common benefit and in so doing they do not invade any Persons Right 'T is true if that Emperor had forbid the Bishops to Excommunicate any Man for any Cause as he that gives may take away a Delegated Power or if our Laws should wholly forbid the Clergy to Pray Preach or Administer the Sacraments then the Divine Right would be invaded but not when they only direct us to exercise our Power wisely orderly and profitably This is no more than for the Civil Magistrate to make a Hedge for Gods Law as Mr. Selden observes and indeed argues very well against this false inference of his own (s) Seld lib. 1. cap. 10. pag. 277 pag. 288. Besides after all this flourish Mr. Selden well knew that this Law is no other than what the Canons of the Church had decreed before Justinians time For the Famous Canons of Carthage do Ordain That no Bishop shall rashly or lightly deprive any one of the Communion nor for any fault only known to him by the private Confession of the parties (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Carthag Can. 134. vid. Can. 133. Bever Tom. I. p. 668. Which former Canon being the same with this Law is repeated in following Canons and Councils of later times (u) An. 552. Concil 5. Aurel. can 2. An. 750. Excerp Egbertican 48. Spelm. pag. 263. Et in Capitular So that Justinian laid no restraint upon them but what the Clergy had before agreed to lay upon themselves and this Law is but a Confirmation of a Former Canon Yea if the making such a Decree demonstrate a Supream Arbiter of Church Censures then the Clergy were Supream Arbiters of them long before and many years after We may now leave this Objection when we have observed that this Novel doth not make the Emperor Judge or punisher of this rashness but the Metropolitan he is to Excommunicate the unjust Excommunicator not the Emperor which shews that the offending Bishop did not act by a Delegate Power for if he had the Emperor would have been the punisher and if ever any Emperor should have Excommunicated this had been a fit occasion when the Bishops abused the power they gave them but Lo here is none mentioned to execute this Sentence but the offenders own Metropolitan one of his own Order And therefore this Novel Constitution plainly supposes none but one of the Clergy could Excommunicate and this added to what we noted before concerning the French Capitular forbidding rash Excommunications is a full reply to this seemingly formidable Objection There are some other slight Objections relating to these times which we will briefly here set down First he would prove the Christian Excommunication to be the same with the Jewish from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast out of the Synagogue which some Christian Writers use for Excommunication (w) Seld. Synedr lib. 1. cap. 13. pag. 272 276. but who knows not that very many words which had been used by the Jews were taken up by the Christians and used in a different sense from that which they Originally