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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35696	Jus Cæsaris et ecclesiæ vere dictæ or, A treatise wherein independency, presbytery, the power of kings, and of the church, or of the brethren in ecclesiastical concerns, government and discipline of the church : and wherein also the use of liturgies, tolleration, connivence, conventicles or private assemblies, excomminication, election of popes, bishops, priests what and whom are meant by the term church, 18 Matthew are discoursed : and how I Cor. 14. 32. generally misunderstand is rightly expounded : wherein also the popes power over princes, and the liberty of the press, are discoursed / by William Denton ...	Denton, William, 1605-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing D1066; ESTC R9164	326,898	268

such as is common to the Laity in private offences i.e. to every Individual of the Church For what concerns Binding and Loosing the Words are plain and demonstrative viz. Whatsever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven which must have reference to the parties grieving and grieved it cannot be denied and those are every individual of the Church and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Again I say If two of you in general without denoting or pointing at the Clergy shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my ●ather which is in Heaven for where two or three indefinitely and not limited to the Pope or to those of the Presbytery only are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.18 19 20. These are general Precepts and purport a general Duty binding every Christian and not especial or applicable only to Popes or Presbyters Christ then in these places speaketh of private men and offences which he only that is oppressed and wronged hath most right to reprove and forgive and therefore not only the Judgment of Pope and Presbyter making whom they please Banditi of the Church but the reprehension and admonition of our meanest Brother offended and injured by us must be regarded and reverenced for so much as the Lord on high heareth the desires and granteth the Prayers of any two joyning together for his Glory and others Good and in their own debts and trespasses private persons have more right to bind and loose their oppressors before God than either Pope or Presbyter This power here attributed to all Christians is no new Doctrine but hath been acknowledged for good by St. Austin Theophylact and others and it doth not in the least derogate from or impeach the publick use of the Keys in the hands of Bishops and Pastors for they had also their particular Commission John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained yea speaking particularly to one of them Mat. 16.19 I will give unto 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 so that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven all Priests received in Peter before Christ's Death and after his Resurrection he gave all his Apostles the like power as Cyprian and Jerome observe and that is a power which no Temporal or Civil Magistrate or Prince can confer it is derived unto them from a higher Power § I am not ignorant that these Doctrines are held as Heretical at Rome and that they that hold them are cursed with Bell Book and Candle which is obvious to every intelligent Reader that consults the first fifth and sixth Canons of the sourteenth Session of the Council of Trent and the Anathemaes following who shall find it to be so and I humbly conceive not without grand reason of State-Papal for should these Doctrines and these that depend upon them be received for Orthodox Adieu to all the Picklocks of all the secretest Councils of all Kingdoms and States where Romish Doctrines prevail and also Adieu to a world of Merry-pence that else would thereby come into their Sanctuary Sanctum Sanctorum their Coffers for commuting and mitigating of Penance c. For by their Institution of their Sacrament of Penance their Church understands it to be instituted by Christ an entire full and Sacramental Confession of all sins to be made by all persons of the years of discretion lapsed after Baptism and that Jure Divino it is absolutely necessary so to do and that because Christ before his Ascension into Heaven lest his Priests to be his Vicars tanquam Praesides Judices unto whom all mortal Sins ought to be brought and confessed whereby by vertue and power of the Keys of remission and retention of Sins Mat. 16.19 John 20.23 they pronounce Sentence and give Judgment which they cannot rightly do if you will believe themselves nor justly proportion or impose Penance upon a general Confession only except the lapsed declare their Sins unto them in specie sigillatim particularly and in kind Can. 5. This to me seems wonderful strange that if Christ would have introduced a Rite to confess our Sins so particularly and punctually to Romish Priests as that no Use was ever the like that y●● he would be so understood by words ambiguous from which it must be drawn by very disjointed and unlinckt consequences very far fetcht consequences as incoherent as are Churton Sands of which the Neighborhood do merrily story that the Devil himself could never make Belropes thereof and not by most plain and perspicuous Terms as when he instituted the Eucharist there being not one plain word in the whole New Testament to command us so to do James indeed c. 5. v. 16. exhorts us to confess our faults one to another but what is that to Romish Priests James writ not to them but to the Twelve Tribes scattored abroad This Text is an Argument to perswade us to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for another that we may receive reciprocally the Councils Benefits and Consolatinos of each others Prayers but this institutes no Sacramental Confession to be performed to Romish Priests nor any power of pardoning to the Pope or his Priests nor any greater obligation on the Laity to confess to the Priest than on the Priests to confess to the Laity Mark the enforcement The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man Priest or not Priest availeth much Though these Canons make the Priests the only Ministrators of Absolution and Remission and that the Act in them is not Nudum Ministerium a naked Ministery of pronouncing and declaring Sins to be forgiven to the confessed but that it is in the Priest Act us Judicialis a Judicial Act by whom velut à Judice as by a Judge Sentence is pronounced Canon 6. They farther make the very Circumstances of Sins to alter the kind of them and therefore they have made two kinds of Sins viz. Mortal and Venial Canon 5. which is more than ever God himself made though he made two kinds of Sinners voz Penitent and Impenitent And in the conclusion they have Anathematized all those that are of contrary Opinions though there be not one plain Text of Scripture to warrant their so doing Now I would very fain know why the Institution being made by the Word Remitto the Form also was not Remitto I remit thy Sins rather than absolvo te I absolve thee and that if by these words a Sacrament of Absolution is instituted with this Form Absolvo te by which one is absolved why it doth not follow by an irresistable necessity that another Sacrament of Binding be not instituted in which this Form should likewise

be Ligo te because it cannot by any right Reason be understood how the same Authority to loose and bind founded upon the words of Christ absolutely alike doth require in Absolution the pronouncing of the words Absolvo te and that other of Binding doth not require pronouncing of the words Ligo te nor by what reason to execute that which Christ hath said Whose Sins ye retain c. and whatsoever ye shall bind c. And it is not necessary to say Ligo te but to execute whatsoever ye loose on Earth c. and whose Sins ye remit it is necessary to say Absolvo te And the same Canon doth also declare that Christ by the same words did constitute the Priests sui ipsius Vicarios tanquam Praesides Judices c. Can. 5. Judges of Sin and therefore that it is necessary to confess them all absolutely and in particular which is impossible for him that confesseth to know together with the Circumstances which speciem peccati mutant alter the kind seeing that it doth appear by the words of the Lord that he hath not distinguished Two sorts of Sins one to be remitted the other to be retained whereby it would be necessary to know of which sort the Delinquent is guilty but one only which doth comprehend all and therefore the word Peccata Sins in general is only used but he hath distinguished two sorts of Sinners saying Quorum Quorum one of the Penitent unto whom Remission is granted another of the Obstinate or Impenitent to whom it is denied therefore they are rather to know the State of the Delinquent than the Nature or Number of the Sins but concerning the Circumstances which they say alter the kind certainly every good Christian may swear with a very good Conscience that the holy Apostles and their Disciples most skilful in things spiritual not regarding humane subtilties did never know what were the Circumstances which alter the kind and yet there is made of it an Article of Faith necessary to Salvation But as it is approved by the Papists that Absolvo was a Judicial Word and reputed a good Consequence that if the Priests do absolve they are Judges so it appeareth to be an inconsistency to condemn those who say it is a naked Ministery to pronounce and to Anathematize those that so think Canon 6 9. It being plain that the Office of a Judge is nothing but to pronounce him innocent who is so and the Transgressor guilty and that this the Metaphor of the Judge doth not bear that the Priest can make a Just man of a Delinquent as is ascribed to him The Prince indeed may pardon Traitors and other Offenders and restore them to their good Names and Blood to whom he that maketh a wicked man just is more like than to a Judge who doth ever transgress his Office when he pronounceth any thing but that which he findeth to be true according to Allegata Probata But that which is most wonderful they prove the Doctrine of Specifical and singular Confession of Sins with the Circumstances by affirming out of Can. 5. That the Judicature cannot be executed without knowledge of the Cause nor Equity observed in imposing punishment if the faults be known only in general and afterwards that Christ hath commanded this Confession that they may impose the condign punishment What is this but plainly to mock the world and to think all men void of understanding but themselves and to perswade themselves that all their Absurdities must be believed upon trust how absurd soever For who knoweth not and seeth not daily the Confessors enjoyn Penance not only without weighing the Merits of the Faults but without having the least consideration of them It would seem by the words of the Canon and Council that the Confessors should have a Ballance to make difference of every Grain and yet oftentimes to recite five Pater nosters shall be a Penance for many Murders Adulteries and Thefts and yet the most learned Confessors and generally all in giving Penance do say to every man that they do impose only part of the Penance therefore it is not necessary to impose that exact Penance which the Faults do deserve nor to have a particular enumeration made of the Sins and Circumstances But what need one go so far when the same Council in the Ninth Chapter of the Doctrine and the Thirteenth Anathematism doth ordain that satisfaction is made by voluntary Penance Sponte susceptis Sesf 14. cap. 9. De Operibus satisfactoriis can 13. and suffering Hardships Therefore it is not needful nor yet just to impose in Confession the Punishment which is correspondent and by just consequence not to make a Specifical Enumeration which is said to be ordained for this end And that not considering any thing spoken before the Confessor though most learned attentive and wise having heard the Confession of any ordinary man for one Year much more of a great sinner for many years it is impossible he should judge aright though he had Canons of the punishment due to any Sin whatsoever without danger to err very much For a Confessor seeing all in Writing and considering many days of it could not make a Ballance to decide justly much less hearing and resolving presently as the Custom is What is this else but to scorn vilifie us and as if insensible Brutes Horses or Mules which have no understanding to impose such Absurdities upon our Reasons Belief and Consciences § Thus you see what work what strange work the Papists make with Binding and Loosing by drawing wrong Conclusions and Consequences from Premises which will not yield them That which is clear and apparent without the help of any Sophistry or false Arts is That Christ before his Ascension having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel c. he left also to them and to his Disciples as Representatives of all the Faithful this Principle and Catholick Precept viz. To love one another John 13.34 Charging them amicably not judicially to make peace between dissenting and discording Brethren and for the Dernier result and remedy giving the care thereof to the * Mat. 10.15 18. Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatsoever they did bind and loose on Earth 1 Cor. 5.4 13. and whatsoever two did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father Mat. 18.18 19. In this charitable Office 2 Thes 3.14 to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offender the Primitive Church was always exercised And unto this Rule did St. Paul conform when he ordained that Brothers having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of the Infidels but that wise men not Priests should be appointed to judge the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other was the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgment of the world that as

they put such a Hook in the Noses and such a Yoke on the Necks of Laicks and Civil Magistrates that the Papalins themselves have never since been able to shake it off unto this very day And though the Laws of the Emperors remain in the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian and in the Capitulars of Charles the Great and Lewis the Debonaire and though all Stories both Ecclesiastical and Prophane do shew how when and by whom these Powers have been granted adding the Reasons and Causes yet so demonstrable so notorious a Truth hath not had such power but that a bare Ipse dixit of the Popes without any proof at all hath been able to overcome it which the Canonists have so far maintained as to declare those Hereticks who do not suffer themselves that have been thus long blindfold to remain hoodwinkt still Though the Light of this Truth was not so extinguished but that both Learned and Pious men in those very first times did oppose their Doctrine viz. That no Civil Magistrate could meddle in any of those Causes which the Clergy had appropriated because they are Spiritual and that Laicks are uncapable of things Spiritual yet the opposition of the better who had the Truth on their side could not overcome the greater part and so upon the Spiritual Power given by Christ to the Church to bind and loose and upon the Institution of St. Paul to compose Contentions among Christians without going to the Tribunal of Infidels in tract of time and by many gradations a Temporal Tribunal hath been built by their own Industry Arts and Ambition and for their own Use Ends and Interests more remarkable than ever was in the world or can be parallell'd for thereby they have erected Regnum in Regno raised to themselves an Empire independent of the Commonwealth and which is more intolerable established on such grounds such as Jus Divinum is it which have so prevailed with such admirable success that it hath given the Pope of Rome as much at once as former Bishops were getting in 1300 years before and all this by making not the Power to bind and loose the foundation of Jurisdiction but the power of seeding and so affirming that all Jurisdiction was given the Pope by Christ in the person of Peter when he said to him Feed my Sheep § But to return to the other Branch viz. Excommunication Excommunication for the lawful force and use whereof they also plead strongly out of the same Chapter Matth. 18.17 If he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen man and Publican of which a little more here pretending also that the Antient Writers lean very much that way It may be so yet happily if their full scope sence and meaning were fathomed and comprehended and not this and that Scrap and Sentence here and there expunged and picked out and wrested to serve a turn against the Meaning of the Fathers happily they would not be found so clearly on their side as they ween for but be it so that Excommunication may hereout be drawn and deduced yet certes it must then also be of the same Nature as binding and loosing is of in the same place and will then also belong to Privateers For they belonging both unto one thing and unto the same persons by the self-same words will naturally and necessarily fall into the same Predicament and then the meaning of those words are no more but Pursue them in those Courts that thou wouldest a Pagan and Publican that should do thee wrong and what affinity hath this with Excommunication used in the Church of Rome or else those words may be understood of a private forsaking of all company with the wrong-doer as thou wouldest shun Pagans or Publicans until he repent and reform himself which if you please to call Excommunication be it so but then also it belongs to every Individual of the Church and not unto Ecclesiasticks only and is sutable to many other Precepts of the Apostles viz. to withdraw our selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly 2 Thes 3.6 14 15. 1 Cor. 5.11 13. but that they should be kept from the Word and Sacraments and that Divine Service must cease if an obstinate excommunicate person will not quit the Church there is not any one plain Text nor Syllable in the whole Bible This is an Excommunication of their own making not of Christs Institution And yet Excommunication was declared by the then Brethren Presbyters in the Ordinance of Aug. 29. 1648. to be shutting out of a person from the Communion of the Church but what Warrant out of the Word of God they had so to do non constat Other Expressions and Powers there are recorded in Scripture of which they make use for the founding and upholding of Excommunication as the Delivery unto Sathan 1 Cor. 5.5 as Hymenaeus and Alexander and the Incestuous Person were the striking of Ananias and Saphira dead by Peter and of Elymas the Sorcerer blind by Paul owning himself to have vengeance in readiness against all disobedience 2 Cor. 10.6 and his professing that he will not spare 2 Cor. 13.2 As also when some for abusing the Lords Supper became weak and sick and fell asleep or became dead These and the like might have been Arguments for the like Powers had they not died with the Apostles but with Excommunication they have no Analogy no Resemblance they were Arrows indeed in the Quivers of the Apostles Tokens as one of them expresseth 2 Cor. 12.12 of an Apostle wrought with Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds but no Arguments for Excommunication whereby it is evident that in their Days when as yet there were no Christian Magistrates to punish the Sins and Offences of the Brethren the power of God sometimes by himself sometimes by his Apostles did afflict and punish the disobedient more or less grievously according as their Sins were more or less heinous that thereby they might learn not to blaspheme nor yet to detain the Truth of God in unrighteousness and that the rest might fear to provoke his Wrath and Indignation by like Sins and Uncleanness For without all controversie the Delivery unto Sathan the smiting some with Death and others with Blindness and Sickness were Corporal punishments and of a far different Nature from that of Excommunication even according to their own shewing there being not any other punishment belonging to the essence of Excommunication but the sole debarring from the participation of the Word and Sacraments § However let us a little consider the Delivery of the Incestuous person unto Sathan 1 Cor. 5. of which no small use is made to justifie Excommunication Take the Story as it lies plainly in the Text without any Vizards or Equivocations St. Paul understanding that there was such fornication at Corinth as was not so much as named among the Gentiles viz. that one should have his Fathers Wife wrote unto them his first Epistle and

a sin as great as the former not to wrest and misapply the New Testament only but to hook in the Old Testament also by Head and Ears to serve a wicked turn and to make that intend the Pope also questo dispregiare Dio nel suo Vicario si chiama da Samuel Profeta 1 Sam. 15.23 una sorte d' Idolatria And this despising God in his Vicar is called by Samuel a kind of Idolatry If one should retort and say that so to expound Samuel is a kind of Nonsence what could be said against it The Text and Story is so well known that it requires no repetition There Samuel as a Prophet by Gods express Precept sharply rebukes Saul telling him that Obedience was more acceptable to God than Sacrifice and that it was as the sin of Idolatry not to rest upon his Commandment And shall Bellarmine now put a humane Precept subject to errors in the Ballance with an express Precept from God by a slight of wresting of Scripture Impune Can any Man that hath any spark of Grace bear it with patience that Humane Precepts should be thus equalled with Divine It is horrid Impiety thus to match and rank any man with God Almighty It is Gospel-like to perswade due obedience and reverence to the word of God in the Mouths of Prelates but to enhaunce and inlarge it beyond its just bounds is rather to abuse and villifie than advance it Who can but wonder and stand amazed that Samuel above 1100 years before there was any Pope or Prediction that there should be one or any description what manner of Person this omnipotent Vicar should be should yet by saying that not to obey Gods express Precept delivered by the mouth of his Prophet is as it were Idolatry should thereby intend the Pope And that Bellarmine should conclude from hence that to despise God in his Vicar is called by Samuel a kind of Idolatry Put all this together 1. That Samuel spake of Saul a King because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord not of a Pope or of his Vicar he hath also rejected thee from being King 2. That under the Law God had no Vicar 3. That Peter was Christ's first Vicar according to their own Confession 4. That the Authority of a Prophet in the Old Testament was Infallible yea even in the least things 5. That Christ's Vicar in the New Testament may by their own Confession err except in matters of Faith è Cathedra With what colour or shew of ingenuity or reason can this their great Goliah Bellarmine aver that Samuel terms this despising of God in his Vicar a kind of Idolatry Deus bone Unto what Absurdities will not Pride Ambition Interest drive men unto Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith But they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was 2 Tim. 3.8.9 without doubt one abuse of Power and Authority gives a greater Scandal to the World and is a cause of greater mischiefs than a hundred disobediences of the subject and the person of the Superior as more eminent is much more bound by his greater obligation to God to do his duty quo major sum eo plus laborabo ut Sol. § Tho it cannot be denied that to err manifestly against the Scriptures be the most dangerous and greatest blindness that can possibly besall any Christians and the greatest Chastisement that God can impose in punishment of them whosoever shall make use of the Divine Authority to serve their own turns in any Worldly Interests yet so Cative is their Zeal of inlarging the greatness and Impery of the Roman Pontiffs that Bellarmine and his Crew make no bones of wresting and perverting any Scripture Old or New to make it serve their turns as hath been Intimated before Bellarmine to prove the Pope's Power to be a Supream Power given of God Mat. 16.10 John 21.16 examined he produceth Mat. 16.19 whatsoever thou shalt bind c. and whatsoever thou shalt loose c. and that this power is universal and over all Christ's Sheep he produceth John 21.16 Feed my Sheep which Texts taken in their true and right sence we heartily imbrace i.e. bounded and limited unto things only belonging to the Kingdom of H●●●●n and ●● the Edification of the Church according to Evangelical Rules Hebr. 5.1 2. c. For every High Priest taken from among Men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and Sacrifices for sins c. But from hence to ground a new term of Vniversalium and by this ambiguous term to extend and strain it even to Worldly matters is a Doctrine not true nor peaceable nor according to Christ's meaning Nay Pope Gregory Lib. 7. Ep. 30. held this very word Vniversal supercilious and in very great Jealousie when he was first stiled Papa Vniversalis and said it was a proud Title and imported as much as if he were the only Bishop and no other man Bishop but himself And so to have Authority most Universal is sec quid to say that there is no other Authority but it For if the stile of Papa Vniversalis according to Gregory take away all other Bishops a most Universal Authority Pari ratione must needs take away all other Authorities Now to prove this Vniversal Authority it is said to Peter Matth. 16.19 and in his person to all Popes whatsoever thou shalt bind c. and whatsoever thou shalt loose c. ergo their Authority is most Universal Be it so but then by the same Logick in Matth. 18.18 it is said to all the Disciples and in their persons to all Priests their Successors whatsoever ye shall bind c. and whatsoever ye shall loose c. ergo there shall be sundry most Vniversal Authorities which implies a flat contradiction jam sumus ergo pares Indeed the Whatsoever is Vniversal but it is bounded and restrained by the words before viz. the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven so that what pertains to the Kingdom of Heaven was committed to Peter and to the other Apostles but what pertains to the Kingdoms of the Earth Christ never committed to him and consequently to no Priest or Bishop or Pope whatsoever The Genuine sense of this Text is before delivered The other proof by feed my Sheep is also Vniversal in respect of my Sheep but God denieth by Ezek. 34. that to eat the Fat and to feed themselves and to Cloath themselves with the Wool is to feed his Sheep he denieth that to kill them that are fed that to domineer over thom with force and with Cruelty is to feed his Sheep he denieth that to eat up the good Pasture themselves and to tread down with their feet the residue of the Pastures that to drink up the clear water and to foul the residue with their feet is

smiting their Bodies separating them from the People and chasing them from the place pulling off the hair and taking an Oath of them by God not to commit the like do plainly shew the Civil Use of the Sword in the Princes hands not the spiritual force of the Word in the Priests Mouth and therefore the one can be no Argument nor President for the other § Unto me the most Natural and Genuine Sence of Mat. 18.15 22. seems to import The proper sence of Mat. 18.15 22. that Christ well knowing that his Apostles and Disciples which were to survive him and whom he intended to Commissionate to Teach and Baptize all Nations and to gather a People unto himself by declaring the Mind and Will of his Father by preaching his Gospel and that out of the very bosom and bowels of Kingdoms and Commonwealths which then were and also likely so to continue for many Generations then to come prophane and sworn Adversaries to his Gospel and unto the Preachers and Embracers thereof and consequently would be in as great dangers and Troubles as Sheep among Wolves and therefore his all-seeing Wisdom thought fit to prescribe them such a Government and Discipline which they might exercise among themselves in much peace and quietness suitable to the Gospel of Peace and without any noise or disturbance to the Magistrates or Subjects of any Nation or Kingdom or to the Government thereof how wicked or adverse soever they should be to Christ and his Kingdom and therefore here he prescribes them some Rules more particularly relating unto private Offences which must needs be whilst men are men If thy Brother shall trespass against thee c. 18. v. 15 c. The Party grieved must be Man not God If thy Brother trespass against thee not against God reprove him The first Admonition must be secret and friendly as between Brother and Brother between thee and him alone Again if the wrong-doer repent himself the Sufferer must forgive him and not seven times only but seventy times seven v. 21 22. and elsewhere viz. Luke 17.3 4. This together with the Lords Prayer teacheth us to forgive the Sins that are committed against our selves but we have here no directions nor power to remit other mens sins and harms much less to remit and pardon the Injuries offered unto God 2. If he repent not we must yet give him a second Admonition with one or two witnesses before we tell it to the Church and if he then repent we must then also forgive These be no Precepts for open and notorious sins dishonouring God and scandalizing his Church for such the Rule is given 1 Tim. 5.20 Those that sin rebuke openly that the rest may fear but for private Trespasses between man and man This is no Judicial proceeding in Episcopal Audience in the Conclave or Consistory but a charitable warning in secret by him alone that is grieved and oppressed with wrong or reproach This is a general Duty binding every Christian and not a special Authority to Popes and Presbyters There is no Command that the open and scandalous Sinners should be reproved in secret or twice admonished before they be censured by the Church The incestuous Corinth had neither private nor double warning before he was delivered to Sathan by the Church according to St. Paul's Advice Though Christ declined intermedling with the Judicial part of ending Controversies and differences between man and man yet he prescribes them Rules to compose them themselves 1. By private admonition of the Party grieved 2. By admonition of two or three of the Brethren of the Church 3. If they prevail not then to communicate the wrong done to the Church i.e. to the whole Congregations of Believers whereof both Parties are members and not to the Pope or Priest whereof not one plain Syllable in the Text so that not only by the mouth of two or three witnesses only but also by the testimony and admonition of many even of the whole congregated Church every word may be established that by such publick reproof the wrong-doer might be brought to repentance and amendment 4. If he neglect all private and publick admonition then let him be to thee as a Heathen-man and a Publican i.e. do not own him to be of your Congregation but pursue and prosecute and implead him as thou wouldst do an Ethnick or Publican or any one that is not of the Christian Church and Congregation in any of the Courts of Judicature of that City and Kingdom wherein they live Christ for the Honour and Glory of his Gospel would have none of his to be wrong-doers or be given to strifes and debates or to go to Law before the unbelievers as it is in 1 Cor. 6.1 2 8. If ye have Judgment saith he for things pertaining to this life what then Tell the Pope and his Cardinals nothing less but set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church in which Rank I dare not place either Pope or Presbyter lest they bring their Action of Scandalum Magnatum for my so doing and make them Judges of your Causes and Quarrels where by the way it is observable that the Word Church in this place also doth not signifie the Pope nor yet the Presbyters only but the whole congregated Church the Sequel will clear it Is it so that there is not a wise man among you no not one that shall be able to judge between his Brethren but Brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers v. 5.6 Where the words Brethren a Wise man not one Vnbelievers are general and indesinite Terms and not limited to Ecclesiastics Then certainly Christ never meant that the Members of his Church should for private Trespasses complain to the Pope or his Parish-Priests and that they should have power sufficient to hear and determine all such Matters as were so offered unto them and to excommunicate those that would not stand unto their Sentence and Determination that would have been an Infringement and incroachment on the Magistrates Office for the Matters of Complaint are of that Nature that the Ministers of Christ might not challenge to hear and determine they were forbid it Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you Luke 12.13 14. And as his Father sent him so sent he them John 20.21 and consequently did belong to the Civil Magistrate Besides neither in Mat. 18. nor yet in 1 Cor. 6. the Word Church whether thereby should be meant Jewish or Christian can possibly signisie the Priests of either or at least not exclusive the Laity whatever the scope and drift of these two places are it cannot be to Authorize the Clergy to intermeddle with matters pertaining to the Magistrate and to exclude those from the Society and Communion of the Saints and Sacraments that obey not their resolution If Excommunication or Binding or loosing be to be proved out of Mat. 18. as the Papalins and Presbyters would have it yet it is