1 Cor. xvi. 22. In this matter there are extremes of both hands to be avoided: ART. fome have thought, that because the Apoftles have, in general, XXXIIL declared fuch perfons to be accurfed, or under an Anathema, who preach another Gofpel, and fuch as love not the Lord Jefus, to be Anathema Maranatha, which is generally understood to be a total cutting off, never to be admitted till the Lord comes; that therefore the Church may ftill put men under an Anathema, for holding fuch unfound doctrines, as they think make the Gospel to become another, in part at least, if not in whole, and that fhe may thereupon, in imitation of another practice of the Apoftles, deliver them over unto Satan, cafting them out of the protection of Chrift, and abandoning them to the Devil: reckoning that the cutting them off from the body of Chrift, is really the expofing them to the Devil, who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But with what authority foever the Apostles might, upon fo great a matter, as the changing the Gospel, or the not loving the Lord Jefus, denounce an Anathema, yet the applying this which they used fo feldom, and upon fuch great occafions, to every opinion, after a decifion is made in it, as it has carried on the notion of the infallibility of the Church, fo it has laid a foundation for much uncharitableness, and many animofities: it has widened breaches, and made them incurable. And unless it is certain that the Church which has fo decreed cannot err, it is a bold afluming of an authority to which no fallible body of men can have a right. That delivery unto Satan was vifibly an act of a miraculous power lodged with the Apoftles: for as they ftruck fome blind or dead, fo they had an authority of letting loofe evil fpirits on fome to haunt and terrify, or to punish and plague them, that a desperate evil might be cured by an extreme remedy. And therefore the Apostles never reckon this among the ftanding functions of the Church; nor do they give any charge or directions about it. They used it themselves, and but feldom. It is true, that St. Paul being carried by a juft zeal against the scandal, which the incestuous perfon at Corinth had caft upon the Christian religion, did adjudge him to this fevere degree of cenfure: but he judged it, and did only order the Corinthians to publish it, as coming from him, with the power of our Lord Jefus Chrift: that fo the thing might become the more publick, and that the effects of it might be the more confpicuous. The primitive Church, that being nearest the fountain, did beft understand the nature of Church-power, and the effects of her cenfures, thought of nothing, in this matter, but of denying to fuffer apoftates, or rather fcandalous perfons, to mix with the rest in the facrament, or in the other parts of worship. They admitted them upon the profeffion of their repentance, by an impofition of hands, to share in fome of the more general parts ART. parts of the worship; and even in these they stood by themfelves XXXIII. and at a diftance from the reft: and when they had paffed through feveral degrees in that ftate of mourning, they were by fteps received back again to the communion of the Church. This agrees well with all that was faid formerly, concerning the na2 Cor. x. 8. ture and the ends of Church-power: which was given for edification, and not for deftruction. This is fuitable to the defigns of the Gospel, both for preferving the fociety pure, and for reclaiming those who are otherwife like to be carried away by the Devil in his fnare. This is to admonish finners as brethren, and not to use them as enemies: whereas the other method looks like a power that defigns deftruction, rather than edifi cation, efpecially when the fecular arm is called in, and that princes are required, under the penalties of depofition, and lofing their dominions, to extirpate and deftroy, and that by the cruelleft fort of death, all those whom the Church doth so anathematize. We do not deny but that the form of denouncing or declaring Anathemas against herefies and hereticks is very ancient. It grew to be a form expreffing horror, and was applied to the dead as well as to the living. It was understood to be a cutting fuch perfons off from the communion of the Church: if they were ftill alive, they were not admitted to any act of worship; if they were dead, their names were not to be read at the altar among those who were then commemorated. But as heat about opinions increased, and fome leffer matters grew to be more valued than the weightier things both of Law and Gospel, so the adding Anathemas to every point, in which men differed from one another, grew to be a common practice, and swelled up at laft to fuch a pitch, that, in the Council of Trent, a whole Body of Divinity was put into Canons, and an Anathema was fastened to every one of them. The delivering to Satan was made the common form of excommunication; an act of apoftolical authority being made a precedent for the standing practice of the Church. Great fubtilties were also set on foot concerning the force and effect of Church-cenfures: the ftraining this matter too high, has given occafion to extremes on the other hand. If a man is condemned as an heretick, for that which is no herefy, but is an article founded on the word of God, his confcience is not at all concerned in any such cenfure: great modefty and decency ought indeed to be fhewed by private perfons, when they difpute against publick decifions: but unless the Church is infallible, none can be bound to implicit faith, or blind fubmiffion. Therefore an Anathema ill founded, cannot hurt him againft whom it is thundered. If the doctrine, upon which the cenfures and denunciations of the Church are grounded, is true, and if it appears fo to him, that fets himself againft against it, he who thus defpifes the paftors of the Church, despises Chrift in whofe name, and by whofe authority, they are acting. But if he is ftill under convictions of his being in the right, when he is indeed in the wrong, then he is in a state of ignorance, and his fins are fins of ignorance, and they will be judged by that God, who knows the fincerity of all men's hearts, and fees into their fecreteft thoughts, how far the ignorance is wilful and affected, and how far it is fincere and invincible. AR T. And as for thofe cenfures, that are founded upon the proofs that are made of certain facts that are fcandalous, either the person on whom they are charged, knows himself to be really guilty of them, or that he is wronged, either by the witnesses, or the paftors and judges: if he is indeed guilty, he ought to confider fuch cenfures as the medicinal provifions of the Church against fin: he ought to fubmit to them, and to fuch rebukes and admonitions, to fuch publick confeffions, and other acts of self-abasement, by which he may be recovered out of the 2 Tim. ii. Snare of the Devil; and may repair the publick fcandal that he 26. has brought upon the profeflion of Chriftianity, and recover the honour of it, which he has blemished, as far as lies in him. This is the fubmitting to thofe that are over him, and the Heb. xiii. obeying them as thofe that watch for his foul, and that must give 17. an account of it. But if, on the other hand, any such person is run down by falsehood and calumny, he muft fubmit to that difpenfation of God's providence, that has fuffered fuch a load to be laid upon him: he must not betray his integrity; he ought to commit his way to God, and to bear his burden patiently. Such a cenfure ought not at all to give him too deep an inward concern: for he is fure it is ill founded, and therefore it can have no effect upon his confcience. God, who knows his innocence, will acquit him, though all the world fhould condemn him. He muft indeed fubmit to that separation from the body of Chriftians but he is fafe in his fecret appeals to God, who sees not as man fees, but judges righteous judgment: and such a cenfure as this cannot be bound in heaven. In the pronouncing the cenfures of the Church, great care and tenderness ought to be used; for men are not to be rafhly cut off from the body of Chrift; nothing but a wilful obftinacy in fin, and a deliberate contempt of the rules and orders of the Church, can juftify this extremity. Scandalous finners may be brought under the medicinal cure of the Church, and the offender may be denied all the privileges of Christians, till he has repaired the offence that he has given. Here another extreme has been run into by men, who being jealous of the tyranny of the Church of Rome, have thought that the world could not be fafe from that, unless all Church-power were de AR T. ftroyed: they have thought that the ecclefiaftical order is a XXXIII. body of men bound by their office to preach the Gospel, and to offer the facraments to all Chriftians; but that as the Gofpel is a doctrine equally offered to all, in which every man must take the particular application of the promises, the comforts, and the terrors of it to himself, as he will anfwer it to God; fo they imagine, that the facraments are in the fame promiscuous manner to be offered to all perfons; and that every man is to try and examine himself, and to to partake of them; but that the Clergy have no authority to deny them to any perfon, or to put marks of diftinction or of infamy on men and that therefore the ancient difcipline of the Church did arise out of a mutual compromise of Chriftians, who, in times of misery and perfecution, fubmitted to fuch rules, as feemed neceflary in that state of things; but that now all the authority that the Church hath, is founded only on the law of the land, and is ftill fubject to it. So that what changes or alterations are appointed by the civil authority must take place, in bar to any laws and cuítoms of the Church, how ancient or how univerfal foever they may be. In anfwer to this, it is not to be denied, but that the degrees and extent of this authority, the methods and the management of it, were at firft framed by common confent: in the times of perfecution, the Laity, who embraced the Christian religion, were to the Church instead of the magiftrate. The whole concerns of religion were supported and protected by them; and this gave them a natural right to be consulted with in all the decifions of the Church. The Brethren were called to join with the Apostles and Elders in that great debate concerning the circumcifion of the Gentiles, which was fettled at Jerufalem; and of fuch practices we find frequent mention in St. Cyprian's Epiftles: the more eminent among the Laity were then naturally the patrons of the Churches: but when the Church came under the protection of Chriftian princes and magiftrates, then the patronage and protection of it fell to them, upon whom the peace and order of the world depend ed. Yet though all this is acknowledged, we fee plainly, that in the New Teftament there are many general rules given, for the government and order of the Church. Timothy and Titus were appointed to ordain, to admonish, and rebuke, and that before all. The body of the Chriftians is required to Submit themfelves to them, and to obey them; which is not to be carried to an indefinite and boundless degree, but must be limited to that doctrine which they were to teach, and to fuch things as depended upon it, or tended to its establishment and propagation. From thefe general heads we fee juft grounds to affert fuch a power in the paftors of the Church, as is for edification, edification, but not for deftruction; and, therefore, here is a ART. foundation of power laid down; though it is not to be de- XXXIII. nied but that, in the application of it, fuch prudence and difcretion ought to be used, as may make it most likely to attain those ends for which it is given. A general confent, in time of perfecution, was neceffary; otherwise too indifcreet a rigour might have pulled down that which ought to have been built up. If in a broken state of things a common confent ought to be much endeavoured and ftaid for, this is much more neceffary in a regular and fettled time, with relation to the civil authority, under whom the whole fociety is put, according to its conftitution. But it can never be supposed that the authority of the Paftors of the Church, is no other than that of a lawyer or a phyfician to their clients, who are still at their liberty, and are in no fort bound to follow their directions. In particular advices, with relation to their private concerns, where no general rules are agreed on, an authority is not pretended to; and thefe may be compared to all other advices, only with this difference, that the Paftors of the Church watch over the fouls of their people, and must give an account of them. But when things are grown into method, and general rules are fettled, there the confideration of edification and unity, and of maintaining peace and order, are fuch facred obligations on every one that has a true regard to religion, that fuch as defpife all this may be well looked on as Hea. thens and Publicans; and they are fo much worse than they, as a fecret and well-difguifed traitor is much more dangerous than an open profeffed enemy. And though these words of our Saviour, of telling the Church, may, perhaps, not be fo ftrictly Matth. applicable to this matter, in their primary fenfe, as our Saviour xviii. 17. first spoke them; yet the nature of things, and the parity of reason, may well lead us to conclude, that though those words did immediately relate to the compofing of private differences, and of delating intractable perfons to the fynagogues, yet they may be well extended to all thofe publick offences, which are injuries to the whole body; and may be now applied to the Chriftian Church, and to the paftors and guides of it, though they related to the fynagogue, when they were first spoken. It is therefore highly congruous both to the whole defign of the Chriftian religion, and to many paffages in the New Teftament, that there fhould be rules fet for cenfuring offenders, that fo they may be reclaimed, or at least afhamed, and that others may fear: and, as the final fentence of every authority whatsoever, must be the cutting off from the body all fuch as continue in a wilful difobedience to the laws of the fociety; fo if any, who call themfelves Chriftians, will live fo as to be a reproach Hh 2 |