ART. primitive Church, that being nearest the fountain, did XXXIII. beft understand the nature of church-power, and the ef

fects of her cenfures, thought of nothing, in this matter, but of denying to fuffer apoftates, or rather fcandalous perfons, to mix with the reft 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 fhare in fome of the more general parts of the worship; and even in these they stood by themselves, 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 nature and the ends of church-power: 2 Cor. x.8. which was given for edification, and not for deftruction. This is fuitable to the defigns of the Gofpel, both for preferving the fociety pure, and for reclaiming those who are otherwife like to be carried away by the Devil in bis fnare. This is to admonifb finners as brethren, and not to use them as enemies: whereas the other method looks like a power that defigns deftruction, rather than edification, especially 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 crueleft fort of death, all thofe whom the Church doth fo anathematize.

But

We do not deny but that the form of denouncing or declaring Anathemas against herefies and heretics 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 thofe who were then commemorated. as heat about opinions increased, and fome leffer matters grew to be more valued than the weightier things both of Law and Gofpel, fo the adding Anathemas to every point, in which men differed from one another, grew to be a common practice, and fwelled 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 faftened 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 ftanding practice of the Church. Great fubtilties were also set on foot concerning the force and effect of church-cenfures:

the

XXXIII.

the ftraining this matter too high, has given occafion to ART. extremes on the other hand. If a man is condemned as an heretic, 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 fuch cenfure: great modefty and decency ought indeed to be fhewed by private perfons, when they difpute against public 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 against 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 against it, he who thus defpifes the pastors of the Church, defpifes 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.

And as for thofe cenfures, that are founded upon the proofs that are made of certain facts that are fcandalous, either the perfon on whom they are charged knows himself to be really guilty of them, or that he is wronged, either by the witneffes, 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 submit to them, and to fuch rebukes and admonitions, to fuch public confeffions, and other acts of felf-abasement, by which he may be recovered out of the fnare of the Devil; 2 Tim. ii. and may repair the public fcandal that he has brought 26. upon the profeffion 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 those that watch for his foul, and that must 17. give an account of it. But if, on the other hand, any fuch perfon is run down by falfehood and calumny, he must 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 feparation from the K k 2

body

ART. body of Chriftians: but he is fafe in his fecret appeals to God, who fees not as man fees, but judges righteous judgment: and fuch a cenfure as this cannot be bound in heaven.

XXXIII.

In the pronouncing the cenfures of the Church, great care and tendernefs 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 Chriftians, 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 deftroyed: they have thought that the ecclefiaftical order is a body of men bound by their office to preach the Gospel, and to offer the facraments to all Chriftians; but that as the Gospel is a doctrine equally offered to all, in which every man must take the particular application of the promifes, the comforts, and the terrors of it to himself, as he will answer it to God; fo they imagine, that the facraments are in the fame promifcuous manner to be offered to all perfons; and that every man is to try and examine bimfelf, and fo 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 compromife of Chriftians, who, in times of mifery and perfecution, fubmitted to fuch rules, as feemed neceffary 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 muft take place, in bar to any laws and cuftoms 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 Chriftian religion, were to the Church inftead of the magiftrate. The whole concerns of religion were fupported and protected by them; and this gave them a natural right to be confulted with in all the decifions of the Church. The Brethren were called to join

ART.

with the Apostles and Elders in that great debate concern. ing the circumcifion of the Gentiles, which was fettled at XXXIII. 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 depended. 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 fubmit themselves 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 these general heads we fee juft grounds to affert fuch a power in the paftors of the Church, as is for edification, but not for deflruction; and, therefore, here is a foundation of power laid down; though it is not to be denied but that, in the application of it, fuch prudence and diferetion 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 stayed 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 fupposed 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 these 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

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despise

Matth.

ART. defpife all this may be well looked on as Heathens and XXXIII. 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 thefe words of our Saviour, of telling the Church, may, perhaps, not be xvi. 17. fo ftrictly applicable to this matter, in their primary fenfe, as our Saviour first spoke them; yet the nature of things, and the parity of reafon, may well lead us to conclude, that though thofe 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 public 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 fpoken.

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 aflamed, 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 to that which they profefs, they must be cut off, and cast out; for if there is any fort of power in the Church, it muft terminate in this. This is the laft and highest act of their authority; it is like death or banishment by the civil power, which are not proceeded to but upon great occafions, in which milder cenfures will not prevail, and where the general good of the fociety requires it: fo cafting out being the laft act of church-power, like a parent's difinheriting a child, it ought to be proceeded in with that flownefs, and upon fuch confiderations, as may well juftify the rigour of it. A wilful contempt of order and authority carries virtually in it every other irregula rity; because it diffolves the union of the body, and deftroys that refpect, by which all the other ends of religion are to be attained; and, when this is deliberate and fixed, there is no other way of proceeding, but by cutting off thofe who are fo refractory, and who fet fo ill an example to others.

If the execution of this fhould happen to fall under great diforders, fo that many fcandalous perfons are not cenfured, and a promifcuous multitude is fuffered to break in upon the moft facred performances, this cannot

juftify