The second of these hath been treated of in the discourse concern-
152 TKUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
ing church offices and rule ; and all that belongs nnto the first of them is fully declared in the chapters of the essential constituent parts of gospel churches, namely, their matter and form. The third must be now spoken unto, which is the power of excommunication.
There is nothing in Christian religion about which the contest of opinions hath been more fierce than this of excommunication, most of them proceeding evidently from false assumptions and secular interests; and no greater instance can be given of what the serpen- tine wits of men, engaged by the desire of domination and wealth, and assisted by opportunities, may attain unto. For Avhereas, as we shall see immediately, there is nothing more plain, simple, and more exposed unto the common understanding of all Christians, yea of all mankind, than is this institution of Christ, both as unto its nature, form, and manner of administration; nothing more wholesome nor useful unto the souls of men; nothinsf more remote from srivino" the least disturbance or prejudice to civil society, to magistrates or rulers, unto the personal or political rights or concernments of any one in- dividual in the world; — it hath been metamorphosed into a hideous monster, an engine of priestly domination and tyranny, for the depo- sition or assassination of kings and princes, the wasting of nations with bloody wars, the terror of the souls of men, and the destruction of their lives, with all their earthly concerns, unto the erection of a tyrannical empire, no less pernicious unto the Christian world than those of the Saracens or the Turks. He is a stranger unto all that hath passed in the world for nearly a thousand years who knows not the truth of these things. And to this very day, the greatest part of them that are called Christians are so supinely ignorant and doting, or so infatuated and blinded by their prejudices and corrupt interests, as to suppose or to say that if the pope of Rome do ex- communicate kings or princes, they may be lawfully deposed from their rule, and in some cases killed ; and that other persons, being rightly excommunicated, according unto certain laws, rules, and processes, that some have framed, ought to be fined, punished, im- prisoned, and so destroyed ! And about these things there are many disputes and contests, when, if men were awakened out of their lethargy, they would be laughed at as the most ridiculous and con- temptible mormos that ever appeared in the world ; though they are no laughing matter at present unto them that are concerned in them.
Supposing, then, ecclesiastical excommunicp^tion (as I at present suppose, and shall immediately prove it) to be an appointment of our Lord Jesus Christ, these things are plain and evident concerning it, not capable of any modest contradiction : — 1. That there is no divine evangelical institution that is more suited unto the light of nature, the rules of common equity, and principles o^ unseared con- sciences, as unto the nature, efficacy, and rule of it, than this is.
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2. That the way of the administration and exercise of the power and acts of it is so determined, described, and limited in the Scrip- ture and the light of nature, as that there can be no gross error or mistake about it but what proceeds from secular interests, pride, ambition, covetousness, or other vicious habits and inclinations of the minds of men. 3. That the whole authority of it, its sentence, jDower, and efficacy, are merely spiritual, with respect unto the souls and consciences of men only; and that to extend it, directly or indi- rectly, immediately or by consequences, unto the temporal hurt, evil, or damage of any, in their lives, liberties, estates, natural or legal privileges, is opposite unto and destructive of the whole government of Christ in and over his church. All these things will fully appear in the account which we shall give of it.
It is therefore evident, as was intimated, that nothing in Christian practice hath been or is more abused, corrupted, or perverted, than this of excommunication hath been and is. The residence of the supreme power of it, to be exercised towards and over all Christians, rulers and subjects, in the poi^e of Rome, or in other single persons absolutely, over less or greater distributions of them; the adminis- tration of it by citations, processes, pleadings, and contentions, in wrangling law-courts, according unto arbitrary canons and constitu- tions, Avhose original is either known or unknown; the application of it unto the hurt, damage, evil, or loss of men, in their temporal con- cerns,— are utterly and openly foreign unto the gospel, and expressly contrary nnto what the Lord Christ hath appointed therein. It would require a whole volume to declare the horrible abuses both in point of right and in matter of fact, with the pernicious con- sequences that have issued thereon, which the corruption of this divine institution hath produced : but to make a declaration hereof doth not belong to my present design ; besides, it hath in some good measure been done by others. In brief, it is so come to pass that it is made a mere political engine of an external, forcible govern- ment of the persons of men, unto the ends of the interests of some who have got a pretence of its power; administered by such ways and means as wherein the consciences of men, neither of those by whom it is administered nor of those unto whom it is applied, are any way concerned, with respect unto the authority of any institution of Jesus Christ.