OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 1 67
punishment must be inflicted by the " many;" who also are to restore him who is so rebuked. Wherefore, excommunication without the consent of the church is a mere nullit}^
But if any one shall say that excommunication is not an act of authority or of office, but of power residing in the community, re- sulting from their common suffrage, guided and directed by the officers or elders of the church, I shall again take up this inquiry immediately, and speak unto it more distinctly, lest what is here spoken should not be sufficient unto the satisfaction of any.
Our next inquiry is concerning the objects of this church-censure, or who they are that ought to be excommunicated. And, —
1. They must be members of that church by which the sentence is to be denounced against them; and this, as we have proved before, they cannot be without their own consent One church cannot ex- communicate the members of another. They are unto them, as unto this matter, "without,'' and they have no power to judge them. The foundation of the right to proceed against any herein is in their own voluntary engagement to observe and keep the rules and laws of the society whereunto they are admitted. The offence is given unto that church in the first place, if not only; and it is an act of that church for its own edification. And there is a nullity in the sentence which is ordained, decreed, or denounced, by any who are not officers of that church in particular wherein the sin is committed.
2. These church-members that may be justly excommunicated are of two sorts : — ^
(].) Such as continue obstinate in the practice of any scandalous sin after private and public admonition. The process from the first offence in admonition is so stated, in ordinary cases. Matt, xviii. 15-20, that there is no need further to declare it. The time that is to be allotted unto the several degrees of it shall be spoken unto afterward. And unto a right judgment of obstinacy in any scandalous sin, it is required, — [1.] That the sin, considered in itself, be such as is owned to be such by all, without doubting, dispute, or hesitation. It must be some sin that is judged and condemned in the light of nature or in the express testimony of Scripture; yea, such as the Holy Ghost witnesseth, that, continued in without repentance, it is inconsistent with salvation. If the thing itself to be animadverted on be dubious, or disputable whether it be a sin or no, especially such a sin, either from the nature of the fact, or the qualifications of the person offend- ing, or from other circumstances, so as that the guilty person is not
• Strangely enough, oui- author mentions only one sort, and omits to specify the other. I'ei'haps he intended by the second soit members, whose conduct, though not grossly and obstinately scandalous, was so contumacious in resisting the authority of the church, that their continued enjoyment of church-members^hip would have been subversive of all peace and order. Sec a preceding paragraph, which appears to imply as much, p. 1G5. — Ed.
168 TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
self-condemned, nor are others fully satisfied in their minds about the nature of it, there is no room for excommunication in such case. And if it be once allowed to be applied towards any sins but such as are evident to be so (as the apostle says, " The works of the flesh are manifest ") in the light of nature and express testimony of Scripture, not only will the administration of it be made difficult, a matter of dispute, unfit for the determination of the body of the church, but it will leave it unto the wills of men to prostitute it unto litigious brawls, quarrels, and differences, wherein interest and partiality may take place; which is to profane this divine institution. But confine it, as it ought to be, unto such sins as are condemned in the light of nature or by express testimony of Scripture, as inconsistent with salvation by Jesus Christ, if persisted in, and all things that belong unto the administration of it will be plain and easy.
From the neglect of this rule proceeded that horrible confusion and disorder, in excommunication and the administration of it, which for sundry ages prevailed in the world ; for as it was mostly applied unto things holy, just, and good, or the performance of such gospel duties as men owed to Christ and their own souls, so being exercised with respect unto irregularities that are made such merely by the arbitrary constitutions and laws of men, and that in cases frivolous, trifling, and of no importance, it was found necessary to be managed in and by such courts, such processes, such forms of law, such plead- ings and intricacies of craft, such a burden of cost and charge, as it is uncertain whether it ought to be more bewailed or derided.
[2.] It is required hereunto that the matter of fact as unto the relation of the sin unto the particular offender be confessed, or not denied, or clearly proved. How far this is to extend, and what ground of procedure there may be in reports or fame concurring with leading circumstances, we shall inquire afterward. And although in such cases of public fame, a good testimony, from those of credit and repute in the church, given unto the supposed guilty pei'son is of use, and sufficient, in some cases, singly to oppose unto public reports, yet to require a man to purge himself by others from any feigned scandalous imputation is an unwarrantable tyranny.