The apostolical discipline is illnstrBted ly&i of the incestuous person (1 Cor. t, 1-llX Hm I excommunicates the offender, (1) verse S, own judgment concerning the offence and i£i ] trator ; (2) verse 4, stating that he acts **iBtfai of our Lord Jesus Christ;** and^ (3) assodstag himself the whole body of the Corinthian CksrA^ ing also " with the power of our Lord Jesas Od (Compare De Wette and Stanley, m kc; Sd Apostolic Ckmreh, § 122 ; Coleman, AposkBemdH itive ChvTck, chap. v). In yerse 12 he nnplies tU '*jadgment'* lies with the Church, ''Do sot w.i them that are within ?" He enjoins strict sepd from immoral professors of religbn : vene 11, now I have written unto you not to keq> cooftq any man that is called a brother be a fannotf^ covetous, or an idolater, or a raOer, or a ' or an extortioner : with such a one no not to In the case of the incestuous person the discipline brought penitence ; and the apostle \^ ii) exhorts the Church to ''forgive and oomfatk and restore him to fellowship. On the ap«tt discipline, both as to doctrine and monls, vm'fi also 2 Thess. iii, 6; 1 Tim. i, 20; 2 Joba. 9~n "He that abideth in the doctrine of Chrat^k h£! both the Father and the Son. If there cose ir unto you, and bring not this doctrine, recent ^ not into your house, neither bid him God speei^ he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of Is r*- deeds.'* The exercise of discipline (1) by repiwC if by censure, (8) by excommunication, was k^ a * hands of the Church as a whole (not of asj ^ cial dass or order in the Church), daring its etfia and best ages. See asummingupofthe eyidace" this point in Coleman, Apostolical and Primitiee O^ chap. v. "The primitive Church never pretended s exercise discipline upon any but such as v^ v^ her pale, in the largc»t sense, by some act of tiwr fl« profession, and even upon these she never pretest to exercise her discipline so fkr as to caned or (fia> nul their baptism. But the discipline of the (l^ consisted in a power to deprive men of the beae&s i external communion, such as public prayer, racei^ the Eucharist, and other acts of divine wor^p. ^ power, before the establishment of the Church bfH man laws, was a mere spiritual authority, or, s ^ Cyprian terms it, a spiritual sword, affectmg tie m and not the body" (Hook, Cktirck Die^onar^ 5. t-^ On the so-called secrH dist^pUneattht andeatCliani see Arcani Disciplina.
As to the exercise of discipline, it seemi detr **d* the action of the laity was requisite, as late sstbe en>
DISCIPLINE
817
DISCIPLINfi
rtbe third century, in all diBciplinary proceedings e Church. By the beginning of the fourth cen- however, this cardinal right, through the opera- yf causes which have been briefly mentioned, and h may be more fully specified hereafter, was great> )ridged, and shortly was wholly lost. This fact ;rate8 the progress of the ecclesiastical hierar-
While the right of the laity is yet undisputed, >ower of the bishop begins at first to be partially ted and occasionally admitted, the people occupy- i neutral position between submission and open lity. But firom disuse to denial, and from denial ctinction of neglected privileges and powers, the int is natural, short, and rapid. From about the lie of the fourth century, accordingly, the bishops ned the control of the whole penal jurisdiction of aity, opening and shutting at pleasure the doors e Church, inflicting sentence of excommunication, prescribing at their discretion the austerities of nee, and again absolving the penitents, and re- ng them to the Church by their own arbitrary 3rs. The people accordingly, no longer having part in the trial of offences, cdised to watch for purity of the Church, connived at offences, and ealed the offender, not caring to interfere with the ogative of the bishop, in which they had no further rest. The speedy and sad corruption of the Church but the natural consequence of this loose and ar- iry discipline. Nor was it to be doubted that this one efficient cause of that degeneracy which suc- ied" (Coleman, Apostolical and Primitive Ckurchj ). v). "This transition changed essentially the dons of the officers to the members of the Church, the conditions of Church membership. The offi- of the Church, instead of receiving authority and e from that body for their service, claim authority
commission fh>m God for the exercise of their itions. They are now the rulers, not the servants, it the beginning they were, of the Church. A m with the Church by a public profession is a isaction not so much between the Church and professing Christian, as between him and the top. The contracting, covenanting parties are the lop and the believer. The sovereign authority of Church is merged and lost in that of the priest- a. Ecclesiastical discipline naturally resolves it* into a system of penance administered by the isthood, in whom alone authority is vested for the ishment of offences" (Coleman, AncietU ChristicaA' ;hap. xxii).
1. In the Middle Ages, andin the Roman Ckurck, the tem of penitential discipline, for the treatment of sons confessing their sin, grew up into full propor- 18. See Penancb ; Penitential Discipline. In Roman Church, and among some Protestant writ-