From this we can well perceive, that avoidance is as well founded in the Scriptures as excommunication; hence those who now reject avoidance, reject the Scriptures, since it is founded in the Scriptures. Therefore, they that will not avoid, sin, not against men, but against the Lord; hence the church may not tolerate such, who so sin against the Lord, and will not confess to guilt; for they are servants of the Lord, to punish all disobedience.
Now we perceive, in the first place from the words of Christ (Matt. 18:15), that if any one sins against his neighbor, by any transgression, he must be reconciled to his neighbor, or he cannot, after sufficient admonition, remain a brother, but he must be regarded as a heathen man or publican, who was excluded from the covenant of the Lord, and with whom the Jews would have no fellowship. John 4:9. And since they must be regarded as persons that are excluded from the covenant of the Lord, because they have only through weakness sinned against their neighbor, and will not confess to guilt; how much more shall they be regarded so who sin against the Lord, and transgress his doctrine--which is frequently done through heedlessness, or self-interest, or for the sake of friends or relatives--and yet will not become reconciled to the Lord?
In the second place Moses writes, that if any one touched a dead body, and would not wash himself the third and the seventh day, he was to be cut off. Yet the dead had to be touched, for they must be buried; and yet, if they would not wash themselves, they had to be cut off; and the priest might not defile himself with any dead person; he was not allowed to go to any dead, for he had the anointing oil on his head. Num. 19:11; Lev. 21:1; 8:12; Ex. 19:10. Hence, if they in Israel had to be so punished, who would not wash themselves with water, from a pollution which was caused by necessity, how shall they now be tolerated in the church, who without necessity, yea, often for the sake of gain, or through the prompting of flesh and blood, defile themselves with these dead, after they have been separated from the church, and yet will not wash themselves, or bear or confess their guilt? These people may not thus be tolerated, according to the view which I have from the Scriptures; and if they are allowed to go unreproved, it must be declared as a liberty, and then perhaps to-morrow already another will arise and demand the abolishment of excommunication, and will prove to you, that you have just as much power to maintain avoidance, as you have to maintain excommunication; and then you will be beaten with your own staff, and thus the hedge will be completely broken down, and the wild boars will run into the vineyard of the Lord, and root it up. Ps. 80:13; Is. 5:5. O dear brother, take heed; blow the trumpet on Mount Zion; let Israel hear the word of the Lord; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering. Joel 2:1; 2 Tim. 4:2.
With the simple that are led astray in understanding, deal in a fatherly, long-suffering manner, if God may haply yet enlighten them by his Spirit. Bind up the wounded; seek the erring; break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Is. 61:1; Luke 10:34; 15:4; Is 42:3. Always take heed unto yourselves, and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts 20:28. Hence feed the flock of Christ not by constraint, but willingly (1 Pet. 5:2), and remember that the apostle says: “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me. 1 Cor. 9:16,17. Hence he also says: “Though we might have used authority, as the apostles of Christ, we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children; so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. 1 Thessalonians 2:6–8. And he said, that as a father admonishes his children, so he had exhorted, comforted, and charged them, that they should walk worthy of God. vs. 11, 12; Philip. 1:27; Col. 1:10.