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Show 378 pm.3. OF A CHRISTIAN. GIMP-42- c 0 MM 0 N-WE A L TH. C541" 42; dwelleth in God; hee in whom God dwelleth , can receive no of Confcience, or rovoke them to break the union or the Church. harm by the Excommunicarion ofmen‘. Which Leifon the Xpoftles themfelves oblerved well. leevethjci‘us to be the Chrifl, is free from all the dangers threat- S .Pcter,and 5. Paul, though their controverfie were great, (as we may read in Gal. 2. II. ) et they did not cafl one another out or the Church. Nevertheleflg, during the Apoitles times, there were other Paftors that obferved it not; As Diotrephes( 3 101m 9. firm who caft out of the Church,fuch as S. John himfelf thought fit to be received into it, out of a pride he took in Prat eminence -, to early it was , that Vain-glory,and Ambition had found entrance into the Church of Chrifi. V . ofpcrjom lia- pm. 3. {uch difputes, are written fora Lefl~on to Paitors,( fuch as Timothy and Titus were )not to make new Articles of Faith, y determininn every {mall controverfie, which oblige men to a needlelle burthen That a man be liable to Excommunication, there be many condi- "bl"afimm' tions requifitegas Firfi, that he be a member of tome Commonaltv , munical'im. that is to fay, offomelawfull Affembly , that is to lay,~ of (cm Chrifiian Church, that hath power to judge or the cauie for which hee is to bee Excommunicared. For where there is no Community , there can bee no Excommunication; nor where there is no power to Judge, can there bee any power to give Sentence. From hence it followeth,that one Church cannot be Excommuni- cated by another : For either they have equall power to E‘tcommunicate each other, in which cafe Excommunication is not Difciphne, nor an aft ofAuthority,but Schifme, and Dillolution or‘charity, or one is fo fubordinate to the other, as that they both have but one voice, and then they be but one Church; and the part li‘xcommunicared, is no morea Church, but a diflolute number or individuall rfons. And becaufe the fentence ofExcommunication, importeth an ad. VlCC, notto keep company, nor (0 much as to year with himthatit Excommunicate, if a Soveraign Prince, or Ailembly bee Excommunicate, the fentence is ofno effect. For all Subjet‘ts are bound to beinthe company and prel‘ence of their own Sorcraign i when he requireth it) by the law ot‘Nature; nor can they lawfully either cxpell him from any place of his own Dominion, whether profane or holy-,nor go out ot'his Dominion, without his leave; much lcll: (ifhe call them to that honour,)refuft to eat with him. And as to other Princes and States, became they are not parts ofone and the fame congregation , they need not any other tentence to keepthtai from keeping companywith the State Excommunicate : for the very Infiitution, as it uniteth many men into one Community; to it dino- ciateth one Community from another: to that EXCOIDmumClilohlx nOt needqu for keeping Kings and States ai‘uuderznor has anytutther effect then is in the nature of Policy it lelitslmltlle it be to initigate Princes to warre upon one another. Nor is the Excommunication ot‘a Chrifiian Sublet} , that obey- eth the laws ofhis own Sovcraign, whether Chriihan, or Heathen, ofany Cffcft. Porif he beleere that 16/": 15 1/2: C/erf, I}: lmz/x in: 5pm Spirit ofGod, (I Jolt. 4.i.) and Goddwellet/J {fl Iyim, and/16 in God, (1 Ioh. 4.1;.) But hee that hath the Spirit of God; hee that Therefore , he that be- ned to perfons Excommunicate. He that beleveeth it not, is no Chril-tian. Therefore a true and unfeigned Chriflian is not liable to Excommunication: Nor he alfothat is a profefTed Chrii'tian, till his Hypocrify appearinhis Manners,that is, till his behaviour bee contrary to the law of his Soveraign, which is the rule of Man- ners, and which Chrift and his Apof‘tles have commanded us to be lubjeét to. For the Church cannot judge of Manners but by: externall Actions, which Ae‘tions can never bee unlawfull, but when they are againf‘t the Law of the Commoni wealth. _ If a mans Father, or Mother, or 'Mafter bee Excommuni- care, yet are not the Children forbidden to keep them Compa¢ ny, nor to Eat with them; for that were (for the molt part) to' oblige them not to eat at all,for want ot‘means to get food; and to anthoriie them to dilbbey-their Parents,and Maflers, contrary to the Pretept ofthe Apoflles. In minute, the Power ofExcommunicatioti cannot be extended further than to the end {or which the Apoltles and l'aitors of the Churth havetheir Commiflion from our Saviour--7 which is not to rule by Command and Coac‘tion, but by Teaching and Direction otmen inthe way of Salvation in the world to come. And as a Mailer in any Scrence, may abandon his Scholar, when hee obflinatcly neglecteth the pixtctiie or‘his rules; btit not accrue him of lnjuilice, becaiife he was never bound toobey him : {o a Teacher of Chriflian doctrine may abandon his I)ll.ClplCS that obftinately continue in an unchriilianlite; but he cannot liiy, they doe him" wrong, became they are not obliged to obeyhim: Porto a Teacher that ihall ii) complain, may be applyedthe Antwer of God to Samuel in the like place, They have m9! rqer'ledrhee, [wt mee. Ex4 Communicationtherefore whenit wanteththeaihltance ofthe Civill Power, as it doth, when a Chriitian State, or Prince is Excomniunicate by atorain Authority, is without efi‘eehand coni‘equently ought to be without terroiir. The name of Fir/mm Excommzmi- (mun/3i that is, 1/): Thunderbolt of Excommtmirrztim) proceeded from an imagination of~ the Billiop of Rome , which firit tried it, that he was King of Kings,as the Heathen madcjupiter King of the Gods; and alligned him in their Poems, and Pictures, a Thunderbolt, wherewith to litbdue , and puniih the Giants, that ihould dare to deny his power: Which imagination was grounded onm'o errours; one, that the Kingdome of Chrifl: is of this world,‘ contrary to our Saviours owne words, My It'mgdam e 1.: norof H31; mar/.4; the other, -that lice is Chrifis Vicar, not melt! ‘over his owne Subjects , ans or the World, but over all the Chrifti- whereof there is no ground in Scrip» Nn z ture, |