The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication, Religious polemic · Chapter 4
CAP. IV.
Queſt. 1.
That the place, 1 Corinthians 5. doth evince that Excommunication is an Ordinance of God.
THE Argument for Excommunication may be thus framed, fromThat Excommunication is a divine Ordinance is proved by 1 Cor. 5. 1 Cor. 5. If Paul command that the inceſtuous man ſhould be delivered to Satan ver. 5. purged out of the Church, leaſt as leaven he ſhould corrupt the Church, ver. 6, 7. That they ſhould iudge him, ver. 12. And put him avvay from amongſt them, ver. 13. So as they vvere not to eat vvith him, ver. 9. 10. Then is there a divine command for Excommunication; for the Commandments of the Apoſtles are the Commandments of the Lord, 1 Cor. 14. 37. 2 Pet. 3. 2. But the former is true: Ergo, ſo is the latter.
There is no ground or ſhadow of reaſon to expound this expelling of the inceſtuous man by the preaching of the word without any Church-cenſures, for all that is required in Excommunication is here; 1. This putting out was not done by one ſingle Paſtor, as putting out by the preaching of the word is done, but by a company and Church, ver. 4. In the name of the Lord Ieſus, vvhen ye are gathered together, and my spirit. 2. Paul ſhould have written to any one Paſtor to caſt him out by preaching; but here he writeth to a Church: 3. He forbiddeth company, or eating with ſuch like men, v. 10. Now this is more then rebuking by preaching. 4. This is a judging of the inceſtuous man, and a caſting of him out of their ſociety, which is another thing then preaching the word.
Eraſtus and others expound the giving to Satan, of a deliveringTo deliver to Satan is not miraculous killing. of the man to Satan, to be miraculouſly killed, as were Ananias and Saphira, Act. 5. 5. And becauſe at this time there was no Chriſtian Magiſtrate to uſe the ſword againſt the man, therefore he writeth to the Church, that they by their prayers would obtain of God, that Satan might take him out of the midſt of them.
Anſ. This inſolent interpretation wanteth all warrant of the word: For 1. To deliver to Satan, hath no Scripture to make this ſenſe of it, to pray that Satan would deſtroy the man. 2. It wanteth an example in the old or new Teſtament, that the whole Church are fellow-Agents and joynt cauſes in the bodily deſtruction of any, or in working of miracles, ſuch as was the killing of Ananias and Saphira: The Apoſtles wrought miracles, and that by their Faith and Prayers, and Chriſt and the Prophets; but that the Believers, who ſhould have mourned for this ſcandall, 1. Who were puffed up: 2. Who were in danger to be leavened with the mans ſin, and had their conſent in Excommunication, ſhould joyn in a miraculous delivering to Satan, is an unparalleld practiſe in the word. 3. To deliver to Satan, cannot be expounded here: but as 1 Tim. 1. 20. Where Paul ſaith he had delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan, now that was not to kill them, but foreign, that they might receive instruction and be diſciplined, by this medicinall Church-revenge, not to blaſpheme: I know of no inſtructing of theſe who are dead; if there be two deliverings to Satan, let Eraſtus and his expound it to us. 4. The Apoſtle expreſly ſaith, he wrote to them, not to keep company with ſuch men, nor with Fornicators, covetous men, Drunkards, Extortioners, Idolators: Now Eraſtus his minde muſt be, that the Apoſtles and Churches of Corinth, Philippi, Theſſalonica, grievou…ly ſinned againſt God, in that they did not miraculouſly kill all the Drunkards, the covetous perſons, the fornicators, whereas they are commauded to admoniſh them as brethren, 2 Theſſ. 3 14, 15. and to pray for them, if they ſin not againſt the holy Ghoſt, 1 Ioh.. 5. 16. 1 Tim.▪ 2. 3. 5. Paul rebuketh this as a morall fault amongſt the Corinthians, ſuch as is not to mourn for this mans fault, and to keep him as leaven in the midſt of them, and not to caſt him out: Whereas in all the Scripture you finde none ever rebuked, becauſe they put not forth in Acts an extraordinary and miraculous power to work miracles; working of miracles came upon perſons called thereunto, by extraordinary rapts, and were in men not as habits under the power of free-will, but as immediate Acts of God, even as fire-flaughts are in the Aire: So I conceive, while I be better informed. 6. And ſhall it not follow, that now when the Churches have Chriſtian Magiſtrates, it is the will of our meek ſaviour, that they kill with the ſword all the Drunkards, Fornicators, and all that walketh unorderly; which ſhould make the Church of Chriſt a Butcher-houſe, whereas we are to admoniſh all ſuch as brethren, 2 Theſſ. 3. 15. And to wait on them with all patience, if God peradventure may give them repentance. 7. The deſtruction of the fleſh muſt be the deſtruction of the body. But the bodies of the godly are ſaved no leſſe then their ſpirits in the day of the Lord. 8. And for many of the former reaſons, by delivering to Satan, cannot be meant a miraculous tormenting of the body by Sathan, with the ſaving of the life; Such as we read was the caſe of Iob; for the delivering to Sathan, is to caſt out of the Church, and declare ſuch an offendor to be of the number of the wicked world, of which Sathan is Prince, Ioh. 12. 31. Ioh. 14. 30. and God, 2 Cor. 4. 4. and that which we aſſert asThe eſſentials of excommunication, 1 Cor, 5. the eſſentials of excommunication, are, 1. Here is a member of the Church, one vvho is within, 1 Cor. 5. 12. one who hath fallen in a foul ſcandall, and had his fathers wife, ver. 1. who by the Church conveened in the name of our Lord Ieſus, with that ſpirit of the Apoſtle given to them by Chriſt, v. 4. was delivered to Sathan, that his ſoule may be ſaved, (for that is the genuine and intrinſecall end of Excommunication,) and to be purged out of the Church, leſt he ſhould infect the Sheepe, ver. 7. and Chriſtians were not to bear company with him, nor to eate with him, ver. 9. 10▪ and he was judged to be caſt out as a Heathen and Publican, ver. 12. 13. and that by a convened court, having the name and authority of him who is King of the Church, ver. 4. and more wee doe not crave. Obj. To deliver any to the power of Sathan, is no mean of ſalvation. Anſw. A morall delivering to the efficacy of error, and a reprobate minde, is not a mean of ſalvation, nor is excommunication ſuch a mean, nor in the power of the Church, but a medicinall depriving of an offender of the comfortable communion of the Saints, and of the prayers of the Church, and meanes of grace, ſuch is a means, and mighty through God to humble.