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CHAP. V.
THE SECOND ARTICLE CONCERNING THE INCESTUOUS PERSON.
LEst they should think his Commination vain, (whereof hee speaks toward the end of the former Chapter) he commands that the Incestuous Person be Ex∣communicated, propounding to that end, eleven Argum.
Vers. 1. It is reported commonly, that there is fornica∣tion among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his Fathers Wife.
The first Argument; because the Incestuous Person is defiled by an hainous wickedness, which the Gentiles will not so much as speak of without detestation: There∣fore hee is to bee Excommunicated.
Vers. 2. And yee are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that hee that hath done this deed might bee taken away from among you.
The second Argument is joyned with the reproof of the Corinthians, because you ought long since to have grieved for the great offence, and to have excommunicated the wicked person, and not to excuse his fault by lessening of it, or making a jest at it, or glorying in it, as if you were taken with the fact.
Vers. 3. For I verily as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I was present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ, when yee are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ,
5. To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may bee saved in the day of the Lord Iesus.
Argum. 3. Because now besides that ordinary power which you have in the Ecclesiastical Senate, viz. you are instructed and obliged also by an extraordinary Power to excommunicate him; for truly you have my mind, or spirit, judgement, opinion and authority concerning that wicked person (as much in my absence as if I was pre∣sent:) Therefore when you are gathered together, being fortified by this Apostolical Epistle, (in which the spi∣rit, or mind, or opinion of mee an Apostle is contained) and by the authority of Christ, (in whose name the cen∣sures of the Church are to bee made) that you deliver that wicked one to Satan, or excommunicate him. Hee sayes, Deliver him to Satan, because hee that is rejected and cast out of the Church by Excommunication from the Church-dignity of the Saints, as to the outward condition of a man, the same also is declared to bee (as to his outward condition) in the Kingdome, bondage and power of Satan; for to bee a Citizen even in the outward state of the Church, (which is said to bee the Kingdome of God) is a greater honour than to reign without the Church: Therefore hee that is Excommu∣nicated, hee loses much of his repute, and honour, and dignity, and is reckoned amongst the subjects of the devil.
Destruction of the flesh] Argum. 4. From the end of Excommunication, by way of preventing an objection, because Excommunication is a means of Repentance and Salvation; for truly by this censure the pride of the flesh may bee mortified, and the new creature bee saved in the day of judgement: Therefore hee is to bee excom∣municated.
Vers. 6. Your glorying is not good: know yee not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Argum. 5. Lest the whole Church should bee infected and polluted by the contagion of so great a wickedness, as by a little leaven the whole lump is leavened: There∣fore the Incestuous Person is to bee Excommunicated. This Argument is enforced by repeating his reproof of the Corinthians.
Vers. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that yee may bee a new lump, as yee are unleavened: for even Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us.
Argum. 6. Propounded by the continuing of the Alle∣gory; because the Christian Church is to bee purged from scandals, yea, and the hearts of Christians, from all the corruption of their old nature, with no less dili∣gence than heretofore the houses of the Jews, under the Law, were purged from common leaven, before the Passeover was sacrificed: Therefore the Incestuous Per∣son is to bee Excommunicated.
That yee may bee] Argum. 7. From the profitableness of it. Yee must endeavour, that yee may bee a new and holy society, an holy lump, or that yee may bee found new creatures, really and in deed, as yee are unleavened by your obligation and profession, or as you are Saints: Therefore the Incestuous Person is to bee Excommuni∣cated.
Passeover] Confirming this Argument, hee adds the eighth, because the thing signified in the Passeover, to wit, the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, doth not less engage Christians to their duties, (represented by the celebrati∣on and ceremonies of the Feast) that is, to bee careful, that holiness may flourish in us, and in the Church; than it did oblige the Jews heretofore, to observe the ceremo∣nies of the Feast, in which the Paschal Lamb, being a type, sacrificed was set before them.
Vers. 8. Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice, and wick∣edness, but with the unleavened bread of sincere truth.
From hence hee infers, (as it were by a perswasive conclusion) the ninth Argum. That malice and wicked∣ness being put away, both from themselves, and from the Church, and by consequence, that Incestuous Person be∣ing excommunicated, they might worship and serve the Lord cheerfully, and holily, in sincerity and truth: The force of this Argument is this, Wee cannot live holily and righteously (as the signification of the Feast of the Paschal Lamb typified, requires of us) unless the leaven of our former life, and wicked practices, be purged away out of us, and the House of God, or the Church; and un∣less wee endeavour to keep sincerity and truth in us and the Church: Therefore hee is to bee Excommunicated.
Vers. 9. I wrote unto you in an Epistle, not to company with fornicators.
Argum. 10. Because he before forbad them by his Epistle to have fellowship with Fornicators, and by consequence they might understand, that Fornicators were to bee Ex∣communicated from the Church, and much more ince∣stuous persons: Therefore that Incestuous Person is now to bee excommunicated.
Vers. 10. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the Covetous, or with Extorti∣oners, or with Idolaters; for then must you needs go out of the world.
Lest they should excuse themselves, hee shews them that that Precept concerning vicious persons, was not to bee understood by them▪ of those that were in the world, or without the Church; because thus the Apostle had commanded a thing impossible, because they must eithe•• necessarily live amongst such wicked persons, or go out of the world; for they lived at Corinth, the Citizens where∣of (with whom the Faithful necessarily must have civil commerce) remained for the most part Infidels.
Vers. 11. But now have I written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a Brother, bee a Fornicator, or Covetous, or an Idolater, or a Railer, or a Drunkard, or an Extortioner, with such a one, no, not to eat.
Argum. 11. If you have not been heretofore sufficient∣ly instructed in this business, at least yee now have my