Ductor dubitantium, or, The rule of conscience in all her generall measures serving as a great instrument for the determination of cases of conscience : in four books / by Jeremy Taylor ...

§. 2. Of CENSURES Ecclesiastical.

I have given the general measures of the Legislative power of the Ec∣clesiastical state: next to this I am to account concerning their Coerci∣tive §. 2. and then return to the inquiries after the more particular sub∣jects of this power §. 3. and their particular laws and their obligations upon the conscience in external order §. 4. and in matters of faith §. 5.

RULE VI. Kings and Princes are by the ties of Religion, not of power, oblig'd to keep the laws of the Church.

THe laws of the Church I have already divided into such which she makes by a Divine authority,* 1.1 such which concern our essential duty, in which she hath power to command and rule in her appointed manner; and into those which are external, political and contingent, such which Princes if they please make up into laws, but the spiritual power cannot. In the first sort, Kings and Princes are as much tied to obedience as the meanest Christian subject. For the King, though he be supreme in government Political, yet his soul is of Christs fold, and to be conducted by a proper shepherd. It is no contradiction that the same person should be supreme, and yet obey in another regard in which he is not supreme. The Captain that fights in a ship commands the souldiers in chief, but himself obeyes the Master; and the safety of the souldiers depends upon them both: for they are distinct powers in order to distinct purposes. For Kings must give an account for Bishops that they live well in the political capacity, and Bishops for Kings in their spiritual; and therefore they must obey each o∣ther: and we find that persons of greatest honour in the days of peace, serve under Captains and Generals in the time of warre; and when The∣mistius, an excellent Philosopher, who from his chair did rule and dictate wise things, and give laws to the understandings of his Auditors, and was admir'd by his Prince, was by the Emperor Constantius advanc'd to a pre∣fecture, in an excellent Epigram he says to himself, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Now ascend downwards, for thou hast already descended upwards. The same dignity is above and below in several regards. But in this there is no difficulty, because the souls of Princes are of equal regard, and under the same laws of God, and to be cleans'd and nourish'd by the same Sacraments, and tied to the same duty by the Commandements of God as any of the people; in this there is no difference.

But in matters not of necessary duty,* 1.2 not expressely required by God's law and the necessary, unavoidable, immediate consequents of it, there be∣ing no laws but what themselves have made, they are no otherwise ob∣lig'd then by their own civil laws, of which I have already given account. This thing is particularly noted by Balsamo upon the 16^th Canon of the Council of Carthage, who affirms that by the reason of the power given to

Princes from God they are subject neither to their laws nor Canons. And of this latter he gives this instance, That although by the XII^th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon it was decreed that no city should for the future acquire the title of a Metropolis; yet after this Justinianea prima was made an Archiepiscopal seat and had Metropolitical rights, to the diminu∣tion of the former rights of Thessalonica: but Balsamo instances in divers others. There was an ancient Canon of great celebrity in the Church, that every city should have a proper Bishop: but the Bishops of Isauropolis and Tolma besides their own, had others; so had the Bishops of Lichfield and of Bath in England: they had other cities under their jurisdiction which had no Bishops in propriety. For if Kings did give limit to their Dio∣ceses they might divide again, and give a new limit; since it is not in Kings as it is in people. The power that goes from the people is like water slipt from their hands, it returns no more, and does not abide in the first place of it's efflux; but when an act of power passes from the King, any depu∣tation or trust, any act of grace or delegation of jurisdiction, it is like heat passing from the fire, it warms abroad, but the heat still dwells at home. It is no more the lesse, then the Sun is for the emission of it's beams of light.

And this is apparent in all the privileges and concessions made to the Church,* 1.3 which are as revocable as their duty is alterable. For Princes are so far from being oblig'd to perpetuate such rights which themselves have indulg'd, that it is a rul'd case, and the Greek Fathers sometimes make use of it to this very purpose,* 1.4 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, If a King hath given a gift, he may recal it in case the beneficiary proves ingratefull. The same with that in the feu∣dal laws of the Lombards, Feudum amittit qui feudum sciens inficiatur. If he wittingly denies the fee, or refuses homage, he looses it. But this depends upon the reasons of the second Rule in the third Chapter of this Book.

But although in strict right the Kings laws oblige him not,* 1.5 yet be∣cause de bono & laudabili he is in the senses above explicated oblig'd to his civil laws, therefore much more is he tied to the observations and Canons of the Church, as being specifications of religion, instances of love to God, significations of some internal duty, or outer guards to piety, great exam∣ples to the people, and honours to the Church of Christ, and that which above all external things will enable the Rulers and guides of souls to ren∣der their account with joy; and the King shall never so well promote the interests of religion by any thing, as by being himself subject to the religi∣on: for who will murmure at those laws which the King himself weares in a phylactery upon his forehead and his wrists? Facere rectè cives suos princeps optimus faciendo docet; cumque sit Imperio Maximus, exemplo major est, said Velleius Paterculus. This is most of all true in religion, whose laws look too like policy when they are established onely by pe∣nalties, but they are accounted religion when they are made sacred by ex∣ample. To which purpose is that of Tacitus,* 1.6 Obsequium in Principem & aemulandi amor validiora quam poena ex legibus. It is duty to our Prince, and it is our honour to imitate the example of the Prince; and these pre∣vail more then penalties. Haec enim conditio principum, ut quicquid faciant, praecipere videantur,* 1.7 says Quintilian. Their example is the best law.

Sic agitur censura, & sic exempla parantur, Si Judex, alios quod jubet, ipse facit.

So laws and judgements and good manners are best established, when by the examples of Kings and supreme Judges they are made sacred.

Adde to this, that the laws of religion have most of them the warran∣ty of some internal grace or other, and are to be reckoned in the retinue and relation of that vertue, and therefore cannot in many instances be broken without some straining of our duty to God, which is by the wise∣dome and choice of men determin'd in such an instance to such a specifica∣tion. But this is to be understood onely in such laws which are the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 outerguards, the exercises of internal religion, not in the garments and adornments of the relatives and appendages of religion. If a Prince despises the Festival of the Church, nothing but a competent reason will excuse him from being or at least from seeming irreligious. And in what∣soever instance he hath made or consented to laws of religion, if by them he can suppose the people may serve and please God, he is much more ob∣lig'd then they; not by the duty of obedience, for he owes none, but by the vertue of religion: for besides that his soul must live or die by grea∣ter measures and exactions of those vertues which bring the people unto heaven, every action of his that deserves an ill report, it is but scandal in the lesser people, but to him it is infamy. For the Kings Escutcheon is blazon'd otherwise then that of his subjects: the Gentry by metals, the Nobility by precious stones, but Kings by planets. For in a King there is nothing moderate.* 1.8 Cavere debet qualem famam habeat, qui qualemcunque meruerit, magnam habiturus est, said Seneca. His fame, let it be good or bad, it will certainly be very great.

The summe is this:* 1.9 Kings are so tied to their own Ecclesiastical laws, that they must take care they be not despis'd by their example, that the re∣ligion design'd by them be promoted, that that part of the Common∣wealth which most secures to them obedience and peace, and procures them the most and greatest blessings, be not discouraged or disadvantag'd: but they are not so tied that every act of omission is imputable to them, though it have no other cause but the use of his liberty; for in this his duty differs from that of his subjects: for obedience which the subject owes is a part of justice, and that hath no degrees, but consists in an indivisible point where it can be practis'd, and where it can be understood; for he is unjust that does one act of injustice. But religion hath a latitude of signification and instances, and a man may be very religious who yet does not keep a Saints day where by obedience he is not bound; which is the case of Kings. Therefore what Seneca said of the cares of Kings, may be said of the external observations of the laws of religion, Remissum aliquando animum habebit, nunquam solutum, He may remit something of the strict obser∣vance, but he must never esteem himself wholly quit.

But this is to be understood onely in externals and rituals;* 1.10 concerning which one said excellently, Pleraque ex iis magis ad morem quam ad rem per∣tinent, They are nothing of the substance of religion, but onely appen∣dages, and manner, and circumstances: and therefore; Sapiens servabit ea tanquam legibus jussa, non tanquam diis grata, A wise man will observe rituals because they are commanded by laws, not that they are pleasing to God. They are the words of Seneca quoted by S. Austin.* 1.11 Since therefore these

are wholly matter of obedience, Kings are free, save onely when they be∣come bound collaterally and accidentally. But in matters of essential du∣ty, the King hath equally with his subjects no liberty, but much more di∣rect duty, and many more accidental obligations. The whole affaire is well enough express'd by Cicero,* 1.12 Religioni parendum est: nec patrius mos contu∣maciter repudiandus. The Prince must obey religion, and he must not de∣spise the customes and the manners of his Country; that is, in the better words of our Blessed Saviour, These things they ought to doe, and not [wholly] to leave the other undone.

But the liberty of Princes in these Ecclesiastial laws of order,* 1.13 and circumstance, and ritual observances is very apparent in the practice of the Hebrew Kings, who yet possess'd this liberty, that even in the rituals of the Divine ordinance they sometimes did dispense. Thus David eat the shew-bread;* 1.14 and Hezekiah permitted some that were unclean to eat the passeover, otherwise then it was written: onely Hezekiah prayed to God not to impute it to them, and gave them way: and under his reigne the Levites did kill the sacrifice twice, which was onely lawfull for the Priests to doe.* 1.15 But it was a favourable case, because the Priests were but few, and the sacrifices were very numerous: and if it be (as the Greek expression is) lawfull 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to loose a litle of the exactnesse of the rituals of the Divine appointment, it is certain where the man is the law-giver, he can much more use the liberty. But it is not good to doe all that is lawfull.

RULE VII. It is not lawful for the Ecclesiastical power to excom∣municate Christian Princes, or the supreme Civil power.

IN the sentence &* 1.16 penalty of the lesser excommunication as it is us'd in the Church there are three portions of evil. In one the Bishop is the au∣thor or minister, in the other the people, and in the third the Prince. The first is a denying to minister the holy mysteries. The other is a withdrawing from the communion and conversation of such a person: which although it be done most of all in the greater excommunication, yet it is done also in some proportion in the lesse, for emendation of the erring brother; not for extermination, as appeares in the Apostolical precept given to the Church of Thessalonica, 2 Thessal. 3. v. 6, and v. 14, 15. And the last is, the super∣vening temporal punishments by which Princes use to verify the just sen∣tences of the Church against refractary Criminals.

Concerning the last,* 1.17 it is certain it wholly is owing to the power and favour of the Prince; who by that favour is not suppos'd to lay violent hands upon himself, who if he did, could quickly take them off again: however the Church inflicts not them by her own authority, but by that of the Prince, who will not, like the tree in the Fable, lend a stick to the

hatchet, to be hewen down or hurt by it afterwards.

But then concerning that part which is inflicted by the people,* 1.18 which is abstinence from the society of the offender till he repent and make a∣mends and get his pardon, it is infinitely certain the Church cannot inflict that on Kings; because it is destructive of the duty which the people owe to their Prince, and of the rights which the Prince hath from God inde∣p••ondently from the religion.

Besides this,* 1.19 nothing ought to be done to the dishonour of the supreme power, to whose happy government fame is almost as necessary as power: and the imposing upon them disgracefull penalties is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a note of dishonour and blasphemy; for they are to esteem their King as a heathen and a publican, from whose society they are to estrange themselves as from a pestilence. Invisum semel principem seu bene seu malè facta premunt, saith Tacitus. If he once fall into such a calamity and dishonour, whether he doe well or ill afterwards, it shall be evil to him.

And yet further,* 1.20 the power of assemblies and publick meetings is wholly by the laws and permission of Kings; and nothing is more unrea∣sonable then that any man should interdict Kings from publick meetings by whom himself hath leave to meet publickly. And therefore we find Imperial laws making provisions in this very particular, and so far from being subject to any thing of this nature, that the Emperors gave orders and strict measures to the Bishops when they should, and whom they should or should not separate from Churches and Communions; as is to be seen l. 30. Cod. de Episc. & Clericis and in the 123. Novel of Justinian. For even in those actions of Bishops in which themselves have liberty & Divine authority, yet the supreme Civil power hath external jurisdiction. Thus Mauritius the Emperor commanded Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, to communicate with John of Constantinople; and anciently in France the Princes were wont to compell the Clergy to officiate; and when the Pope had interdicted the kingdome of England, the King compelled the Priests and Bishops to open their Churches: so it is in Holland, and so in Venice, and so in all places where Kings know their power and their interest and their duty.

For if excommunication be onely an act of caution and prudence,* 1.21 it is very great prudence not to involve Kings in it, lest they be provok'd by the evil usages of the Church; and if it be nothing else, certainly it cannot be necessary to be done at all. But if it be an act of external juris∣diction, it derives from Kings, and therefore they are not under it but over it: for no coercion in the hands of man ought to touch those who are re∣serv'd onely for the judgement of God. Apud serenissimum Regem opus est exhortatione potius quam increpatione, consilio quam praeceptis, doctrina quam virga, said Hildebertus the Bishop. The King is to be exhorted, not reproved; counselled, not commanded; and to him not a rod, but doctrine is to be us'd: and Ivo Bishop of Chartres* 1.22 said the same thing. Kings if they abuse their power are not to be provok'd; but in case they refuse the ad∣monition of Bishops, they are to be left to the Divine judgement; where they will be punish'd the more severely, by how much they were the lesse obnoxious to humane monitions. So Gregorius Turonensis, Si tu excesseris,

quis te corripiet? Si autem nolueris, quis te damnabit, nisi is qui se pronun∣ciat esse Justitiam? He spake to King Chilperic. If thou beest exorbitant, who shall correct thee? If thou refusest, who shall condemn thee, but he onely who is the Everlasting Righteousnesse? For if S. Paul gave in charge to Ti∣mothy that each person should receive an impression and emanation from the Pastoral charge according to his quality, and commanded that he should not rebuke an Elder, but intreat him as a Father;* 1.23 much lesse would he have permitted any to have punish'd the Father of the Country and his own su∣perior, and him who is lesse then none but God, and by whom himself can rule others in external actions, and who in these very administrations is su∣perior, and can give laws, and inflict penalties, and is judge and the remedy of all abuses.

And if concerning this inquiry we consult the doctrine and practices of the Fathers in the Primitive and Ancient Churches,* 1.24 we shall find that they never durst think of excommunicating Kings. They had no power, no right to doe it.* 1.25 Nam Sacerdotis tantum est arguere, & liberam prae∣stare admonitionem, saith S. Chrysostom, Priests can onely reprove and argue, and give a free admonition: and therefore the first supreme Prince that ever was excommunicated by a Bishop, was Henry the Emperor by Pope Hildebrand.

But against this that I say now the Doctors of the Church of Rome make a mighty out-cry,* 1.26 saying that Philip the first Christian Emperor was excommunicate and thrust amongst the penitents;* 1.27 that Babylas the Bishop of Antioch thrust the Emperor Decius with his hands against his breast from the doors of the Church;* 1.28 that Athanasius excommunicated the Pre∣fect of Libya,* 1.29 and S. Basil commanded in his Diocese that he should be a∣voided;* 1.30 that S. Ambrose did excommunicate the Emperor Theodosius;* 1.31 that S. Chrysostom forbad Eudoxia the Emperesse to enter into the Church doors;* 1.32 that Innocentius excommunicated Arcadius;* 1.33 so did Synesius to An∣dronicus the Prefect, S. Austin to Bonifacius, Pope Symmachus to Anastasius the Emperor, Pope Vigilius to Theodora the Empresse, Gregory the second to the Exarch, Gregory the third to Leo Isaurus. Instances enough, if they be right and true, to shew that the Fathers were of another mind then the Rule pretends.

But in this heap I must separate what is true and certain from what is false and uncertain,* 1.34 and give an answer to them, and the rest will not trou∣ble us. * The story of the Emperor Philip is vehemently suspected: but if it were true, yet it was no excommunication, but his own submission to the discipline of penitents; to which, saith Eusebius, he was persuaded by the Bishop. * And the same was the case of S. Ambrose to Theodosius: the Prince was persuaded to it,* 1.35 but it was onely to doe his repentance after the manner of the penitents in those days; the Bishop onely refus'd to cele∣brate in the presence of the Emperor if he would not give testimony of his repentance towards God. This the Emperor did, because he was a good man, and things were then in such a conjunction, that there was nothing amisse: but that S. Ambrose could not have verified his power, if the Em∣peror had been unwilling, and the Emperor did doe more then was necessa∣ry. But S. Ambrose said that he had his warrant to use the Emperor so,

from a vision. His warrant was extraordinary: for he had no ordinary power or commission. * The excommunications of the Prefects by S. Athanasius, S. Basil, S. Austin, Synesius and Gregory the second doe not come home to the inquiry, because the Prefects were but subjects and had not the privilege of supreme Princes. * The fact of Babylas to Decius was not excommunication: for Decius was a Heathen, and the Church hath no∣thing to doe with them that are without; but Babylas was zealous and fierce, and acted with the spirit of a Martyr, to which he hastned by his fervor. * S. Chrysostom indeed did that to Eudoxia which did not become him, and which he had leisure and cause enough afterwards to repent: he did in anger what himself in the sober hours of his life professed to be more then he could justify. That of Innocentius to Arcadius is of no credit, and so is that of Symmachus to Anastasius, as being onely seen in the Epistles of the Popes of Rome; concerning which there is nothing certain, but that very many of them are certainly spurious. The pretended excommunication of Theodora by Vigilius hath no testimony. Contra Theodoram & Acepha∣los Vigilius pronunciavit damnationis sententiam,* 1.36 said Gregory. But this was nothing but a condemnation or rejection of the heresy of the Acephali with which she was partaker. And the like was the case of Leo Isaurus; it was sententia damnatoria, a condemnation of his opinion, called by Zonaras 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. But these things are onely pretended to make noises. Pope Hildebrand was the first that ever did any thing of this nature; as is expressely affirmed by Authors of great credit, by Otho Frisingensis, by Godefridus Viterbiensis, and by Onuphrius, who counted all the other pre∣tences either fabulous or to no purpose.

But yet there is a third portion of excommunication,* 1.37 which is a deny∣ing to administer the holy Communion to Princes of a scandalous and evil life; and concerning this there is no question but the Bishop not onely may, but in some cases must doe it. Nolite dare sanctum canibus, said Christ, Give not that which is holy to dogs; and cast not pearls before swine. But this is not an act of jurisdiction, punishment or coercion, but of charity to the Prince and duty in the Bishop. It is just as if a Physician should refuse to give drink to an hydropic patient; he may have it if he will be willing to die, but if the other refuses his ministery in the reaching it, he is charitable and kind, not imperious and usurping. For whatsoever is in the Ecclesia∣stical hand by Divine right, is as applicable to him that sits upon the Throne as to him that sits upon the Dunghil. But then the refusing it must be onely by admonition and caution, by fears and denunciations Evangelical, by telling him his unfitnesse to communicate, and his danger if he doe: but if after this separation by way of sentence and proper ministery the Prince will be communicated, the Bishop hath nothing else to doe but to pray, and weep, and unwillingly to minister. S. Gregory's case with Mauritius the Emperor was like this. The Prince commanded him to be the mi∣nister to hand an unlawfull Edict to the Churches: the Bishop told the Prince it was a sinne which the Prince went about, prayed, admonish'd, declam'd, did all that he could to hinder it, and then obeyed; that is, he did all he could to God, by using all his authority, the word of his proper ministery, and then all that he owed to the Prince, by submitting his ex∣ternal ministery to his command. The unlawfull proclamations and Edicts of a true Prince may be published by the Clergy in their several charges; but yet they must not conceal from the people any thing of their duty, nor

yet from their Prince when they can declare it. It was also the case of Saul and Samuel.* 1.38 The King desir'd Samuel to joyn and communicate with him in the service of the Lord. He with the liberty of a Prophet refus'd at first, and declar'd the heinousnesse of Sauls sinne; but at last, when the King's will was pressing and importunate, Samuel did obey his voice and did joyn with him. Ivo Bishop of Chartres tells that in such cases where Princes will not comply with the customes and disciplines of the Church, the Bishops must doe their duty by saying, Nolo te fallere; introitum hujus visibilis Ecclesiae periculo tuo te habere permitto. Januam regni coelestis tali reconciliatione tibi aperire non valeo. S^r, I will not deceive you; at your pe∣ril be it if you will come into the holy place to partake of holy mysteries. I declare to you, that this ministery [of the communion] is not any reconciling of you to God. I cannot doe that, unlesse you repent. But the reason of this is wholly upon this account, because the Ecclesiastical state hath no proper coercion by Divine right, but is a Minister of the Divine coercion, of spiritual promises and threatnings; their power is spiritual and internal, it hath it's effort upon the spirit, and not upon the outer man, and there∣fore is to proceed by methods fitted to the spirit, that is, by reason and ar∣gument, by the fear of God, and the terror of his threatnings, by the love of God and the invitation of his promises. But all the ministeries and compulsions about the external is the gift and leave of Princes; and there∣fore it descends, but ascends not, unlesse they please; [of which by and by.] Admoneri quidem possunt, increpari, argui à discretis viris: quia quos Chri∣stus in terris Rex Regum vice suâ constituit, damnandos & salvandos suo judicio reliquit, said the Church of Liege in their Epistle to Paschalis: Kings may be admonished and reprov'd and argued by discreet persons; but they whom Christ the King of Kings hath appointed to be his vicars on earth, are intirely to be left to his judgement.

Upon the likenesse of matter it is to be inquir'd

Whether the guides of souls have a proper and spiritual power to enjoyn penances or Ecclesiastical satisfactions to a Prince that hath sinn'd publickly.* 1.39

The answer to this depends upon the premisses.* 1.40 For the Church when she enjoyn'd publick satisfactions, did separate from the Communion those whom they thrust into the place of publick penitents. Now if the Bishops may not separate the Prince from the Communion, then neither impose those penances to which that separation did minister: But this is one of the Censures of the Church, and part of that coercitive power which she hath by the permission of Princes and the voluntary submission and consent of good people: And therefore it cannot be done, unlesse the Prince please. In the Primitive Church, when this discipline was in godly use, none could be compelled to it, but by conviction in publick, or private confession, and in both cases their own consent was either expresse or im∣plied; and therefore much lesse can this be done to the supreme power whether he will or no.* 1.41 Imperatoriâ unctione poenitentiam tolli, said Balsamo, From the suffering penances Kings are quitted by their anointing: and upon those words of David, [Against thee onely have I sinned] S. Ambrose hath this note, He was a King, he was held by no laws, because Kings are free from the bands of delinquents; Neque enim ullis ad poenam vocantur legi∣bus tuti Imperii potestate, Neither are they by any laws call'd to penance, being

safe by the power of their Empire. And since the Primitive Church was in∣finitely restrain'd in imposing publick penances on Bishops, for the honour of their order and dignity of their persons, we shall the lesse need to doubt of their opinion or practises concerning Kings.

But yet we find that some excellent good Princes did submit to such imposition of penances,* 1.42 and did abstain from the publick communions till they had given testimony of their repentance toward God. So the Em∣peror Philip, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, he of his own willing mind plac'd him∣self amongst the penitents. So did Theodosius under the discipline and con∣duct of S. Ambrose. But these things are but cautelously to be drawn into example, and as they give no power to the Bishop, so every seldome doe they advantages to Kings. Henry the Emperor was a sad example of it, for his affaires went into diminution, and his person into contempt, and his power into pupillage as soon as ever he had done penance at Canusium bare-footed, in a cold winter, for three dayes together, and had endur'd the insolency and scorn of Hildebrand. And when Kings made themselves lesse, the Bishops became greater without any good to the Church, but not without much detriment to religion.

But neither may Princes be reprov'd publickly.* 1.43 For if he will not be obedient to the will of God in the voice of his ministers publickly tea∣ching, or privately admonishing, and prudently reproving; he that goes about to reprove him publickly, intends by that meanes by some indirect coercion to compel him, either by shame or by fear; neither of which ought to be impos'd by a subject on the Prince. For it is to be observed that reproof is a part of Empire and superiority, and differs not from tea∣ching, save onely that it is manus linguae, it is the hand of the tongue, not the voice onely. He that reproves teaches onely minors: and though Kings are so in respect of the conduct of their souls, yet it must not be done to them but very sparingly, because it can very hardly be done without dimi∣nution of their dignity; and teaching or declaring their duty will doe their work for them if they please, and if they doe not please, he that re∣proves will doe the Prince no good, but he shall hurt himself, and shall not be a Martyr when he is smitten. Let no man therefore pretend zeal for God in excuse of any boldnesse more then Priestly towards Kings. For the work of God is oftentimes better done by a gentle hand, then by a strong.

—peragit tranquilla potestas Quod violenta nequit:* 1.44 mandatáque fortiùs urget Imperiosa quies—

And if we esteem reproof unseasonable where it is likely we may doe hurt, & where it is not likely we shall doe good, much more is not this course pru∣dent to be us'd to Kings, who may be provok'd by your ungentle Sermon, or may be hardened by your fire. For every Prince hath not the gentlenesse of Antigonus, patiently to hear himself revil'd: but if he had, yet it was but reason that Antigonus sapek when he bade the Souldiers if they would revile him, to goe further off. And such men should doe well to consider how ill themselves would take it if they were publickly in the Pulpit call'd schismatics or incendiaries. * But how and if the people be as zealous as the Priest, and think it lawfull to call their King by all the names of re∣proach which they hear in the sermons of the Ministers? And if the Bishop

calls a spade a spade, it is very possible the people may doe so too, for they are soon taught to despise their rulers; and then it is to be remembred what Aristole sayes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. If they once come to despise their Prince, they will soon unclasp his royal Mantle.

It is true that the Ministers of religion are stewards of the mysteries of God and Embassadors for Christ:* 1.45 and though I cannot say that they who upon this account think they have power publickly to reprove vitious Kings, and in plain language give names to their vices and publish their shame, doe overvalue their dignity, for that cannot easily be done; yet I say they use it incompetently and imprudently; for the effect of this pow∣er and dignity is not to upbraid, or to disgrace, but to edify and doe good to all men according to their capacity: and therefore S. Paul, when he had declar'd his office and commission to be Christ's Embassador, he addes, as the full, expresse and proper issue of that power, we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God.

The old Prophets took liberty,* 1.46 and were bold in their reproofs, and troubled Kings;* 1.47 and the people sometimes were stirred too much upon such accounts: but when the Prophets were charged with sedition, they onely gave in answer the expresse Commandement of God. And therefore it was that Amos being very bold was bidden not to prophesy and more at Be∣thel,* 1.48 because it was the Kings Chappel and the Kings Court: and he was forc'd to plead a special mission; which the Priests had not, and therefore we doe not find that ever they us'd any such licence and freedome of re∣proof, except in such cases in which they also became prophets; as it hap∣pened to Jehoiada, 2 Chron. 24. 20. and that's the very case of the Ministers of, the Gospel, who unlesse they had a special commission, must teach accor∣ding to the duty and obedience, the gentlenesse and prudence of the religion; lest it be said to them as was said by King Amaziah to a bold man that spake openly to him,* 1.49 Have they made thee the Kings Counsellor? cease thou, why should they smite thee?

Now in this there can be the lesse doubt,* 1.50 for they mistake it that sup∣pose this to be a question of duty; it is onely an inquiry after the manner of doing the duty: and therefore although for the former reasons this man∣ner of doing their duty is not fit, yet it is necessary that the duty should be done. For miser est Imperator cui vera reticentur. No misery is greater then that Kings shall not be taught their duty. They must be taught it all: and in this no liberty, if it be prudently conducted, can become licen∣tious. To which purpose, the Bishops and Ministers of religion must thus comport themselves to Kings.

1. Let the publick doctrines be instructive,* 1.51 but not apt to raise suspi∣cion of the Prince. 2. Let it be in things certain and of evident and ap∣parent duty. 3. Let no doctrines be fitted to private interests and partia∣lities in the State. 4. let no reproof of Kings be in Pulpits, for it is un∣civil toward any ut quis crimen audiat eo loco quo refellendi copia non sit, as the Roman said, that a man should be reprov'd in that place where for re∣verence and religion sake the man may not answer for himself.* 1.52 And there∣fore Clement the third caus'd a Clergy-man to be punish'd because multis

coram astantibus verba quadam in depressionem officii & beneficii nostri pro∣tulit, he spoke words in a publick audience tending to his disparagement: and the Emperors Theodosius,* 1.53 Arcadius and Honorius made a law, Si quis mo∣destiae nescius, & pudoris ignarus, improbo petulantique maledicto nomina nostra crediderit lacessenda, &c. That if any man, forgetting shame and mo∣desty, thought fit to dishonour the Emperors, he should not presently be punish'd: for if the man were a fool or a light person, the thing was to be despis'd; if he were a mad man, he was to be pitied; if injurious or angry, he might be for∣given: but, ad nostram scientiam referatur, ut ex personis hominum dicta pensemus, & utrum praetermitti an exquiri debeant censeamus: the Princes would have it referr'd to their cognisance and judgment whether such per∣sons should be punish'd or no. 5. Let there be no doubtful speeches in pub∣lick sermons scatter'd amongst the people concerning Princes, for they are publick seditions, not sermons. 6. When it is necessary or when it is pru∣dent that private addresses to Princes be with a sacerdotal freedome, let it be in cases of great crimes, and evidently prov'd and evidently vitious, neither deriv'd from uncertain rumors of the people, nor from trifling sus∣picions, nor yet be in matters of secret concernment and undiscerned rea∣son. A Prince may be reprov'd for notorious adultery, or evident murder against the forms of law; but not so freely in the questions of warres or judicature: for the Bishops private opinion may be warrant enough for him to speak it when he is requir'd, but not to reprove a Prince upon pre∣tence of duty, and by a spiritual authority, when the matter of fact or the question of right is uncertain.

RULE VIII. Ecclesiastical Censures are to be inflicted by the consent and concurrence of the supreme civil power.

BY Ecclesiastical censures I mean the greater and lesser Excommunication.* 1.54 This is a separation of a Criminal (who is delated and convict by wit∣nesses, or by confession voluntary) from the peace and communion of the Church, till he hath by exterior signes signified his internal repentance: this is called the lesser excommunication. The greater is onely of refractary & desperate persons, who will be subject to no discipline, make no amends, return to no goodnesse, and forsake no sinne. These the Church throws out from her bosome, and shakes the fire from her lap, and quits her self of the plague: and this is called the greater excommunication, or the anathema. Both these are bound by the Ecclesiastical power: but the first is bound that he maybe purged of his sins; the second, that the Church maybe purged of him. The first is bound as a man is tied fast that he may be cut of the stone; the other is bound as a Criminal that is going to execution: he is bound that he may be thrown into outer darknesse. Not that the Church hath pow∣er to damne any man, but when she observes a man confirm'd in impiety, she does antedate the Divine judgment, and secures the sound members, and tells what will befall him in the day of judgment. In the first case, the pe∣nitent is like a wandring sheep; in the second he is turn'd a goat or a woolf;

& by their own acts acts also as well as by the power of the Keyes they are both bound: the first consents to the Medicin, and the reprobate hath by his own act incurr'd that death which the Church declares; and both are acts of discipline, and directly or indirectly consequent to that power which Christ hath given to his Church of binding and loosing, and to the charge of the conduct of souls.

These two are by the fifth Roman Synod under Symmachus distin∣guish'd by the names of excommunication (meaning the lesser) and anathe∣ma.* 1.55 He that breaks the decrees of this Synod, let him be depriv'd of the Communion: but if he will not amend, anathemate feriatur, let him be ana∣thema. The same we find in the Synod of Turon. c. 25. which commands that all the curses of the 108 [alias 109] Psalm be cast upon Church-rob∣bers, ut non solùm excommunicati, sed etiam anathematizati moriantur; that they may die not onely excommunicate, but anathematiz'd. They which are never to be restor'd to the Communion, but are to be accurs'd; so Agapetus expresses it in his 6^th Epistle. This is called eradication; while the lesser excommunicates are still members of the Church,* 1.56 as S. Austin notes.

There is yet a third sort of excommunication,* 1.57 brought in by zeal and partiality, a willingnesse to rule or to prevail; which is no part of the pow∣er given by Christ, but taken up as it happen'd; it is not part of Jurisdiction so much as improper, not an act of the power of the Keyes: and that is a refusing to communicate with him who is not excommunicate, a punishing one whom we have no power to punish, a doing that which we have no pow∣er to doe at all, or to such a person over whom confessedly we have no au∣thority or jurisdiction. For when this humor was got into the manners and customes of the Church they made a new distinction; and there was a communio cum fratribus, and a communio cum omnibus Christianis. He that might communicate with the people might not in some cases communicate with the Priests and Bishops his Brethren. The distinction we find in the 45. Chapter of the Council of Auxerre, and in pursuance of it we find one Bishop refusing to communicate with another. Thus if a Bishop came not to the Synod of his province it was decreed in the fifth Council of Carthage,* 1.58 ut Ecclesiae suae communione debeat esse contentus, that he should onely commu∣nicate with his own Diocese. The like to which we find in the second Coun∣cil of Arles can.* 1.59 19. in the Council of Tarracon can. 6. and the Council of Agatho cap. 35. Thus Epiphanius Bishop and Metropolitan of Cyprus re∣fus'd to communicate with the Bishop of Jerusalem, who was not his suf∣fragan.

Concerning which way of proceeding,* 1.60 1. it is evident that there is no authority in it, or any thing that is like to jurisdiction, and 2. sometimes there may be duty, but 3. most commonly there is danger. 1. * There is evidently no authority: for if the authority were competent and the cause just, they might proceed to excommunication. But this was sometimes done by equals to equals, as by Bishop to Bishop, by Church to Church, as by Victor to the Churches of Asia, by Stephen to the Churches of Africa, and by angry or zealous Bishops to them that were not of their humor or opinion. Sometimes it was done by inferiors to their superior, the people withdrawing themselves from their pastor; so the Samosatenians refus'd to communicate with their Bishop that was thrust upon them after the

expulsion of Eusebius. So that evidently in this matter there is no autho∣rity to verify it.

2. Sometimes there may be duty:* 1.61 as if a Bishop be a heretic or an open vitious person, his Brother that is a Bishop may use that liberty to him as the people might doe to a Brother that walks disorderly; that is, withdraw from his society, that he may be asham'd: and if his communica∣ting with him will give countenance to his heresy, or offence to his people, he is bound then to abstain and to refuse it: and so is the people tied not to communicate with their Priest or Bishop, if the condition of his com∣munion be a sin, or the countenancing of a sin. And thus we find in the An∣nals of Spain, that a daughter of an Arrian King of Spain suffer'd death rather then receive the Communion from the hands of an Arrian Bishop. In her case her refusal was duty, and her suffering was Martyrdome, because her Father impos'd his command of communicating with the heretical Bi∣shop as a secret allowance of the heresy, which in that case she was to re∣fuse, and obey God unto the death.

But when this does accidentally become a matter of duty,* 1.62 the charity of our communion is no further to be refus'd then we are oblig'd by our duty; we are not to refuse it to that person, but for that cause, and there∣fore in other cases & upon all other accounts we are tied to doe the charity of Christians. I will not communicate with a Roman Priest in his worship of Images, or in his manner of Praying for the dead, or invocation of Saints; but I may not refuse to say the Lords Prayer and the Credo with him, un∣lesse by chance it give offence to some weak uninstructed person. I will not receive the Communion from the hands of him who was ordain'd by a Presbytery without a Bishop; because his hand is a dead hand, and reaches me nothing: but because he is my Brother, I will not refuse to give him the Communion if he will require it at my hand, which was made sacred by the Holy Ghost invocated by the prayer and the lifting up of the Bishops hand. I will not come to their Communions; but if they would use good formes of Liturgy, and preach well, I would not refuse to communicate in such assemblies: unlesse (as I said before) I be accidentally hindred by some other duty drawing me off a while.

But then thirdly, when it is not an expresse and a clear duty,* 1.63 it is al∣wayes a great danger, an occasion of schisms and divisions in the Church, and consequently may be an infinite breach of duty, a certain violation of one vertue, for the uncertain preservation of another: it is commonly the daughter of spiritual pride, an accounting of our selves more holy then our Brethren, whom by such meanes we oftentimes provoke to jealousies and indignation; and so sometimes altars are erected against altars, and Pul∣pits turn to cock-pits, and seates of scorners and of proud and illiterate de∣clamations. Upon this account Christendome hath bled for many ages. The division of the East from the Western Churches, and in the West the division of Rome from divers Churches, the Protestants and Reformed, came in at this door; while one Church either pretends the singularity of truth, or the eminency of authority over other Churches: by which two things the Church of Rome hath been author of the permanent and greatest schisms of Christendome. For indeed little better can be expected when the Keys of the Church, which were given for the letting in or shutting out

of single criminals or penitents respectively, are us'd to oppose multitudes. A man may lock his chamber-door, but he cannot put a lock upon the Ocean:* 1.64 and it was wisely said of S. Austin, that to excommunicate a single person cannot make a schism, unlesse the multitude favour him; intimating that a multitude is a dangerous thing to be involv'd in censures. The King nor the people are not to be excommunicated, is an old Rule. For if the whole multitude be excommunicate, with whom shall we communicate? if great parts of them be, they plainly make a schism, if they unwillingly suffer the censure; and therefore that one Church should doe this to ano∣ther is very hardly possible to be done with wisedome, or charity, or neces∣sity. For when S. Paul bad his flock to abstain from the society of forni∣cators, he told them he meant it onely in the smal numbers of the Brethren, where, it may be, one or two in a Diocese or city of that religion might be criminal; for he would not have them to goe out of the world to keep that Canon, and therefore meant not to involve the multitudes of fornicators which were in the world. But now he that excommunicates a Church, either does nothing at all, or he obliges every one in that Church to sepa∣rate from that multitude; and then if he must not goe out of the world, he must goe out of that Country, which no spiritual power can command, and which the Apostle never did intend, as appears in his caution and the whole Oeconomy and reason of that Canon.

But I am to adde this also,* 1.65 That there is scarce any case practicable in which, if it be indifferently permitted to the people to separate from the communion of their superior, it will not very quickly proceed to mischief and become intolerable; a remedy worse then the disease. When Nestorius had preach'd these words,* 1.66 whoever shall say that the Virgin Mary is the Mo∣ther of God, let him be accursed, the people had reason to be offended; but they did ill when they made a tumult: for when the people are stirred, zeal is the worst thing about them. Thus when the two Deacons of Pope Vigilius were displeased with their Bishop in the cause of the three articles which the Pope had condemn'd in the fifth General Council, they very pertly with∣drew themselves from his communion; and the effect of it was, that almost all the Roman Church and divers other Western Churches did so: and so did the people of Istria to their Bishops in the same cause,* 1.67 and so did many more: and the evil grew so great, when every one would as he pleas'd with∣draw himself from the communion of their Bishop or Priest, that it was under great penalty forbidden by the eighth Synod the tenth Chapter.

But this may be done in these following cases.* 1.68

1. When the superior hath manifestly erred in faith, that is, in an ar∣ticle of his Creed, or a plain proposition of Scripture, or in an article esta∣blished or declar'd by that authority which hath bound him and them equally, and in which they conceive no error. Thus the Priests and peo∣ple of Constantinople withdrew themselves from the communion of Euno∣mius,* 1.69 because he erred in an article determined by the whole Church, and established by the laws of Emperors, and as they believed clearly declar'd in Scripture. But when Plato the Monk withdrew himself from the com∣munion of Tarasius the Patriarch of Constantinople because he refus'd to excommunicate the Emperor,* 1.70 it was an insolence fit to be chastis'd by the rod of Ecclesiastical discipline.

2. Priests may withdraw themselves from the communion of their Bishop,* 1.71 and people from the communion of their Priests, in things declar'd by laws to be against the peace of God and the Church, when the fact is evident and notorious. But this is not to be done by single persons, but by the whole community: and the reason is, because the fact is not evident, or not scandalous to that degree as to deserve this canonical punishment, unlesse the congregation be offended, or the congregation note it; for though the Bishop be more publick then any single person, yet he is not more publick or of more concernment then all his Diocese. These parti∣culars, that is,* 1.72 this leave and this caution I have from Origen, explicating in what sense we are bound to cut off our right hand. Ego qui videor tibi ma∣nus esse dextra, & Presbyter nominor, & verbum Dei videor praedicare, si ali∣quid contra Ecclesiasticam disciplinam & Evangelii regulam gessero, ita ut scandalum tibi Ecclesia faciam, in uno consensu Ecclesia conspirans excidat me dextram suam, & projiciat à se. If I that am thy right hand, and preach the word of God, doe any thing against the discipline of Gods Church and the rule of the Gospel, so that I give offence to the whole Church, let the whole Church consenting together cut me off and throw me away.

3. But all this is to be understood to be done by permission or autho∣rity of the Prince,* 1.73 in case he shall interpose, because where publick divisi∣ons and breach of peace are in agitation, the Common-wealth is more con∣cerned oftentimes then religion; and therefore where the laws of God doe not intervene, the laws of the King must, or the whole separation is a sin. And therefore we find that when Gregory the first, Bishop of Rome, had thus refus'd to communicate with John Bishop of Constantinople, he was commanded by the Emperor Mauritius to communicate with him. And it is very fit that such heats and private judgments and zealous, but unne∣cessary, proceedings should be kept from inconveniences by such publick persons who are to take care of peace and of the publick. For if such se∣parations be not necessary, they are not lawful; and if they be not the one∣ly way to avoid a sin, they are a ready way to commit one. For because every mans cause is right in his own eyes, when such heats as these happen between confident persons, every man is judge in his own cause; and what is like to be the event of such things, all the world can easily imagine.

But now concerning those other two proper kinds of excommunica∣tion,* 1.74 the greater and the lesser, they have the same consideration, if we mean them according as the Church now uses them; that is, if they be im∣pos'd upon men against their will. For as for the lesser excommunication, so as it was us'd in the Primitive Church, and so as the Church of Eng∣land wishes it were now restor'd, when penitents came and submitted them∣selves to the discipline of the Church, and had exercises, stations and peni∣tential times allotted to them, and were afterwards with joy and comfort restor'd to the peace of the Church, it is a ministery done by consent, and without any evil, and no man hath to doe with it. But if the consent of the Criminal be not in it, the Bishop cannot compel him; but the Bishop and the King can. And therefore we find that the Emperors made laws in this very particular; and Justinian in his 123 Novel commanded that no Ecclesiastic person should excommunicate any one, unlesse the cause were first approved. Which law was commended by the Council of Paris under Ludovicus; and by John the 8^th, who upon the authority of that

law inhibited some Bishops from excommunicating one Bichertinus.

By this I doe not mean to say that the Ecclesiastical judge hath not power to deny a Criminal the peace and communion of the Church,* 1.75 by declaring him to be unworthy to communicate; but because as the laws and as the customes of the world are now, there is disgrace, and there is tem∣poral evil consequent to such Ecclesiastical separations, the Bishop can be restrain'd in the actual exercise of his spiritual authority, if there be any thing in it of temporal concernment.

And therefore if the Bishop did excommunicate any of the Princes servants,* 1.76 or any whom the Prince had a mind to communicate and con∣verse withall, the censure was to be revers'd; ut quod principalis pietas re∣cipit, nec à sacerdotibus Dei alienum habeatur, as the Fathers of the 12^th Council of Toledo did decree;* 1.77 that what the piety of the Prince does re∣ceive, the Bishops may not reject. For to avoid the company of any per∣son is an effect of excommunication indeed, but not inseparable: and be∣cause to converse with any of his subjects is a right of Kings that none of his Bishops can devest him of, the Bishop can excommunicate no man with∣out the Kings leave; that is, he cannot separate him from the society of the faithful. And therefore Ivo Bishop of Chartres justified himself upon this account for conversing with one Gervasius that was excommunicate. Pro Regia enim honorificentia hoc feci fretus authoritate legis,* 1.78 si quos culpa∣torum, &c. I did it (saith he) relying upon the authority of the law, and for the honourable regard of the King. And this he advises to others also, in his 171 Epistle: and S. Anselme, though he was extremely troubled with the Popes peevish injunctions against the King of England's right in the matter of Investitures, yet in his Epistle to Prior Ernulph he gives leave that though he durst not by reason of the Popes personal command to the con∣trary, yet they might communicate with those whom the Pope had excom∣municated for receiving Investitures from the King. Now although this appendage of excommunication, that is, abstention from the civil society of the Criminal, is wholly subject to the lawes and power of Princes; yet the spiritual part of the excommunication, that is, a separation from the communion by declaring such a person to be unworthy, and using to him the word of his proper ministery, is so wholly under the power of the Ec∣clesiastic order, that when the King commands that the company of the excommunicate should not be avoided, yet the man is not absolved from his sentence in the Court of Conscience, but is bound to satisfy the Church if she have proceeded legally and canonically. The King can take off the temporal penalty, but not the spiritual obligation; that is, the man is not to demand the Sacrament till he be absolved. If the King commands it, the Bishop must not deny his externall ministery: but the man sins that de∣mands it, because he communicates unworthily, that is, by a just power, but not by a just disposition. He must repent of his crime before he can come innocently.

For it is to be observed that in this affair one part concerns the Cri∣minal,* 1.79 and another concerns the people. The Criminal is bound to ab∣stain from the communion: that duty is incumbent upon him, because he is judg'd to be unworthy of it by that authority which he is bound to trust, in case there be no apparent error. But to be thrust from civil society is

not directly any duty of his, but is incumbent on the people. Now though the Bishop can in some cases advise this, yet in a Christian Common-wealth he cannot without leave command it: and therefore the censure or judg∣ment of the Church is to have effort upon the Conscience of the guilty, and this invades no mans right; it is for his good that is concerned, and is wholly a spiritual power, and intrenches not upon the civil right of any man, much lesse upon the publick and supreme power. * In the lesser ex∣communication, if the subjects be not voluntary, or be not subjected by him that hath the power over them, that is, the King, they cannot be com∣pell'd by the Bishop to any external act or abstention. But if they doe themselves submit, or are submitted by their supreme, they are bound not onely to obey the censure of the Church, but themselves to goe away from company that know not of this calamity: as I have* 1.80 already in∣stanc'd.

3. The sentence of the greater excommunication,* 1.81 though to be esti∣mated in many particulars by the former measures, yet hath in it something of particular consideration. This is the great Anathema Maranatha, the excision of a man from the body of the Church; without which body, who∣soever is in that manner justly separate, there is no salvation to him: and this the Church called by the name of anathema. Not that whenever the word anathema is us'd, the greater excommunication is signified; for it is very often us'd as an earnest expression of the dislike of a thing: so the Clergy of Edessa, when they purg'd their Bishop Ibas of the Crimes ob∣jected to him in the Council of Chalcedon,* 1.82 they solemnly protested they knew no evil of him, anathematizantes nosmetipsos, & terribili gehennae nosmetipsos obnoxios facientes, si novimus, anathematizing themselves and exposing themselves to the guilt of eternal damnation if they knew any such thing. Such anathemata are denounc'd against sacrilegious persons in the donatives made to the Church: and thus divers Councils doe pronounce anathema to false propositions,* 1.83 and Justinian in the Code uses the same execration against certain heresies. Now to such an anathema as this all persons can be subject, Kings and Princes, Bishops and Priests, Multitudes and single persons. There is nothing considerable in this, but that the cause be great and worthy: for whoever he be that works abomination, let him be who will, yet he is abominable, and shall be separated from the com∣munion of Saints in the day of the New Jerusalem.

But the inquiry that remains is concerning the great anathema or ex∣cision of obstinate criminals from the body of the Church,* 1.84 which is the onely excommunication that Christ gave in commission and warranty. For so the Fathers expound those words of Christ, But if he will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen and a publican; that is, not to be esteem'd for a Brother,* 1.85 or a Christian, saith S. Gregory; quia neque influxum habet à capite, neque participat de Spiritu Christi, saith S. Austin, he neither hath any influence from the head, nor partakes of the Spirit of Christ. This man the Church does not pray for, does not pray with, does not communi∣cate, does not hope well of; he receives no assistance and gifts of grace from the holy Spirit of God: and S. Jude sayes, his works are gone aforehand unto judgement. Videlicet peccator gravis & scandalosus, noto∣rius, aut accusatus & convictus, he who is a grievous and a scandalous sin∣ner, notorious or convict, being ••••prov'd by the Bishop in the publick assemblies

of the Church, if he will not be humbled, but remains incorrigible and perse∣veres in his scandalous sinnes, tum anathemate feriendus est, & à corpore Ec∣clesiae separandus, then he is to be smitten with the anathema, and to be se∣parated from the body of the Church: so.* 1.86 Gregory. To this there is nothing else consequent, but that the man, unlesse he timely and mightily repent, will be damned; and in the mean time that every man account him to be no Brother, and have no entercourse with him, but as with a Turk or a Jew.

Now concerning this,* 1.87 he that is in Ecclesiastical authority, and hath received the holy order, hath this power; and he that hath a charge can minister this power: and so long as nothing temporal and secular is mingled with it, the Bishop can doe it wholly by his spiritual authority; and in this he does nothing depend on the supreme Civil power, save that he be per∣mitted to exercise his spiritual office. For though it be true that any Bi∣shop can by the Civil power be hindred from ministring in publick assem∣blies, for he may be banished or depos'd, and another put in his chair, or all his offices may be suspended quoad exercitium actus (as the Schools speak) so that he may not exercise his power; yet a Bishop that hath a flock, that is permitted actually to doe what Christ hath impower'd him to doe, can by his own sole authority inflict this sentence upon scandalous and refra∣ctary, disobedient and impenitent, rebellious and persevering sinners: and if the Church could not doe this, she had not power sufficient to the ends of her designation; she were no body politic, but without government and power;* 1.88 and all that discourse of our Blessed Saviour in the 18^th of S. Mat∣thew, and his commands of delating refractary Criminals to the Church, & the promise to verify in heaven what they shall reject on earth, were words signifying nothing and of no effect. But because no wise man will imagine that it must follow that the Ecclesiastic state, they to whom Christ pro∣mised to give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven, they who are Stew∣ards of the houshold and dispensers of the mysteries of the Gospel, have this power subjected in themselves independently from the Civil power, as they have a power to baptize, and to consecrate, and to ordain Ministers of religion; and they can no more be hindred from one then from the o∣ther; they may de facto, and they may by a competent power, but if they be, it is persecution. That this Bishop or that, that Cyprian or Silvester, that Valerius or Augustine should be the man, is under the power of the Ci∣vil Magistrate; but the man that is permitted to use the powers Christ put into his hand, can upon persons so disposed pronounce God's anathema and the Churches.

Now the reason of the difference why the Bishop cannot doe this in the lesser excommunication,* 1.89 and yet can in the greater, is this, because the greater is of Divine institution, and the other is of humane, never us'd but by consent, or by a superinduc'd civil authority, and therefore must still depend upon the causes of it's being. Adde to this, there is a precept an∣nexed to this power: there is a double duty; the Bishop is to separate the vile from the precious, the leprous from the sound, and the people are to take heed of such impure mixtures. But in the lesser excommunications there may possibly be something of prudence; yet as there is no proper authority in the Ecclesiastical superior but what is given him by consent, so there is no obligation or duty in the subjects: it is well when they submit

to this discipline, and goe to be cur'd by the publick hands even for every malady; but they are not bound to this: but if they be delated or be noto∣rious and great Criminals, here the Church is warranted by God to pro∣ceed to discipline, and to separation and excision of the refractary. This onely hath effort upon the soul; but the lesser excommunication is a discipline of Ecclesiastical institution; and so is that denying of commu∣nion to equals or superiors, and so is irregularity, and so is refusing to men∣tion a name in our collects and publick or private prayers, and so is suspen∣sion and interdict, degradation and deposition: they are all of Ecclesiastical positive constitution, no part of the power of the Keyes, nothing of Di∣vine authority; but are introduc'd by the consent of Churches, and veri∣fied by custome, consent and the laws of Princes, and so come accidentally to passe an obligation, but effect nothing directly upon the soul. That is a peculiarity of the greater excommunication: and that which stands next to it is the lesser excommunication; which although it be humanum inven∣tum and of positive institution, yet because it is a part of the greater, and proceeds in the same way, upon lesser causes, but to designes of charity and edification, it is an use of the spiritual sword, it is the lancing of a sore, but not the cutting off a dead part; but it may be admitted to be a consequent of the power of binding or loosing, and so I have already call'd it* 1.90. For it is a part of that intermedial monition which Christ hath in general commis∣sionated his Ministers and guides of the Church to make. If an offendor will not mend by private, and by a more publick admonition, tell it to the Church; then the Church is to doe something when the stubborn criminal is delated to her. The Church must try if he will repent upon her monition: for then the Ecclesiastical Rulers are to exhort him into repentance, to re∣prove, to correct, to doe what spiritual Fathers ought to doe: the particu∣lars of which because they are not specified by our Blessed Lord, they are left to the prudence of the Ecclesiastical Governours; so that the general Discipline is warranted, but the particular is left to their choice who by the analogies of the consequent power of the Keyes can proceed by lesser and an intermedial processe. But the power of the Keyes is given in order to something that is to be done afterwards. For that is onely the warranted and expresse authority, and that which imitates coercitive jurisdiction the nearest, that those be cut off from the Church who by their voluntary sub∣mission will not amend and submit to the paternal rod & gentle correption.

RULE IX. Excommunication inflicted upon a light cause binds externally, but not internally; but if it be in∣flicted upon an unjust cause, it binds not at all.

THis latter part of the Rule is evident and consented to by all.* 1.91 For in this the Civil and Ecclesiastical power differ. The Civil power, if it condemns the Innocent, hath effect upon him, and does afflict or put him to death: But the Ecclesiastical power does nothing, unlesse the man hath done the mischief to himself. For God having undertaken to verify what the Church does, it must be suppos'd that the Church must doe right, else

God will not verify it; and then it signifies nothing, but that the Gover∣nours Ecclesiastical have sinn'd.* 1.92 Ejiciunt oves qui contra justitiam de Eccle∣sia separant, saith S. Hierom, They that against right cast a man from the Church, they are ill shepherds, and drive the sheep from their folds where Christ loves to see them: and therefore Alexander the second 24. q. 1. c. Audivimus, sayes that: unjust excommunications are not to be slighted and neglected;* 1.93 and Gerson sayes, it is honorable to the Church that such a Prelate should be resisted to his face. But this in case of injustice and manifest abuse: such are those excommunications in the Bulla coenae Domini, ••n which those persons who doe their duty, who doe not consent to the errors and abuses of the Church of Rome, who read good books that discover their horrible impieties, are excommunicated: it is Brutum fulmen; it is harsh as the noise of peacocks, but does no more harm to them that are intended.

But now in the other part of the Rule there is difficulty,* 1.94 and it is oc∣casion'd by a discourse of S. Leo in his 93. Epistle; Let not the Communion be easily or lightly denied to any Christian, nor at the pleasure of every angry Priest; because the mind of the avenger ought unwillingly and with a kind of grief to proceed to the infliction of vengeance even upon a great guilt. For we have known some for slight actions and words excluded from the grace of the Communion, and a soul for which the bloud of Christ was shed, by the infliction of this so severe a punishment wounded, and as it were disarm'd and spoil'd of all defence, expos'd to the assaults of the Devil, that it might be easily taken.] By which words. S. Leo seems to say that he who for a tri∣fling cause is excommunicate, does neverthelesse feel all the evils of that greatest censure. He sayes well and true: But he does not say that he is separate from God, that he shall perish everlastingly, that God will in hea∣ven verify what is done upon earth; but he reproving this impiety, that the greater excommunication should be inflicted for trifles, tells the real evils which doe follow: for the excommunicate being separate from the com∣munion, denyed the prayers of the Church, banish'd from the communion of Saints, is devested of all these excellent helps and spiritual defensatives against the power of the Devil. Now this is very true, though the cause were wholly unjust; and much more if the cause be something, though not sufficient. De facto the man is depriv'd of the helps of the Church, and the advantage of holy Ordinances: and though God will, if the man be a good man and devout, hear his private prayers, and supply him with secret strengths, and in his behalf rebuke the Devil; yet it was a worthy cause of complaint in S. Leo, to consider that this evil was done for little things, and that for so small occasions God should be put to his extraordinary way, and the man be depriv'd of the blessings of the ordinary.

But whether this sentence so slightly inflicted doe really bind the soul before God,* 1.95 is a question which Origen inquir'd into, but durst not affirm it; but concludes that it obliges in the Church and before men: for whether it obliges before God or no, Deus scit; nos autem pronun∣ciare non possumus, secundum quod scriptum est, Nolite judicare] God onely knows, but we must not judge. But yet if it be his unhappy lot to fall into such a calamity, factum valet, fieri non debuit; the eccle∣siastical Ruler did very ill in it, yet the man is bound to the Church. Qui ergor in peccato levi correptus … non se emendat, nos quidem sic eum debe∣mus habere quasi publicanum & ethnicum, abstinentes ab eo, ut confundatur,

He therefore that is taken and excommunicate for a small fault, and will not amend, we must esteem him as a Heathen and a Publican, that he may be ashamed. Indeed the Church hath put a heavy and an unequal load upon such a person, and hath erred greatly; for no man is to be separate from the Church of God, but he that separated himself from God, and hath left his duty: but therefore if the Church doe excommunicate him whose action or words though it be faulty, yet it can consist with the state of a good man, and does not destroy the love of God, the censure was too heavy as to the external, and false as to the internal; for the man is not fallen from God, but does communicate with the Head, and continues to receive of the Spirit of Christ.

But yet even such a man is bound externally: for this is the meaning of that famous saying of S. Gregory, Pastoris sententia etiam injusta timenda est,* 1.96 The sentence of a Bishop though it be unjust is to be fear'd; that is, though it be in a cause that is not great and competent enough, but if it be in a light matter, yet it is to be feared; not onely because the man is depriv'd of the prayers and communions of the Church (which though it happen to an innocent person is a great evil, and therefore is to be fear'd, though it be in all senses unjust) but also because it binds the man that is deprehended even in a light fault, to submit to the judgment and satisfactions of the Church. The burden is very great, and ought not to have been impos'd; but when it is it must be suffer'd, because no repentance can be too great for any sinne: and although the Bishop made a false judgment concerning the man, and he does not stand so before God as before the Church, that is, for his first little offence; yet being censur'd and unfortunate, if he refuses to obey that which is indeed too much to be impos'd, but will doe him no hurt, it is not his first little sin, but his great contempt that is to be accounted for before God with the greatest severity.

But then if it be inquir'd in what cases onely excommunication may be lawfully inflicted; the answer is easy; but I chuse to give it in the words of the Fathers,* 1.97 because there is in this case reason and authority 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Ubi peccatum non est evidens, ejicere de Ecclesia neminem possumus, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 forte eradicantes zizania, eradicemus simul cum ipsis etiam triticum: So ••rigen. Unless the fact be evident, no man must be excommunicate, for else we may peradventure root up the wheat with the tares. But that's not enough.

2.* 1.98 No man must be excommunicate but he that is peccator gravis & scandalosus,* 1.99 a grievous and a scandalous sinner; so S. Gregory: and like to this is that of Aristotle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, We must not separate from every sinner; but from the intolerable and malicious. For what should a man proceed to violent remedies, when a gentle application will make the cure? and for a trifling cause to cut a man off from the communion of the Church, is to doe as the man 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the fable, that espying a fly upon his neighbours forehead; went to put it off with a hatchet, and struck out his brains. And therefore the Fathers in the Council of Worms can. 2. decreed, Ut nullus Sacerdotum quenquam rect•• fidei hominem pro parvis & levibus causis à communione suspendat: praeter e••s cul∣pas pro quibus antiqui patres arceri jusserunt aliquid committentes. In the in∣fliction of Censures the Church should follow the practice of the primitive Fathers, excommunicating no true believer but for some very grievous fault.

3. Neither is this sufficient of it self: a scandalous sin alone is not enough,* 1.100 for excommunication is the last remedie. Omnia prius tentanda quam bello experiendum; when nothing else will doe it, then this is to be us'd: for if the man will be amended by private correction, or by publick admo∣nition, if he be ready to hear his brother, or to obey the Church, why should he be esteemed as a heathen man and a publican? Si non audierit ecclesiam, is the condition of using the keyes; if he will not hear the Church: so it is in the Charter, if being publickly convict and reprov'd by the Bi∣shop, he will not be humbled, but remains incorrigible and perseveres in his sin, then he is to be excommunicated and smitten with the anathema. Like to this is that of Chrysippus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Some things are to be turned from, with our head a little aside; and from some things we must run away. Some things are more earnestly to be avoided; and from others we must be parted for ever. So S. Gregory in the place above cited. Spirituali gladio superbi & contumaces necantur dum de Ec∣clesia ejiciuntur,* 1.101 so. S. Cyprian, The proud and the contumacious are slain by the spiritual sword when they are thrown out of the Church. Inobediens trun∣catur, is S.* 1.102 Hierom's expression, He that is rebellious or disobedient to the discipline and correction of the Church, he is to be cut off.

Now all these must be joyned together.* 1.103 If the fact be not notorious or prov'd, a man must be so severely smitten we know not why. And if the fact be evident, yet unless it be great, it deserves not the biggest punishment. For the judge is cruel, and not just, that puts a man to death with torments for spitting in his parlour: and the judgment of the Church being nothing else but an effective and terrible declaration of the judgment of God, must not be exterminating and final for things of little concern∣ment, but according to the wisedome which we see, and the mercy which we hope for. And after all, if it be evident and great, yet the last remedy must not be us'd at first; and a man will not have his arm cut off for a felon upon his finger, or the gout in his wrist, or an ulcer that can by any other means be cur'd. But when in a great pestilence and danger of in∣fection there is no other remedy; when the fire rages desperately, and can by no other means be stopp'd; then pull the house down, and separate the infected from the city; he is fit for nothing but charnel-houses, and the society of the dead.

4. This caution Gerson instances in pecuniary matters.* 1.104 For (saith he) not ever contumacy against the orders of Courts Ecclesiastical is to be punish'd with this death.* 1.105 If it be in matters of faith or manners, then the case is competent: but when it is a question of money and fees, besides that the case is full of envy and reproach, apt for scandal and to bring con∣tempt upon the Church, the Church hath no direct power in it; and if it have by the aide of the civil power, then for that a civil coercion must be us'd. It is certainly unlawful to excommunicate any man for not paying the fees of Courts; for a contumacy there is an offence against the civil power, and he hath a sword of his own to avenge that. But excom∣munication is a sword to avenge the contumacy of them who stubbornly offend against the discipline of the Church in that wherein Christ hath given her authority, and that is in the matters of salvation and dam∣nation immediate, in such things where there is no fecular interest, where

there can be no dispute, where the offender does not sin by consequence and interpretation, but directly and without excuse. But let it be consi∣dered how great a reproach it is to ecclesiastical discipline if it be made to minister to the covetousness or to the needs of Proctors and Advo∣cates; and if the Church shall punish more cruelly then civil Courts for equal offences: and because she hath but one thing to strike withall, if she upon all occasion smites with her sword, it will either kill too many, or hurt and affright none at all.

5. Spiritual censures must not be inflicted for temporal causes,* 1.106 in questions of right and secular concernment, for which the civil sword is sharp enough and proper. In the Church of Rome it hath been very usual to use excommunications for the discovery of thefts, or the mani∣festation of secret actions. Divers examples of which are in the Decretals and later Canons of the Church; but not till the Church had been ex∣tremely corrupted both in Doctrine and Manners. But this advice is the same almost with the former, and relies upon the same reason. But who please to see more of it may see it in Gerson de vita spirit. anim. lect. 4. Corol. 7. & serm. in Concil. Rhemens. partit. 2. consid. 2. provis. 2.

As as Corollary to these advices, I am to adde one thing that is of great use and consideration,* 1.107 and that is, That when a law is made that who ever shall commit such a fact shall be ipso facto excommunicate, it must never be understood of the greater and proper excommunication; for if it be, it is unlawful and it is ridiculous. For the abscission from the Church is not to be us'd but after all other remedies: when the crime is delated or notorious, and the person called, when he hath been admonished and re∣prov'd, and called to repentance, if after all he refuses and rebels, then he is to be cut off, else not: and therefore no man is ipso facto cut off. The offence alone deserves it just as it deserves damnation: but because God is pleas'd graciously to call a sinner to repentance, and cuts him not off till he hath refus'd his gentleness and forbearance, the Church must doe so too, following the Oeconomy of God; for if the Church kills on earth, and God saves in heaven, it is clear she hath not rightly us'd her power, and therefore must not kill at the first dash.

If therefore it be inquired whether all such sentences in law which de∣clare a man to be in certain cases ipso facto excommunicate be unlawful,* 1.108 the Arch-Bp. of Spalato, who is fierce against them, answers affirmatively and confidently,* 1.109 and disputes well against them: but his reasons are over∣valued by him and are not demonstrative; for they all rely upon this pro∣position, That no man can be tied to be executioner of any sentence against himself, which I have proved to be false* 1.110. * What then doe such sen∣tences effect more then others which are comminatory, and threaten the sentence onely to be inflicted by the Judge if the crime be delated and prov'd? Gerson saith he learn'd thus to answer from his Master, That the Judge in such cases, when the fact is prov'd or confess'd, may pass to sen∣tence without any further Judicial process; which in other cases he cannot doe. But Gerson and his Master would fain have been at a new thing, but they could not hit it right. For whether any such thing was effected or no, or whether any more was intended, is not a matter of conscience; for this whole proceeding is not the ministery of the keyes, but wholly a

humane invention, done with great reason, and is of prudent conduct, and warranted by precedents in Scripture: and since in those places where many such laws are made and us'd it is certain that the law-givers intend more, and more is practis'd, i•• is not true that Gerson's Master told him, that these laws produc'd nothing but a power for the Judge to proceed summarily. And therefore he neither answered right in the point of law, nor in the case of Conscience; & yet he said well, that such sentences of ex∣communication doe not oblige others to abstain from the society of the excommunicate. It is true, but not for his, or for the reasons of the learned Arch-Bp. of Spalato; but for this reason, because these sentences doe not intend to involve the offender in the greater excommunication, which is not to be inflicted but upon him that hath sinn'd griveously, and after ad∣monition refuses to amend. For if the greater excommunication were intended, the laws were unlawful, and the sentence unjust. For a crime in manners is like an errour in faith: this without pertinacy is not heresy, and that without contumacy does not deserve excommunication. But what then?

Therefore all those laws which inflict the sentence of excommunica∣tion ipso facto are to be understood of the lesser excommunication,* 1.111 and they mean thus much onely, That the Church declares that all such criminals are obliged to confesse their sin, to abstain from the Communion till they have truly repented, to submit themselves to the judgement of their spiritual guide, to receive discipline at his hand, and manners of emendation; and in this sense the laws are pious and reasonable, usefull and of great effect: but how much the conscience of the criminal is by them oblig'd is a secret of which we know nothing; but this we know, that where such laws are us'd and understood, without such submission and amends, a man that de∣sires to be good can have no peace of conscience.

The like is to be said of those ancient Canons of Councils which for light causes impose and decree the sentence of excommunication.* 1.112 Thus the fourth Council of Carthage decrees him to be excommunicate qui sa∣cerdote verbum faciente in Ecclesia egressus de auditorio fuerit,* 1.113 who shall goe out of the Church before the Sermon be ended. Very many of the same nature might be produc'd, but they all mean the same thing; that he that is delinquent in the instance when he is delated and convict shall be separate a while from the Communion, (for that was the Discipline of those times) and thrust into the place of publick penitents.

RULE X. It is not lawfull to communicate with those whom the Church hath by a just sentence excommuni∣cated.

THat is,* 1.114 all prohibited Communion is unlawful: as if they be driven onely from holy offices, then we must not admit such persons to our assemblies; if a civil entercourse be prohibited, that the Criminal by shame might be brought to repentance, then that also must be denied him: for if

he be bound by the censure of the Church, then we also who are the rela∣tives of that coercion are tied to doe our duty to the Church.

To which purpose there is an excellent discourse in S. Cyprian,* 1.115 Where∣fore* 1.116 (saith he) although there be some of our collegues that think it fit to neg∣lect the Divine discipline, and doe rashly communicate with Basilides and Mar∣tialis, this thing ought not to disturb our faith; since the Holy Ghost in the Psalms threatens such persons, saying, Thou hast hated discipline and cast my words behind thee: if thou sawest a thief thou didst goe with him, and wert partaker with the adulterers. He shewes that they were consorts and partakers of other mens sins who were joyned with the delinquents.* 1.117 But this thing also the Apostle Paul writes, saying, They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God…. who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not onely doe the same, but have pleasure in them that doe them. For (saith he) they that doe such things are worthy of death. He manifests and proves that they are worthy of death and shall come to pu∣nishment, not onely that doe evil, but they who consent to them that doe evil; who whilest by an unlawfull communication they are mingled with evil sinners, and that will not repent, are polluted with the contact of the guilty, and be∣cause they are joyned in crimes, they are not separated in punishment.

The Church having so good warrant from Scripture proceeded to* 1.118 adde Ecclesiastical penalties to those that would not verify her Sentences of just excommunications. For when some had got a trick to meet in houses and pray in Conventicles, because they were forbidden, or did vo∣luntarily refuse to enter into Churches, the Council of Antioch took notice of it,* 1.119 and forbad all such communions and assemblies and entercourses un∣der the pain of excommunication. But this was decreed by the Canons commonly called Apostolical,* 1.120 Si quis cum excommunicato saltem i•• domo simul oraverit, iste communione privetur, He that prayes with an excom∣municate person so much as privately in a house, let him be depriv'd of the Communion. The same we find often in the Ancient Epistles of the Popes; in thea 1.121 second and in theb 1.122 fourth Council of Carthage, in the first Council of c 1.123 Toledo, and in the Synod atd 1.124 Auxerre in France, in the first Council of e 1.125 Bracara, in the Council off 1.126 Touraine, and the Council ofg 1.127 Verne.

But this is to be understood with one caution,* 1.128 and to be reduc'd to practice by another. 1. Although the Church excommunicates the•• that communicate with excommunicates, yet it is alwayes to be understood that the partners are onely smitten with a lesser excommunication, and oblig'd onely externally, not internally. For there may be many cases very fa∣vourable in which an innocent person may innocently communicate with a heathen and a publican: and therefore in such cases in which a man does not take part against, or directly or by intention despise the Church, or give countenance, strength or increment to the sin of the excommunicate, but with simplicity pursues other lawfull purposes, and designs nothing of these, he is onely tied to give satisfaction to the Church; but is not guilty before God. For the places of Scripture quoted by S. Cyprian above-mention'd are onely spoken of such persons who by their society approve, and in their hearts doe consent to such crimes. But every man that goes along with them in their journey or in their Merchandise, does not goe along with them in their crime; and yet if they be forbidden to goe along the road

with them, and yet will doe it, they may justly be presum'd to goe along in their consent and approbation: and therefore the Church does well to forbid such to come to her communions till she be satisfied, that is, till the contrary does appear, or amends be made. But because in many cases the contrary can be made to appear, and in more cases the contrary is true, whether it can be made to appear or no, therefore in such cases it must be understood, that the companion of the excommunicate is onely bound in the face of the Church by such censures, and not in the Court of heaven.* 1.129 And to this accords that of S. Leo, Certainly when any such cause does happen, that for the hainousnesse of some crime committed any one is justly depriv'd of the Communion, he alone ought to be punish'd who is in∣volv'd in the guilt; nec particeps debet esse supplicii qui consors non docetur fuisse commissi, neither is he to partake of the punishment that was not a consort of the fact.

2. This rule is to be reduc'd to practice with this caution,* 1.130 That the Church intends not to forbid any such entercourse or communion to which we stand preoblig'd by the law of Nature, or any law of God, or of the Civil supreme power, from which the Church cannot absolve us. The sen∣tence of excommunication does not enjoyn a son not to help his aged Fa∣ther, nor the Physician to give him physic in his sicknesse, nor the tenants to pay their rent, and talk with their land-lord about his and their necessi∣ties, nor the feudatary to pay homage to his lord: to prohibite Natural or Civil duties the Ecclesiastical power hath nothing to doe. If the Civil power hath forbidden a civil duty, he may, and then the subject is civilly bound in all things but where God hath commanded a duty. For even the King cannot command a wife not to pay her duty to her husband, nor a child to his mother. To these they are bound by God, though they die for it; and if the Prince be angry, yet God is well pleased.

For although the supreme power can forbid even an action that is of it self good and pious,* 1.131 and we are in the proper circumstances bound to obey him, and in this case also obedience is better then sacrifice; yet when the piety is necessary, and not under choice and counsell, but under a Com∣mandement, the King and the Bishop singly or conjunctly have no power to forbid it.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

for these are things that are not of to day or yesterday, but of an eternal rectitude, and no man knows when they did begin. For upon this account Antigona in Sophocles defends the fact of burying her dead Brother against the Kings commandement, Even the Gods themselves, that is, the great Rulers of the world, are subject to these laws. So Euripides,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.132 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

This law rules them that rule the world: and therefore the Greek Tragedy does rarely well call these laws 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because all men and all things are under their feet. It is, as Pindar calls it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a law that is the King of all things mortal and immortal. And therefore excommunications, though verified by the secular power, cannot forbid the

necessary and dutifull entercourses of relations, or the issue of any duty commanded by a former obligation in the law of God.

But if the Church will take her measures from the words of her com∣mission,* 1.133 which as they are her onely warrant, so they are the best rule, the external effect of excommunication is this onely, that we esteem him that refuses to hear the Church as a heathen and a publican. If we account and use him so, it is bad enough; but then we have no warrant to use him worse. And then as we eat and drink and talk and buy and sell with hea∣thens without sin, why also not with excommunicates, this precept notwith∣standing? I say, this precept notwithstanding, for it is more then an indul∣gence or a leave to use them so; it is a commandement: the Rulers and stew∣ards of God's houshold are tied to separate refractary Criminals from the sound part; and the people are bound to be separate, for they also have a share in this binding and loosing by way of consent and compliance and ve∣rification, according to that of S. Austin,* 1.134 Si fratrem habes pro Ethnico & publicano, ligasti illum in terris; si correxeris fratrem, solvisti illum in terris. The people are to bind and loose, that is, to esteem him that is bound as a heathen and a publican, and to assist in the correcting of him, by bringing him to repentance by the instrument of shame. But this being matter of office, and not merely of benefit, it is evident that it is a precept, and not a leave onely, a Commandement, and not an indulgence.

But then if we enquire to how much and to what manner of usages it does oblige us,* 1.135 we shall be able to understand our duty best by considering that it is a proverbial expression, or a form of execration, to signify im∣pious and prophane persons, of the vilest reproach. Just as in the Old Testament,* 1.136 of what Nation soever he was, yet a stranger from the Cove∣nant of God was called an Aramite or a Syrian; and when S. Paul said that S. Timothie's Father was a Greek, the Syriac interpreter calls him an Ara∣mite: so here a heathen and a publican signifies a wicked and a reprobate person; as we call cruel people Turks, and in the time of the holy warre all very vile and intolerably vitious or hated persons were called Saracens. Harlots and Publicans Christ joynes together;* 1.137 so Publicans and Sinners the same with Heathens and Publicans. Meaning that all contumaciòus sin∣ners, that upon admonition and Ecclesiastical correption refuse to repent, are to be accounted enemies and strangers to the rights and promises of the Gospell, enemies to the religion, and separate from God, and given over to a reprobate sense.

But it cannot be inferred from hence that the same usage which the Jews gave to Heathens and Publicans,* 1.138 we are tied to have towards excom∣municates. That we must have no worse is certain, but not such, not so bad, is also very true; because our Blessed Saviour did not even amongst them approve of those harsh and contemptuous usages; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, they would not eat, nor drink, nor trade, nor come to them.

Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti, Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.

They would not doe common civilities or charities to an uncircumcised man, to a heathen. But when our Blessed Saviour had us'd them better, and so taught others to converse with them, to doe them good and to save

their souls, it will be very reasonable to collect from hence, that Christ did not intend by this to enjoyn us to such treatments of the excommuni∣cates as the proud Pharisees gave to Publicans and heathens: but the man∣ner of speech was in use among the Jews to signify impious persons and great sinners, and so Excommunicates are to be accounted.

That therefore which remains is,* 1.139 that the usage here intended is, that they should be separate from the communion of holy offices, from par∣taking in the mysteries of religion; for that was the known use of the words of binding and loosing among the Jews, which Christ us'd in giving the Church a power of excommunication. To bind signifies to forbid, and to loose signifies to give admission and leave, according to that usual saying of the Jews, There was nothing bound by Ezekiel or by David but what was bound in the Law, that is, they forbad nothing else. So that the accounting these persons separate from God, and forbidding them to enter into the communions of the sons of God in the mysteries of their religion, is all that can by any probability be inferr'd from hence, excepting what is super∣added from common reason and the laws of nature; that if beyond this there be danger of receiving hurt, the separation goe further: and therefore the Apostles gave caution to their converts that they should not salute or admit into their houses false Apostles, because of the imminent danger; but beyond this I find no Divine Commandement.

Whatsoever therefore besides these things is superadded by the laws of the King of the Canons of the Church is to be obeyed upon those ac∣counts,* 1.140 where no other duty is prejudic'd; and therefore in this there is no other rule of Conscience, but that we first attend to the laws of God concerning our other duties, and then to the laws of the King in this. But in the thing it self, excommunication cuts the refractary sinner from the communion or religious entercourse of the Church; he is not to be reck∣on'd as a Brother, or a relative in our religious friendship and union. The offices of humanity and civility are not to be denied to him; but there ought to be no dearnesse and proximity of friendship: we are not to take much care of reproving him; his eares are shut to truth, and he cannot hear good counsel; hujus ergo desperanda salus (as Cicero said of the like persons) unlesse a new hope arise, we may despair of his salvation.

One thing more I adde,* 1.141 That when the Church inflicts censures upon those who communicate with the Excommunicates, it is not upon a real belief that all such persons are guilty of the same crimes by secret appro∣bation or consent, but because she cannot tell whether they be or no; for it is a just legal presumption, and hath some natural probability that it is so; and the Church is but too justly offended and scandaliz'd at such commu∣nications and entercourse. But then on all sides there is a difference to be made, and the Church must not be so offended when he that communicates with the excommunicate apparently does not, or by that communion cannot be presumed to partake of the principal sin: and therefore besides the ty∣ranny and usurpation and illegal proceedings of Hildebrand against the Em∣peror Henry, excommunicating him upon pretence of Simony in the matter of Investitures, he did foolishly and unreasonably excommunicate all them that did partake or converse with him. For first the Church hath no pow∣er directly to make laws in the matter of secular conversation: and if it be

said, by consequence and legal presumption the Church concludes such per∣sons that communicate with the excommunicates to consent or partake of the crime; that is according as the matter is, and in this case is extremely unreasonable and foolish: for it cannot be imagined that all the subjects of the Emperor should be partners of the bargains, or should know of them, or believe any such thing, or approve it, if they did know or believe it; and the communicating with their Prince as subjects could not infer it, with any seeming probability, that they were all simoniacs.

But then on the other side,* 1.142 the sons of the Church must be with curi∣osity restrain'd in their communions with such excommunicates, whose con∣versation does with probability involve us in the guilt and participation of the principal crime: and this is especially to be observed in sins about Go∣vernment, and in matters of persuasion, that is, in matters of heresy and schisme; for their word eateth like a canker, that is, these crimes are infecti∣ous and scatter themselves into all that converse with them, or is very like∣ly so to doe; and therefore in these cases the subjects may be more re∣strained from entercourse with excommunicates, and it must be a greater necessity that must warrant it, then may passe and be allowed in other cases.

This is all I find necessary to be considered in the matter of Ecclesi∣astical censures,* 1.143 in order to the regulating of conscience: which the Casuists in the Roman Church have handled in great volumes, and make it com∣monly the one half of all their inquiries and ministeries of Conscience. For all the questions and considerations concerning suspensions, irregu∣larities, interdicts, depositions and degradations, absolutions of the dead and of the absent, the forms of absolution, reservation of cases, delegations and licenses, absolutions against our wills, and by others who bound us not, and upon false suggestions, absolutions upon condition and reincidences, sentences un∣certain and unknown, excommunications comminatory & ipso facto, papal and episcopal, common and special, principal and delegate, by regulars and seculars, the excommunication of Angels and Devils, of fowls and beasts, Pagans & Jews, and thousands of questions, cases, accidents, incidents, limitations of times appendant to all these, which make the peace of conscience to be as impos∣sible as the conduct of it, all these are cut off by the simplicity of truth, and the plainenesse of Divine institutions, which are few, and easy, and use∣ful, and reasonable; wise, but not perplext; severe, but not insnaring. But those things which are introduc'd by humane authority and rely upon secu∣lar interests, the artifices of covetous or ambitious men, and are maintain'd by force and false or uncertain principles, they are fit for the forum conten∣tiosum for Courts of strife, but not for the Court of Conscience, which is troubled by any thing that destroys peace as certainly as by that which destroys innocence.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1.
• * 1.2

  2.
• * 1.3

  3.
• * 1.4

  Leunclav. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.5

  4.
• * 1.6

  Annal. 3.
• * 1.7

  Declam. 4.
• * 1.8

  de Clementi••
• * 1.9

  5.
• * 1.10

  6.
• * 1.11

  lib. 6. de civit. Dei.
• * 1.12

  de Divinat. 2.
• * 1.13

  7.
• * 1.14

  Levit. 7. 20. 2 Chron. 30. 28.
• * 1.15

  Levit. 1. 5. 2 Chron. 29. 24. & 30. 17.
• * 1.16

  1.
• * 1.17

  2.
• * 1.18

  3.
• * 1.19

  4.
• * 1.20

  5.
• * 1.21

  6.
• * 1.22

  Epist. 171.
• * 1.23

  1 Timoth. 5. 1.
• * 1.24

  7.
• * 1.25

  Homil. 4. de verbis Isai. Vidi Dominum.
• * 1.26

  8.
• * 1.27

  Euseb. lib. 6. c. 27.
• * 1.28

  Chrysost. adv. Gentes.
• * 1.29

  Basil. Ep. 47.
• * 1.30

  Paulin. apud Baron. A. D. 387.
• * 1.31

  Theod. lib. 5. c. 17.
• * 1.32

  Leo Aug. orat. de vita Johan. Chrysostom. Niceph. lib. 13. c. 34.
• * 1.33

  Aug. Epist. 6. in append. Greg. lib. 2. Ep. 36. Anastas. Biblioth in Greg. 2.
• * 1.34

  9.
• * 1.35

  ultrò à com∣munione absti∣nuisse Theodo∣sium aiunt Ruf∣finus lib. 2. c. 18▪ & Ware∣mund. ab Ere••b. c. 2. 〈…〉〈…〉 reg. n. 35. et seqq.
• * 1.36

  lib. 2. Ep. 36.
• * 1.37

  10.
• * 1.38

  1 Sam. 15. 25.
• * 1.39

  11.
• * 1.40

  12.
• * 1.41

  ad Can. 12. Synodi Ancy∣ranae
• * 1.42

  13.
• * 1.43

  14.
• * 1.44

  Claud. in Paneg. Mallii.
• * 1.45

  15.
• * 1.46

  16.
• * 1.47

  Amos. 7. 10.
• * 1.48

  Amos 7. 13.
• * 1.49

  2 Chron. 25. 16.
• * 1.50

  17.
• * 1.51

  18.
• * 1.52

  de Maledic. c. 1.
• * 1.53

  tit. C. Si quis Imper maled.
• * 1.54

  1.
• * 1.55

  2.
• * 1.56

  Hom. 50. in Psal. 101.
• * 1.57

  3.
• * 1.58

  Can. 10.
• * 1.59

  Vide distinct. 18. cap. placuit. &c. si quis au∣tem, & cap. si quis Episcopus.
• * 1.60

  4.
• * 1.61

  5.
• * 1.62

  6.
• * 1.63

  7.
• * 1.64

  Contr. Epist. Parmen. l. 3. c. 2.
• * 1.65

  8.
• * 1.66

  S. Cyril. Ep. 18. ad Caele∣stinum.
• * 1.67

  Paulus Diacon. degest. Longob. lib. 3. c. 12.
• * 1.68

  9.
• * 1.69

  Theodoret. lib. 4. c. 14.
• * 1.70

  Baron. A. D. 795.
• * 1.71

  10.
• * 1.72

  in Josu. Hom. 7.
• * 1.73

  11.
• * 1.74

  12.
• * 1.75

  13.
• * 1.76

  14.
• * 1.77

  Cap. 3.
• * 1.78

  Epist. 62.
• * 1.79

  15.
• * 1.80

  Chapt. 2. Rule. 2. Num. 15
• * 1.81

  16.
• * 1.82

  Act. 10.
• * 1.83

  Cod. de summa Trinit. l.
• * 1.84

  17.
• * 1.85

  in Psal. 5. poe∣nit. in it. Tract. 27. in Johan.
• * 1.86

  ubi suprà
• * 1.87

  18.
• * 1.88

  Matth. 18. 15, 16, 17, 18.
• * 1.89

  19.
• * 1.90

  Numb. 1. of this Rule.
• * 1.91

  1.
• * 1.92

  in Jerem. c. 23.
• * 1.93

  De vita spirit. an. lect. 2. ad em.
• * 1.94

  2.
• * 1.95

  3 Tract. 6. in Matth.
• * 1.96

  In Evange. Homil. 26.
• * 1.97

  In Josue. Homil. 21.
• * 1.98

  6.
• * 1.99

  In 5 Penit. Psal.
• * 1.100

  7.
• * 1.101

  Lib. 1. ep. 11.
• * 1.102

  Epist. 1.
• * 1.103

  8.
• * 1.104

  9.
• * 1.105

  De vita Spirit. anim. lect. 4. corol. 7.
• * 1.106

  10.
• * 1.107

  11.
• * 1.108

  12.
• * 1.109

  Lib. 5. de Rep. Eccles. cap. 9. n. 23, 24.
• * 1.110

  Chap. 2. Rule 2.
• * 1.111

  13.
• * 1.112

  14.
• * 1.113

  Cap. 24.
• * 1.114

  1.
• * 1.115

  2.
• * 1.116

  lib. 1. Ep. 4.
• * 1.117

  Rom. 1. 29, 30, 31.
• * 1.118

  3.
• * 1.119

  Cap. 2.
• * 1.120

  Can. 10. a•••• 11.
• a 1.121

  Cap. 7.
• b 1.122

  Cap. 73.
• c 1.123

  Cap. 15.
• d 1.124

  Cap. 39.
• e 1.125

  Cap. 33.
• f 1.126

  Cap. 8. & 21.
• g 1.127

  C. 9.
• * 1.128

  4.
• * 1.129

  Epist. 93.
• * 1.130

  5.
• * 1.131

  6.
• * 1.132

  in Hecuba.
• * 1.133

  7.
• * 1.134

  de verbo Do∣mini, Homil 15.
• * 1.135

  8.
• * 1.136

  Levit. 25. 47.
• * 1.137

  Matth. 21.
• * 1.138

  9.
• * 1.139

  10.
• * 1.140

  11.
• * 1.141

  12.
• * 1.142

  13.
• * 1.143

  14.