Conformity of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Reformed churches of France with that of the primitive Christians written by M. La Rocque ... ; render'd into English by Jos. Walker.

CONFORMITY.

Christians were not the first which inflicted the pain of Excommunication on Rebellious and Scandalous Sin∣ners; Pagans and Jews have practised the same thing; I say Pagans; Casar informs us in his Commentaries, that the Druids in Gaul Excommunicated those which despi∣sed their Decrees and their Constitutions; * 1.1 forbidding them to approach near the Sacrifices, after which they were lookt upon as impious and obstinate, every one flying from their company and conversation, fearing to receive some harm by infection; and this punishment, which was the greatest of all those they did inflict, put into such a condition those which were subjected to it, that they were refused the benefit of the Law, altho they earnestly desired it; and it also deprived them from all degree of honour.

As for the Jews, every body knows Excommunicati∣on was in use amongst them; who, as 'tis said, had three sorts; the first and slightest, which they called Niddui, this separated the guilty from those which were not so, but for a little space, and for thirty days only; the second which they called Herem, was attended with Anathema's and Maledictions, and it was not permitted to eat nor drink with him that was so Excommunicated; and 'tis probable St. Paul had regard to this kind of Ex∣communication, when he saith, 1 Cor. 5.2. I write unto you, that you should not eat with such a one. The third kind of Excommunication was Shammatta, by which was sepa∣rated for ever from the Communion and Society of the Church, him that was guilty.

Seeing then that Jews and Pagans have exercised this power, methinks it would be injustice to refuse it to the

Christian Church, seeing also Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse has commanded us in his Gospel to look on him that refuses to hear the Church, as a Pagan and Heathen; that is to say, * 1.2 he will, that he be cast out of the Church; or that he be Excommunicated, which amounts all to one thing. St. Paul has expressed this action by delivering over to Satan, 1 Cor. 5.5. 1 Tim. 1.20. unless one will say that there was something more in St. Paul's Excom∣munication than in that designed by Jesus Christ in the Gospel.

However it be, the Governours of Churches strength∣ned by the command of the Lord Jesus, and by the Ex∣ample of his Apostles, have always Exercised this Ec∣clesiastical power against enormous and scandalous sins. Tertullian and Origen have shewn on the fifteenth Article, That it was the practise of their times; which is also ve∣rified by the places I have cited out of the same Origen on the precedent Article; and by another of Tertullian's, who writes in his Book of Pudicity, Chap 4. that these sinners should be driven away from the Inclosure of the Church, and the place of the Assembly; and this was the great and true Excommunication whereas the other was only a privation from the Sacraments. To these two Witnesses we may joyn St. Cyprian, Contemporary with Origen, who very often in his Epistles makes mention of this Censure, * 1.3 when he speaks, of removing from the Communion, of not Communicating with some one, to ba∣nish, and to cast out of the Church, to condemn by the mouth of the Pastor, to kill with the Spiritual Sword. And other Expressions he uses to declare the same thing. The tenth of the Canons attributed to the Apostles, does not suffer us to be ignorant of this ancient Discipline arrow_forward . Seeing he Excommunicates him that prays with an Excommunicated person, in the House only: I'le inlarge no farther, seeing

one must make a Volume, if one would collect all the Canons and Testimonies of the Fathers which treat of Excommunication; and more also, should one treat of the History of Interdiction, which Popes, to render their Power more formidable, have sent abroad in these last Ages, contrary to the use and practise of the Primitive Church, to which they were utterly unknown.

As for the Order which is to be followed, according to our arrow_back Discipline, before debarring a sinner from the Com∣munion of the Church, besides that it is grounded on the Laws and Precepts of Charity, it is also conforma∣able to the practise of the Primitive Christians, * 1.4 who by Origen's report, reproved and warned the guilty three several times before they came to this last Extremity. Thence it is also, the same method was observed when there was any mention of deposing an Ecclesiastical Per∣son, because in sundry occasions the same faults which deserved Deposition of a Church-man, was punished with Excommunication in a Secular, as appears by di∣vers Canons, particularly by the sixth and seventh of the first Oecumenical Council of Ephesus, where we find these words, If they are Bishops, * 1.5 or others of the Clergy which are deposed, the Bishops from Episcopacy, the others from the degree they-held in the Clergy, from whence they are quite excluded; but if they are Lay persons, let them be Excommunicated. And we have made appear on the 49th. Artic. of Chap. 1. that a Bishop was cited three times, or any other Ecclesiastical person, before proceeding to his deposing.

I don't insist on the form of Excommunication repea∣ted after the Article on which I have made the necessary remarks, because 'tis in the liberty of the Church in such like occasions to make use of what terms it shall judge most fitting, provided that in the main it don't depart

from the bounds which the Gospel does prescribe, nor from the Example of the Holy Apostles. Neither do we see that in the Primitive Church they were confined to the use of a sorm of words when any one was Excom∣municated; those which condemned Sinners to that pu∣nishment, having been always Masters of the form and manner of Excommunication, which is always the same in substance, what variety soever there may be in the form wherein it is conceived.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Lib. 6. pag. 134, 135.
• * 1.2

  Matt. 18.17.
• * 1.3

  Ep. 28.38, 55, 62 of the last Edit.
• * 1.4

  Hom. in Jos. Tom. 1. p. 185.
• * 1.5

  See the Can. 8, & 17. of the Counc. of Calced.