A53732:714
The true nature of a Gospel church and its government
The true nature of a Gospel church and its government ... by the late pious and learned minister of the Gospel, John Owen ...
London: printed for William Marshall, 1689
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Chapter 10: Of EXCOMMUNICATION.Chapter 10: Of EXCOMMVNICATION.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. THEIR so doing would make a misrepresentation of the Gospel, and of the Lord Christ therein. For, whereas the principal design of the Gospel, and of the Representation that is made therein of Christ Jesus, is to evidence that all sincerely Penitent Sinners, that Repent according unto the Rule of it, are and shall be Pardoned and Accepted; by the Rejection of such a Person in the face of his sincere Repentance, there is an open contradiction thereunto. Especially it would give an undue sense of the Heart, Mind, and Will of Christ towards Repenting Sinners; such as may be dangerous unto the Faith of Believers, so far as the Execution of this Sentence is Doctrinal: For such it is, and declarative of the Mind of Christ according unto the judgment of the Church. The Image therefore of this Excommunication, which is set up in some Churches, wherein the Sentence of it is denounced without any regard unto the Mind of Christ, as unto his Acceptance or Disapprobation of those whom they Excommunicate, is a Teacher of Lies.
2. THEIR so doing would make a misrepresentation of the Gospel, and of the Lord Christ therein. For, whereas the principal design of the Gospel, and of the Representation that is made therein of Christ Jesus, is to evidence that all sincerely Penitent Sinners, that Repent according unto the Rule of it, are and shall be Pardoned and Accepted; by the Rejection of such a Person in the face of his sincere Repentance, there is an open contradiction thereunto. Especially it would give an undue sence of the Heart, Mind, and Will of Christ towards Repenting Sinners; such as may be dangerous unto the Faith of Believers, so far as the Execution of this Sentence is Doctrinal: For such it is, and declarative of the Mind of Christ according unto the judgment of the Church. The Image therefore of this Excommunication, which is set up in some Churches, wherein the Sentence of it is denounced without any regard unto the Mind of Christ, as unto his Acceptance or Disapprobation of those whom they Excommunicate, is a Teacher of Lyes.
3. SUCH a procedure is contrary unto the nature and end of this Sentence. For it is Corrective and Instructive, not properly punishing and vindictive. The sole end of it, with respect whereunto it hath its Efficacy from Divine Institution, is the Humiliation, Repentance and Recovery of the Sinner. And if this be attained before, the infliction of this Sentence is contrary to the nature and end of it.