The keys of the kingdom of heaven and power thereof according to the word…The keyes of the kingdom of heaven and power thereof according to the word…

Answ. The whole Church may be said to bind and loose, in that the Brethren consent, and concur with the Elders, both before the Censure in discerning it to be just and equal, and in declaring their discernment, by lifting up of their hands, or by silence: and after the censure, in rejecting the offender censured from their wonted Communion. And yet their discerning or approving of the justice of the censure before-hand, is not a preventing of the Elders in their work. For the Elders before that have not only privately examined the offender and his offence, and the proofs thereof, to prepare the matter and ripen it for the Churches cognizance: but do also publicly revise the heads of all the material passages thereof before the ⟨p. 15⟩Church: and do withal declare to the Church the counsel and will of God therein, that they may rightly discern and approve what censure the Lord requireth to be administered in such a case. So that the peoples discerning and approving the justice of the censure before it be administered, ariseth from the Elders former instruction and direction of them therein: Whereunto the people give consent, in obedience to the will and rule of Christ. Hence is that speech of the Apostle; We have in readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your OBEDIENCE IS FULFILLED, 2 Cor. 10.6. The Apostles revenge of disobedience by way of reproof in preaching, doth not follow the peoples obedience, but proceedeth whether the people obey it or no. It was therefore their revenge of disobedience by way of censure in discipline, which they had in readiness, when the obedience of the Church is fulfilled in discerning and approving the Equity of the Censure, which the Apostles or Elders have declared to them from the Word.

Answ. The whole Church may be said to bind and loose, in that the Brethren consent, and concurre with the Elders, both before the Censure in discerning it to be just and equall, and in declaring their discernment, by lifting up of their hands, or by silence: and after the censure, in rejecting the offender censured from their wonted Communion. And yet their discerning or approving of the justice of the censure before-hand, is not a preventing of the Elders in their work. For the Elders before that have not onely privately examined the offender and his offence, and the proofes thereof, to prepare the matter and ripen it for the Churches cognizance: but doe also publickly revise the heads of all the materiall passages thereof before the