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example we have in the old Lord of Salisbury, who was a great wise man. Stone had called some lord about court, fool. The lord complains and has Stone whipped. Stone cries, I might have called my Lord of Salisbury fool often enough, before he would have had me whipped.

3. Speak not ill of a great enemy, but rather give him good words, that he may use you the better, if you chance to fall into his hands. The Spaniard did this when he was dying; his confessor told him, to work him to repentance, how the devil tormented the wicked that went to hell: the Spaniard replying, called the devil my lord. I hope, my lord the devil is not so cruel; his confessor reproved him. Excuse me, said the Don, for calling him so, I know not into what hands I may fall; and if I happen into his, I hope he will use me the better for giving him good words.

EXCOMMUNICATION.

1. THAT place they bring for excommunication (put away from among yourselves that wicked person, 1 Cor. v. 13.), is corrupted in the Greek, for it should be, To Tоvηpav, put away that evil from among you; not rov

πονηρών, that evil person; besides ὁ πονηρώς is the devil in Scripture, and it may be so taken there; and there is a new edition of Theoderet come out, that has it right ro TOVUρov. It is true the Christians, before the civil state became Christian, did by covenant and agreement set down how they should live; and he that did not observe what they agreed upon, should come no more amongst them; that is, be excommunicated. Such men are spoken of by the apostle, Rom. i. 31, whom he calls ασωθένος καὶ ἀσωόνδοις, the Vulgate has it, incomposit, et sine fædre; the last word is pretty well, but the first not at all. Origen, in his book against Celsus, speaks of the Christians σvoεíkη: the translation renders it conventus, as it signifies a meeting; when it is plain it signifies a covenant; and the English Bible turned the other word well, covenantbreakers. Pliny tells us, the Christians took an oath amongst themselves to live thus and thus.

2. The other place (dic ecclesiæ), tell the church, is but a weak ground to raise excommunication upon, especially from the sacrament; the lesser excommunication, since when that was spoken, the sacrament was instituted. The Jews ecclesia was their sanhedrim, their

court; so that the meaning is, if after once or twice admonition this brother will not be reclaimed, bring him thither.

3. The first excommunication was one hundred and eighty years after Christ, and that by Victor, bishop of Rome. But that was no more than this, that they should communicate and receive the sacrament amongst themselves, not with those of the other opinion: the controversy, as I take it, being about the feast of Easter. Men do not care for excommunication because they are shut out of the church, or delivered up to Satan, but because the law of the kingdom takes hold of them; after so many days a man cannot sue, no, not for his wife, if you take her from him; and there may be as much reason, to grant it for a small fault, if there be contumacy, as for a great one; in Westminster Hall you may outlaw a man for forty shillings, which is their excommunication, and you can do no more for forty thousand pound.

4. When Constantine became Christian, he so fell in love with the clergy, that he let them be judges of all things; but that continued not above three or four years, by reason they were to be judges of matters they understood not, and then they were allowed to meddle

with nothing but religion; all jurisdiction belonged to him, and he scanted them out as much as he pleased; and so things have since continued. They excommunicate for three or four things, matters concerning adultery, tithes, wills, &c. which is the civil punishment the state allows for such faults. If a bishop excommunicate a man for what he ought not, the judge has power to absolve, and punish the bishop. If they had that jurisdiction from God, why does not the church excommunicate for murder, for theft? 1f the civil power might take away all but three things, why may they not take them away too? If this excommunication were taken away, the presbyters would be quiet; it is that they have a mind to, it is that they would fain be at, like the wench that was to be married; she asked her mother when it was done, if she should go to bed presently? No, says her mother, you must dine first. And then to bed mother? No, you must dance after dinner. And then to bed mother? No, you must go to supper. And then to bed mother? &c.

FAITH AND WORKS.

1. It was an unhappy division that has been made between faith and works, though in my

intellect I may divide them: just as in the candle, I know there is both light and heat. But yet put out the candle, and they are both gone, one remains not without the other: so it is betwixt faith and works; nay, in a right conception, fides est opus, if I believe a thing because I am commanded, that is opus.

FASTING DAYS.

1. WHAT the church debars us one day, she gives us leave to take out in another. First we fast, and then we feast; first there is a carnival, and then a Lent.

2. Whether do human laws bind the conscience? If they do, it is a way to ensnare: if we say they do not, we open the door to disobedience. Answ. In this case we must look to the justice of the law, and intention of the lawgiver. If there be no justice in the law, it is not to be obeyed; if the intention of the law-giver be absolute, our obedience must be so too. If the intention of the lawgiver enjoin a penalty as a compensation for the breach of the law, I sin not if I submit to the penalty; if it enjoin a penalty, as a further enforcement of obedience to the law, then ought I to observe it, which may be

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