Matthew 18:17

And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Ver. 17. Tell it unto the church] That is, unto the church governors, the church representatives, as some think. Not the pope, whom Papists make the church virtual, and who, like a wasp, is no sooner angry but out comes a sting; which being out, is like a fool's dagger, rattling and snapping without an edge. Hence in the year 833, when Pope Gregory IV offered to excommunicate Ludovicus Pius, the emperor, with his followers, the bishops that stood for the emperor affirmed, that they would by no means yield to the pope's pleasure therein, sed si exeommunicaturus veniret, excommunicatus abiret cum aliter se habeat antiquorum canonum authoritas. a And in the year 1260, Leonard, an English doctor, answered the pope's envoy, who pleaded that all churches were the pope's; that they were his indeed (so it went then for current, but) tuitione non fruitione, defensione non dissipatione. If he should cast out Jonah and keep Ham in the ark, they would decline and disclaim his censures. Jac. Revius. Hist. Pontiff

Let him be unto thee as an heathen and a publican] i.e. Neither meddle nor make with him; have thou neither sacred nor civil society with him. The Jews hated the presence, the fire, the fashion, the books of a heathen: as now a Papist may not join with a Protestant in any holy action, no, not in saying over the Lord's prayer, or saying grace at table. Howbeit of old a Jew might eat at the same table with a heathen, Leviticus 25:44, and come to the same temple with publicans, so they were proselytes, Luk 18:9-14 But they might do neither of these to an obstinate excommunicate, no more may we. Rebellion is as witchcraft, and obstinacy as bad as idolatry, 1 Samuel 15:23 .

a Ussier, de Christianae Eccl. statu et successione.