A letter concerning the matter of the present excommunications

A pointed pastoral letter defending Nonconformist Dissenters against the wave of ecclesiastical excommunications sweeping Restoration England. Owen dismantles the legal and theological pretensions of Anglican church courts, arguing that their proceedings bear no resemblance to the divine ordinance of excommunication instituted by Christ. He contends that the Dissenters — orthodox in faith, blameless in worship, peaceable as citizens — cannot in conscience be bound by censures that lack scriptural authority, proper administration, or any genuine representation of Christ's judgment.