The Pharisees might excommunicate the blind man and threaten him with penalties present and to come, but he is absolutely beyond their reach.
"The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I"
Marcus Dods
Scarcely had they gone, when we burst into a loud fit of laughter at the savage-looking fellow who thought proper to excommunicate us, and were about to discuss his more than common appearance of disgust at our proceedings, when again the door opened, and a turbaned head peeped in, but so altered were the features, that although seen but the moment before, we could hardly believe them the same.
"The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete"
Charles James Lever (1806-1872)
I wish them to show the animus of our Church, but directly you make them authority, the unhappy Ward is ipso facto excommunicate for having been to Oscott, until he repent of his wicked error.
"Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, Volume 2"
Robert Ornsby