OCR Text |
Show who admitted to Bapti[me, Chap. 4• . 1- '66------~f~rill ~g1~ a ~botih in~ Jujl~in a~nd T~rr· it had been an unskilfull a'!dlin. ne ef, h . rofdli:d loyaltic tullian, to omit fitch pubhck evtdences o t etr P and devoti(!n to the State. SECT. V. Ob. clJ T~e fecond thing in our adminifiration of publ~ck or• '1 • · d"m ances, wh er eofma'ny requi~ account ofu ds ts· ,whhy In the adminifiration of the Sacraments, "Yee doe not a mit t e Members of the Churches of England' etther themfelves .to t~e Lords Supper, or their children ~0 Baptifmc, ai wee recetve the Members of other Churches in thts Countrcy • ..l . Anfw. Let it firfi be knowne what we doe,and then conGuer up-· on what ground wee doe it. • 1. 1 • Wee doe not admit the members of other Churches m t us Countrey unleffe they bring with them Letters of rccommenda· tion from ~he Churches whence they came; or at leafi unleffe thofe Churches have made knowne to us their dc!ire, that their Members comingocca!ionally amongfi us, may be received to the Lords Table with our owne, by vertue of communion of Churc~cs. 2. Wee doc not admit the Members of other Churches to:tt,l· towlhip of the Lords Table , if either the perfons themfelvcs, or the·Churches from whence they came, lie under any offence befoi'C the Church. Now the grounds upo~ which wee thu~ "Yalke? are-.thefe. 1 • From the power reqmfite to the admm1firauon of th~ ~a· ·E:raments, viz. to adminifter a Sacrament, is not an aS: ofChrifti!11l <libtrtie, that every Chrifiian may difpenfe to whom he pleafc, but an af1 of power which Chrifi hath aiven to them who are called to ·beMinifiers~ftheWord, andby"'them to bedifpenfed unto the Church, whereof the Holy Ghoft hath made them over-feers. They then ovtf whom wee have no minijleriq/1 power, unto them wee may not difpenfe 11n ae1 of power ; but they who are Members of no Church,wee have no minifteriall power over them;and they who are Members of other Churches ( not of our own) wee have no power over them, further then they are recommended to Uf from their own Churches, either by Letters,ar by word of mouth, and fuch are all the me.mbers of the Churches ii1 this Counrrey, whom '!\!hom wee doe admit to communion with·os at the Lords Table. But now for our Brethren, who come out ofEng,land ~ nlanyof thcnn are altogether unknowne to ·us ; and thofe who are well known,( and It may be alfo well approved) yet they bring no Let· t~rs of recommendations to us from thofe Chuoches who had interefi in them, and power over them. And befides, wee know that thofe who have been mem~rs of a~y parifh Church in England, when once they remove thetr dwellmg out of that Parifh,they are accounted as no longer members of that Church;fo that they come over to us as members of no particular Church at all either in old England or in new;and fo they are under the pOWer o'f no Church either there or here ; how then can wee difpenl"e an aa: of powe: to them, over whom wee have no power at :til, either,commen• dcd to us by tlicmfelves, or by the Churches from whence they came? Would it be thought reafonable, in cafe that ahy of our Country-men comming over to us, fhould fall into drunkenneffe', or whoredome, or other fcandalous crimes, if the Church where he fojourneth. amongfl, fhould proceed to excommunicate him for the fame? were it not an atf, Co>· am non judice l might he not de· mand juflly, by what authoritie we call him uut of our Communion, who was never yet mtrtd into o:1r Cqmmumon? This may therefore yceld us a jufi defence. ' ' · The}' over whom we have no power to cenfure, (in any cafe by Excommunication ) to them wee have no power to difpenfe the Communion; but fo it is, we have no power tocenfure any of our Congregation (though never fo fcandalous) by excommunicating, unleffe they firfi commend themfelves to our fdlowlhip. · • Therefore neither have wee Pc>wer till ·then to receive them in"' to our commurtion. · 2. A fecond ground of their praa:ife wee take from ,the nature of the Sacraments, which though they be feales of the righteouf· nelfe of faith, (Rom. 4•, 11.) yet not to all thefait hfuU, if for.h,but as they are confederate and joyned together in fame p.zrfic;tltlt vijib{e C~urch. None may ordinarily difpenfe a Sacrament ~f the new Teflarnent, but a Minijler of a vifible Church, nor may he difpenfe it to any, but to the members of a vifible Chnrch. In the old Trft~ m~nt, none were partakers, eithet· of the P affiover, or ofCirCfl'm· fijian) ' unleffe they Wb'e either Ifrr~eliitr home, or Proflljm to the CblttCb |