Math. 18 15 c. tho' they more particularly respect corrupt Manners or immoral Wrongs and offences of Brethren against Brethren comprehending a Prohibition of lesser as well as grosser Evils as appears from the Authority of other Scriptures Exod. 23.1 Thou shalt not raise a false report put not thine hand with the Wicked to be an unrighteous Witness Psal 15.2 3. And David shews us who shall abide in the Lords Tabernacle and who shall dwell in his Holy Hill He that walketh uprightly he that backbiteth not with his Tongue nor doeth evil to his Neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his Neighbour c. And Psalm 101.5 Whoso privily slandereth his Neighbour him will I cut off And the Apostle saith Rom. 3.8 And not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose Damnation is Just And in 2 Thes 3.11 to 15. we are commanded to have no company with such as through Idleness eat not their own Bread but are busie Bodies And 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new Lump as ye are unleavened For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the Feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness And ver 11. He saith I have written unto you not to keep Company if any man that is called a Brother be a fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such an one not to eat And in Gal. 5.19 20 21. See also 1 Cor. 6.9 10. 1 Tim. 1.9 10. Col. 3.9 Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery fornication uneleanness laseiviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like as all lyars Rev. 21.8 of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And then surely none of those evils tho' of the lesser sort of them when known to us should be suffered in the Communion of a Gospel Church And in Math. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets So that whatsoever wrong is done to any contrary to this general precept it is a breach of the Moral Law Math. 19.19 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And therefore such Offenders should not without Repentance for their Sin be suffered in our Holy Communion at the Lords Table But some may think that all those particular evils in Gal. 5.19 20 21. come not under the Cognizance and Judgment of the Church for excluding of those who are guilty of them from Communion To which I shall briefly say That tho' there may be some kind of immoral Variance Emulation Wrath and Strife that may not arise to so high an offence if they be only suddain passions that are soon over yet where there is a sixed Variance between Brethren that shews it self to proceed from immorality Or Emulation from a striving to exceed in Envy or Disdain or in Wrong to another or malicious anger without a cause there we have ground for Exclusion from Communion as our Saviour saith Mat. 5.22 to 25. Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment Therefore if thou bring thy Gift to the altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy Gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift These Words notwithstanding there are some old Testament Terms used were spoken for Direction to us under the Gospel for Christ in this Sermon was Gospelizing the Law And therefore I gather from them that in Case a Person trespasseth against his Brother he should not offer his spiritual Gift in publick Church Worship till he hath reconciled himself to him and then it consequently follows that the same trespass which debars him from offering his Gift upon the Altar whatever is meant by it does also debar him from his full Communion at the Lords Table And seeing from this Scripture he ought of himself to forbear his Communion till he be reconciled there is likewise Reason for the offended Brother or the Church if the Case be known to it to forbear his Communion with him or withdraw it from him till he giveth satisfaction by Repentance for the same immoral Trespass which forfeits his present Priviledge to Minister in publick Church Worship does also forfeit his Priviledge of Commuion with it at the Lords Table Moreover it is worth our Observation that the Word Therefore if thou bring thy Gift to the Altar refers the Reason of this Exclusion from Communion to the Evils in the foregoing Verse as the cause thereof which is for being Angry with a Brother without a cause for saying to his Brother Raca that is dull blockish See Dutch Annot. or vain or thou fool in disdain reproach and envy So that as on the one hand we are forbidden on forfeiture of our Church Communion to cast contempt reproach and scorn upon any Brother for his weakness in the Faith or for his natural Infirmities and to bear a sixed anger without a cause So on the other side nothing is here intended by our Saviour to forbid an intelligible expressing of our Detestation and Abhorrence of that which is Evil as we are commanded Rom. 12.9 2 Cor. 7.11 Ch. 10.6 and as also we are allowed to use a holy Indignation and Revenge against all disobedience yet so as to consist with Love and Pity to Mens Persons 3. Under this Head of Diseourse concerning corrupt Manners or evil Actions we may bring many other particular Cases for which Offenders ought to be withdrawn from and without Repentance for their Sin they should not be suffered in the Communion of the Visible Church of Christ As 1. For breaking the Christian Sabbath in disobedience to the Fourth Commandment and the Example of Christs Apostles and the Primitive Churches 2. Eph. 6.1 2 5. For being disobedient to Parents and Masters in Lawful and Reasonable things 3. For a Rebellious breaking Covenant with a Church of Christ when it is not in Case of Conscience of Moral Necessity nor of real Expediency 4. For taking the Holy Name of the Lord our God in vain Gal. 5.19 21. 2 Tim. 3.2 to 6. 5. For Lasciviousness mentioned before which is Lecherousness or Wantonness in Behaviour and for many other Sins some of which are particularly expressed and others are included under the general Head of Trespasses against the Moral Law Secondly It is the Duty of Christians to withdraw their Communion in Church Fellowship from all those that hold erroneous Doctrine in or
against Matters of Faith Essential to Salvation For 1. 2 Tim. 2 22. We are commanded to follow Righteonsness Faith Charity Peace with them that call on the Name of the Lord out of a pure Heart but such as Err in fundamentals of Salvation thereby declare their Hearts to be unwashed with Regeneration and the Renewings of the Holy Ghost and therefore we should not hold our Communion with such at the Lords Table 2. It farther appears to be the Duty of Christians to separate themselves from the Communion of all those that hold such Erroneous Doctrine Col. 2.20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the World why as tho' living in the World are ye subject to Ordinances Touch not taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men which things have indeed a shew of Wisdom in Will-worship and Humility and neglecting of the Body not in any Honour to the satisfying of the Flesh Here I shall observe that the Apostle having in the foregoing part of this Chapter warned the Colossians against the Traditions of Men and the Rudiments of the World viz. to beware of Phylosophy and vain Deceit of the Jewish Ceremonies and other voluntary Worship and Humility he delivers them a general command that they should not Touch Taste nor Handle viz. no ways to meddle with that which others perish with the using after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men tho' others use them yet we are strictly prohibited in the least to Touch or Taste of their practical Ordinances or of their Doctrines for these also are there forbidden because the command hath a reference to the Rudiments of the World Ver. 20. which signifieth the first Teaching or Instruction a beginning a Principle and hath respect to Matters of Faith Ver. 3. to 10. Seeing therefore we are forbidden to Touch Taste or Handle the Commandments and Doctrines of Men then surely we ought not to be in full Communion at the Lords Table with Persons that hold such Erroneous Principles for our Assenting to their right of Communion with us is an owning their Principles as truly fundamental to Salvation and so we either virtually deny our own to be such or confound the true Profession of our Faith to the hazard of Mens Souls or else admit of Persons to partake of the Holy Supper that apparently have no right to it for want of those Gospel Principles that are essential to their visible Interest in the Obedience Sufferings and Resurrection of Jesus Christ either of which is a Sin 3. It appears from Gal. 1.6 7 8. that we should not hold Communion at the Lords Table with Persons that hold such erroneous Principles for the Apostle saith I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel Which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ But tho' we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed And in the following Verse he repeats it over again and in Chap. 5.12 he saith I would they were even cut off which trouble you Now if we duly search after the Cause of this censure we may plainly see that it was not for bringing in of another Gospel but as the Apostle saith because there were some that troubled the Church of Galatia with perverting the. Gal. 6.12 Chap. 5.3 Gospel of Christ by constraining them to be circumcised and so to become Debtors to do the whole Law And we find by the Apostles Discourse that they sought to be justified by the Works of the Law Chap. 2 c. as Chap. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified And Chap. 4.21 Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do ye not hear the Law So that the perverting of the Gospel before mentioned was by bringing in of the Works of the Law for Justification and this we find was made a Matter of Separation the Apostle wishing the Persons even cut off or accursed that so troubled the Church of Christ which to apply to some in our present day I shall here note that altho' those Jewish Christians that held it needful to be circumcised and so endeavoured to bring the Gentiles under the Law for Justification to Eternal Life did it in a Mcsaical formal way which Christians now repugn by denying that formal Obligation to keep the old Law yet as their Principles oblige them to seek for Justification by works of Obedience to a new Law under the Gospel which they have no Power in themselves to perform their Principle with the case of the Church of Galatia respecting the effect is in substance the same and therefore there is Reason founded on Scripture for us to withdraw or remove our Communion from all Persons that are leavened with the works of the Law for Justification whether it be under the form of the Law or of the Gospel Administration Gal. 5.9 1 Cor. 5.8 For that being called Leaven seeing Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us we are commanded tho' on a different occasion to keep the Feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of of Sincerity and Truth Observe it well we are here forbidden to eat the Christian Passover or Lords Supper with the old leaven c. and are commanded to keep it with Truth And therefore we should not have Communion in that Ordinance with fundamental Errors in the Christian Faith 4. The Apostle saith Rom. 16.17 Now I beseech you Brethren Mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have Learned and avoid them 1 Tim. 6.3 4 5. And Paul commanded Timothy to withdraw from such as taught otherwise and consented not to wholsome Words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness c. And we are exhorted earnestly to contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Jude 3. Phil. 1.27 And to stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and therefore we are not to unite our selves into one Body with Persons that erre from the true Faith for as two cannot walk together except they be agreed Amos 3.3 so if we are not united in one Faith we shall quickly be contending and striving with each other and not together for the Faith of the Gospel 5. It is said by way of Politive Command A Man that is an Heretick
So that it seems to be implyed that the Christians in those Primitive times were so zealous to preserve the Reputation of the Gospel-Ministry and the Purity of their Communion as that they were ready to receive an Accusation against an Elder sooner and on lesser evidence than against a private Member insomuch as the Apostle thought it needful to charge them not to receive an Accusation against an Elder under the legal Evidence of two or three Witnesses Moreover we see how strictly the Apostle charged Timothy that he should not use partiality in any Case of Sin to prefer one before another whether Elders as there were sometimes several in one Church or private Members Tit. 1.5 Act. 20.17 Gal. 2.11 14. but them that sinned should be rebuked before all i. e. those whose Sins could not be privately covered for want of their Repentance they whoever they were should be rebuked before all viz. so as the rebuke should reach as openly as the Sins were known and that others might also fear And therefore there is not the least Reason from Scripture for any to imagine that an Elders Sin should be more favourably dealt with than a private Members or that there is a different Rule for judging of them but that the Precepts of Christ for purging out the Leaven of Unrighteousness are to all alike Eph. 6.9 Col. 3.25 Lev. 10.1 2. Deut. 1.17 for as the Lord respecteth no Mans Person no not for Office-sake So he hath commanded us saying Ye shall not respect Persons in Judgment V. Object We ought not to leave a Church till Christ be departed from it Answer 1. If this be true then no Baptized Congregation should receive a Member from our Brethrens Communion of the Independant Churches For who can say that Christ hath left them so as not to succeed their Ministry with true Conversion of Souls and so as not to give something of his gracious presence to them and others that are sound in the fundamental Principles to Salvation who truly fear the Lord and sincerely obey him according to their Light tho' the Mist of Mens Traditions may not be clearly wiped from off their Eyes I think none can be so uncharitable and censorious as to affirm it But yet we may safely say the more we come up in our Obedience to the perfect Rule of Christ the greater our Peace and Comfort shall be and the more or the presence of God we shall enjoy in the gracious discoveries of his Eternal Love unto our Souls 2. If Christ hath not left our aforesaid Brethren and others that are not of our Communion without some gracious Manifestations of his Presence among them And if therefore according to the Objection their Members ought not to leave their Churches do not then those Baptists which plead this Argument for a mixed Communion among themselves and yet receive the Members of those Independant Churches condemn themselves thereby as Countenancers Abetters and Receivers of disorderly Persons and as such who according to this Objection have little or nothing more to say for their Separation and keeping up a distinct Church-state from them then for a private and worldly Interest And therefore away with such Pretensions for they are but a shame to us 3. If we ought not to leave a Church 'till Christ is departed from it it must be meant either of a partial or total departure If it be understood of Christ's Partial departing from a Church we must either allow it lawful for a Member to leave his present Communion when Christ hath in part forsaken that Church so as for their Declension of Spirit they are suffered to fall into such corrupt Manners erroneous Doctrine false Worship or irregular Practices which the Lord hath commanded to be purged out from among them or else that the Church it self has Power to prescribe Limits of Communion according as she shall judge without regard to the written Precepts of Christ that his presence doth bound it But as I believe no Baptized Churches will open their Mouths in favour of such an absolute Authority within themselves for that we own the Scriptures to be our Rule so it cannot be denied but that it is lawful for Members to remove their Communion to a Church which is more Pure for the same causes as a Church should withdraw their Communion from a single Member if for any cause at all But if they mean that we should not separate from a Church till Christ is wholly departed from it then it may be also argued that a Church should not withdraw their Communion from a Member till Christ be wholly departed from him Besides if a single Member should not depart from a Church till Christ be wholly departed from it then the Question is Whether Christ may be said totally to depart from a Church till at least it is manifest that she is absolutely apostatized in her Spirit from some one Article of our Christian Faith which is essential to Salvation and if till then it be unlawful for single Persons to separate their Communion from a Church of Christ than if their Church worshippeth God in a false manner so it be not in fundamentals of Salvation and maketh void a Commandment of God through Mens Traditions and are corrupted in their Morals they must still hold their Communion with such a People and it 's hard to tell how far a Church may be guilty of these Evils and not loose the Essentials to Salvation But if such a corrupt Communion ought to be held rather than a Persons Separation from it should be allowed lawful the consequents of it naturally tends to the overthrow and Extirpation of our Baptized Churches for then what Obligation of Conscience is there for Baptized Believers to set up by themselves such a Church-state which is despised and rendred obnoxious to many Christians and which is accompanied with divers discouragements and outward disadvantages more than others Besides unless it be lawful for a Member or the smaller number of a Church to separate from their corrupt Communion many Christians cannot reform nor worship God with the Church or in the Administration of all Gospel-Ordinances according to their Consciences for generally Reformers are the fewest number and if these should continue in their irregular Communion their Light will be hid and smoothered in the croud of corrupt Professors and rather put under a Bushel than on a Gospel Candlestick Mat. 5.14 15 16. to shine more clearly to those that are round about them VI. Object We are say some Persons for Charity and Union and therefore we are for Communion at the Lord's Table with Christians as such If we believe them to be but real Christians we ought to hold our Communion with them Answer 1. To our Brethren of the Congregational or Independant Churches of whom some have argued with me after the Nature of this Objection as if we were too strait in our Charity for not holding Communion with