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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85952	The golden mean: being some serious considerations, together with some cases of conscience resolved; for a more full, and frequent administration of, yet not free admission unto, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. / By Stephen Geree, minister of God's word, and pastor of the Church of Abinger in the county of Surrey.	Geree, Stephen, 1594-1656?	1656 (1656)	Wing G607; Thomason E1667_1; ESTC R208393	36,650	111

those formerly mentioned that are so much offended at our present Divilions which we see the very Apostles could not prevent do not consider that our main Differences are not so much about the fundamental points and substantials of Religion which are especially Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which the Apostle makes the summe of all Religion Act. 20.20 21 with ver 27. but onely about the superstructures circumstantials which do not conduce to the Being but only to the Well-being of the Church and therefore are not absolutely necessary though very profitable for the peace and welfare of the same Hence I hold it a work well worthy a Consistorie or College of Divines to finde out some expedient for an happie Union among our selves in these particulars that might further the practice of true Piety in these declining as well as dividing-times And first of all if we could find out the Basis or bottom of our Divisions I think it would be some good degree to the healing of our Breaches Est gradus ad sanitatem novisse morbum vel morbi causam It 's one degree to health to know our disease and especially the cause of it and so in this we may happily see the saying verified Dimidium facti qui bene coepit habet He that hath well begun hath half his businesse done Now amongst many other causes and occasions of our Divisions and Dissentions we clearly find that those very things which were ordained for an holy Union and Communion to knit Christians together in an inviolable bond of Brother-hood have proved by the subtilty of Satan and policie or perversnesse of men the greatest Apples of strise and bones of contention as * M. Calemie in his commendatory Epist before M. Hudson's learned book of the universal visible Church one very justly complains To wit the two Sacraments of Baptisme the Lord's Supper which are the very badges and cognizances of Christians whereby they are differenced and distir guished from Jews and Barbarians Turks and all other Infidels in the world Baptisme is that sacred Ceremony whereby we are admitted members into the Universal Visible Church as being all members of the same mystical bodie whereof Christ is the Head baptized therefore into the Name of the undivided Trinitie or Trinitie in Unitie And who can be ignorant what Differences and Divisions have formerly and of late arisen about this holy Sacrament which of it self is not onely a great blessing of God to us and our children but should be a firm bond of brotherly love and concord among all Christians And as for the other Sacrament of the Lords supper That hath been the occasion of greater Discord and Division how many dear and precious servants of God have suffered bands imprisonment yea and have lost not only their liberty but their lives in fiery flames and otherwayes and onely because they would not acknoledg the carnall presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Alter as the Apostles call their Lords Supper And Divisions about this Sacrament have not onely risen between Papists and Protestants and Lutherans as they are called but even amongst Protestants themselvs as well as amongst the other two and that of late especially to the great prejudice of true piety and the power of godliness and that in the most eminent places of this Land insomuch as some have been ready in this respect to unchurch and undo one another so that a great part of that time which should have been spent in God's service Jud. Epist verse 20. in mortifying sin and building up one another in our most holy Faith hath been mostly wasted on fruitlesse controversies in this kind to the great detriment and dammage of all sides the scandal of weak brethren and the strengthening and stiffening of the hearts and hands of the wicked in their evill ways who otherwise might have been reclaimed but by this means blesse themselvs in their cursed confederacy whereby they are like Simeon and Levi brethren in evill Gen. 49. Wherefore seeing the main difference amongst us hath been and still is concerning the Administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper For which as for the divisions of Reuben there are great thoughts and swellings of heart After long and serious Deliberation and confideration with my self and others and after much waiting and wrestling with God in praier and supplication I have resolved to cast my two mites into the Common Treasury of the Church if happily they may conduce or confer any thing to a comfortable composure of this great controversie that so much concerns the Churches among us And herein I must confesse I have been much encouraged by the indeavors of some faithfull fellow-laborers as learned M. Jeanes judicious M. Blake and others who have not onely confirmed me in many things but added much to my clearer understanding of other particulars so that standing upon their and other mens shoulders I may happily discover somthing for the common good of these our distracted and distressed Churches which next to Gods glory is the onely aim of these indeavours Now concerning this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper some administer it not at all least for want of power to keep off the unworthy they should prophane this holy Ordinance and give offence to others Some on the other side administer to all that come and are of years and understanding without any Scruple or Scruteny not caring to catechise and instruct them for that holy Supper Others there be that administer These are Anabaptists but exclude all that were baptized onely in their infancy as if they were without the pale of the Church Some again allowing Infant-Baptisme admit only those that renounce Communion with our Churches and Ministery as Antichristian and these are rigid Separatists Others though they do not altogether condemn our Churches and Ministry yet refuse to administer to any save such as enter into an explicit Church-Covenant as they call it and that are able to give such evidences of grace as to satisfie the whole Congregation or at least the Elders These go under the name of Independents There is also another sort that do administer who will allow none to receive this Sacrament but such as will give an account of their knowledg and faith to the Elders and are not proved scandalous who though they give a greater latitude than most of the former and accept of persons upon far easier terms yet in most places few will come under their Test or Tryall so that very few are admitted in many Congregations Hence some have devised a new way whereby they cull out those few of severall Congregations or Parishes and so imbody them together to join in Communion and breaking of bread and many are as much or more offended with this way than the former and so grow to distast and disrelish their Ministers that thus combine because so very many are left out of Communion though I

THE Golden Mean BEING Some serious Considerations together with some Cases of Conscience resolved for a more full and frequent Administration of yet not free Admission unto the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Stephen Geree Minister of God's Word and Pastor of the Church of Abinger in the County of Surrey Toleramus quae nolumus ut perveniamus quò volumus August contra Donatistas Cap. 20. Minister Ecclesiae ubi non viget excommunicatio excusatus est modo non volens det coenam abutentibus sed instet monendo c●piat cavere abusus Ursinus ut est apud Magist Bowles in Patore Evang lib. 3. Cap. 5. pag. 193. If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul Ezek. 33.9 LONDON Printed for Joseph Cranford and are to be sold at the Kings head in St Pauls Church yard 1656. TO THE READER WHen I consider that most pathetical Praier of our dear Saviour for all his Disciples not long before his death Joh. 17.20 21. That they all might be one as the Father was in him he in the Father that they also might be one in them and for this canse that the world might believe that the Father had sent him Intimating that the unity of Christians is an especiall means to convince the world that Jesus was the Messias and consequently to convert them unto Christ It troubles me not a little to see such strange differences and divisions among true Christians whereby the world that should be won by our singular love and unity is utterly distasted and so disaffected to the true Religion of Christ Little do som of the separation consider how dishonourable and disadvantagious it is to Christ and his Spouse the Church to be guilty of such a great sin as schisme is otherways I am perswaded they would with both hands indeavour to make up the breaches that they have made in our Churches and that especially in regard of the Lord's Supper a Sacrament of our Spiritual Union and Communion with Christ our blessed Saviour O! that they would at length sadly consider how little good that reformation is like to work which only reforms such as they suppose already reformed accepting none into visible Church-fellowship in this Ordinance but those whom they judge really gracious contrary to the practise of all other reformed Churches mean while neglecting if not despising all the rest whom they should rather pity and not thus provoke whereby they do either exasperate or discourage them although they judg them to stand in most need of their help Neither is the injury small which in this case some Ministers suffer in that they are robbed of some of their choicest children begotten by their faithfull 1 Cor. 4.15 1 Thes 2.19 20. and painful Ministery who were the crown and comfort of their Spiritual fathers while they remained with them and were as stakes in the hedges of their severall Churches and might still have been lively patterns to their other people had they not been as the Apostle saith bewitched with specious pretences of a more pure and primitive Communion And verily had it been for their own advantage and spirituall gain as is imagined it would not so much aflict us and we would have held our peace although it would not have countervailed our dammage but when we sadly see how by this means many of them get such an itch after novelties and an humour of changing that they are ready to receive any up start opinions or old rotten heresie newly revived so that they gad from Church to Church till no Church is thought good enough for them and till at last some of them utterly lose all that Religion that they seemed to have being elevated not only above Ordinances and Scripture but above God himself horresco referens holding that there is neither Heaven nor Hell neither God nor Devill and so are become two-fold more the children of Hell than those they formerly separated from This must needs be a most sad and soul-breaking spectacle And whence is the root and rise of all this chiefly from that licentious principle that men have liberty to be of what Congregation they will and so after that they have made a rent in their own Church they think when they please or are displeased they may make another and so another as long as they list Mat. 23.15 if their wandring spirit shal but move them which I wonder some of the wiser sort of them do not see and if they see it do not seek to prevent it and cease to gather Churches out of churches Surely there 's far more need to gain men really unto Christ than to gather Churches out of Churches to the great grief of godly Church-membets who are not a little troubled at such inordinate courses Object And whereas some of them questions the truth of our Churches and thereupon may presume they do us no wrong Answ I answer that some of the most sober and learned Independents do ingenuously confess See jus divini Ministerii Aug p. 47.48 that we have true Churches and therefore some that deny it do shamefully defile their own nests by this means making their Mother an whore and themselvs base-begotten being first bred and born Christians in our Congregations And if we have true Churches how can they make such rents among us and not be guilty of that great sin of Schisme which now cries lowder in God's ears than formerly because multiplied beyond measure And as for my brethren that suffer with me in this case and that for fear of offending them and others have abstained from administring the Lord's Supper which is acknowledged to be an Ordinance of excellent use and therefore not only the abuse but also the disuse is no small sin I have with all tenderness avoiding all bitterness indeavoured to incourage them to a more full and frequent celebration of this holy Supper having as I hope clearly demonstrated that there is no such danger in delivering this Sacrament to most of our Church-members that are of age and understanding as many do imagine Always provided that the Ministers instruct and catechize them in the grounds of Religion and particularly about the nature of the Sacraments as seals of the Covenant of grace teaching them how to receive worthily and telling them the danger of unworthy receiving perswading them carefully to renew their Covenant with God which they made in Baptisme by repenting truly of their sins and stirring up their faith to lay faster-hold on Jesus Christ for the remission of sins thankfully acknowledging the love of the Lord Jesus in shedding his blood for the pardon of sin he likewise consecrating the elements with holy reverence and godly simplicity abandoning all suspitious ceremonies and humane inventions And if after all this they will come in their sins and so eat and drink judgment to

of Satan unto God Acts. 26.18 Now by non-administration of this Sacrament we greatly distaste a great many if not most that are not really converted whereby our Ministry is made more contemptible odious than otherwise it would be and so lesse effectuall especially to such as stand in most need of it And those that administer and admit only a few refusing a great many they give farr greater distaste and cause them to harden their hearts against them and their doctrin and make them harken to any hedg-priest that will sow pillows under their armeholes and sooth them in their sinnes rather then seek to convert them to the great prejudice of their poor soules Object And whereas some suppose that staying for a while may increase their appetite and make them more hunger after it Answ I answer that fasting indeed a little while may do so but long fasting quite loseth on 's stomack and wee see by sad experience that it hath done so in this very thing for a great many who were earnest for it formerly are now grown cold and care not for it being either sullen or senslesse of their owne mysery Again Thas is wel known to all ancient and conscientious Ministers by hindering so many from comming to this sacrament we deprive our selves of a great advantage that formerly we had of the yonger sort by way of Chatechizing them befose they come to the Communion For where Ministers were consciencious and laborious the Younger sort especially did usually resort unto them not only to pay their Offerings as some object but chiefly to be examined and instructed in the grounds of Religion at least once a year which made them more mind their Catechismes that now are wholly laid aside by most of them so that they know nothing in matters of Salvation but are like Heathens Moreover by this meanes we had a fair oportunity to fasten so wholesom exhortations upon them for their soules health to make them consider their waies and walke worthy of this holy Sacrament and therefore to avoid the common corruptions of the times as drunkennesse swearing profaning the Sabbath and the like evill courses and also evill Company the bane of thousands All which oportunities are now lost in regard of most who will not come to be catechized because they cannot come to the Sacrament And we have no power to compell them Case 8 But will not this harden them in their sinnes to receive so many to this Sacrament as som imagine Sol. 1 I judge it rather a meanes to make them consider their waies and convince them of their sins and so convert them and bring them home unto God as I have formerly proved Sol. 2 Secondly I suppose this will no more harden them in sin than their admission to all other Ordinances unlesse it be because some erroneously conceive that this Sacrament belongs onely to those that have true grace which fancy hath been fully confuted Sol. 3 Thirdly we see too palpably that men are more hardened in sin since this Sacrament hath been so sequestred as I may say than formerly when they were more generally admitted And I verely believe that the generall exclusion of so many from this holy Supper doth and will much more harden their hearts than generall admission of all Church-members in the greatest latitude Sol. 4 Lastly Add hereunto that we see by experience in the Countrey that those who are kept from this Sacrament wax wild and grow more carelesse of all Religion and on the other side those few that are by som admitted when others are excluded wax wanton som of them so swel with self-conceit that they presume to teach their Teachers and lead their leaders Thinking themselves too good to be under any Officers and so have forsaken their own and all other Churches and their Teachers and turned Mountebanks and set up themselves above all others whatsoever which is two apparent both in Old and New England Witnesse the Seekers Quakers Ranters and other Rebells against God and man Case 9. But is not this Sacrament as some say a priviledg that belongs not to Babes but to strong men that are able to digest strong meat such as this Sacrament is It is indeed a priviledg of the Church and belongs only to Church-members no unbaptised may eat thereof as no uncirumcised might eat of the Passeover Exod. 12.48 It is also a duty as well as a priviledg which all of yeares are bound to performe that are baptized as M. Perkins saith in his Cases of Conscience And that it is not strong meat Perk. Cases of Conscience lib. 2. page 95. fol. but even milk for Babes in Religion I shall easily evince My reason is because it is one of the most sensible Ordinances which Christians have as Baptisme is the other because as all Authentick Authors grant in these outward visible Ceremonies God is said more to stoup to our capacityes and to help our infirmityes seeing hereby he teacheth us not onely by the ear but by other senses as by seeing and Tasting Senses that farr more affect the ignorant than hearing Segnius irritant amimos dimissa per aures Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus Things slower move the mind sent by the ear Than those made to the faithful eyes appear Case 6. In the last place let it be well weighed how those Ministers can answer it to God and their owne Consciences for neglecting such an especiall part of their Ministeriall Office as the administration of the Eucharist is Object and was ever held to be If they shall still reply It is because they fear they shal do more hurt than good to many soules offending tender consciences and the like Answ I answer if that which I have said cannot give satisfaction yet let me perswade them to be restlesse till they be more fully resolved I am very sensible of your sad condition as having been in the same perplexity my selfe but I have now by God's gracious assistance arrived to such a plerophory in most of these things that I find abundance of satisfaction in mine own Spirit and therefore I do the more pity my brethen that want satisfaction in this particular which is one of the main reasons that hath moved me to take this matter in hand Now whereas I know you are afraid of offending others by your administring I know also that it is unavoidable in any duty almost that we do in this cryticall age therefore I pray you consider how great offence on the other side is given by your non-administration and justly taken whereas the former Offence is likely to be taken where none is justly given and we are charged to give no offence to any neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 But for more full satisfaction in this case what a sin it is and how much offence it gives to neglect this administration I refer it to