signifiing not only Doctrine delivered Math. 15.2 3. but also a Command Ordinance or Institution as before 2 Thes 2.15 plainly makes out that they were not only to withdraw from Persons of disorderly Conversation or defective in Morals but also from such as were corrupt in Doctrine or disorderly in their Gospel Administrations that being as great a Violation of Gospel Order and as pernitious to Christians as Immorality Which must be granted or else there is no Authority given to the Church to deal with Members of corrupt Principles c. Now this Command saith he being general includes all disorders of any kind in Manners Doctrine or Practice and is a sufficient warrant were there no more for our Obedience to exclude such as disorderly practise the Ordinance of Baptism from our immediate Communion at the Lords Table tho' not from our Love and Affections Having hitherto been discovering the Scripture Grounds of Separation from Church Communion with all disorderly Persons in Manners Doctrine false Worship or irregular Administrations of Gospel Ordinances I shall now proceed as followeth 1. To Answer the chiefest Objections I find against such Gospel Separation 2. To give a particular Instance of some confused Matter about Communion already Printed amongst us with several Queries thereupon 3. I shall present my humble Advice to some of our Baptized Churches And 4. I shall leave some few things to the serious Consideration of those that have received a Gracious Discovery of the Love and Favour of God unto their Souls or that have good Hope thro' Grace of Eternal Life and yet are walking at large out of the Communion of a Gospel Church As also an Exhortation in another Case concerning Gospel Communion Lastly in a Postscript I have shewed that it is the Duty of all true Believers in Order to Church Communion to subject themselves to the Ordinance of Water Baptism and have also discoursed against excess of apparel and then made a general Conclusion of this Treatise Objections Answered I. Object Rev. Chap. 2. Chap. 3. None of the seven Churches of Asia in the Epistles to them were commanded to withdraw their Communion or separate themselves from any of those Persons among them which the Holy Ghost charged with Evil. And therefore neither Churches from any of their Members nor any Members from their Churches should separate themselves from one anothers full Communion at the Lords Table unless it be for gross and scandalous Evils Answer If this Argument holdeth good and warrantable for Persons and Churches to keep their Communion at the Lords Table under the Guilt and Non-repentance of lesser Evils it will also justifie such Communion with those that are guilty of grosser Sins For the Church of Pergamos had them that held the Doctrine of Balaam Ch. 2.14 who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto Idols and to commit Fornication And this was also the Sin of the Church in Thyatira Ver. 24 25. to whom it s said That unto the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this Doctrine and which have not known the depths of Stan as they speak I will put upon you none other burthen But that which you have already hold fast till I come And therefore seeing the Church of Thyratira suffered that Woman Jezebel to seduce the Servants of Christ Ver. 20. to commit Fornication and to eat things sacrificed to Idols which must be meant in honour to them 1 Cor. 8.9 10. Ch. 10.27 28 29. for otherwise Meats sacrificed to Idols were not unlawful to eat tho' sometimes not expedient for the sake of weak Brethren then surely the rest that escaped those Pollutions and had no other burthen put upon them than to hold fast that they had already cannot rationally be thought then to be in the same Communion with those Idolaters and Fornicators Gal. 5.19 20 21. for such have no Inheritance in the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 5.2 4 5. Besides we have an Instance of a Fornicator that was separated from the Church or delivered up unto Satan So that tho' there is no express command in the Epistles to those seven Churches of Asia for withdrawing their Communion from any evils mentioned therein yet doubtless it was their Duty from other Precepts then written to cast out those that were guilty of such notorious Sins as were in some of those Churches And those Christians of Thyatira which the Holy Ghost commended that were in the same City with those that were reproved and perhaps originally in full Communion together in one Body it is rational to believe were separated from their Communion for Dr. Hammond in his Margin reads in Ver. 24. thus But unto you I say the rest in Thyatira c. for the Kings M. S. reads it so * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See also the Bibles Printed by the Deputies of Chris Barker 1599. and by Robert Barker 1607. Ch. 2.2 which imports another distinct Church or People in that City And the Reason why Christ threatned those defiled Christians which were the Church to whom the Epistle was primarily directed was because they suffered those evils when they should have purged out such Offenders as the Church of Ephesus did for what else can be meant by those Words I know thy Works how thou canst not bear them which are Evil and thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them liars who were therefore doubtless rejected from their Communion But if any say that these Words thou canst not bear them which are evil have only respect to the following Words And thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyars I have this to Answer 1. That if it were so yet it shews that this Church did not bear with such Lyars in their Communion otherwise they could not be properly commended for not bearing with them 2. The Word and thou hast tryed them c. implieth a particular different thing or other Persons to those preceding Words in general And how thou canst not bear them which are evil like as we find in the same Verse that the Word and thy Labour and thy Patience denoteth different things to each other and particulars of the general Word I know thy Works So that the Text does clearly demonstrate that the Church of Ephesus did neither bear those that were Evil nor those false Apostles in their Communion which Exposition is confirmed by the Dutch Annotations on those Words and how thou canst not bear them which are evil that is say they such as are scandalous in Life and Doctrine Thus their Zealis commended here in the Evercise of Ecclesiastical Discipline So that the aforesaid Objection That none of the seven Churches of Asia were commanded in their Epistles to separate themselves from any of those Persons which the Holy Ghost charged with evil is invalid And
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
considering also that his silence may be improved if we give ear to such a groundless Argument for holding Communion with grosser as well as lesser Sins we have Reason to believe that some of those Churches and Christians that were concerned in those Epistles from the Authority of some other part of the Holy Scriptures did separate themselves from those offenders that by the Laws of Christ they were not to bear in their Communion And that those Churches who suffered themselves to be polluted through the neglect of their Duty in bearing with those evils they should have purged out did thereby bring themselves under the anger and displeasure of God for it as appears in their Epistles II. Object Is from Phil. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same Thing That these Words give no allowance for any to hold a corrupt Communion is very plain because the Apostle is not here arguing to prove the Resurrection of the Dead or any fundamental Article of our Faith or on any essential part of Divine Worship or of such practical Obedience as that the failure thereof is to be noted as disorderly walking But he is Treating in the preceding Verses that he had not attained but was following after the Resurrection-state of Perfection and of his pressing towards the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus and then it follows Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you As if he should fay Let us therefore as many as be perfect that is 1 Cor. 3.1 1 Joh. 2.14 Heb. 5.12 13 14. 1 Cor. 2.6 as are not babes in Christ that have need of Milk but are strong Men of full Age skilful in the Word of Righteousness who by Reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil Perfect 2 Tim. 3.17 Col. 4.12 Jam. 3.2 Eph. 3.18 19. throughly surnished unto all good Works Perfect and compleat in all the Will of God To be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Now consider that as we cannot know that which passeth Knowledge but as the Apostle saith we know in part 1 Cor. 13.12 and as none but Christ was ever filled with all the fulness of the Perfection of God but of the Knowledge of his Will and Love to us in all its parts necessary to a Holy Life of Faith the true Worship of God and Eternal Life So if any came short of this kind of Perfection the Apostle told them God should reveal even this unto them And therefore the Text does not any ways prohibit a Separation from such aforesaid Errours that are noted in Holy Writ as disorders in Manners Doctrine or Worship But it containeth a comfortable Promise to those that are rather free from them that tho' they are weak in Faith and Babes in the Knowledge of Christ yet sincerely minding the some things which according to Rule they have attained to and labouring to grow in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 and in the Knowledge of Christ they shall have in due Season a more full discovery of that perfect Love 1 Joh. 4.12 18. which casteth out fear and of the Will of God in the Revelation of the Gospel and shall be built up in their most Holy Faith from a babe-like-state to a perfect Man in Christ Jesus in some Scripture Sense So that there is nothing in the Text that implieth a Prohibition of Separation in the aforesaid Cases of corrupt Manners Erroneous Doctrine false Worship or irregular Administrations of Gospel Ordinances III. Object Is from 1 Pet. 4.8 and Math. 18.21 22. And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover a Multitude of Sins And Peter said Lord How oft shall my Brother Sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus said unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven from which Scriptures some may think that Christians should bear with Sins in Communion with one another and cover them all in Love Answer Our Lord himself shews plainly us what is meant by those Scriptures Luke 17.3 Take heed to your selves If thy Brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him From whence it appears 1. That we are to rebuke our Brother for his Trespass 2. To forgive him but mind it well it must be if he return and repenteth he must turn again as well as say he repenteth and so tho' Charity should cover a multitude of Sins that are turned from and repented of yet it should cover none from the Church which ought to come under her Cognizance for our Charity should consist with our Obedience to the Procepts of Christ IV. Object It is said Rebuke not an Elder and therefore there should be a difference between dealing with an Elder of a Church and a private Member for Sin Answer 1 Tim. 4.12 The Apostle Paul in this Epistle to Timothy saith Let no Man despise thy Youth And in Chap. 5.1 2. he exhorteth him saying Rebuke not an Elder but intreat him as a Father and the younger Men as Brethren the Elder Women as Mothers the younger as Sisters with all Purity And Chap. 3.14 15. These things write I unto thee that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God In these Scriptures the Apostle instructed Timothy that young Servant of Christ and in him others how they should behave themselves in reproving not only Elders but younger Brethren and Sisters that as an Elder Bishop or Pastour which is the same in Office Tir. 1.7 should not be soon angry so Timothy and others should not in an angry Spirit rebuke either Elders or younger Brethren and Sisters but rather reprove them by intreaties It 's true it 's also said Let the Elders that Rule well be counted worthy of double Honour But yet by Sin they may lose and justly forfeit their double and single Honour too Ver. 19.20 21. for it s said Against an Elder receive not an Accusation but before or as it is in our Margin under two or three witnesses Them that Sin rebuke before all that others also may fear I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality
The same causes as will justifie a single Persons removing his Communion to another Church will also justisie a Parties Separation to sit down by themselves in a Church-state otherwise there is no erecting of Reformed Churches to be allowed where there was none before Which if it be there lawful to reform as surely it cannot be denied there is neither Scripture nor Reason as I can find to debar a reforming party from settling themselves in the Order of a Regular Gospel-Church where there is one already if they find it expedient for them But 2. To prevent such misapprehensions of giving Church-members too great a Liberty I shall here remind the Reader that if he duely considers what I have said in this small Discourse he will not find the least allowance for Persons to remove their Communion out of Novelty or meerly for their Pleasures-sake or for Trivial Matters and Pretences for herein the Church is bound in faithfulness to Christ and the Souls that are under her special care to use the means directed to in the Scripture for preserving her mutual Peace and Welfare But for real Conscience-sake Separation should be allowed to keep themselves pure from corrupt and sinful Manners Erroneous Doctrines in essentials to Salvation and from false Worship and irregular Ordinances and unless there be a Moral Necessity or a real Expediency for it no Separation else is lawful for every Member is or should be in Covenant with the Church to walk in the ways of the Lord together with them But yet when a Church of Christ shall alter in any part of their Faith or Practice essential to a regular Church the Members thereof are free from their former Covenant Not simply because the Church has broken the Conditions of it for that were to acknowledge her Members to be under an absolute tye while she makes no Alteration of her Faith and Practice For as none of our Churches in Covenanting with their Members by giving them the right hand of fellowship does intend thereby absolutely to bind themselves from any future Alteration of their Faith or Practice if in Conscience they should be otherwise informed so the like Liberty is but equitable for the Members to have and therefore as there is the same Reason for it so it ought to be equally taken for granted in their Covenanting with the Church that each Member in Covenant hath an equal Reservation of Liberty of Conscience to the Church and neither side ought to impose on each other for that is a making themselves the perfect standard of Religion like the Church of Rome 3. 2 Pet. 5.1 2 3. The Apostle Peter exhorteth the Elders to take the oversight of the Flock Not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind Neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage but being ensamples to the Flock And Paul saith That to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth 2 Cor. 1.23 24. 1 Tim. 6.2 5. 2 Tim. 2.22 Chap. 3.5 Not for that we have Dominion over your Faith but are helpers of your Joy And Timothy was commanded as a single Person to withdraw himself from those Professors of Religion that were corrupt in Doctrine Now if the Apostles who were the infallible Pen-men of sacred Scripture disclaimed Lordship over the Saints and Dominion over their Faith Why should any hold such Principles as will naturally assume such a regal Power over the Consciences of their Brethren as tendeth to enthral them in divers troubles when they go about to remove their Communion from them for Conscience-sake considering also they themselves are but lately delivered from the Yoak of Persecution And for such who make it their frequent Practice to receive Members that remove for Conscience-sake from other Congregations that are true Churches of Christ as to their visible Matter and part of their Form to hold such Principles as will deny their own Members Liberty of Conscience without their Censures Snares or Inthralments to frighten their weak Brethren to continue in their Communion against the Light which they have received is consequently assuming such an Arbitrary Dominion over their Faith and Consciences which neither God nor Nature hath given to them and is not Consonant to the Law for doing to others as they would have others do to them in the like Case And to speak the plain Truth of such a Principle and Practice it is no better then claiming a right of Imposition on the Consciences of their Brethren and a holding fast all they have and all they can so get right or wrong And therefore seeing the Light of Scripture and Reason with common Equity is repugnant to such an Arbitrary Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of the Saints and that this Principle of denying a single Member his Liberty of Communion according to his Light is also a bar to Religious Reformation I conceive none should go about to hinder a single Persons removing from them for Conscience-sake any other ways than by Arguments from the Scriptures for the Regularity of their Communion and if herein they cannot satisfie his Mind I believe the Church should do no more then if they please to enter him in their Book departed from them for the cause for which he leaveth them for as much as his Principles are not opposite to any of their Essentials of Communion And in Case they were yet if he holdeth no Error in fundamentals to Salvation it better suits with the Grace of Love and universal Charity to one another to let him peaceably remove his Communion than by a harsh and sower Spirit to widen the Differences that are between Saints and Saints and to fright a weak and tender Conscience with the Censure of a Church which if it be not according to Christs Institutions it is neither bound in Heaven nor should it be binding on our Consciences But if a single Member should alter in his Faith or Practice from any of his Church Essentials of Communion and yet seek to continue in the same Church then to prevent the spreading of his Leaven to the Pollution of the Body or their being defiled with his Errour by Participation in full Communion with him they have ground on Non-repentance to withdraw from him and if he persisteth in such an Errour to purge him out from their Communion But to conclude the aforesaid Objection What spiritual Comfort can any have in Church-Communion where there is not an agreement in the Essentials thereof doth not the sweetest Communion depend on the greatest Union in Faith and Practice why then should any Christians be kept in Bondage and be deprived of the chiefest ends of Church-Communion which are to glorifie God in the purest worship they can attain to the Knowledge and Practice of and to enjoy the comfortable Communion of Saints in the Unity of Faith and of the Spirit which is the bond of Peace Secondly I shall present you with a particular instance of the confused
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