Baxter - BX5202 B29 1689

CHAP. LI..POINT VIII. Of RejeUing not- Kneelers from Communion. L. ND well they dkfrve it that will not reverently receive fo great a Gift upon their knees from God. M. Do you think it is for want ofhumble Reverence ? Do they not kneel after and longer toGod in Prayers publickly, and in their Families and Chambers, than moll that blame them ? Were Chrift's Apoltles uureverent that didnot kneel at recei- ving it in his own vifble prefence ? Was all the univerfal Church unreverent, that for booYears, ifnot a000 after Chrifl forbad ftrietly all Adoration by kneeling every Lords Day, be- caufe theywould ufea Laudatory Gefture, denoting their belief ofChrifts RefurretLion ? Do thofe men Thewmore Reverence to God and Religion, that will kneel at the Altar, and fcarce ever kneel to Godat home, and feldom ufe his Name but with prophanation ? It is not unreverence that caufes their dilfent. L. I know no juft caufe they have of this diffent. M. I confefs, 'nor I, while the open Doctrine of the Church renounceth all Bread-worship and Idolatry But were it among Papifts, where the Doctrineexpounds the aCion, I durft not do it. But I toldyou before what moveth them, which I muff not a- gain repeat. But I will repeat it, that it is a heinous injury to the Church, and the particular Perfons, that on the account of fo fmall and doubtful a_circumitance, wherein all antiquity is a= gainft the impofers; they Mould deny Communion with Chrifl and his Church as much as in them lieth to faithful Chriflians ; and fhould turn the Sacrament ofLove for no jufl caufe, into an occafion of hatred and perfecution; and the Sacrament of Unity, into an Engine ofdivifion, by their own needlefs impoli- tions to perplex mens Confciences, and fet peopleone againll a- nother O what ,a fnare and instrument of wrath and difcord, and inhumane ufage of other men, do many turn that blefïed Sacrament into, which is inflituted for the Communion of Saints in unfeigned Love. Themore fuch magnify the Sacrament as the very Flefh and Blood ofChrift, the more do they condemn themfelves. C c CI] A P.

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