.pre.ferr the Communicants before the reft,'it will draw in more thanare capable, without force. L. If the Excommunicate be nofurtherpunifhed, nor forced to re- pent, theChurch cenfures will be defpifed : Hon) little will men care lr an En-communication ? M. This is commonly faid,and much ofit is true : But, T. Can you force men to Repent, or rather Lye ? You Make him Re- pent that he brought himfelf intoyourhands and into fuffering : But that isnot toRepent ofSin. Will you tell a man before hand, If.thouwilt butfay thou repentefl rather than lie in Gaol till death, we will pronounce thee abfolved and forgiven in Chrift's Name'? VVho can think ill enough of fuch an Abfolution ? 2. Do not they fcorn Chrift that fay he bath advanced his Church to the Dignity of Government, by putting into their hands a Reed for a Scepter, and a Leaden Sword that will do no- ihing without the Magiftrate's Sword ofSteel ? Bath he fet up as ufelefs mock-power in the Church ? 3. Did thePrimitive- Churches for 30o years ufeany Sword put Spiritual ? Or did they find it fo uneffeaual and vain ? 4. Yea for fome hundred years after there were Chriftian 1agiftrates, did not the Church abhorr fuch a thing as for- cing the Excommunicate to repent by imprifonment or the ,word 5. No man is meet to be a'juft Member that Gareth not for a -juft Excommunication ? And !till this lheweth what awick- ednefs it is to force in the unmeet, that defpife God's Ordinance and the Church that they are in : And then God's ''Ordinance 1 uft bedebauched for their unfitnefs. 6. The Sword doth the Keys much more hindrance than help, when it is thus ,annexed to them; for then it cannot be difcerned whether Excommunication do any Good or none; or whetherit be gaily theSword that doth the cure : And donot they that profefsExcommunication to be vain without the Sword, teach men to call them as Church Governours Vain, and to defpife them ? And is it not all one, as to fay, if any good be done byChurch- Government, it is by the Magiftrate's Sword, and not by ours by the Keys ? 7. And is it not then ridiculous contradiction to difpute fo hard about Church-Power, arid againft the Presbyters claim, when you confefs that it is an ufelefs thadow that you difpute for,
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