Serm. XXI.X. from lliliflilkert Zealots. 209 . . 1. That the heft of Men may be feparated and excluded from the Coinmpnion of thofe, who may affume to be the true and only true Church, and that, under the Notion of very Bad and Criminal Perlons. This our Saviour foretells in the Text Chould be the Fate of his Apoftles, fome of the beft and holiefl Perfons that ever lived ; theyfhallput yourout of the Synagogues. And what the Jews did in the beginning of Chriftianity, a the Apoftles of our Lord and Saviour, bath been too frequently pradifed fince, by foine of the Profeffors of Chriftianity towards one another ; and very Good Men have in fe- veral Ages fallen under the Cenfure of Excommunication, and have been feparated from the External Communion ofthe Church, and brandedwith the odious Names of Hereticks and Apoftates, by thofe who have arrogated to themfelves to be the only Orthodòx and trueChurch, and have gotten the external Power and Manage- ment of Religion into their hands ; witnefs the Cafe of Athanafius and others, in the Reign and Prevalency of Arianifm ; and the ill Treatment, that not only parti- cular Perfons, Eminent for their Learning and,Piety, but whole Churches have met with in this kind, from that haughty and uncharitable Church, which makes nothing of thundering out this mint fearful Sentence of Excommunication, againít Perfons, and Churches much better and more Chriftian than her felf, and againft all that will not fubmit to her pretended Infallability, and ufurped Authority over the Souls and Confciences of Men. . But it is our great Comfort, that the Apoftles andDifciples, of our Lord and Mailer were thus ufed, by a Church that made the fame Pretences that they do, and upon Grounds every whit as plaufible, as I could clearly Chew, if I were mind- ed to purfue and makeout this Comparifon. 2. They who are thus Excommunicated, by the only pretended true Church, mayneverthelefs be true Members of the Church of Chriff. Tho' the Apoftles were thusdealtowithal by the Jewifh Church, they did not ceafe for all this to be real- Members of the true Church of God. For it is not calling Hereticks firft; that proves them that do fo to be no Hereticks, or acquits them from the fame or greater Crimes, than thofe which they are fo forward to charge upon o- ther Men ; not will God condemn all thofe who are Excommunicated by Men, and deny Salvation to every one whom they fhall pleafe to feparate from their Society, and to call by force odious Name. Men may be put out of the Syna- gogue, and yet receiv'd into Heaven ; for the :judgment of God is not according to the uncharitableCenfures of Men, but according to Truth and Right. The Sentence of Excommunication is certainly very dreadful where it is duly in- fli&ed; and next to the Judgment of God; Men ought to be afraidof juftly in- curring the danger of this Cenfure ; and it ought to be upon very plain and evi- dent grounds, that Men either feparate themfelves, or endanger their beingcut off from the Communion of the Church they live in.: But when it once comes to this, that a Church is infe&ed with grofs Errors and Corruptions, plainly contra- ry to the Word of God, efpecially if that Church will impofe her Errors upon all that are of her Communion; then thofe who refufe to comply, do not fepa- rate themfelves, but are cut off; do not depart, but are driven out of the Coal- munion of that Church; and Separation in that cafe is as innocent and free from the guiltof Schifs, as the Caufe of it is ; for the terms-ofCommunion are become fuch, that thofe who areconvinced of thofe Errors and. Corruptions can have no Salvation; if they continue in that Communion, and then I am fure their Salva- tion will not be endangered by leaving it, or being Excommunicated out ofit; for that would be the hardeft cafe in the World, that. Men thouldbe damned for con- tinuing 'in the Communion of fuch a Church, and damned likewife for being call out of it. Therefore no Man ought to be terrified, becaufe of the boldnefs and prefumption of thofe, who with fo much Confidence, and fo little Charity,', damn all that' are not of their Communion ; for we fee plainly from the Text, that Men may, be in the right and fureft way to Salvatiòn, and yet be Excommunicated by thofe who call themfelves the true Church, and will not allow Salvatiori to any, but thofeof their own Communion. The Difciples of our Lord' and'Saviour were E e certainly
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