fog AGAINST UNCnARITABLc1Bae. the great apostle ; Rom. xiv. I. That such as were iceah it faith should be received to theirfellowship, and not troubled with doubtful disputatious, such as the observance of meats and days, and things of like moment : But the Romans have now so far rebelled against this rule, as to admit persons into their commu- nion upon no other terms than a blind submission to allthé, doubtful disputables which that church imposes. They had an order from St. Paul; Rom. xv. 7. to receive all such as Christ had received; and consequently to reject no others but those whom Christ rejects; but they forgot this charitable canon of our Lord, while they receive thousands to their 'communion which have no visible marks of the image of Christ, and reject thousands, and curse them to hell, whom the Lord Christ will acknowledge for his, and pronounce them blessed of his Father at the last day. When they first begin to assume this sovereignty over faith and conscience, they use a shew of argument, and pretend to instruct and enlighten theweak and the ignorant. They admon- ish them to hearken to the church ; but if the ignorant are still weak in belief, and cannot beconvinced ofthe lawfulness of their ceremonies ; then they send the sheriff and the jailor to carry on the dispute ; a prison and the gibbet are the next arguments and when reason and scripture will not assist them, they employ fire and sword, to contend earnestly for the fables that were never delivered to the saints; Jude, verse 3. To draw up an account of the horrible effects of uncharita- bleness would be to transcribe the ecclesiastical history of many ages t Whole churches and quarters of the world, the eastern and western, have damned one another plentifully upon the ac- count of imposed days, and trifles which the gospel leaves indif- ferent, or rather forbids. How many of the canons of ancient councils have been influenced in their formation by this assuming spirit, and as terribly enforced in their execution to the reproach and devastation of christendom ? But it moves my grief and wonder, that a modern church that pretends not to infallibility should assume a strangedominion over our faith and practice. It asserts its own, " power to, decree rites and ceremonies, and authority in controversies of faith ; when in the very preceding words it confesses that the churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred, . so also the church of Rome has erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith." It demands my admiration, that such a church should canonically denounce her excommunications in abundance, against thosethat dissentfrom her in some disputable things, while they retain all her professed doctrines of thechris- tian faith. And it is a pain and a shame to our eyes to lookbackward
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