222 On DIFFICULTIES Ia SCRIPTURE. of the ordinances, baptism and the Lord's - super, and a due attendance thereón, are plainly and certainly required of us that assume the name of christians in our sacred assemblies. But whether we may borrow assistance from composed forms in preaching, praying, and other administrations ; or whether we must renounce all use of forms, books and notes to aid our in- vention, memory and expression in prayers and sermons, are mere accidental matters, and not written in scripture with so express a pen : So whether the personbaptized must be sprink- led or immersed, and whether the communicants at the Lord's- table must sit, or lean, stand, or kneel, are less essential conside- rations, and have been the subjects of dubious enquiry. Again, in theconstitution, order and government of a church, the same distinctions may be made also. That persons profes- sing the name of Christ should agree to walk and worship to- gether at stated seasons in the fellowship of the gospel, seems to be a demand of the law of nature, and sufficiently confirmed by many directions or examples in positive expressions of scripture too ; that every such congregation of faithful people, or volun- tary society of christians, is a church of Christ ; that they ought to seclude or,put away from their number, the grossly ignorant, the scandalous, and the profane, and to withdraw from those Mat walk disorderly; 2 Thess. iv. 6. that there should be. persons appointed to minister to them in holy things, and that thesociety should honour and maintain them ; all these seem to be plain and undoubted duty; But Whether this society may receive and exclude members without or against the consent of their pastor ; whether there must be any elders in a church distinct from and inferior to the pastor or bishop ; whether the minister needs the imposition of the hands of Several presbyters, or the superior episcopal con- secration ; or whether he be sufficiently ordained by the choice of the society, his solemn acceptance, and his own, and their de- voting him to God in that office by fasting and prayer; these things are not quite so evident in the writings of the New Tes.. tament. And while we are required to have no fellowship with the openly wicked, though they are pretended professors of religion, yet we are commanded to receive the weak in the faith, and to hold communion with them in common christianity, though we may all differ in doubtful disputations. SECT. II. tin Insurrection of contending Christians. I am easily aware that the men of heat and party, will lift up their hands in wonder, when they read this catalogue and distinction of the affairs of christianity. I see them already kindling into rageagainst me ; they encompass my tent, and pro- Claim war. And upon a review of their numbers, their insur- rection and their zeal, I cannot find an advocate wanting for any
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