106 A CHRISTIAN ,CHURCH. notpractise idolatry ; 1 John v. 21. Yet I believe that we may worship the true God, byidols or images ; for the idolatry which is forbidden in the scripture, signifies only the worship of stones, and stocks, and images, for real and true gods. I believe'we are bound to follow peace with all men; Heb. xii. d4, yet I believe we may contend for the faith so earnestly, as to burn heretics. I believe we must follow holiness too, withoút which, no man shall see the Lord; Heb. xii. 14. yet I ampersuaded sin can dg no real hurt to a believer. Now who is there that has any value for the honour of the gospel, for the glory of Christ, for the purity of our religion, and the welfare of the church, that would establish such a test, of communion, by which all these sorts of persons may claim ad- mission ? A church composed of such a variety of sects, that differ so widely in points so numerous end .0o important, would much more resemble the ark of Noah, with all manner of crea- tures in it, clean and unclean, than the fold of Christ, where none but his sheep should have admittance, or suchas have the visible marks Of his sheep upon them. The other incongruities, inconveniences, and mishiefs that will necessarily attend a church, founded upon this test of ad- mission, shall be more largely and particularly described in my answer to the next question, to which I refer the reader. Perhaps it will be said by way of reply to all these aegu- ments, that " where any person ;professes his faith in the mere words of scripture, and yet makes it appear that he understands them in such an erroneous sense, as is inconsistent with the gos- pel of Christ, or the fundamentals of christianity, such a person out not to be admitted to christian communion, because he plainly overthrows by his explication, what he asserts by his confession But where he gives_ no explication at all, it should be presumed that lie believes all necessary truth." To this I answer, I. That if a confession of faith, in the mere words of scrip- ture, be asufficient test for church fellowship, no man who pro- fesses those words oughtt;to be. excluded, let him explain them how he please; for if the rule of scripture does indeed require you to receive all that profess the faith in scriptural words, no particular and perverse explications whatsoever should break in upon this sacred rule, lest hereby, you who exclude him, set yourself up as a judge of the sense of scripture for other folks, and instead of making the words of scripture your test, you make your own sense of it the test ofcommunion, which is the very thing You pretend to avoid, and which you profess to re- nounce.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=