118 A CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Now if the question be put, as whether all such persons pro- fessing the same protestant principles with all their different sen- timents, may be united in the same church," I answer, 1. It is impossible, and they cannot. -2. It is unlawful, and they ought not 3. If it were both possible and lawful, yet it is highly inexpedient, and therefore it should not be done. First, it is impossible and they cannot join in the same communion." There are some aétions necessary in order to christian commu- nion in worship, which are appointed ingeneral in the holy scrip- ture, but must be performed in some particular and determinate way : Now this in the very nature of things makes it necessary to determine the words of scripture to a particular sense ; and different sects of protestants determine these words in such dif- ferent ways, as will often be exceeding hard, and sometimes utterly impossible to be reconciled and made consistent in one communion : As for instance, 1. Some cannot in conscience attend upon the ministry of a person, who has not been ordained by the imposition of the hands of a diocesan bishop, for they think him no minister of Christ; others refuse him for a minister, who has not had the hands of severalpresbyters imposed in his ordination ; and there are a third sort again, that think either of these two ordinations to be unnecessary, if not unlawful ; and believe him no minister of Christ, unless he be chosen by a congregation, add set apart to that work amongst them by fasting and prayer. Note, that I speak here of those that are each of them strict and rigid in the extremes of their own way, honest and sincere in the main; VA zealous and obstinate in their own principles; now these can never join under one ministry, unless their minister has passed through all these three sorts of ordinations, which is not to be expected. 2. Some think it utterly unlawful to pray in public, without a form, lest rash and hasty expressions be littered before God; Eccl. V. 2. Others think it equally unlawful to use a form of prayer, lest they quench the Spirit which is given to teach them to pray; 1 Thess. v. 19. Eph. vi. 18. and how can these possi- bly join in the same prayer ? 3. Some esteem the Lord's-prayer so glorious, so perfect, and so universal a prayer for all times and ages, that it should never be omitted in public worship ; others fancy it unlawful to be used at all as a prayer, ever since the Spirit was given to men at the ascension of Christ, because it is in their sense a confine- ment of the Spirit to a form of words. 4. Some think the practice of singing the praises of God to be a necessary part of christian worship, and cannot persuade themselves to live without it; others esteem it a mere antichris- tian invention, and they dare not be present for a moment iu an
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