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Untitled Article
I contend this has nothing to do with the point in hand : for 1 , these were not persons offering to join with them at the Lord's Table , but persons who had been baptised and for some time united with
them , as brethren , in the Christian church . 3 . The eating referred to by the apostle ( see 1 Cor . v . I'l •) intends not the Lord ' s Suppejr ;
he is speaking of voluntarily making them our companions , choosing them for guests at our- own table , or becoming such at theirs . 3 . tie does not recommend the
withdrawing from the society of persons on account qf their supposed errors ia judgment or in religious practice ; rbut because their conduct was grossly immoral . The object of his advice is the
discountenancing immoral professors of the gospel , and the prevention of scandal to Christianity . Immoral persons may be prevented coming to the Lord ' s Ttfble , by
suitable admonition and reproof , without churches exercising inquisitorial powers , or passing a bill of exclusion against all who will not submit to them in the
exercise of sucb powers . If , after all , improper persons , or persons from improper motives , should sometimes conrte to the Lord ' s Supper , the fault is theirs not ours ; for
we are only guests , not masters of the feast ; and not unto us but to God are they accountable . We ought not to assume an unauthorized power to prevent a merely apprehended evil *
Fo your correspondent ' s second question , I reply , that ttoe ^ New Testament certainly teaches Chris * tians to regard one another as parts of the same family , and cborehes to act as harmonious families , always ^ cuhWiating t mutual / under * &tanditig ? andvgood will , by a c on *
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stant reciprocity of duties arid kind offices ; but I see not what this has to do with the point in hand . The churches we read of in the apostolic writings were apt all free from discord and disorder . By becoming a part of the congregation , and ,, uniting at the Lord ' s Table , do pot persons become part of the family of Christ , in any given place ? And are not all the duties of Christianity to be enforced upon them as such ?
If strangers happen to be there , and . choose to eat the Lord ' s supper with them , need this disturb the harmony of the family ? What injury can it do them ? In all churches there may be some who are mere nominal Christians , and
some unworthy characters ; the most rigid plans of discipline have not prevented this . There may be tares among the wheat ; but Christ said , let both grow together till the harvest .
To his third question I reply , that I apprehend " all who believed the apostle ' s doctrine in primitive times were baptized ; " bdt I see not how this affects the freedom of
the Lord ' s Table . At that time tjhere could be but one opinion on the subject of baptism ; but we know there are now various
opinions on the subject , among persons of . equ ? d integr ity , learning and piety ; norjcan I discover what authority we have to make our peculiar views of baptism a
term of communion , any more than our particular views of any other subject . ^ Your correspondent should prove that Baptists , of whom I am one ,, bftve a right to judge for others respecting baptism , and to exclude them jfrom the Lord ' s Supper if they wil ( not conform to their ^ g ^ en ^ ^ For my tkougfrja , j m *** is , at \ WS& on
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Mr . Wright's Reply to Questions on Church Discipline * 316
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1812, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1748/page/35/
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