Last Legacy in Select Admonitions and Directions, Treatise · Section 21
Of Communion in the Lord's Supper.
Q. 2. May we communicate with unworthy perſons? Chriſtian Directory, p. 616. 1ſt Edit.Anſw. It is your duty to communicate with that Church which hath a true Paſtor, and where the denominating part of the Members are capable of Church-Communion, though there may ſome Infidels, or Heathen, or uncapable Perſons violently intrude, or ſcandalous Perſons are admitted, through the neglect of Diſcipline, in caſe you have not your choice to hold perſonal communion with a better Church, and in caſe alſo you be not guilty of the Corruption, but by ſeaſonable and modeſt profeſſing your diſſent, do clear your ſelf of the guilt of ſuch intruſion and corruption.
If we Sin not by omitting our own Duty,Chriſt. Direct. p. 137. 2d Edit. it will be no Sin of ours to communicate with the Church where Scandalous Sinners or Hereticks are permitted, the Paſtors and Delinquents Sins are not ours.
Q. 3. But what if I cannot communicate, unleſs I conform to an impoſed geſture, as kneeling? Anſw. I never yet heard any thing to prove kneeling unlawful; there is no Word of God, for, or againſt, any geſture. Chriſt's example cannot be proved to oblige us in this, and his geſture was not ſuch a ſitting as ours. The nature of the Ordinance is mixt. And if it be lawful to take a Pardon from the King upon our Knees, I know not what can make it unlawful to take a Sealed Pardon from Chriſt,Five Diſp. P. 411. by his Ambaſſador, upon our Knees. As for this Ceremony of kneeling at the Sacrament eſpecially, ſince the Rubrick is inſerted, which diſclaimeth, both all Bread-worſhip, and the bodily Real-preſence, my judgment was ever for it. God having made ſome geſture neceſſary, and confined us to none, but left it to humane determination, I ſhall ſubmit to Magiſtrates in their proper Work. I am not ſure, that Chriſt intended the example of himſelf in this as oligatory; but I am ſure,Defenſe, P. 177. he hath commanded me obedience, and peace. Mr. Perkins was for kneeling, and Mr. Baines in his Letters writes for it, and anſwers objections againſt it.
Pag. 133. of Mr. B's Life. I cannot be ſo narrow in my Principles of Church Communion, as many are, who are ſo much for a Liturgy, or ſo much againſt it; ſo much for Ceremonies, or ſo much againſt them, that they can hold Communion with no Church that is not of their mind or way. If I were among the Greeks, the Lutherans, the Independants, yea the Anabaptists, I would hold ſometime Communion with them as Chriſtians—I cannot be of their Opinion, that think God will not accept him that prayeth by the Common-Prayer-Book, and that ſuch Forms are a Self-invented Worſhip which God rejecteth.
Q. 4. But what if I cannot Communicate, Chriſt. Direct. p. 607.but according to the Adminiſtration of the Common-Prayer-Book? Anſw. 1. That it is not unlawful to receive according to the Adminiſtration of the Common-Prayer-Book, becauſe it is a Form, needs no proof to any, that is Judicious. 2. Nor yet, for any evil in this particular Form, for in this part the Common-Prayer is generally approved. 3. Nor yet, becauſe it is impoſed; for a Command maketh not that unlawful to us, which is lawful before, but it maketh many things lawful, and duties, that elſe would have been unlawful accidentally. 4. And the intentions of the Commanders we have little to do with. And for the conſequents, they muſt be weighed on both ſides, and the conſequents of our refuſal will not be found light. In general, I muſt here tell the People of God, in the bitter ſorrow of my Soul, that at laſt it is time for them to diſcern that temptation, that hath in all Ages of the Church almoſt, made this Sacrament of our Union, to be the grand occaſion or inſtrument of our Diviſions. And that, true Humility, and Acquaintance with our ſelves, and Love to Chriſt, and one another, would ſhew ſome Men, that it was but their Pride and Prejudice, and Ignorance, that made them think ſo heinouſly of other Mens manner of Worſhip. And that, on all ſides, among true Chriſtians, the manner of their Worſhip is not ſo odious, as Prejudice, and Faction, and Partiality repreſenteth it. And that God accepteth that, which they reject. And they ſhould ſee, how the Devil hath undone the common People, by this means, by teaching them every one to expect ſalvation for being of that Party which he taketh to be the right Church, and for Worſhipping in that manner which he, and his Party, thinketh beſt. And ſo wonderful a thing is prejudice, that every Party, by this,Chriſt. Direct. p. 48. is brought to think that ridiculous and vile, which the other Party accounteth beſt. But to magnifie any one Church or Party, ſo as to deny due love and communion to the reſt, is Schiſm. To limit all the Church to your Party, and deny all, or any of the reſt, to be Chriſtians, and parts of the Univerſal Church, is Schiſm, by a dangerous breach of Charity. It is Schiſm alſo, to condemn unjuſtly any particular Church, as no Church. And it is Schiſm, to withdraw your bodily communion from a Church that you were bound to hold communion with, upon a falſe ſuppoſition that it is no Church, or is not lawfully to be communicated with. And it is Schiſm, to make Diviſions or Parties in a Church,P. 49. though you divide not from that Church. The holineſs of the Party that Men adhere to, is made a pretence to excuſe Schiſm; but this muſt make but a gradual difference in our eſteem and love to ſome Chriſtians above others. If really they are moſt holy, I muſt love them moſt, and labour to be as holy as they: But I muſt not therefore, unjuſtly deny communion, or due reſpect to other Chriſtians, that are leſs holy, nor cleave to them as a Sect, or divided Party, whom I eſteem moſt holy. For the holieſt are moſt Charitable, and moſt againſt the Diviſions among Chriſtians, and tendereſt of their Unity and Peace. Own the beſt, as beſt, but none, as a divided Sect; eſpouſe not their dividing intereſt; confine not your eſpecial love to a Party, but extend it to all the Members of Chriſt. Deny not local Communion when there is occaſion for it, to any Church, that hath the Subſtance of True Worſhip, and forceth you not to ſin. Love them as true Chriſtians,Baxter of Confirmation, p. 3. and Churches, even when they drive you from their Communion. I have found that Reformation is to be accompliſhed more by reſtoration of Ordinances and Adminiſtrations to their Primitive Nature and Uſe, than by utter abolition.
Mr. Bagſhaw objected to Mr. Baxter, that he choſe to communicate in a very populous Church upon Eaſter-day, purpoſely that it might be known: To this Mr. Baxter Anſwers, p. 76. If a Man by many Years forbearing all Publick Prayer, and Sacraments, ſhould tempt others to think that he is againſt them, or thinks them needleſs; How ſhould he cure that Scandal, but by doing that openly, pleading for it which he is ſuppoſed to be againſt, Miniſters being bound to teach by Example as well as Doctrine?