A DISCUSSION Of the Lawfulness of a Pastor's Acting as an OFFICER In Other Churches Besides that which he is specially Called to take the Oversight of.  
By the late Reverend Mr. Nathanael Mather.  
LONDON: Printed for Nath. Hiller at the Prince's Arms in Leaden-Hall Street, over against St. Mary Axe, MDCXCVIII.   


Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber.   bookplate   

TO THE READER.  
THat a Particular Congregational Church is an Institution of Christ, is clear in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament: Which being granted, there must needs be something proper and peculiar unto every such Church, which is not common to another: For although every Church hath Ministerial Officers and Ordinances, which are all of the same kind, yet they are not the same individual Ministry and Ordinances, nor in common; any more than the distinct Families of two Men, each of whom has a Wife, Children and Servants: One is not the Husband of the other's Wife, nor the Father of the other's Children, nor the Master of the other's Servants. And why should we speak or act less rationally about a Spiritual Corporation or Society than about a Civil one? Will we allow that the Master and Wardens, and Privileges belonging to one Company, may be challenged or borrowed by another? May the Father, Husband, Master of one Family he challenged or borrowed by another? As this Husband, Father, Master is the proper and peculiar Right of this Family in a correlation; and this Magistrate, Warden, Governor is the peculiar Right by correlation to this Company or Corporation: So it is in Spiritual Fellowships; this Pastor, Elder or Deacon, with all his Office-power in Administrations, belongs to this Church, and to no other; so that he is their Officer, and related to them, and hath no right to administer or exercise his Office in any other Church, God being the God of Order, and not of Confusion, as in all the Churches of the Saints; for if God hath not confounded natural and civil relations, neither hath he those which are spiritual.  
Since Antichristianism hath blinded the eyes of the Professing World, the plainest Doctrines of Faith and Order have met with great Contradictions and Opposition; Yea, the minds of some who were greatly enlightened in matters of Faith, have been left under much darkness about the matters of God's House; the Church being still, in a great measure, fed in a mystical and hidden State, and not yet come forth to a fullness of separation from Antichristian entanglements and pollutions, as she will when the Mystery of God shall be finished.  
And many who seem to have gone farther than others in the acknowledgement of Truth's appertaining to the Churches of Christ, and the Forms and Ordinances instituted by Him; yet for want of fuller Illumination, or being biased too much by Worldly Interest, and men-pleasing compliance, have practised not only short of the Rule, but also very ungroundedly and irregularly in these sacred things: Not to mention more Instances than the particular Point which is learnedly and nervously discussed in this Treatise; Some even of the Congregational Persuasion having extended the Communion of Churches beyond the Bounds which Christ hath set, by making it reach to Office-Power; have thereby fallen into a Mistake, which is in itself, destructive to the nature of a Spiritual Corporation: For if Ministerial Power be communicable, why not the Privilege of Church Membership much more? And so he that Votes to admit a Member in one Church, may also by virtue thereof, Vote in the admission or rejection of Members, or in the Election of Ministerial Officers all the World over, and then what becomes of particular Churches and their Privileges?  
It is true, there is such a thing as Communion of Churches in a Sisterly converse and Entertainment of one another, whereby they allow of each others Church State, without imposing upon one another, or parting with any thing which is proper to themselves alone, as Church-Membership and Office-power.  
It is one thing to partake of the benefit of Power, where it is duly and lawfully exercised; and another thing to exercise Power: A Man who is a Member of one Corporation, may come and sue for his Right in another, or have any Friendly Entertainment there; But the Mayor of one Corporation cannot come and sit and act as a Magistrate in another Corporation: So the Pastor of a Church may partake of the Lord's Supper in a place where he hath no power to administer it.  
Christ's Commission to a Pastor reacheth no farther than the Charge undertaken by him and committed to him (feed the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made thee Overseer,) any more than that of the Riding Elder or Deacon.  
Again, He that administers, doth it as an ordinary Brother, or as a Pastor. If as a Brother, than what becomes of the Pastoral Office? Church's may do without it; And this will justify the Irregular Practices of those who call ordinary Brethren to administer the Seals as they have occasion. If he administer as Pastor; it must be as Pastor of the Church whereto he belongs: and then one Church hath power to make a Church-Officer for another, and to choose and set a Pastor over it: Then also, where is co-ordination of Churches? Then likewise, every particular Church hath power to choose a Catholic Pastor, which is absurd: And if the Choice of the Foreign Church do give power, than a Member of their own might be a fit Person for this Work, having power in the Church as a Member already, which the other has not. If he administer as a Pastor in standing Office to one Church, and occasional only to another; then there is more required to make an occasional Officer than a standing Pastor: For there's but one Church required to the choosing a standing Pastor, but two are requisite to choose an occasional Pastor; there needing the Choice of that Church only to which he is primarily related, to make him a standing Pastor; but besides that, there must be the Choice of another Church to make him an occasional Officer pro hic & nunc.  
But I shall not enlarge upon this, nor need I, it being the Subject of the ensuing Discourse, where it is strenuously, yet modestly and calmly argued and cleared, which I recommend to the Consideration of the unprejudiced and Impartial Inquirer after Truth. It was Wrote long since, and Corrected and fitted for the Press by the late Reverend and Pious Author, whose Name it bears; Occasioned by the irregular Practice of some Church or Churches who called in Neighbouring Pastors to administer the Lords Supper to them when they had none of their own. Upon the like Practices here of late, and at the desire of some Friends who had seen it, He intended to have Printed it had he lived; Which Intention of his is Warrant sufficient to Publish it since his Death; and indeed, neither it, nor the Author need any Epistle Recommendatory: This Tract is able to speak for itself; and as for Him, his Name and Memory are savoury and precious in more Nations than One.   

A Discussion, etc. Or, A DISPUTE Upon these Two Questions: 

Question I. WHether a Pastor of the Church at Corinth may Administer the Lord's Supper in the Church at Cenchrea?  
Question II. Whether may a Member of the Church at Cenchrea partake of the Lord's Supper administered there, by a Pastor of the Church at Corinth; himself not being clear whether this act of the Pastor of the Church at Corinth be not unwarrantable?    
Answer:  
I conceive neither the one nor the other to be according to the Rule; but both the administration of the Pastor of Corinth in the Church of Cenchrea, and the communicating of such a Member of the Church of Cenchrea in the Supper, so administered there, to be sinful.  
I shall first inquire into the lawfulness of the Pastor of Corinth's Administration of the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea.  
There are Three Points, the Consideration whereof will not be impertinent for the clearing of the presert Case, viz.  

I. Concerning Office and Office-Power in the Church.  
II. Concerning Communion of Churches.  
III. Concerning the strict invariableness of the Rule given by Christ to his Churches, about all the affairs and walking thereof; and the indispensible obligation that lies upon them in no Case to swerve therefrom.   

POINT I. Touching Church-Office and Power.  
To be an Officer in the Church is to be Christ's Substitute, and in his Stead, not only by the Dispensation and Disposal of Providence, but by a special Constitution and Commission from Christ in the way of an Instituted Ordinance. It is, I say, to be the Substitute, and in the stead of Christ unto the Church, for such things as are within the Officer's Commission.  
Hence Office and Office-power is not a thing of a simple, absolute Nature; and thence, is not an indelible Character imprinted on him that is an Officer, which he carries engraven on him go he where he will: This is a Mysterious nothing devised and much argued about by the idle and curious Brains of those that reaped Profit by the Fiction: But it is a Spiritual Relation (to which the Institution of Christ gives a Being) and a Right, Authority or Power correspondent thereunto. And hence, it hath a double Object by which it is limited and terminated, namely, the Church and the Acts proper to the Office.  
First, The Officer, as an Officer, is a correlate to that Church over which the Holy Ghost hath set him; but beyond that Church, his relation as an Officer extendeth not at all to others, over which the Holy Ghost hath not set him. The nature of Relates is such as that they mutually give and receive Being from each other; and thence the one is not a Relate but with reference to the other. And hence, remove that Reference, and you take away its being, and consequently cut off and intercept all its Operations as such; for that which hath no Being can put forth no Operation.  
Hence it follows, That the Officer of a Church hath no being as an Officer, but in the Church, and wholly with reference to it. The Language of the Holy Ghost concerning ordinary Officers is constantly such as holds forth this. They are said to be set in the Flock, Acts 20.28. And they are to look to the whole Flock that they have relation to as Officers. All the Flock, ibid. So Heb. 13.7, 17. Your Guides— your Rulers, not others; that have rule over you, not over others.  
Both the Officer's power and person as an Officer, relate to that particular Flock or Church in which the Holy Chost hath set him: Even as the Eye, or the like Organ in the Body, which is both a Member, and an Organ that hath a particular Office in the Body whereof it is a Member; but hath neither Membership nor Office out of its own body in another. The Eye in Socrates' Head hath no Office, nor is it a Member in Plato's Head, nor can it see there. And thence, as the Body may possibly be without the Eyes, but than it is so far an un-organized body; yet the Eye hath no subsistence as an Organ (much less any action) out of the Body: So we read of Churches that sometimes were without Officers, Acts 14.23. but never of ordinary Officers without Churches, or that put forth any act of Office, save in those particular Churches in which they were both Members and Officers. For Office in the Church is super-induced and engrafted, as I may say, upon Membership, Rom. 12.4. and thence my Office-Relation and Power cannot be extended to others than my Member-Relation toucheth and claspeth hold upon. But the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is no Fellow-Member with the Members of any Church but that at Corinth, for by them only can he be Censured.  
Secondly, Office-power corresponds to the Relation, and is limited according to it, as to the acts in which (as well as the persons over whom) it is to be exerted. A Pastor of a Church hath no Authority at all, by virtue of that his Office, to Fine or Imprison, or the like. These are acts of Civil Authority, his is spiritual, for such is his relation, and thence his power is limited to spiritual acts. Therefore to imagine Office- power, where there is no Office- Relation, or to allow acts of Office, and yet to deny Office-power, is to build Castles in the Air, and frame an imagination that overthrows itself.  
Again, All Church Offices are alike as to the extent of their power; for their power ariseth from their Office-relation to the Church, therefore one Officer is related to no more Churches than another; he hath no more Office-power in other Churches than another Officer hath. The Deacon of the Church at Corinth is related as Deacon to that Church, and none else but that: Even so is the Pastor. The difference between the Offices of the Church lieth not at all in the extent of one to other persons more than the other; but in the different work that the different Officers have allotted to them with respect to the same persons. The Ruler is to attend with diligence to the Rule of the same Persons or Church, and the Deacon to receive and faithfully dispose the Temporal things committed to him of the same Church that the Pastor is to administer a Word of Wisdom to, and the Teacher a Word of Knowledge. The Scripture no where gives any the least intimation of a Difference between them in this regard.  
To issue this Point about Church-Office.  
The whole of the power of Office is of equal extent with any one part thereof, as to the Persons over whom it is to be exercised. If Archippus may put forth one act of his Office to all the Church at Coloss, or to other person besides, he may also put forth other acts. If he may, as a Pastor, feed all or any with a Word of Wisdom, none of those who are under his Charge for that, may be exempted from under his power as to Rule. If he may rule more Churches than one, he may administer the Lord's Supper to more than one. If the Lord Jesus hath put the Church of Cenchrea in the Commission of the Pastor of the Church of Corinth for one act proper to his Office, he hath also for all other Office-acts. Yea, and then all the Churches of Achaia are no more exempted than the Church of Cenchrea; And where we shall stop I know not, till we have made him an Universal Pastor, or Bishop Ecumenical, and so set him up to justle with the Old Gentleman at Rome; who (of the two) hath the better Title to it, having both Phocas his Grant, and actual possession some Years above a Thousand.  
Of the foregoing Premises (before I pass on to the Second Point to be considered) I shall make a double Improvement.  
I. Briefly deduce some Arguments concluding the Question.  
II. Return an Answer to some Objections.  
First, Some Arguments concluding the Question.  
Argument I. That comes first to Hand which was last touched upon. The Pastor of the Church at Corinth may not administer the Lord's Supper where he may not Rule or Govern: But he may not Govern in the Church of Cenchrea; And therefore, not administer the Supper there. I know no colour for it in the Word, That in administering the Lord's Supper Archippus should be Christ's Substitute, and in Christ's stead to the Church of Cenchrea, but in nothing else; In all other matters pertaining to Office-power having no Authority over them from Christ. If he be Commissioned and Deputed from Christ for the one, he is and must be also for the other.  
Argum. II. Where he may not put forth the power of a Member, he may not put forth the power of an Officer: But in the Church of Cenchrea the Pastor of the Church of Corinth may not put forth the power of a Member, Suppose in Voting, Judging, Admitting, Calling an Officer, or the like.  
It seems unreasonable and incongruous, that where he is not subject as a Member, he should have the Privilege to exert the power of a Member. And if not the power of a Member, much less the power of an Officer: But in Administering the Lord's Supper he puts forth the power of an Officer, doing that which none but an Officer may do.  
Arg. III. Ruling Elders may as lawfully, and with as much Right, put forth the acts of their Office, as a Pastor do any acts of his Office, in other Churches besides that to which they have special Office-Relation; for they are both set in the body alike, he that ruleth, and he that Exhorteth, Rom. 12. But the Ruling-Elders of Corinth may not rule over the Church of Cenchrea, and therefore neither may the Pastor of Corinth administer the Lord's Supper, there.  
Arg. IU. Where a Man hath no Office-power, he may do no Office-acts; He is else a Busybody, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 4.15. There is such a necessary and innate alliance and connexion between Office- power and Office- acts, as that the latter cannot be orderly put forth but by virtue of the former: But the Pastor of the Church of Corinth hath no Office- power in the Church of Cenchrea; for he is none of their Officer; for he was never Called or Chosen by them; they never submitted themselves to him; the Holy Ghost never set him over them: None but Members in Cenchrea can have any Office there, Rom. 12.4. 'Tis only Members that have any Office (so we render it, the Greek Word signifies also action or operation) in the Body. But the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is no Member in the Church of Cenchrea: He is no more a Member there than any other Member is; for the Pastor's Membership, and a private Members Membership are not at all different. The Members of Corinth are not Members in Cenchrea, for the Members make up the whole, contributing and containing in them all the essential causes, viz. both matter and form of the whole: If therefore the Members of the one were Members of the other, the Churches must be both one, and not two distinct Churches: And then when Sardis is dead, and Laodicea lukewarm, Philadelphia is so too. If the Limbs and Members of Alexander be the Members of Aristotle; when Alexander rides, Aristotle is in the Saddle too. The Pastor therefore of Corinth is no Member in Cenchrea, and if no Member no Officer, and if no Officer he hath no Office-power, and therefore may do no Office-act there, such as administering the Lord's Supper is.  
Arg. V If the Pastor of the Church of Corinth may administer the Lord's Supper in the Church of Cenchrea, he hath a right or authority to do it. If he have Authority to do it, he may require the Church to receive it at his hands, and the Church may not refuse it: Yea, and this though the proper Pastor of Cenchrea were living, and present with them. For the Death or Absence of the Pastor of the Church of Cenchrea gives the Pastor of the Church of Corinth no more power or right in the Church of Cenchrea than he had before. Right to put forth an act of Office, and Authority to require submission to that act are inseparable: He that may grant a Warrant, hath Authority to require Obedience to it. The Church of Cenchrea may refuse ever to receive the Supper administered by the Pastor or the Church of Corinth, and not sin in so doing; and therefore he hath no Authority to require it. And if no Authority to require their receiving, he hath no right himself to administer it to them. For Right to Administer, supposeth him to be Christ's Substitute, Commissioned from him for such Administration; But to be Christ's Substitute, Commissioned by him, must needs infer an Authority and Power to require in Christ's Name, attendance upon such an Administration whereto he is by Christ Commissioned.  
Arg. VI Without Power given him from Christ, the Pastor of the Church of Corinth may not administer the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea: For no Man should bless and separate the Elements, so as from Common to make them Sacramental, unless he have Power or Authority given him from Christ so to do; for whatever is done of this kind, must be done in the Name of Christ, whose Work alone it is, by his poor Minister as his Substitute and Instrument to produce and really effect that Special Union which there truly is in the Sacrament between the Elements and his Body and Blood. Christ doth not now separate and bless the Bread and Wine amongst us immediately in his own Person: If it be done therefore, it should be done by one that is Christ's substitute, and Commissioned by him thereunto. If therefore, a Man have not Commission and Authority from Christ to do it, he may not do it.  
But the Pastor of the Church of Corinth hath no Power or Authority given him from Christ, to administer the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea. He can have none from Christ but what he hath by the Church; but he hath none by the Church, and therefore none from Christ.  
He hath none by the Church of Corinth, for they can give him no power for any action in another Church: He hath none by the Church of Cenchrea, for they do not Call him to Office amongst them: And therefore he hath none at all, for these are the two only Churches from whom any thing can be pretended in this Case.  
Arg. VII. If he may Administer the Supper to and in the Church of Cenchrea, he must also fulfil his Ministry towards that Church in all the other acts of his Ministry wherein the Church needs his help: For right to administer the Supper supposeth Office, but Office-relation inferreth Office-Bonds, Office being not a Power or Licence only, but carrying in it a Charge Command and Duty. But it is evident, the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is not bound to fulfil his Ministry towards the Church of Cenchrea, he is not bound to Watch there, Rule there, Guide there, Labour in the Word and Doctrine there.  
The other Officers of the Church of Corinth are bound to fulfil their Offices, in doing the respective work thereof to the Church of Cenchrea, as much as the Pastor; and both they and he are as well bound to the other Churches in Achaia, as to that at Cenchrea.  
Arg. VIII. If this administering the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea by the Pastor of the Church of Corinth be Lawful and Warrantable, I demand, What is it that makes it so? It is plain he doth a special act, which none but Persons impower'd and privileged thereto may do; such special acts must have something for the ground of them, indeed all acts must, else they are unlawful. But there is nothing that can empower the Pastor of the Church of Corinth for thus acting in the Church of Cenchrea. It must be either his Gifts or his Grace, or his Election, or his Ordination: But none of these can give him power to administer the Lord's Supper in Cenchrea.  
Not his Gifts nor Grace.] For then a Non-Officer might do it. Grace gives ability only to do a thing acceptably to God, as to the inward frame of the heart with which it is done; not any right to do lawfully any external act which otherwife might not be done. Gifts only furnish with ability for doing such a thing, (whereto the Gifts are suited) unto others Edification, but confer not a Right or Authority whereby it may lawfully be done; for then every one that hath equal Gifts must have equal Authority. Neither Gifts nor Grace make a Man Christ's Substitute to bless and sanctify Elements in his Name, and make them Sacramental Signs of Christ and his Benefits. Private Members, yea Women have both Gifts and Grace; yet are not Christ's Substitutes for such an Administration.  
Not his Election.] The Church that chooseth him, chooseth him only for themselves, not for other Churches; to be in Christ's stead amongst them, not amongst others. For Christ hath not given them power to confer such power on any Man, with respect to any others than themselves: But each Church is betrusted with it by the Lord Christ for itself. The Church of Corinth cannot subject the Church of Cenchrea to their Pastor; and therefore cannot give him either Office- power, or power for any Office- act in the Church of Cenchrea; they may as well make him an Universal Pastor over all the Churches in the whole World.  
Not his Ordination.] For this presupposeth, is grounded upon, and relates wholly to his Election; and thence gives not power of a larger extent than he was called to in his Election.  
He is Ordained to no other than he was Chosen to; and therefore, if in his Election he be not Chosen to act as an Officer in other Churches, his Ordination empowers him not at all thereunto; He is not Chosen to one thing, and Ordained to another. Ordination, (be it a Solemn investiture of him with Office-power, or be it a Solemn Separation of him with supposed due Rites, and in due manner to his Work, yet it) so necessarily and wholly relates to his Election, that he can receive no power thereby of larger extent than in his Election he was called unto.  
In sum therefore, If neither his Gifts, nor Grace, nor Election, nor Ordination be a just and sufficient ground for the Pastor of the Church of Corinth his administering the Lord's Supper in the Church of Cenchrea there is no sufficient ground at all for it: But in none of these is there a sufficient ground for it, therefore there is none at all. As to what may be pleaded by virtue of Communion of Churches, it shall be considered in the next Point.  
This shall serve for Arguments concluding the Question. There are some Objections that may receive their Answer from the Premises, and these come next to be considered.  
Obj. 1. He is a Pastor every where, and abides still vested with that Relation, and the Authority of it, even when he is in Cenchrea, and not only when he is acting as a Pastor in Corinth. 'Tis not with a Church-Officer as with the Elements in the Sacraments, which remain Sacred and Sacramental only while they are using in that Ordinance; but afterwards, and out of that use, what is left of the Bread or Wine is common.  
Ans. True, he doth abide clothed with the Office of a Pastor, even while he is at Cenchrea; even as the Lord Mayor of London abides Lord Mayor though he go into Westminster; yet he can put forth none of his power as Mayor whilst he is there: So is the Pastor of the Church of Corinth limited in the acts of his Office, as to the object of it, unto the particular Church of Corinth; Elsewhere, and unto others, he is but as a Private Person as to any Office-Authority or Power: As a Father abides a Father, when he is in another Man's House; yet hath no Paternal Authority over any Children but his own.  
Yea, I will grant further, that the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is to be honoured with singular esteem by the Church of Cenchrea; not only for his eminent excelling in spiritual Gifts and Grace, but also because the Lord Jesus hath put honour upon him in calling him to such a place, and vesting him with such an Office in one of his Churches.  
Nay, I will moreover yield the Pastor of the Church of Corinth to be an Ordinance of God for good to all the Members of the Church of Cenchrea: So indeed he is in his feeding of the Church of Corinth with a Word of Wisdom, to all the Inhabitants of that City, being a Vessel that carries precious Treasure, and holds forth unto all that hear his Preaching the Word of Life.  
And so is the Church itself of Corinth, it being the Pillar of Truth, and an Ordinance provided and set up on purpose by the great God in the dark World for this very end, to display his manifold Wisdom in the Gospel, and direct the lost Sons of Men in the way of Communion with God by Christ, and an Eternal Enjoyment of him.  
Yet it will not at all follow from hence, that the Church of Corinth may judge with Church-Censure the Men of the World that are without (the Apostle, 1 Cor. 5.12, 13. expressly denies it) or Excommunicate the Members of the Church of Cenchrea, who are not of the same Lump and Body with them. No more will it follow that the Pastor of the Church of Corinth may do any Office-acts in the Church of Cenchrea, though he abide clothed with that Office, and in his holy Administrations in the Church of Corinth be an Ordinance of God for their good, as far as Providence gives them an opportunity to partake of the benefit thereof. The Lord Mayor of London is the King's Officer, or Ordinance for good to all the Kingdom, and therefore to all the Citizens of Bristol, as far as they have occasion to use his power, yet the Lord Mayor of London can do no act of his Office, nor put forth any of his Office-power within the City of Bristol.  
Obj. 2. The Pastor of Corinth may as lawfully administer the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea, as a Member of the Church of Cenchrea may partake in the Administration of the Supper in the Church of Corinth.  
Ans. The Cases are not parallel. There is a great deal of difference between a Member's partaking, and a Pastor's administering the Supper in another Church. For  
1. A Member in communicating is not Christ's Substitute, but is considered only as a Member of a particular instituted Church, whereof Christ is the Political Head.  
2. The Pastor of Corinth is in his proper place where the Holy Ghost hath set him, when he is administering the Supper there (which is more than can be said when he is administering in Cenchrea) and whom the Church rightly receives to partake with them in that Ordinance, he cannot put back, nor may he forbear his Duty upon that account.  
3. There are Instances and Grounds in Scripture, for a Member of one Church his being received and owned, and his communicating in another Church Rom. 16.1, 2. Acts 20.4, 5, 6, 7. But there are none for a Pastor's administering the Supper out of his own Church.  
4. Receiving the Supper is a Privilege, Administering the Supper is an action wherein Office-power is exerted; and hence agai they are vastly different, and the one much more confined than the other: Receiving unto the Supper each others Members occasionally, being but a proper expression of Sisterly Communion between Churches; when as Officers mutually acting as Officers in several Churches, implies a Coalition of the Churches into one; or at least that they are both equally under his Office-power. Sharing in a Privilege, and putting forth of power, do so much differ, as that in a private Member the one is much more limited and restrained than the other: A private Member of Corinth hath no Power or Right to Vote in another Church than that whereof he is a Member, for Excommunication, Admission, Calling an Officer, or any thing else of like nature, wherein the Members of that Church are concerned to give Judgement, yet a Member of Corinth may there partake of the Lord's Supper. And suppose a Member, or Forty Members of Corinth should Vote, being present in the Church of Cenchrea, when an Officer is Called, or a Member Received or Cast out; their Vote, though concurring with the Church of Cenchrea, would have no efficiency, or causal inffluence at all, by virtue of any Institution of Christ, to instate such Person in Office-Power, or to admit into, or cast out from a Member-Relation. If therefore a Member of Corinth's being admitted to partake of t he Supper in Cenchrea, will not infer his power to Vote or pass Judgement there; much less will it infer the Pastor of Corinth's power to act as an Officer there.  
Obj. 3. The Pastor of Corinth is an Officer of the Church Catholic, and he administers the Lord's Supper to the Church of Cenchrea, as Members of the Catholic Church, not as such a particular Church.  
Ans. 1. The Scripture knows but two kinds of Churches, viz, Mystical and Instituted.  
2. The Mystical (consisting of all and only true Believers) hath neither Officers nor Ordinances seated in it, though both are designed for it principally; but as it is, so all its privileges are spiritual and invisible, and not Dispensed by Men, but by God himself. Nor indeed is it possible, That the Church Mystical should be the proper subject of Ordinances dispensed by Mortal Men, because than no Man could in Faith dispense any Ordinance to another; for no Man can make a Judgement of Faith or certain Knowledge, concerning another's belonging to the Mystical Church. And hence, the Members of the Church of Cenchrea supposing them all Members of the Church Mystical, yet as such they are not Subjects nextly and completely qualified for, and instituted to this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper; Neither is the Pastor of the Church at Corinth an Officer over them, for the Mystical Church hath no Officers. And by the same reason, the Pastor of Corinth may give the Lord's Supper to any that he judgeth Believers, wherever he casually lights on them.  
3. The Instiuted Church is no other than a Particular Congregation or Church; such as that at Corinth, and that at Cenchrea, which are parts of the general kind, and Instituted Churches themselves; as Thomas and John are parts of Mankind, and Men themselves. But look as John's Eye is not set in Thomas' Head, nor can it see there; so neither is the Officer of the Church of Corinth set in the Church at Cenchrea, nor can he do any acts or Office there. For though all Officers in the general belong to the Church in the general, as all Hands belong to the Body of Mankind in the general, or Humane Body; yet this and that particular ordinary Officer belongs to this and that particular Church, and to them only, as this and that Hand belong to this and that particular Body. And therefore the Pastor of the Church of Corinth is no more, nor otherwise an Officer of the Catholic Church, than my Hand or Eye is an Organ of Mankind; that is in short, He is an Officer to the Church of Corinth, and to no other Church besides that.  
4. If Catholic Church in this Objection be taken in another Notion than either for the Church Mystical, or for all particular lar instituted Churches, namely, for The whole body of visible Bilievers throughout the World: I Answer (1.) There is no such Church. For although the whole body of Believers throughout the World be so called in our common Speech (and complying with Custom, we may notify them by that Name) yet the Holy Ghost in Scripture, tells us of no such Church. (2.) It was a piece of the Faith of the Congregational Churches in the times of their Liberty, which they shall do well now not to departed from, that, Tho the whole body of visible Believers throughout the World are called the Catholic Visible Church, 
Declar. at the Savoy, ch. 26. §. 2.  and may be so called, yet it is not as such, a Church entrusted with the administration of any Ordinances, nor hath it any Officers.  
And therefore the Pastor of the Church of Corinth cannot be an Officer to them, nor have the Members of the Church of Cenchrea, under that Notion as part of this Body, any Right or Title to have the Lord's Supper administered amongst them. (3.) The same Persons say also expressly, that, Besides particular Churches (such whose Constitution and Gathering they had before described) there is not instituted by Christ any Church more extensive or Catholic, 
Declar. at the Savoy Of the Institution of churches, and their Order, Prop. 6.  entrusted with power for the administration of his Ordinances, or the execution of any Authority in his Name. If therefore there be no such Church instituted by Christ, a Plea from it for the regularity of this Practice is altogether vain, being wholly Founded on that which is not. (4.) This Notion of such a kind of Catholic Church, undermines and overthrows at once all the Principles of the Congregational way and Practice; As will quickly appear to any that understands and will consider it, and as they well know that are any thing acquainted with the Grounds and Writings of the different Parties in those Points. But this Practice impleaded in this Dispute, cannot stand without entertaining such a Notion of a Church Catholic. This should make us shy of it, since it leads to the overthrow and renunciation of what we once believed and built up by our Profession and Practice; and engageth us to the owning of that which is inconsistent with all the Principles of our Persuasion, touching the Constitution of Churches, and the Order to be observed by them.   

POINT II. Touching Communion of Churches.  
I. Tho this Communion be partly founded in, and greatly suited to the Law of Nature, and Light of Reason; (to the Principles whereof the New Testament Institutions offer no Violence) yet it is to be managed by the Light of the Rules of the Word; it being brought under a special Institution of Christ as many other things are, which even Natural Light goes a great way in approving of, and leading to. Although therefore this or that particular Practice may seem a very fair and sweet fruit of the Communion of Churches; yet if it be destitute of all Ground and Warrant in the Word, such Practice must be looked upon as unlawful, because cause wanting a Warrant from the Holy Scriptures.  
II. Communion of Churches is for the help, preservation and building up, not only of the several Saints in those Churches considered separately and singly; but firstly and immediately of the Churches themselves, as instituted Bodies or Societies, made up and consisting of Saints for that end joined together according to the Lord. Hence it must needs follow, that whatever tends to the confounding of Churches which in their Constitution are distinct and several, and should be so preserved inviolably, is not a right exercise and improvement of the Communion of Churches, but a perverting thereof.  
III. Hence also it follows with an high hand, That though in communion of Churches there be a singular exercise of that love, which all Saints and Churches ought to have and show one to another, as opportunity for it is administered; yet it is altogether unwarrantable, for Churches walking in mutual Communion to coalesce into, and make up a new Instituted Body, of which they should all be Members. For though they ought to walk in love and communion one with another, yet they are therein in limited by the Lord, and may not become Members one of another mutually; there being no Institution of his to Warrant it, as there is for Saints becoming one Body in a Church, and Members one of another by virtue thereof. Nor if several Churches should agree so to make up one Body, would Christ be the Head of that Body, as he is of every Church or Body of his own Institution.  
iv As notwithstanding Communion of Churches, both the several Churches as Bodies, and also the particular Members of each of them as Members, aught to be kept distinct; neither the several Churches, while they continue several Churches, running into one body; nor the Members of each becoming mutually Members of the other: So their several respective Officers, and all the administrations of them ought to be kept distinct, and appropriated according as the Lord hath set them: Officers of Churches in Communion, being no more generally or mutually Officers to those several Churches, than the Members of them are mutually Members.  
From the premised Considerations touching Communion of Churches, several Reasonings concluding the Question might be deduced: But all the Improvement that I shall make of them, is only to answer some Objections arising from misapprehensions about the present Subject, Communion of Churches.  
Obj. 1. The Pastor of the Church of Corinth may lawfully administer the Supper in the Church of Cenchrea by virtue of Communion of Churches, as well as act as an Officer in a Synod where the Messengers and Elders of Churches that walk in Communion meet.  
Ans. Notwithstanding Communion of Churches, he may not lawfully administer the Supper in Cenchrea.  
1. Communion of Churches enlargeth not the object and limits of the respective Officers Power. Such Communion Churches may not have; it would rather be Confusion, and prejudice both the Privileges and entireness of each of them. Communion of Churches extends not to the subjecting of Churches to each others Officers, any more than to the subjecting of particular Members to other Churches than their own. The Church of Corinth may as well by virtue of Communion of Church's Censure and Cast out a Member of. Cenchrea, as the Pastor of Corinth by virtue of Communion of Churches, act as an Officer in the Church of Cenchrea.  
Communion of Churches is ordained for the mutual help of Churches, by the benefit and use of the Gifts that are in any of them, the help whereof another may need; but not for a foundation of the enlarging, mutual communicating, or exercising of Office-power.  
2. Church Officers acting in a Synod to instruct or admonish an erring Church, act not any Office-power, nor do any other thing, than a Synod consisting of Brethren without Officers, might as lawfully do. Neither indeed, do Officers come to, or act in a Synod as Officers, but as delegated or deputed or sent by their respective Churches thereunto: And for such an Expression of Churches mutual communion, there is a clear Warrant in the Word. But for Churches to communicate their Officers to each other, or for ordinary Officers to act as Officers to more Churches than that one to which they are chosen, there is no Warrant at all.  
Obj. 2. The Church of Cenchrea desires it, and the Church of Corinth consents.  
Ans. 1. I still demand, Where is the Warrant for the desire of the one, or the consent of the other? 'Tis certain one Church may possibly request, and another agree to that which is un-warrantable.  
2. The whole of the Pastor's Power he hath from Christ through the Church; and thence he is to be regulated in the exercise of that power wholly by the Rule that Christ hath given about it in his Word, not by the Church's consent or descent at all. For though the Power that he exerciseth be devolved on him from Christ, by the intervention of the Churches acting; yet the whole of the Office-power that he exerciseth is Christ's, and to be put forth in his Name, and it neither is, nor ever was seated in the Church.  
3. The Cenchreans call, and the Corinthians consent or dismission, may translate the Pastor, and change his relation from Corinth to Cenchrea: But while the relation abides as before, the call or request of the one, and the consent of the other render not his acting as Pastor to Cenchrea any other than irregular: though perhaps it may render it less distasteful to some. For the Office- relation remaining unaltered, the Office- power cannot be transported from one Object to another, nor enlarged to more Churches: Because Office-power is limited in its extent, both as to the things about which, and persons over whom it is to be exercised; and cannot by any consent or agreement of Pastors and Churches, be in either of those regards extended beyond, or straitened within the compass and bounds set and fixed by Christ. A Church may as well abridge a Pastor's Power, as extend it further than Christ hath done; or extend another Officer's power to things that Christ hath secluded from his Office: As for Example; Agree that a Deacon shall baptise; or that their Pastor shall only Teach and not Rule. But as this Agreement and answerable Practice would on all hands be invalid and sinful; so is this alleged desire of Cenchrea, and consent of Corinth altogether irregular, and without Warrant from Christ; and thence wholly null, and such as makes the Pastor's acting in the Church of Cenchrea no more lawful, than it would be if neither Cenchrea desired it, or Corinth agreed to it.  
Obj. 3. The Pastor of Corinth brings some of his Members with him, suppose six or seven or more, to Cenchrea, and he administers the Supper as to his own Church, though not assembled in the usual place, or usual number, but the Cenchreans communicate with them.  
Answ. 1. This Objection and Practice imply a tacit acknowledgement, that the Pastor of Corinth may not administer the Supper but in his own Church; which is the very thing expressly argued for in this Dispute.  
2. I demand in whether part of this company thus assembled, resides the Church-power of receiving or excluding from participation in that Ordinance? Suppose a person be occasionally present that pretends to be a Member of a Third Church, suppose one at Athens, or elsewhere in Achaia; but perhaps is reported to be Cast out, or Guilty of some Scandal: whether must the Church of Cenchrea, or these few Members of the Church of Corinth with their Pastor, give Judgement concerning this Person's being received or debarred from the Supper then to be administered? If it be said, the Members of Corinth with their Pastor: Let the Church of Cenchrea look about them; well they may (I suppose they will) make (some Stand at this new Practice of so uncouth an Aspect; which plainly bereaves them (though a Church of Christ, assembled in the Name of Christ) of power to judge Ecclesiastically concerning a Person's fitness to be received into so near communion with them in this holy Ordinance; and though they apprehend his claim to be frivolous or false, or unsatisfactoty, yet ties up their hands from secluding him, If it be said, this Power resides in the Church of Cenchrea; this very thing makes it evident, that the Corinthians Pastor's bringing over with him those six or seven Members, is but a false colour to varnish over a foul business, and hid the irregularity of the Practice from the more simple-hearted that are tender of swerving from the Rule. If it be said, it belongs to both of them to Judge; I ask again, which is the Church, and which is a Church-Judgment? If it be said, both; then here is an Officer of Corinth acting as an Officer to and in the Church of Cenchrea; which is the very thing which the practice supposed in the Objection is designed to avoid: Besides, Communion of Churches is also perverted to confound and jumble Churches, and make two Bodies that ought to be kept distinct, coalesce into one.   

POINT III. Touching the invariableness of the Rule; and our strict Obligation to observe it, though with hazard of Suffering.  
I. Tho instituted Worship hath undergone sundry alterations; that becoming an Institution which sometimes was not, and that again ceasing to be one which sometimes was; yet men's strict and punctual observance of Institutions, is bound upon their Consciences by the Second Commandment in all Generations, throughout all those several Changes that the Wisdom of God hath made in his own Institutions.  
II. Our Institutions binding us in the strength of the Second Commandment, as is said, our swerving from the Rule of them must needs be a Sin against 'gainst the Moral Law, and particularly, a breach of that Commandment; and hence, no more allowed us to avoid outward Sufferings, than it is allowed a Man to steal, against the Eighth Commandment, that he may avoid Poverty. Yea, of the two, the Thief is on the better side, both because the commands of the First Table are greater than the Commands of the Second; and because as his Sin is against a disposal of Providence, darkened perhaps, exceedingly by the interposure of much of the iniquity of Man; so ours is against the express Institution and clear Commandment of him who is the Wisdom of the Father, and Lord over all: Besides, our Sufferings coming for our adherence to the Commands of Christ, we have signal Promises relating to such a Case and also a rich opportunity, and evident hopes of glorifying Christ by our Sufferings, all which should mightily strengthen us to our duty: But none of these things can be equally pleaded concerning one under Poverty, who is restrained from stealing by his Conscience of the Eighth Commandment.  
III. All our Institutions in the New Testament being engrafted on the Second Commandment, as the Stock that bears them, no less than theirs were under the Old Testament We are no more allowed to make bold with our Institutions, either in neglecting any of them, or swerving from them in any kind or degree, than they under the Old Testament might with theirs.  
iv The Rule given us being no less complete and perfect than that which was given them. Christ as a Son being no less faithful over his own House than Moses who was a Servant, was in the House of his Master and Lord; and our Institutions being given forth from no less Wisdom and Grace and Authority than theirs were: Difficulties and Sufferings can no more relax our obligation strictly to observe the Ordinances given us by Christ, than they could relax their obligation to observe Moses his Ordinances. Yea, we having in all these things rather the advantage of them, our obligation in matters of Institution must needs be acknowledged in that regard the stricter and more indispensible of the two.  
V There is nothing truly of Institution but is a part of the Name of Christ, and part of the the Words of Christ, no less properly and really than the most glorious Mysteries of Faith, or most fundamental Points of Doctrine. But we must not in any kind be ashamed of any of his words, nor in any degree or sort deny any thing of his Name; no, though our Lot be to live in an adulterous and sinful Generation, and in those places and times where the not denying of them may cost us our lives, Mark 8. 38 Rev. 2.13.  
VI The least and the greatest matters of Institution are enjoined us alike indispensably. We may therefore as lawfully lay aside all, as lay aside any Institution to avoid Sufferings.  
VII. One end of the Lord's giving so exact a Rule in matters of Institution, is for the Trial of our Obedience and Loyalty: And his bringing Difficulties and Sufferings upon us for observing what he hath commanded us, is also that he might take the more thorough and solemn Trial of our Loyalty, Love and Faithfulness to him. It is therefore impossible that Difficulties and Sufferings should alter that Rule in matters of Institution, or give us any Dispensation as to our close observance thereof.  
Let me answer some Objections hence; and I shall proceed to the next Question.  
Obj. 1. The Church of Cenchrea desires the Ordinance of the Supper earnestly, and stands in great need thereof for the strengthening of their Faith in difficult times, and warming their love to Christ and one another; being also in the more danger of scattering, in that they are deprived of a Pastor of their own. Surely Christ hath left some way for his Church to enjoy that Ordinance, in such a time when their need of it is singularly great: They must needs therefore, as the Case is with them, either go without it to their great grief and wounding, or have it administered by one that is no Teaching-Officer, borrow of Corinth their Pastor.  
Ans. 1. Cenchrea being deprived of a Pastor, they must furnish themselves with one; every Church being bound in Conscience to provide itself with all the standing Ordinances of Christ, as they will answer casing off Christ's Authority that hath appointed them, and not be guilty of despising his love who gives them as signal Pledges thereof, and of sinning against their own Souls, by neglecting a special Ordinance for the Edisication and Salvation of them.  
2. 'Tis sad when a Church is deprived of any Ordinance, especially that of Teaching Elders, and if God do indeed withhold them from enjoying one, it ought to be looked upon as a sore Rebuke from Christ, carrying in it no less than a Threatening to remove his Candlestick from them, and as a kind of partial Excommunicating of them inflicted by Christ himself from Heaven, and it is therefore a sore and solemn testifying against such a Church by the Lord.  
3. This Judgement is much the heavier when it befalls a Church in such a Day as the Objection points at; yet Affliction is to be chosen before Sin: And the Affliction of being deprived of that sweet and precious Ordinance of the Supper, in such a time of special need of it, (though very grievous to a gracious Spirit, yet) had better be born, than the Ordinance be scrambled after in an unlawful way.  
4. The Church of Cenchrea may as lawfully have it administered by a non-Officer, as by the Officer of another Church. For the Pastor of Corinth is no other than a non-Officer to the Church of Cenchrea; and therefore if the one be irregular and unlawful (as the Objection seems to grant it is) so is the other also no less.  
5. This Objection carries a Face as if the Church at Cenchrea could well enough content themselves without a Pastor, could they but get the Lord's Supper by any scambling shift, or could they satisfy themselves in going without it: But surely this is an evil frame on many accounts, and argues both little Conscience of walking in all the Commands and Ordinances nances of Christ; and also that such a Church aims more at the keeping up the Form and Name of a Church, than at fulfilling their Duty to their own Souls.  
Obj. 2. The Church is poor, and our Rulers are so fan from giving encouragement to Men of their Way, 
This was written when the Meetings of Dissenters were in danger of being difturbed  that they are rather severe against them; from whence it comes to pass both that the Church is under an impossibility of maintaining, and consequently of furnishing themselves with a Pastor of their own, and also hath little hopes of any peaceable and continued enjoyment of him with them, if they had one.  
Answer 1. If the Church of Cenchrea can meet with the Pastor of the Church of Corinth to receive the Lord's Supper (as it seems they can) they may as well meet with a Pastor of their own, and enjoy his labours amongst them, according to the Rule and Order of the Gospel.  
2. If the Church of Cenchrea be not defective in their Duty, but lay out themselves, as the Lord requires, for the obtaining of a Pastor of their own, and yet cannot obtain one; they may and aught to wait on the Lord in Faith and Hope that in due time he will provide them of a Pastor: And in the mean time they must keep his way, Psal. 37.34. bearing their want of a Pastor as their affliction from the Lord, which they must not seek to ease themselves of by sinful and irregular ways.  
3. It is one special thing wherein Christ is taking a Trial of his Churches in these Nations at this day; whether they will be at the charge of maintaining all his Ordinances and Officers amongst them, without help therein from the Civil Magistrate; or whether they will not rather be without them? And as it is a special Particular wherein the Trial of the present Providence lies; So it is that wherein Churches are in the more danger of failing, because it is a part of the Yoke of Christ, which the generality of the Churches in these Nations have not put their Necks under heretofore; whereas all even the poorest Churches that we read of in the Apostles times, did from their first Constitution furnish themselves with Officers without any help therein from the Civil Magistrate, who was in many regards more severe against them, than through the favour of God ours are to us. See 1 Thess. 5.12. with chap. 1.6. and 2.14. and 2 Thess. 1.4. This Church was one of the Churches of Macedonia, spoken of 2 Cor. 8.1, 2, 3.  
4. If the Church of Cenchrea through extreme Poverty cannot of themselves provide a Pastor of their own, the Lord hath not left them without direction and relief in this case. In which they ought both to search the Word themselves, and also to consult other Churches, whose Duty it is not only to hold forth Light to a Sister-Church in the dark, but also to yield forth outward Supplies to a Sister-Church in distress; which is a lovely exercise and fruit of mutual Charity and Communion between Sifter-Churches, and that which hath unquestionable Warrant in the Word; whereas this of borrowing and lending an Officer to do a Cast of his Office in another Church besides his own, is a thing unheard of in the Scripture, and never practised by the Primitive Churches under the Apostles direction.  
Obj. 3. Difficult times produce unusual Cases and Extremities, and that which in an ordinary case would not be lawful, is allowable in such Cases and Times.  
Answ. 1. Difficult times do indeed produce unusual afflictions on Churches, and make their Temptation to departed from the the Rule so much the greater, yea too too often cause breaches and miscarriages amongst them; But no difficulty or severity of the Times can alter the Rule given by Christ unto his Churches.  
2. The Primitive Churches of the New Testament, were under as much difficulty as any Churches in this Land can pretend to be in; yet they kept close to the Rule, nor do we find in them any such practice as this, nor any thing that may countenance it in the Sacred Records concerning them.  
3. Difficulty of the Times calls indeed for the exercise of suitable Graces, and also of Prudence: But Prudence hath its scope only in such things in Church-Worship as are no part of the Worship, but only circumstances thereof, related to Worship not as it is Worship, but as an action performed by Men, all whose actings must, have time and place for them. And thence the things wherein Prudence may interpose to vary, are such things about which there is no positive Divine Institution. When Place and Time come under an Institution (as for Example, the Temple and their Feasts under the Old Testament, and the First Day of the Week in the New) there Prudence may not alter them; nor may we on such an account swerve from the Rule; for they become Parts of Worship.  
4. The Administrator of the Supper is more than a common circumstance of the Worship performed in that Ordinance. For he sanctifies the Elements, as the Temple or Altar did their Sacrifices and Gifts; being the Substitute of Christ in the administration of that Ordinance, appointed thereunto by the institution of the Lord. And of this there seems to be an acknowledgement and sense, in the practice pleaded against in this Dispute: For why else doth the Church of Cenchrea seek for the Officer of the Church of Corinth, and not take any of their own private Members for this work?  
5. 'Tis most true, Affirmative Commands do not bind us to be always actually fulfilling of them; yet Negative Commands restrain us at all times from transgressing of them. And therefore though the Church be not bound to be every day celebrating the Lord's Supper, yet they are bound  they do do celebrate it, to do it in no other manner than according to the Rule given them by Christ the Lord; whose Rule is, that their own and not another Church's Officer administer it amongst them.  
I shall add no more on this Question, only that I know not that I am singular in any thing that I have written; sure I am, that in the sum and main of the case, I have the generality of the Ministers and Churches of the Congregational Persuasion concurring with me. As an evidence thereof, let me direct to one Testimony, and transcribe another; not doubting but had I my Books and Papers about me, I could easily add many more. The first Testimony is Dr. Owen in his Brief Instruction in the Worship of God, etc. by way of Question and Answer. Quest. 26. page 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123. Where he is most express against it, and gives sundry Arguments to confirm his Judgement. The other Testimony is of all the Officers and Messengers of the Congregational Churches in the Declaration of their Faith and Order, agreed on and Published Anno 1658. The 16th Proposition concerning the Institution of Churches, etc. runs thus, A Church furnished with Officers (according to the mind of Christ) hath full power to administer all his Ordinances, and where there is want of any one or more Officers required, that Officer, or those which are in the Church may administer all the Ordinances proper to their particular Duty and Offices; But where there are no Teaching Officers, none may administer the Seals, nor can the Church authorise any so to do.  
QUESTION II. May a Member of the Church at Cenchrea partake of the Lord's Supper administered there by the Pastor of the Church of Corinth, especially himself not being clear, whether the practice of the Pastor of Corinth in this particular be Warrantable?  
Ans. No: Whether lie be satisfied, or scrupulous about the Warrantableness of the act of the Pastor of Cornith, he may not participate of the Lord's Supper administered by him in the Church of Cenchrea.  
1. There is such a near alliance and necessary connexion by the appointment of God, between the person administering, and the orderly administration of this Ordinance, that I cannot partake of it, but I contract upon myself the guilt of his unlawful administration. If a Justice of the Peace in Middlesex send out his Warrant to fetch me before him in Essex, and it being there served upon me I submit to it and suffer myself to be carried before him by virtue of it, I become hereby guilty of compliance with his arrogating Authority which the King hath not given him. So it is in this case, and the reason thereof is, that necessary connexion which there is in both cases, between the act that is done, and the person's rightful authority that doth it.  
2. My communicating evidently holds forth an approbation of his power or right to administer: And so it is a Sin against that Charity which I own to him, for I confirm and strengthen him in that his Error. It is also a Sin against the Charity that I own to the Church by a nearer and special Bond, being in Fellowship with them, and one of them; for this my communicating doth also encourage them in the Error of their way. It is true indeed, if his acting were such as might be lawfully done by him, and desired by them, on some other grounds; then, though the true and justifying grounds of it were mistaken both by them and him, than I say, my bare Presence and communicating with them could not be justly interpreted as a sinful encouraging of them; but there being no ground that renders his act lawful, the case is otherwise.  
Obj. But sundry holy Saints have experienced the gracious presence of Christ, speaking peace, and Strengthening their Faith and Grace in the Lord's Supper so administered; and therefore it is his Ordinance, and rightly administered, and I may communicate in it.  
Answ. 1. Tho the error of the Administration argued against in these Papers, should not be so deep as to make it no Ordinance of Christ; yet it may be such, and doubtless is, as to make my communicating therein unlawful. The Cross joined to Baptism doth not make it Null, yet it makes it unlawful for me to receive it so administered. Kneeling at the Supper destroys it not from being Christ's Ordinance, yet makes it unlawful for me to receive the Supper at all if I cannot receive it otherwise than Kneeling. In the case under debate, neither the lawfulness of the Pastor of Corinth's administering in Cenchrea, nor the lawfulness of a Member of Cenchrea's communicating in the Supper so administered can be made good, though it should be granted to remain Christ's Ordinance, notwithstanding the Error that is in the Administration.  
2. Christ may be experienced graciously present to a Believer's Soul in an administration which it is not lawful for the Believer to partake of; yea, which indeed is no Ordinance of Christ. Doubtless many good Souls, who in former Times have through infirmity, and want of Light, conscientiously used Common-Prayer, or observed the holidays, have had experience of special and sweet communion with Christ, both in the one and in the other: yet neither are Christ's Ordinance; nor will thit Experience warrant the lawfulness of the use and observation on thereof: For the Lord therein had not any respect to the one or the other as any Ordinance of his; but of his great Goodness overlooked the infirmity and accepted the sincerity of his Servants, having respect to the Graces in their Hearts that were stirred up and awakened to exercise, by the apprehension (thoa mistaken one) of an Ordinance of his; He being so abundant in Goodness and Truth, that he oftentimes does that for us in a way of Grace, which we could not challenge from him by virtue of any express Promise of his; He then by the greatness of our Error magnifying his own Grace the more.  
3. The design of these Papers is not to bereave any of their precious Experiences, nor call them in Question (yet we should not build more on them than they will bear) but to lave us from an Error in Opinion and Practice, of a very sad aspect and evil consequences, if it should once sinned general entertainment in the Churches: But I had rather leave them to the Reader's own Thoughts than put myself to the trouble of declaring them.   
FINIS.   

Books Newly Printed for Nath. Hiller, at the Prince's Arms in Leaden-Hall Street, over against St. Mary Ar.  
THE Divine Institution of Congregational Churches, Ministry and Ordinances, Asserted and Proved from the Word of God. To which is added,  
A Discourse concerning Unction, and Washing of Feet. Proving, That they be not Instituted Sacraments, or Ordinances in the Churches. Both by Haac Chauncy, M.A.  
Pietas in Patriam: The Life of his Excellency Sir William Phips, Knt. Late Captain General and Governor of New-England, Containing the Memorable Changes undergone, and Actions performed by him.