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several parts of which it consists; and though, as a portion of the mystical body, it is impossible to deny them a place in the one catholic or universal church, yet it is the duty of every particular church to disown and exclude them. In short, the great majority of the sincere followers of the Saviour, whose names are written in the Book of Life, are totally disqualified for performing the duties, and enjoying the privileges, which distinguish the church from the world; betwixt which they occupy some intermediate place, some terra incognita, whose existence it is as difficult to ascertain, as the limbus patrum, or a mansion in the moon. In the present state of the christian church, that extensive portion of the New Testament, which was designed to cement the affections, and to regulate the conduct of the faithful towards each other, is superseded; its precepts are in a state of suspension and abeyance, and in the midst of the Egyptian darkness which envelopes the christian world, the baptists alone dwell in the light of another Goshen. However strange these positions may appear, they form but a part of the absurdities which necessarily flow from our author's theory; nor is there any possible way of evading them, but by denying that pædobaptists belong to the mystical body of Christ, or demonstrating the consistency of their exclusion with the union and cooperation which St. Paul enjoins; or by asserting the existence of more mystical bodies than one, destined to subsist apart.

CHAP. IX.

The Injustice of the Exclusion of other Denominations considered as a Punishment.

IN the treatise On Terms of Communion it was urged, that, as exclusion from the communion of the church is the highest ecclesiastical censure which it is possible to inflict, it can only be justified on the supposition of a proportional degree of demerit in the objects of it. If the moral turpitude inherent in the practice of infant baptism is of an order which entitles it to be compared to the habitual indulgence of vice, or the obstinate maintenance of heresy, it is but fit it should be placed on the same level, and subjected to the same treatment; but, if the understanding and the heart equally revolt at such a comparison, that method of proceeding must be allowed to be unjust. To this our author replies by denying the propriety of applying the term exclusion to a bare refusal of admission. "Words," he informs us, "must strangely have altered their meaning before such an application of the phrase in question can be justified." To be compelled to dispute about the

meaning of terms is always humiliating, but that his assertion is unfounded, is sufficiently evident, from the authority of the most eminent critics. Our great lexicographer, under the word exclude, defines it thus, "to shut out, to hinder from entrance, or admission;" exclusion he defines," the act of shutting out, or denying admission." Thus much for Mr. Kinghorn's accuracy as a grammarian. Let us next examine his reasoning.

He denies that the act of debarring every other denomination from admission is a punishment" it is not considered as such by sensible pædobaptists." But why is it not? Solely because the baptist societies are too few and too insignificant to enable them to realise the effects of their system, in its full extent. Their principle involves an absolute interdict of church privileges to the members of every other community; but, being an inconsiderable minority, there are not wanting numerous and respectable societies, who stand ready to give a welcome reception to the outcasts, and to succour the exiles. That their rejection is not followed by its natural consequence, a total privation of the communion of saints, is not to be ascribed, in the smallest degree, to the liberality or forbearance of our opponents, but solely to their imbecility. The celebration of the eucharist they consider as null and void, when

* Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 60.

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attended to by a pædobaptist; his approach to the table is absolutely prohibited within the sphere of their jurisdiction; and should their principles ever obtain a general prevalence, the commemoration of the love of a crucified Saviour would become impracticable, except to persons of their own persuasion. Instances have often occurred where the illiberal practice, against which we are contending, has been felt to be a punishment of no ordinary severity; where eminently holy men have been so situated, that the only opportunity they possessed of celebrating the passion of the Redeemer has been withheld, and they have been compelled, most reluctantly, to forego one of the most exalted privileges of the church; nor has it ever been known, that compassion for the peculiar hardship of the case was suffered to suspend the unrelenting severity of the sentence. Let me ask the advocates for the exclusive system, whether they would be moved for a moment to extend their indulgence to a solitary individual, who differed from them on the subject of baptism, although he was so circumstanced as to render a union with other classes of christians impossible?

This writer affirms, it is not intended as a punishment by the baptists, and strongly remonstrates against the confounding it with the sentence of excommunication, on account of immoral delinquency. He concurs with the author of Terms of Communion in admitting that, in these instances,

its "accordance with the moral nature of man may and does give it authority and weight; in such an instance as the incestuous person at Corinth, it becomes an instrument of punishment. He was in the church, and could be expelled from it. But which way the censure or punishment of excommunication and expulsion can take place in one who never was in a society, the strict baptists," he tells us," have yet to learn."*:

In reply to this, I shall not descend to a tedious logomachy, farther than just to remark, that this writer has, on the present occasion, fallen into a similar error respecting the meaning of words with his former. Excommunication is synonymous with exclusion, and is defined, by the highest authority, "an ecclesiastical interdict; exclusion from the fellowship of the church." The punishment it involves is exactly proportioned to the value of the privilege it withholds; and, therefore, to affirm that it is not a punishment, is equivalent to the assertion that the fellowship of the church is not a benefit. To withhold privileges and immunities from him who is legally entitled to their possession, must be supposed to be felt with a severity proportioned to the justice of his title, and the magnitude and extent of his privations.

By refusing to admit a pædobaptist to the privilege of communion with us, we, in fact, affirm

Baptism a Term of Communion, p. 60.

† See Johnson.

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