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    con-rowley

    And again to convince & advise him, It becomes us much more

     

    to use means wth our brethren to redeem ym from ye error of yr way

    James 5 2 last & 2 Tim 2 24 25: In a word, I do conceive it

    if ye councills determination when yei left you & yr reply to your objecti

    ons against it be well considered yr will appear something chargable on yr

    Pastor or Br wth him wch ought to be acknowledged (that yrby ye hearts

    of Br greeved & offended may be eased) before you can come after yr dis

    order to ye lords table, And truly it may be feared yt your selves not begining

    in this work is a cause why ye opposite party to you are now more for=

    =ward to attend their duty heerin, which duty how much it is incumbant

    upon both me thinks those Scriptures 5 Math 23 25 & James 5 16 doe

    Evince: It is true god will have his holy ordinance attended, wch you strong

    ly plead, but you know yt he will alsoe have them attended after ye due order

    otherwise we may expect a breach rather yn a blessing 1 chr. 15. 13.

    God loves his worship, & desires it much, but he stands more upon peac love

    & union amongst his pp, than our attendance upon him in ys or yt part of insti

    tuted worship which were means to further us in morrall dutyes, & therfore

    tells us yt he is willing to stay for his service till we be reconciled one to another

    If the gift must be left at ye altar till personal reconciliation be made, much

    more when the distance is between soe many & not healed by mutual ac

    knowledgmts: And as to this you should doe as you would be done by, you

    will not admit ye brethren to yt ordinance wthout confession of their faults.

    and why should you goe to it without attendance to yt duty you call for

    from them, as for your pleading therfore not guilty it is not unusefull to

    consider what Mr Burroughs speaks in his Irenicum[15] who tells us that

    when our spirits are hott with displeasure one against another we are

    apt to be hardned from seing what is amiss in our selves, as it was with

    Jonah when his spirit was hott & angry he would hardly be convinced

    by God himself that he did or spake any thing amiss[16]

    Concerning your judgmt that noe Cessation in your case can be grounded

    upon 1 cor. 11 I desire you would a little father consider the 18 20

    33 verses he tells them that whilst ther were divisions & other evills a-

    =mongst them, theirs was not to eate ye lords supper, hence it necessarily

    followes those thing which made it to be noe participation in the lords

    supper if not mended, ought to be reformed before they come; other

    =wise why dos god set the swords point to ther breasts v 27 29, yea and

    smott them not onely with sickness but with death if they might still

    meet wth that ordinance though these divisions and other evills were

    now removed he that sayth Examine prepare & soe come, doe ther

    =in say come not otherwise; & church reformation not onely personel

    Examination is required in that Chaptre before they might partake

    in that ordinance otherwise they might expect to hear from God this

    of his displeasure besides that they had felt. I need not tell you Sr

    what God required of ye Jewes as to serching out of leaven before they

    eat the passover or what it signified, the Apostle expounds it 1 Cor 5

     

    [15] Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646), Irenicum, to the lovers of truth and peace. Heart-divisions opened in the causes and evils of them (London 1646).

    [16] Jonah 4:1-4.