A26924:904
The English nonconformity as under King Charles II and King James II truly stated…
The English nonconformity as under King Charles II and King James II truly stated and argued by Richard Baxter ; who earnestly beseecheth rulers and clergy not to divide and destroy the land and cast their own souls on the dreadful guilt and punishment of national perjury ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1689
Chapter 58: Whether Communion with so Faulty a Church be Lawful.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
CHAP. LVIII. Whether Communion with so Faulty a Church be Lawful.
L. I Showed what you said against Conformity to a Friend, and when he had read it, he said, What a Self-contradictor is this Man, to lay all this Charge on the Church of England, and yet himself to hold Communion with it, and persuade others so to do? Can we touch Pitch and not be defiled? And indeed if all this be as bad as you fear, I cannot see how any Separatists are to be blamed, or how any may Communicate with so bad a Church.
L. I Shewed what you said against Conformity to a Friend, and when he had read it, he said, What a Self-contradictor is this Man, to lay all this Charge on the Church of England, and yet himself to hold Communion with it, and perswade others so to do? Can we touch Pitch and not be defiled? And indeed if all this be as bad as you fear, I cannot see how any Separatists are to be blamed, or how any may Communicate with so bad a Church.
M. Sic stulti vitia vitant, drunken men reel from side to side; to keep one right tract, or to cut by a thread, seemeth impossible to them. I. You must distinguish between the Diocesan Churches as constituted by their Courts of Government and Canons, and the Parish Churches. II. Between those Parish-Churches which have godly or tolerable Pastors, and those that have not. III. Between Ministry and Lay-Communion. IV. Between stated and occasional Communion. V. Between preferring their Churches before better, and not avoiding them as null, or as unlawful to be Communicated with. Understand these five distinctions well, and I shall satisfy you.